The William F. Cody Archive: Documenting the life and times of Buffalo Bill

  [illustration] The Rough Rider. Vol. I. 1st Edition. Season of 1899.
Circulation, 500,000. [illustration]

Copyright 1899 By The Courier Co. Buffalo, N.Y.

The Historic Rough Riders of the Sixties.
Lieutenant-General Philip H. Sheridan. Colonel W. F. Cody, (Buffalo Bill.) General George A. Custer.

Buffalo Bill's Wild West will exhibit at New Bedford, Tuesday, June 20.

 

The Rough Rider

An Illustrated Periodical, Published by
Cody & Salsbury.

Season of 1899.

Guaranteed Circulation, 500,000.

For Advertising Space apply to J. & H. Mayer, Room 506 Townsend Building, 1123 Broadway, New York City.

Printed by The Courier Company, Buffalo, N. Y.,
From Whom Sample Copies May be Obtained.

Heroic History.

This publication heralds the sixteenth consecutive yearly presentation of a national, historic and heroically educational exhibition, which it is speaking entirely within the lines of demonstration and literal truth to say has never had and never can [illustration] Copyright 1899 By The Courier Co. Buffalo, N.Y. Col. W. F. Cody (Buffalo Bill) and his original Rough Riders. have a counterpart, is the only possible introduction and reproduction to America and the world at large of the men and incidents associated with the most thrillingly romantic, picturesque and progressive era in its country's marvelous history; is fraught with an atmosphere of realism, a magnitude of illustration, an intensity of interest and a superbness of personality which have made its strikingly appropriate title a household word wherever Old Glory flies, and has achieved most unique and enviable fame, and continuous, prodigious and phenomenally surpassing success in many lands and before countless millions. Countenanced and encouraged by its own government, as well as by those of other most powerful dominions; patronized and complimented by the mightiest rulers, admired and studied by the greatest of military leaders, overflowing with glorious and electrifying martial and barbaric spectacle, gallant sport and strangely vigorous fun and frolic; intensely vitalized with all the most impressive, romantic, savage and chivalrous incidents of that fast-fading frontier life even now but dimly seen in the last rays of the departing sun, and replete with the most elevating, novel, impressive, enduring and instructive of living lessons for both old and young, it stands inimitable and alone. Within its magnificent arena the Historian on Horseback rides with free rein, attended by Truth, Valor and Progress, and perpetuates, not with the halting pen, but in ineffaceable facsimiles, the daring deeds which all delight to honor.

Nor should it be overlooked or forgotten that in the recent war with Spain the influence of "Buffalo Bill's Wild West and Congress of Rough Riders of the World" was strikingly manifested in the suggestion, formation, and even the popular naming of the most fearless and famous single military organization in all martial annals—Teddy Roosevelt's Regiment of Rough Riders. Moreover, perusal of this and other announcements will further demonstrate that Colonel Cody has enlarged the scope and attractiveness of his international, martial and equestrian exposition to keep step with our territorial expansion, and brings from the vast insular domain wrested by freedom and enlightenment from Spain's iron hand, types of semibarbarous and even savage aboriginal chiefs and warriors, whose racial peculiarities, singular weapons, odd tactics and strange customs will profoundly interest those who have placed their feet in the path leading to light and liberty.

Origin of the name, "Rough Riders."

The designation "Rough Riders" was originated by Colonel Cody, and first used as a part of the title of "Buffalo Bill's Wild West and Congress of Rough Riders of the World," during that exhibition's season at the World's Fair, Chicago, in 1893. Its vigorous appropriateness was at once recognized by the public, as indicating the martial and daredevil character of both the equestrianism and the men identified with the entertainment, and recently so largely represented in the First United States Volunteer Cavalry, that the name was naturally transferred to and fitted it like a glove. These facts were so generally known that it is surprising Colonel Theodore Roosevelt was not acquainted with them. In the opening chapter of his "Story of The Rough Riders," contributed to Scribner's Magazine, he says:

"Wood and I were speedily commissioned as Colonel and Lieutenant-Colonel of the First United States Volunteer Cavalry. This was the official title of the regiment, but for some reason or other the public promptly christened us the 'Rough Riders.' At first we fought against the use of the term, but to no purpose, and when finally the Generals of Division and Brigade began to write in formal communications about our regiment as the 'Rough Riders,' we adopted the term ourselves."

Colonel Cody first used the term to indicate precisely the class of frontiersmen associated with his "Wild West" which, as Colonel Roosevelt himself remarks, "made up the bulk of the regiment and gave it its peculiar character." The title was naturally and consistently widened to include the Cossack. Arabian, Mexican, South American, trooper and other free, fearless riders now marshaled under the leadership of the finest horseman of them all. Its transference to the First United States Volunteer Cavalry was not only a deserved compliment, but an honorable designation, whose admirable fitness there was no gainsaying or opposing.

Colonel Cody first introduced the "Rough Riders" to the American public. The manner in which Colonel Roosevelt subsequently introduced them to the Spaniards has historically immortalized the name.

 

Buffalo Bill and the Bullfighters.

Colonel Cody had a little war of his own with the Spaniards before Dewey, Sampson, Miles, Roosevelt and the rest took a hand in the grim game. It happened when he was in Barcelona, Spain, with his Wild West. One evening after the performance he got into his carriage, drove to the various newspaper offices and had this liberal offer appended to his advertisements:

"I will wager any amount that the people in my show can lasso and ride any bull in Spain."

He didn't think it necessary to tell his interpreter of this and went home and to bed. He was stopping at the House of Four Nations, which was built in a square and had a large, beautiful court in the center. What subsequently occurred we will let the Colonel tell in his own language:

"Very early the next morning my interpreter and agent came rushing into my room, crying:

[illustration]

Copyright 1899 By The Courier Co. Buffalo, N.Y.

Buffalo Bill's cavalry of all nations.

"'Get up! Get up! Dress at once; they are going to kill you!'

"'Who?' I asked.

"'The bullfighters,' they answered breathlessly. 'Peep into the court below at the maddened mob.'

"I did, and, by jiminy, it was a sight! The court was jammed with men as mad as so many mad bulls, and they were flying here, there and everywhere, threatening to tear me limb from limb. I dressed leisurely and put a Colt's revolver in my hip pocket—just to keep me company, you know—and then I went down stairs. I got the interpreter to ask them what they meant. Their spokesman demanded to know why I had put such an insult to them in the papers, and at that every matador of 'em brandished a morning paper. I told them that I had merely made that wager and was ready to stick to it. Then they asked how much I would wager. Now the people of Spain are distressingly poor, so I offered to bet 200,000 pesetas, for I knew they couldn't cover it. This crazed them and they tried to get at me. In the meantime my agent had gone for the American Consul and police officers to protect me and quell the riot, and I saw I had to talk for time. I began to drop, offering 175,000 pesetas, and I had got down to 50,000 and was losing wind when the Consul and officials arrived. The Consul saw that there was blood on the face of the moon, and he and the police advised me to withdraw my challenge. The bullfighters told them that I had attempted to ruin the national sport and had grossly insulted them; that they had to make the people believe that these bulls were very fierce and that no one in the world could capture and ride them but themselves, or else the sport would die an ignominious death, so I withdrew my wager. But I had to have police protection during the rest of my stay in Spain."

The Rough Rider Recruits.

The opening chapter of "Colonel Theodore Roosevelt's Story of the Rough Rider," begun in the January number of Scribner's Magazine, deals specially with the personality of that already world-famous regiment, and shows that even before it won its spurs before Santiago it was, in the antipodal diversity and individual character of its make-up, the most extraordinary and unique organization in all the annals of war; representing, and without one single faltering exception, a superb unity of physical prowess, unqualified bravery and equestrian, athletic and sharpshooting skill.

Congress authorized the raising of the regiment from among the wild riders and riflemen of the Rockies and the Great Plains, and its mustering places were appointed in New Mexico, Arizona, Oklahoma and Indian Territory. Owing to the fact that the number of men originally allotted to it, 780, was speedily raised to 1,000, a chance was offered to accept quite a number of eager volunteers who did not come from the territories, but who possessed precisely the same temper that distinguished its frontier recruits. It drew volunteers from Harvard, Yale, Princeton and many other colleges, from clubs like the Somerset, of Boston, and Knickerbocker, of New York, and from among brave, patriotic and adventurous men who belonged neither to club nor to college. There was Dudley Dean, perhaps the best quarterback who ever played on a Harvard Eleven; Bob Wren, an equally famous quarterback, and the champion tennis player of America; Yale men like Waller, the high jumper, and Garrison and Girard; Princeton men like Devereux and Channing, the football players; Larned, the tennis player; Craig Wadsworth, the steeple-chase rider; Joe Stevens, the crack polo player; Hamilton Fish, the ex-captain of the Columbia crew; Woodbury Kane, with scores of others whose names are quite as worthy of mention. Nor did these sterling and stalwart fellows ask for commissions, but went as troopers, and as such valiantly and cheerfully did their whole duty, seeking no reward in the way of promotion or consideration, and if it came to them honoring and well deserving it. Even Scotland sent a worthy representative, in the person of Robert Munro Ferguson, who had been on Lord Aberdeen's staff as a lieutenant but a year before.

