Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1902-05-10


ance of the herd blindly following their
lead. Every man in our party carried
at least one six-shooter, and some had
a pair of them, and they were instruct
ed, in the event Of stampede, to ride
alongside these leaders, on the side op-
posite to the direction in which it was
desired to turn them and to fire in the
ground near their hoofs, in order to
turn them from their course.
Just before midnight we heard for
the first time faint rumble of distant
thunder in the southwest. The display
Of heat lightning also had increased
in intensity and slight southwesterly
breeze sprang up. The hoarse mutter-
ings of thunder became louder and
more frequent. We were now all or
dered to get into our saddles and be
ready for q stampede which in all
probability would Immediately follow
the first severe peal Of thunder.
1.-THE breeze had now perceptibly
freshened and we could hear the roar
Of rain rapidly approaching. The
steers all about US were getting on
their feet and uneasily moving about.
The suspense was becoming painful.
Suddenly binding flash lit up the en-
tire scene, almost instantly followed by
a crash Of thunder which rumbled d.
rectly overhead and slowly died away.
Big drops Of rain came down, and
presently it fell in torrents. Here and
there throughout the big bunch Of cat
tie could be heard a fierce below end
ing in a vicious snort.
"At last the expected happened when
a binding flash occurred, simultane-
ously with a report more like cannon.
A movement among number Of steers
on the edge Of the herd began. An
other flash of lightning showed 40 or
so leaders running at full speed to the
westward, followed by the entire herd.
1t was a magnificent spectacle. The
flashes of lightning were almost con-
tinuous and the plunging, crazy
steers could be plainly seen as they
madly tore across the prairie, their
heads lowered, tongues protruding
and their tails nearly erect and sway
ing from side to side and the earth
trembling beneath their tread.
"At the first break Of the leaders ev-
cry man had put spurs to his horse
and with drawn revolver was in full
pursuit of the flying column. AS we
slowly gained upon them we drew clos
er to their sides, and the first man
abreast of the haf dozen steers in the
extreme lead began firing at the
ground close to their hoofs. The 9TH
ers now drew near and a general fusil-
ade commenced. The leaders began to
swerve to the right and northward un-
til the course of the animals had been
turned almost to right angle from
their original direction, and it looked
as If further danger from the canon
had been passed.
But we had not included the fool
Mexican in our calculations. Instead
of coming with the rest Of the party,
he had evidently become confused and
had worked around on the opposite
and wrong side Of the leaders, and
the first thing we were aware Of was
the crack! crack! crack! Of his gun
somewhere on the other. side Of the
leaders. This attack on the part of
the 'greaser' counteracted all our pre-
vious efforts. The steers turned alb
ruptly toward US and straight toward
the canon. We were utterly powerless
to stem the tide Of the maddened brutes
and it was nothing but sheer luck that
prevented half dozen Of us from be-
ing knocked down. horses and all, and
trampled to death.
"As soon as possible we got out of
the thickest Of the steers and follow
ed them toward the canon, which we
knew must be near at hand. The fire.
quent flashes Of lightning still contin-
ued, and we could see the scanty line
of sage brush not 20 rods In front OF
the moving sea of surging steers. On
they went with fearful momentum, a
flying, resistless mass! We reined In
our horses and before they had fully
stopped the advance guard Of steers
had gone over the brink and disap-
peared. Over followed the others by
hundreds until it seemed as If the en-
tire herd was doomed to destruction.
Fortunately, however, the greater bulk
of the steers seemed to scent the dan
ger ahead and slackened their speed,
which gave some Of those nearest to
the brink of the canon an opportuni-
ty to turn, and the remainder OF the
herd divided, part going north and
the remainder south along the bank
Of the canon.
1T was an awful sight to look upon,
and when I saw those steers by the
hundreds shooting over the edge or
that Death Valley like huge missile
fired from a catapult, I was forcibly re-
minded of Victor Hugo's famous word
picture in Les Miserables,' Of the fatal
dash of the French cavalry into the
hollow road of Ohain at the battle Of
Waterloo.
I'm the morning we began rounding
up the scattered survivors of our herd,
and it was almost four days before we
finished the work. The young MeXi-
can who caused the damage, vamoosed
on the night or early morning of the
disaster and was never heard of again.
Before we left the vicinity of the canon
I visited the place where the steers
plunged over. The air was fairly black
with buzzards and when 1 leaned over
the brink of the rocky wall of the
canon and looked down upon the re-
sults of the stampede I could see q