Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1890-02-12

! Ludi. DObQ PuISuci oASA puiSuCu SO1AiS "a
full speed, SO that it is about the height
of the legs. Then. BY suddenly stop.
ping the pony, who plants his torelegs
firmly to withstand the shock, by a
quick, sudden jerk the steers legs are
pulled from under him. and over he rolls
in the dust. This is precisely the man
ner in which Yerkes treated his strange
captive.
When everything was ready and the
line in position he pulled his horse up
suddenly and jerked the strange brutes
legs from under him. the mighty body
of the latter tumbled heavily all in heap,
but there was sharp, ugly snap as if
something had cracked. In word, the
| fall had broken its neck.
In a few minutes the four men were
grouped together standing over the car
cass and eying it in perfect wonder.
| "Wall, I'll be shot for a tenderfoot,
but that beats me-" said Jim Pepper.
.Where in the devil did he come from,
anyhow" exclaimed Bob Newhail
Yerkes alone was silent. After scan
ming and examining the creature closely
he at length uttered, in the most absolute
surprise: "Boys, that's camel as sure
as guns iron. Now, how in the name
of reason did he get in Texas? I've al
ways heard they lived in Asia or Africa,
but I'll be burned and scalped alive if
here isn't one in Texas. Let's go back to
camp, boys; I'm done herding and
branding. I'm going back to the states,
am"
The mystery, after all, is no mystery
at all, for it was really and truly a
camel. Another genuine camel was &C
tually caught by cowboy named Den
MS Madigon near the ranch of Col. Lewis
Wolhey, late of the Confederate States
army, in the vicinity of ella Bend, A. T.
1t was large one, measuring over nine
feet in height, and was supposed to be
an estray from the old herd that has
been roaming over the deserts of Arr
IONA and California since 1853 or 1859.
They were imported first for the purpose
of carrying freight from Inyo, Cal, to
Carson, New, and proving a failure for
this object, were turned loose to hustle
for themselves.
Just before the civil war the govern
ment got hold Of them and proposed to
make them useful on the frontier in keep
ing up communication between the
widely separated military posts, where
it became necessary to travel long dis
tances without water. They were never,
however, of much service, and upon
the breaking out of hostilities between
the north and south were seized by the
Confederate authorities and sent to Camp
Verde, about sixty miles northwest of
San Antonio. Here they were put in
service as mail carriers, often making
trips of 6fty-fve to sixty miles day in
dry, barren, hot country where no
American horse could have survived such
hardship.
AT the close of the war they again fell
into the hands Of the Federal authori-
ties, and were sold at auction in the city
Of San Antonio in 1856. They were
finally taken west to Arizona, and, prov
ing useless, were soon abandoned to
their fate. Wandering over the wild
portions of Arizona, New Mexico and
bers, but it was supposed that the In
dams had long ago killed them off. It
has since been learned that the red men,
superstitious and silly as they usually
are in such cases, regarded them with
great awe as strange creatures from the
clouds, and so fled from them in terror.
A few lonesome and forlorn camels
are yet drifting over the wild, unin-
habited places of the far southwest, so
that the novelty of a genuine camel hunt
presents itself to those in search of |
pleasures new" who care to travel the
long distance to seek them.-Atlanta |
Constitution.