Middletown transcript., 1892-03-10
oKL AHQMA hEROlNES.

UI16 V6uU4T6sOA10 WOlAOA SSh ORkO-
tunity to show what manner of spirit
was in them. In the rush for claims
and for lots in the Cherokee town
women were fully as active and
brave as the men.
At the original opening Missouri
girl rode from Arkansas City te
Guthrie on horseback, fairly flying
over the ground. She was on the
edge Of Oklahoma when the rush
came, and tore ahead of the men into
the town. She pounced on one of the
best lots, near the government Office
and stood her ground. Twice at
tempts were made to GUST her from
her position, but she had revolver
clinched in her right hand and the
interlopers did not venture. For two
DAYS she remained on the lot. Then
they told her the lot was In the mid
die of the street, but she did not give
up and got the land registered. II
turned out to be in the proper place,
and is now one of the most valuable
lots in Guthrie. She has leased il
for twenty years at sum which VIII
support her in comfort for that time.
The women who were called on to
take part in the rush as assistants OF
fathers or husbands showed them
selves also possessed of courage not
to be expected from their class OF
claim hunters. In hundreds OF In
stances It #as their ready wit and
supporting courage that enabled men
to keep the claims they acquired,
and often the women guarded the
place while the men went to the dis
tant town for provisions. The brav-
cry that fights poverty and trouble
is perhaps as glorious as that which
handles revolvers, and the patient,
hopeful wives and mothers in the
"prairie schooners," keeping up the
strength of weary children and their
own weary hearts by the mere force
of their indomitable win, deserve a
credit as lasting and loud sounding
as any of the prairie heroines.
One other case in which more than
manlike bravery was shown was that
of Mary Simpson, the captor of Tire
land" as noted frontiersman was
called. He was the terror of south
western Nebraska, and for months
his deeds rang from settlement to
settlement, creating CONSERVATION
everywhere. Fire, piIlage and even
murder followed his movements, and
many settlers home was turned to
mourning because Of his deeds. At
last public opinion could stand no
more, and when a little baby was
badly injured in the struggle that
took place when the desperate at
tempted to pillage a house along the
Platte there was a general turning
out of the neighbors to capture the
villain. He was run into piece Of
woods, and the forest was surround
ed by the enraged settlers Not all
the man hunters were men, however,
for number of women were present
to see the fray, and il necessary take
a part in it.
Among these was Mrs Simpson,
who was, with her husband, some
what separated from the remainder
Of the party. Suddenly they saw a
bearded man leap from the under
brush and start as If running for his
life for the opposite side Of the little
clearing in which they stood.
Mr.. Simpson was some distance
from the horse he had ridden, and
his wife leaped into the saddle and
followed the man, who was fast es-
Gaping. It was well that she had
not waited for her husband to come
up, for once on the other side of the
clearing Ireland found a horse which
had been left there by one of his
aides, and in an instant he, too, was
in the saddle and the race COM
menced.
It SO happened that Ireland must
keep due north in order to keep out
of the range Of a tangle Of trees and
underbrush. Mrs. Simpson, who was
to the west, lashed her horse on a
slanting course and drew constantly
nearer. Once the man fired a ball
at her. She was not hit, however,
and the race continued. History re-
cords that the woman had practiced
considerably throwing the lariat, and
now her experience came in good
play. Loosening her husbands lasso
from the ring of the saddle, she
whirled it in long curves around her
head.
At last, just as Ireland had reached
the open prairie and would be safe,
the moose went sailing out after him.
Down it settled, steadily and surely,
until it came taut with deadly jerk
about his neck. The captor had
stopped her horse, and the man was
dragged to the ground and soon was
in the hands of those he had
wronged. Many compliments were
spoken and written for this action,
and the name of Mary Simpson was
for a time familiar throughout the
western part of the state. st. Louis
Globe Democrat.