The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-08-24
CHASED BY A MAD HORSE.
A Nebraska Ranohman's Hard Ride
for Life.

Ansclmo, Aug "a stockmau named
! Thompson, owning the Happy Jack cattle
ranch, a few days ago was the hero of a
most startling adventure, in which he
barely escaped with his life. Thompson
was on his way to the Platte river. south
/ of this place, with herd of several hun
dred cattle, in search Of water, the small
! er streams having proven inadequate in
| supplying the vast droves of the neighbor-
/ hood. He was assisted by seven or eight
/ cowboys, a small number, scarcely suffi-
cient for so large a herd, and when one
| flank of the moving body of animals
wandered off in the night from the corral
| looking for the wherewith TO allay their
! thirst, it was necessarytfor fully half of
the herders to go after them, thus scat
tering the party. Thompson himself rode
! east, following the tracks of cattle which
! he took for his own, but which proved to
be those of a herd from lower down also
| going TO the Platte.
He had gotten out of sight of his assist
| ants and had dismounted to examine the
! trail, which he was beginning to suspect
was day or two old, when he observed
| horse running toward him at "A rapid gal
| lop. The animal was not saddled, but
| showed marks of being in recent use, and
| MIR. Thompson concluded that he had
! probably broken loose from his cwner and
| that the latter would soon be out looking
| for him, so he resolved to catch him.
| Advancing, the cattleman held out his
! hand to the stranger, but the animal
| snapped at him and made dart for the
| other horse, trying to bite and kicking
| out with his heels. Thompson now saw
| that the runaway was foaming in a man
| ner that meant more than heat from his
| gallop, and thinking that the animal was
| mad fastened to his horses help.
Flinging himself into the saddle he
! clapped spurs to him and made break
| for the place where he had left the still
| corraled herd. The frenzied horse gave
chase, and then began break-neck race
| for life over the prairie. Thompson pos
| sessed the advantage of having the ami
| NAL he bestrode fresh and under perfect
| control, while the pursuer was able to
1 run only spurts with the irregularity of
madness, and half blindly, but in spite of
| this he was sufficiently near to render the
| chase one of great excitement and danger,
| for, from the furious 1creature's belliger-
| ence displayed at first, it was easy to see
| what would be the fate of animal or man
| who fell before him.
So, without sparing rwhip or spur,
| Thompson flew over the ground with the
| mad horse only few dozen yards in his
| rear. The danger was increased by the
| existence of large cracks in the earth
| gaping for water, which was often quite
wide enough to admit of the horse he rode
| falling with one foot in them and break
ing a limb when he would be at the mer-
/, cy of the painting, raging animal close be-
| hind him, which allowed no time for
| picking the way over these pitfalls But
| the fiery little Spanish mustang ridden
| by Thompson seemed TO realize that his
! life and that of his rider depended on his
| skill in avoiding these cracks, and few
| over them like a bird, redoubling his
! speed whenever the horse following gave
| shril shrek of warning.
| Once Thompson saw rattlesnake
| leap out at the mustang as he cleared
clump Of tall prairie grass and sprang
at his heels, but the blow failed and fas-
| tened itself on the lower leg of the animal
| which came after, but, with the long,
| greenish body still hanging to it, the mad
! horse did not stay for moment, and as
the mustang paused for a second to gather
| itself for leap across a yielding place in
the earth, where some mole had once
| eXcavated its home, gained somewhat on
the flying pair. Looking back, Thompson
| saw the BEAST not more than thirty or
thirty-fve yards behind him, and think
| ing the horse almost upon him. dashed the
| mustang into run that made the ground
seem to spin beneath his nimble feet, and
was rapidly out-distancing his pursuer,
| when he felt the girth about his steed
| give way and checked him only in time
to save himself hard fall
The saddle slid off the mustangs back,
and Thompson, with his feet still in the
| stirrups, fell easily to the ground He
picked himself up and scanned the prairie
with anxious eyes for help of some sort.
! And to his relief he saw a a horseman
| riding across the plain quarter of mile
away, and standing up he halloed to this
| person. But at first his cries seemed in
| capable of reaching the man who directed
In l.
| Thompson stood shouting to him.
| At last, however, his attention ap-
| peared to be attracted by the behavior
| OF the mad horse, and, following him with
his eyes, he made out the ranchman and
| caught the latter's signals Putting spur
| to his horse the stranger came at a gallop,
| holding in one hand gun, which Thomp-
son saw with relief and joy, and just as
| the mad horse reached him, and he felt
| the hot breath from the open mouth
| t1ecked with bloody foam, shot whistled
! past his ear and struck the maddened an
| imal full in the forehead. He staggered
and fell almost under the mustangs feet,
biting and swapping about him in blind
| FURY; but the mustang, backing away
| from his fallen enemy, let fly at him with
his heels, and repeatedly gave him rous-
| ing blows in the side while the man who
| had come to Thompsons rescue reached
the group, and throwing his gun down
| on the agonlzed creature put an end
to its miseries and its powers for mis-
| chief
This timely help was cowboy from
| the Reginald Black ranch, who had been
| out shooting mule-eared rabbits, when he
saw Thompson's distress. He identified
| the horse as one from place near Broken
| Bow, which had been bitten several days
before by rabid dog, and had gotten out
on being seized in turn with hydrophobic
SYMPTOMS. Word had been sent to all the
nelghboring ranchmen to look for him.
for fear he might get among the cattle
! and carry the poison to them by biting
| them. The first day, however, he had
broken into drove of sheep and killed
twenty or thirty of them, beside biting as
many more, necessiQating their slaughter
Mrs. Henry G. Newton, Of New Haven, is
the first woman in Connecticut TO register for
voting at the coming school election The
last legislature BASED a law giving TO women
the right OF the ballot in school elections Mrs
Newton is the wife OF a lawyer in New Haven
and is herself practicing physician