The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-03-02
HORSE SWIMMING TO EUROPE
rNLFsS IRIS DROW VED siIIED
VS. nm 0tTE


W. ~ - - - W NNFHfN wv
IhaHasga. int Fsits N Nahe Usad
Somewhere ~ beyond He'll rnte,
swimming tho Fast River or Inna Island
Spund, q voluntary prisoner on Black
wells Island of IN explorer NJ TIM wilds ~
Harlem. Tho BronS or Queens, isa brindled
bronze frun Texas. Catch him and rctufn
him ~ Anton Arnheiter, liveryman, az i5t
tast Finy.third street, and collect reward
or salvage, The price will be liberal. for
tho e~Nerrisp NJ control over this particular
bronco IA no eaay matter. But maybe
tho bronco ID NJ the bottom NJ the river
or The Sound, dead.
Mr.. Arnheiter thought he had the horse
from the Western ranges inIrod to the
customs ~ the city. william Nolan 81
49, Avenue A rented II late yesterday after
noon and learned otherwise. A. the fret
changing NJ the hell ~ an electric car the
bronco bucked and jumped in IA many
directions ~ the wind takes around the
Flatiron Building.
Mr.. Nolan reached up on the reins and
tried To check the proceedings. A little
side stepping on the part Of the bronco
and the driver was on the cobblestones, cut
and bruised. but glad to be alive and
ont Of danger,
This happened at Fifty -eighth street
and Second avenue. Feeling a free rein.
the bronco extended itself and g%alloped
ioyously toward the East River with the
runabout bounding up and down behind.
An iron railing six feet high was in the
way, but the horse went over 1t as easily
as a steeplechaser over a brush hurdle
and disappeared from view dow an EN-
bankment sixty feet above the river.
Only half of this embankment Is IA sheer
precipice; the remainder slants to n level
space at the foot, and this level space IL
separated from the river by a wall. The
slanting portion il composed of craggy
rocks. No one knows how the horse landed,
whether on its head or feet, on the sharp
rocks. But seemingly it struck on its side
and rolled over and over to the level space
near the river. At any rate, when Mr..
Nolan. saw it. it was bucking up, down and
sideways in this level space. its sides torn
and bleeding. but its legs sound and its
spirits as high as were its legs most Of the
time.
Mr.. Nolan summoned the liveryinan by
telephone, The liveryman got DR.. Gill, a
veterinary surgeon, Samuel VaRan, an
agent of the s. p. c. A., and Policeman
Heisler of the East Fifty-first street station
house. The veterinary and Mr.. Haines's
man agreed that an animal with so much
animation was worth saving and though
apparently in pain ought not to be killed.
The policeman set about devising a way Of
getting the animal back to the street level.
There was no possibility Of guiding the
horse to a place where the bank slapted
easily enough to permit leading him out.
A derrick, it was decided, was out Of the
question. From Q to 8 o'clock they delib-
Grated, and then the problem was settled
for them by three oarsmen who rowed up
from the Allen Point Boat Club, three blocks
below.
Gee a line" said one of the oarsmen,
alift your horse over q low point In the en-
bankment there and throw it to us. Well
do the rest"
A strong halter was placed around the
bronco's neck; it was helped over the en-
bankment and heaved into the water with
a great splash. Then the process of towing
up stream began. This was facilitated
by the tide and by sturdy swimming on the
part of the horse. 1t seemed as much at
home in the water as on land. Often the
Ina wser was slack from the speed the romeo
developed, and in his way, the animal con-
tinually swimming toward deeper water,
boat and tow made good time and got fur
Their out into the stream.
At Sixty-sixth street, where the incline
of the river bank permitted a landing,
there came a tug of war. The oarsmen
conquered, for the broncho was firing,
and he was dragged to shoal water and
held there.
The veterinary and the agent now de-
cided that the horse was so badly injured
that it would be a humane thing to kill it.
The policeman would nave nothing to do
with the slaughter.
He's made. a good fight for his life"
said Heisler, "and he's won the fight. 1t
isn't for me to kill him now"
VRe agent said he would execute his own
sentence If the policeman baked at it,
Taking a position on the rivers edge, about
six feet from the horse, he took careful
aim and fired, while the others turned
their heads.
Zip went the bullet clean through the
ha wser. Splash vent three oarsman into
the river, and away toward He'll Gate.
with a farewell snort, went the bronco
from Texas.
That was the last any of the men saw of
him. He was not even wounded by the
revolver fired at him point blank from a
distance of only six feet. He was swim
ming strongly as he vanished in the black
ness that hung over the river.
THAT horse has lots of life in him. said
Policeman Heisler as he wandered back
to his post. Hell find a landing some
where II has to swim to Europe for it,"
up TEn CHARGEn