The Press: Grady & the Postman

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The Denver Post had no farm editor, but Ralph Partridge, the make-up man, thought the paper needed one. A farm boy himself, Partridge told Editor Palmer Hoyt that there was plenty of farm news if someone only had get-up-and-git to go after it. Three weeks ago, "Ep" Hoyt gave Partridge a chance to prove it; Partridge was made farm editor. Last week, Partridge proved his title to the job.

Scanning the news services, Farm Editor Partridge read about a freak farm accident in Yukon, Okla. An angry 1,200-lb. Hereford (nicknamed Grady by a reporter) had charged Farmer Bill Mach. When Mach prudently sidestepped, Grady kept on going, right through a small feed-door (about the size of a Denver Post front page) in the side of a silo. For three days, while Grady placidly munched hay and grew fatter, Farmer Mach racked his brain for a way to get Grady out alive without tearing a hole in his silo.

In Denver, Farm Editor Partridge thought he had a way. He flew to Oklahoma City (with a Post photographer), bought 15 lbs. of axle grease, and arranged for a veterinary to meet him at Mach's.

Climbing into the silo, Partridge built a small ramp from the floor to the feed-door, and milked the cow "to make things easier for her." Then Partridge greased cow and ramp, and hitched on ropes fore and aft. The vet gave Grady a sedative. While Partridge pushed Grady from the rear, Mach and some neighbors pulled. Out slid Grady with nary a scratch.

The Post, with one-third of its 225,000 circulation in rural areas, thought that Partridge's trick, even for city-bred readers, was worth an eight-column. Page One headline: OKLAHOMA'S PRISONER-COW FREED FROM SILO. But Managing Editor Alexis McKinney had some misgivings: "I see trouble ahead. Every farmer will be yelling, 'Send us Partridge.'"