The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1898-02-08
STAMPEDE GULLY.
HOW A WELL KNOWN RAvlNE IN
TEXAS GOT ITS NAME.

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Night. and Before They Were stoppe,
e,1o0 of Them Were Knled-Costl
Biunder Made by . Mexican Cowboy.
One of the most desperate stampede
Of cattle ever witnessed by Texas cow
boy, says Rev. j. B. Cranfill Of Waco
Tex, occurred in 1876 on the prairie il
the center of which now stands the
town of McGregor. Fifteen thousand
cattle and 25 cowboys participated il
the exciting event Mr.. Cranfill was not
participant, but he tells the story as
he got il from an eyewitness in The
Independent Late in the afternoon of
July 4 there had been a lively thunder.
storm that made the cattle nervous At
10 o'clock at night, however, they
seemed TO be sleeping profoundly. Then
the narrative proceeds as follows:
1.-The stars were all shining, and
there was no cause at all for the arous-
ing of the herd They appeared to get
up all at once, 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 10 their
ponies, who were grazing with the sad
dies and brides ON, and as fast as the
bits could be replaced in their mouths
they mounted and galloped TO the fianks
of the now disappearing 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 circle. This attempt was made in
this case.
Some cattle can outrun others, and
in this case there was bunch of about
90 fully 20 yards in advance, and to-
ward this leading group the two rescu-
ers rode. OF the leading group, also,
some were faster than others, and this
group ran in diamond shape, with two
immense steers leading all. When Mr.
Wilson and his companion reached the
two leading steers, they began shooting
their 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 obliqued,
and the first step in milling had been
taken. By this time the cattle were get
ting tired. Nearly five miles had been
covered, and the breath of the leaders
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. Those behind were coming,
and they were in the majority, and the
leaders were compelled to run. There |
was real danger for the forward men,
bers of the stampede.
In the invoice of articles contained |
in the regulation outfit there is always |
some kind of stimulants, and but for |
the stimulants contained in Mr.. Will |
SON. outfit it is possible that the stam- |
pede would have been halted without
disaster. He had Mexican along, one
OF the best cowboys in the southwest. |
This Mexican and his horse always re- |
minded those who saw him ride of the |
tabled Centaur. He rode far forward |
and bent over, so that he and his horse |
to be one animal. No horse, |
however rugged, wild and woolly, had |
ever been able to unseat him. This Az. |
tee had been TO the little brandy runlet |
too often and had filled and emptied his |
tin cup with surreptitious intoxicants, |
SO that his usual excellent judgment |
went awry. When he succeeded in get
ting mounted, after having fumbled |
with his bride good deal, he was far
in the rear, and the stampede had gone
past him, so that when he overlook 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 |
maneuver, then under execution, of bend.
ing the moving mass from straight
line to semicircle. Revolver in hand
the other men, he began
in the faces of the wild steers,
and the effect of this was to straighten
the run and bring the advance straight
toward precipice. This precipice was
o wash In the prairie, forming deep |
ravine fully 30 yards wide and in a
shorter time than it takes to tell of this
the head of the column was
pouring over, a horrible cascade Of beef,
plunging madly into destruction while
fleeing from an imaginary danger.
"When Mr.. Wilson and his lieutenants
saw that it was impossible to save their
cattle, they saved themselves by dexter.
ously turning at right angles at full
speed and riding out Of the way They |
next returned to the flank and held a
council of war. A few seconds decided |
them, and all hands commenced shoot
ing into the herd, the object now being
to build breastwork of carcasses and |
save the rear end from the destruction |
that had overtaken the front. The gull
ly was nearly full of cattle by this
time They were snorting and below
ing, 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 carcasses. The herd surged |
up in pillows, like an ocean, and bent |
now because it could not do otherwise.