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

THE WILD WEST IN LEEDS.—The Mayor and Mayoress of Leeds (Mr. and Mrs. Cooke, [1] with several of their children, were present at the afternoon performance of the Wild West yesterday. The weather was delightful, and the fact that the attendance of the general public on the occasion was very large, exceeding that at any previous performance in the Cardigan Fields, was complimentary to the Mayor and Mayoress, and very gratifying to the management. The exhibition, which, by-the-bye, closes at the end of this week, is growing in favour, as it deserves to do. The Mayor was unable to remain till the close, but when the last scene had been witnessed and the National Anthem had been played, the Mayoress, accompanied by her children, Mr. and Mrs. Bruce, [2] and some other ladies and gentlemen, was conducted around the Indian encampment by Mr. G. C. Crager, the Sioux interpreter, who pointed out the more notable amongst the red men, and gave some interesting information regarding their mode of life, &c. We are informed that the cowboys and vaqueros, whose splendid horsemanship is one of the chief features of the entertainment, are complaining that nobody in Yorkshire sends them an unmanageable horse to ride, and thereby afford them the opportunity of showing that they can keep their seats in other saddles than those of the lively Texas ponies. By the kind permission of Col. W. F. Cody the deaf and dumb members attached to the Institution for the Blind, Deaf, and Dumb, Albion-street, were granted free admission to "Buffalo Bill's Wild West," on Saturday afternoon. About one hundred and thirty adult mutes gladly responded to the kind invitation. On entering the show the mutes were introduced to "Buffalo Bill," who gracefully expressed the pleasure it gave him to see them at the show. He then directed that the mutes should be placed in the reserved seats, where they could obtain an excellent view of the representations. The gesticulations of the mutes seemed to afford as much amusement to the Indians as the clever performances of the Indians gave pleasure to the deaf and dumb.—By the kind invitation also of Col. Cody, conveyed through Mr. Sheible, the business manager of "Buffalo Bill's" Company, the deaf children now attending the Deaf Department at the Higher Grade School visited the "Wild West" Show. The children, to the number of 35, greatly enjoyed the afternoon's entertainment.