133

A WARNING TO COWBOYS.

There will be widespread sympathy in
humane hearts with the manly appeal of Mr.
Shortall to the cowboys, so called, who are
making preparations to engage in a horse
race from a point in Nebraska to Chicago, a
distance of some 700 miles. No such contest,
especially as large reward is to be adjudged
the victor, can take place without the
infliction of awful cruelty upon a dumb
beast. The statutes forbid the practice of
cruelty to animals, and on such an occasion
as their operation may well be invoked.
When the reward was offered the cruelty
thereby encouraged was probably not contemplated,
but anyone may see that in what
will be a strenuous effort to reach Chicago
and win $1,500 horseflesh will not be spared.

A few months ago thoughtful person who
read accounts of the hard riding done by
army officers between Vienna and Berlin
merely upon a wager were shocked at truthful
description of the distress to which the
animals, urged beyond their strength until
they dropped in their tracks, were subjected.
A true cavalryman is kind and thoughtful of
the beast which bears him, and only for his
life will he put the willing creature to perilous
exertion.

If the cowboys have any communication to
make to Chicago it can be done rapidly without
much charge and no cruelty by telegraph.
If the need is not so urgent as to require use
of the wire by the expenditure of 2 cents for
a postage stamp the message may be conveyed
safely and quickly at greater length.
It may be hoped that the boys will lay the
counsel of Mr. Shortall to heart and forego a
race which may be fun for them, though
they will not find it so, and must certainly
be death to many of the horses urged to fearful
exertion.

Chicago Journal June 5
1893.

A WARNING TO COWBOYS.

There will be widespread sympathy in humane hearts with the manly appeal of Mr. Shortall to the cowboys, so called, who are making preparations to engage in a horse race from a point in Nebraska to Chicago, a distance of some 700 miles. No such contest, especially as large reward is to be adjudged the victor, can take place without the infliction of awful cruelty upon a dumb beast. The statutes forbid the practice of cruelty to animals, and on such an occasion as their operation may well be invoked. When the reward was offered the cruelty thereby encouraged was probably not contemplated, but anyone may see that in what will be a strenuous effort to reach Chicago and win $1,500 horseflesh will not be spared.

A few months ago thoughtful person who read accounts of the hard riding done by army officers between Vienna and Berlin merely upon a wager were shocked at truthful description of the distress to which the animals, urged beyond their strength until they dropped in their tracks, were subjected. A true cavalryman is kind and thoughtful of the beast which bears him, and only for his life will he put the willing creature to perilous exertion.

If the cowboys have any communication to make to Chicago it can be done rapidly without much charge and no cruelty by telegraph. If the need is not so urgent as to require use of the wire by the expenditure of 2 cents for a postage stamp the message may be conveyed safely and quickly at greater length. It may be hoped that the boys will lay the counsel of Mr. Shortall to heart and forego a race which may be fun for them, though they will not find it so, and must certainly be death to many of the horses urged to fearful exertion.

Chicago Junior June 5
1893.