The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1923-05-19
ROMANTIC DAYS OF PONY EXPRESS
ARE REVIVED BY HISTORIC PAGEANT
Roads Of West VIII Again Re-
sound to Hoof- Beat of
of Mustang,

BIZ NEA Serrtce
CT JOSEPH, Mo, May 19.-The
Pony Express-probabIy the
most colorfu and romantic
paragraph in American history-will
live again.
Next September. roads between this
city and Sacramento will resound to
the hoofbeats Of the mustang. Il
will be like the reawakening of char.
acters from an old book. For the
Pony Express has come to be but
a fascinating memory.
The Pony Express Revival Organ.
ization now is mapping final mans
to reproduce the famous mail route
OF 1S6061, It will be in connection
with the joint Mark Twain and Bret
Harte celebration to extend through.
out the West G
Hundreds of horses and severa,
score Of men will be used. And re-.
cruiting Of the latter now is reveal.
ing heated competition.
Started i'm 1860
1t wasson April 3. 1860 at y m
that Johnny Frey. 90, leaned on =
black pony at St Joseph and rode
West. At the same moment. in Sac.
ramento, Harry Hon. another youth.
saddled another dashing mount. and
turning eastward. was off like A shot
Thus started the Pony Express.
Now, on a September day vet tn he
named, two youths. like their prede-
cessors Of sixty-three years ago. will
stand at attention beside two imra.
tent mustangs here. Each win he
handed a copy Of a message signed
by President Harding.
AT a signal they will leap To the
saddle and gallop down a street lined
with people The ponies will head
west The 2.000-mile race will be on
hundred relay stations or more
Hundreds Of horses and scores Of rid
ers viii be waiting at points across the
distant plains
That message in duplicate from the
President will be relayed across the
route Of the first western mail route
the same route that became a fore
runner Of the great railroads and ex
press companies OF today.
veteran 10 StATT Race
Charles Cllf. now gray and old. vii
be at the starting point here to BIZ
the riders Godspeed. sixty.thret
years ago, as boy Of IA. he. too
rode a mustang on the Pony Express
He was one Of the first to cross tn,
perilous, Indian ridden plains.
At Sacramento another veteran
John Seebeck. will be waiting to gree
The last relay. In 1850. seebeck. Their
81 years old. rode with CHT
Most Of their comrades. includins
Buffalo Bill whose real name was
William Cody. have gone into tn,
sunset. CHff and Seebeck alone ar,
left
No porils Iil1o those Of the or4g4na
Pony Express viii face these moderr
riders. From the day the old line
began until its close in the fall ol
1851 when the first transcontInenta.
telegraph line was completed. dan
ger constantly rode beside the In
trepld horsemen Sometimes they
were killed. But i'm only "A lone In
stance did the mail fail to get through
Roads Are Better
The roads, too will be better now
and bridges will carry the riders
across swollen streams It was not
thus in olden days
And so, across Missouri. Kansas
Colorado. Utah. Nevada and Cali
fornia. shades Of the old riders Of the
Pony Express viii dash again
These riders however will be
spurred by the cheers OF men and
women OF modern day Theirs Will
not be the lot Of bygone pathnnders
whose only audience was silent wastes
bands of savaEes, tho almost i'm
penetrable forests-and death--that
the mails might get through.