Omaha daily bee., 1883-08-04

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the confidence of Miller had proved in.
fictitious and Russell was Just as confident.
The New York steamer company were
confident, too, but not in the same way.
SO a pet was made. 1t was a pretty good
sized bet, being for $50, 600 a side.
The race began and was watched with
oreathless interest. Station after station
was passed. The pony from the ocean
n the pony from the valley painted to.
ward each other, with the hundreds of
miles between them, melting away. At
each station there was another horse sad
died and rider ready spurred. The mail
bag was tossed from one to another and
on sped like the wind the fresh horse and
rider. One boy on the first trip was lost
m a canyon of snow. For four precious
hours he wandered. Then he started on
with desperate vigor. Another was lost
in the Platte; the horse he rode was
drowned. But the rider swan out with
his mail and footed it to the next station.
Here his relief was in waiting, and the
flight was taken up again. Would the
rider and the horses with their daring
and energy winl Would the accident
and the strangncss of the trial make
them lose2 No one could tell. The days
passed. The ponys noared each other,
they passed, the riders gave q wild hur-
rah. On and on; whip and spur. Ten
days are gone and the ponies have kept
up to the mark. Fifteen. At 4 o'clock
the westward bound must be in Sacra-
mcnto. The noon has passed, and the
minutes are being counted. Half-past 3.
Will the brave rider be on handl As yet
there Is no sign, With only thirty min
utcs to spare Russell wants to double
his bet. Then a cloud of dust is seen, it
grows to n speck. The rider waves his
hat. The people shout, The pony ex-
press has crossed the great American des-
ert, Victory! There is still twenty min
utes to spare.
The riders of the pony express were all
young wiry fellows, whose very love of
excitemen. and danger had brought them
to the frontier. In this occupation they
had their fill. The individual adventures
would fill a volume. The life, with its
exposure and hardship, was a wearing
one. What has become of the riders now
is a question. Many of them have fol-
lowed the frontier and will stay on its
fore until they die. Many are dead
already, one, named Murray, recently
died in Salt Lake. From the scripling of
the COS he came tc weigh 220 pounds.
He made quite areputation as desperate
character. As one who knew him said,
"He got too big to ride a pony, but had
a good build for holding up stages" One
of the most daring of the crowd rode into
Salt Lake from eighty miles this side,
through the widest part of the route. 1t
was a hard task, but the lad was equal to
it, doing the work of about four men. He
afterward joined the confederate army,
and died on a southern ba tie field.
This speed was always kept up just as
if there were 500, 900 at stake daily. 1t
was the same for months. Then the
complications of war turned every thing
upside down. The riders went to do bat
tie, the stations were abandoned, contracts
went to others, and grass grew over the
trail. But soon the stage used it and the
telegraph line was not far behind, while
those who have rushed across the plains
by steam know what followed these ino-
vations.
These riders were of n claas similar to
the cowboy of the present day, ready for
a fight or a f%rolic, and entering either
with the determination to make the most
of it. They were loyal to each other and
their friends. There wa only II mail
lost by them and that happened to be of
little value. 1t was lost in Egan's cam
yon, when the rider in charge was at
tackled by Indians, his horse killed. and
himself wounded. The company tried
to get the government to punish the In
dams for this, but there was another mat
ter for Uncle Sam to attend to just then.
out and killed a few of the playful sava-
ges, and found that they kept out of the
way very nicely forever after. The charges
for carrying letters were So per ounce or
fraction thereof. This was afterward
reduced to half the amount, and then a
sort of paper known as "Pony express
was invented, its best point being that it
weighed almost nothing. The contents of
eight-page paper could be written upon it
and sent for $3.50.
The income of the concern while run
ming averaged $500 per day. Some very
valuable documents were carried, and in
every case arrived in good order. England
was at that time having q little argument
with China. Reports from the English
squadron in Chinese waters to the home
government were carried by this route, it
being the quickest and safest. One of
these official papers weighed so much that
the charges upon it were $135.