Omaha daily bee., 1897-01-10
DAKoTA's DARING Cowgirl"
Miss Bessie Hill of Leon md Her Life
Hurseback.

| Miss Bessie Hill of Leon and Her Life
on Horseback.
One of the most celebrated of the now IA
nous. enterprising and intrepid Dakota girls,
who reside in the great cattle country west
OF the Miss ouri river is Miss Bessie Hill, the
postmaster at Leon, Stanley county. Miss
Bessie not only attends to her duties as rep
resentative of Uncle Sam in that wild region,
but does great deal of the riding after her
fathers stock, pulls cattle out of the mire
by means of a rope attached to the horn OF
her saddle, brands calves, breaks bronchce
and is considered one of the best "cow
hands" between the Missouri river and the
Black Hills.
Miss Hill uses the regulation cowboy sad
die, and wears divided skirts, sombrero and
gauntlet gloves. She is an expert with a
lariat and crack shot with rife six
shooter. One of her favorite diversions is
to lasso wild Texas steer saddle and bride
him, mount upon his back and turn him
loose upon the prairie. She claims that
these animals are quite as easily subdued
as the average broncho This daring young
woman is 16 years OF age, tall and handsome,
with unusually pleasant manners, and no
one from casual observation would imagine
for a moment that she POSSESSES so much
nerve and almost reckless courage.
Her parents formerly resided in Blunt,
S. D., but nearly seven years ago, when a
portion of the great Sioux reservation was
opened to settlement, they removed to
Stanley county, which is embraced in the
ceded lands, and engaged in cattle raising.
Since then Miss Bessie's most intimate
friends have been cowboys and Indians,
and she has learned to ride, shoot and
throw lariat as naturally as duck takes
TO water. About year ago the young woman
had narrow escape from freezing to
death on the open prairie. 1t came about
in this way: Hearing that one of her
n hat haA hna t,fa, ,tna.
some time had been seen on the Cheyenne
river, she saddled the best horse in the
corral and set out upon an eighty-mile ride
after the stray broncho She left the home
ranch early in the morning and rode gaily
away over the hills and draws" that were
covered with withered but nutritious alkali
grass, past punches of horses and cattle
that looked up in surprise at the sight of a
human being, and along trails made by
Indians long before the white ranchmen had
dared to invade their territory.
Everything passed off pleasantly until
nearly sundown, when suddenly the heavens
became overcast with ominous gray clouds.
few large and feathery flakes of snow
began to fall Then the flakes became
smaller and fell thicker and faster. Dark
ness quickly set in The trail became cov-
cred with snow and indistnguishable in the
darkness. The perplexed girl swerved her
morse first one way and then another, and
at last stopped short. She was lost Alone
on the prairie, miles and miles from any
habitation and Dakota blizzard sweeping
down from the northwest-the outlook was |
certainly gloomy enough.
AS Bessie sat there che recalled how |
few years before Sidney Barnes was found |
only half mile from the ranch with the |
bride rein of his horse still clutched in his |
frozen hand She thought, too, Of many |
other tales of death and suffering occa-
stoned by storms ON these same hills, and |
with a shudder she clinched her teeth and |
urged her horse forward into the snow and |
darkness. How long she wandered about |
In the cold and storm she never knew, but |
at last her horse pricked up its ears,
snuffed the air and. taking the bit between
mis- teeth, fairly flew along the road that was
utterly invisible to his wondering rider.
When he stopped, the dim outline OF log
ranch, with Its corrals and sheds, loomed up
up before her. Bessie shouted at the top
OF her voice. but receiving no reply, she
tossed the reins over a fence
post ana tried the door. II was not locked
and swung open at her touch. Again the
the girl called loudly, but no response came
from the darkness within. After listening
a moment, Bessie cautiously entered and
began feeling about for matches. She fun
without success. but at last a lucky move
sent box tumbling off a shelf and scat
tered Its contents over the floor.
A rapid examination convinced her that
the place was evidently an ordinary bach
alor's camp and its proprietor had been gone
only short time but who or where he was
she had not the remotest idea. However, IL
was not time to stand on ceremony SO Bes.
sic III lamp. kindled a fire In the stove
and then led her horse to the shed. After
supplying him with an ample amount OF hay
she returned to tho house. The fire was
burning brightly. The girl cooked and ate
supper from provisions found in the cup
board and then sat down by the fire to dry
ler clothing and wait for daylight.
Tho hours rolled slowly by until about Q
'cock In the morning. when suddenly a
ieavy step sounded outside the door Bessie
tarted and trembled In spite OF herself