Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1903-06-19

tl1ll llslla supported by the unim-
| peachable evidence of so
many who actually witnessed them.
1t is not many years since a reckless
Dane made a wager that he would ride
his horse to the summit of the spire Of
! St Saviour's Church, in Copenhagen;
and, impossible as the feat may ap-
pear, he actually won his wager and
descended to the earth in safety The
contemporary accounts of this mad
| performance are in the highest degree
thrilling, with their picture of the
| blanched, breathless crowd looking up
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 silouhetted against the
| sky on the topmost pinnacle, and
waved his hand triumphantly to the
crowd so far beneath him.
To understand this feat at all It Is
necessary to say that tho spire was
| climbed by steep and narrow stair
case, which winds around it; but think
of the daring, the courage and coolness
necessary to accomplish such a climb,
when the most triflng slip or loss of
| balance would have meant q swift and
| terrible death.
a similar feat was performed by
that adventurous monarch Ferdinand
VII. when he rode his favorite horse
| IN 1,o IN, of h. q
dral. This, however was less hag-
ardous performance than that Of the
Dane, for there is fairly wide inclined
pathway which climbs the tower; al
though to the spectators it seemed I'M
possible that the King could ever
| emerge from the venture alive
There Is an account of q feat of
horsemanship which seems more won
derful than either of those described.
1t is stated in the records that in the
year 1000 a man rode to the top of st.
Paul's on his horse Morocco, to the
amazement OF thousands of onlookers.
If this feat ever had any existence out
Side of the imagination of its chron-
icler, it Is probable that the ascent was
been feature Of old st. Paul's.
Almost equally wonderful arc the
feats REGARDED OF 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 a lake. cat a signal
one OF them starts up an incline at a
quick walk until he reaches platform
seventy feet above the lake below. The
professor is standing on the shore, and
as the horse looks down from the plat
form he calls, All rightr At the sound
Of his voice the horse, without a Sec
ond's hesitation, leaps from his PIN
nacle and, flashing through the air, dis
appears in 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 can pick up a
child from the ground and toss 1t high
In the air and catch it repeatedly like
a ball. They will, also at q gallop, leap
off their horses, pick up any small OBJ
feet, and without checking the horses
speed leap in standing position on his
back.
They will ride their horses down pre-
cfpitous cliffs, on which there scarcely
seems footing foran agile mountaineer
or leap them thirty feet down into
river; while a common feat Is for
Cossack galloplng at full speed to
snatch q needle and thread from one
of his fellow and thread the needle in
less time than would seem possible in
an armchair.
Few Of these performances, however,
are more astonishing than that credit
ed to John Leech Manning, who rode
his horse into an upstairs dining-room
at the White Hart Hotel, Aylesbury,
and jumped him over the dining-table
In describing the feat he says: "Noth-
ing was removed from the table; in
fact, the dinner was actually going on.
| jumped the horse barebacked with
out bride. The horse performed be-
fore more than forty gentlemen, who
were dining after the steoplechases."
Some of the records Of long-distance
rides are well worthy Of note, as when
Mr.. Osbaldeston, the famous squire
sportsman Of seventy years ago. rode
200 miles at Newmarket in eight hours
and forty-two minutes, in November.
1881. using twenty-eight horses for the
journey. In October, 1901, Wilde COW
cred 127 miles on horseback at the
CuTragh in six hours and twenty-one
minutes; and twenty-six years ago
Leon, the Mexican rider, rode 100 miles
at Alexandra 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 fifty hours, q Won
derful feat of endurance.
A CLOSE GALL
Coropo1 Eivro,.1 NJ Iro-o, A.~4 -