The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1893-11-02
WILD ri Dc B OR E.

A WILD ri g Fl B, Z IF &.
"a RI RANCHMAN CHASED BY "a q
MAD HORSE.
A Horse Bitten by Mad Dog Is Seized
Plays Havoc with Cattle and Sheep
Adventures of q stockman.
A stockman named Thompson. own
ing the Happy Jack cattle ranch in
Arkansas was lately the hero of
most startling adventure. in which
he barely escaped with his life.
Thompson was on his way to the
Platte river with several hundred
head Of cattle, in search Of water, the
smaller streams having proved mad
equate in supplying the vast droves
of the neighborhood He was as
! sisted by seven or eight cowboys, a.
; email number, scarcely sufficient for
SO large u herd, and when one flank
Of the moving body of animals wan
| dered off in the night from the corral
! looking for the wherewith to allay
their thirst it was necessary for full
I ly half the herders to go after them,
thus scattering the party Thomp-
son himself rode east, following tn e.
! tracks of cattle which he took for his
own, but which proved to be those
of a herd lower down also going to,
! the Platte.
| He had got out of sight of his as
sistant and had dismounted to ex-
anime the trail, which he was be-
ginning to suspect was a day or two
old, when he observed a horse run
ming toward him at a rapid gallop,
says the Philadelphia Times. The
animal was not saddled, but showed
! marks of being in recent use, and
Mr.. Thompson concluded that he
had probably broken loose from his
owner and that the latter would soon
be out looking for him, so resolved
to catch him. Advancing, the cat
tleman 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
the runaway was foaming IN 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 g.
break for the place where he had left
the still corraled herd The frenzied
horse gave chase, and then began a
break-neck race for life over the
prairie. Thompson possessed the ad
vantage of having the animal he be.
strobe fresh and under perfect con
troll, while the pursuer was able te
run only by spurts, with the irregu
larity of madness, and half blindly
but in spite of this h. was stuff GENTLY
near to render the chase one of great
excitement and danger, for, from the
furious creatures belljgerence dis.
played at first, it was easy to see
what would be the fate of animal OF
man who fell before him.
y So, without sparing whip or spur
/ Thompson flew over the ground with
! the mad horse only few dozen yard:
i'll his rear. The danger was in
) 7 creased by the existence of large
j cracks in the earth gaping for water
\ which were often quite wide enough
/ to- admit of the horse he rode falling
i with one foot in them and breaking
a limb, when he would be at thu
I nf hn
close behind him, which allowed NJ
y time for picking the way over thes'
pitfalls But the fiery little Spanish
mustang ridden by Thompson seemed
to realize that his life and that o
, his rider depended on his skill ir
: avoiding these cracks, and flew owe
,. them like a bird, redoubling hi
| speed whenever the horse following
/ gave a shrill shrek of warming
| Once Thompson saw a rattlesnak
leap out att the mustang as he cleared
! clunp' of tail prairie grass all
| | sprang at his heels, but the bio,
Z failed and fastened itself on tn
9 lower leg of the animal which cam
: after, but, with the long, greenisl
! body &still hanging to it. the ma
horse diG not stay for moment, an
q. as the mustang paused for secon
8 to gather itself for a leap across
yieldling place in The earth, wher
~ some mole had once excavated it
homie, gained somewhat on the flynn!
,. pair: Looking back, Thompson sa,
! / the beast not more than thirty O
thirty-five yards behind him, an
: thinking the beast almost upon him
= | lashed the mustang into, run tina
I made the ground seem to spin be
= meath his nimb]e feet and was rapid
ly understanding his pursuer when
"a felt the girth about his steed Civ
!, way and checked him only in time i
4 save himself hard fall.
The saddle slid off the mustang
a back, and Thompson. with his fec
n still in the stirrups, fell easily to tn
o ground. He picked himself up an
e scanned the prairie with auxiou
u eyes for help of some sort, and t
Is his relief he saw a horseman ridin
u across the plain a quarter of a mil