The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1903-04-19
LADY OF THE LARlAT.

The only expert woman lariat-thrower
in the United States is Mrs. Frank w
Chamberlain. wife of the gentleman cow
boy in Arizona, says the New York
World
Mrs. Chamberlain can handle a rore
with a dexterity that has made her fam
out throughout the cattle regions of the
west. She is a wonderful horsewoman
and a skillful general in a wind-up.
Born in Michigan, Mrs. Chamberlain
has spent the last eight years in the
west Her husband has been coaching
her in the work for years. but some II
her most remarkable swings she invented
herself
Using a fifty-yard rope, Mrs. Chamber
lain can capture a racing broncho with
astounding certainty and ease. In a STAN
pede she is as cool as the best and few
are quicker and surer with the rope than
she.
She dresses for her work in a blouse
and boomers and rides astride. Such dex-
terity as hers would be impossible IN
skirts She takes exercises that would
swings a two-pound dumbbell.
With her fifty-foot rope Mrs. Chamber
lain, standing well poised, throws circles
back of her, in front. over or at side
the spinning rope being started with a
small circle which gradually enlargcs
as the rope is paid out. She next holds
the circling rope, first in her right hand
then upon the wrist and forearm, and
then on the left hand, wrist and arm.
This is called the 'shifting-circles act,
and is one of the most difficult known.
Then, ,enircled by the spinning rope, the
woman leaps into and out of the revolv-
ing loop without marring a curve. An
instant's hesitancy, a single wrong move,
would send the fifty yards of rope out
in a horizontal line and cause it TO col
lapse in an instant
To a reporter Mrs. Chamberlain said:
"A mistaken impression prevails as tc
the way the lasso is handled. The idea
that the loop is always swung around the
head before making a cast, especially
when the roper is on foot, is erroneous.
NO man of experience, or woman,
either, ever makes cast in this fashion
from the ground in practical work.
There are several good reasons for
this The movement Is likely to fright n
the stock, especially horses and. and the
lariat-thrower may have to wait some
minutes before a favorable opportunity
occurs for making a cast He knows that
better results are obtained by holding
the rope as unobtrusively as possible,
even keeping il concealed from the oo-
ject of capture if the animals are tim!d
and nervous.
When mounted and in pursuit, how
ever. il is absolutely necessary to swing
the loop around the head, for the cast
must be made with the greatest possible
force.
AS to the matter OF casting. some
ropers cast with a quick, jerlSy movement
of the hand. seeming to use the arm
very little and the body not at all. Others
employ body hand and arm Both meth
DDS are effective when perfected by
practice. I prefer speed with very little
lost motion. The fewer movements the
better. especially in bunch of excited
or irritable cattle.
But not TO the man who belongs all
the credit of marvellous skin in the ma
nipulation OF the lasso He has an able
ana Indispensable coadjutor in his hovse.
one Of the first lessons a young brencho
learns and one which. once mastered. he
never forgets. is not to run on rope.
After this he is said to be rope broke
or 10 have rope sense In catching a
horse with a lariat ne Is Invariably sr-
cured by the neck. Cattle. on the other
hand. are seldom caught by the horns or
head unless IL IS necessary 70 lead or
throw them
IF a roper either on foot or horseback
Che IS nearly always on horseback wishes
70 secure a calf OF a maverick he en-
ploys what Is known IN ranchiag pari-
anee as .heeIinz'fhTox. The moose being
go cast that Il catches the animal BY the
hind foot o. feet as desired There ara
ais., numerous fancy footfhrowE ~hi y
have mastered and which in r0u- &
up OF broncho chase 1 uss % Advantage
Among Others Il that wherein ver-
teal circle IS describes with TIE iartzf.
the loop revolving forward froTn the rdsr
in such fashion as 20 cstch the feet %
the tailoring animal The horizontal -
tarv circle IS rotated around tire PER
former. VIII hidinz his sine. casts i fss-
ward IL the path Of ;he animal ~ vhscH
n : n pursuit Il tn exact i-stsnt TIA
Ms r-acsgcea sye tells hin !. wi -
effective
Trick throwing requires irce-s7ns
practice. ard WHEN olcr mastered 200 are
sure az having gift fhat All prove vasu-
sbie and ertoyaSle- ExhEhstion work INST
OF necessity be sous~hst aiss-41t fr>a'