Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1883-11-12


In the early part of this month James
Gordon Bennett, Sir William McCOrmac,
Her Majesty's physician; Lord Mande-
vile, Capt. BOgardus, the champion wing
shot of the world; DR.. Carver, the cham
pion rifle shot of the word; w. f. Cody
("Buffalo Bill"), ''Tom'' Sun, for thirty
years guide and trapper, and ''BOney"
Earnest, a wealthy ranehman of Rawlins,
Wyoming, will set out on hunting eX-
petition. 1t is probably the most noted
hunting party that has ever come to-
gether. TOM Sun has the reputation of
being one Of the most interesting char
acters in the far West. He is the prince
of rOmancers, and it is from ''TOm" that
"BuffalO Bill" secured the material for
his rude, wild Western plays, as well as
the dialect incorporated in them; While
from "Boney'' Earnest, Cody secured his
original education as scout. The rest
of the party are well known everywhere.
Among stock men, and those drifting in
with the great cattle markets from the
west, there is considerable interest in this
proposed hunt. A ranchman said to me
yesterday: "They are the best crowd of
practical hunters that ever got beyond the
Missouri, and they will take an immense
amount of game. | understand that ar
rangements are made to ship considerable
of the elk and deer secured by the party
to Chicago and then to Louisville. If
anybody thinks James Gordon Bennett is
dude he is mistaken. He is one of the
best hunters in the country. Besides
that, he has a splendid reputation among
the cowboys for personal bravery and
downright common sense. There are
mighty few 'tender-fOOts' that know it,
but it is a fact that Bennett introduced
among all the cowboys of the southwest,
and those that have been riding the
ranges in the foothills for years one of the
most sensible and seryiceable articles they
are using. This is 'buckingstrlp,' and
is attached to the saddle in front of the
horn
''The story goes that the first known of
the 'bucking strap was in Texas several
years ago, when Bennett was there
gathering together a lot of brOnchOs to
ship East at the time he introduced polo.
The cowboys thought they'd have some
fun with Bennett, and bantered him to
ride one of their bronchOs. 1t was noted
'bucker.' Bennett quietly signitied his
willingness to mount the brOncho if they
would put his saddle on the animal. This
they did, expecting to see the Eastern
newspaper snOb,' as they called him, fired
into the heavens every time he came
down and struck the brOnchO. They har-
messed the brute, and about three hundred
gathered around to see the fun. In
twinkling Bennett was in the saddle.
The brOnchO was a perfect devil, and
'bucked' for all he was worth. He hadn't
any more than struck the nag when the
boys commenced yelling. Bennett didn't
pay any attention to 'em, but sat there
kinder easy and pleasant-like and famed
himself while the burned brute whirled
and bucked. You see, Bennett had eX-
pected something of this sort, and got the
drop on the boys by having this bucking
strap made and fastened on his saddle
before he left New York. When he sat
there on that ugly little brOncho and
smiled on them all, it broke 'em all up"
The party will set out for the scene of
their depredations in Wyoming the early
part of the present month.