Collection of Nebraska Pioneer ReminiscencesDaughters of the American Revolution. Nebraska
History
Collection of Nebraska Pioneer Reminiscences
Daughters of the American Revolution. Nebraska
Frontier and pioneer life -- Nebraska; Nebraska -- History
The man who had been scalped came across the prairie toward the section
men. They thought he was an Indian. His shirt was gone and his skin was
covered with dried blood. They were about to shoot when Delahunty said,
"Stop, boys," for the man had his hands above his head. They let him
come nearer and when he was a hundred yards away Delahunty said, "By
gobs, it's Cockney!" They took him to the section house and cared for
him. He told them these details. After this event he worked for the
Union Pacific railroad at Omaha. Then he went back to England. The
railroad had just been built and there was only one train a day.
_Wild Turkeys and Wild Cats_
Tom Mahum was the boss herder for Ewing of Texas and had brought his
herd up that summer and had his cattle on Dilworth's islands until he
could ship them to Chicago. He bantered me for a turkey hunt, and we
went on horseback up Plum creek. He was a good shot and we knew we would
get game of some kind. We followed the creek five miles, when we scared
up a flock of turkeys. They were of the bronze kind, large and heavy. We
got three, and as we did not find any more, we took the tableland for
the Platte. As we came down a pocket we ran into a nest of wildcats.
There were four of them. One cat jumped at a turkey that was tied to
Tom's saddle. That scared his horse so that it nearly unseated him, but
he took his pistol and killed the cat. I was afraid they would jump at
me. They growled and spit, and I edged away until I could shoot from my
pony, and when twenty-five yards away I slipped in two cartridges and
shot two of the cats. The fourth one got away and we were glad to let it
go. We took the three cats to town, skinned them, and sold the pelts to
Peddler Charley for one dollar. Tom talked about that hunt when I met
him in Oregon a few years ago.
_A Scare_
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account