But the men who made up the bulk of the regiment and give it its peculiar character were those from the territories already mentioned. They were a splendid set of men—tall and sinewy, with resolute, weather-beaten faces, and eyes that looked a man straight in the face without flinching. They included in their ranks men of every occupation; but the three types were those of the cowboy, the hunter and the mining prospector. In all the world   there could be no better material for soldiers than that afforded by these grim hunters of the mountains, these wild, rough riders of the plains, some of whom had served on the frontier with "Buffalo Bill," and appeared with him before millions of delighted spectators, including the kings, princes and potentates of the Old World, and will again appear before you this season with added éclat.

They had their natural leaders—the men who had shown they could master other men—such as Bucky O'Neill, of Arizona, Captain of Troop A; the mayor of Prescott, a famous sheriff throughout the West for his feats of victorious warfare against the Apache, as well as the white road agents and man-killers; Captain Llewellyn, a political leader, and one of the most noted peace-officers of the country, who had been shot four times in pitched fights with red marauders and white outlaws; Captain Curry, another New Mexican sheriff of fame; Lieutenant Ballard, who had broken up the Black Jack gang of ill-omened notoriety; Major Brodie—afterward Lieutenant-Colonel, when Colonel Wood and Lieutenant-Colonel Roosevelt were promoted—from Arizona, who left a big mining business to volunteer, had lived for twenty years in the Territory, and had become a thorough Westerner without sinking the West Pointer; Allyn Capron, who was on the whole, in Colonel Roosevelt's estimation, the best soldier in the regiment; He was the fifth in descent from father to son who had served in the army of the United States, and looked what he was—the architype of the fighting man.

Of the men in the ranks some had taken part in the killing of the great buffalo herds, and had fought Indians when the tribes were still on the warpath. Others, like Cherokee Bill, Happy Jack of Arizona, and Smoky Moore, the bronco-buster, had never seen a larger town than Santa Fé, or a bigger body of water than the Pecos in flood.

From the Indian Territory there came a number of Indians—Cherokees, Chickasaws, Choctaws and Creeks. [?] a few were of pure blood. The others shaded off until they were absolutely indistinguishable from their white comrades. One of the gamest fighters and best soldiers in the regiment was Pollock, a full-blooded Pawnee.

[illustration]

Copyrighted 1899 By [?]

Scene I.—The bivouac the night before the Battle of San Juan Hill.

Man after man might be enumerated who stood pre-eminent, whether as a killer of game, a tamer of horses, or a queller of disorder among his people, or who, mayhap, stood out with a more evil prominence as himself a dangerous man—one given to taking of life on small provocation, or one who was ready to earn his living outside the law if he occasion demanded it.

The biggest spurs do not indicate the surest seat.

A Military Masterpiece.

The Battle of San Juan.

What "Buffalo Bill's Wild West," with Colonel Cody's personal participation and under his active management, has accomplished is a matter of glorious record in both Europe and America, illuminated by a splendor of continuous, increasing, superlative [photograph] The Courier Co. Buffalo, N.Y. Gen. Miles and Col. Maus riding Buffalo Bill's western war horses at Porto Rico. (From photo taken on the field, August 30, 1898.) popularity and success, unparalleled in all the annals of the most inspiring, thrilling, realistic and colossal instruction, reproduction and entertainment. It has gained world-wide fame and admiration by nobly assuming and steadfastly maintaining the position of The Greatest Object Teacher of romantic history and heroic equestrianism, to the conceded extent of surpassing all the possibilities of description by actual presentation. In its stupendous arena the makers of history have anticipated and surpassed its chroniclers, with living, exact, reproductive illustrations of the most daring and sensational episodes in the closing scenes of the grand martial drama of American civilization, introducing as lighter adjuncts the mounted rivalries and odd, picturesque and sturdy pastimes of the very Palefaces and Redskins who met face to face and fought hand to hand under Miles, Merritt, Sitting Bull, Red Cloud and other great captains and savage chiefs, and a Congress of Rough Riders of the World, whose magnificent feats of diversant horsemanship form the most electrifying and extraordinary exhibition of the kind ever compassed, or that will ever be presented in one assemblage.

Furthermore, possessed of physical material which cannot be duplicated, because the emergencies of border warfare and pioneer progress which called it into being are forever past; of over a thousand men and horses, of contributions of regular troops, batteries of field guns, and arms and equipments from foreign powers and its own government; with a field of action more ample than that of a score of circuses, or a hundred theatres, it has been enabled to first introduce, upon a scale of commensurate magnitude and genuine composition, warlike reviews, spectacles and tableaux, and even tremendously grand and effective scenes of important battles, reaching such overwhelming, heroic heights of realism incarnate that all preceding stage military displays were by comparison forever relegated to the lowest level of the most puerile travesty. Among these chivalric triumphs may be casually mentioned its conspicuously powerful and splendid reproduction of General Custer's Last Battle; an achievement so entirely surpassing all previous attempts of the kind that it may truthfully be said to have established a new standard and epoch in military exploitation, which the quotation "The morn, the marshalling in arms, —the day,
Battle's magnificently stern array!"
may be appropriately applied to.

In the Wild West arena this season that marvelous apotheosis of the lamented Custer, which swept vast audiences everywhere to the very pinnacle of excitement and enthusiasm, is to be superseded by the spectacular celebration of a more recent event; of a heroic feat of arms, the news of which caused the great heart of the Nation to swell and pulsate with pride and joy and thankfulness; of a charge more desperate and successful than that of the Old Guard at Waterloo, magnificently participated in by a regiment.

Immortalizing the name "Rough Riders,"

coined by Colonel Cody for his exhibition, and borrowed therefrom by the public to appropriately rechristen the First Regiment of Volunteer Cavalry, which was mainly made up of the class of scouts and trappers with which Buffalo Bill's Wild West has made the civilized world familiar; many of whom went from its arena to the larger one of the war in Cuba, and have again returned to it, bringing large accessions of their intrepid comrades and scores of their broncos, to give additional interest and verisimilitude to the introduction of an extraordinarily lifelike, effective and vivid facsimile of the crowning and conclusive incident in   The Famous Fight of San Juan,

where, to the utter amazement of the military world, and in valiant reversal of all accepted tactical authorities, a thin line of infantry, unsupported by artillery, charged upon and routed a superior force, strongly intrenched on a difficult eminence behind artillery-protected breastworks, and armed with the dreaded Mauser and smokeless powder. It was an incredible achievement, performed by the bravest of the brave, who made a sport of death in its accomplishment. The realistic re-enactment of such a fearless charge and desperate struggle is calculated [illustration] Century Eng. Co. N.Y. Scene II.—The Rough Riders' heroic charge at San Juan Hill, as reproduced in Buffalo Bill's Wild West. to arouse public curiosity and enthusiasm to the white heat of patriotic fervor, and the introduction of military incidents preceding it, upon the broadest and most accurate lines of army movements, discipline and life, and by the very heroes who were a part of what they portray, will present to the eyes of peace

A Battle Lesson, Illustration and Revelation,

to be vividly remembered for a lifetime, unprecedented in even the Wild West's previous unparalleled productions, and utterly impossible to any other organization and management. An important factor, too, in its successful presentation is the fact that both Colonel Cody and Mr. Nate Salsbury are war veterans, thoroughly familiar, through severe experience, with war in its sternest practical features, and fully competent to command and manage the hundreds of men and horses required and utilized. The task confronting the management has been a herculean one, involving an expense, infinity of detail, labor of comparison and investigation, procuring of genuine material, arrangement of scenery, relation of circumstances and effective utilization of the space at command and indispensable to the maneuvers of so many men, horses and guns, that it is a matter for mutual congratulations the grand results attained so fully and faithfully harmonize with the facts of history and the details of actual environments of any army on the march, in camp, and on the field of battle.

A Scenario of the Spectacle.

The events associated with the battle of San Juan will be presented in two scenes, in the first of which the bivouac of the troops on the road to San Juan, the night before the battle, will be shown.

The Invading American Forces,

composed of the artillery representing Grimes's Battery, the mule pack train carrying ammunition, the U. S. Regulars, Roosevelt's Rough Riders, the 71st Infantry, the Cuban scouts and guides, is seen at sunset, at the conclusion of a desperately hard day's march over rough and jungle-choked trails, under the blistering rays of a tropical sun, moving into the encampment selected for a resting place, on the night preceding the morrow's grim work. The various commands take up the positions assigned them, and to the spectator the bivouac presents a most warlike and novel scene of disciplined bustle and preparation. The sentries are posted, the tired animals unloaded, unharnessed and picketed, the weary soldier boys gladly obey the order to stack arms, and relieved of their haversacks and cumbersome accouterments loll and lie around in groups, while the camp fires are lighted and preparations for the evening meal quickly made. The hardtack and coffee disposed of and the stern hand of discipline temporarily relaxed, they indulge in an al fresco "smoker" and forget their toils and dangers in story, song and jest; the familiar songs and patriotic anthems of home, as chorused in melodious and stentorian tones from hundreds of throats, wafted toward doomed Santiago on the balmy wings of the night winds, and sounding singular and solemn on that vast natural stage, heretofore a stranger to the exultant notes of Freedom's sons. Night creeps on more stealthily than a Spanish guerrilla through the dense encircling foliage, until taps gives warning that the hour for sleep and silence has struck. Soon the entire command, with the exception of the watchful out- [photograph] Copyright 1898, [?] Falk [?] Col. Theodore B. Roosevelt leading his "Rough Riders" in the famous charge at San Juan, '98. posts, reclining on mother earth's broad bosom, and canopied by the starry heavens, is wrapped in merciful oblivion, or beguiled by dreams of distant loved ones. And, alas! many a noble fellow slumbering so peacefully there will, ere another sun has set, fall fighting into that sleep that knows no awakening, after recording in his own life-blood his name upon the scroll of his country's heroes. At length "Night wanes; the vapors round the mountain curled,
Melt into morn and light awakes the world,"
the sharp rattle of the reveille arouses the camp to preparation for the onward march, and the scene closes with the advance of the army toward the stronghold of San Juan.

