Farm kids have always had fears peculiar to growing up in the country and were taught to keep safe on the farmstead; to be alert to the dangers. The fears were real – fear of machinery accidents; fear of lightning storms and bad weather; fear of stepping on a rusty nail; fear of the barn burning down; fears of rabid-skunks; fear of a bull; and fears of a close relative dying.
For the family of Peter Schmidt, who had a farm 10 miles south of Richardton, those last two fears became a deadly reality.
On this date in 1917, the Grand Forks Herald published a story about Peter Schmidt and the bull in his pasture. Schmidt and his wife, Mary, had six children and a prosperous farm in Stark County.
In mid-August, Peter was in his pasture, trying to bring his cows in for milking, when a bull attacked him. The powerful bull tossed him into the air, gored him, and trampled him.
Farmer Schmidt managed to crawl away from the bull and roll under a fence, “where he lay unconscious until discovered by neighbors, who carried him home.”
A doctor treated Peter’s injuries, and he seemed to have recovered. But eleven months later, his condition worsened. Peter Schmidt was brought to Bismarck for treatment, but he died on August 28, 1918. His funeral was held in Richardton, with burial at Saint Stephen’s Cemetery.
The death was a reminder the dreadful power of a bull. At eighteen-hundred-pounds, a mature bull was very dangerous. When a bull felt threatened, or became angry, or was even unprovoked, it could charge and knock down any perceived threat and pummel the victim until someone diverted the bull or the person was dead.
A farmer could never completely trust any bull. A farmer could never turn his back on a bull. Only constant vigilance could assuage fear of the bull, yet that underlying-fear never went away.
Dakota Datebook by Steve Hoffbeck, retired MSUM history professor
Sources:
- “Richardton Farmer Has Narrow Escape,” Grand Forks Herald, August 30, 1917, p. 10; “Farmer Attacked By Mad Bull,” Bismarck Tribune, August 28, 1917, p. 2.
- “Gored By Bull; Injuries Fatal,” Bismarck Tribune, August 28, 1918, p. 5; “Bismarck: Peter Schmidt,” Bowbells Tribune, September 13, 1918, p. 1.
- “Peter Schmidt,” Township 138, Stark County, ND, U.S. Federal Census, 1910, ancestry.com, accessed July 16, 2024.
- “Peter Schmidt,” (1878-1918), U.S. Find A Grave Index, ancestry.com, accessed July 16, 2024.
- “Mrs. Mary Schmidt Funeral Wednesday,” Bismarck Tribune, March 14, 1967, p. 11.
- “Peter Schmidt,” Township 138 North, Range 93 W, 480 acres, Standard Atlas of Stark County, ND (Chicago: Geo. A. Ogle & Co., 1914), p. 28.
- “Common Sense and the Bull,” Emmons County Record [Linton, ND], July 18, 1890, p. 3.
- J.R. Dice, “Feeding and Management of Dairy Cattle,” Circular 51, March 1925, Agricultural Extension Division, N.D. Agricultural College, p. 33-34.
- E. T. Wallace, “Bull Pens and Proved Sires,” Leaflet #148, December 1928, Purdue University Department of Agricultural Extension, p. 2-3.
- Colleen Kottke, “No Bull, These Animals Are Dangerous,” Wisconsin State Farmer, www.wisfarmer.com/story/news/2020/09/23, accessed July 17, 2024.
- Emily Krekelberg and Joe Armstrong, “Handling Bulls Safely,” University of Minnesota Extension, https://extension.umn.edu, accessed July 17, 2024.
- Rich Taber, “Staying Safe Around Beef Cattle,” Cornell Cooperative Extension, https://swnydlfc.cce.cornell.edu/submission, accessed July 17, 2024.
