Evening capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1888-1893, 1892-04-14
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trnitv 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 a Missouri
girl rode from Arkansas City to
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 Oust her from
her position, but she had a 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. 1t
turned out to be in the proper place,
and is now one of the most valuable
lots in Guthrie. She has leased it
for twenty years at sum which will
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 was their really 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 will, 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 ''Ire-
land" as a 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, pillage and even
murder followed his movements, and
many a settlers home was turned to
mourning because of his deeds, AT
last public opinion could stand nc
more, and when a little baby was
badly injured in the struggle that
took place when the desperate at
tempted to pillage house along the
Platte there was general turning
out of the neighbors to capture the
villain. He was run into a piece OF
woods, and the forest was surround
ed by the enraged settlers. Not all
the man hunters were men, however,
for a number of women were present
to see the fray, and if necessary take
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 6
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 wGited for her husband to come
up, for once ON the other side of the
clearing Ireland found horse which
had been left there by one of hi
aides, and in an instant he, too, wa
in the saddle and the race com
menced.
1t so happened that Ireland mus
keep due north in order to keep ou
of the range of tangle of trees an(
underbrush. Mrs. Simpson, who wa
to the west, lashed her horse on {
slanting course and drew CONSTANT.
nearer. Once the man fired bal
at her. She was not hit, however
and the race continued. History re
cords that the woman had practiceC
considerably throwing the lariat, ant
now her experience came in goot
play. Loosening her husbands LASS
from the ring of the saddle, sh'
whirled it in long curves around he
head.
At last, just as Ireland had reachet
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 a deadly jerl
about his neck. The captor haC
stopped her horse, and the man wa
dragged to the ground and soon wa
in the hands of those he haC
wronged. Many compliments wer
spoken and written for this action
and the name of Mary Simpson wa
for a time familiar throughout thu
western part of the state. st. Loui
Globe Democrat.
Embalming Fluids.