SHORT STORY WEDNESDAY: THE WHITE HORSE OF DROWNING FORD

 "The White Horse of Drowning Ford" by B. M. Bower  (from The Popular Magazine, August 1907)

"A very, very creepy ghost episode -- with a white horse as the central figure -- that comes as a sequel to an armingly dramatic narrtive told by one of the blithe spirits of the 'Flying U' Ranch."  [editor's original blurb]

B, M. Bower (1871-1940) was one of the most popular writer of westerns in the first half of the twentieth century, publishing some 65 novels (plus a couple of posthumous novels ghost-written by Oscar Friend), some two hundred short stories, and penning at least ten screenplays.  Bower's books sold more than 2 million copies, altjhough -- according to Elemer Kelton -- sales dropped off when the author was revealed to be a woman.

Bertha Muzzy Bower was born in Otter Tail County, Minnesota, and moved with her parents to a homestead near Great Falls, Montana, when she was seventeen.  In 1809, she eloped with her first husband, Clayton J. Bower; the marriage, which lasted fifteen years, was not a happy one.  Bower had moved his family to Big Sandy, Wyoming, in 1898, to a lonely cabin which Bertha dubbed "Bleak Cabin."  It was while living in Big Sandy that Bertha gained the intimate knowledge of the life of a cowboy on the open range.  While at Big Sandy, she began writing "to save my sanity," and sending her stories out to publishers, hoping to gain some financial independence from her husband.  Her first story was publu8shed locally in 1901; her first to be published nationally was in 1903.  In 1904 she published Chip of the Flying U in The Popular Magazine, which later that year becme her first published book.  Her stories of the "Flying U" Ranch met with great success and she wrote eight books in th series published over her lifetime, with another four published posthumously, as well as over fifty short stories (the first forty-five of which published in The Popular Magazine).

Bower's stories are known for their accurate portryal of cowboy life, often told w ith a quiet, whimsical humor.  The day-to-day activities od a cowboy are related with a sure and knowledgeable hand.  More often than not, her tales are character-driven -- there is little violence in Bower's stories.  From a 1922 New York Times review:  "[T]here ws always been an authenticity about them, a genuine smell of sagevrush and saddle leather, which many of her pretentious rivals lack.  Her humor, too, is native and unforced, and lingers in the mind."

"The White Horse of Drowning Ford" opens with three of the Flying U hands -- Pink, Weary, and Happy Jack (who was never sweet-tempered at best) -- camping out on a cold, wind-driven night, as they journey to a distant ranch to pick up some horses.  Happy Jack complains about the wind, wishing they had been able to find shelter from the cold.  Pink, who is familiar with the territory, tells him that there is a deserted cabin about four miles distant and that he would prefer not to go there, hinting that there is something supernatural about the place.  Then Pink tells the tale, adding that he does not believe in ghosts or hauntings, but....  

A few years back, when Pink was working for a different outfit, he would come across a "no-account feller" named Conroy.  Pink and everyone he knew tried to avoid Conroy.  One day, while Pink waas working on the range, the sheriff and a deputy rode up and asked him if he had seen Conroy.  Well, Pink had seen a man who might have been Conroy riding in the direction of the abandoned cabin at Frowning Ford.  Pink gave the sheriff directions to the cabin and rode off with him to ensure that he could find it.  The cabin was deserted.  In the corral, though, was a large white horse, "a big snaky devil they called the Fern Outlaw," known to be one of the meanest creatures in the territory.  The horse had a saddle on it, with one stirrup hooked over the horn, as if someone had been trying to cinch the saddle.  the gorse was restless and agitated.  The sheriff  figured that Conroy had heard them coming and was hiding nearby.  He decided they would stake the corral out and wait for him to returned.   They waited the most of the night and, just before dawn, Pink stood by the corral and watched the white horse moving about angrily.  There, in the shadows of the corral, Pink saw Conroy's body; it had been tramked until it was almost unrecognizable.  The Fern Outlaw then tried to attack Pink, who was standing by the corral fence.  It came at him like a fury. something Pink equalled to evil incarnate.  Pink pulled out his gun and shot the horse in the head.  He kept shooting until he ran out of bullets and the sheriff had pulled him back.  They got Conroy's body, or what was left of it, out of the corral.  There were no ghosts or haunting in Pink's story; what haunting there was was the memory of the affair and of how terrified Pink had been.

The next day, Pink, Weary, and Happy Jack stopped by the cabin on Drowning Ford.  The place was still deserted, bugt there was an unpleasant, eerie atmosphere but the place.  The gate to the corral wa shuttered and locked with a rusty chain.  The trio continued on their way and picked up the gorses they were assigned to get.

Heaading back to the Flying U, they neared Drowning Ford and Pink rode aheaad for one final look at the location that had dwelled on hi mind for such a long time.  But the corral gate was open and the chain that had held it was not there.  Suddenly, something large and white rushed past him and Pink saw it had a saddle with one stirrup hooked over the horn.  Pink rushed back to his comrades, only to find them busy trying to gather the horses which had stampeded when something lage and white had rushed toward them.  Gathering the horse, they rushed out of there.  But something followed them...something that kept spooking the horses, something that they heard in the distance, something white on their trail...

Yes, there was an explantion.  That's what they kept telling themselves.

A story that appeared to take a right turn from the typical tales of the men of the Flying U.

The August 1907 issue of The Popular Magazine is available on the internet.  Check it ut.