The sun., 1898-01-02
THAT WAS 4 STAMPEDE.
A Herd or d, 900 Cattle Broke for Galley
and ., 200 wero Lost.
From tho Waco Independent.

From the Waco Independent
One OF the most desperate stampedes Of cattle
ever witnessed by Texas cowboy, says tho Rev.
]. B. Cranfill OF Waco, occurred, in 1879, on the
prairie in the centre of which now stands the
town OF McGregor. Fifteen thousand cattle
and twenty five cowboys participated in the
exciting event. Mr.. Cranfll was not partici-
pant, but he tells the story as he got it from an
eyewitness. Late in the afternoon Of July 4
there had been lively thunder storm that
made the cattle nervous. At 10 o'clock at
night, however, they seemed to be sleeping pro.
foundly. The narrative proceeds as follows:
1.-THE stars were all shining and there was no
cause at all for tho arousing Of the herd. They
appeared to get up all at oncc, with single
purpose. and the roar that was heard seemed to
come from single throat. The Wilson brothers
and their cowboys, who were sleeping in their
camp rushed to their ponies, which were graz
Ing with he saddles and Id on and fbss
mouths they mounted and gallopod to tho
flanks Of the now Disappearing mass, headed
1.-THE usual course on such occasions is to get
In front Of the herd..a risky piece Of work.
and start it to running b in rirse oms fs at
outrun Others and in this case there was a
bunch of about flty fully twenty Yards Isl in a! ad,
rescuers rode. or tho leading group also some
were faster Than otLers, and this group ran In
eadnR n SRWHRh WRhen wilson and his
panion reached the two leading stoere they be-
gan shooting their rcvolvers close to them, and
in that way the bunch was made to oblique,
and as tho leading bunch of cattle obliqued,
the main stampede obliqued and the first step
cattle were getting tired. Nearly five miles
had been covered. and the breath of the leaders
was coming short and painfully; but they were
time knew US a matter of fact their only safety
was in keeping up the run: Those behind were
leaders were compelled to run. There was aan.
ger for the forward niemhors of the STAMPEDE.
the bsra s IN f6 o
tained in Mr.. Wilson's outfit, it IS possible that
disaster. He had Mexican along, one of
the best cowboys in the Southwest. This
Wbo eSisaM saw n him ride % Of tfe fabed Centaur Me
rode far forward and bent over. so that he and
his horse appeared to be one animal. No
sbe to This
been to the little brandy runlct too often. and
had filled and enptied his TN H. cup with suT1rep
Judgment went awry. When he succeeded In
getting mounted. after having fumbled with his
the stampede had gone past him, SO that when
he overlook tho rear end he passed to the front
he OF
just in time to defeat the mannuvre then under
execution OF bending the moving mas from a
straight line to semi circle. Revolver In
hand, disrcgarding the other men, he began
shooting In the faces OF the wild eteer and
the effect of this was to straighten the run and
bring tho advance straight toward precipicc.
This precipcc was a wash in the prairie, form
ing a deep ravine fully thirty yards wide and
in n shorter time than 1t takes to tell of this
contretcmps, the head of tho column was pour
ing over, a horrible cascade of beef, plunging
madly to destruction, while fleeing from an
when Mr.. Wilson and his lieutenants saw
that it was mpossible to to- save their cattle
ing at right angles at full speed and riding out
and held a council of war. few seconds de-
cided them, and all hands commenced firing
into the herd, the object now being to build a
brcastwork of car casses and save tho rear end
from destruction that had overtaken the front.
Tho gully was nearly full of cattle by this
time. They were snorting and believing,
crashing and tearing. and still heaping up. and
when the firing began the wounded ones tum-
bled over on the Others and In short time tho
gully like sunken road at Waterloo, was
bridged by carcasses. The herd surged up in
pillows like an ocean, and bent now because 1t
could not do otherwise. The scmi-circle was
formed, and Wilson and his men crossed the
gully below and rode around the opposite side
and recrosscd, and in short time they had the
ca''le halted, forming an incomplete letter o,
al there they Stood blowing. believing, shiv.
eging. All bands remained ON watch all night,
and in tho morning, when count was made. 1t
was ascertained that 200 head were missing.
from that gully. 1t was called stampede
Gully for many years afterward, and perhaps
will always with somo people be remembered
n I'm