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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 inot htis 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, is an entertainment started and having its inception on Nebraska soild many years ago, begun by a Nebraskan who in his early manhood came inot hte State in its earlier years, when it was indeed a wild and western State, and few persons perhaps were in this entire sun has developed in the last quarter of a century. In your 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 civili zation, 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 different peoples assembled together as we witness here to-day--the representatives of of the original aboriginal tribes of these United States, two dozen of more of those who in years gone by inhabited these broad prairies, chased the buffalo and the 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, and 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 impress 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 histroy of Nebraska, and the busi ness 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 life-time. 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 you 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 9 years old--and little did I think at that time that the little boy that was standing before me, asking for employ ment of some kind by which I could afford to pay his mother a little money for hsi 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 in stock 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 a Cody: (Tremendous applause.) He, gentlemen, stands not 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 9 years old. I remember when we paid him $25 for his first month's work; he was paid
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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--"I have been spreading it ever since."
Mr. Majors--"And he is still speading it. Now, gentlemen, this is an occassion 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 can never 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 say, and I was at the World's Fair, and I have been at the exposi tions 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 Citizens: 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 demonstrated 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 tenderly than the others do, for we remember that when this whole Western land was a wilderness, when these representatives of the aboriginal 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 libe 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 honors which you have accorded me.
"JOHNYY BURKE NO NECK."
Found on the Battlefield of Wounded Knee after the annihilation of Big Foot's Band
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"How little I dreamed in the long ago that the lonely path of the scout and the pony expess 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 onward to the sea, my thoughts revert to the early days of my manhood, when I looked across this rushing tide toward the East, to the Atlantic, where then I supposed that 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 my 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 soverign 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 can obliterate our contribution to Nebraska's imperial progress.
"The whistle of the locomotive has drowed the howl of the coyote, the barb-wire fence has narrowed the range of the cow-puncher, 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 have gone before. Far abler testimony that I can offer has sped on electric wings to the uttermost parts of the earth that what you have done in the interests 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 ranks, those rear ranks, as a high private in those ranks, 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 to 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 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 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 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 and Alvin Saunders, Senator John M. Thurston, Major John M. Burke, John A. Creighton, Alexander Majors, W. A. Paxton, Capt. J. E. North. E. Rosewater. Louis E. Cooke, Col. W. L. Virscher, ex-Secretary of Agriculture Norman J. Coleman of Missouri, and others. Over the champagne General Clarkson, who acted as toastmaster, called upon those present who were 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.
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STRANGE PEOPLE FROM OUR NEW POSSESSIONS.
FAMILIES OF COSTA RICANS, SANDWICH ISLANDERS AND FILIPINOS.
We have delayed the publication of this historical narrative until the last possible moment, in hopes--which as we go to press we are gratified to be able to announce have been fully realized-- that our special agent sent to Porto Rico and the Sandwich and the Philippine Islands would be able to secure the finest representatives of the strange and in teresting aborginals of the West Indies and the intermediate and remote Pacific isles, now grouped by the fate of war, the hand of profress and the conquering march of civilization under Old Glory's protecting folds.
These insular and oceanic chiefs and warriors with their dark-eyed wives and wildly cunning children, uniquely and fascinatingly complete the ethnological scope of the Congress of Rough Riders of the World, which thus adds the last and greatest of living novelties of the nation; the most stirring and romantic episodes in whose history it alone perpetuates, in both personality and heroic action. In semi-civilized and barbaric dress, ornaments and arms, these roamers of tropical jungles and surf-beaten volcanic shores will faithfully illus trate the martial, heathen and home peculiarities of their lives of intermingled feud, pastimes and superstitions; introducing extraordinary feats of strength and skill with primitive weapons, singular and sinuous dances, supple gymnastics, pagan cermonies and peculiar sports, such as comparatively but few Christian eyes have ever seen.
Paradoxical, too, as it would naturally appear in connection with people born and raised under such insular conditions, there will be found among them horsemen fully merit ing the high compliment of a place in COLONEL CODY'S CONGRESS of Rough Riders of the World; equestrian full of nerve and dash and sure of seat, even if their accoutrements seem outlandish and their methods surprisingly grotesque to continental riders and audiences. Elsewhere they will receive and everywhere certainly secure, the wider recognition their fine physical characteristics and novel accomplishments so well deserve. Meantime. COL. CODY begs now to, for the first time, cordially introduce them to his and their future fellow countrymen.
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THE HOME OF HISTORY AND HEROISM
In concluding this sketch of the pioneer, military and managerial career of Colnel W. F. Cody, and of the historic characters and silent features with which Buffalo Bill's Wild West and Congress of Rough Riders of the World has mad emankind familiar, it is worthy of value and perfection even surpassing previous efforts and splendid successes. As indicated by the published programme of performances, the result is such an historical, martial and equestiran triumph as but one man could organize and but one country produce.
It is at once a colossal Object School of living lessons and an entertainment radically and exceptionally differing from all other exhibitions, in that it is actually a part of the romantic past it perpetuates, and vitalized by the presence of some of the most noted makers of the frontier history they illustrate. There is no "make believe" about it; nothing that seems to say, "We will now give you an imitation of somebody doing something," and it does not in any degree rely for its success upon the display of sensational feats that have no other utility than mere spectacular exhibition. The men who participate in it are, in absolute verity, just what they are represented to be, and the things they do are such as they have been accustomed to in war and military life, or in the struggle for existence in their several vocations and conditions. Himself the acknowledged master horseman of his generation, Colonel Cody is a critical judge of the individual, the collective and comparative merits of the cavalry, Indian, Cossack, Cowboy, Bedouin, Mexican, Cuban, Argentine and other riders he assecured. As an expert he knows just how to most brilliantly and effectively mass these hundreds of representative riders and their horses in grand review, cosmographic pageant and kaleidoscopic manoeuvers. Himself a famous participant in many fierce battles, pursuits, rescues, and even deadly single combats, he knows how ot plan and direct the spectacles of dreadful war and carnage, and of savage ambush and foray, in comparison with which the conflicts in the Coliseum of the Caesars were but spiritless and insignificant affrays.
To those who have followed the march of civilization from the Alleghenies to the Pacific, this exposition is like an illustrated reproduction of events which transpired during the long and bloody struggle between the white man and the Indian, in the former's efforts to extend his empire and the latter's heroic but hopeless defense of his hunting grounds. The singular and savage characters of the Leather Stocking Tales become striking, electrifying realities. The admirers of Lewis and Clarke, the explorers; of Daniel Boone, the pioner; of Kit Carson, the scout, and of Fremont, Crook, Custer, Sherman and Miles, the fighters, readily recognize in the exhibition how courage, indomitable grit, alertness, sagacity, accuracy of aim, acuteness of perception and physical endurance won for them the names so enviably identified with the history of the fierce and prolonged frontier struggles, wherein every piece of ground was disputed inch by inch.
And now, to all the other varied and exclusive feats, facts and features of an illustrious enterprise, studendously and marvelously true to history, to life upon the deserts, steppes and plains, to nomadic, military and equestrain action and prowess, is added a reproduction of the daring deeds of the Rough Riders at san Juan, which, as a battle spectacle, is superlatively great - something that no American can witness without overpowering emotions of patriotic pride.
John M. Burke.
Copyrighted by CODY & SALBURY. NEW YORK, 1899.