The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-02-15
A MEMORABLE CATTLE STAMPEDE.
One of the Most Desperate Affairs in
Cowboy Annals.
From the Waco (Tex) IndependI


Of cattle ever Witnessed by a Texas cow
boy, says Rev. j. b. Cranhl Of Waco,
occurred in 1876 on the prairie in the cen
Ter OF which now stands the town of NJ
Gregor. Fifteen thousand cattle and TWEEN
ty-hve cowboys participated in the ex-
citing event. Mr.. Cranhl was not n par
ticipant, but tells the story as he got 1t
from an eye witness. Late in the after
noon OF July there had been a lively
thunderstorm that made the cattle REL
yous, At 10 O'Clock at night however
they seemed to be sleeping profoundly
Then the narrative proceeds as follows:
The stars were all shining, and there
was no cause al all for the arousing OF the
herd. They appeared to set up all at
once, with q single purpose, and the roar
that was heard seemed to come from a
single throat The Wilson brothers and
their cowboys, who were size Jng in the
camp, rushed to their ponies who were
grazing with the saddles ana brides on.
and as fast as The bits could he placed
in their mouths they mounted and gal
loped to the tanks of the nav disappear
ing mass, headed in the direction OF the
Brazos river
The usual course on such occasions is
to get in front of the herd a risky piece
OF Work-and start it to running in cir
Gle, Ihls attempt was maze In this case.
Some cattle can outrun others ard in this
case there was bunch OF about fifty fully
twenty yards in advance. and towards
this leading group the two rescEers rode.
OF the leading group also some were fast
er than others, and this group ran in a
diamond shape, with two immense steers
leading ALL When Mr.. Wilson and his
companion reached the two leading steers
they began shooting revolvers close to
them, and in that way the bunch was
made to oblique and as the leading bunch
of cattle obliqued the main stampede
obiqued, and the first stcp in milling
had been taken. BY this dne the cattle
were getting tired. Nearly Eve mics had
beeen covered and the breath of the lead
ers was coming short and painfully; but
they were rushing on because the front
cattle at this time knew, as a matter of
fact, their only safety was in keeping
up the run. Thos behind were corning
ard they were in the majority and the
leaders Y ere compelled to run There was
real danger for the forward members of
the stampede.
Sin the invoice articles contained In the
regulation outfit there is always some
kind of stimulauts; and but for the slim
ulants contained in MIR. Wilson'S outfit, 1t
is possible that the stampede would have
been halted without disaster. He had a
Mexican along, one of the best COWBOYS in
the Southwest. This Mexican and his horse
always reminded those who saw him ride
of the tabled Centaur, He rode far forward
and bent over, 50 that he had his horse
appeared to be one animal. No horse how
ever rugged, wild and wooly' had ever
been able to unseat him. This Aztec had
been to the little brandy runlet too often
and had filed and emitted his tin cup
with surreptitious intoXicants, so that his
usual excellent judgment went awry. When
he succeeded in getting mounted after
having fumbled with his bride a good deal
he was far in the rear, and the stampede
had gone past him, so that when he over
took the rear end he passed to the front
on the other side, and rode on the wrong
flank. When he reached the head of the
herd he was just in time to defeat the ma
neuver then under execution of bending the
moving mass from a straight line to
semi-circle. Revolver in hand disregarding
the other men. he began shooting in the
faces of the wild steers, and the effect of
this was to straighten the run and bring
the advance straight toward a precipice
This precipice was a wash in the prairie
forming a deep ravine fully 30 yards wide.
and in a shorter time than it takes to tell
of this contretenps, the head of the col
umn was pouring over. a horrible cascade
of beef plung,ng madly 10 destruction
while fleeing from an imaginary danger.
when Mr.. Wilson and his Ieutenants
saw that il was impossible to save their
ly turning a right angles at fun speed and
riding out of the way. They next return
ed to the flank and held council of war
A few seconds decided them, and all hands
commenced shooting into the herd. the OBJ
ject now being to build a breastwork of
carcasses and save the rear end from the
destruction that had overtaken the front
The 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 tumbled over on the others, and In
short time the gully like the sunken road
at Waterloo, was bridged by carca sses.
The herd surged up. in pillows, like an
ocean, and bent now, because it could
not do otherwise. The semi-cirelei was
formed and Wilson and his men crossed
the gully below and rode around the OPP
posite side and recrossed; and in a short
time they had the. cattle halted; forming
an incomplete letter o, and there they
stood, blowing believing and shivering.
All hands remained on watch all night, and
in the morning, when a count was made,
1t was ascertained that 200 head were
missing. There were afterward 200 pairs
of horns taken from that gully. II was
called Stampede gully for many years aft
erward, and perhaps will always, with
some people, be remembered by that
name"