A Narrow Escape

by Susie Owsley

Once upon a time there was a man and his daughter (who lived in Kansas) started to Arkansas City, a distance of twenty-five miles, in a buggy drawn by two ponies.

It was Saturday morning when they started.

They reached Gouse Creek about noon, here they stopped to rest, water and feed the ponies, they also eat a lunch. When the ponies were rested they started on, forded the creek with all ease. They reached Arkansas City and purchased some good ------- on to a cousin of theirs about three miles from the city.

They intended to return home on Sunday, but it rained all night Saturday night and all day Sunday, but Monday morning it was as clear as a crystal so they started for home.

When they reached Arkansas river they were a little afraid to try to ford, for fear the river was up, after thinking a moment they went a head and the river was but little higher than it was on Saturday.

All fear was then over. They journeyed on until they reached Gouse Creek, there they paused before crossing. There they saw buggy tracks on both sides, By this thought that people had been crossing all morning (but people had started across and found that the creek was too high, turned and went back.) so they drove in. No sooner had the ponies struck deep water than they turned down stream.

The girl saw the ponies go under the water and felt the buggy jerk under, that was the last she remembered for some time.

The ponies were good swimmers so they swam fifty yards down stream then the buggy turned over. The man had presence of mind enough to keep hold of the reins with one hand and the buggy with the other, the girl was behind her father holding to his shoulders, he could not see her at all. The only way he new that she was alive she kept saying O.Pa, O.Pa.

One time she went below the water, he reached back and pushed her up and said hold tight, but she did not remember him saying it.

All the while he was watching for a place to go on shore, he thought he saw a place were he could land, but when he got there he could not, so he saw another place. (he did not know it at the time but it was quick sand.) Before he reached this place some men called to him and told him to pull to shore and they would help him out, but said he must keep quiet and not get excited, if so he would never get out. He obeyed and pulled to shore, but when they reached there the girl had floated on the far side of the buggy and had to climb over the buggy to get on land. (This was the first she new since she saw the ponies go under.)

They got the girl on shore then the men tried to get one of the ponies out there but the bank was to steep, they had to let it go, so it swam up stream a piece and got hung on some brush. Some one ran up there and cut it loose and pushed it out in deep water, so it swam across the creek and started to go up a steep place and fell back and rested a while and then it walked on shore. The other they took the harness off and pushed it out in deep water so it went strait across with no trouble.

There they were, with both ponies and one set of harness on one side and the man, his daughter, the buggy, and one set of harness on the other side.

He took his daughter to a house near by where they were treated with the greatest of respect. They gave them dry clothing until theirs could dry and gave them their dinner. Mr. Ester the man of the house went down and helped to get the buggy out. That evening they went home on the train.

The people begged very hard for the man to sue the company, for they had started to build a good bridge but they got contrary and would not finish, but he said he was glad to get out alive.

The next day he and two of his sons went down to get the buggy and ponies. The creek was eight feet deep at the ford when they went in and next day it was thirteen feet deep so little chances of getting the buggy across.

One of the boys went home while the man and other boy staid all night. The next morning the creek was going down so slowly that they hired a man to go across in a skift and tie a rope to the buggy, then bring it across and it took a great number of men to pull the buggy across as the current was so strong. He then hitched the ponies to the buggy and came home. They lost about twenty five or thirty dollars.

The mans wife had made arrangements to go but was not well enough that morning, and if she had gone she would have taken the baby, so one of the three would have been drowned.

Now if you would like to know who the man and girl was I will tell. It was Susie Speer and her father. It was in April 1888, at Gouse Creek, Kansas.

They say that some one drowns at this creek every spring.

Every one said it was a thousand wonders that the girl, man, or one pony if not all had not drowned.

They swam one hundred yards down stream before they got out and in some places the water was fifteen feet deep.