The sun., 1908-05-10

convince him that he was right In his esti
mates Of my abilities in this direction.
The plan for the Wild West Show wal
put by for the time being began on
smaller scale and went to Chicago, where
formed company with Col. z. q. q
Judson, the Ned Buntline novelist. Nee
wrote a play which was called The Scouts
Of the Plains and we produced 1t In the
Windy City in November, 1872.
"The next morning some Of the papers
said that the play and the acting were SC
bad that they we're actually good. l APP
peared in number Of border dramas afte.
this, and that ! did not lose my life has
always been a marvel to memo, not from
the use Of real bullets instead Of blank
cartridges. but from some member OF an
irate audience.
THE border dramas, bad as they were,
put me on my feet financially, | made at
that time about 81 900 a week and l con-
tinued on the stage ten years, all the time
working hard at the idea Of the Wild West
Show. the first production Of which was
given in Omaha on May IS, 1883.
starting from the Scouts Rest Ranch
at the junction Of the North and South
Platte rivers. Il was launched on spot
famed from time immemorial as the dead
line between the powerful Pawnees south
of II and the Sioux TO the north, a place
fairly entitled TO its appellation Of the Dark
and Bloody Ground. This nursery cradle
was in a section we'll grassed, watered and
wooded. natural commissary depot and
in all respects suitable for the beginning
Of such a venture,
The idea OF the show was 80 new that
we had plenty TO predict its failure, hut
three years after the first performance
I played the longest engagement that have
ever had here in New York city at the old
Garden, where ] stayed five months and gave
the spectacular Drama Of Civilization
one Of our greatest successes.
in those early days we did not have the
suave type Of Indian to deal with that we
have to-day and we were kept busy trying
to adjust the inadjustable differences be-
tween red and white, a difficulty Of no
mean calibre when you realize that the
Indians believed that their status on the
Happy Hunting Grounds depended on the
number Of slain white brothers they could
count to their credit. We had amusing
episodes as we'll.
In Chicago one OF our most widely ad-
vertised leading men Of aboriginal type, Old
Flatiron. had been engaged to stay with
the show for six months After the first
performance he came and wanted TO know
when we would be ready to start back home,
Come TO find out. he had been 30 impressed
with the size OF the audience. thirty thou
sand, that he thought we had played to all
the white people in the world and there
was no use staying any longer
Since then the show has travelled far.
IL would be easier to tell where we have not
been. We visited $50 towns in the British
Isles outside OF the big cities.
In France we went to $50 outside Of
Paris. In Italy, not counting Rome, we
had no 10 our credit; then through Croatia,
Slavonia. Austria, Hungary, Transylvania,
places where, remembering all our troubles
with the American Indians, we could say
that, compared with some Of the native
types, they we're oxford graduates and
men Of refinement and culture
In our early days we carried essentially
Western features, herd Of fifty buffaloes.
elk, deer, antelope, mountain sheep, wild
horses and cattle, longhorned terrors from
the Chisholm trail, buokers, cayuses, mus
tangs, Gaucho riders and bolas throwers
and for many years we had big aviary
Of eagles. To-day an eagle feather is
worth three or four dollars and those we
have are carefully treasured. The real
Indian with pride Of race would no more
think of submitting to the indignity Of
wearing turkey feathers in the show than
he would on the warpath.
'In our roster Of that time, associated