Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1888-12-15
SPOTTED WILD CATTLE.
A BREED OF THE BOVINE FAMILY
THAT IS PULLING HUNTERS.

Surmises as to Their Origin-BuIls with
the Skill of Trained Generals-AD Efforts
to Cultivate Their Friendship Have
Proved Futile.
In the lonesome defiles Of the Coquille
mountains there has roamed at will for half
a dozen years band of strange wild cattle
Hunters pronounce them a distinct breed
from those which have been so long in
habiting the Umpqua river. They are leopard
like in color, being dotted with black in a
skin of dun.
Their horns are thin and long and as
smooth as though polished with emery.
Moreover, they are pony built, and their tails
are long, sweeping and brush like Their
hoofs, like their horns, from constant contact
with vigorous underground, are smooth and
glossy Quick of eye, feet of foot and with
a strange power of scenting out enemies, they
have proved more than match for the local
sportsmen who have at various times gone to
the heights in pursuit of them.
FATHER DE voEs SPOTTED COW.
well, those cattle are an anomaly, sure
enough" said c. J. Andrews, a resident Of
Coquille, forty five miles up from the Pacific
ocean, to reporter at the American Ex-
change hotel here today. Their origin is
shrouded in mystery. Some say they are de-
scended from spotted COW which strayed
away from Father De Voc in 1863 The old
man De Voc lives at the mouth of the Co
guile. He was the first settler there, and
brought three or four cows with him when
he came by wagon from the lower Platte.
About year afterward he lost cow that
was about TO calve, and, though he hunted
far and near throughout the heavy pines
which skirt the Coquille, he could never find
her, but when news began to come in after
three Or four years that there were some wild
cattle up in the mountains, he half thought
1t must be his cow and her progeny. There
are others, however, and De Voc is inclined
TO share their belief, who think that this
breed of cattle has always been wild, that
they are indigenous to that region, the SAINT
as the wild cattle of Mexico
Certain it is, at any rate, that all attempts
TO subdue these cattle have been futile. Ir
1878 Tom Withrow, hunter of the Coquille
| after long attempt TO kill some of them
succeeded in capturing calf. The calf wa:
newly born and too weak to get away, an(
the old COW would not leave it, and at ono,
| charged furiously upon him He wa.
| mounted on a fleet Oregon mustang, and b,
put spurs TO him and got out of there a
| quickly as he was able The COW and th.
| pony tore down the hill through the brush a
| a terrible pace, and old Tom thought he wa
| done for There was blood in the cows eye
and a vindictive, menacing look, which pu
| speed into 10th rider and horse. The hun
ter's gun was strapped TO the pony's side, an,
ne had no time TO use 1t. The COW pursue'
him for nearly half mile, and until tn
mustang had chucked Withrow over hi
head, down a steep dechvity, and both hors
and horseman were separated and routed
Then bos-bovis returned to her calf.
AN OLD HUNTER oUTwITTED
"Tom was mad He was an old huntel
and didn't much relish being routed by
COW. He recaptured his pony, tied him to
tree, and, unstrapping his gun, started in
roundabout way up through the hills afoo
He doised from tree to tree, and finall
climbing one he was able to descry the wi
COW, with her head and tail up, her ey,
blazing, shifting the air. He was with
, rife shot, and succeeded in putting two bal
into her She beloved furiously, but Il
wounds were mortal and she could not attae
, him
Capturing the calf, which was spott.
like its mother, withrow strapped 1t TO 4
saddle and carried it home. For two yea
he tried TO domesticate that calf. Just VIII,
+ he thought be was succeeding 1t broke al
got away to the mountains. He never sa
it afterward.
| In uar,-t- MOTo
two Coos bay men, went up into the Coquil
mountains and spent two weeks there. Tn
went hunting for these cattle, as well as f
bear and cougar After the most skillf
manipulations they finally succeeded In ki
ing an cd bull. He was the outpost
band, was fighter from way bac
and would have made it hot for them, b
they got the drop on him, after following t
band assiduousiy for several days. T
others, TO the number of twenty or thirt
got away. All were spotted with black,
one spot being bigger than a silver doils
You may be sure they were very pretty,
they were fat and their hair was short
suppose there are no handsomer cattle ar
where than these wild ones in the Greg
wilderness.
This old bull was a good one. He was I
unusually large, weighing about l, 100 poun,
but he was clean limbed as a race horse, il
about as feet, and as pretty as picture
''Since that time various people have GO
after these queer cattle, bat nobody has ST
ceeded in getting any. 1t is uphill busine
Nobody lives up in those mountain tops.
is rough, wild and lonesome, a fit home
all kinds of wild animals, and all XIII
4 abound there. An exceedingly nutritic
grass grows there. 1t is so succulent Il
horses, when they can get it, need no otl
feed. The country is SO rocky, cut up W
canyons, and with profusion of weird moi
tain tops SO Enthusiastically formed as not ol
: to give beautiful effect, but to form s
retreat for these wild denizens of this rem
l corner of Oregon.
Just how many of the leopard like "
cattle there are there it will take long tt
to find out. Nobody can arrive at it W
any degree of certainty. There may be for
there may be a hundred San Franci
Cor. New York Sun.
g An Electric Dog Cart.
The sultan of Turkey has had an elect