The National tribune., 1904-09-01
ADVENTURE WITH A BUFFALO.
A Bull Who Was Not so Old and Weak as BE
Looked.

EDITOR NATIONAL TRIBUNE: To those
comrades who, from sense of duty, hav-
ing ventured to enlist, resided on the plains
during the years following the civil war,
and who were fond of hunting, and liked
to be in the saddle, the almost complete
determination of the noble buffalo was to
be regretted During the Winter of IA
the writer was the somewhat ignoble hero
of an adventure while approaching an I'M
mense herd, that had some serio-comlc
aspects, yet had it not been for the true
aim of Serg't Jno Fredericks and Corpl
Martin, 9Th Inf, there would have been
vacancy in the command at once.
The meat of the northern as distin-
guished from the Kansas buffalo was par
ticularly good, and it was customary to
send out from Fort Shaw small parties
every week. With a temperature at "a de-
grees below the writer started one January
morning with a party consisting of SIX
men and one sx-mue team for the region
of the Marais' No snow at that time was
on the ground, and thick buffalo grass and
no timber were the conditions as we camp
ed in coulee that night, after making
26 miles or thereabouts. The following
morning was a stnger; but in the noun
tains. at that altitude, with dry
atmosphere. the cold is not felt with
such extreme discomfort as in the East,
and we were surprised to see an immense
herd not four miles to the northwest, nearly
all quietly grazing. Desiring to get nearer
the herd gave orders for the wagon and
men to follow. and rode ahead until a half
mile in advance with a deep ravine on my
right running parallel to the course we
were taking. and in this ravlne, his back
hardly visible, appeared an old and battle
SCARED veteran of the herd. who bore every
mark Of extreme old age in outward ap-
pearance, but who had apparently lost lit
tie of the vigor of middle life. The best
hunters habitually ride right into the herd
and pick out the young cows and calves for
meat, and this duty devOlved upon more
skilfu hunters than myself: but seized
with a sudden desire to procure hump and
tongue before the others came up, | pulled
up the bay mare | was riding and shot the
bull. as I supposed, under the foreshoulder
and in the region of the heart. When
fired he plunged from cover and landed on
the bank, falling apparently dead. Ihrow-
ing my left knee upon his muzzle, and
plunging my knife into his thoat to start
the blood. l thought | was in fair way
objections. as his big eve glared in fury.
Almost instantaneously he rose and threw
me in the air. | landed 20 feet away, his
horn having struck and penetrated the
thigh very close to the body. and the scar
of the wound remains there today.
Sergt Eredericks and Corpl Martin, 7th
Inf, both good men, luckily had been
watching. and seeing the belligerent atti-
tude of the bull after throwing me, they
knecled and with their breechloaders made
some good shooting. dropping him before
he reached me. Had the horn of said bull
been less blunt the result would have been
much more serious. Although not seri-
ouslv hurt. the soreness of the wound. to-
gether with the intensely cold weather,
precluded the possibility of remaining in
the saddle. Subsequently as an onlooker.
saw them kill about 1000 pounds Of
young game. and it was then decided that
we would return.
would simply add that four days in a
hospital bed followed the adventure but
the sound Of facetious comrades CRYING
"Who killed the bnffalo?' did not cease for
months W. MIX