Waterbury evening Democrat., 1890-01-27
A BUFFALO STAMPEDE.
The Living Wave That Was as Terrible aa
 Water Fire.

families has halted on the Loup Fork oi tho Platte river to cook dinner and rest their animals. It is midsummer and tho creek has almost disappeared. Here and there few barrels of water are left in deep hole, and again the bed of the creek is dry for hundred yards. The suns of July and August beat down on the great plains with terrible effect. Creeks run dry, rivers sink into insig- nitcance, the grass is killed to it's roots, and great cracks open in the baked earth to give convenient shelter to in sects and reptiles. Then woe to the man or beast who is far from water. Thirst will craze him in a few hours.
 There is water here for tho emigrant, such as it is, but the quantity is reduced one-half before the thirsty horses have had their fill. The men look up and down the bed of the creek, but as far as the eye can see in either direction there is no more water Last May this Loup Fork would have foated ship in it's channel, but the mountain snows have melted and no rain has fallen for weeks. As the camp fires are lighted and the dinner made ready, let as fly north 8 dozen miles. A hundred miles away is the Niobrara river, rising in the noun | tains far to the west, flowing in the same | eccentric manner. and it's bed also just as dry at this season of the year. Five | or six days ago herd of buffaloes num- | boring thousands drank their filloat the | Niobrara as they crossed it, working to | the South in fear of the Indian buffalo | hunters. who were abroad on the Dakota | line. and in hopes to find richer past..r- l age along the forks of the Platte. Here and there as they have pro- | gressed water has been found in small | quantities, but for thirty hours past n ot an animal has had a drop. The grass is scorched and dead the ground hot 10 | the feet and the almost solid mass, cov- | cring acre after acre. are almost quiet at this monday hour. Here and there one losses his head in anger as thirst torments him, and the others give ntter- ance to their suferingS by long drawn signs and moans
 Every animal has listless look, and you would say that it would require something beyond the ordinary to cause a single one of them to break into run. l The sun glaruS like ball of fire. The stirring of 50 many feet has filled the air with fine dust, to add still another torment to the situation. The OK or the horse would long ago have fallen to the earth to die.
 l See! Near the center of the herd great bull suddenly throws up his head and scents the air He is magnificent specimen-one Of the kings of the herd. | Does his keen scent bring the presence | of water over the dozen miles of scorched | plain? .s thoyo something to make him afraldt Ne .,,eeis around and around, he utA: hoarse bellows which excite the .nimals around him and in two minutes half the hcri is in a state of agitation
 Of a sudden with massive head held low as if to attack. with eyes blazing. with clo.s ,f foam :iying from the corn CTS Of t:s mouth. witt; a ferceness of iemeanor winch clears path for him. he heads tc the west ard charges through the herd He is followed by ten. thirty, a hundred. thousand. by every animal which can move. and now begins stam- pede A mighty living mass rolls over the plain. body more 60 be dreaded than a tidal wave sweeping iu from the sea, Movan.t,., in2tes .o new energy, a rivalry 10 reach the front, sort of madness which k:cws no fear for obstruc- tion
 The emigrants arc at their dinner and their horses arc feeding about them, when an alarm is sounded. One of the horses raises his head, looks tixedly to the east. and utters a shrill neigh of anxiety The men look up, The sky is clear, and there are no signs of
 Indians about. They make light of the warning and sit down. but a moment later half dozen horses are pulling at their lariats. there is ! trembling of the earth. and a man whose face is paler than death leaps up to shout:
 "A buffalo stampede, Take to the wagons.
 There is om for all and time for all, but as the men look to the east and see n that great living wave. two or three Q miles long, and mile wide, bearing 2 down upon the camp, they shout in dis 0 may and cry out in despair
 Nearer--nearer-comin straight on 2 r?addcned by their thirst and terrified Q Ev their own conduct, and there is a 2 chorus of shrieks and shouts-the re- 8 ports of two or threc rihes-a series of crashes which blend into one, and the camp has been plotted out. As the great wave itself hurls into the bed of the Loup and beyond. there is no sign of the camp no sight of the wagons-nothing to tell of the thirty human beings alive and well and full of hope only two , minutes before. All have been wiped out-blotted off tho face of the earth.- Detroit Free Press.
 Wounds Dressed With Saw-Dust.
 The use of fine saw-dust as a dressing for wounds and as a vehicle for medica- ments or antiseptics is suggested It is said that tho dust, freed from splinters and sharp bits of wood by sitting, when | used alone and dry, makes clean and T grateful dressing; that it readily takes up and holds the discharges without packing or adhering, and that it is easily rendered antiseptic by any of the meth ods used in preparing antiseptic cotton or wool. A wcll-known medical author ity also suggests that our yellow pine = saw-dust, rich as it is in turpentine, would prove of itself valuable antisep- tic application.--New York Telegram.
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