The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1903-04-08
MAN KILLING HORSE
THE WAY HE ACQUIRED HIS HATRED
FOR HUMANKIND.

Il All Began with the Cruel Treat
mcnt He Received In His Colthood.
Vicious Incidents That Marked His
Downward Career.
The development of a vicious horse
from an innocent colt is described by
Sewell Ford in one of the stories IN
Horses Nine" The colts disposition
was first spoiled by ignorant and cruel
handling on the farm of one Perkins.
Then he was sold, and his subsequent
career is thus pictured:
In the weeks during which he trailed
over the fruit district of southern Mich
igan in the wake of the horse buyer
Blue Blazes learned nothing good and
much that was ill., He finished the trip
with raw hooks, a hoOf print on his
flank and tooth marks on neck and
withers. Horses led i'll bunch do not
improve in disposition.
Some of the scores the blue roam colt
paid in kind, some he did not but he
learned the game of give and take.
Men and horses alike, he concluded,
his own. he must be ready with teeth
and hoofs. Especially he carried with
him always a black, furious hatred OF
man in general.
So he went about with ears laid back,
the whites of his eyes showing and
bite or a kick ready in any emergency.
Day by day the hate in him deepened
until it became the master passion. a
quick football behind him was enough
to send his heels flying rs though they
had been released by n hair trigger. He
kicked first and investigated afterward.
The mere sight of a man within reach
ing distance reused all his ferocity.
Toward his own kind Blue Blazes
bore himself defiantly. Double harness
was something he loathed. One was
not free to work his will on the de-
spised driver if hampered by a pole
and mate. In such cases he nipped
names and kicked under the traces un-
til released. He had special antip-
atby for gray horses and fought them
OH the smallest provocatiOn or upon
none at all.
As result, Blue Blazes. while know
ing no masters, had many owners,
sometimes three in a single week. He
began his career by filling a three
months engagement as a livery horse,
but after he had run away dozen
times. wrecked several carriages and
disabled a hostler he was sold for half
his purchase price.
Then did he enter upon his wander
ings in real earnest. He pulled street
cars, delivery wagons, drays and ash
carts. He was sold to unsuspecting
farmers. who, when his evil traits
cropped out, snapped him unceremoni-
ously and with ingenious prevarication
by the roadside In the natural course
of events he was much punished.
Up and across the southern penin-
sula of Michigan he drifted conten-
tiously, growing more vicious with
each encounter, more daring after each
victory. In Muskegon he sent the driv-
er of grocery wagon to the hospital
with a shoulder bite requiring cauter-
iZation and four stitches. In Manistee
he broke the small bones in the leg Of
a bakers large boy. In Cadillac a
boarding stable hostler struck him
with an iron shovel. Blue Blazes kick
ed the hostler quite accurately and
very suddenly through window.
Between Cadillac and Kalaska he
spent several lively weeks with farm
ers Most of them tried various tam
ing processes. Some escaped with
bruises and some suffered serious in
jury. At Alpena he found an owner,
who, having read something very con-
vincing in horse trainers book, elab-
orately strapped the roan's legs ac-
cording to diagram and then went into
the stall to wreak vengeance with
riding whip. Blue Blazes accepted one
cut, after which he crushed the aveng-
er against the plank partition until
three of the mans ribs were broken.
The Alpena man was fished from un-
der the roau's hoofs just in time to
save his life.
This incident earned Blue BlaZes the
name of ''man killer" and it stuck.
He even figured in the newspaper dis
patches. "Blue Blazes, the Michigan
Man Killer" "The Ugliest Horse
Alive" "Alpenas Equine Outlaw
these were some of the headlines. The
Perkins method had borne fruit.