The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1894-05-30
MAN AND STALLION FIGHT.
1t Was a Struggle For Life Oh Mr..
Garside's Part.

His Two Stations, Both Blooded Horses,
Had Got Into a Fight and When He Sepa-
rated Them One Attacked HINT Bit
and Tore His Leg and Held His Right
Hand Clamped In Its Teeth for Minutes.
IN. Y. Sum-
Farmer Milton Garside, who lives in
big hollow in the Preakness Noun
tains, five miles back of Paterson, told
the story yesterday of the desperate fight
in which he was engaged on Friday
with the former racing stallion Foun-
tain. The farmer was stretched out in
bed too weak almost to talk. One arm
was done up in splints from the elbow
down. and SO was his right leg from
the knee down. These were the most
conspicuous evidences of the fight.
Farmer Garside is about 40 years old.
He is a lover of good horse flesh, and has
always owned one or more stations with
his other stock. He owns two at the
present time. Both are blood horses.
though the hard work that they have
had to do has made them look like rath :,
er ordinary beasts. Fountain, the small
er of the two, was running horse and
took part in many races hereabouts five
or six years ago. He broke down then as
race horse, and the farmer bought him
four years ago. He is eight years old.
Benefit, the second stallion, is only
years old. He met with an accident when
colt.qand he is somewhat crippled in
his forelegs, but he is more than able
to do the work required Of him ION the
farm. Farmer Garside has owned him
only year. On Friday morning the
farmer had some ploughng to do in front
of his house, and he hitched the two
stnllious together. He had always
driven them together without trouble.
He ploughed with them until IL O'Clock.
Then, "he said, noticed that Fountain
began to get mad. He didn't take to
the work. Every row he'd plough he'd
get madden. He showed it by swapping
at Benefit and kicking now and then.
Benefit went right along with MS work,
as gentle as could be. It was about i've
minutes before IL O'Clock, and we were
just turning for the last furrow, when
Benefit stun bled, and in recovering
himself he jerked the harness OF Foun-
tain bit. That drove the brute crazy.
He turned on Benefit like flash.
Benefit fell under him. Fountain
reached down and began to tear him.
Benefit fought back with his feet. I
was startled that I couldn't think Tor
a minute, and in that minute the two
beasts were rolling and tumbling over
each other, kicking and tearing. Blood
was streaming from Benefit where Foun-
tain had torn his flesh. He was at
disadvantage because he had fallen first,
and because his torelegs were crippled,
but he hit out like steam engine. When
l got nv senses back Benefit was pretty
nearly licked. Fountain was up, and
was lifting himself and falling on him,
biting and tearing every time he came
down. l grabbed a stone as big as your
head and ran at him. l got him by the
bride and began to pound him between
the eyes, hoping to knock him senseless,
but might as well have hit a stone
wall.
in minute he turned on me and
caught me by the calf of the leg. He
was back on his launches at the time.
l held on and beat him with the stone.
He tore the flesh from my leg. l guess
this part of the fight lasted five minutes.
l was nearly dead with pain, but kept
pounding him and trying to get away.
He kept tearing and biting. He had
torn my trousers leg off, and The flesh on
my leg was off to the bone. His eyes
were big and staring, and sparks seemed
to come from them. pounded and
pounded, but the brute was made of
iron. was just going to give up when
he got up on his hind legs. I made
grab for his bit. He made grab at the
same time, and he was too quick for me.
l thought l had him, but he got but he
got my whole hand in his mouth, and
his jaws came together with snap.
They broke every bone in my h and.
"Now I want to tell you something
that I've heard tell of but never knew
was true. That Is that when a horse
gets crazy and gets it's teeth shut on any
thing, it can't open them. There isn't
any doubt about that being true as the
gospel. That horse couldn't open his
jaws"
The farmer went on and told of the
struggle that followed the selling of his
hand. 1t lasted another five minutes.
He knew the bones were crushed to bits
and that the hand was gone, but he
didn't have the nerve to pull it off He
had dropped the stone, his only weapon,
when he had made the tyrab for the hit