51

THOUSANDS SEE THE WILD WEST.
__________

The Ducal Party and the Naval Officers
Divide Honors with the Show.

In the rebound of the masses from the
closed gates of the Exposition more than
18,000 persons found their way into the big
wooden pavilion of the Wild West show to
witness its afternoon performance. The congress
of rough riding was in session
before 3 o'clock, opening with a grand
review that took the shine of all the three
ring circuses extant. Miss Annie Oakley had
broken a basket full of glass balls with her
rifle, and a cowboy in buckskin had won a
spectacular race in the arena against a Cossack,
a Mexican and a Choctaw in war paint,
when there was a commotion in the great
grand stand crowd. The Cossack was disappearing
through a distant mountain that was
painted on canvas when the ducal party
arrived. The Duke of Veragua, the Duchess,
their son, the Hon. Christobel Colon y Aguilera,
Dupuy de Lomi, the Spanish Commissioner,
and Commander Dickins entered and
were shown seats in a box by Manager John
M. Burke.

As they took their places a great many of
the spectators arose out of respect to them.
This courtesy was returned by the Duke, who
bowed and smiled blandly right and left. Then
he gave his eyes to the sights in the big arena.
A pony post-rider delivering the mails, a
train of prairie schooners allowing itself to
be attacked without fatalities by marauding
Indians and a group of Syrian horsemen, each
had its turn in amusing the descendants of
Columbus. Then the visiting naval officers,
in a party of seventy, entered the amphitheater a
nd attracted much attention. In this
party were Admiral E. G. Howard, short and
blonde in a dark cape coat; Admiral Magnaghi,
and Capt. Whtie of the English Royal Marines.
The modest citizens' attire of the officers was
in striking contrast with the gorgeous gold

Chicago Tribune
May 8/93.

lace which they wore Saturday. But all the
time during their entrance the cowboys were
lassoing horses and setting the spectators wild
with their evolutions on bucking horses. A
dozen Cossacks mounted on yellow ponies
paraded around the enclosure singing a weird
native human which had all the swing
and charm of "Ta-ra-ra-boom-de-ay." Many
persons were inclined to believe that the two
airs were identical. At all events the song of
those red-gowned Cossacks seemed to be
the original version of the popular tune,
and before the gentlemen from the Caucasus
had ended their musical ride the man who has
been charged with having written "Ta-ra-ra-boom-de-ay"
was proven an impostor.

Somewhat later, when the Deadwood mail
coach was captured by a band of red
men, the Duke seemed touched with emotion.
He acknowledged that is approached a Spanish
bull fight in its life and action, but he
seemed disappointed that the lineal heirs of
the men whom his great-grandfather discovered
should be engaged in the disreputable
business of robbing a mail coach.

The military evolutions of the cavalrymen
gave occasion for a company of United States
troops to ride up before the Duke's box and
salute him. He arose and bowed in return.
Again, when Buffalo Bill had given an
exhibition of marksmanship, he dismounted,
walked to the Spanish box, and, doffing his
broad white hat, bowed to the Duke and
Duchess, who received him warmly. His
smile thereafter was so broad that he missed
some of the glass balls that were tossed into
the air as targets.

When the Wild West show was ended the
ducal party entered carriages and
were driven back to the city. The visiting
naval officers before returning
to their tally-ho coach, visited the first lunch
counter they met on Sixty-third street, and ate
a luncheon of doughnuts and coffee. The
children of the Duke are this week going to
inspect the quarters of Buffalo Bill's congress
and see how rough riders live. Last night's
exhibition of the Wild West was attended by
about 2,000 spectators.