Tonopah daily bonanza. [volume] (Tonopah, Nev.) 1906-1929, 1908-01-26
Wild HORSES and
FAMISHED COYOTE
CHARLES KIRCHEN'S AWFUL EN-.
COUNTER ON DESERT IN
BLIZZARD.

SOIpOIdllOI, dTTlNSu lTOHl yDO last
night, after most thrilling expert
ence on the desert. His auto was
caught in blizzard and at one time
it was feared that it would be i'm
possible to make Tonopah by night
fall 1t was bitterly cold, and the
snow was whirled up In f1eecy 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 snowplow could
move the heavy white masses. Mr..
Kirchen and his companion were
obliged to get out and shovel the
snow from in front of the machine,
while the chauffeur proceeded along
in jerks and spasms. For one stretch
the men shoveled the snow for 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 We're 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 we'll devel-
oped athlete, but he was hardly in
condition for athletic feats. He saw
at glance that if the direction OF
the horses was not changed, they
would come cropper into the ma
chine smashing it into bits, perhaps
killing the occupants. Quick as 4
flash he jumped at the leader, shovel
J raised on high. On came the leader
and then swat! The shovel descend.
ed with a wide swipe and nearly
! knocked the animal off his feet This
startled horse gave an angry neigh
| oef IN fn 1ofk
; His followers went after him, bu
even at that some of the animals
| tumbled in 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, fort!
l miles from nowhere, and it was ;
walk, with chances of losing the way
: and of being frozen to death.
There were other adventures be
fore our travellers. They had no
gone more than five or six miles whel
they were stalled in the snow again
> and it was case of the shovel again
> They worked and worked, and thei
they were interrupted by bowls nea
at hand
''Wolves!" cried Kirchen, who ha,
heard that sound SO often in his boy
hood on the steppes of Russia, wher
10 hal xr,ttI -
John.
! Coyotes corrected the chauf
feur
The chauffeur was right, 70
around curve came a band of tn
: hungry creatures, half wolves an
n half dogs, and they were bearin
= down upon the benighted travellers
Such sight had perhaps never bee
seen on the desert before, but tn
4 animals were there in droves, CON
: pany giving them courage, and o
they came. Mr.. Kirchen made div
! for his trusty revolver, and let fl
h at the coyote in advance. The SCUM
of the gun never feazed the pack an
q it sounded in the awful waste, lik
the pop of firecracker.
e Kirchen's companion made jun
4 for the auto, and in reaching for tn
d rail, grabbed the honk, honk. A
n he pressed the rubber it gave fort
If strange, weird, uncanny sound, an
Is the pack came to a full stop not tie
II feet from the machine. There wa
1t surprise on the faces of every one {
ID them, and Kirchen, quick to apr,
r ciate the stragetic point, cried to Civ
" them the other barrel
l. Honk, honk, honk, rang out o
the cold, freezing air, and the co.
otes turned tail, and ran with the
tails between their legs as If tn
devil himself were after them.
1T was close shave" cried XII
: chen. as he jumped into the machin
and there were no more stops on tn