Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1893-12-10
FORT WORTH WRITERS.
A PRAIRIE DOG FIGHT.

"About twenty years ago while trav-
NO., l., ,bo ,vestarn pnrt Of Texas said
e"nB II, '"o $3.50 ~. -, ha,,,,1 ro,os
gentleman On tne
aud Pacific train yesterday, 1t was my
goo1 fortune TO witness one of the most
49,, e.t,,. 20 ,, no and ,+ tl,n same
nov" "H"'9 VI ny ~ 49,, III
time pass through one Oh tue must NV Luz
experiences
A party oil thirty made up tne Whsom
train that was bound Tor one OF me many
mining towns lhat were, sprlnEiing Wy
everywhere IN new MeAleo' anu W. ~
crossing me part OF cAHs hloNh as ~
StDked plains. lhe land was very unr
ren IN pluces, no signs OF Negetuuon
anywhere, only ptalrie'uog tuMu u.
a few stalks OF cactus DOTTED lle yast
cNpdnse OF SAND me sun Wus scoIcu'hS
hot and not the. slightest breeze stirred.
! often wondered II we would over reaeh
our destination.
On the third day, OF our Trip across
the desert old Dan Timmons, veteran
miner and the only one in our crowd
who knew the lrhll' succ9mped 10 the
intense heat, and our niue party was
almost thrown INT, pane at the out-
come Of affairs We put our comrade
to rest in shallow grave. go
was al once chosen ieader; but
where 10 leau my TRENDS l ulu nor Know
Our water and provisions were nearly
gone ana our teams hnd 1904 enough
Tor abolt Two Gays more
we lolloWed the silEht lihll ior Two
Gays more ana lost M q heavy sand
storm anu sWept away an traces OF inc
tf9il Our water gave entirely out ana
mrs, ,hlrst DeCame mi9dIaen ms tne cry oil
water water coGlu ne henrd from every
pug surely !hs susbehSe could nor
last always we prayed that 1t might
ram or lhnt drhlh would come ana re
heNe us oil our suffering.
some one suggested that we take
rome Oh me rubber hose belonging to our
hyuIauno nlhihg outht and try some
w. w., We i,, '.l u2s noics LOT wafer, Iqr
w n9u hehru IL shid that those little
nnlHais hlWu!s 70 deep enough TO get
MMeri we thousht IL must be so or else
tnu't 7tDlu1CnS we're constructed accord
i".t,t "a " cHulei prluolp'e'
w no9e was procured from the wag-
Hpi ni JUG VIZ ih9le Ior z long line of small
nllH u"I''5 uhecrhlOle IN the eastern
V ..,I. .t., ,,r
l.. ~ tgNNucu 'ht nuns hpout O CLOCK
i T., .u Nv, MON, alu they proved to be
80 -, nay M Mn W hrst eNpected' ANA was
t"ss Va uIIiH luut ulNlued the desert
III III ,!'s PraIle' ,,,
..,i,i unp lhe mus lly beautiful
51tt. .. ., p.uiIle, aud the timber IN the
u t,. 'hut Delokened stream of wa
we NheW water was there, and all
were eager TO get here as quickly rs
possiplf' hnd IN our hurry togOt all about
me uog towns or thht we ran great risk
On stumbling INTO some OF the holes and
lNqu.iAs ourselves
re teams were Whipped up, and for
mus, al was smooth sailing, and the
covered spot seemed only half q mile
on W uol! would we never reach
wafer header, fancy Yourself travelling
y Whple uay VI me hot sun with the
pAfrhed, your eyes feeling as IL they
would burst from their sockets, thou
SANDS OF VIA visions running through
your ulsordered braln' and You will know
Mhnt unfold agonieS we suffered.
"Afier the first mile was reached, we
cNme 10 n dog town and our first team
OF four mules gave out and could go no
farther and one of the leaders Of our
second team stumbled into q dog hole
aud broke his leg and we concluded we
would abandon them and go on afoot.
we got within SIX hundred yards Of
the timber, and had 10 stop and rest.
II saw good-sized stream water
ahead and made one liual effort to reach
the bank and succeeded. and drank the
precious fluid until II seemed as though
| would burst,
81 filled my hat with water and started
hacl, TO whore my comrades were. ut
terly exhausted, and had almost reached
them when | stumbled into one of those
cursed dog holes Eel and could not rise
II glanced to my right and saw several
thousand tiny brown prairie dogs at
battle with as many huge Jack ,ahbits
1t seemed as though every animal Of
their sncClpS in the whole state was there
"'rhe prairie dogs would draw mn into