Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1897-07-14
wREsTLEs WITH A STEER.
The. Curious sor, of spl... Texan IA.
Introduced.

1nfrOuuceQ,
Most everyone has heard of lions
wrestling with men, but here for the
first time is an account Of the strangest
contest ever held between man and
beast. A giant colored man of Taylor,
Texas, jumps into a small inclosure
with pugnacious Texas steer and en-
cages in catch-as-catch-can wrest-
ling bout, in which the man does not
always come out best by long shot.
r. E. Barker, of Taylor, is now or
gapizing a great cattle roping contest,
and this season he will visit the fore
most cities of America, and this novel
wrestling match is one he devised for
the entertainment of the public.
A colored man in his employ, who
goes by the name of Lige, is the one
who performs this act. He is giant
in form, being six feet four inches in
height, and weighing 225 pounds. his
every muscle is like iron and stands
out like those of the Nubian slaves of
old, who did battle with wild beasts
for their lives in open arenas, while
royalty looked on and applauded. This
act that Lige goes forth to do smiling
ly, however, is every whit as exciting
as any of those old-time contests, and
would make the blood tingle in q
Spanish bull fighters veins. And, in
deed, this contest is very similar in
some respects to the hull fights of
Spain, with the one exception, that the
steer has the best of it here, as the
colored man is totally unarmed, and
goes forth to the fray depending sole
" upon the strength of his brawny
arms.
When one gazes upon those massive
arms, with their huge punches of
muscle showing up and glistening like
hard knots of polished ebony, 1t Is re-
allied that the beast has by no means
an easy victory before him.
A ring is made and inclosed in the
same manner that an amphitheatre is
built for prize fight. The foor is
made of earth and sprinkled over with
sawdust. Then the steer, maddened
by his confinement, is turned loose III
the arena to dash around the sa&dust
ring and paw the earth in his defiance.
Then the giant appears upon the
scene and makes his bow to the spec
tators. The contest is on. AS soon
as the steer catches sight of his antag-
onist there is wild rush, a quick
scramble of flying feet, and the spec
tators see through the flying sawdust
that man and beast are locked in fierce
combat. Sometimes it is several min
utes before fall is scored, and the
combatants struggle all around the
arena. And it is fierce struggle, too.
The favorite clinch Of the colcred
man is to clasp his arms tightly around
the steers neck just behind the ears,
and, seizing one Of the animals ears in
his mouth, he endeavors to twist his
neck in such manner as to bring him
to the ground. When the steer wins
fall it is usually no fun for the col,
.ored man, as he is thrown up in the
air, and when he strikes the ground
again he has plenty of evidence that
the beast has won. Sometimes it is
necessary for tho employees to rush in
and drag the colored man out from
under the hoofs of the enraged animal,
but as rule he is very agile and does
not allow such thing to happen.
Tie contest, outside of the very
novelty, is intensely exciting, and viii
1 doubtless create something of sensa
,stion when given in the cities of the
Essss-ss&hicago Times Herald.