The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1897-01-29
Wild RIDE ON A BULL
TERRIBLE EXPERIENCE OF A PLucky
PENNSYLVANIA WOMAN.

Her laughter Dangerously Ill - Doctor
Far Avay-No Horse at Hand--A Wild
Steer Was Ridden-Thc Return Trip
Headiong Charge-A Heroic Exploit
The emergencies which made heroines
of so many women of the early colonial
DAYS have not even now ceased to arise
i'm some parts even of the older settled
portions of the country. An instance IN
this line occurred only a few days since,
and within q few hours ride of New
York, which might well go down With
some of the pluckiest exploits OF TIE
pioneer mothers.
In a desolate, lonely place near Star
acca, Pa, there lives family consisting
of husband, wife and young daughts'.
| The husband has to be away from homs
a good deal on account of the nature az
his work and was away recently when
his daughter was taken ill. The mother
exhausted her store os household RENEE
dies. but the girl grew rapidly worse.
There was not docsor within more
than four miles, and there was no neigh
Dor within reach to 60 Tor him.
But even that was not all the poo,
mothers source of perplexity. The girls
condition was fast becoming SO alasW-
ing that, desperate as the step seemed,
she saw that she must herself 60 for the
! doctor. And there las no horse to take
her. Her husband ives too poor to own
horse even if hs had much use for one,
which he had not The wild mountain
roads were rough a.-d c,~Sged in places
with snow. To think of undertaking
the Journey OH foot and ever getting TO
the doctor in time to bring him to the
sick girls bedside in season to bave his
service of any avail seemed litt' short
of madness.
But the doctor must be reached 9TH
erwise the child's death seemed certain.
The woman went to the doorway of hsr
little home and looked forlornly out on
the bleak wintry hills. Then an idea
came to her. 1t was desperate, but the
situation demanded desperate pleasures.
Among the live stock her husbah3 owned
was a young and frisky bull, b. ~Aly 2
years old, but rather tanned down by
scanty rations and the general winter
depression. He was skinny, and his
backbone suggested a serrated .idge of
miniature peaks. But the bru,a had
abundant strength to travel, ana IT he
could be dubbed into some sort OF se"se
he might serve as conveyance.
There was nothing to hitch to; he
must be ridden. So after exhaustive
maneuvering the plucky woman man.
aged to get rope tied to each of hia
horns, and, with strong club in her
hand, she at last managed to mount
him and head him out into the high
way. He proved very sensible and de-
Gently disposed sort if beast, obeying
the sharp jerks to the right and left
from the ropes OH his horns and gallop-
ing off finely along the road when he
was properly encouraged by the club. 1t
was not an equestrian expedition that
would quite do for the park, but the
poor mother thought little Of that. Sha
was after the doctor to come and save
her child from death, and after nearly
two hours rough jolting she got there.
The doctor was not at home, and il
would be some time before he would re.
turn, but his wife promised for him
that he should respond to that calIif he
never did to another. She urged the
woman tD wait and ride back with him,
, but she would not listen to it.
,, She must get back to her child, and
off she went again on her grotesque
mount. The bull had settled down to 6
philosophio acceptance of the situation
by this time and started off at brisl
: canter, possibly with some sordid asso
citation in his intellectuals between thu
homeward road and the shelter and fod
der at the end of it. About mile from
the house he saw man driving noun
tain wagon along the road in front o.
him, and that man had the inconceiv
able impudence to wear red shirt.
> From that time OH the return tril
{ was one wild, headlong charge. Thu
8 man heard the snorting and chatter be
Z hind him, and when he looked arount
r and got glimpse Of the awful night
: mare freak that was pursuing him h
O dashed his horses onward with the yer,
d frenzy of fright
!, There was no need Of the club now
i It fell by the wayside, and the woman
energies were devoted to hanging ON
She chung to the bulls back until h
n reached her home, when she rolled OF
o unframed in the snow, while the bull
"a and the man in the red shirt disap
IF peared in cloud Of flying snow an,
!, gravel over the crest of the nearest hill
i At the last accounts no tidings Of eithe
the one or the other had been received
n But the doctor came along soon afte
b and had two patients on his hands, fo
the mother, too, had to take to her be
It after her rough experience. Her daugh
"a ter's life was saved, however, and she
(. too. will soon be none the worse for he
heroic exploit. New York World.
70 Niagara to Have n Vast Hotel.