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Show - - I F1 F1t F1Adventurers ; t Adventurers ' tr- tr tr1 \ - _ 1 1 Club Clube Club"A e "A A " Bum Bunn Steer " ' By FLOYD GBBONSFamous GmBONSI GmBONSFamous GIBBONS GmBONS GBBONS GIBBONSFamous ) I Famous Headline Hunter Huntcr . I YOU V/ V VOU / OU 1- 1 - . 111 know 11 OW , there w , was \ as a time tune when w \ wild \ lid ild lidanimals ildanimals animals roimed r01.mcd r01mcd roansed . thespot thespot the I theI * spot where New York Vorl- Vorl Vorlcity Yorkcity - . city stands now . Authorities Authontles differ on onexactly one.actly onexactly exactly e\.actly e.actly e .actly actly ' \ . when "hen hen " hen that n \ was as , though The historians Iustonans sayIt say it w " was "as as as acouple a acouple ; couple hundred } ) cars ago , while chile \ hlle Anthony E Di Dl Ds Lorenzo ofI ofThe ofThe of ofThe I The BronNY Bronx Bron\ Bron ' \ . , NY N Y , says it was "as as " c as in 1923And 1923And 1923 1923And Andof And of the t\\ t two t0 \ 0 , I'd Id ' take Tony DiLorenzo's DiLorenzos DELorenzo's DELorenzos ' word before II I Iwould I I talkmgI , would tiould \ ould the historians lustonans ' Those doggone historians hlstonans are only talkmgfrom talkingfrom talking talkmg talkingfrom from hearsay , but Tony " was as on the spot , and saw the thmgshe's thingshe's things thmgs thingshe's he's hes ' going to tell tellus us about aboutNow aboutNow aboutNow Now Tony \ will dill ill be the first to admit that there were werecry \cry cry eery \ ' ery few fewwild fewwild fewwild wild animals roiming ro\ming ro ming roaming ' \ New York in ID the year ycar 1923 . . Game w\s w s wis wissery wis\cry wis cry ' \ sery \ ' cry scarce in Forty-Second Forty Second - street , . and even as far br uptown as aslIornmgslde asMormngslde asMormngside l\Iornmgslde l Iornmgslde Mormngslde \ Heights , there \ was as little wild wlld life Ufe except c"ccpt cccpt elcept , " an occa- occa occasional occa oeca occasional - . sional slOnal mO'5qUlto mO5qUlto mosquito mO'5qUltoAs mosquitoAs mosquitoAs ' As a matter of fact Tony doesn't doesnt ' ' claim to have seen more than onew onewild one onewild w wild d beast roaming roammg the streets of New York in all his life llie And it wasjust wasjust was wasjust just his luck that that one had to single smgle him hun _ outSteer out outSteer Steer Stampedes in the Heart of The Bronx Bronx.In BronxIn . In the fall falI of 1923 , Tony waslorkmg was \ working \lorkmg lorkmg for an automobile concern at atOne atOne atOne One hundred and fiftieth street and Gcrard Gerard avenue . , The Bronx At tlus this tlusplace thisplace thisplace place it was customary to do small repair repall " jobs lobs on new cars while they theyv.ere theywere theywere v.ere vere were . parked on the sidewalk That's Thats ' just lust what Tony and his helper helperwere helperwere .ere ere were , . doing domg They were installing mstallIng a pair of heavy wire gratings gratmgs on onthe onthe onthe the sides of a newly purchased truckThey truckThey truck truckThey They had just put in m one grating and , while wh1le his helper held heldthe heldthe heldthe the other . , Tony went inside lnsIde the building bullding to get more bolts . Hewas lIe lIewas liewas was on his way back to the street when he heard a clatter of ofhoofs ofhoofs ofhoofs hoofs outside . They seemed to be about a block away , and andTony andTony andTony Tony wondered vaguely whit wh"t wht " they were . If he had known then thenwhat thenwhat thenwhat what he found out ten seconds later , he'd hed ' ha\c ha c hae haze ha\ ha \ e turned around aroundand aroundand aroundand and gone right back ! into Dto the building bwldmg . Tony came to the doorway and looked out As he did so , he saw a aman aman aman man , v . working orkmg on another car down the street , jump lump to his feet and andclunb andclimb andclimb clunb climb onto the roof of the car At the same time bme he started waving- waving wavmg- wavmg wavingTony wavmgTony - ' - 4 4r 4O 4Tony r O Tony Could Hear the Animal's Animals Ammal's Ammals ' ' Heavy Breathing Breathmg . excitedly to Tony and pointing pomtmg to something up the street Tony couldn't couldnt couldn'tsee couldn'tsee couldn'tsee couldntsee ' see what he was pointing pomtIng at then , , but a second later he did Around the thecorner thecorner thecorner corner came a "teer-a "teer teer a steer-a steer " steer - a wild wlld one , , with fire in his eye , . his head down , and andlus andhis andhis lus his long horns set for actionTough action achon actionTough Tough Bovine Bovme Begins Begms to Pick on Tony . Tony remembered then something somethmg that had been in m the back of ot hismind his hismmd hismind mmd mind ever since he first heard the clatter of hoof beats Not far away awayat , . at the Yankee Stadium , they were having havmg a rodeo The whole of the thewlld thewild thewild wlld wild and woolly woolIy West had