Week 39: The 1914 Ostrich Drive and Rough Neck

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One of the more peculiar events in Chandler history was the ostrich drive of 1914.  The drive was undertaken by Dr. Alexander J. Chandler, who had purchased a large herd of about 200 ostriches from the Pan-American Ostrich farm on the west side of Phoenix.  Rather than load the birds on a train to ship them across the Valley, Chandler hired several local men to drive them fifty miles across the desert.

The drive started out well enough.  The herd moved south around South Mountain in an effort to avoid as many people as possible.  The Chandler Arizonan reported that “The birds are willing to meander along the highways so long as they are unmolested and are permitted to range as they move along.”  Led by W. J. Lewis and George T. Peabody, the strange herd slowly made its way east during the day.  When they stopped for the night the birds would go into roost and the herders would make camp and sleep under the stars.  The paper reported “It is a novel sight and one worth seeing.”  The trip took several days.

Unfortunately, the effort to drive the herd the long way around South Mountain backfired.  Late one evening the birds were spooked and stampeded.  The Arizonan related the rest of the story: “In spite of efforts to control them they swept down the road at terrific speed, meeting the conveyance containing Mr. and Mrs. (L. D.) Rousseau and causing the runaway.  Mrs. Rousseau was thrown out and her skull fractured.  Her husband escaped with a dislocated arm.”  Mrs. Rousseau died from her injuries.

When they finally arrived in Chandler, only 140 of the birds were with the herd.  The ostriches were put into pasture land behind the San Marcos Hotel, where the golf course is today.  Over the course of the next couple of weeks, Peabody and his helpers rounded up the remaining 50 or so ostriches.  According to the Arizonan, “The introduction of the birds to Chandler (proved) a novelty to many and will be a splendid attraction for tourists.”

One of the most notorious birds in the herd was known as Rough Neck.  Rough Neck was so named because his long neck was marked with scars he had received doing battle with both man and ostrich.  He had a reputation as a “man killer.”  It was Rough Neck who had started the stampede that killed poor Mrs. Rousseau.  But prior to that incident he had already been building a reputation.  While at the Pan American Ostrich farm, he had kicked in the chest of a man with the claw on his foot, killing him almost instantly.  Shortly after that, he attacked another attendant who also died from his injuries.

During his brief time in Chandler, Rough Neck was known as an instigator.  The Arizonan stated “The animal was decidedly ferocious and boldly attacked the men as they entered the field.  Woe betide the person who went in unarmed or not carrying a club.” 

It was with no sense of sadness, and a feeling almost bordering on relief, when the Chandler Arizonan reported that Rough Neck had died.  The ostrich had “lapped his long, battle-scarred neck around a strand of wire in such a way as to twist the neck into a knot, cutting off his wind” overnight.

The ostrich business remained strong in Chandler for only a few years after the great ostrich drive.  The coming of World War I marked a change in fashions, as women abandoned the decadent ostrich plumed hats which had been so popular and made the industry to profitable.  Additionally, the big birds were susceptible to the Spanish Influenza which swept the globe after the war.  The flu killed most of the birds in Chandler, and the industry was never rejuvenated.