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Chicago Tribune 6/17

GILLESPIE LEADS IN THE COWBOY RACE

Several Registered Yesterday with Horses in Good Condition.

LONG PINE, Neb., June 16.--[Special.]- Middleton, Gillespie, and Stevens rode into this place at 4:30 this afternoon. Gillespie was the first to register and Middleton last. They were in good spirits and their horses in such good shape that the humane officers could find no fault. After a short rest they rode on. At 5:30 Albright rode into town and after rigistering rested about half an hour. So far his horse was in most excellent shape. John Berry at last reports was at Ainsworth, with Douglas, Jones, and Campbell a short distance behind. They will pass through here tonight. The next registering place is O'Neill, which will probably be passed tomorrow.

Mr. WILLIAM F. CODY, "Buffalo Bill," complains that THE WORLD did him an injustice recently through misapprehension of his relation to the cowboy race from Nebraska to Chicago. He declares that he had nothing to do with originating the race and that his only connection with it is through his offer of a prize of $500, not to the rider who reaches the Fairgrounds first, but to the one who brings his horses in the best condition. His prize is not, therefore, an inducement to cruelty but the reverse. THE WORLD is glad to make so agreeable a correction.

17th June

Chicago Post 6/17

Three Cowboy Racers Rested at Newport, Neb., Last Night.

TWO OTHERS AT LONG PINE.

The Rest Are Either Lost or Laid Up - Great Care Being Taken of the Horses.

NEWPORT, Neb., June 17.-Three of the cowboy riders from Chadron to the world's fair reached here last night and departed this morning. They had been looked for all the evening, a large number of Doe Middleton's old friends and neighbors having prepared to give him a warm welcome. The first to arrive was James Stevens, who reached here at 10:35. He proceeded immediately to Barber's barn, and, after carefully tending his horse and giving him a drink of oatmeal water and feed, lay down and slept soundly until 11:20 p. m., when the word was passed around that two others had arrived. They were found to be Dere Middleton and Joe Gillespie. Both men were tired, as well as were their horses, and after attending to the animals all three went to the Lee Hotel, where they found a bountiful supper prepared for them. James Stephens is abeut thirty years of age, small and quick and with large bright black eyes. He wears a white cowboy hat ornamented with a blue ribbon band, on which is a mosalc design of rattlesnake rattles. Although a hideous looking ornament, it was presented or rather made for him by a lady in Chadron and gives point to the name by which he is called out West, "Rattlesnake Jim." Joe Gillespie came in riding one horse and leading another. He is an intelligent looking man, about forty-three years old. He is a farmer, living twenty-five miles south of Chadron and has led the race so far. His horses look well. Doe Middleton is very tired, but his horses are all right. The rest are either lost in the sand hills or laid up for repairs. All these departed fresh and bright from here at 6 o'elock sharp thils morning. They had several hours' sleep and their horses were feeling in splendid condition. Word was received from Long Pine that Campbell and Douglass left there at 6 o'clock this morning. They are following the railroad on the south side of thè track. STUART, Neb., June 17,-Doc Middleton and two of the other cowboy racers from Chadron to the world's fair passed here at 8 a. m. It is 221 miles by rails from Chadron to this town. BASSETT, Neb., June 17.-Joe Campbell, the rider from Boomerang, and Dave Douglas, riding the Elmo horses, arrived in Bassett at 7:35 a. m. and took breakfast. There are five cowboys ahead of them and two behind. Joe Campbell will make the trip with but one horse and has made a wager of $250 that he will not come in last. His horse looks fine and he himself is cheerful. Campbell is not to spend a cent of money between Sioux City and Chicago. One of the Elmo horses is a little lame, but otherwise I n good shape. "Eastern people don't understand what our western prairie horses are like and this cowboy race will show them," said Colonel William F. Cody, better known as "Buffalo Bill" as he leaned back in a camp chair in his cool, spacious army tent down at the Wild West Show. "No," the famous old scout continued; “neither the eastern people nor the Europeans know what is in that little rough pony, without which the great development of the western country would have been delayed many years." The colonel leaned back in an abstracted mood for a minute, thinking, no doubt, of some big spring round-up or a hard sweep across the Bad Lands after a recalcitrant band of redskins. Then he straightened up and said: "Why, this little rat of a horse can stand more pounding rides up hill and down dale than most people imagine. What would kill a thoroughbred just puts a keen edge on the pony's appetite. In this cowboy race from Chadron 1o Chicago the hardiness of the western horse can and will be amply proved. "There is no necessity to call the race brutal or apply any harsh epithets to the men who ride or to even ask the intervention of the Humane Society. The men who are riding the race know how to treat their horses and will not push them to any such degree of exhaustion as was witnessed in that race by the German officers. A cowboy knows the value of live stock. His horse is his best friend-the one that stands the long night's vigil on the plains with him and many times faces the norther, and of the two the horse gets decidedly the best of it.