The Rough Riders' Immortal Charge.

The second scene reveals the regiments already named, massed in the forks of the trail at the foot of San Juan Hill, a most exact and effective representation and reproduction of which is introduced, showing the blockhouse, the breastworks, the rifle pits, and the natural and apparently insurmountable difficulties our soldiers were obliged to encounter and overcome in their final and victorious assault. From the fancied impregnability of their position, the superior Spanish force is seen pouring an incessant torrent of shrapnel and Mauser bullets into our exposed ranks, which choke up the narrow trail beyond the hope of extrication, and apparently beyond the possibility of escape. It is an hour of supreme trial and agony, in a veritable hell-pit and snare. The situation renders division and brigade commanders powerless and maneuvering impossible. Retreat, they cannot; to remain is destruction, and to advance, according to all precedent and estimation, but speedier annihilation. But, casting theories, dictums and doubts to the winds, contemptuously fearless of conspicuous exposure, with splendid intrepidity, assuming and divining that what must be done can be done, Colonel Theodore B. Roosevelt of the Rough Riders, on horseback, presses to the foot of the death-swept hill and calling upon the men to follow him, rides straight up and at the fortressed foe. There is a frantic yell of admiration and approval as the soldiers—white, red and black—spring from their cowering position of utter helplessness and follow him and the flag. The Spaniards cannot believe that so small a force would dare an assault so forlorn of all hope. They erroneously infer that an army is charging close behind it, and as it breathlessly comes closely on for a hand-to-hand death grapple, they pale, they flinch, and at last they turn and fly in panic. Their gold and crimson emblem of ruthless oppression is torn from the ramparts and Old Glory streams on the breeze, triumphant in its place—their defenses are turned against themselves, and Santiago is doomed.

 

Artillery in Action.

One of the most impressive and enthusing features in Buffalo Bill's Wild West programme of historic revivals, master horsemanship, battle scenes and pastimes of the plains is the introduction of a light battery of artillery detached veterans (Captain Thorpe's), Fifth United States regulars. This detachment is made up of genuine soldiers, not performers. They drill with marvelous skill and precision. They have two six-pounders, each drawn by six horses, and to see them whirl round in full career, unlimber the guns and come into the battery is a sight well worth going a long way to witness. The firing is like clockwork; both pieces are discharged so exactly at the same moment that only [photograph] Prof. Sweeney and his famous Cowboy Band. one report is distinguishable. Quickness and precision in drill, however, are to be expected from Uncle Sam's trained soldiers, but the surprising thing these men do is their driving. On each side of the arena six stakes are driven into the ground in two rows; the distance between the rows being only about two inches greater than the length of the axles of the gun carriages. Between these rows is the cannon to be driven at full speed. To get through on a walk without knocking down a stake looks like a difficult feat, but with the artillery and horses going like the fire department to a fire, the heavy cannon bounding and swaying over the ground, whirling around corners on two wheels, it is wonderful to see them dash through without a stake being misplaced.

One of the cannon was captured at Gettysburg, and the other also has a Civil War record, having [illustration] The annual round-up—cowboy sports and pastimes. been purchased from the Government by Mr. Nate Salsbury. The public are not familiar with the maneuvering of these arbiters of the fate of nations, as it is confined to army posts or occasional encampments, hence its illustration is a novel and spirited attraction.

A High Tribute.

At the last National Convention of Military Surgeons, one of the prominent members, on hearing Colonel Cody's name mentioned, remarked:

"It is singular how popular, to use the word in its very best sense, Buffalo Bill is among the nations, regardless of creed, color or conditions. I returned to this country a few weeks ago after touring the world for two years, and everywhere I heard the name of Buffalo Bill. In the highways of civilization and in out-of-the-way corners it was just the same, and if I had not known something of the history of my countryman I should have thought that this same Buffalo Bill was a demigod, a new but peaceful Napoleon come to satisfy the longing souls of the hero-worshippers of these progressive days. At the great Jubilee celebration in London and among all men who were prominent in the minds and whose names were in the mouths of the people, none had more frequent mention or attracted more genuine attention than Colonel Cody. It was the same at the Paris Exposition in 1889; the travelers of the world and very many of its greatest celebrities were there, Indian princes, Arabian sheiks, Egyptian pashas, African potentates, Tartar chiefs, Shah of Persia and hundreds of other notables, but not one of them reached the pinnacle of popular glory upon which Buffalo Bill was placed by common acclaim. This was repeated at the World's Fair, where he was an attraction not eclipsed by the glories of the great Dream City, and the representatives of the various quaint and savage nations assembled there took with them to their far-off homes no more interesting mementos than those which served as souvenirs of the famous American scout, whose fame they will extend to the uttermost ends of the earth. If any man has achieved fame, and a fame, too, in which there is no meretricious vein, in its most worthy form, it is Colonel Cody. And what has been the mainspring of his success? His skill, his manly bearing, his uniform courtesy, his warm-hearted and prompt generosity, his cool bravery and his promptness all have conduced to that success, but it is the ceaseless and well-directed energy which has been the crowning quality of his mental and physical make-up. In a word he has shown the world what well-directed energy can do."

From the Kaiser's Bodyguard.

The martial efficiency and perfect discipline of Emperor William's tremendous army is brilliantly illustrated in the powerful personality, imperial equipment, masterly drill and soldierly riding of the contingent of regular cavalry in Buffalo Bill's Wild West, representing the formidable Empire consolidated by Bismarck's gigantic intellect and iron hand. The regiment from which these stalwart troopers have been furloughed has the distinction of serving as the Emperor's bodyguard. They form a splendid feature in the Wild West daily morning parade, in the grand opening Review of Nations, with which each performance is inaugurated, and in the rival illustrations of martial equestrianism.

Buffalo Bill's Cowboy Band.

Everything associated with the performances and parades of "Buffalo Bill's Wild West" is altogether unique, original, spirited and attractive, and this applies as well to what may be appropriately termed its "Bronco Cowboy Band," as the thirty-six skilled frontier equestrian musicians composing that martially melodious organization appear in parade and in the great arena on horseback, discoursing stirring and popular tunes in the saddle—a very different thing from playing on terra firma, or in a stable seat. Not only is the preliminary concert which, under the accomplished leadership of Mr. William Sweeney, formerly of the 5th Infantry, United States Regulars, they give before each performance, a source of exhilaration and pleasure, but the music with which every event and display is accompanied is of a most effective and appropriate character. These real frontier virtuosos created a most favorable impression among the musical connoisseurs and leaders and members of the finest bands in Europe; Lieutenant Dan Godfrey, the leader of the famous Grenadier Guards Band, having presented Mr. Sweeney, after a six months' engagement in the gardens connected with the Wild West in London, with a solid gold cornet.

 

Buffalo Bill's Bounding Bedouins.

In perfecting his great and inimitable Wild West exhibition Colonel Cody has lassoed and brought into camp such an unbranded lot of genuine Riffian—but not ruffian—Arabs as never before rode, twisted, twirled and tumbled for the edification of infidel eyes. The troupe is named after and commanded by Sheik Hadj Tahar, and comprises a lot of the faithful sons of Allah, whose horsemanship and weird and wondrous athletic feats Mahomet himself would view with much pious satisfaction and pride. Their inimitable Ishmaelitish repertory includes the manipulation of their long guns until each one seems a flashing circle of spinning sunbeams; sprawling and side somersaults, long leaps and high dives over bayonets and swords, head to head equilibristic balancing, such as it would seem that only necks of iron and winged buoyancy could master; whirling handspring flights the entire length of the arena, which it would take a smart pair of civilized legs to keep up with; tumbling and tossing beyond all circus ring limitations, and living pyramids, built up with catlike agility, where one Sahara Samson carries nine of his fellows. During the entire time required for the presentation of these and other feats the esteemed and reverend Dervish of the tribe makes of himself a human top and keeps spinning around with a velocity and persistency suggesting perpetual motion incarnate. What renders these performances all the more remarkable is that they are given in the open air and upon the rough ground, instead of on carpet in a carefully leveled ring.

The Supreme Test of Its Genuineness.