been combed for the meanest anc1 ancf anti most mostvicIous mostvicious mostvicious vicIous steers in m creation , and the lot of them had been shipped to NeV Neyi NeVYork NeyiYork NewYork ) York for the rodeo riders to work out on Without a bit of doubt , here herewas herewas herewas was one of those steers , escaped from the corral and coming commg full bIt tilt bItat tiltat tiltat at Tony TonyThe The steer was almost on top of him before Tony saw it ft . He Ho Hehad Hohad Hobad had no time to climb cl1mb on the top of bis hIS truck as the other fellowdid fellow fellowdid fellowdid did . The big , lumbering lumbermg animal ammal charged him hlDl as he emerged emergedfrom emergedfrom emergedfrom from the doorway , and Tony gave a jump to one side . The steer steershot steershot steershot shot past him a fefeet few fe\\ fe \ feet , then turned and made for him agam again again.Tony againTony . Tony turned to run for tor cover , , and as he did so , , the steer was so soclose soclose soclose close behind him that he could hear the animal's animals ammal's ammals ' ' heavy , , labored breath breath- breathing breathing breathing - ing The only safe place in m sight was the truck , , but he didn't didnt dldn't dldnt ' have havehme havetime havetime hme time to open the cab door and get m 1U in inMaddened mMaddened Maddened Animal Has Tony Cornered . , There was one other place , , though , that offered a certain certam degree degreeof degreeof of safety The trucklas truck \ was \las las parked a scant two feet from the wall-the wall the wallthespace wallthespace wall - thespace space throughTony's throughTonys between looked too narrow for the steer to squeeze through Tony's Tonys ' helper had already taken refuge in the narrow alley thus created createdand , , and Tony folowed hlmHI him"I him hlm HI "I I " < < ! ran around to the tbe front of the truck , " he says , . "with with "wlth wlth " the thesteer thesteer thesteer steer right after me mc . But when I started to squeeze into the thenarrow thenarrow thenarrow narrow opening opemng , my heart almost stopped beating beatmg . . \ My 1\Iy 1 Iy helper helperhad helperhad helperhad usingit holdmgusmgit holdingusingit had the way blocked with the wire grating he was holdmg-usmg holdmg usmg holding-using holding using holding - it as a fence between him lum and the bull-and bull and bull - and he was too fright fright- frightened frightened frightened - ened to move it and make room for me . " It was the tightest jam Tony had ever been in In anoUier anollier another second secondthe secondthe secondthe the steer . would auld be on him , pinning pinnmg him hun against agamst the wall waIl with Wlth his long long.sharp longsharp , . sharp horns There was no time hme now to get out of the corner . . He HeJust Helust Hejust Just lust had to stay and take it He squeezed himself lumseI ! as far back as he hecould hecould hecould could between behleen the radiator and front fender of the truck-and truck and truck - and wastedWhitey waited wasted waitedWhitey Whitey , Bad Steer of Rodeo , Meets Bad End"Well EndWell End . "Well Well " : , " ' says Tony , ' he came-eyes came eyes came - - eyes all red and md steam coming commg out outof outof outof of his nostrils He hit sideways , luck luckily y tor for me , with his head hard up upagamst upagainst upagainst agamst against the fender . One horn was above the fender and the other be- be below below be - low below it . . His H.1s H1s horns had nails driven through them-for them for them - for the cowboys cowboys'ropes cowboysropes ' ropes , I suppose-and suppose and suppose - - and one of those nails stuck to the bottom of the thefender thefender fender thetender . Then I saw my chance and reached tor for the other horn " Tony grabbed that horn and held on . Then he reached reachedaround reachedaround reachedaround around to the under side Mde of the fender with his other hand and andgot andgot andgot got hold of the thc second horn . , . The steer tried to push the truck trucko'ier truck01 0 o'ier oier ' cr er , but he wasn't wasnt wan't want ! ) ' strong enough for that . Then he changed his hismmd hismind hismind mmd mind and tried to pull away . "That That " was just what I v/anted v anted wanted / , . " says Tony , . "so so " I helped him hun by byletting bylettmg lettmg letting go of ot his horns Once free of ot the fender he ran at top speed speeddown speeddo'U do\\'U do 'U U down \ ' the street toward the stadium , but he never got there , tor for I read readIn readin readm In the papers that that . , after damaging damagmg an automobile and turning turnmg over a astand astand astand stand full of tomatoes , . he was shot by a policeman on Umverslty University Umversltyavenue Universityavenue Universityavenue avenue . That , was .as as . the end of Whitey , the bad steer of the rodeoWNU rodeoWNU rodeo " @ -WNU WNU - WNU Scrvica S"rvlce Srvlce Service " |