Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1900-01-09
How the New Year Is Celebrated
On the Plains.
BIG SPRINGS, Texas, Jan. 2, 1900.

/ Roughly lettered posters of wrapping
paper for weeks had announced that a
Cowboy Tournament and Fiesta Mexi.
cana would be held on New Years day
at Big Springs.
Singly and in groups, on horseback
and in four-mule wagons, new Corners
arrived every minute. Among them
are few women who join the little
knot of their friends, gossiping on the
raised veranda of the hotels. The men
naturally gravitate toward the nearest
bar. After taking the edge off their
chronic thirsts by means of dubious
whiskey, they hand their heavy pistols
to the proprietor, who place them with
pile of their fellows on bench be-
hind the bar Some of the men, how
ever, remove the guns from their belts
only to stick them in the waist bands
OF their trousers, while the cartridge
belts and empty holsters are worn as a
delusive evidence of good faith. A
deputy sheriff, easily distinguishable
by the fact that he is visibly armed,
mounts an empty soap box and an
nounces the commencement of the
sports. A chicken pulling, he says, is
to be the first event. In front of one of
the hotels a little hole has been dug,
an unfortunate rooster loudly protest
ing, is placed in the hole, and the earth
is quickly tamped to secure him, hav-
ing only his head and neck above the
surface of the ground. Fifty yards
back are gathered the contestants,
mounted on wiry cow-ponies. The
deputy sheriff raises his hand, a stall
wart young man, Tan old Wisconsin boy
who used to live in Portage,) claps his
big spurs to his horses side and starts
at full speed toward the buried foul;
disengaging one stirrup he throws him
self out of his saddle, and, supported
by the remaining stirrup and steadied
by the other spur, which he has hooked
around the high cantle of his saddle, he
reaches for the chickens head as he
passes 1t. The head lodges him clev-
erly. The next in turn, an exceedingly
small boy, mounted on a pony of COR
responding size, is more fortunate.
Followed by the cheers of the specta-
tors, he gallops away, waving the fiut-
tering bird around his head. This
game is continued until every contest
ont hoe raaobad for n raOcfar
The deputy next calls the first race
and says: Those who have horses
mount them, and the few who have not
troop along on foot to stretch of sun
baked adobe clay, where a quarter mile
straight away course has beed laid out.
The horses that are to run in the first
heat are being led up and down, and
already they are cleared for action.
They are all COW ponies, and the meth
cd of preparing them for race has at
least the merit of simplicity. 1t con-
sists sqlely in removing the saddle and
tying a rope loosely around the body of
pony. The jocky after removing most
of his clothing, mounts and thrusts his
knees under this rope. This gives him
a very secure seat, and safe one, for
by the mere Strengthening of his leg, he
can instantly free himself. Seven hor.
ses are entered for the first heat The
betting is heavy, even the poorer Mex
leans stake their scanty supply of slim
on the result. The race is postponed
until all the wagers are satisfactory
laid, Then the starter marshals the
horses to the further end of the broad
clay path and arranges them there in
line, with their tails towards the finish.
Pulling to one side he draws his pistol
and raises it. A puff of pearly smoke
shoots from its muzzle, and before the
report reaches those who stand at the
finish, the horses have turned, as only
ccw-ponies can, and come pelting
down the course. The crowd yells and
so do the riders The winner is led
away to await the final heat, and new
lot of borses are in line at the starting
point where the scene is repeated. Two
races each of four heats, have been run,
when the faint popping of a six-shooter
supplemented by distant roar of
"Grub Oh Grubr' announces the hour
of dinner and the racers and crowd
rush back to town. The next event is
TO be the roping. For this part of the
sport several cowboys come riding up
to the Hotel Birdwell Plaza. One of
these men is especially noticeable.
With a handsome horse, and a got up
more than usually ornate, he has
capped his climax with derby hat,
apparently quite new, but of the most
pronounced ''gum-drop" fashion of 10
years ago He processes great admir-
alton for his ''hard boiled hat as he
calls it, and in reply to the many in.
quires as to his reason for wearing it,
says that he does so in order that the
company there assembled may have an
opportunity to see what fashionable
headgear is like. Soon the crowd move
toward a corral at the foot of the plaza
where the principal business of the day,
from a sporting standpoint, is to begin.
For week the founders of the feast
have been collecting cattle suitable to
their purpose, and the corral Is as full
of them as it viii hold. Some wild
looking creatures they are, and but
once before in all their wicked lives
have they come in contact with men.
This occasion was in their infancy
when they where branded. Twenty
feet in front of the corral long line
has been drawn in the sand, then an
interval of 40 yards and another, a
little to one side, the timekeeper, watch
in hand, sits on his horse. The first
contestant, young Mexican, places
himself with his back to the corral, and
the fore hoofs of his pony Just toeing
the first line The bars are lowered
and longlegged red COW is allowed
to escape across the space, she runs
like a grey hound. The instant she