The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-05-31

his horse to the summit of the Spire OF
St. Savior's Church, in Copenhagen.
and impossible as the feat may appear,
he actually won his wager and descend
ed to the earth in safety. The contemp-
orary accounts of this mad performance
are in the highest degree thrilling, with
their picture of the blanched, breath
less crowd looking upon with straining
eyes at the horseman, growing smaller
and smaller as he wound his way
round and round the dizzy. narrowing
steeple, expecting every moment to
see horse and rider dashed to pieces at
their feet; until at last he stood silhout-
ted against the sky on the topmost
( pinnacle, and waved his hand triumph
antly to the crowd so far beneth him.
To understand this feat at all it is
necessary to say that the spire was
climbed by a steep and narrow stair
case which winds around it, but think
of the daring, the courage and GOODNESS
! necessary to accomplish such a climb
when the most trifiing slip or loss of
! balance would have meant a swift
! and terrible death.
A similar feat was performed by that
adventurous monarch Ferdinand VII
when he rode his favorite horse to
the top of the tower of Seville Cathe-
dral. This however. was a less hazard
Gus performance than that of the Dane,
for there is a fairly wide inclined path
way which climbs the tower, although
to the spectators it seemed impossible
that the king could ever emerge from
the venture alive.
There is an account of a feat of horse
manship which seems more wonderful
than either of those described. 1t is
stated in the records that in the year
1900 man rode to the top of st. Pauls
on his horse Morocco, to the amaze
ment of thousands of onlookers. If
this feat ever had any existance out
side the Imagination of it's chronicler,
it is probable that the ascent was made
by staircase which may have been
feature of old st. PauIs.
Almost equally wonderful are the
feats recorded of a pair of thorough
bred Arabian horses. the property of
Professor Holloway. of Wyoming.
These horses have been trained by
their owner to make dives of seventy
feet and more into lake. "At signal
one of them starts up an incline at
a quick walk until he reaches plat
! form seventyfve feet above the lake
| below. The professor is standing on the
shore, and as the horse looks down
! from the platform he calls, All right
At the sound of his voice the horse, and
/ without a seconds hesitation, leaps
! from his pinnacle and flashing through
| the air, disappears in a cloud of spray,
from which he quickly emerges and
swims briskly ashore"
1t is doubtful whether any horseman,
| however daring and expert, can excel
! the skill of some Cossacks. When rid
! ing at full gallop they will pick up
child from the ground. toss it high in
the air, and catch it repeatedly like
ball. They will, also al a gallop, leap
off their horses, pick up any small
object, and, without checking the
horses speed, leap in a standing posi-
tion on his back.
They will ride their horse town
precipitous cliffs, on which their
scarcely seems footing for an agile
mountaineer, or leap them thirty feet
down into a river; while a common
feat is for a Cossack, galloping at full
speed, to snatch a needle and thread
| from one of his fellows, and thread
the needle in less time than would
seem possible in an armchair.
Few of these performances, how
ever, are more astonishing than that
credited to Mr.. John Leach Manning,
who rode his horse into an upstairs din
ing room at the White Hart Hotel,
Aylesbury, and jumped him over the
dining table, In describing the feat, he
says: Nothing was removed from the
| table, in fact, the dinner was actually
going on l jumped the horse bare
| backed without bride. The horse per-
formed before more than forty
gentlemen who were dining after
/ the steeplechases. Some of the
records of long distance riders
are we'll worthy of note. as when
Mr. Osbaldeston, the famous squire
! sportsman of seventy years ago. rode
| two hundred miles at Newmarket, in
eight hours, forty-two minuter, in No
vember 1881, using twenty-eight horses
| for the journey. In October, 1871, Wild
covered 127 miles on horseback at the
Curragh in six hours and twenty-one
minutes, and twenty-six years ago,
Leon. the Mexican rider, rode one
hundred miles at Alexander Park in
three minutes under five hours. an
average speed of more than twenty
miles an hour. In the following year
| Leon covered sos miles in less than
fifey hours, a wonderful feat of endur-
| ance.
/ But as test of staying power of both
men and horses it would be difficult to
! rival the recent performance of five
! Leaving Gray at o'clock in the morn
/ ing the officers rode seventy-two miles
to Belport, arriving at O'Clock in the
afternoon. They then dismounted,
walked a further distance of twenty
; four miles, dined, walked back to
! Belport, saddled their horses, and
rode back to Gray, which they reach
ed the following afternoon at o'clock.
Thus, within thirty-six hours, these i've
men completed a journey of 1872 miles,
of which 144 were on horseback and
forty-eight on foot.
How much do you think that
story is WORTH" he asked when his
wife had finished reading it. "Oh.
should think you ought to have got