The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-08-08
ID WASHINGTON
 ON HORSEBACK Texas Editor Undertakes lnter-
 eSting Adventure TO INVITE THE PRESIDENT Ed. S. o'ReiIy Will Ride From San Antonio to N%lonal Capital on Texas Pony Raised on chas.
 Taft's Farm.
TO INVITE THE PRESIDENT
By JOHN B. HARRINGTON.

San Antonio, Tex, August 7.-(Special.) With the greeting and invitation from thousands of Texans to President Taft safely tucked away and in full cowboy regalia, Ed S. O'Reilly, editor of the San Antonio Light Gazette. bade adieu to over 5000 enthusiastic San Antonians en route to Washington. The start was made from in front of the historic Alamo. A little preliminary music a fitting speech by J. H. Kirkpatrick, and the ever welcome strains of "San Antonio" D. loud cheers and a cavalcade of cowboys with O'Reilly in the lead cantering down the street, sum up the details of the oc- casion.
 The ride to Washington and present an invitation to President Taft was an idea that impressed OReilly very favorably as soon as 1t had been conceived. That the herculean measures of the task could prove too much for him or his steed troubled him little. Determination is such a matter of fact trait in him that his friends did not even go to the trouble of pointing out the obstacles to him. Needless to say, that. if O'Reilly has to make 40 miles day for the entire trip he will make them.
 There Is one factor in the undertaking that would discourage the average man, but which to O'Reilly will only mean en- ploying a little more grit. He has to reach Washington not later than the 4th or 9th of October in order to catch the President at the capital Were 1t not that he is riding a COW pony of the best Texas stock, an animal of great stamina, endurance and tenacity. his chances of reaching Washington would be slim indeed. But Aransas, a mare bred on Bill Taft's brothers ranch, On the gulf, will prove more than equal to the occasion. Hers is that steady, swing ing stride which only generations of hard work in the chapparal rounding-up cat tie could have given her and her ances- tors. Change of feed and water mean little to the Texas pony, because selec- tion and elimination on the home plains are strong factors and have weeded out all that Is unuflt.
 But to come back to the man. That he undertook what has never been done be- fore is an apt index to his mental make up. Born on the Texas plain and reared on 1t, he has all the qualities of her sons in an accentuated degree; tenacity and temerity not being the least of them. He had his fill of ffardships During the Spanish-American war he enlisted in the regular army, saw service for two years in the Philippine Islands, and at the ex-
 
 After running up against all sorts of luck, mostly bad or indifferent, he be- came instructor in the Shanghai police force, and finding the licking-into-shape of coolies not wholly to his liking, he later on decided to become a Chinese school master.
 When the Boer war broke out he made up his mind to come to the aid of the de- lenders of the South African republics. Starting with company of 20 others of similar inclination, he got as far as Sing apore where the American consul at the request of the British government. had him and his companions promptly ar rested. On promise to return to his na- tive America he was subsequently re- leased, but free transportation ended at Shanghai. The Chinese reform army being then in the course of incubation, O'Reilly decided to try his hand once more at soldering and secured a com mission in that institution. But John Chinaman did not appeal to him, even as Q drilling material. After a brief spell in Japan, where he gained further ex- perience as a pedagogue, he thought best to return home. and for number of years San Francisco and Chicago knew him as a newspaper man. From there he returned to Texas, where today he is well known as a fearless writer and an able editor
 The successful completion of the trip would put all previous long distance rides in the shade. Since the days of the pony express nothing like 1t has been attempt I ed Even the ride between Fort Leaven- worth Kan. and Sante Fe, N. M, less ! than one-half the distance O'Reilly pro- I poses to cover was considered a strenu- ! ous performance. Thousands of Texans will watch his progress with keen in- | terest. Their best wishes are with their cowboy editor