Semi-weekly independent. (Plymouth, Marshall County, Ind.) 1895-1897, 1896-03-14
a BUFFALO STAMPEDE.
Au Indian Chief Saves White Boy
from Being Crushed to Death.

down the nearest hill. and we SAW Il
slope. with long. lunging jumps. some
of them flinging their heels and tails
high in the air. jumping SidewiSc. and
baWling i'm Il mad. frcaEish way. Just
rs cattle sometimes plunge down Il hill.
half in play. half in Il state of nervous
excitement There WAS now Il ncYfecJ
bcdlam OF noise. and clouds of dust
were rising on all hands The chief
motioned To me to shoot.
| carried short thick barrelcd Duf-
falo-gunit was before the days Of
brecch-loadcrs- which threw an ounce
and half slug. aimed at Il bull some
fifty feet away. who offered broad
side shot i'm his paving The heavy
ball Knocked him off his feet. and the
next moment he was al the last gasp.
The chief also fired his rifle with
what effect did not see. for our shots
did not startlc even the nearest ami
mails, 50 great was the noise of their
own Rawlings, and 50 thick the cloud
of dust they had raised. \ mad craze
seemed suddenly to have possessed the
whole herd. for Il great crowd had
pressed down out of the Uvinc. and
hundreds were plunging down the
bluffs. The situation had suddenly be-
come startling and dangerous.
The chief. in alarm. sprang Ia his
feet. and threw the woll-Skin from his
4 in I.a len. Il
IDENTIFY counted on scattering the buffa-
lo. and frightening them off by our
first shots.
Instead. n tumbling mass of them
had gathered about the animal which
had shot. and. excited 10 greater
frenzy than ever 10y the smell OF blood.
were filling the air with hoarsc deep.
quavering roars which made the
ground tremblc under us.
The dust from the multiplying num-
bcrs which surgcd in toward us, per
vaded as it was with alkali. set me into
a paroXysm of sneczing and coughing
in spite of my intense alarm. II now
enveloped us in SO thick Il cloud that
we could practically see nothing. Sud
denly the chief seized me by the arm.
Come" he said. 1--WE go quick" and
we started on Il run. We lodged hithcr
and thither To get out of the way of
plunginc, bawlinG animals. many of
which hinged past within arms reach.
The dust had grown continuously
thicker. and my eyes. filled with the
smarting alkali. failed me utterly be-
fore we had run fifty yards. l WIS
again seized by Il violent fit Of cough
ing and snecZing.
| shouted to Little Bear. between
my coughings, that could not see.
He answered only. I'VE 90 quick
quick" and. keeping Il tight grip upon
my arm. jerkcd me this way and that.
rs we rushed ahead.
But. active and powerful rs he WAS.
lie could not save me in my blindness
from collision. | WAS hit Ivy one OF
the huge animals and knocked over.
The creature struck me on the left
side. ard | WAS wrenched from the
chiefs grasp and sent rolling over and
over in the dust. In fact. | was knock
ed breathleSs. half-Stunned. and could
not have arisen ut once of my own
/ accord | should have been run over
| and crushed but for the chief. As il
WAS. just had sense enough 10 know
| that | was ierlled from the ground,
| luSScd upward, AMI borne forward upon
! his shoulders.
He ran like IA deer. carrying me rs
! if had been Il papOOSe. jumping and
lodging this way and that. among the
| tiiron@ of animals. whose rumbln@
tread sounded in my ears like the NUT
icring of thunder
Twice he WAS run into and thrown
and we both measured our full lengths
hut he WAS on his feet again in al
instant. and, lifting me as before
dartcd ahead. seemingly unhurt. How
he maragcd to keep his eycsight and
!, MS bearings in that choking cloud
and among the excited mass Of ami
mails. is. and always will be, Il mys
! terry to me.
| BE, he did it,
He carried me out Of that believing
crazy crowd of animals. and set me
| upon my feet upon the hill above them
giving uttcrance to a huge grunt of sat
| isfactiOn when he found that could
stand.-Frank Welles Calkins, in the
February st. Nicholas.