Last season Buffalo Bill for the first time took his exhibition to some of the smaller towns in Nebraska, Colorado, Kansas and to Cheyenne, Wyoming, which latter place, by the way, much to his surprise, proved one of the banner stands of the whole season, big as the receipts in so many cities were. There was more of sentiment than business in the trip, large audiences being a seemingly impossible thing to corral in so sparsely populated a section, but Colonel Cody wanted a last chance to get around over those old trails, where he had hunted the buffalo, whacked bulls, drove stagecoach and rode pony express before the days of the railroads. Besides, he was always getting letters from old-timers, asking him why he never visited them with his Wild West.

"Did the people turn out to see you?" inquired a correspondent of the Kansas City Daily Times.

"Did they?" replied Colonel Cody. "They gave me the grandest ovation I ever received. I didn't expect to make a cent of money on the trip, but I did make it hand over fist. People drove 300 miles to see me and my exhibition. They came so far that their cows went dry before they got back home. Yes, that's a fact. I got letters from them telling me their cows went dry."

What Is Meant by "Rough Riders."

"You know," said Colonel Cody in a recent interview, "I originated the name of 'Rough Riders.' I have been calling my men Rough Riders for ten years. Why should I call them Rough Riders? Next year I am going to call them smooth riders, for they're the smoothest riders on earth."

Colonel Cody—himself pronounced by all equestrians the paragon of riders—in terming his Cowboy, Indian, Cossack, Mexican, Arabian, South American, Cuban, Cavalry and other riders the "smoothest" on earth, uses the term in its popular sense of "slick," easy, or expert; nor does it involve a paradox, or a contradiction of the adjective "Rough," which, in the application he has given it, has become world-famous, and a household word in both war and peace. The horsemen in Buffalo Bill's "Congress of Rough Riders of the World" are called "Rough" to distinguish them from the "circus" and "school" riders, both of which classes they immeasurably excel, in the saddle or bareback, in grace, equipoise, management and dash. They are not merely show riders, but eminently sure, practical and fearless equestrians, under either the roughest or smoothest conditions. Each member of every division representing some distinct nationality is [illustration] Copyright 1898 The Enquirer Job Printing Co. [?] The rough riders and athletes of the Orient. an unsurpassable exemplar of the peculiar style of equitation of the country from which he hails. He is the absolute master of his steed in battle, chase or pastime, and while the styles of riding are widely diverse, they are astonishingly and often most thrillingly daring, skillful and unique. There never was such another congress of riders, there never will be anything to rival it.

Used as a transitive verb, the term "Rough" is appropriately applicable to the troopers appearing by special permission from various governments in Buffalo Bill's Wild West, as it is defined, "to break in, as a horse, especially for military purposes."

Mule Batteries.

Among the advanced warlike novelties for the first time introduced to peaceful public attention by Colonel Cody in the great Wild West arena is a mountain battery, similar to those with which Uncle Sam has provided our armies in Cuba, Porto Rico and the Philippines. These guns, as their name indicates, are intended for use in rough, hilly country, which may be impassable for the heavier fieldpieces.

Wherever a mule can go one of these mountain guns can be taken, for gun, carriage and equipments will be carried on the backs of the long-eared, humble animals thus put to heroic use. Mules are to be employed, since they stand hardship better than horses, and, what is of still greater importance, they are more sure-footed. One mule carries the gun, a second the carriage and trail piece, and a third the ammunition. The manner of transporting and manipulating these guns will be illustrated just as in action.

The Mexican Vaqueros are the dandies in Buffalo Bill's Congress of Rough Riders of the World, but must not be underestimated on account of their semi-barbarous penchant for gorgeous raiment, for they rank well up with the cowboys as lariat-throwers and horsemen. Indeed, they do things with the lariat—fancy maneuvers, showing their control of it—which none others in the outfit attempt.

Cossacks of the Volga,

The contingent of Russian Cossack Rough Riders with Buffalo Bill's Wild West are natives of the vast steppes stretching from the base of the Ural Mountains and are known as Cossacks of the Volga, who form a most important and effective part of the Light Cavalry of the Czar. They are totally different in drill, equipment and style of riding from the Cossacks of the Don, and the sword—which they wield with marvelous expertness—is their principal weapon, while the latter are armed with lances. They belong to the same branch of the great Cossack family, the Zaporogians, into whose wild domain, Mazeppa—subsequently the most famous of their Hetmen, or chiefs—was carried, inhumanly bound, upon the back of that Tartar steed of Ukraine breed, who "looked as though the speed of thought were in his limbs."

Col. Cockerill on Col. Cody.

In one of his graphic letters from the far West to the New York Herald, Col. John A. Cockerill said:

"Seen on his native heath, among the people who have known him for years, surrounded by old plainsmen, trappers, soldiers, ex-scouts, ex-pony express riders, cowpunchers and stage drivers, he is seen at his true worth and in his true light. There is no pinchbeck in "Buffalo Bill's' composition. Universal respect is his where he is best known. It is not easy to fool the children of the prairies and the great canyons of the West as to manly attributes. And when they tell you, from personal knowledge, stories of the hunting prowess, the scout sagacity and the fighting capacity of 'Buffalo Bill,' you realize that the man whom you have seen galloping, shooting and lassoing around the arena at Ambrose Park is genuine metal. It does not need the splendid testimonials from Generals Sherman, Sheridan, Miles, Merritt, Henry, Crook, Ord, Fry and other officers of the army—wherewith the home of the scout is decorated—bearing upon service faithfully and even heroically performed, to establish this man's status. For what are these compared with the recitals of the grizzled old scaphoid of the plains, who tells you, 'I've known 'Bill' nigh on forty year.' Brave, generous, kind-hearted and confiding, he is indeed a "Prince of the Prairie.'"

 

"Cody Day"

At the Great Trans-Mississippi Exposition.

On the 31st day of last August, at Omaha, Neb., an assemblage of twenty-five thousand people or more, and which included the most prominent officials and leaders of all political parties, and [] "Cody Day" at the Great Trans-Mississippi Exposition, Omaha, Nebraska, August 31, 1898. the representative pioneers and business men of Nebraska, congregated within the grounds of the great and phenomenally successful Exposition to greet Col. W. F. Cody, as the specially honored guest of that colossal enterprise. Fifteen years before "Buffalo Bill," or "Our Bill," as his brother Nebraskans prefer to affectionately call him, gave the first performance of his now world-famous "Wild [] Col. W. F. Cody's (Buffalo Bill) Wild West and Congress of Rough Riders of the World—on annual review previous to opening its season at Madison Square Garden, New York City. The only organization in the world showing the military of all nations. West and Congress of Rough Riders of the World" at the point occupied by the West Midway of the Exposition. During those fifteen years he had reached the pinnacle of fame and fortune; his name had grown to be a household word in every land; he had become the most widely known and popular man of his generation; he had met with continuous ovations from millions of people on both sides the Atlantic, in which the mightiest of earth's royal rulers, the greatest of soldiers, the wisest of savans, the most distinguished of diplomats, and the beauty, wealth and culture of the universe had enthusiastically participated, and yet "Cody Day at the Exposition" was to him the proudest day of his life; a spontaneous, heartfelt welcome, involving the highest compliment ever paid by a sovereign State to one if its sons, and, withal, an enthusiastic demonstration, which assumed the proportions of a tremendous and inspiring success. As Senator Thurston remarked in his address of welcome, it was Cody's day, it was Cody's exposition, it was Cody's city.

The Wild West Parade, accompanied by the reception committee and guests of honor in carriages, arrived at the exposition grounds at 11 o'clock in the morning, and was met at the gates by General Manager Clarkson and 150 mounted Indians from the Indian encampment. It entered and was massed in front of the band stand, where a large square space had been reserved for its reception. As the pageant filed into the open space it was greeted with continuous cheering from the vast crowd that covered the entire plaza and crowded the main viaduct and every adjacent building. This swelled into an ovation as Colonel Cody appeared. The McCook band played an inspiring melody as the remainder of the cavalcade swept into place, and then Buffalo Bill dismounted and was greeted with another ovation as he mounted the platform. He was received by General Manager Clarkson, who said: "Mr. Cody, it is a source of great regret to the president of this Exposition that official duties prevent his presence here this morning, and in his behalf he has asked me to give you a most cordial welcome to these exposition grounds. It is extremely fitting, sir, that you should have such a testimonial as this, here, at the very starting point of your earliest career, and as a man who has presented to all parts of America and to foreign countries the customs of the West, and given it a place beside the great Congress of all Nations. We bid you a most cordial welcome here, sir, and assure you that your success in life throughout your career is merited and deserved. (Applause.) I will now introduce Governor Holcomb, of the State of Nebraska, who will give you a welcome."

A Career Watched with Personal Interest.

