The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1918-01-26
THE CHILDREN'S HOUR.
A CODY ADVENTURE.


America was more fruitful Of pictur-
esque incident, hardship and adven.
ture than the famous pony express
line that Russell, Majors and Waddell
established in the fifties.
The route extended from the Mis-
souri, river to Sacramento, a distance
of 1860 miles. It traversed country
full of hostile Indians and white des-
peradoes and led across plains,
through valleys and over lofty noun
tains.
Naturally the riders were picked
men. They had to face deadly dan
gers and were often called upon to do
double duty in place of slain or
wounded comrade The pay, however,
was good, as befitted so dangerous a
calling 1t ranged from 500 to 1926
a month.
/ was (wrote Colonel William F.
Cody about sixteen years old when
applied for a chance to enter. this
service. My mother and sisters need
ed my help, and the good wages paid
by the pony express company
tempted me.
At first l was told that / was too
young to stand the tremendous strain,
but after considerable pleading on my
part the company consented to give
me a trial as an extra on a run of
forty-five miles that was to be covered
with three horses in three hours.
I accepted the offer, and it was on
this route that, quite early in my ex-
perience as an express rider, l met
with a most peculiar adventure. One
morning as was crossing rough bit
of country on the gallop there came
suddenly the cry Of Halt! Up with
your hands, boy!"
A man had risen apparently from
the very ground under my feet. While
he covered me with the revolver that
he held in his right hand he extended
his left to catch my bride rein.
There was nothing to do but obey,
although I knew that the pouch con-
tanned large sum of money.
"Give me that pouch, boy!'
held it out, but as he extended his
hand for it my opportunity came. I
kicked the revolver from his grasp,
drove the spurs in deep and made a
dash.
was just beginning to chuckle over
my escape when bullet whistled by
my ear. That was too much for me,
should have known better than to
stop, but without thinking | wheeled
in my saddle and returned the shot
Just as the desperate fired again.
This time he hit my pony, which gave
one leap and then fell heavily.
Luckily / landed on my feet and
jumped to the shelter of a big rock.
The outlaw was coming toward me
and trying to fire as he ran, but I no.
ticed that at each pull of the trigger
his revolver missed fire. / believed
that had him at my mercy. wanted
to capture him and march him to the
next relay station, where the men
would take charge of him. With this
in mind refrained from firing, and
so he was enabled to reach the cover
of the same boulder behind which |
myself had taken shelter.
There we were, a rock ten feet in
diameter between us, and each very
we'll aware that it was a fight for life.
For a time neither of us dared to
| move; then gradually and as silently
as possible / crawled back from the
| rock far enough SO that could watch
both sides of it at once. But as I lay
there watching my, poor pony gave
what seemed an almost human moan
and turned his faithful eyes upon me.
He made desperate, vain attempt to
rise and uttered low neigh so full of
grief and pain that I determined to
put the horse out of his misery, and,
resting on one elbow, I took careful
aim and sent a bullet through his
brain.
Instantly my shot was followed by
one from the other side of the rock
so quickly, in fact, that the two re-
ports were almost simultaneous. |
could not tell whether it had been
aimed at me or not, but / knew / was
not hit.
| The struggles of my pony had
ceased, and everything was still. |
waited and watched until could stand
it no longer; then began slowly and
cautiously to creep around the rock
holding my revolver ready to fire on
the instant. l even stuck my hat out
ahead of me as decoy, but it brought
no response.
Suddenly I saw the outlaws boots
and, to my surprise, the toes were
turned up. Another step brought me
within full sight of the man. He lay
on his back, quite dead, his revolver
beside him, as if it had just fallen
from his hand.
Il A little examination showed me
what had happened. The outlaw had
been reloading his revolver when
fired at the pony. In those days the
, only ammunition was powder and ball
which had to be forced home with &
ramrod. During the loading the
weapon was held upright, and wher
that part of the operation had beer
completed the caps were placed or
, the nipples.
: The outlaw had not removed the
| caps that had failed to explode. NIX