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The Long Riders Guild Academic Foundation |
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Equestrian Wisdom & History Books Astonishing Rides, Rescues & Races
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Deadwood, S. Dak., Sept. 6 - President Roosevelt is taking a deep interest in the forthcoming race between cowboys from Deadwood to Omaha on the occasion of the visit of the President to the West in the latter part of September. The race is to be finished on the evening of the day the President is in Omaha. It has been arranged that the winner is to receive his reward of $1,000 from President Roosevelt's hands. Capt. Seth Bullock of Deadwood, a personal friend of Mr. Roosevelt, to-day received a telegram from Secretary Cortelyou, for the President, asking that he see that the horses used in the contest receive proper attention, and are not over-taxed while en route. As a result of the request, some changes may be made in the starting time of the race, since horses are not to be ridden at their top speed for the entire distance. "Doc" Middleton, an ex-frontiersman, asserts that his mount will make seventy-five miles a day from the start. The National Humane Society and the New England anti-Vivisection Society are both making efforts to have the race declared off on the grounds of cruelty to horses. There is small chance of their success, as public sentiment in the West favors the race, the residents knowing what the broncos can stand. The New York Times, 7 Sept. 1902. The New York Times got it wrong, however, as three days later the following article appeared: President Disapproves of Long Race Deadwood, S. D., Sept. 9 - President Roosevelt has put his stamp of disapproval on the proposed cowboy race from Deadwood to Omaha, and the contest has been abandoned. In addition to the President's disapproval there have been received several protests from humane societies. The following is the telegram received from the Chief Executive's Secretary: Oyster Bay, N. Y., Sept. 6, 1902 Capt. Seth Bulloc, Deadwood, S. D.: Referring to the proposed horse race from Deadwood to Omaha, the President would not be willing to have it take place unless it were possible to exercise supervision over the condition in which the horses would come in, and as this would be impossible he asks you to say in his name that he requests the race not to take place. GEORGE B. CORTELYOU, Secretary The New York Times, 10 Sept. 1902. Tables Turned on the Cowboys Hennessy, Oklahoma. Aug. 8. - The boomers were out in force yesterday and turned a trick on a horse race that the cowboys will long remember. A forlorn-looking Kansan brought a gray mare into the city and bantered the cowboys for a race. The cowboys had a short-distance horse that had defeated the fastest runners of the Cheyenne and Arapahoe Indians, and they were only too glad to get up a match. The race took place on the Strip, and $3,000 changed hands on the result. The little Kansas mare threw dirt into the eyes of the cowboys' pet the entire distance, winning by three open lengths. Directly after the race a free-for-all fight took place, in which at least 100 men were engaged. Several men were badly punished. The New York Times, 9 Aug. 1893. Pony Race from Chicago to Atlanta Chicago, Aug. 15 1895: A pony race from Chicago to the exposition grounds at Atlanta, a distance of 905 miles, began to-day for a purse of $2,000. Henrico Schutley, a Spaniard, and Arthur Bingham, better known as "Billy the Kid," cowboys, who have been in an exhibition mining camp here, will try their powers of endurance and the speed of their animals against two representatives of the stockyards, H. G. Payne and Harvey Campbell. The stockyard ponies are expected to show superior merits. The riders will try to make 100 miles a day, and will telegraph each day's run from the thirty-one stopping places through Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee and Georgia. The New York Times. 16 Aug. 1895. [Unfortunately the researchers at the LRG-AF have so far been unable to discover the result of this race, or even to confirm that it took place.] |
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