She Met the Intruder With a Six-Shooter and a Rawhide
When a stranger entered J. A. Zangrell's tent and insulted his wife, she did not scream or faint. She grabbed a pistol and a whip and chased him into the street.
Hangman's, Aug. 7, 1883—We had a first-class sensation here a day or so ago. A bad man from the front entered the tent of J. A. Zangrell, one of our business men. Mr. Zangrell being absent, the fellow found Mrs. Z. alone with a 6-year-old child, and thinking himself master of the situation, made use of some highly insulting language. Mrs. Z. did not scream, or yell murder, or faint, but snatching up a six-shooter with one hand and a rawhide in the other, she slashed the blackguard over the head and body in a style that astonished the natives. Out he ran into the street, the lady after him, belaboring him with the whip and making him dance the 'Rocky Road to Dublin,' to the tune of 'Yankee Doodle.' There is good blood in that family, you bet.
“Mrs. Z. did not scream, or yell murder, or faint, but snatching up a six-shooter with one hand and a rawhide in the other, she slashed the blackguard over the head and body in a style that astonished the natives.”
The paper plays the episode for comedy, but the scene—a woman alone with a child, facing a threatening stranger—is still recognizable. What stands out is her refusal to wait for rescue; the rawhide and six-shooter made her the local legend.
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