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With the sentiment that attaches to a man whose life has been identified with the
excitement of the Far West, the scout has now secured the coach from Col. Voorhees, the manager of the Black Hill stage line, and hereafter it will play a different role in its history from that of inviting murder and being the tomb of its passengers. And yet the "Deadwood Coach" will play no small part in the entertainment that has been organized by "BUFFALO BILL" and partner for the purpose of representing some of the most startling realities of Western life, in a vivid representation of one of the Indian and road agents' combined attacks.
A GROUP OF BUFFALO BILL'S WILD WEST COWBOYS NOW.
THE PASSING OF THE COW-BOY.
Until the advent of Buffalo Bill's Wild West introduced the Cow-boy to the world at large, the great majority of people had altogether wrong notinos about him. This was due chiefly to the misrepresentations of the cheap romances and the rroneous articles which had appeared from time to time in Eastern magazines and periodicals, which made a sort of "half horse, half alligator," character of him, and clothed him in a garb of absurdity and misconception. That civilized life, to which his calling necessarily made him largely a stranger, has, since Colonel Cody coazed him from the plains, grown to justly regard him as a singularly interesting fellow, and ordinarily a very brave, quiet and unassuming one, generous to a fault, and a fast friend under all circumstances. It does not take him long to evidence in the great Wild West arena that he possess the qualities of courage, clear-headedness, agility and endurance, which are abolsutely necessary in the business from which his title is gained. In the pursuit of that business he is called upon to undergo the most severe hardships which can fall to the lot of any man, and he is schooled to bear them with admirable and uncomplaining fortitude. Rising at three o'clock in the morning, riding all day at top speed and taking all sorts of chances, without regard to life or limb, he has little time for tomfoolery or lawless carousing. Bad food, little sleep, constant anxiety and exhausting work soon undermine the strongest constitution, and at forty years of age, and often much sooner, rough, hard lines in his face tell the story with a plainness not to be mistaken.
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TWO NOTED WAR HORSES
GEN. NELSON A. MILES AND COL. W.F. CODY AT AN OUTPOST, PINE RIDGE CAMPAIGN, 1891.
The hundreds of horses from different countries and of different strains 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 Puerto 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:
"My DEAR CODY:
"Your horses are now in Washington, all right. You did not come to Puerto Rico,
therefore I rode them myself, and they are the only horses 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 end," they told the troopers in Puerto Rico, and an escort of 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 more arduous work of the campaign; "Lancer," a beautiful sorrel of less weight and stamina, being reserved for lighter service.
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