Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1898-03-03
AN ACCIDENTAL HERO.
.vINErA JIws" ADVENTURE ON THE
PLAINS.
Saving Herd Of Cattle by Mlstake---A
Daring Indian Escapade.--Now q United
States Official.

O1rtnx inoiau EsSapdoe'~No" ouueo
States Official.
"Vineta Jim" Is one of the officials
at the Capitol In Washington. He Is
man of great versatility and origin
atty. He is not known as "Vineta
Jim" here in Washington, but he is
best known by that name down in his
home In Tennessee and in certain Sec
lions of the West. He has a reputa-
tion as writer. a cowboy and an In
dian fighter. BY many he is regarded
as great hero. His friends here know
him best as a keen wit.
The other day he got confidential
with Star reporter.
Accident often makes heroes" he
said. Twice in my life / gained some
fame. l have enjoyed the sensation OF
being a hero and have had my cour-
age praised with loud acclaim, but
didn't have the courage to tell 1t was
all an accident But the fact Is that
things just happened to me so that !
couldn't get out of being hero, and
/ made the best of it,
Il went West from Tennessee to
|
tie ranges and was looking for job.
l knew nothing at all about herding
cattle. / could ride fairly well. as
| most Southern men can, and could
manage most any horse that another
man could, but knew nothing about
J herding cattle, and had no sort of con-
ception of what one of those big West
| ern herds was like.
] Il had hardly got into camp among
| the cowboys ON an immense cattle
ranch when something happened, and
the cry went up that there was STAN
pede. We were right out on the prairie
| and the herd of cattle, which was off
at some distance, was coming on the
| jump in our direction. The cowboys
| jumped on their horses and scattered
for high places. / had no idea how
serious thing a stampede of cattle
was. l had no conception Of the size
of the herd and did not realize the
| danger
IL rode straight toward the cattle on
the dead run, trying to head them off
| as | would q few cows in a pasture.
When l got pretty close to them the
thing began to dawn on me. In front
| of me were thousands of cattle, cover
| ing acres Of ground, bearing down to-
| ward me like a charge OF cavalry, fair
| ly making the earth lremble with the
stamp of their feet. Their dilated nos
| trils, great spreading horns, and bulky
forms wedged together in great rush
ing mass convinced me that / had no
business riding headlong into them. l
wheeled my horse around and put on
the dead run. The herd came thun-
dering behind me. At every jump of
my horse the bunch of cattle seemed to
get bigger. They were right behind
me. l was leading the charge. All at
my horse should stumble. l bore off
little to the right to get out of the
line of their charge. They followed
close in my lead Still more sharply
to the right l bore, but they were di-
rectly in my trail. They were follow
ing me to dead certainty, and / could
only guess what the finish could be,
but | bore off still more to the right
Finally l got into heavily rolling
ed quickly behind ridge and cut out
directly to the left along the sunken
ground, the ridge hiding me from view.
The cattle kept on bearing to the right
until they got to running in a great
circle and got mixed and wound up to
a standstill. When | appeared on the
top of a ridge mile away the cow
boys came over to me on the gallop.
Its the best | ever saw cried one
of them, slapping me on the shoulder.
I never saw cattle milled better
Il didn't know what he meant, but
saw he was pleased, so l said nothing
They were all overwhelming in their
praise of my milling They said had
saved the herd and took me up in tri-
umph to the owner of the ranch. There
was one of the cowboys l knew called
yellow John, who came from the same
county / did in Tennessee. l got him
aside and asked him what it was all
about and what milling was.
"I kinder thought you didn't know
what you were doing, he said, but
don't say a word He then explained
that milling was leading stampede
herd off their straight, headlong course
and getting them to run in a circle, so
that they would get mixed up and lock-
ed in bunch. Cowboys take the lead
of a stampede herd at the risk of their
lives to save the herd from destruction
or heavy loss; and this is what / had
done without intending to.
81 took Yellow Johns advice to say
nothing, and was made a great hero
of. l was at once taken into service,
and was the highest paid cowboy on
the ranch. With Yellow Johns as
sistance l managed to play out the
hand.
II was still enjoying the glory Of this
adventure when in 1882, the Creek war
broke out. and Lieutenant Black was
ordered to prevent q collision between
the two bands of Indians, one under
Specie and the other under Chicotah.
Lieutenant Black recruited his com
pany with some of the most daring of
the cowboys, and Yellow John and
were of the party. The two bands of
Indians had been advancing toward
each other, and were separated by a
range of hills, and there were but two
passes through which they could go. !
Lieutenant Blacks troops we're camped
near one of these passes Across the !