Miss Maggie Foreman was Chariton's leading milliner during July of 1879 when she headed west for a visit with relatives. At 37, she was independent, talented and astute in business --- offering hats, accessories and other dry goods of interest to women in her shop in the Mallory Block, then located just west of the alley on the north side of Chariton's square.
That's Maggie, above. Although not in the market for a spouse when she set out, Margaret did acquire one two years later in the person of Judge William L. Ash. This may be their wedding portrait.
Her first stop that long ago July was in Nebraska, where her parents, a brother and a sister were living. From there, she traveled onward to Rawlins in south central Wyoming where her younger sister, Melissa, and brother-in-law, Joseph B. Adams, were living with their son, Charles. Joseph was Union Pacific agent in Rawlins and a budding entrepreneur.
And it was there, or rather in wild country to the northeast, that the incident that led to her 10 minutes of nationwide fame occurred.
I came across the story first in The New York Times of Aug. 11, 1879, headlined "An Iowa Diana." The reference, of course, is to Diana, goddess of the hunt, not that Diana. The Times attributed the story to The Chariton Leader, so I tracked it back to a somewhat battered page of Dan Baker's Leader of Aug. 2, 1879, and found the original imprint. There, it was signed "Soldier," so we have no idea who the correspondent was.
But it's a great yarn --- just the type of story newspaper editors of the day loved --- so The Times was not the only newspaper to pick it up. As nearly as I can tell, it was republished during those late summer days in newspapers from border to border and coast to coast, making Maggie, for a very brief time, one of the most widely known women in America. Here's the story. I'll have more to share about Maggie herself in a future post:
+++
HOT SPRINGS, Wyoming, July 28 --- One of your lady residents is, at this writing, ranked as a heroine by the natives of this wild (country), both whites and Indians. Miss Maggie Foreman, who came to the mountains a few days since, to visit relatives, has accomplished a feat of which few hunters can boast.
Miss Foreman came to the springs, which are situated 28 miles above Fort Steele, on the headwaters of the North Platte, with her sister, to spend a few days in the very heart of the wild country. Mr. "Jim" Adams, a noted hunter and scout, accompanied the party as guide and general protector. Mr. Adams was, if I am rightly informed, raised in Mount Pleasant, in your State, and came west in the early days of the Union Pacific Railroad. Being of an adventurous disposition, he drifted about among military posts and Indian villages, and he is today one of the most daring and bravest scouts that ever followed a trail in the Indian county.
But to my story. On Tuesday last a scout from Fort Steele came up with dispatches for a surveying party away above us in the Medicine Bow Mountains. Being an old friend and chum of "Jim," the latter saddled a broncho to accompany him a few miles just for a chat. "Jim's" favorite horse was picketed in the grass near camp, and Miss Foreman remarked to her sister --- who is the wife of Mr. Adams's brother, that the horse was such a handsome one she had a great desire to take a ride on him. Her sister replied that she had often taken a gallop on the animal, and that he was perfectly safe.
The horse was brought in and the writer saddled him and assisted Miss Foreman to mount. She galloped around the camp for a while and was about to dismount when a shot was heard about 500 yards up the river, and a moment later an enormous black elk came dashing out of a ravine, with "Jim" a short distance behind in full chase.
The elk was wounded, but yet able to run at great speed. The writer, in sport only, never dreaming she would undertake it, handed Miss Foreman a large army Colt's revolver, and told her to go and help catch the enormous animal. Miss Foreman took the weapon and started toward the elk, which was but a short distance away at that moment. And now began an exciting chase.
The horse was thoroughly trained for such work by Mr. Adams, and as soon as started upon the trail, dashed forward with frightful speed. Adams urged his horse forward in a vain endeavor to overtake her, but the little broncho which he bestrode was no match for his own favorite steed. The elk started for the mouth of a canyon about a mile distant through which it could reach the higher mountains.
We felt greatly alarmed for Miss Foreman's safety, believing that in the excitement of the chase her horse had become unmanageable, until she was seen to fire the revolver at the elk, and then we knew that she was after meat. Two, three, four shots were fired, and yet the speed of the elk was not lessened, but at the fifth shot it was observed to waver, stagger, and in a moment fall heavily to the ground. Then Miss Foreman was seen to halt and fire another shot into the animal as it lay struggling near the horse's feet.
We hitched up a wagon and drove to the scene, where we found Adams sitting upon the body of the fallen monarch of the mountains, while Miss Foreman, flushed and triumphant stood near. When we praised her daring, Adams said: "These Iowa girls are business every time. I'm from Iowa myself and I know a few of 'em; but she can't pack off all the praise, for there ain't another horse in the mountains that could have hugged up to that elk like Billy did; eh, old boy?" And he carassed the noble animal in a most affectionate manner.
We had no facilities for weighing the animal, but "Jim" says it will crowd 900 or 1,000 pounds very close. A number of Yuma Jack's band of Yute Indians, who were camped near and who witnessed the chase, crowded around and gazed upon the heroine with stares of amazement, one of them remarking, "White squaw heap brave --- ride all same like wind in storm."
No comments:
Post a Comment