Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1902-12-31


the back of that place to liberty. She
was pointing for home, too, when Jeb
saw here.
Here, your he yelled, and she stop
ped and waited while he went up and
caught her.
We fixed up the stable, but we passed
unanimous resolution that Blazes
couldn't tarry there any more. so the
parson took her about twenty rods
away and tied her to a fence. Then he
gave her some oats, and you'd have
thought she was the three graces rolled
into one, she was SO quiet But it did
not last long.
She finished her oats, and maybe
she got tired or thirsty or something.
Anyhow she pulled away one section
of the fence and broke loose from that,
and then she started for the stable
again. Some of us heard the horses
squealing and kicking, and we went
down to see what was the matter, and
Pm blessed IL BlaZes wasn't trying to
eat them. She'd reach in and take
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 some,
| thing that she could not pull apart
There wasn't thing that lived that
| could get within reach of her, except
Jeb, without being hurt, but she never
tried to injure him, and never saw
man SO fond of anything as he was of
Blazes. She ruined ten horses, kicked
one mule to death and another one SO
that we had to kill him, and she tore
all the clothes off a negro who 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 fight. You'd have
thought she was human from the sense
she showed and fiend incarnate from
the way she fought. Our company had
been out on sortie, and we were on
our way home, everybody giving Jeb
and Blazes a wide berth, for she'd kick
and bite everything in reach on the
road as well as in the stable, when VIC
came upon detachment of Confeder-
ate 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 it.
Old Mac gave the word, and we
started, yelling like so many devils, in
tending to cut our way through and
keep right on. was abreast of Jeb
when we got the word, and never
saw anything made of flesh and blood
do what Blazes did then. Jeb couldn't
hold her any more than you could hold
a cyclone, and she ran like a streak
of lightning. In the thirty or forty
rods between us and the Johnnies she
got more than two rods ahead of the
rest of us, so she struck the line first.
I'll bet she covered thirty feet at every
jump, and finally she took an almighty
plunge into the air and landed plump
on top of johnny and his horse,
knocking them both down as easy as
she would blade of grass.
You should have seen her then. She
reared and plunged, struck with her
fore feet, kicked with her hind ones,
and she used her teeth like tiger.
Shed grab a Johnny's horse by the
throat and tear out chunk of flesh,
she'd seize a man by the leg or the
arm and pull him out of the saddle
and trample upon him quicker than
you could knock him out with saber,
and every time she had 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 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 john
MES when we saw full company of
Confederate cavalry come over the
top Of knoll not n quarter of mile
away. They saw us, too, and they
gave their yell and started. There was
no use for us to try to run, for we
would only have run into their lines.
and there wasn't man there who
wanted to surrender, so we yelled back
and started to meet them.
| A hundred men against ten is long
odds, and none Of us had much hope OF
getting through, but we knew that
Blazes counted for about ten more, fol
she had been in many fight with us
since that first one.
We came together, and in a second
we were all mixed up. They surround
ed us like flies around honey pot. We
We're 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 a fight like that any.
thing kicks up enough extra commotion
to be noticed you can bet its moving.
got bullet through my right Shout
der and another one in my left arm
and l was helpless, and just then my
horse got saber clip on the side Of his
head which sent him crazy, and some
how he managed to kick himself out OF
the melee before he dropped, which he
did with one of my legs under him.
But was where l could see the fight,
and kept my eyes on Blazes
Just as discovered her / saw Jeb
Smith pitch head first out of his sad
die, and knew that the parson was
done for. Blazes seemed to know it
too. She had been wild before, but she
became 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. If
she had been n tiger or lion, she could
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