Arizona republican., 1894-11-09
IN A TIGHT PLACE.
Ten Minutes of Terror Under Stam-
 peded Cattle.
The ProvidentiaI Escape of Four Men from Teing TrampIed to Death by Madly Rushing
 Herd.

Herd.
 ''Yes, we have an adventure now and then out in our country" said Judge Thompson, of Wyoming. If you'll come out and see us I'll refer you to five or six men whose hairbreadth es- haven't had but one close call worth relating"
 That's the very one I'm after" said the Detroit Free Press interviewer.
 'Well, it didn't amount to much as an adventure, I'm afraid, though I'm free to say I was never more frightened for ten minutes. Between what is called the Granite ridges and Bad Wa ter creek, in central Wyoming, is a fine cattle range. 1 was out with small party last summer prospecting for cer- tain minerals, and had to cross this val ley at about the center. There were four of us on horseback, with our outfit about two o'clock in the afternoon we sighted something to make the hair lift our hats right off our heads"
 ''Indians or grizzly bears?" queried the scribe
 -'Pish! The Indians were all right and grizzly bears don't wander down into the valleys by daylight. What we sighted was herd of about four thou sand cattle com ing our way, and they were coming as if every critter was carrying one hundred pounds of steam. Two or three herds got mixed, and in trying to separate them the boys had started general stampede. In the old days the buffaloes used to be some on the mad rush, but let me tell you that the wild cattle of the west can run a third faster, and when they once get started they will charge flaming mountain. The front of the herd wasn't over a mile away when we sighted it, and it was no use to run be- fore it, turn back, or ride ahead. Our horses were scrub stock and had no speed"
 And there was no convenient grove or rock to shelter you?"
 Not a tree nor rock for five miles around, but just where we pulled up was natural ditch about fifty feet long cut out by the rains. It wasn't over two feet wide by twenty inches deep, but it was our only hope. We slipped off o',r horses, gave them slap, and piled into that ditch face down."
 And the herd passed over you?"
 Exactly. I hadn't drawn three long breaths when the front of the herd was at hand. Let me just tell you that was never so scared in all my born days. Every critter was believing, horns clashing, hoofs dig ging up the soil, and as each one jumped the ditch he caved the dirt i'll on me. I felt fifty different hoofs scuff my back, and every instant ex- pected to be stepped on. It took the herd only about ten minutes to pass, but the time seemed hours long to me- When the last one had come and gone was regularly covered in and had to be dug put. Two of the party were stepped on and badly hurt"
 And your horses and mules?"
 ''Picked up on the horns of the cattle and tossed about and stepped on till they were reduced to pulp. Just cleaned us out as slick as whistle. If we'd been in our saddles nobody wonld have recognized us as having once been hu- man beings"
 Seemed like the hand of providence, didn't it?"
 ''Of course. That's what we look for and depend upon out in our country. Come out some time and see how the old thing works when we are going to have an avalanche three miles long by few thousand feet wide"