'A Modern Mazeppa — Poem by Sidi Mahtrow

'A Modern Mazeppa —

Rating: 2.7


A Nebraska Cattle Owner Lashed to a Wild Broncho -

For a Week He is
Carried About the Plains,
Without Food or Water. -...
When discovered
The modern Mazeppa
Was lashed to the horse,
Entirely naked and unconscious.

The animal was about broken down,
As if from long running,
And was easily
Lassoed by the cowboys,
Who cut the thongs and
Released the strange captive....

When able to talk
He said his name was Henry Burbank,
That he was an Englishman,
And 34 years of age.

About three years ago
At Falmouth, England,
He formed a partnership
With a friend named Thomas Wilson,
Some years his senior,
And with him came to America
To embark in the cattle business...

They settled in Northwestern Nebraska...
Built a comfortable ranch
By a little stream,
Where Wilson's young wife
Reigned as housekeeper,
Attended by two or three female domestics.

Burbank who is a handsome young gallant
Found it agreeable
While Wilson was absent
Riding about the range,
To make love to the latter's wife.

This continued for some months,
Until the latter part of May
One of the cowboys
Who had a grievance against Burbank
Surprised him and Mrs. Wilson
In a compromising situation,
And reported it to the woman's husband,
Whose jealousy had already been aroused.

That night Burbank was
Captured while asleep in bed
By Wilson and three of his men
And bound before he had a chance
To make any resistance.

After mutilating him
Wilson had him stripped
Of every bit of clothing and bound
On the back of a wild broncho,
Which was started off
By a vigorous lashing....

He was rescued on the morning of June 3,
Which would make seven days
That he had been traveling
About the plains on the horse's back,
Without food or drink, and
Exposed to the sun and wind....

' Perhaps there are alternatives to capital punishment,
Sometimes more fitting to the crime? -

"This, from the wire service and picked up by the local paper." from the July 24,1884 issue of The Dakota Republican.


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