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BUFFALO BILL'S
Wild West
AND
CONGRESS OF ROUGH RIDERS OF THE WORLD
Programme
OVERTURE, "Star-Spangled Banner," - COW-BOY BAND, WM. SWEENEY, Leader.
1-GRAND REVIEW, Introducing the ROUGH RIDERS OF THE WORLD, Indians, Cow-boys, Mexicans, Cossacks, Gauchos, Arabs, Scouts, Guides, American Negroes and detachments of fully equipped Regular Soldiers of the Armies of America, England, France, Germany and Russia.
2- MISS ANNIE OAKLEY, Celebrated Shot, who will illustrate her dexterity in the use of fire-arms.
3- HORSE RACE, between a Cow-boy, a Cossack, a Mexican, an Arab, a Gaucho and an Indian, on Spainish-Mexican, Broncho, Russian, Indian and Arabian horses.
4-PONY EXPRESS. A former Pony Post-Rider will show how the letters and telegrams of the Republic were distributed across the immense Continent previous to the building of railways and the telegraph.
5- ILLUSTRATING A PRAIRIE EMIGRANT TRAIN CROSSING THE PLAINS. It is attacked by marauding Indians, who are in turn repulsed by "Buffalo Bill" and a number of Scouts and Cow-boys.
6- A GROUP OF RIFFIAN ARABIAN HORSEMEN will illustrate their style of horsemanship, together with native sports and pastimes.
7- JOHNNIE BAKER, Celebrated Young American Marksman.
8-COSSACKS, of the Caucus of Russia, in feats of horsemanship, native dances, etc.
9- A GROUP OF MEXICANS from Old Mexico will illustrate the use of the Lasso, and perform various feats of horsemanship.
10- HURDLE RACE, between Primitive Riders mounted on Western Broncho Ponies that never jumped a hurdle until three days before the opening of the present exhibition.
11- COW-BOY FUN. Picking objects from the ground, lassoing wild horses, riding the buckers, etc.
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Programme
CONTINUED
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I2- MILITARY MUSICAL DRILL by detachment from the Seventh United States Cavalry from Fort Riley; detachment from the Fifth Royal Irish Lancers; detachment from French Dragoons of Republic Francaise; detachment from Garde Cuirassiers of His Majesty Kaiser Wilhelm II.
I3- ATTACK ON THE DEADWOOD MAIL COACH BY INDIANS. Repulse of the Indians and rescue of the stage, passengers and mail by "Buffalo Bill" and his attendant Cow-boys.
N.B.- This is the identical old Deadwood Coach, called the Mail Coach, which is famous on account of having carried the great number of people who lost their lives on the road between Deadwood and Cheyenne 19 years ago, Now the most famed vehicle extant.
I4 - RACING BETWEEN INDIAN BOYS ON BAREBACK HORSES.
I5 - TEN MINUTES WITH THE ROUGH RIDERS OF THE WORLD.
I6 - COL. W. F. CODY ( "Buffalo Bill" ) in his unique feats of sharpshooting at full speed.
I7 - BUFALLO HUNT, as it was in the Far West of North America --"Buffalo Bill" and Indians, The Last of the only known Native Herd.
I8 - ATTACK ON SETTLERS' CABINS and rescue by "Buffalo Bill" and a band of Cow-boys, Scouts and Frontiersmen.
I9 - SALUTE
CONCLUSION
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N. B. -- The management reserves the right to change Programme according to circumstances, occasions or accident.
Best concert ever given with an outdoor show follows this Programme.
All Excursions wait for the concert.
The management endorses the merit of the Annex at the main entrance.
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4
SOME OF THE FAMOUS GENERALS OF THE U.S. ARMY UNDER WHOM BUFFALO BILL HAS SERVED
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5
SALUTORY.
There is probably no field in modern American history more fascinating in the intensity of its interest than that which is presented in our rapidly extending frontier. The pressure of the white man, the movement of the emigrant train, and the extension of our railways, together with the military power of the General Government, have, in a measure, broken down the barriers behind which the Indian fought and defied the advance of civilization; but the West, in many places, is still a scene of wildness, where the sternness of the law is upheld at the pistol point, and the white savage and outlaw has become scarcely less dangerous than his red-skinned predecessor. [This last, while perfectly true when written (1883 ), is at present inapplicable, so fast does law and order progress and pervade the Grand West.]
The story of our country, so far as it concern life in the vast Rocky Mountain region and on the plains, has never been half told; and romance itself falls far short of the reality when it attempts to depict the career of the little vanguard of pioneers, trappers, and scouts, who, moving always in front, have paved the way-- frequently with their own bodies-- for the safe approach of the masses behind. The names of "OLD JIM BRIDGER," "KIT CARSON," "WHITE BEAVER," "WILD BILL," "CALIFORNIA JOE," "BUFFALO WHITE," "TEXAS JACK," "BUFFALO BILL," "MAJOR NORTH," and scores of others, have already become identified with what seem to be strange legends and traditions, and yet the lives and labors of these men form a part of the development of the great West. Most of them have died fighting bravely, and all of them, in their way, have been men around whose exploits contemporaneous writers in and out of the army have thrown the halo of heroism. Our most distinguished officers have repeatedly borne tribute to their usefulness and valor, and to-day the adventures of the Army Scout constitute a theme of never-ending interest. Keen of eye, sturdy in build, inured to hardship, experienced in the knowledge of Indian habits and language, familiar with the hunt, and trustworthy in the hour of extremest danger, they belong to a class that is rapidly disappearing from our country.
