Show T 6 adventurers CLUB HEADLINES FROM THE LIV LIVES ES OF PEOPLE LI LIKE KE YOURSELF 1 A rule with nadi death HELLO 1 T ELL 0 E EVERYBODY JL JL mary billard of la lasallo anile III is distinguished adventurer and she wins vins that distinction as well wall as the well known ten bucks with one of tile the most terrifying yarns ive seen in a long time it hripp happened ened in 1913 when mrs billard was miss mary blanch a girl of twelve and mary says the L la a salle papers called me a heroine at tile the time and it was all quite exciting for a girl of ny my i age but it lost its thrill when I 1 thought of my mother lying in a hospital in a critical condition fighting the dangers of gang gangrene rene and lockjaw you can see from that statement of marys that there was tragedy in that episode as well as adventure and it started with nothing but a common 0 ordinary buggy ride there so many automobiles in those days and most of tile the streets were more unpaved dirt roads marys dad had bought a horse that lind had spent all its life on race tracks and was hard to handle when hitched to it a buggy it lind had run away twice and marys mother drive it any oftener than she lind had to but there came a day when she felt she HAD to drive that horse they had just moved into town and mary was finishing a term at a little country schoolhouse school housa three miles out of la salle marys teacher was coming back with tier her that evening so mother hitched up tile the horse and started out to got get them mother been feeling well nil all that day but sho she made tile tho trip to the schoolhouse without any trouble they were all on their way to town with mary in the middle between her mother and tile tho teacher when without warning mary felt her mother fall away from her mary looked around and saw bior mother alother sho she looked around just in time to see Al mother lother topple front from tile tho seat scat and pitch headlong into tile tho road she had fainted hut but that hat was only tile the beginning of a disastrous train of events mother had fallen out with tho the lines clutched in tier lier hands the sudden jerk on those reins caused by tier her falling frightened tile ho horse it gave a leap forward and with that leap says mary alary there hero started tile the fastest ride I 1 had ever remembered in all my 12 years wo we wore were horrified at the situation tho the horst was plunging along at a full gallop and my mother was being dragged face downward over 2 illy hafe 9 1 I pulled and jerked at the reins until I 1 brought tho the horse to a stop stones and gravel in a way that struck terror into my heart the tha teacher and I 1 were helpless we called and screamed to mother pleading with her to let go of the lines but all our screaming was useless tor for mother was in an unconscious condition clinging to those reins with a death grip while the tha horse dragged her along and for or half a mile mother dragged along beside the reeling recline wagon in imminent danger of rolling under the wheels while up in the seat mary alary and tho ilia teacher sat paralyzed with fear trying to hang on to tile tho swaying reeling buggy M mary ary says that tha lt buggy was running on two wheels a good part of the time and at other times limes it seemed to bo be lying flying through the air with nothing under the wheels at all several men along the road had tried to stop the horse but do anything with the crazed animal at last at the end of a half a mile mothers hands loosened on the reins and the lines were free they got between the horses front froni logs and that only served to frighten the poor animal more the careening Carria carriage gc flew down the road still the reeling careening carriage flew on they had covered cov bcd more than a mile and now they were within a short distance of 0 a narrow culvert just outside of the business section of la salle thoro thero were pillars on either cither side of it and it would be a miracle it if the crazed he horse arse got through that cramped space without wrecking the buggy the teacher was the first one to think of that culvert she screamed to mary that it if the horse bo be stopped before tricy reached it they would both bo be killed and with her voice still ringing in my cars says bays mary hary site she rose to her feet stood on them for a moment on the swaying floor of the bugy buggy and I 1 shut my eyes as I 1 heard her body lilt lift the road and thought that surely she must leavo been killed and now mary was left alone in that speeding buggy she knew that somehow she had to get hold of those reins that were dragging down there beneath the horses feet just a little way ahead now was waa the culvert and even if the buggy did get through the culvert it was certain to crash into something in the business district two blocks block beyond so while the buggy reeled and swayed mary began climbing over the bashbo dashboard ard onto the horses back it was a desperate chance time and again mary almost lost tier her hole hol 14 in that precarious trip the horse was slippery with foam and tion and only by bracing her feet against the shaft did she sha manage to keep from being thrown into the road 1 I reached the horses head she says and the feel of my body on her seemed to fright til her all the ho more and make her go faster than ever nut but I 1 sot got the lines from between her legs and started inching my way back to the buggy 1 I pulled and jerked at tho the reins until I 1 brought the horse to a halt she says and it stopped just a few feet tit lit front of the dreaded culvert A boy ran up to hold the animal and I 1 left the buggy and ran into town to get a doctor tor for mother she was still unconscious when they brought her in and to this day she carries a on n the right side of her face the t terrible marks of that horrifying experience mary says ashes glad the horse bind and buggy days are over because well because she want any of her children to have such an experience released ne leased by western newspaper union |