The Coconino weekly sun., 1895-06-06
A BACK DISTRICT MATADoR.
He vanquished an Angry Bull 9inglo-
 Handed and Thought Nothing os 1t.

|
 He vanqulshed an Angry Buil sineis- | Handed and Thought Nothing os It.
 ...You can find men equal to han. ding wild cattle without going to the western ranges,' said 2 Gotham sports man. q saw young Pennsylvania farmer tackle an ugly bull last Sep tember and get the better of him in great shape. For downright nerve and readiness his performance beat anything that ever came under my ob- servation. It occurred in a country district known as the Rock Hill neigh borhood, among the foothills of the Alleghanies, where l was passing 8 fortnight's vacation.
 ''I was going along the road afoot one morning on my way to a stream where I expected to find some good bass-fshing. passed an unusually neat-lookinR farmhouse, and quarter of mile beyond met the owner driv- ing yoke of oxen. He was a pleas ant-faced, stalwart young fellow, who handled his 'goad-stick' like wand, and he gave me a eheery good morn ing as we passed. A half minute later heard the believing of an angry bull and child's voice screaming in the pasture on the left of the road. A lit tie girl was running toward us, and after her came bull, big white Dur ham with short thick borns, who was cutting pace that would bring him to the child before she could get half way to the fence. A little red cape that she was wearing had excited the bulls anger.
 "I started for the pasture, but the young farmer was ahead of me. Keep ing hold of his goad stick with one hand he placed the other in the upper rail, vaulted over the fence as lightly as a trained Rymnast, and ran like deer for the child. He got to her just as the bull, about fifty feet behind her, lowered his head and broke into gal lop. Without stopping, the farmer caught the red cape from her shoul- ders and leaped in toward the bull two or three paces more, then sheered to one side, shaking the cape toward the animal as he ran. The bull, with his eyes fixed on the red cloth, turned as sharply as he could to follow it. and chased the young man, who ran in g direction to led him away from the child. For so heavy an animal, the bull handled himself with won- derful quickness, and, though he lost little ground in turning, he soon over hauled the farmer, who. at the last moment, faced him and jumped to one side, at the same time thrusting the red cloth in front of the animal. The short, sharp horns Tapped the garment upward as the bull rushed by, and the farmer, slipping behind the beast as he passed, ran for tree a short distance away, the cape thrown back over his shoulder. The bull set out after him, and by that time I had reached the child and was getting her to the fence.
 After had got the little girl safely over the fence l turned to see how things were going in the pasture. The farmer was playing game of tag with the bull and the tree, and he called to me that he was all right, and to stay where I was. The tree was a maple two feet in diameter, and, do the best he could, the bull couldn't get round the tree fast enough to overtake the man, or stretch his neck enough to reach him with his horns. The farmer had kept hold of the goad stick all the time, and as the bull thrust his head to one side or the other of the trunk, he received the sharp brad in his nose or a blow from the heavy butt on the tip of his horn, both very sensitive places in horned cattle. The bull got tired of the game first and backed away few steps, shook his head, and seemed to fall to thinking. Presently he took a mouth full of grass to help his meditations, then another and another. The farmer stood quiet and kept the red cloth out of sight, The bull kept on browsing, and seemed to have got all over the idea of fighting Presently he lifted his head, looked over at the cattle feeding at the other end of the pasture, and then, as if a sudden thought had struck him, trotted away to join them.
 .'The young man went out into the pasture to pick up the little girls ber- ry pail, and then Came back to the road laughing as if a tussle with fierce bull was the best of jokes.
 "'That's Q fine animal he said. "Did you ever see such neck and shoulders on a horned critter? Took first premium at five county fairs. got him for two hundred dollars after he killed Squire Kempton's hired man two years ago. It was the red cape that stirred his dander; but lord! he's the most peaceable beast in the world if you don't excite him.
 He gave the little girl her pail and cape and told her to go home, nodded to me, and started after his oxen, which were just turning into the farm yard. Here was hero who had done feat worthy Spanish matador, and he didn't know 1t or care about it."-