In the course of an eloquent tribute, the Governor said:   "The large number that have gathered here testify to the interest that we of Nebraska feel in you and in the great enterprise which you have carried on so successfully and so creditably throughout the entire world. We have watched with personal interest your career and your movements, and it is a source, I know, of personal pleasure to a large number of the citizens of Nebraska to see you, whom we look upon as one of our fellow citizens, return again and make a triumphal entry into the metropolitan city of the State and into this great Exposition that has sprung up here in the last few months. It is fitting, it seems to me, that you should come here at this time, represented as you are by these people from all countries. This entertainment and exhibition which you give, which has been denominated and known as a Wild West show, an entertainment started and having its inception on Nebraska soil many years ago, begun by a Nebraskan, who, in his early manhood came into the State in its earlier years, when it was indeed a wild and western State, and very few persons, perhaps, in this entire western country—this magnificent domain that has developed as no other country under the sun has developed in the last quarter of a century. In you earlier days, Colonel Cody, throughout this western country, you knew what the wild West was, and yet you have seen it gradually subdued by the civilizing influence of mankind, until we have to-day a civilization—not as you give it, showing that which existed a quarter of a century ago, but a civilization embracing all that is best for mankind. I dare say we witness here to-day what perhaps we will never again witness in the State of Nebraska, or in the western part of our grand United States. We see here the representatives of so many people of so many different countries; we may never again see so many different peoples assembled together as we witness here to-day—the representatives of the original aboriginal tribes of these United States, two dozen or more of those who in years gone by inhabited these broad prairies, chased the buffalo and deer undisturbed, who have been going further and further toward the setting sun, until to-day we see them here under such circumstances as we now witness. It is an inspiring, an instructive, an educational scene, and we draw lessons from it and appreciate the cause of it. There is a constant change and evolution in the progress of human society, and it more firmly impresses itself upon our minds when we witness this gathering. I extend to you, Colonel Cody, on behalf of the people of the State of Nebraska, your own State, a most cordial welcome on your return to our borders." (Great applause.)

In introducing the next speaker, General Clarkson said: "Here is
The Father of Them All,
Alexander Majors, connected with the very earliest history of Nebraska, and the business father of Colonel Cody."

Mr. Majors was given a reception only second in enthusiasm to that which was accorded the hero of the day as he grasped Colonel Cody's hand and turned to speak of the man from the intimate acquaintance of a lifetime. He said: "Gentlemen and my boy, Colonel Cody (laughter), can I say a few words of welcome? Friend Creighton and I came down here together to-day and he thought I was not equal to the occasion at this time, but I am going to do the best for you that I can. Give me your hand, Colonel. Gentlemen, forty-four years ago this day this fine-looking physical specimen of manhood was brought to me by his mother—a little boy nine years old—and little did I think at that time that the little boy that was standing before me, asking for employment of some kind by which I could afford to pay his mother a little money for his services, was going to be a boy of such destiny as he has turned out to be. (Applause.) In this country we have great men; we have great men at Washington; we have men who are famous as politicians in this country; we have great statesmen; we have had Jackson and Clay and we had a Lincoln; we have men great in agriculture and livestock-growing, and in the manufacturing business, who have made great names for themselves, who have stood high in the Nation. We had a Barnum in the show business. Next, and even greater and higher, we have had a Cody. (Tremendous applause.) He, gentlemen, stands not only at the head of the showmen of the United States of America, but of the world. (Great applause.) Little did I think this, gentlemen, at the time this little boy came to me, standing straight as an arrow, and he came to me and looked me in the face, you know, and I said to my partner, we will take this little boy—Mr. Russell was standing by my side—and we will pay   him a man's wages because he can ride a pony just as well as a man can. He was lighter and could do just the same service—just as good service of that kind when he was a little boy, just nine years old. I remember when we paid him $25.00 for his first month's work—he was paid in half dollars, and he got fifty of them. He tied them up in his little handkerchief, and when he got home he untied the handkerchief and spread it all over the table." (Laughter.) Colonel Cody (laughingly)—"And I have been spreading it ever since." Mr. Majors—"And he is still spreading it. Now, gentlemen this is an occasion when a man does not want to hold people long. I could say so much to you on any other occasion when there are not tens of thousands of people waiting and anxious to see the wind-up of this thing. This occasion never can happen on this globe again. The same number of people and the same conditions and circumstances never will occur here on earth again. This is the biggest thing I ever saw, and I was at the World's Fair, and I have been at the expositions in London, in Edinburgh, Scotland, and in New York. Bless your precious life, Colonel Cody." (Applause.)

Senator Thurston's Eloquent Tribute.

The closing address of welcome was made by Senator Thurston, who said: "Colonel Cody, my fellow citizen: I will only attempt to add another welcome to our friend, Colonel Cody, and I will make it in language as simple as our welcome is sincere. Colonel Cody, this is your day. (Applause.) This is your Exposition. (Applause.) This is your city (applause) and we all rejoice that Nebraska is your State. (Great applause.) You have carried the fame of our country and of our State all over the civilized world; you have been received and honored by princes, by emperors and by kings; and, Cody, the titled women of the courts of the nations of the world have been captivated by your charm of manner and your splendid manhood. (Cries of "Good! Good!") (Applause.) You are known wherever you go, abroad and in the United States, as Colonel Cody, the best representative of the great and progressive West. But here you have a better title. It is one that has grown up in the hearts of your fellow citizens, and the title we give you is 'Our Bill.' (Prolonged applause.) You stand here to-day in the midst of a wonderful assembly. Here are representatives of the heroic and daring characters of most of the nations of the world; you are entitled to this honor, and especially entitled to it here. This people know you as a man who has carried this demonstration of yours at home and abroad; you have not been a showman in the common sense of the word; you have been a grand national and international educator of men. (Applause.) You have furnished a demonstration of the possibilities of your own country that has advanced us in the opinion of the world. But we who are here with you for a third, or more than a third, of a century, we remember you more dearly and tenderly than the others do, for we remember that when this whole western land was a wilderness; when these representatives of the aborigines were attempting to hold their own against the onward tide of civilization, the settler and the hardy pioneer, the women and the children, always felt safe whenever Cody rode along the frontier, and he was their protector and defender. (Great applause.) Cody, this is your home. You live in the hearts of the people of our State. God bless you and keep you, and prosper you in your splendid work."

Colonel Cody's Response.

Another hurricane burst of cheers greeted Colonel Cody as he advanced to the front of the platform to reply to these felicitations, and he was so deeply moved that at first his voice well-nigh failed him. As soon as he could regain composure, he said: "You cannot expect me to make adequate response for the honor which you have bestowed upon me to-day. You have overwhelmed my speaking faculties, for I cannot corral enough ideas to even attempt a coherent reply to the honor which you have accorded me. "How little I dreamed in the long ago that the lonely path of the scout and the pony-express rider would lead me to the place to which you have assigned me to-day, and here, near the banks of the mighty Missouri, which flows unvexed to the sea, my thoughts revert to the early days of my manhood, when looking across this rushing tide toward the East to the Atlantic, where then I supposed all men were rich and all women happy. My friends, that day has come and gone, and I stand among you a witness that nowhere in the broad universe are men richer in manly integrity and women happier in their domestic kingdom than in our own Nebraska. (Great applause.) "I have sought fortune in many lands, but wherever I have wandered that flag of our beloved State has been unfurled to every breeze; from the Platte to the Danube, from the Tiber to the Clyde, the emblem of our sovereign State has always floated over the 'Wild West.' (Applause.) Time goes on and brings with it new duties and responsibilities, but we old men—we men who are called 'old-timers,' cannot forget the trials and tribulations that we had to encounter while paving the path for civilization and National prosperity. "The whistle of the locomotive has drowned the howl of the coyote, the barb-wire fence has narrowed the range of the cowpuncher, but no material evidence of prosperity can obliterate our contribution to Nebraska's imperial progress. (Applause.) "Gentlemen of the Directory, I will not assume to comment upon what you have done to make this Exposition the peer of all that has gone before. Far abler testimony than I can offer has sped on electric wings to the uttermost parts of the earth that what you have done in the interest of Nebraska has been well done. (Applause.) "Through your kindness to-day I have tasted the sweetest fruit that grows on ambition's tree, and if you will extend that kindness and let me fall back into the rear rank as a high private in that rank, that will be honor enough for me. (Applause.) "Now, will you extend that kindness and let me call upon the Wild West, the Congress of Rough Riders of the World, to voice their appreciation for the kindness that you have extended them to-day?"

At the signal of Colonel Cody the Wild West then gave three ringing cheers for Nebraska and the Trans-Mississippi Exposition. Their band followed with "The Red, White and Blue," and at the last note of the melody the McCook band played "The Star-Spangled Banner," and the Wild West fell into line for the parade through the grounds, headed by Colonel Cody, mounted upon the splendid chestnut horse, Duke, presented to him by General Miles, soon after the battle of Wounded [] Representative wild Sioux chiefs and braves. Knee. At the Administration Arch the cavalcade was reviewed by the members of the executive committee of the Exposition.

The Old-Time Lions at Luncheon.

The official and popular reception was notably supplemented by an informal luncheon, given to the old-timers by Colonel Cody, and never before had such a party of representative pioneers met around [] Mexican vaqueros and ruralies. the banquet table and exchanged reminiscences of the stirring days of their younger years. At one long table were seated Governor Holcomb at the head and General T. S. Clarkson at the foot, and on the sides ex-Governors John M. Thayer, James E. Boyd, J. Crounse and Alvin Saunders, Senator John M. Thurston, Major John M. Burke, John A. Creighton, Alexander Majors, W. A. Paxton, Captain J. E. North, E. Rosewater, Louis E. Cooke, Col. W. L. Visscher, ex-Secretary of Agriculture Norman J. Coleman, and others. Over the champagne, General Clarkson, who acted as toastmaster, called upon those present who were more or less given to oratory for sentiments befitting the occasion, and the result was a number of after-dinner speeches that would have done honor to any occasion that has ever been graced by eloquence in words. The theme was the upbuilding of the West, with Colonel Cody as a factor in guiding empire to the region, and incidentally, reminiscences of pioneer times.

