Photograph: Cows on the train tracks, c1917-1934; Leslie Jones photographer; Copyright Leslie Jones Collection, Courtesy of the Boston Public Library Collection
Bull fights are illegal in New Hampshire, but the animals involved in this story were cows. It happened when a flock of cows with “one track minds” congregated on the Boston & Maine line between here and York Harbor and refused to permit a train to pass.
They were shooed off the track several times, but always returned with bovine complacency. Finally a brakeman armed with a red signal flag assumed the role of toreador. Whirling the flag about his head he started for an open field.
The insult was too much for the cows. With heads down and tails up they started after him. He was doing about twenty miles an hour, but the herd was gaining and he was rapidly losing caste as a toreador, so he circled back and caught the last car of the train as it gained momentum. [PORTSMOUTH, N.H. Nov 6, 1920]
From Sunday, November 7, 1920; Plain Dealer (Cleveland OH) page 1
Toreador Quits Cow Combat in New Hampshire
That’s funny