The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-10-12
CREATESTRACEON RECORD.
Nineteen Hundred and Fifty Miles
Overland on Horseback.

A "Reminiscences of Old Times in the
| West, Before Locomotives Had Left
! Cayuse Ponies and Pack Mules
without an Occupation.
| Editor Morning News: The great in
terest manifested in recent years in the
various races which give zest to sport, has
( attracted more than usual attention. In
! harness, Nancy Hanks stands the queen
Of the turf with her marvellous record of
2:O4. Salvador, unapproachable under
| saddle, passed under the wire, making
the matchless speed of 1855. thinner
man on the wheel has astonished the
bicycle world at some of his
wonderful heats, and just now
the whole country stands on tiptoe Of eX-
pectancy, full of faith in the ability Of
the Vigilant to keep the queens (Amer-
ica's) cup on this side of the Atlantic
Excepting the ocean races the marvel
Gus reduction in time has been accom-
plished in short distance contests. Sci
dom does the event" of any meet ex-
coed one and one-half mile nova
days, while the greater number
of contests are for under
rather than over one mile in length Old
sports sigh over these degenerate days
and refer with pride and spirit to the
| days of Lexington and other three and
four mile heaters" and criticise the eff
feminacy of the times which accept one
mile dasheS as races"
The old sport can tell you OF a race 'as
is a race, and ask if the apology now OF
| fered the public should be classed as tuf
| sports.
| Ia this connection a description of a
! race that stands unparalleled in this coun-
! try, or perhaps any other, is made from
an old western paper. 1t has passed from
! the memory of many and will be news to
the people at large:
| In 1859 St. Joseph, Mo, was the termi
| nus of railroad communication. Beyond,
| the stage coach, the saddle horse, the OK
| team aud prairie schooner were the means
| of transportation thence to the Rockies
| and the Pacific slope.
| In the winter of 1S59-60 there was a
! Wall street lobby at Washington trying
to get 100000 for carrying the mail
! overland for one year between New York
| and san Francisco. The proposition was
| extremely cheeky, and William II. Rus
! sell, backed by Secretary of War Floyd,
resolved to give the lobby cold shower
| bath He therefore offered to bet $500,
| 600 that he could put on a mail from Sacra-
| mento, Cal, to St. Joseph, Mo, that would
make the distance $50 miles-in ten
| DAYS. The bet was taken and April
| 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, and stated what
| he had done, and asked if he could per-
| form the feat.
Miller replied: eyes, sir. will do it,
and by a pony express -
To accomplished this. Miller purchased
300 of the tleetest horses he could find in
! the west, and employed 1875 men. Eighty
| of these men were to be post-riders.
These he selected with reference to their
light weight and known courage 1t was
very essential that the horses be loaded
as light as possible; therefore the lighter
the man the better. 1t was necessary that
some portions of the route should be made
! at 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 the
mails, two minutes were allowed. Where
! there were no stage stations at proper
| distances, tents sufficient to accommodate
| one man and two horses would be pro
| vided. Indians would sometimes give
| chase, but there cayuse ponies made but
sorry show in their stern chase after
| Miller's thoroughbreds, many Of which
| could make single mile in one minute
! and fOrty-siX seconds.
All arrangements being completed a
signal gun on the steamer Sacramento
proclaimed the meridian Of Sth April, 1860
the hour for starting-when Dor
der Rut1ian, " Mr.. Millers private saddle
| horse, with Billy Baker in the saddle,
bounded away towards the fort-hills oil
the Sierra Nevada, and made his ride of
twenty miles in forty-nine minutes. The
SHOWS were deep in the mountains and
one rider was lost for several
| hours in a snow storm; and after the Salt
Lake Valley was reached, additional speed
became necessary to reach ST. Joseph on
time From there all went well until the
Platte was to be crossed at JuleSburg
| The river was up and running rapidly
but into the flood the rider plunged hi:
| horse, only, however, to mire and drown
in the quicksand. The courier succeeded
in reaching the shore with the mail bal
in hand, and travelled
TEN MILES ON FOOT
to reach the next relay. Johnny Fry,
popular rider of his day, was to make the
finish. He had sixty miles to ride and sil
hours to do 1t with. When the last cOur
Ter arrived at the sixty mile post, ou
from ST. Joseph, he was one hour behint
time. A heavy rain had set in and the
road was slippery. Two hundred thous
and dollars turned upon a single minute
Fry had just three hours and thirty min
utes in which to win. This was the finish
of the longest race for the largest stake
ever run in America.
When the time for his arrival was
nearly up, at least five thousand people
stood upon the river bank, with eye.
turned towards the woods from which
the horse and rider shortly emerged int
the open country, in the rear of Elmwood
one mile from the finish. Trek! tick
tick went thousands of watches. The
time was nearly up-but seven minute.
remained Harkl shout goes up from
the assembled throng: He comes II,
comes :" The noble little man "Sylph.
the daughter of Little Arthur" dart
like an arrow from the bow and makes
the run of the last mile in one minute anl
fifty seconds, landing on the ferryboa
with five minutes and ten seconds TO spare