Ex-Governor Thayer expressed pride in the fact that he had commissioned Colonel Cody on his military staff, and sent him abroad to acquaint the Old World with Nebraska's opulence of resource, in which the gallant colonel had far exceeded what could have been hoped for in that time. He had not only carried to the Old World and its people the story of this great West, but had, in the meantime, become the associate of princes and potentates, who learned from this representative of the West in a little time, more than decades of reading might have taught them. The ex-governor closed with an earnest commendation of his gallant staff-officer, who, by the way, had been an honor to the military staff of all the succeeding governors of Nebraska.

Unsophisticated Czikos.

Exceptional interest attaches to the Hungarian Czikos with Buffalo Bill's Wild West. They are descendants of the Huns, hereditary to the cattle herders from the plains of Hungary, who, in consequence of the marvelous service of their ancestors as flying cavalrymen, have, by royal edict, enjoyed the rights and exemptions of the minor nobility ever since 1605. Very picturesque fellows they are, daring riders, gallant fighters and wild as hawks. Until they started to come here, they had never seen railway cars, and the new world is as full of themes for amazement to them as it is to the most savage of the red men.

Buffalo Bill's Shooting.

The exhibition of equestrian sharpshooting in Buffalo Bill's Wild West is given by Colonel Cody himself, and with a skill that evokes enthusiastic applause. He uses a Winchester, and on horseback and at full gallop breaks glass balls, successively and rapidly thrown in midair, with a precision that is marvelous. His steady hand and quick eye were not acquired by long and patient practice on shooting-ranges, but in the grand hunting and battlefields of the untrodden West, with giant mountains and boundless plains as an audience, and painted red devils, buffaloes, antelopes, wolves and mountain lions as targets. It is one thing to display what is termed "nerve" and self-control at a "trap," but quite another to do so when a miss may involve death to the hunter.

In the war with Spain we had plenty of Indian volunteers but no prize fighters.

The average cowboy may not be familiar with the "Tenderloin," but the Texas steer will tell you that he knows the ropes.

 

Historic War Horses.

The hundreds of horses from different countries and of different strain employed by Buffalo Bill's Wild West in transportation, parade, and exhibition, collectively, form a living attraction, full of nobility, beauty, intelligence, fire and fleetness, while in the great gathering are individual steeds full worthy of more than passing inspection and mention. Among these are included "Knickerbocker" and "Lancer," which Colonel Cody sent with the army to Porto Rico, for his own use in the event of his being called to the front by General Miles, and which were the only horses accompanying the invading forces that were returned to American soil, as the following note from General Miles to Colonel Cody shows: [] Colonel Cody's famous war horses, "Knickerbocker," "Lancer," and "Palmero," used by General Miles in the Porto Rico Campaign. My Dear Cody: Your horses are now in Washington all right. You did not reach Porto Rico, therefore I rode them myself, and they are the only horses we brought back to America. Nelson A. Miles. Regular army officers who had served with General Miles in the Indian campaigns had given him the reputation of being the hardest rider in the service. "He can cover more ground than any other man in the army and be fresh as a daisy at the emd," they told the troopers in Porto Rico, and as escort of [] Courier Co. Buffalo, N.Y. A picturesque group taken at Buffalo Bill's Wild West, Washington, D. C., May 10, 1898. 1. Major-General Fitzhugh Lee. 2. Senor DeQuesada. 3. Capt. Allison Nailor. 4. "Buffalo Bill'—Col. W. F. Cody. 5. Captain Russell. 6. Wounded Veteran Cuban Insurgents. 7. Brigadier-General Nunez. 8. Senor Estrada Palma. 9. Senor Albertine. thirty-seven of them, whom he rode to a finish and nearly out of their saddles during a prolonged tour of inspection, sorely conceded that he was truly a Rough Rider par excellence. "Knickerbocker," a powerful, plucky gray, was just the mount required by such a horseman, and carried him triumphantly through the more arduous work of the campaign; "Lancer," a beautiful sorrel of less weight and stamina being reserved for lighter service.

Returning with these martial steeds came a splendid little Porto Rico-born "Palmero Stallion," purchased for the special use of General Miles's twelve-year-old son, who accompanied the expedition with his father. That he is a chip of the old block may be inferred from the statement of one of the officers of Troop A, who says: "We made the return in less than five hours, sticking at the trot which General Miles rode to perfection. His twelve-year-old son, a bright-looking little chap, accompanied him on one of the little Porto Rico ponies. The boy was game, for he stuck right at the heels of the iron-gray, handicapped as he was by his mount's short, pounding strides."

Mack's Bugle Call at Valparaiso.

Sergeant Mack, who is in command of the field battery of artillery with Buffalo Bill's Wild West, is a soldier and sailor of many years' experience. He served as bugler on the San Francisco when Sampson [was] its captain, and was on the Baltimore when that vessel was commanded by Winfield Scott Schley, one of the heroes of the naval battle off Santiago. The stirring incident at Valparaiso during the Chilian rebellion, when Schley showed the kind of stuff he is made of, is fresh in the memory of the Sergeant, and he tells it this way:

"Ensign Snow, who afterwards lost his life in the great disaster at Santiago, was sent ashore from the Baltimore with a 'market' boat to procure provisions. After he had made the necessary purchases he returned with his men to the wharf, where the boat was moored. He was assaulted in the stern of the boat and the American flag was trampled in Chilian dirt; the men barely escaping with their lives.

"When Ensign Snow appeared on board the Baltimore before Captain Schley, the latter said:

"'Ensign, where is your flag?'

"The officer was too deeply affected to speak. He choked, and made a great effort, but was unable to utter an intelligible sound. But finally he managed to give some details of the infamous and cowardly outrage.

"'Ah, was that it?' said Schley, with quiet sternness. The captain had grown very pale, his lip quivered, and there was an ominous flash in his eye.

"'Bugler, blow for the gig,' was his order to Mack, and in a few moments the boat for the captain's exclusive use was alongside.

"'Lieutenant Babcock, have you your watch,' inquired Schley of his first officer.

"Babcock pulled out his watch, and Schley then continued:

"'I am going ashore, and you watch for my signals. If the American flag is not flying over the highest point in the city in just fifteen minutes, turn broadside on and bombard the city.' The gig's crew pulled rapidly ashore, and Schley was seen to disappear in the street leading to the house of the chief executive of the city.

"The Baltimore was trimmed and cleared for action. The time specified went slowly by and the passing minutes were terribly anxious ones.

"Just thirteen minutes after Schley had left his ship, the American colors were seen to ascend slowly up the flagstaff of Fort Pedro Blanco and then unfurl proudly in the wind. And what's more, a salute of twenty-one guns for the flag was fired by the fort, and one of thirteen for Captain Schley.

"From that day to this Old Glory has not been trifled with at Valparaiso."

 

A Cody Enterprise.

To those best acquainted with Col. W. F. Cody and his governing ambition and noble purposes it has long been an open secret that for years it has been the one dominant purpose of his life to become, in the truest and most useful and praiseworthy sense of the term, a great public benefactor, by devoting his means and energy to the agricultural and commercial development of that far Great West, in whose reclamation from savage hands he played so brave and conspicuous a part. That was the ulterior object in view when "Buffalo Bill's Wild West and Congress of Rough Riders of the World" was first organized, and the profits resulting from that extraordinarily successful and popular exhibition have been largely dedicated to its accomplishment. Cody Day at the Omaha Exposition—an account of which is elsewhere given, and which was the grandest compliment ever paid a private citizen by a State and the public—was largely suggested by the desire to notably and worthily honor Colonel Cody, as a maker as well as a conqueror of empire. His efforts to provide cheap and fruitful homes for toiling millions cover a broad area of effort and include many costly enterprises. Some facts regarding the last and grandest of them all will be found both interesting and profitable. To reclaim a vast territory, establish a city, and lead whole communities to prosperity, means a fixed purpose for which Colonel Cody has long been noted, and in whose honor the city of Cody, Wyoming, was created.

Shoshone Irrigation Company.

In March 1895, the Shoshone Irrigation Company was organized with the following officers and directors:

Officers.

W. F. Cody, President, Cody, Wyoming; Bronson Rumsey, Vice-President, Buffalo, N. Y.; H. C. Alger, Treasurer, Sheridan, Wyoming; George T. Beck, Secretary and Manager, Cody, Wyoming.

Directors.

W. F. Cody, Cody, Wyoming; Nate Salsbury, New York City; Bronson Rumsey, Buffalo, N. Y.; George Bleistein, Buffalo, N. Y.; George T. Beck, Cody, Wyoming; H. C. Alger, Sheridan, Wyoming.

