The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1921-06-13
Dot" Vernon, Famous Circus Rider, Tells of Experiences With the Greatest Show on
 Earth.
By ZELDA BEDELL


 "A cowboy would as soon lend his toothbrush as his pony" asserts Mrs. George Williams of the BrooklaWn Riding Academy, once Dot" Vernon, trick rider and bron- cho-busting cowgirl with the 101 Ranch Wild West show and Barnum and Bailey's cir GUS.
 After a public life of the most rigid sort, this daring rider has become a private citizen-or citizeness, as you like-and with her husband is teaching beginners how to ride at the academy. Mrs. George Williams is in the present {; Dot" Vernon is in the past and in the future - who knows? For the ''smell of the sawdust" is real, and once in the nOstrils it is likely to stick there, she says.
 Can't Remember First Ride
 But, though it's a change, I really do like Bridgeport, and there's lots of room to breathe out here-it isn't like New York, where I thought I should stffle-and so bong as I have my beloved horses I don't miss the show so nuch-''
 Mrs. Williams experiences have been many. and what she doesn't knowing. Having ridden since she was eight or nine years old. or as she says: '.I don't really remember the first time I got to ride a horseT' she has had 20 odd years of life with
 Even though she has numberless scars all over her body. all caused from falls from horses, her spirit is still undaunted and she rides every day.
 Although it is rather tame riding. compared with broncho-busting, she deprecates '"The academy horses are all trained animals and are gen. tie and dependable"
 Mrs. Williams is slender almost to w1riness- She is a little below aver age height, and with her reddish gold curls flying in the breeze she looks like the littlest Amazon of them all" Little Dot Vernon" she was always spoken of in the shows advertising, and her appearance on a horse tustffies the title
 But, little or not, her reputation for daring and reckiessness has per haps never been equaTled on the tan bark
 That girl is the gamest I ever saw. bar none," said a circus man recently. Shes got any man skinned a mile when it comes to sheer nerve and grit. I've seen her get bumped off a pony with a whack you could not only see but hear, and she'd get up. pick up her hat, catch her horse and get back on again, even though she was mass of bruises. She's right nervy. You said it!''
 When Mrs. Williams was inter viewed at the academy the other day, she was dressed in a, brown semi fancy suit, with suede pumps and silk blouse to match.
 Doesn't Like Fancy Clothes.
 'Do I look funny?' she queried, her eyes dancing. 'You know. I just can't get used to these clothes, but feel like l have to wear 'em when I go in to town feel so much better, so much more comfortable in riding clothes I just hate to wear anything else. wonder why women don't just rebel and insist on wearing brooches It's just another form of enanci pa tion, and I think it's a worthwhile one,'' she said with that inimitabIe drawl that pronounced her at once as from ''the Vest
 For 'tDot" was born in Texas-''in Motley county, right on the panhan- with her parents till the call of the circus got into her blood. Then she left home, practically diSOwned by family wno couldn't understand the urge that was so keen in their young est.
 Followed lively years with various shows, doing trick riding, broncho busting and stunt riding. Finally, in 1914 the 101 Ranch show, with which sbe was a featured attraction, started across the big pond to show in Eng land all summer and fall, and the itinerary was then to be shifted to Berlin, the show planning to open a:s the Ice Palace in Berlin on Christmas Day
 well. we showed in England all right says Dot land for three months We were busy appearing be- fore royalty and all the elite of Lon don. Then, very suddenly. of course, war was declared. We were showing at the huge Shepherds Bush Stadium a gigantic tract of land that was en- closed with high fences and grand stands. The fences had been painted with gorgeous scenery, mountains and plains. to go with our various specs or spectacles- Right back of us was an open space and it was here that the frs. allotment of English boys was mobilized for the Great War
 "We were fascinated by it all, but I must admit that my first thought