Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-05-13
FEATS OF HoRSEMEN.
Long Journeys Made on Horseback In
Time Of Need.

Time Of Need.
From the Chicago Evening Post.
1t appears that the Cossacks have done
more than the artillery to keep up the
reputation of the Russian army as to It's
power OF endurance under adverse cir
cumstances. The Cossack is really to the
eastern world what Clusters men. Nor
gan's, Kilpatrick's and Roosevelt's have
been to the western armies-the men who
could sit the saddle. saber and shoot.
starve and swim. be all or nothing for the
glory of quick action in time OF trouble.
AS to the proof OF this here is the story
of Dmetree Pjeshkoff a Siberian Cossack
who rode from Blagovejechensk. eastern
Siberia. to st. Petersburg. He surpassed
Burnaby. who rode to Khiva, and Asa
yen. who made the hard ride from Lu-
BEEN Poland. to Paris
Blagovejechensk is Cossack station on
the Amur, in latitude 80 degrees north.
longitude 121 degrees east. and the dis
lance to be covered to the Russian CAPT.
tai 5000 versts. or 5,4OO English miles.
In 113 days out from his starting point
Pjeshkoff was at Omsk. having accom-
plished 1890 versts. or nearly $500 miles,
of his journey. In III days he was In ST.
Petersburg. having made an average of
thirty miles day. in the saddle. from
the start. An average of this character
requires remarkable physical and nerve
endurance. 1t also requires fine Judg-
ment as to forage for beasts and Susten
ance for the Observation-Disclosures as to
weather. temperature changes. water sup
ply and kindred things that go in with
steady and a long ride.
The hero of this remarkable feat. a man
of some education, VS. commander of a
hundred in one of the Cossack regiments.
stationed on the Amur and had 10 obtain
leave of absence to show what he could
do on "A long distance ride with a horse.
But the feat became more remarkable be-
cause the Cossack made his journey with
one horse-the same horse he started with
ending the journey. The horse, IKE us
rider was of the ordinary Cossack breed.
1t was foaled in Siberia and was pur-
chased for 100 rubles, or about SGD In our
money. 1t was thirteen years old ana or a
light gray color In height and weight II
correspondent with fair-sized American
"cayuse" of the western plains. 1t haa me
"cayuse" capacity for short feeds ana nun,
imum water supply. The animal was leu
only on oats and hay. 1t carried lhcluul's
its rider. saddle. blankets and harness.
total of about 112 pounds .,,
The appetite of the beast Increased Win
the distance travelled. At the start 1t re-
CURED eight pounds of oats and fourteen
pounds of hay day to keep ~ up anu 10,
water it took the snow alongside the road
as well or spring water was not oDtalhtD!e
When two-thirds of the journey was com
pleted the horse was eating thirty pouhus
of oats and fourteen pounds OF nay each
day. An English or an American morse
country would have surrendered quickly.
The western American horse has made
some wonderful long Substance journeys IN
cuick time During Clusters campaign OF
1876, which ended in the massacre on the
Rosebud some of the scouts for the army
covered 1870 to $50 miles in forty-eight hours
on three feeds and three chances 10 Watet
for their horses. In GrierSons Wild flue
during the civil war to cut the conferedate
lines, the ride which eventually gave blrth
to Shernan's march 10 the sea, one IN
CO go cavalryman vas in the saddle iof ~
miles and that without dismountllls- ne
lives now as a mail carrier for the post
office.
One November day in the Goose river
country of Dakota a cowboy named Iversoh
was called to ranch house ana told 4 doc-
tor must be secured Cor his employer
daughter, who had been taken suddenly Ill
with Group. The nearest doctor was thirty
eight miles away the temperature was is
degrees below. the wind was scurrying the
sloW of the praries in every direction. On
the trail there were only two stopping
places where fresh horses might he secured
Iverson made the round trip in ten hours
killing two horses. and during the last five
miles homeward bound carrying the doctor
on his own weary beast. The chi!ds HE
was saved by his promptuess.
In the last Custer campaign IN Virginia,
lust before the surrender OF Lee. n courier
of the Union forces carrying Information
as to where Custer might earliest strike the
confederate wagon supplies made "A COM
plete circuit of Lees army and reached his
superior officer in time to have the informa-
tior prove of value. With two horses he
rode 165 miles in eleven hours This Is a
fair average to place against the Cossacks
Journey from the orient to st. Petersburg.
Ii is said in French dispatches that the
courier who carried from Port Arthur the
final news of coming surrender to Gen.
Kuropatkin at Mukden walked. crept, swan
and rode in the saddle 80 miles in sixty
hours This is not impossible When II
comes to riding almost everything depends
upon the horse. a little on the man. If he
be q man.