Mexico weekly ledger., 1890-05-29

the firin. John w. Waddell died q
number of years ago, and William
Fl Russell passed away in st. Louis
over a decade since.
The pony express company en-
ployed about six hundred of the
hardy little animals indigenous to
the West. Post houses were main
tanned every ten miles, at which
several of the ponies were always
kept. The run for each animal
was ten miles without a rest, and
it was run, too. Not a step OF
way was walked or trotted. For
ten miles the rider urged his carrier
and the horse fairly few over the
familiar ground, whether it was
mountain or prairie, plain or des-
ert. Each rider rode three horses
without resting, and there was one
fellow, loose, easy-going dare
devil, who always rode sixty miles
at that breakneck speed without
resting At the post house the
man in charge stood in front OF the
door holding the charging pony
that was to carry the approaching
rider. With rush the express
man came. There was cloud of
dust, a jump, an instantaneous
change of the small, light saddle
bags carried, and in ten seconds
from the moment of his arrival the
rider was on the rearing little ami
NAL that was so anxious to be off.
Away they went with aplunge and
shout, to be lost moment later
in cloud of flying dust. The po-
MES entered into the spirit of their
| work quite as fully as the men be-
stride them. They never fall
tered, whether the night was dark
or the road uncertain. It was al
ways a plunge ahead as if on ride
where life and death were concern
ed. In his "Roughing It." Mark
Twain tells of his first and last
sight of the pony express from a
stage coach window. The humor-
ist pays a high tribute to the
plucky little horses and the daring
fellows who rode them, closing
thus:
$50 sudden is it all, and so like
a fash of unreal fancy, that but for
the flake of white foam left quiver-
ling and perishing after a vision had
flashed by and disappeared We
might have doubted whether we
had seen any actual man or horse
at all, maybe"
William Cody, Buffalo Bill, -
had his first experience on the
plains as pony express rider at
the age of eighteen. He rode over
a route that lay just along the
eastern slope of the Rockies. He
was considered one of the bravest
of all the brave lot.
The precious stuff carried by
these messengers was made up of
business communications of the
greatest importance. No love let
ters freighted with promises and
verses ever weighted the ponies.
and no bulky newspapers were
carried as mail. The ponies were
lightly shod, if they wore any
shoes at all; the riders were cloth.
ed as simply as the weather would
allow, and every message conveyed
:. was written on the thinnest o1
, paper and folded into the least
J possible space. The messages
were placed in light saddle bags
which were thrown over the small
racing saddles used. The bags
were the only thing changed, The
new pony always having stood sad
r died and ready for the expressmar
to jump on its back.
The ponies started from Sacra
mento and st. Joseph daily, sc
J that there was continuous process
r sion of the little racers extending
both ways across the great West
, Despite the fact that s5 a letter wal
charged as expressage, the scheme
> lost money for its managers, ant
Colonel Russell died a poor man
t largely as a result of his efforts t.
J maintain the pony express. Th'
telegraph came about the time th'
r ponies began paying for themselves
a and with it came the end of one o
3 the most remarkable institution
: that is recorded in the alway
q wonderous annals of the grea
q West.
i No Sunol, Axtell or Palo Alt
i. ever received better care or NOR
9 lpetting that these wild, tougl
g ponies of the plains, and in thei
Q rough, big-hearted way, the miner
d and pioneers eheered the little fel
e lows as they sped along, and i
n every camp and within ever.
# stockade their virtues and wonder
/. full work were lauded to the skies
k} HOMER BAssFoRD.
Pike at the Mexico Fair.
+ The Louisiana Journal say
/ Pike county will be well represent