Golden Valley chronicle. (Beach, Billings County, N.D.) 1905-1916, 1909-01-22
Romance of
A Cow Girl.


He needed all his strength and pluck
to meet a greater misfortune than the
want of money. He passed two men
standing in the street, one of whom
stared at him with terrible frown
and as Clough passed on exclaimed:
kid Cosgrove, by thunder!'
Twenty minutes later the sheriff put
a hand on Clough's shoulder and with
the muzzle Of revolver close under
his nose said:
II want you, Cosgrove."
A few days later man named Bod
ley rode into Pine Cone, fifty miles
from Three Bridges, and, entering the
Muddy Greek hotel, heard some min
ers talking about the chase and cap
ture of kid Cosgrove, horse thief and
murderer The desperate was then in
irons in Pine Cone and was to be |
hanged at once.
''Cosgrove yere, gents?" remarked
Bodley incredulously. "What're y
givin' yersclfs? The Kid walked into
Three Bridges last week and is to be
banged at II o'clock tomorrer."
This led to an Investigation which
revealed the fact that the real Kid
Cosgrove was in Pine Grove and the
! man in Three Bridges was some one
else 1t was considered unfortunate
for the man In Three Bridges, for
there was no mail or wire between the
two places, and no one seemed dis
posed to ride fifty miles that night to
! save him.
Jennie PiXley, eighteen years old, the
daughter Of ranchman. fearless
rider, became aware Of the fact that
man was to be hanged in Three Riv-
ers the next day by mistake. When
her father and mother and all in the
ranch house were in bed Jennie stole
out to the barn, mounted her Black
Bet and started for Three Rivers. She
had not been gone long when the storm
that had been gathering broke. The
foods came, the lightning glistened,
the thunder roared, but through 1t all,
drenched to the skin, rode Jennie, bent
on saving a human life. Bridges were
swept away, but she swan her horse
across the torrents. Darkness put her
off the roads, but the lightning put her
on again. When morning came she
had not made fifteen miles, and both
her horse and herself were we'll nigh
exhausted. Still she pushed on. But
few houses lined the way. Among
what there were she tried to get
fresh mount, but some had no horses,
and those who had were using them
or dared not trust them to a strange
girl in country where horses were so
valuable. Shortly before noon Jennie
rode into Three Rivers.
Frank Clough was standing in cart
under tree, while parson, summon
cd for the occasion, was making a long
prayer, when he saw girl OH horse
back dash in among the throng Of gap
crs standing about him. There follow
ed hurried talk between her and the
sheriff. in the midst of which the girl
tainted and fell from her horse.
Clough could not hear what was said,
but the sheriff wrangled with the
crowd, which seemed to be divided on
the subject under discussion. Present
~ the sheriff, drawing his revolver, ap-
preached the prisoner, took him by the
arm and led him away, some Of the
crowd approving, others denouncing
him for being in league with horse
: thief. He locked up the prisoner till
night fell, then told him to 60.
Seven years passed. One day Frank
Clough, part owner Of the Comet mine
he had struck the paying dirt with
his own pick and shovel-being in an
eastern city with nothing to do, saw
the posters Of Wild West show. Hav-
ing a fancy to see the portrayal Of a
people among whom he had spent
much time, he went to the show. It
was all too recently familiar to inter-
est him, and he was about to leave
when, with a flourish of trumpets, a
Cow girl rode in on black horse to
perform equestrian feats. The moment
Coughs eyes took in the figure in d.
vided skirts, cowboy hat, revolver
slung to her right side, pink silk
handkerchief about her neck, her hair
flowing, he saw the girl who had rid
den fifty miles through storm to save
his life.
The girl took off the handkerchief
from about her neck, threw it on the
tanbark, dashed past it on horseback
and picked it up. This and other feats
delighted the audience. but Frank
Clough sat impatiently waiting the end
Of the performance. As soon as it came
he was among the Wild Western
: ers with a view to making the ac-
quaintance Of the "cow girl" He had
hunted for her, or, rather, for tidings
of her, but they had been unsuccess-
full. Her father had died, and his
family had drifted aWay from Pine