Lou’s View

By Lou Bernard

Not too long ago, Chris Miller wrote the column headlined “Aw, Shucks! The Oyster King of Lock Haven.” In it, he challenged me to come up with a headline that good. So I wanted to say: Challenge accepted, pal. I will come up with a great headline, even better than that.

Not this column, though. This headline is okay, but not great. It’s a little lame, but the best I can think up right now. I’ll think up a really cool one and let you know.

Anyway, this one comes from a 1904 article in the Clinton Republican. At the very end of July, there was a piece entitled “A Plucky Girl Saved Father.” It involved M.B. Rich of Woolrich and his daughter Jean, the plucky girl in question.

As an aside here, let me just point out that everything was dangerous in 1904. The life expectancy was maybe, what, fifteen? Nobody was paying much attention to our food, our water supply, our home safety. Fires routinely broke out for no reason. It was a dangerous time to so much as ride to another town, and that was what the Riches foolishly decided to do.

Rich took Jean and his other daughter, Grace, and decided to ride from Woolrich to Lock Haven on a Monday evening. (Mondays were dangerous, too.) They were in their buggy, pulled by a new horse, who was still being trained. It was described as “spirited,” which is never a reassuring adjective.

Now, personally I wouldn’t be frightened by a few rocks in the road, but then again I’m not a spirited horse. The horse, upon seeing the rocks, broke into a run and went out of control. The horse accelerated, and when the wagon wheels hit a boulder on the side of the road, it tipped up onto two wheels and reportedly stayed that way for several hundred feet. (It’s possible that it was only about five feet, but to the occupants of the speeding wagon, it felt like several hundred.)

“The occupants made every effort to right the conveyance before it could topple over,” reported the Republican,”But the horse turned sharply and precipitated all three to the ground. Mr. Rich was caught under the buggy, but he kept tight hold on the reins and was dragged for considerable distance in this perilous position.”

Jean and Grace were thrown clear of the buggy. Jean, bruised but somehow still mobile, got up immediately and began to chase after the horse. Not being as encumbered by a buggy and passenger, she caught up to it and grabbed the reins, holding on tight.

“The fractious animal kicked at the young lady in his efforts to free himself, but she pluckily held onto the reins and finally succeeded in bringing him to a standstill,” stated the front-page article.

Rich had received a deep gash on his forehead, plus many bruises. Jean, bruised herself, was otherwise mostly unhurt. There was little doubt that by calming the horse and holding him still, she’d saved her father’s life.

At the end of the article, it was noted that this was not exactly the only incident that Jean Rich has been involved in. Two days later, a horse got scared when a harness fell on its eyes on a steep hill, and Jean managed to prevent a disaster by jumping on it and taking it by the head. The previous spring, she’d been on a horse that had panicked, running home, and she’d clung to it the whole way. It at one point jumped a fence, taking both Jean and the carriage with it.

At this point, I’m genuinely not sure if Jean Rich was some sort of horse based hero, or if she just frightened horses and then had to deal with the consequences. I’m going with hero, I think. She seems to have handled herself well, and in those dangerous days, I think I wouldn’t have gone for a ride without her along. Just in case.