In the Eastern States, or even east of the Mississippi, the methods of these people are comparatively unknown, and it is for the purpose of introducing them to the public that this little pamphlet has been prepared. HON. WILLIAM F. CODY (BUFFALO BILL"), in conjunction with MR. NATE SALSBURY, the eminent American actor ( a ranch owner), has organized a large combination that, in its several aspects, will illustrate life as it is witnessed on the plains; the Indian encampment; the cow-boys and vaqueros; the herds of buffalo and elk; the lassoing animals; the manner of robbing mail coaches; feats of agility, horsemanship, marksmanship, of archery, and the kindred scenes and events that are characteristic of the border. The most completely appointed delegation of frontiersmen and Indians that ever visited the East will take part in the entertainment, together with a large number of animals; and the performance, while in no wise partaking of the nature of a "circus." will be at once new, startling and instructive.
NORTH PLATTE, NEB., MAY 1, 1883. ------ JOHN M. BURKE, General Manager.
The exhibitions given by "BUFFALO BILL'S" Wild West have nothing in common with the usual professional exhibitions. Their merits are dependent on training of a natural kind.
Our aim is to make the public acquainted with the manners and customs of the daily life of the dwellers in the far West of the United States, through the means of actual realistic scenes from life. At each performance marked skill and daring are presented. Not only from the standpoint of the spectator but also from a critical point of view, we assure the auditor that each scene presents a faithful picture of the habits of these folk, down to the smallest detail.
All the horses are descendants of those brought to American by the Spaniards, under Ferdinand Cortez. The whole material of harness, etc., is genuine, and has already been seasoned by many years' experienced is in their original wilds. We congratulate ourselves as being the first to successfully unite in an entertainment al their historic peculiarities.
After having earned the applause of the public and the flattering opinion of the press of the world, New York, London, Paris, Barcelona, Naples, Rome, Milan, Vienna, Munich, Dresden, Leipsic, Berlin, Liverpool, Cardiff, Hamburg, Glasgow, Bremen, Brussels, etc., we hace the honor to place ourselves once more at the service of the American public, presenting in conjunction with the original Wild West features a congress of the Rough Riders of the World. This assemblage of primitive horsemen meet for the first time in history -- from far distant countries -- differing in race, language, habits, customs, dress, as well as in skill, styles and methods of the horsemanship, forming the most unique congregation of equestrians since the Creation.
NATE SALSBURY, Vice-President and Manager.
To the above, which was written 12 months ago, can only be added the extraordinary and unparalleled public indorsement given to this entertainment during the summer of 1893 at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, when the patronage extended to us exceeded by far that ever given any amusement enterprise ever known.
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HON. W. F. CODY-("BUFFALO BILL")
was born in Scott County, Iowa, whence his father, Isaac Cody, emigrated a few years afterward to the distant frontier territory of Kansas, settling near Fort Leavenworth. While still a boy his father was killed in what is now known as the "Border War," and his youth was passed amid all the excitements and turmoil incident to the strife and discord of the unsettled community, where the embers of political contentions smoldered until they burst into the burning flame of civil war. This state of affairs among the white occupants of the territory, and the ingrained ferocity and hostility to encroachment from the native savage, created an atmosphere of adventure well calculated to educate one of his natural temperament to a familiarity with danger, and self-reliance in the protective means for its avoidance.
From a child used to shooting and riding, he at an early age became a celebrated pony-express rider then the most dangerous occupation on the plains. He was known as a boy
{Image Captions} WHITE EAGLE. "GUIDING AND GUARDING."
to be most fearless and ready for any mission of danger, and respected by such men then engaged in the express service as old Jule and the terrible Slade, whose correct finale is truthfully told in Mark Twain's "Roughing It." He accompanied General Albert Sidney Johnston on his Utah expedition, guided trains overland, hunted for a living, and gained his sobriquet by wrestling the laurels as a buffalo hunter from all claimants- notably Comstock, in a contest with whom he killed sixty-nine buffaloes in one day to Comstock's forty-six- became scout and guide for the now celebrated Fifth Cavalry (of which General E. A. Carr was Major), and is thoroughly indentified with that regiment's Western history; was chosen by the Kansas Pacific Railroad to supply meat to the laborers while building the road, in one season killing 4,862 buffaloes, besides deer and antelope; and was chief of scouts in the department that protected the building of the Union Pacific. In these various duties his encounters with the red men have been innumerable, and are well authenticated by army officers in every section of the country. In fact, wherever you meet an army officer, there you meet an admirer and indorser of Buffalo Bill. He is, in fact, the representative man of the frontiersmen of the past- that is, not the barroom brawler or bully of the settlements, but a genuine specimen of Western manhood- a child of the plains, who was raised there, and familiar with the country previous to railroads, and when it was known on our maps as the "Great American Desert." By the accident of birth and early association, a man who became sensibly inured to the hardships and dangers of primitive existence, and possessed or intending it, made him nationally famous.
Gen. Richard Irving Dodge, Gen. Sherman's chief of staff, correctly states in his "Thirty Years Among Our Wild Indians" : "The success of every expedition against Indians depends, to a degree, on the skill, fidelity and intelligence of the men employed as scouts, for