The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1895-08-02
TIE SNOW WHITE STALLION.

| from the Philadelphia Times.l
Some forty years ago was travelling
through the western portion OF Texas,
and spent several years at San Antonio
de Bexar. AS civil engineer, a great
deal of my time was spent out Of doors,
many miles from any settlement or
habitation Of man, locating land claims
and perfecting titles. My business fire.
quently called me great distances from
San Antonio, and into the UNEMPLOYED
wilds where the mustang horse, the
wild bull, the tiger cat, numberless red
deer and wild turkey abounded in all
the freedom of untutored nature, and it
was not an unusual occurrence to see
bands of from fifty to one hundred wild
horses on the run at full speed, making
| their escape from the face of man ere
they had caught sight Of his approach.
| wild horse is considered the most
| wary animal on the plains, and can
| scent man five miles away If the wind
is favorable. 1t was a common thing to
see among a band of these horses ami
mails of all the colors natural to the
| horse--piebald, claybank, strawberry,
roam, callco, hinged streaked and
striped, coal black, and snow white,
without spot or blemish.
The Mexicans at that day in that sec
| ton carried on quite a successful bust
ness capturing and DEMONSTRATING the
mustang, and, as is usual among that
class of frontier people, superstitions
enter largely into their nomadic lives,
especially IN regard to wild animals,
the capture of a snowwhite animal be
ing considered by them lucky omen,
provided the animal was without a dis
colored hair An animal of this kind
was looked upon with somewhat of rev.
erence similar to the sacred white ele-
phant of India.
And then there was raging over the
vast plains what was known in their
superstitious legends as the cavallo BIZ
anco snow-white stallion of the most
perfect symmetry, and name and tail
that had the appearance when the
morse was in full flight of two long
white banners exposed to a stiff breeze.
In fact, no one had ever seen the horse
in any other attitude except in full
flight, and in such speed as to appear
as winged spectre sailing through the
|
ing to touch the earth.
Coupled with the extreme wariness
and unaccountable speed of the animal,
his unblemished whiteness caused the
ignorant border Mexican to look upon
MIN with superstitious awe. Another
unusual thing connected with the histo-
ry Of this peculiar animal was the fact
, that he had been sighted by different
| n1rtinc diff tpna In
ranges, several hundred miles from
where he had been a few months be-
: fore, and positively identified as one
and the same horse. These characters
tics Of the horse had settled the fact so
conclusively In the naturally superstf-
tious minds Of the swarthy plainsmen
: that he was phantom that he had be-
+. come known among them as the Equine
| Ghost of the Plains.
} While reclining in the shade of lux
uriant evergreen. upon a bed of soft
moss mesquite grass, during the hours
Of the usual siesta, enjoying the cool
zephyrs that came floating lazily from
the Gulf of Mexico, laden with the fra
J GRANGE from the beautiful variegated
: carpet of wild flowers spread out upon
: the whole land. I listened to my Mexi-
SetiA SuitCS III liAVii NiStiO'i u 1tiOt'S ~
gends with an amused INTEREST," not
doubling the existence of such an anil
NAL, but as to the supernatural part Of
the story had grave doubts, and had
formed an Unsuitable desire to see with
E my own eyes the much-talked-of horse
; ghost of the plains
r At that day there was a stretch of
wild and unsettled territory of seven OF
eight hundred miles west of San Anto-
MO, reaching to Paso del Norte, now F.
, Paso city. The Mexican guides knew
! every mustang range in this whole WILD
section of country, and could with great
e precision locate their ghost horse
3 from the course taken by him in his
;, last flight
While listening to these weird ant
awe-inspiring legends of the guides
had become deeply imbued with de
!, sire to capture such a beautiful ANNA
! as this Equine ghost" and had formed
= in my mind plan to secure him alive
if such a thing was possible; and hav
| ing just finished my contract in tina
= particular locality and had few days
o rest from the arduous labors to which
. had been subject for several weeks,
felt that a scene of that nature would
f, restore my wonted spirits and satisfy {
longing desire for a change of bushes!
for a spell