The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-07-24
STEAK THAT
MADE HUGO FAMOUS
How Jack KeppeI Cooked the Fa-
nous Cowboy Breakfast for the
President and Then Yelled.
From the Chicago Tribune.

From the Chicago Tribune.
Undoubtedly the most picturesque
feature of President Roosevelt's recent
tour of the country was the one that
has made the town of Hugo, Col, IA
mous-the cowboy breakfast and Its
T-bone steak. Seldom has a cowboy
breakfast been considered an event OF
sufficient note to have its details de-
scribed in the public press, but this
one, with the President of the United
States as guest of honor, will be for
many years the great occasion in the
history of Hugo, and May 4, the date
on which it was given, will not soon
be forgotten. The cook who cooked
this breakfast and who glories in this
exalted bit of cookery is Jack" KeppeI,
who deserted his herds and rode many
miles in order to be on hand and Off
ciate at Hugo.
81 was proud" said Mr.. Keppel
quite proud when the Lincoln county
Cattle Growers Association, at the sug-
gestion of Judge c. M. Miles of Hugo
selected me to take charge of the cook
ing of the cowboy breakfast which we
had determined to serve to President
Roosevelt. The Holt Live Stock Com
pany's chuck wagon was driven down
to Hugo for my use, and it was well
supplied, as it was ready to start next
day on its regular roundup route. 1t
was in charge of Foreman S. G. Sher-
man, by whom it was kindly offered 10
us. AS my assistant for the great en-
terprise 1 had that old veteran of the
range, John Heyman, as good a camp
man as ever drew breath so long as he
was awake and, thus fixed up, l felt
fully equal to the great undertaking
ahead of me. On Friday preceding the
eventful Monday, May A. when the
President was to come through, / went
to Hugo from my ranch at Arroyo, TO
get everything shipshape and in order.
On that evening we swung the pot
rack and cleared a space about the
rear end of the chuck wagon. and on
Saturday we unpacked the provisions
and laid in butter and such things as
had been overlooked.
'On Sunday, just to get my hand IN
and have things in working order,
cooked a big dinner for $50 natives and
a couple of dozen 'rawhides' from Den
yer. I hadn't done any cooking for
| five years and 1 was a little shaky
| about the job / had ahead of me. but
the way those people ate and ate and
came back for more convinced me that
John and 1 could do the big stunt as
we'll as anybody. Sunday night, about
$3.50, l closed off the feeding and left
nothing on but the beans, which cooked
over a roaring fire till IL o'clock. While
the beans were cooking a number of
old-timers gathered around the camp
fire and swapped lies and sang songs
and kept me company 1t was a fine
night and they We're all sorry when II
o'clock came and I took off the beans
and drove them all away. And I hated
TO do it, too but it was late enough
and I had important work ahead of
me for the morning.
81 rolled out my bedding right along
side the camp fire and turned into
my blankets d little before 1 o'clock.
l could hear the others celebrating up
| town and l wished l could be with
them, but knew that would never do
for me. A few hours later 1 was up
wooling John Heyman to get him
awake, and beating around with a club
to find daylight in the dark. The
first thing / did after making up my
fire was to put the beans back on.
John and 1 then made twelve gallons
of coffee in three big pots, and got
the fried potatoes ready. The next
thing was to make the biscuits and put
them in the Dutch ovens ready to bake.
1 made eight dozen of these and pat
ted them out round and smooth. It's
quite job to make good biscuits, and
you bet l was particular with these.
I wanted to have 'em just ready when
the President came, so / went over to
the depot and found out from the tele-
graph operator the exact moment when
he would arrive.
when we saw the smoke of the
pilot train we heaped the fire on the
tops of the Dutch ovens. This train
brought the Governor and Congress
man Brooks. They were too busy
getting ready to receive the President
to want to eat anything and the bis
cults were not done, anyhow. When
the Presidents train hove in sight we
got excited around that campfire, I
can tell you. l picked out a big T-bone
steak, the finest one / ever saw for
the President. AS the train was slow
ing up I nodded to John Heyman, my
assistant, to drop the big steak on to
the hot surface of the oven, which was
on the rack and heated up just right.
By this time the biscuits were done
to a turn and everything was ready I
had heard discouraging reports to the
effect that President Roosevelt would
not be allowed time enough at Hugo
for him to get off and eat, but l knew
if / could once get him within range
of that breakfast, where he could get
a Whit of that steak, he would have
to stay and eat. Well, / have cooked
many a steak, but I was certainly
more proud of that one than of any
other / ever turned over. 1t was
regular 'beaut,' and when the Presi-
dent cut into it and munched the first
mouthful and l saw the tickled ex-
preston of his face, / was so proud
well, / just had to swing my hat and
holler."