Amador ledger., 1905-08-18
Mrs. Daugherty's Narrow Escape.

Mrs. Will Dougherty, OF Pitt street,
had miraculous escape from what
might have been death plunge into
a ravine 100 feet deep, last Monday
morning.
Her two little daughters were visit
ing at Mrs. Greenwood's, near
Middle Bar, and Mrs. Daugherty de-
clded to bring them home Monday.
She has always been accustomed to
handling horses, and had no hesit-
ancy in taking new livery horse
from Newman's stable, especially
when they assured her that it was one
of the gentlest in the barn.
Everything seemed to be all right
and the horse was behaving peautl-
fully, until about IL o'clock, just
after she had passed the Moore mine,
beyond Mrs. Billings place.
At that point the road is narrow and
runs along the edge of gully from
80 to 100 feet deep. Turning out
places, at intervals, are dug into the
hillside at the left. Reaching this
narrow strip of road, Mrs. Daugherty
noticed horse and buggy app1 oach-
ing from the opposite direction. 1t
was the first she had met. She was
horse woman enough to know that
she should turn out to the right, but
the road being so narrow, and the
horse strange, she decided to turn to
the left intu one of the widened
places and wait for the rig to pass.
AS the team approached her horse
grew very restless and reared up in
the shafts. Mrs. Daugherty spIang
from the carriage and took her horse
by the bit, an action which undoubt-
edly saved her life, as the horse began
to paw and back. The plucky woman
was thrown on her right side in the
road, bnt Immediately regained her
feet and again caught the bit. The
horse continued to back until the
buggy was over the bank, and he tell
across the narrow edge himself. Mrs.
Daugherty still hung on, and by this
time was joined by the driver of the
other team and third man who had
just arrived on the scene. Together
they succeeded in unhitching the
frightened animal from the wreck of
the buggy, and getting him into the
road. A small bush little distance
down the gully was all that saved the
buggy from dragging the horse down
to sure death.
The shafts were, broken and the
harness in pieces, but with the aid
of ropes the two men SUCCEEDED in
tying the wreck to the horse, and
Mrs. Daugherty pluckily expressed
her determination to drive the rig
back to town.
While they were hitching up,
Ginocchio's delivery wagon drove up
in the opposite direction with Mrs.
Daughterty's two children aboard.
During the excitement Mrs. Daug-
herty said she felt no pain, but after
it was all over she found she had no
use other left arm and hand. She can
account for it in nc other way than
that the horse in rearing, jerked so
hard that it sprained the left
shoulder. The doctor says that no
bones are broken, but that the arm
and shoulder are badly wrenched.
Mrs. Daugherty wears her arm in a
sling and says her right side is black
and blue from her fall in the road,
and beyond a severe shaking up OF
her nervous system she feels all right.
In relating the incident, Mrs.
Daugherty said it was the first time
she ever jumped out of carriage to
handle an unmanagable horse, but
congratulates herself on breaking the
rule in this instance. The prompt
decision not only saved her own but
the horse's life as we'll.
q a s. T @ -