Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1881-04-22

blood; every foot of grass. has its
horrible stain.
Historians wlite of the glory o1
war. Burial parties saw murder
where historians saw glory.
A 100000 Bet.
An Incident which Suggested the Pony
Express.
st. Joseph News.
In 1856 St. Joseph was the west
ern terminus of railroad communica.
ton. Beyond, the stage-coach, the
saddle-horse and the ox-trains were
the only means of communication
and commerce with the kocky noun
tains and the Pacific slope. In the
Winter of 1860 there was q Wall
street lobby at Washington trying Ia
get S., ,000, 900 for carrying the mails
overland one year between New York
and San Francisco. The PROPOSE
ton was extremely cheeky, and VIM.
H. Russell, backed by Secretary Of
War Floyd, resolved to give the lob
by cold shower-bath. He, there
fore, offered to bet 5000 900 that he
could put on mail line from Sacra-
meuto to St. Joseph that would make
the distance-1 $50 miles-in ten
days. The bet was taken and the
9th of April the day fixed upon as
the day for starting. Mr.. Russell
called upon his partner and general
manager of business upon the plains,
Mr.. A. B. Miller, now citizen of
Denver, and stated what he had
done, and asked if he could perform
tho feat. Mr.. Miller replied: Yes,
sir, I will do it, and do it by q pony
express" To aooomplish- this Mr
Miller purchased 900 Of the feetsst
horses in the West. and employed
125 men. Eighty of these men were
to be post riders. These he selected
with reference to their light weight
and their known daring and cour1ge.
It was very essential that the horses
should be loaded as light as possible
therefore the lighter the man the
better. It was necessary that some
portions Of the route should be run
ut the rate of twenty miles an hour.
The horses were stationed from ten to
twenty miles apart, and each rider
would be required to ride sixty miles.
For the change OF animals and the
shifting of mails two minutes were
allowed. When there was no stage
stations at proper distances, tents
sufficient to hold one man and
two horses were provided. Indians
would some times give chase, but
their cayuse ponies made but sorry
show to their stern chase after Mil.
ler's thoroughbreds, many of which
could make o single mile in minute
and fifty seconds.
All arrangements being completed,
O signal gun on the steamer at Sacra-
mento proclaimed the meridian Of
April s, 1870-the hour of departing
when Border Rufian. Mr.. Miller 6
private saddle-horss, with Billy Bak-
or in the saddle, bounded away TO-
ward the foothills of the Sierra Ne
vadas, and made his ride Of twenty
miles in forty-nine minutes. The
snow was deep in the Nd Mountains, and
one rider was lost in snow storm
for several hours; and after the Salt
Lake valley was reached, additional
speed become necessary to reach ST.
Joseph on time. From here on all
went we'll until the Platte was to be
crossed at Julesburg. The river
was up and running rapidly, but the
rider plunged his horse into the food,
only, however, to mire in the quick
sand and drown. The courier sue
ceeded in reaching the shore with
his mailbag in hand, and travelled
ten miles on foot to reach the next
relay. John Fry, popular rider OF
his day, was to make the finish. He
had sixty miles to ride, with six
horses to do 1t. When the last cou.
rier arrived at the sixty mile post out
from st. Joseph, he was one hour
behind time. A heavy rain had set
in and the roads were slippery.
Two hundred thousand dollars might
turn upon o single minute. Fry
had just three hours and thirty min.
utes in which to win, this was the
finish of the longest lace for the lar
gest stakes ever run in America.
When the time for the arrival was
nearly up, at least l 900 people stood
on the river bank, with eyes turned
toward the woods from which the
horse and its rider should emerge
into the open country in the rear ol
Elwood-one milo from tho finish
Tick, tick went thousands of watch
es! The time was nearly up! But