San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1890-04-19
THE FIRST PONY EMPRESS.
How VIM. II. Russell Won a Wager
of 100000.
Special Correspondence of the Globc.Demo-

Special Correspondence of the Globc.Demo-
crat.
ST. JOSEPH, Mo-, April 1S.-The
pioneer days of the Western country
could contribute many interesting
pages to history which have not been
written. In 1859 st. Joseph was the
western terminus of railroad commun-
icatiOn. West of the Mississippi river
the stage coach, the saddle horse and
the OK train were the only means of
commerce and communication with
the Rocky mountains and the vast
Pacific slope territory. In the winter
of 1860 there was Wall street lobby
at Washington eXerting strong in
tluence on the government to get
subsidy of $50, 900, 900 for carrying the
mails overland for one year between
New York and San Francisco. In
those early times this seemed an
enormous sum of money to ask con-
gress to appropriate for such pur-
pose, and the lobby did not meetwith
much encouragement.
The discussion attracted universal
attention, and finally VIM. H. Rus
sell, q wei known Western character,
offered to bet 5000 900 that he could
put on a mail line between San Fran
cisco and st. Joseph that would make
the distance, 1850 mil es, in ten days.
He was given encouragement by
Secretary of War Floyd and set to
work making arrangements TO carry
his big wager to a successful issue.
The bet was taken, and April 3, 1860,
was fixed as the date for starting.
Mr.. Russell called in his partner and
general manager of business on the
plains, Mr.. A. B. Miller, now a
prominent citizen of Denver,
Colorado for conference. At
ter informing Miller of what he
had done, Miller concurred in his
opinion that the feat could be per-
formed by pony express. In order to
accomplish this Miller purchased 300
of the finest horses he could find in
the west, and employed 125 men.
Eighty OF these men were to be post
riders, aud they were selected with
reference to their light weight and
their known bravery and courage. 1t
was very essential that the horses
should be loaded as light as
possible; therefore the lighter the
man the better. The rate of
speed varied from ten to twenty
miles per hour, according to the
smoothness of the country. In the
mountainous portion the speed was
often less than ten miles an hour. The
horses were stationed from ten to
twenty miles apart, and each rider
was required to ride sixty miles. For
the change of animals and shifting of
the mails from one horse to another
only two minutes were allowed.
NNhnrn thapa 1or DEn
stations at the distances tents
sufficient to hold one man and two
horses were provided. Indians would
sometimes gave chase.to the express
riders, but their common ponies were
by no means matched for the chase
after Miller's thorOughbreds, many
of which could aun single mile in
l.52
AS may be supposed the transmits
sion of these messages over this line
was affected at no trifling cost, and
only telegraph dispatches were car
ried for a time. Persons who had Oc-
casion to avail themselves Of it's con-
venience, made it a point to study
brevity Of expression. A very anus
ing incident is told as having trans
pired in this connection. A man
named Baldwin, the leading theatre
cal manager of San Francisco, sent
the following dispatch to Artemus
Ward in New York.
What will you take for forty
nights"
The great humOrtst who never lost
an opportunity for a joke, promptly
replied at the expense ofthe manager:
Brandy and water.n
Baldwin, il appears, had the good |
sense to accept the joke, and by |
means of a perhaps less ambiguous |
communication afterward affected a
mutually profitable engagement with |
the witty and jOcOse Artemus.
The third or April, 1860, came, and |
arrangements had been made for the |
starting Of the pony express. Sew
eral thousand people COngrega- |
ted in front of the Pixies Peak |
stables, where the start was to be
made, and all being anxious to secure |
a mementO of the flying messenger,
the little pony was almost robbed of |
her tail Jack Keitley and John Fry
were selected as the riders to alter |
nate between st. Joseph and Kenne-
kuk, Kan, which was the first sta |
ton west. Keitley was to was to |
make the start, so mounting his pony
at a signal given by firing a cannon a
mile away he dashed off to the river.
There he found the ferry-boat Gen.
Gaines, with steam up and bell ring
ing, awaiting his arrival. In few
he was landed on the Kan
sas shore, and was soon speeding
away to Kennekuk, distance of for
ty-five miles, which he made in four