"There are, of course, some brutal cowboys, just as there brutal people in any class or profession, but the average cowboy loves his cow-pony a great deal better than many people love each other. They know that by care and attention these rough little fellows will respond as gamely as the best thoroughbred in the country and that, too, to a longer and harder test than a thoroughbred could possibly live through. Thoroughbreds are trained consistently for races and they are supposed to reach their greatest degree of effectiveness in these races. Why should not these western horses have a chance? They are built just for this kind of work and are trained for it. They are the natural outgrowth of the needs of the generation. These horses in this race can come along making fifty or sixty miles a day, and can be ridden into this city without turning a hair. With such care as I am sure the cowboy riders will exercise in regard to their mounts I am confident that they left Chadron. Then we will have an example of the practicability of the western horse. It was exemplified in the old days of the pony rider on the long hard scouts in the Indian wars when horses were ridden day and night continuously without even a chance to take the saddle or bridle off or to groom them a bit. Many a time have I had to throw the reins over my horse's head and let him get a few nibbles of bunch grass while I took just forty winks, then up into the saddle àgain without even a chance to give him a rub. "These boys in this race have got two horses and with the extra animal there should not be even the least signs of distress. When they complete their sixty miles, a rest and rub in the little camp made by the solitary rider will make the horses as good as new. Mind, if there was the least approach to cruelty in this race I would be one of the flrst to cry quit. If there was any killing or maiming of horses I would be one of the first to ask that the race be stopped, for I am a member of Berg's society and I am also a lover of the horse. I ought to know the animal pretty thoroughly in my many years' service on the plains and in the army. "Look at our horses in the show. They are cared for in the best manner possible and are sleek and fat. I defy any one to find any cruelty in our treatment. I know that the cowboy has an innate love for his horse and will not - Ah excuse me," and the colonel rushed into the outer tent to shake hands with Senator Ed Wolcott, of Colorado, who, with his wife and a party of Washington ladies had entered to make a call on the leader of the congress of rough riders. You've got the greatest show on earth. I never saw the like," declared impulsive "Ed," who knows what life on the plains is like. After declining an introduction to a cold, small bottle, the party left. Colonel Cody resumed his narrátive. "The prizes in the race are secondary in the consideration of the cowboys. What they care most for is the honor of winning the great Columbian cowboy race. Of course, the man who finishes first and wins $1,500 and the Colt rifle which was fired as the signal to start from Chadron will be satisfied with the monetary part, but the fame and honor will be dearer to him than all the money considerations. But to win this I am sure no one of them will resort to to cruelty or unfair tactics. Those two humane officers who were at Chardon to see the start came to me for a letter of instruction to Harvey Weare, the secretary of the company and I gave them the letter desired, although I did not have a personal acquaintance with Mr. Weare. Their attitude at the start, cheering the riders, was sufficient to show every ope that they considered there was no cruelty. "The journey is about seven hundred miles. Figuring on sixty miles a day for an average speed, the first man should put in an appearance about June 26, although there is no telling how the roads are. Of course, I shall take great pleasure in presenting the prizes, although I assume no responsibility in the matter; but I hope that in such an honest, manly struggle as this there will be no question of cruelty or jobbery, or that the public will feel any need for interference."

Herald June 18

ENTERTAINMENTS AT THE FAIR.

General Efforts to Drive Dull Care Away From the Grounds.

Escorted by Colonel Rice and members of his staff, Buffalo Bill will bring his Brule Sioux over to Jackson park at 9 o'clock this morning and after a parade through the grounds the entire party will take gondolas and make a tour of the lagoons. This is the prelude to a series of parades by the wild west show at the fair. The officials appreciate the justice of the criticism that the white city is too somber and are trying to get more life and color into the grounds.