Entered into contracts with the State of Wyoming [?] the reclamation of Arid Lands. Have at present about twenty thousand acres under irrigation and ready for selection and settlement, at the prices fixed by the State of Wyoming, viz.: fifty cents per acre for the land, one-half payable upon application for the land, the other half payable at time of making final proof. Perpetual water right $10.00 per acre, if settled upon the first year the water can be put upon the lands. If not until the second year, $11.00; third year, $12.00; fourth year, $13.00; fifth year, $14.00. In other words, the State does not make it compulsory, but permits the Canal Company to charge one dollar per acre per annum additional to the $10.00 per acre up to five years. Making the maximum for perpetual water right that can be charged on land that has been subject to irrigation and not filed upon by a settler until after five years' completion of the Canal, $15.00 per acre.

[]

Winter scene—come, go shooting!

One share or water right is for 40 acres. One head of a family, person or settler can take one, two, three or four shares, representing respectively 40, 80, 120 or 160 acres.

The terms of payment for water rights are fixed by the Shoshone Irrigation Company, and are as follows: Cash or one-fifth cash, the balance of principal in one, two, three or four years equal semiannual payments, six per cent. interest on deferred payments, payable semiannually

George T. Beck, Land Commissioner,

Cody, Big Horn County, Wyoming.

Letter from State Engineer.

State Of Wyoming,
Elwood Mead, State Engineer,

Cheyenne, Wyo., Dec. 22, 1896.

Shoshone Irrigation Co., Cody, Wyoming.

Gentlemen: I regard the Cody Canal as one of the most important and valuable projects ever inaugurated in this State, and believe it is destined to exercise great influence on our growth in wealth and population. It will open to settlers a region having vast and varied resources. I know of no place in this country which offers to prudent and industrious farmers greater assurances of material prosperity and physical comfort than the Big Horn Basin. This valley has a local climate, with less snowfall in winter than any part of the surrounding country, and with a mean temperature in summer which permits of a wider diversity of crops than is possible in much of the country five hundred miles south of it. It is, therefore, equally well adapted to the purposes of the stock raiser, grain grower, fruit raiser or market gardener.

The Cody Canal takes its water supply from one of the largest rivers in the West, and reclaims some of the best land in this State. The completed portion is well and substantially built with an ample capacity to water all the land below it. The price of shares therein is as low as the cost of the work will permit, and the conditions of purchase absolutely fair to water users. The ultimate ownership of both Canal and land by settlers, with the abundant water supply, gives the cultivators of these lands a security and independence not always enjoyed by irrigators.

I can, therefore, unreservedly and heartily commend your project to investors, and the lands it waters to home seekers.

Respectfully,

Elwood Mead, State Engineer

[]

Cattle grazing in the foot hills, near Cody, Wyoming.

Soil.

The general character of the soil to be irrigated by the Shoshone Irrigation Company's Canal is a rich sandy loam, varied here and there by patches of clayey loam. In all cases a large percentage of silica enters into its composition, making it peculiarly adapted to small grains. It ranges from a gray color along the streams, to red on the higher ground, and a sandy loam with a small amount of gravel on the table or bench lands. It is considered by experts the very best of soil. The soil of the Shoshone Valley is very deep and rich, and adapted to perfect drainage. An analysis shows it to be pre-eminently rich in all the mineral and [map] Shoshone Irrigation Co. Map Showing Lands Irrigated by the Cody Canal. [photograph] Headgate—Cody Canal. vegetable elements, and therefore favorable to the growth of cereals, vegetables, fruits and everything else, which it is desirable to include in a scheme of diversified farming. The Big Horn Basin has a climate of its own with an altitude of 4,500 feet above the sea level. The soil is rich, deep and kindly—the water supply unfailing. All the vegetables, cereals, grasses, small fruits, with all the meat products and those of the dairy, can be successfully grown.

What Residents Say.

Products—Grain.

In the production of wheat, oats, barley and rye, Wyoming is a "prize winner," and nowhere in the State do they grow to greater perfection than in the Basin; oats yield as high as one hundred and thirty bushels per acre. The barley is of superior quality, equal to the famous Canadian barley. As there is no rain or dew the barley produced is in quantity, color and weight the very best.

 

Yield.

The yield of these crops (wheat, oats, barley and rye) is enormous. Wheat has been known to exceed fifty bushels, and an average of thirty-eight bushels to the acre would be a conservative estimate.

Oats will average sixty bushels to the acre. On ranches in the vicinity of the Company's land a yield of from eighty to one hundred bushels to the acre is not uncommon, weighing from forty-two to forty-five pounds per bushel.

Forage and Hay. Alfalfa is the principal forage crop, soil and climate both being well suited; two crops—sometimes three—being cut each season. The average yield for each cutting is about two tons per acre, leaving in addition an aftermath for fall and winter pasturage, which of itself is quite a valuable item.

Timothy is the next hay crop of importance; thrives to perfection in this soil and climate, yielding from one and one-half to two and one-half tons per acre. The curing of hay is never attended with any of the difficulties which prevail in rainy districts, as the weather is always clear and dry.

Corn, either as a forage plant or for grain, has not been grown to any great extent in the Basin, but enough has been done to prove that it can be safely depended on for a paying crop.

Vegetables. Potatoes, turnips, beets, onions, peas, cabbages, and all the other hardy vegetables obtain a growth and yield unsurpassed in any portion of the country. Potatoes will yield on an average five hundred bushels to the acre under proper cultivation, and the yield of the others is in proportion. Beets of all varieties yield enormously.

Cucumbers and early varieties of beans and half-hardy vegetables can be depended on as sure crops. Pumpkins of enormous size are grown, and a sure crop.

Cabbage. This is the home of the cabbage; heads weighing all the way from ten to forty pounds. There are no insect pests in this portion of the country. Vegetables and farm crops are safe on this score, and hailstorms within the memory of the oldest settlers have never been knowm to injure any crop yet.

The Small Fruits. Currant, gooseberry, strawberry, raspberry, are as sure crop as are oats and wheat. Apples have proven successful where tried.

Celery and Asparagus of superior quality and flavor. It is a common remark, by all who visit this section of Wyoming, that they never tasted finer flavored vegetables; they certainly never saw a finer quality nor a larger yield grown in any country.

Fruits. It takes much time and experience to determine what fruits may be grown in a new country. But the experiments made show that all kinds of small fruits, such as raspberries, strawberries, currants and gooseberries, and large fruits of a hardy variety, such as apples, pears, plums, cherries, etc., can be successfully cultivated.

[]

Irma Valley, near Cody, looking north.

Climate.

It is hardly possible to describe the charms and health-giving qualities of the climate of this region without indulging in what would seem to be extravagance. The air is dry and [photograph] Pack mules—hunting outfit. absolutely pure, being thoroughly free from miasma, malaria, and all other climatic causes of disease. The sky is usually bright and clear, and the sun shines in almost unbroken [photograph] Mr. Johnny Baker, the foster son and pupil of Colonel Cody. radiance, stimulating and healthful. Fogs and gloomy spells of weather are unknown, and the ordinary outdoor avocations are carried on with no interruptions or discomfort worth taking into consideration. The cold of winter is mitigated by the kindly influence of the "Chinook" winds. All forms of pulmonary disease and nervous affections disappear under the influence of its bracing air and kindly sun. Life and activity are prolonged by a residence here, and almost perfect freedom from all forms of ill health is enjoyed.

There is no malaria. Nowhere does the sun shine brighter or are there more delightful nights. No climate could be more fascinating and invigorating to the strong or those seeking health. The mortality [?] 1890 shows the percentage of deaths in the respective States named, as follows: Massachusetts, 1.77; California, 1.61; New York, 1.58; Pennsylvania, 1.49; Illinois, 1.33; Texas, 1.37; Utah, 1.03; Wyoming, .81.

Curious Cossacks.

The Cossacks, from the steppes of Russia, are a notable feature in Colonel Cody's Congress of Rough Riders of the World. Their wild, dashing style of riding presents a spirited and almost fierce freedom and capacity for independent personal demonstration unknown to any other race of equestrians. They wear handsome but somber uniforms, ride the lithe, small horses of the steppes, and are mounted on small troop saddles, very high front and rear, which are built up with pads fully four inches thick, so that they seem to perch far above their horses. Their stirrups are very small, only big enough to get the points of the toes into, and drawn short. A man must be a good rider who can occupy that aerial roost and steady himself by those toy stirrups. Their feats set one to guessing what they do them for. Do they twine themselves all over their horses because it is hard to do, or has it all some warlike purpose? The most of it looks as if it were just the dare-devil nature of the men, but such perfection of the management of a horse, and of one's self in the saddle must be useful to a fighting man, too.

The ability to ride backwards on the horse as well as forwards must make the delivery of Parthian shots especially easy and effective, and must sometimes give the opportunity to turn defeat into victory. To ride hanging down on the horse's side, like a dead body hung in the saddle, is, of course, a protection from the shots of the enemy and compels the horse to take the most of the danger. But it looks as if a fall from a horse which was shot when going at that furious rate would be about as bad for a man as to be shot himself.

A Wonderful Western Marksman.

