Tonopah bonanza. [volume] (Butler City [i.e. Butler], Nev.) 1901-1909, 1908-02-01
WILD HORSES AND
FAnISHED OYOTE
CHARLES KIRCHEN'S AWFUL EN-
COUNTER ON DESERT in
BLIZZARD.
0From Tonopah Daily Bonanza.)

VI III eNSN
Corporation, arrived from Typo last
night. after a most thrilling expert
ence on the desert. His auto vas
caught in a blizzard and at one time
II was feared that 1t would be i'm
possible to make Tonopah by night
fall. 1t was bitterly cold, and the
snow was whirled mp In feecy clouds
in and about the automobile, making
locomotion impossible.
Snowdrifts were piled up in front
of the machine and it seemed as II
nothing short of a snowplow could
move the heavy white masses. Mr..
Kirchen and his companion We're
Obliged to get out and shovel the
snow from in front of the machine,
while the chauffeur proceeded along
in jerks and spasms. For n stretch
the men shoveled the snow for a dis
lance of half a mile. Then they
climbed back into the machine, and
it was plain sailing for a mile or
two.
Just as they thought that they
were out of their trouble, they went
around a curve, and the nose of the
machine buried itself in a bank of
snow for nearly three feet. The
travellers were compelled to get out
again. and it was about all they could
do to move their stiffened limbs, but
they went manfully to their tasks
and while they were in the thick Of
their work a band of wild horses
swooped down upon them, making a
dead set for them. The chauffeur
yelled to them, and none too soon.
One of the wild steeds came head on
for the machine, and the others fol-
lowed in his train.
Charley Kirchen is a well devel-
oped athlete, but he was hardly in
condition for athletic feats. He saw
at a glance that if the direction of
the horses was not changed, they
would come a cropper into the ma
chine, smashing it into bits, perhaps
killing the occupants. Quick as 4
flash he jumped at the leader, shovel
raised on high. On came the leader,
and then swat! The shovel descend
ed with a wide swipe and nearly
i. knocked the animal off his feet. The
startled horse gave an angry neigh
and was off in a minute to the left
His followers went after him, but
even at that some of the animals
tumbled in a collision with the ma
chine, but no damage was done.
1t was a close call, however, for #
the men of the machine had escaped,
the auto would have been rendered
useless at a place on the desert, forty
miles from nowhere, and it was a
walk, with chances of losing the way,
and of being frozen to death.
There were other adventures be-
fore our travellers. They had not
gone more than five or six miles when
they were stalled in the snow again,
and 1t was a case of the shovel again.
They worked and worked, and then
they were interrupted by bowls near
at hand.
Wolves cried Kirchen. who had
heard that sound so often in his boy
hood on the steppes of Russia, where
he had Travelled with his brother.
John.
Coyotes" corrected the chauf-
feur.
The chauffeur was right, for
around a curve came a band of the
hungry creatures, half wolves and
half dogs, and they were bearing
down upon the benighted travellers.
such a sight had perhaps never been
seen on the desert before, but the
animals were there in droves. COM
pany giving them courage. and on
they came. Mr.. Kirchen made a dive
for his trusty revolver, and let ay
at the coyote in advance. The sounl
of the u w feazed the pack and
It sounded in the awful waste. like
the pop of a irecracker.
K%irchen's companion made a iumn
for the auto, and in reaching for the
rail, grabbed the honk, honk. AS
he pressed the rubber it gave forth
a strange, weird, uncanny sound. and
the pack came to a full stop not ter
feet from the machine. There was
surprise on the faces of every one Of
them, and Kirchen, quick to appre
ciate the s~tragetic point, cried to Civ,
them the other barrel.
Honk, honk, honk, rang out OF
the cold, freezing air. and the coy
otes turned tail, and ran with thei
tails between their legs as IL tn.
devil himself were after them.
1T was a close shave" cried Xii
chen, as he jumped into the machin,
and there Were no more stops on tn
way until the machine stopped 1