The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-10-25
WORLDS ROUGH RIDERS.
THE CHIEF FEATURE OF BUFFALO
BILLS WILD WEST SHOW.

rne performances Attended by
enormous Crowds-A1l of the Feat
,,res Good, but the Shooting and
the Riding Especially Fine-In the
latter Rough Riders of the World
Took Part-Many Scenes and Incl
dents of Western Life Shown-Buf-
foIO Hunt and Capture of Tien-
Tsin Among the SpeciaIties.
Buffalo Bills Wild West and Con-
oress of Rough Riders of the World
cached Savannah yesterday, and gave
.,ro performances that were attended
Nv what were probably the largest
crowds that have ever attended show
If any kind in this city.
At the matinee about four-fifths of
the seating capacity of the arena was
needed, but at night practically every
seat was taken, almost by the time
the performance began, and many
snectators had to content themselves
with sitting on the ground.
The show cannot be compared to
other shows. 1t is Buffalo Bills, and,
therefore, unique. 1t can only be said
of the performance as whole that it
was all that it's managers claimed it
would be; and that it was very pic
+uresdue and intensely interesting from
beginning to end; from the grand re-
view in which Indians, cowboys, Mexi-
cans Cossacks, Arabs, scouts, guides
ond attachments of soldiers from the
armies of the United States, England,
germany and Russia, took part to the
nanoramic and pyrotechnic capture of
Tien-Tsin, with which the performance
ends.
# is hard to single out for praise
snecialties from a programme of which
almost every number is a speciality.
# can be said however that the shoot
ing of Miss Annie Oakley was really
remarkable, as was also that of
Johnny Baker. Miss Oakley smashed
glass balls, under the most varied and
difficult conditions. with an ease and
anparent nonchalence that surprised
and delighted the spectators. Baker
also did some exceptionally fine work
with the gun, smashing singles and
doubles while lying on his back, or
with the gun barrel pointing backward
between his legs. Buffalo Bill, like
wise gave a splendid exhibition, riding
at full speed around the arena and
smashing, with .. ut rare exceptions,
halls that were thrown in the air by
another horse4nan. The craftsmanship
displayed was the more remarkable,
because of the combined flash and glare
of the gas and electric lamps.
The riding and the feats of horse
manship can only be described as SUI
perb. There are no feats that seemed
too difficult, not only to be attempted
by these rough riders, but to be at
tempted successfully. Picking hand
kerchiefs from the ground while riding
at full speed, tearing around the arena
hanging from the pony's side by one
arm or may be one leg, or balanced on
the shoulders with both feet in the
air. were among the commonest of
these feasts. They were varied in some
cases by the rider standing bolt up
right in his saddle without even the
reins to steady him. and. in the case
of the American horsemen, the riding
of two and three horses at a time, not
only at a break-neck speed, but over
hurdles as we'll
The Mexicans gave very clever illus
trations of the use of the lariat, and a
lte-SaVlnS crew performed the inter-
esting operation of rescuing a wrecked
sailor Exceptionally clever work also
was done in the United States artillery
drill Another part of the programme
that excited unusual attention was the
typical buffalo hunt, in which four BIZ
sons, splendid specimens, raced around
the arena while a group of horsemen
charged at close quarters firing volleys
into the herd.
All in ALL the show was exceptionally
attractive and interesting. and from
the various scenes and types of life
portrayed, instructive as we'll.