Both as a field and trap shot, Johnny Baker of Buffalo Bill's Wild West, stands in the very front rank of the world's most famous experts. He has been a frequent prize winner at some of the greatest shooting tournaments in both America and Europe, and his entirely original illustrations of gymnastic shooting are phenomenally unique and difficult. It is no exaggeration whatever to say—and he proves it daily—that he can shoot more accurately while standing on his head than many crack shots can do standing on their feet.

Sherman's Thanks To Cody.

When General Sherman first saw "Buffalo Bill's Wild West," as compared with its present scope and size, it was but an incomplete production, and yet even then the grim old warrior, turning to his trusted scout with tears in his eyes, said: "Billy, for my children and grandchildren, who can never see these things as we saw them, I thank you."

Now, frankly, does not General Sherman's remark apply equally as well to you, and to every child and grandchild in the land? Ought not you and they to see, study and enjoy this one, unique and only exhibition of National and International dignity and character? This may be your last chance to visit it and [?] may bring you regret and disappointment, for nothing to replace it will ever come to you. The circus and theatre you will always have with you, but no other Real Wild West, and, in all probability, never that again.

[illustration]

The "Rough Riding" Russian Cossacks.

No animal on earth—excepting man in the delirium of fanatic and religious frenzy—can be taught to intentionally injure itself, and least of all the horse, among the most timid and suspicious of all the beasts. To common sense it is then a self-evident proposition that a bronco can no more be taught to buck than can a hippopotamus to play golf.

 

Famous Annie Oakley.

Miss Annie Oakley, the world-famous dead shot, with Buffalo Bill's Wild West, is deservedly and immensely popular and ranks among the most remarkable women of this remarkable era. "Sitting Bull," the redoubtable and dreaded Indian Chief, [photograph] Miss Annie Oakley, Champion Lady Wing Shot of the World. was so impressed with her skill that he adopted her into the Sioux Nation under the name of "Watanya Cicilla," or "Little Sure Shot." Besides the thousands of exhibitions she has given in Europe and America, she has won forty-one prizes in matches and tournaments, and her collection of won or presented trophies, medals and firearms is one of the finest in the world. In one day she shot at 5,000 glass balls, loading the guns herself, and breaking 4,772 balls. She is also a most accomplished rider and shoots unerringly from the saddle. Miss Oakley possesses all the winning and gentle qualities allied to true womanhood, and is a universal favorite among the hundreds of rough and ready men in Buffalo Bill's cosmopolitan camp. In Europe she was welcomed as a guest in the highest social circles and proved an honor to her American sisters.

Old Glory's Bareback Heroes.

It is one thing to pose and poise upon a methodically cantering horse, dominated in a small circle by a ringmaster's whip, but quite another to stand in boots or shoes, upon the slippery back of a bronco, tearing straight away, as if escaping from a prairie fire. With the former style of equitation everybody is familiar. The latter kind will be one of the striking and stirring originalities to be seen in Buffalo Bill's Wild West, as presented by a detachment from the Sixth United States Cavalry. These regular army dare-devils have learned many wrinkles from the Cossack, Arab, Indian and Cowboy horsemen, and in some respects improved upon the same in a manner to put the circus ring in total eclipse. They have succeeded in combining all the natural excellencies for which the army was formerly famed with the agility of the wilder schools, and also brought the swift and agile bronco into service. Don't for a moment imagine that they amble steadily around in a ring, upon horses carefully trained to emulate a rocking-chair's movements, with well-rosined slippers to stick their feet to an equally well-rosined quarterdeck back. Nothing of the sort. Dressed from head to foot for service, they ride at full speed straight away over the rough ground, dismount from their naked steeds, run alongside of them, remount on the jump, ride single and double standing, now facing the horses' heads, now their tails; now balancing on one horse, then on two and three, or riding in couples on three horses. It is an exhibition of equitation that would make a Centaur rear right up and applaud until he smashed his hoofs, and the old-time sawdust equestrians regard it with an admiring envy tinged with apprehension.

Wild West Pageant.

This cosmographic street cavalcade is the realism of racial individuality; a mounted march and organized babel of widely differing nationalities and tongues; a vivid [missing] and peculiar characters and singular and unfamiliar customs, such as would be utterly impossible without the co-operation and consent of foreign governments and home authorities, and one which no other management on earth has the material to duplicate or the official and individual influence to compass. It includes the Indian as Miles Standish, Penn, Washington, Boone, Carson and Custer saw and knew him, and riding with him the very men who played so large and brave a part in blazing, in blood, torture [] Cavalry of all nations—practice drill. [] South American gauchos and bolas throwers. and deprivation, the pathway for civilization through the last and remotest of his desperately defended hunting grounds. It stretches in living introduction, from the wigwam of the Sioux to the palace of the Czar, and from the log hut of the pioneer and the lonely bivouac of the trapper and scout to the armed camps of kingly rulers. Following the renowned Cowboy Band of thirty-six pieces on horseback come, in long, adorned and variegated line, hundreds of aboriginal chiefs and braves in all their fearful, gruesome panoply of war; sinewy, strangely garbed Cossacks of the Czar's Light Cavalry, mounted on their wiry and active Ukraine steeds; lithe, picturesque Riffian Arabs on their desert thoroughbreds; a cohort from "The Queen's Own" Lancers; stalwart troopers from the German Emperor's Bodyguard, chasseurs and cuirassiers from the crack cavalry regiments of European standing armies; detachments of United States Cavalry and Artillery, with full batteries of field and mounted guns; South American Gauchos, Uhlans, rough-riding Ruralies, jaunty Mexican Vaqueros, bronzed Cuban veterans, Porto Ricans, Hawaiians, Czikos, dare-devil Cowboys, Wild West Girls, Scouts, Frontiersmen, Texas Rangers, Roosevelt Rough Riders, the historic old Deadwood Mail Coach, an Indian village on the move, Emigrant Outfit, the Cuban Volante, glittering arms, imperial equipments, aboriginal weapons, flags, pennons, sumptuous trappings, and hundreds of wonderfully broken, beautiful horses ridden by the native kings of fearless equitation. It is history, humanity, heroism on horseback.

 

"Buffalo Bill" A Knight of the West

To Col. W. F. Cody

by William Lightfoot Visscher [illustration]

Who is this gallant cavalier that rides in from the West?
His horse, and gun, and trappings are the truest and the best;
He strides his noble thoroughbred with manly, easy grace,
And sits the saddle like a sheik, and rides a rattling pace.
His hair falls white and long adown his shoulders strong and wide,
And all his bearing has the poise of manliness and pride.

[illustration]

A sovereign born and citizen of this fair Western land,
He rose among his fellows in the custom of command;
His boyhood heard the wailing that was echo of the yell
When the savage made the border seem the environs of hell;
With his dying father's spirit, his hunting-knife and gun,
He drove the bronze barbarians into the setting sun.

[illustration]

"Mong the willows by the river, on mesa, hill, and plain,
They fell beneath his horses' hoofs, and 'fore his leaden rain.
Full well he wreaked his vengeance, and he blazed a Western path
With the weapons of his prowess and the scoring of his wrath.
From Missouri's murky waters to the white Sierra's crest
This knightly man led dauntless men and empire to the West.

[illustration]

To save the name, and legends, and traditions of that land—
The wilderness that blossomed—and its story, strange and grand,
To the wondering sight of millions, and to sing its passing song,
He led toward the Orient his motley, nomad throng,
With their singing, and their dancing, their weapons and their ways,
Their riding and their fighting in their tribe to tribe's affrays.

[illustration]

From the canyons of the mountains to the canyons of the deep,
And to where the Eastern nations close guard, and jealous keep,
The monuments and tokens of their ancient rule state,
There the gallant Western chieftain rode among the titled great,
A fellow-prince among the kings, a sovereign by the right
Of honest manhood, bred beneath high Liberty's clear light.

[illustration]

Where the alters of the Druids and ancient abbeys lie,
'Neath forest-covered ruins, marking centuries gone by,
And in places that are cobwebbed with history as old
As Britain's first traditions, lying deep in must and mold,
There the chieftain and his riders went, and held their hardy games
To plaudits of the multitudes, lords, kings, and royal dames.

[illustration]

By the Tiber, 'neath the shadow of St. Peter's lofty dome,
The mighty pile that canopies the hierarch of Rome;
'Mid monuments and masonry, that, crumbling in decay,
Teach the vanity of empire, how weak and fleet its sway,
Here rode the knightly plainsman, and his cavalleros sang
Where oft, in centuries agone, acclaim to Caesar rang.

[illustration]

'Mong potentates and powers, in the cities of the kings,
From where Mahomet's crescent across the Orient swings
To where the North sea booms against old Denmark's rugged shores,
And back to where dear home-land opened wide to him her doors,
Went and came the dashing horseman, and he bore the banner high
That Freedom's heroes, for its weal, will dare, and do, and die.

[illustration]

When by this mighty, inland sea, the great White City gleamed
As radiant as mountain snows, the chieftain's banners streamed
Above his wide encampment, and from every clime and land
Came men to do him honor, and to grasp his manly hand.
Even yet he leads his riders, and his lesson's high and strong,
And so, saluting him, I sing this heartful, homely song.

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Banner image: Buffalo Bill Center of the West, Cody, Wyoming, U.S.A.; Original Buffalo Bill Museum Collection, P.69.118