The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-07-10
LAID THE TRAP IN A CANYON.
THE ATTEMPT TO CATCH THE
EQUINE GHOST OF THE PLAINS.
His Speed Had Enabled Him 10 Es-
cape Many, Many Times. bat in the
Narrow Canyon with the Herd He
hind Him He Was HeIpIess-The
Fate of the Magnificent Steed.

manu- MIN nc " as hcAptcse-lAe
Fate of the Magnificent steed.
From the Philadelphia Times.
Some forty years ago l was travelling
through the western portion Of Texas and
spent several years at San Antonio de
Bexar. As a 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 frequently called me
great distances from San Antonio. and into
the unexplored wilds where the mustang
horse, the wild bull, the tiger cat. num-
berless 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 nifty 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. A wild
horse is considered the most wary animal
on the plains, ana they can scent a man
five miles away, if the wind is favorable.
1t was d common thing 10 see among a
band of these horses animals of all the
colors natural to the horse-piebald, clay-
| bank, strawberry, roam, calico, 'ringed,"
streaked and striped. coal black and snow
white without spot or blemish.
The Mexicans at that day in that section
carried on quite a successful business cap
turing and DEMONSTRATING the mustang, and
as is usual among that class of frontier
people superstitions entered largely into
the nOmadic lives, especially in regard to
wild animals the capture of snow white
animal being considered by them a lucky"
omen, provided the animal was without
Gfepq1Orp1 hair n animal NJ this kind WAS
looked upon with somewhat of reverence,
similar to the sacred white elephant of
India.
And then there was ranging over the
vast plains what was known in their SUI
perstitiOus legends as the calvo blanco,
snow white stallion of the most perfect
symmetry and name and tail that had the
appearance, when the horse was in full
flight, of two long white banners exposed
to stiff breeze. In fact, no one had ever
seen the horse in any other attitude ex-
cept in fun flight, and in such speed as to
appear as a winged spectre sailing through
the air at electric speed, his feet not SEEM
ing to touch the earth.
Coupled with the extreme wariness and
unaccountable speed of the animal his un-
blemished Wilderness caused the ignorant
border Mexican to look upon him with su-
perstitious awe. Another unusual thing
| connected with the history of this peculiar
1 animal was the fact that he had been
/ sighted by different parties at different
| times in other ranges, several hundred
/ miles from where he had been a few
1 months before, and positively identified as
| one and the same horse. These character
| istics of the horse had settled the fact so
| conclusively in the naturally superstitious
minds OF the swarthy plainsmen that he
was a phantom that he had become known
among them as the Equine Ghost of the
Plains.
While reclining in the shade of a luxu-
RANT evergreen, upon 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 fragrance from
the beautiful variegated carpet of wild
flowers spread out upon the whole land,
listened TO my Mexican guides in their re-
lation of those legends with an amused in
terest, not doubling the existence OF such
an animal but as to the supernatural part
of the story l had grave doubts, and l had
formed an Unsuitable desire to see with
my own eyes the much-talked-of horse
ghost" of the plains.
At that day there was a stretch of wild
and unsettled territory of seven or eight
hundred miles west of San Antonio reach
ing to Paso del Norte, now FL Paso City.
The Mexican guides knew every mustang
range in this whole wild section of coun-
try. and could with great precision locate
their ghost horse from the course taken
by him in his last flight
While listening to these weird and awe
inspiring legends of the guides l had be-
come deeply imbued with a desire to cap
ture such a beautiful animal as this
equine ghost" and had formed in my
mind a plan to secure him alive, if such
thing was possible; and having just finish
ed my contract in that particular locality
and had a few days rest from the arduous
labors to which l had been subject for
several weeks, l felt that a scene Of that
nature would restore my wonted spirits
and satisfy longing desire for a change
of business for a spell.
In laying my plans before my Mexican
guides ! had great difficulty in getting
their unanimous consent to join me in the
undertaking, but by much coaXing finally
succeeded, and after swearing them on
the cross" to be loyal to me set about
forthwith to carry out my plans with
great enthusiasm.
The range in which the ghost" was
thought to be was some forty miles dis
tant, near the head waters of the Neuces
river.
In our course to the range we entered
after two days travel, deep, broad can
yon, covered with a luxurant growth of
rich mesquite grass and clumps of palm
cactus, and after proceeding a few miles
up the canyon we came to a patch of
thorny chapparal, a perfect jungle, reach
ing from one wall of the canyon to the
other. and so dense, except in the very
center that nothing larger than a jack
rabbit could possibly penetrate. The only
pass through this thicket was through a
narrow foot-path in the center, running
parallel with the canyon and only wide
enough for a hundred yards or more Tor
single horseman TO pass by a terrible
scratch" right and left. The path then
gradually widened out into funnel shape
to the abrupt wall of the canyon on either
side. After reaching a space wide enough
for the whole party to collect a council
was held in order to discuss a bright idea
that had forced itself into the mind of an
inventive genius of the party The plan
suggested was to set snares along this
narrow pathway by means of our strong
forty-fOot stake ropes, in such a position
that the foremost horse, in his wild STAN
pede, once entering the path could not
fail Of running his head into the moose the
other end of which was secured to stout
grub, solid enough to hold an elephant
The moose was so arranged directly across
the path that the lower part would just
strike the breast and the upper part just
high enough to miss the highest head Of a
badly frightened and widest horse on the
plains Five Of these snareg were ARA na-