CUSTER'S LAST RALLY.
Both entertainments the Wild West arena presentation of Custer's last rally. The act is short. The Indians first come in and make their camp. Then Custer's scout rides in to count the lodges and secure a mental photograph of the situation. He rides back to the command and returns with Custer and the Seventh cavalry. Then comes the charge, and, to quote a wide-hatted, interested spectator, "Hell begins to pop." Riderless horses dash out of the smoke and burning lodges light up the dead and wounded.
The representation, from the nature of the situation, is confined to the actual charge of the United States troops and their slaughter. The scenery is an exact reproduction of the point where the engagement took place. Slight alterations in the charge have been suggested and will be made. A different place on the program will be given the Little Big Horn pleasure, as the final tableau is compared by the departure of the spectators who wish to avoid the rush.
To those acquainted with the Little Big Horn and the make-up of the Wild West show, as is Gen. Merritt and many other army officers who were present at last night's production, there is an interest attendant beyond the natural excitement such a portrayal would produce. There is considerable of the realistic about the performance. Many o the Indians and several soldiers of the Wild West show took active parts in the fight in which Custer lost his life.
Red Elk, Pawnee-Shot-in-the-Eye-with- an-Arow, Lone Wolf, Flat Iron, and four or five other chiefs are among the Indians who live again the pleasant days of their youth in the mimic killing of the soldiers, The color- sergeant who personates Custer rides Sitting 's white war horse in the charge and is one of the survivors of the fight.
"I decided to give this representation for several reasons," said Col. Cody last night. There is a sort of a connection between the Columbian exposition and the Little Big Horn fight in my mind. It was at the time of the Philadelphia exposition In 1876 that the trouble occurred, and here at the next great international fair is the proper" time and place to tell the story. It is a practical lesson in history and one, I think, that will not readily be forgotten. It will serve also to perpetuate Custer's name.
"Mrs. Custer took much this view of the situation when I consulted her as to the production of the charge, Before definitely arranging for making the charge a part of the program I talked with her about It to ascertain if she had any objections to it. She had none, viewing it, as I say, in the way I have suggested."
