The daily morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1883-1899, 1899-06-20
VENTURESoNiE OK GOES TO SEA.
An OK S.ar;s for Manila and Is Picked
Up by a Fisherman IN Has NJ, Down
n the Bar.


Astoria has the odd distinction Of hay-
jng an OK who took Il upon himself TO
undertake a voyage 20 sea with the In
;eu,ion SO the old salts along ,hc water
fr1ng allese. OF s0iug TO Manila 10 see
how the supply OF fresh meat tor the
American soldiers was holding out Al
least his oNship was making good
start toward an ocean voyage. Tor wntn
he was caught In a hshermans net he
was jus. reaching the bar and In half
an hour more he would have been out
on ,he broad bbsom OF the Pacific. win
little likelihood OF his ever again feeding
in the green pastures and drinking from
the ripping brooks OF his native oregon
hills
Saturday night, when car load II beef
cattle Was being unbaded at the depot
for the Astoria Meat Market the cattle
stampeded and three Of the steers jumped
on the dock IN the river. Sunday TWO
OF the steers were recovered. one on The
hills back of town. and the other was
found under the Ninth street dock wad-
ing around In the shoal water, but the
third Ok could no: be found sunday
evening y. p. Jonansen and Fred
Wright. two fishermen. who fish down at
the bar came up 10 the city, each hay-
ing a ha.f Of the missing OK In his boat
Their story Is that al 4 O'Clock that
morning Johansen was told By a nelsn-
boring fisherman hat there vas a seal.on
in his net. FOR he heard great spllsr-
ing as he passed by. Jbhansen at once
rowei over 10 the other end OF his net.
whore, instead Of the expe,;sd seal.on.
he found a big, red OK struggling 70 get
across his net. When he -ame near the
OK the animal freed himself from the net
and made a lunge at the boat, barely
missing punching a hole through :. with
his horns. Mr. Johansen decided 20 at
tempt 10 land his prize and az pnce began
to pick UP his net. Other fishermen at-
trac,ed by the commoti3n. came up and
one bJat veuuring too near. the OK
rammed Il In the side with sufficient
force 10 induce the fisherman % keep at
a respectable distance. Having picked up
his net Mr. Johansen and his boat puIler.
Oscar Benson, set about capturing the
OK. AZ er much maneuverng they sue
c-edeSl in lassolng him with their anchor
rope and sitting sail started with their
tow for Sand Island They were then
midway between the island and lowef
end Of the jetty and almost down 20 the
breakers on the bar. As there was a
heavy swell on the lower bay they could
not land on the sea side Of Sand Island,
so they took up the channel arbund the
! head of the island and made a landing on
the inshore side. As they reached sheJ
Of furnace grating weighing about ~
| pounds to the rope, IN the steer and
threw Il overheard. But the steer didn't
stop but dragged his anchor on inland,
and when JOhansen and his man landed
ne repelled them with all the dash OF a
rough rider. Mr.. Johansen did not have
gun. nor did any Of the crowd Of fsh-
! ermen who were laying of the shore
watching the circus a Russian boy
/ from among the boats concluded 10 90
ashore and investigate the situation WHEN
/ the OK made a nish at him and he took
TO water with q the speed hls legs could
develop. Having driven his enemies out
/ Of reach the * started on a tour OF the
| island and crossing over 10 the other side
spicd aelnlng crew at work Bowing
/ his back he made his anchor bound over
/ ths sand Ike scared rabbit and bore
J IL. f,411yTGrg
rush ike that Of the Oregon boys when
I they werr chasing Aguinaldo's braves.
The eelners stood not upon the order Of
their going but went, leaving their 'ackle
and rushing into the water In all the dig
order Of % Filipino retreat, where they
wer. rescued by their boat The infuri-
ated steer, r-'nlng daunted, took after
them IN tho water. and being hit by a
wave was own on his beam ends and
while tr"'ra % right ship fouled his
anchor m ID was thrown helplcssly
on the beach Fred Wright, a fisherman
VINO had seen service in the mountains
hunting elk, then ran UP 10 the OK be-
fore he could free himself and cut his
throat. Jooanren and Wright then d.
yled theoz between them and loading the
becs into their boats set sail for their
homes In this city.
There ar probably few instances On
record wha, an OK has taken as long a
swim as nd ris one, It being fully 13
miles fro where he went off the dock
to where he Tas caught in the net, and
It was five m es miles from that place 10
the landing ON Sand Island. That the
steer was not exhausted by his long
swim was probably due to the fact that
he was very fat, which gave him great
buoyancy, and being a strong 3-year-old