St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-03-03
THRILLING ADVENTURES.
A st. Paul Mans Narrow Escapes in
California.
LOOKED DEATH In THE FACE
In the Way of a Herd OF Horned Cattle
"A Crack Shot at a Critical
Time.

Uni ted States surveying party in Call
fornia. The country over which we
passed was fiat, level prairie, broken
occasionally by small ravines, fringed
with light growth of timber. With
these variations, there was not tree or
shrub to vary the dull, dreary monotony
the landscape afforded. Over these
bOundless prairies roamed large herds
of cattle, which permitted men on horse
back to pass and repass without molesta-
ton, but if a poor fellow on foot, and
alone, passed within view they would
charge upon and run him down unless
some fortunate circumstance prevented
it. On one occasion l made detour
from our line of march in the direction
of small lake or pond, hoping to be
able to kill some ducks or other water
fowl. 1 shot and killed four small teal,
and hearing sand hill crane along ra-
vine through which flowed a small
creek, l started up the stream, hoping
to get shot at some of these long-leg-
ged birds. This rayine ran in the di-
rection almost at right angles with the
course pursued by the party to which [
belonged, and expected to strike the
trail as soon as l reached its head. Be
fore had travelled very far L found the
heat oppressive. OWING to the absence
of the breezes of the prairie, and de-
termined to ascend to the main land.
On reaching the top of the bank, imag-
inc my surprise at coming upon a herd
of horned cattle, most of which were
lying down. Hoping that l had not
been observed, descended into the ra-
vine as rapidly as possible, and
RAN FOR DEAR LIFE.
Soon l heard terrible noise in my
roar, and 1 readily imagined that was
pursued, if not by the entire herd, by
large part of it at ali events. Onward
came the Infatuated animals, and it was
apparent that they were gaining on me.
Soon emerged from the ravine, and, as
| expected. struck the trail of my party,
which was plainly visible, the party
itself being in sight and only about two
miles distant. l was almost exhausted.
but yelled as loudly as l could, how
ever failed to be heard by those from
whom l expected assistance in this try
ing emergency. Finding that l could
not possibly save myself by flight, sat
down facing the advancing herd with
my shotgun at ready resolved to fire
at the head of the column as soon as it
came within twenty yards of me. But
before it came within that distance
dUOut Halt IBttSSlilS W tilU
right the other to the left. Finding that
was not to be run over | fred one bar
rel to the right the other to the left, and
this seemed to accelerate the move
mentS of the apparently uncomfortable
herd. Soon they had all passed. and
there L was more dead than alive. The
herd turned to the right, reunited its
broken ranks, and, to my great delight,
disappeared. AS soon as l had recov-
cred sufficiently from my fatigue, l
moved along the trail and in due time
overlook my party. L then and there
resolved never to wander away from it
again. No one can appreciate the feel
ings of a man placed as [ was with al
most certain death staring him in the
face. Had it not been that the leading
animals became frightened at seeing me
in STOPPING position and divided to the
right and left [ should have
persisted UNDER THEIR FEET.
This experience should have been
sufficient for one day, but another was
in store for us before reaching our
camp. To haul tools and instruments
we had been provided with small
wagon, drawn by four mules. A little
before shutdown all hands got into the
wagon, and headed the mules for camp.
Away off ahead of us could be seen
which we were returning toOur camp.
AS we reached it it proved tobe an inn
mense old bull, that paved the earth
and beloved necessarily. Thinking
that it would be dangerous to drive
close up to him, had the team halted
and went forward, pistol in hand
to see if l could not scare him away
When l got within thirty or forty year.
he made furious char g eultlt wl!h
head down and tail in the air. Knowing
that | could infiict no serious injury
upon him with the pistol. retreated to
the wagon as rapidly as my legs would
carry me. Before reaching the team
the bull halted and began paving and
believing more furiOuSly than ever. 1t
was evident that he was tanning him
self into terrible rage, and it became
apparent to all that something must be
done, and done quickly. AS soon as
possible loaded an old musket, which
we had in the wagon, telling the men
that [ would advance again and fire,
and if EE3
FAILED TO KILL HIM,
he would probably kill me, and while
he was tossing me around they could
escape as rapidly as possible. | moved
forward with great treD-datiOn. AS
soon as approached within twenty or
thirty yards of him he began to advance
on charge. l had the old musket up
to my shoulder, cooked and ready TO
fire. When he had gotten within twenty
feet of me let fly at him with as good
aim as terribly scared man could take.
The ball struck him in the center of the
forehead, and he fell dead almost at my
feet. Getting into the wagon again,
we pushed on to camp without any
other adventure worthy of note. That
one nf tha most pypiFinp dave I
ever experienced, and the recollection
of it to-day causes cold chillS to creep
up my spinal column. REX.