The Alaska citizen., 1911-07-03
DRAGGED ID DEATH AT HORSES TAIL
SPECTER ANIMAL SEEN FOR DAYS DASHlNG OVER HILL
 AND PLAIN.

YUMA, Ariz.. March 13. - A mod crn Mazeppa, but who met a fate
 more horrible than that of Ivan the Cossack. made famous in Lord By
 runs poem. was discovered near here today by a detachment of the First United States cavalry.
 The dead body of a Papago In dian youth with the wrist of one arm tied to the tail of wild mus tang was recovered by the troopers. who found it first necessary to shoot the wild horse at long range and kill il before they could release its ghastly remembrance.
 The Indian had been dead appar ently about four days and the body was SO badly mutilated from being dragged about over the rocks and l hills as to render identity impossi- hle.
 For several days there have been reports along the Gila river of a | specter horse with a human being dragging at it's heels. seen in the vi 1 Cinity. and q party of Mexican va | QuerOS went out to investigate. They i returned empty.handed. but bringing with them further details that seem
 ed almost beyond belief
 The Mexican said they had seen
 the horse, q remarkable specimen of | it's breed and that tied to its tail
 was the body of a man. Whether the man was living or dead they could i not tell as the horse was so wild i they could not get near enough to ! int pria | The wild horse was fleet and the
 way il kicked and plunged with the | body dragging close behind it was
 q sickening sight even 10 the une- mOtional NaquerOs.
 The tale of the MeXiCanS was car | ried to the officers al Yuma and a i detachment of the First cavalry was ] ordered to the rescue. Wednesday the | 'roa pors caught sight of the wild | horse al the edge of the Gila river. near Mesa, and for q whole day
 they chased it on their fleetest mounts.
 Bat the wild horse was possessed
 of wonderful endurance and it was
 almost nightfall before any of the
 soldiers could get near enough 10
 shoot. Finally as their quarry was 1 heading toward the river for a drink
 a yollcy of well-directed shots
 brought il down.
 When the troopers came up to
 the dead horse they were almost 1 mortified at what they saw.
 Tied 10 its flowing tail by one wrist
 was what in life had been a Papago
 Indian youth. Nearly all the neither | limbs were torn away in the wild
 rides il had taken for days; the skull was crushed the ribs were
 kicked in and broken 10 bits, and the 1 face was wholly unrocOgnizable The only deduction to be made was that , the youth was about 23 years of age. How long the Indian lived after | the wild h rse began it's mad fiight
 across the hills and plains it is i'm l possible to say. but from the first reports that came to the MeXicans i they judged that he was then alive. | They even figured that he was still ! living, but perhaps unconscious. when | they discovered the horse, but were unable to capture it.
 i The tribe of PapagO Indians, which | is very uncommunicative. profcssrs to know nothing of the dead youth
 or the beautiful horse that brought | him to so merciless an end. but the 3ffcers are doing their best to ob- | tain complete history of the case
 and to try 10 secure punishment fer 1 the nhuman perpetrators of the 1 crime.
 The Papago Indian tribe is a small ! and InCDmnpJ the f,i11 | liver. about eight miles from Yuma