Gilpin observer., 1915-10-28
The Thunderina Herd.


into short novel five-reel photoplay
written by ellison Willets. l shall re-
gard myself as indeed superwoman
with the pen if succeed in conveying.
In the space allotted to me, all the in
cessant and exciting action that holds
the viewers interest in this play.
The period in which this story of
red-blooded and hot-headed people
takes place is in the days before the
coming of the railroad in the West
the days before the laying of the iron
road over the Santa Fe trail and over
the route of the Northern Pacific
when a single herd of buffalo num-
bered a million or more and the thun-
der OF their hoofs in stampede shook
the prairie like an earthquake and
could be heard miles away. Hence the
title.
The role of the hero in this play,
Tom Mingle. is portrayed by Tom
Mix; and the feats of heroism which
he performs are, l fear, beyond my
power adequately to describe. The
heroine, Sally Madison, is played by
Miss Bessie Eyton. with all her char
acteristic charm. The director Mr..
Colin Campbell, here displays his
genius in producing western melo-
drama on scale SO elaborate and
with such consummate art as to elicit
the admiration even of the brow called
highest. The buffaloes shown in the
picture are those belonging to the
herd of Pawnee Bill Colonel Lily at
Pawnee, Okla. the largest single herd
of buffalo in the world.
With this introduction, let me now
unfold the tale, chapter by chapter,
novelizing the plot scene by scenes as
l saw it unfolded on the screen, with
thrill following thrill so fast that it
becomes verify tale that makes the
hair to stand on end.
!, On the crest of a hilock on the
prairie, a single buffalo stood rubbing
itself against huge boulder. A mile
away, on the crest of similar rise of
ground, an Indian sat motioness on
his horse watching the buffalo that, to
him, seemed but a silhouette against
the sky. The buffalo was a bull, the
king of the herd. The Indian was
Swift Wind, chief of the Pawnees.
The buffalo now descended from
the hillock and joined his tribe on the
prairie, four-footed tribe outnumber-
ing all the Indians in North and South
America-twenty to one.
The Indian. Chief Swift Wind, de-
.scended from the rise OF ground and
Joined his warriors and told them that
meat could now be had a-plenty. For
he had sighted the herd-the source
OF Indian food supply which. at that
period. maintained the Indian of the
prairie and gave him strength to
fight the encroachments of the white
man.
The herd at the head Of which the
buffalo bull now took his rightful place
as king-the place of the mighty Sc
cured by this bull by the convincing
argument that he was the greatest
fighter among all the bulls of the herd.
Just now the herd was massed east
and west in a line mile wide and end
less miles long. all browsing.
And now, on the hillock where the
bull had stood rubbing himself in the
manner of his kind. appeared Chief
Swift Wind and band of his warriors.
or We should say his hunters. For
they were prepared for running down
the brown buffalo. rather than for
scalping the white man. The sight
their Indian eyes looked upon beggars
description. They beheld herd Of
buffalo SO vast that II would take the
most rapid counter days upon days
to count II. The herd numbered easily
million and a half 100000 shaggy
heads, representing. for the Indians. a
supply OF meat sufilcient to feed their
whole tribe for years to come.
For such was a single herd OF buf.
falo in those days, when the buffalo
roamed the prairie in numbers that
we're as the sands Of the shore or as
the leaves upon the trees.
Xxi. Yi!" shouted Swift Wind, and
rode his horse toward the herd, fitting
an arrow to his bow and followed by
his hunters.
With the Xxi! VII" the herd stirred
and ceased browsing. The king of the
herd beloved and began running. The
herd behind him began running to
keep up with him. And presently the
entire herd was on the run, in the
madness Of stampede. For that single
shout OF Chief Swift Wind had served
TO startle the herd into action and
now they were laundering past the
knoll with the unstoppable activity of
an angry sea. II was the laundering
herd indeed; for the thunder of their
hoofs In mad stampede shook the prai.
rie like an earthquake-and the thun-
der OF their hoofs could be heard
twenty miles away in the settlement
OF Madison. where Sally Madison at
that moment addressed these words
to her brother Luke: