The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1900-02-07


She'd reach in and take a mouthful
of loose flesh, set her teeth on it and
pull, and then, when the horse she was
biting kicked, she'd wheel and kick
too. After that we made Jeb tie her
with chain, and always TO something
that she could not pull apart.
She ruined ten horses, kicked one
mule to death, and another one so that
we had TO kill him, and she tore the
clothes all off of darky vino tried TO
feed her one day; but it got to be an old
story after awhile, and We didn't pay
much attention.
Nobody will ever forget the first time
she was seen in a fighS. You'd have
thought she was human, from the sense
she showed, and fiend nearnate from
the way she fought.
Our company had bee out on a sor-
tie, and We were on our way home, ev-
erybody giving Jeb and Blszes wide
berth, for she'd kick and bite every
thing in reach on the road as we'll as in
the stable, when we came upon a de-
tlehment Of rsSe cavalry between US
and home They had more men than
we did, but there was only one thing to
do, and that was to charge-and we
did il.
was abreast with Jeb when we got
the word, and I never saw anything
made of flesh and blood do what Blazes
did then. Jeb could not hold her any
more than you could a cyclone, and she
ran like streak Of lightning. In the
thirty or forty rods between US and the
eonfederates she got more than two
rods ahead of the rest OF Us, so she
struck the line first. I'll bet she COW
cred thirty feet at every jump, and fl
nally she took an almighty plunge into
the air, and landed plump on top of a
confederate sergeant and his horse,
knocking them both down as easily as
she would blade of grass.
She reared and plunged, struck with
her fore feet, kicked with her hind
ones. and used her teeth like a tiger.
She'd grab rebel horse by the throat
and tear out a chunk Of flesh; she'd
seize man by the leg or arm, and pull
him out Of the saddle and trample upon
him quicker than you could knock him
out with a saber, and every time she
Rad a chance she'd jump into the air
and land right on top Of horse and !
rider, and then bite and tear and strike |
her way through or past the next one
she met.
| don't see how Jeb ever stayed on
her back, but he did, and he came out |
without a scratch, too. Nobody ever
made fun of Blazes after that brush;
but her greatest fight was her last one.
We'd been out on q scouting and for |
aging expedition, and were on our way |
back when we had that set-tO. There |
were only ten Of us, and We thought /
We had got past the point where We |
were likely to fall in with any rebs,
when We saw full company of con-
federate cavalry coming over the top of |
a knoll not quarter of a mile away.
There was no use for US to try to run,
for we would only have run into their /
lines, and there wasn't a man there
who wanted to surrender, so we yelled
back and started TO meet them.
We came together, and in a second |
We were all mixed up. They surround
ed US like flies around honey-pot. We
were so few that We could not keep to-
gether, and every man fought for him.
self, regardless of the Others. Still, ev-
erybody could tell where Blazes was all
the time, by the commOtiOn she kicked
up; and when, in fight like that, one
thing kicks up enough commotion to
be noticed, you can bet it's moving.
I got a bullet through my right
shoulder, and another one in my left
arm, and was helpless; and just then
my horse got saber slip on the side of
his head which sent him crazy, and,
somehow, he managed to kick himself
out Of the melee before he dropped,
which he did with one of my legs un-
der him; but l was where / could see
the fight, and l kept my eye on Blazes.
Just as | discovered her / saw Jeb
Smith pitch head first out Of his sad
die. and l knew that the parson was
done for.
Blazes seemed to know il, too. She
bad been wild before, but she became a
perfect demon then. She must have
known that she had no rider, and most
horses quit fighting when the man is
gone OFF from their backs; but she
didn't. She only got wilder and went
in for vengeance.
She no longer paid any attention TO
the horses, but she went for the men,
and whenever she grabbed one she lit
orally tore him apart. Hundreds Of
shots were fired at her, and her body
was covered with blood from the saber
cuts she bad received, but she paved
and kicked, aud tore with her hOofs
and teeth, turning like cat, and bound
ing about with the ease and grace of
panther.
Then, when most of our men had
gone down, and when practically all
that there was left for the rebs to fight
was that wild mare, there was another
yell from the top of the hill, and | saw
three companies of our own men COM
ing to the rescue.
The Johnnies saw them, too, and they
broke and ran, aud, as sure as / live,
Blszes started after them.
She overlook the last man and seized
him by the shoulder, dragging him
from his horse to the ground. As he
fell be fired his pistol, aud the shot
went through her heart, but she clung
to her prey, and her body fell upon the
man who killed her.
There were only three of us left alive
out Of the ten who went into that fight,
and we felt almost as badly about Blaz-
es as We did about our comrades.
Poor Jeb was shot through the head,
and he never knew what struck him.
We buried him and the mare side by
side, and there wasn't a dry eye in the
crowd when we did it. She did more
fighting that day than the whole ten Of
NJ aud fhara vrara ovar tbrao hun1rad |