The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1909-08-01

It is these same outlaws that charge
q mounted man. II necessary to escape,
often knocking down both horse and
rider In a fight with rope and roper
they use teeth as well as hoof; more
than once they have escaped at the
last moment by severing with a snap
OF the jaw the riatas which it was
impossible for them to Ereak. Their
actions when captured are like the
struggles of a violent maniac multi
piled by 10, and when an attempt is
made to subdue them, necks are broken
by blindly running against obstruc-
tons. while ruptures. broken bones and
dislocations. caused by hurting them
selves upon the ground are common
occurrences-almost a rule. Doubtless
il is condition akin to insanity that
causes these horses to fight in this
way and TO continue IL to utter ex-
haustion, their struggles generally be-
ing renewed as quickly as they regain
their strength. Some sections of our
ranges are famous for the outlaws that
have been there in the past or are to
be found there now.
The southern part of Fish Creek
valley, near the Eureka-Nye county
line, is a country that has produced
many of these horses, and the greater
number Of them can be traced as de-
scendants of that same spotted mus
tang stallion, which successfully defied
every attempt TO capture him. He
weighed about 900 pounds and was ne
culiarly marked-his BODY color being
very light, almost white; yet from
cheek TO tail he was covered with in
Vulnerable irregular splashes of black.
He always carried his head very high.
and possessed a long white name and
tail which flowed gracefully in the
breeze. Invariably he fed on high
ground. watching every approach most
carefully. Through my glasses l often
observed that he would crop few
mouthfuls of grass. then raise his head
and scan the horizon. Did he discover
any object-a freight team slowly
working its way amid a cloud of dust,
or a lone horse far away in the dis
tance-immediattely he gathered his
band and led them on a run to safety.
He was always a disturbing element
for in some unaccouatable manner he
seemed to communicate to the other
mustangs a feeling of uneasiness.
which kept them continually on the
alert. Often we have chased his band.
and occasionally caught some of them,
but the spotted stallion in the lead
early in life had formed one habit
which earned him his liberty many
times. No matter how closely he was
pursued, regardless of the proximity
OF his enemy, and with no thought of
his physical condition, he invariably
refused to turn from any man; run
he would, but once started upon a
course he never changed it. This one
trait combined with his wonderful
endurance, enabled him to live a free
life in his own .yfld way for 10 or Is
years. He was a constant irritant to
every one who rode the range, for his
meanness" was so thoroughly a part
of him that IL was noticeable in his
colts; SO cautious and crafty was he
that although the sentence of death
was passed upon him nearly three
years ago. and though since that time
men have hunted him as diligently as
an Indian hunts his venison, it was
not until last August that the deadly
rife accomplished its work-and then
IT was unfair. for he was drinking at
a little spring in a deep canyon, on
a strange range, where it was i'm
possible to detect the approaching man
who slaughtered him. Not until after
his death did we learn that the black
spots with which he was so completely
covered were but marks of battles
with other stations when, during
those furious rushes, they fastened
their teeth upon him to tear out por-
lions Of his skin and hair. which ma
ture replaced with hair that was black
instead of white, the original color of
his body.
Nailed at Last
For many years. in those rugged
mountains which divide Antelope and
Monitor valleys, there ranged a big,
blood red, bay stallion which success
fully opposed every effort we made to
capture him. The section he chose for
his range was SO rough and so thickly
studded with cedars that merely to find
him. was difficult task. Whenever
we tried to run him down he invariably
eluded us in the timber; the trap cor
rails which were effective on many
other horses were always discovered
and evaded by him, but during the hard
winter of 1905. when the snow became
so deep IN the mountains that he could
no longer paw through 1t to the grass
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