Show PONY EXPRESS9 BOLD RiDERS Old Records Made in Carrying the Pacific I L Mail I The men were talking of the cross I continent record made by the Australian Aus-tralian mail The old Indian fighter twisted his mustache thoughtfully Theres something very fine about n race like that he said I never get used to our fast trains They are awesome awt some things I take off my hat to them But when you want exciting stories of Pacific mail you must get hold of some one who knew the pony express There was a mall service for you Dont know much about it Well I suppose not I didnt last very long l and down East here you forget everything every-thing except your family pedigrees The Indian troubles never seemed real to New Yorkers They couldnt believe be-lieve In an Indian massacre later than the French and Indian war They heard about the Indian fighting out I West but they didnt take it seriously I I We did Good Lord It was serious enough I The old man lapsed Into silence and eat staring Into the past with a deep furrow between his brows But about the pony express someone some-one asked Oh yes the pony express You men arent so young but I dare say you were too young to know anything about those days save what you read I wasnt very old myself In 1S59 but I remember I was In the midst of things That makes a difference Ive picked up pony messengers where they fell with wounds all over them and their scalps missing 1vo seen messenger stations after the Indians had visited them and gone on One doesnt forget that sort of thing I knew Aubrey There was a mon for you There was another long silence No one liked to ask questions The old fighter objects to being prodded He will tell his story In his own way If 1 he tells It at all I he doesnt care to talk no amount of questioning will stir him to reminiscence So the other men on waited and finally the Major went The overland stage had carried the mal and express Everybody knows a good deal about the Overlands his tory I ran from St Joe to Sacramen to and covered the 2000 miles In twen tyfive days Taking everything Into considera tion that was pretty fast traveling At first the stage ran twice a month La ter It ran dally Ive made the trip and I got more for my money than I did when I came on from San Francisco The stations were from five to ten miles apart mies apart according ac-cording to the ground and we drove like Jehu day and night The driver didnt even leave his seat at the stations Horses were ready the change was made like lightning lGhtnlnS and on we went There were whlnnr rt or outriders heavily armed who helped guard the coach and lashed the horses to top speed I took steady nerves to enjoy that traveling There was danger at every dancer turn hostile Indians desperado toad agents bad roads swollen streams blizzards Ive seen all that was left of a stage and Its load after the In dians had swooped down on it To this jltY the very sight of an India Vmaftea mq sec red The road ajjents robbed the coach and perhaps the drl > r and guard were killed Jn the mlxv p but they usually left the passengers un harmed The stage drivers had enough to try their nerves but the pony messengers had even a harder proposition There was need of faster mail and express service The Overland was too slow So the pony express was organized for the carrying of valuable light ex press money and special letters arid It letersaT lowered the time record to eight days In place of tho Overlands twentyfive daysOne Overlands twentyfve One pony express carrying Lincolns inaugural address was put through in seven days and seventeen hours When you think that that means 2000 miles of horseback riding over the worst sort of country and with obstacles of every kind to bar the way It looks a good deal like a miracle even from this dIs tance There were 200 stations on the route and 100 riders In the service 600 other men were employed at the stations The horses used were statonR every rider had to be a bronco buster of the finest sort but bronco busting bustng was the least of the strains upon his nerve The bronco was led Into the yard blindfolded A big Mexican saddle made extra light and fitted with pockets pock-ets for the mail and mai express was strapped on him Only twentyfive twentyfve pounds of matter was carried and the rates were hlgh15 for every letter weighing half an ounce When the mail was In the pockets the rider splang Into the pocltt bandage was Jerked off the horses eyes and for a few minutes there was a lively bucking seance Then the bronco started off on a dead run and h 1 ana jiu KUJJL umi run up until no reached the first station where the rider sprang on n fresh horse and tore along The runs were only about ten or twelve miles but a horse always reached the station dead beat and ex hausted The riders knew what a horse would stand and ran each one to his limit husbanding his strength to make him last the distance Each man rode fifty or sixty miles on a stretch and It was wild riding The messenger was absolutely alone following a perilous trail at top speed day and night through the wildest of country wI Any rock or tree might hide an en emy Any ravine might shelter a band of Indiana The roth g wheels and bleaching bones scattered Ins Hcatete along the road told stories that were not reas suring There were streams almost Impos sible to swim There was the desert heat and drought and mirage madness In summer and the blizzard In winter Snow fell steadily hour after hour hiding all trace of the trail and the messenger plunged along through the storm trusting to the Instinct of his pony and his own craft There wasnt any going back or sheltering The mail was to go through on schedule timoIt I I was a common enough thing for messenger and pony to ride off f preci nice In the blinding storm Sometimes they fell on soft snow piled in the ra vine below and were not hurt There were scores of escapes fairly miracu lous Sometimes no one knew what had become of the messenger un U the searchers found him and his pony burled In tho snow > Several times the pony in his S plung ing after the fall broke the riders arm or legs One man rode into a station after such an experience with a his hip dislocated and one arm broken but with the mall safe The Indians got n number of the boys but the latter died game and u good many of the messengers let the Indians wild chases and came out all right after hairbreadth escapes You see a messenger would leave the trail to avoid Indiana and then ho had the devils own time hiding among tho mountains starving desperate expect ing at any moment to see a painted face peering at him or get an arrow In the back and feel the scalping knife run round his head fl ° j I wonder whether there would be5 I men of this generation to take the Job Weve become what Jim Brldger used Ito to call too doggone civilized fer grit Did I ever tell you about Bridget Oh well he wasnt a pony messenger and I never knew him myself but he vas a great old fellow Id like to write a story of the scouts Nobody has ever done them Justice But coming back to the express Business there was Aubrey He was what nowadays you would call the real thing He started out with the mail one night and when he reached the end of his ride found the man who was to take his place had been killed by Indians and the country ahead was swarming with Indians on tho warpath war-path lie was pretty well used up after his sixtymile run but he shifted the mal to a fresh horse mounted and went ahead leading an extra horse He knew there was little or no chance of his striking the next few stations for he couldnt keep to the road and then the probabilities were that the Indians had already wiped out the stations So he struck oil the trail and made his way ahead as best he could almost al-most stumbling over bands of Indians time after limp hiding and holding his breath to let the red devils pass him riding llc mad over country where nothing but i messenger pony could have scrambled He hadnt any food He didnt sleep He faced death hour after hour but he covered 800 miles in five days and thirteen hour and rode into the station sta-tion with his mall and express intact They had to lift him from the saddle I was months before he could walk That was Just on story There are plenty more Many a time n man rode until he was so exhausted that he hadnt strength enough to dismount I yet found that the man who was to 1 relieve him was laid off by death or accident and that he must go on Often Of-ten the messenger was too weak to dismount and mount again The station men lifted saddle rider bags and all bodily and set them on afresh a-fresh horse The messenger who could not have stood on his feet for a moment mo-ment swallowed the liquor poured down his throat set his teeth gripped the saddle with his knees and turned his fresh bronco loose Death and worse I than death might be lying In wait but the mal must go on If there was a chance of getting It through Fifteen dollars a half ounce wjvosnt too big a price for that sort of mall mal hurrying Even at those rates the pony express didnt pay I was discontinued discontin-ued and afterward the first telegraph HUP followed the pony rout You know the Indians cut the first wires down and made trinkets of them but luckily a smallpox epidemic broke out and the tribes thought the wire ornaments or-naments brought It on so they didnt fool with the next wires Then when part of the line was up two bands of Indians were Induced to use It and arranged a rendezvous They trotted off skeptically to the place of meeting and when they met their frlendR thrrr nrl nlnl f hI I I fl Vb UL was a square deal they developed I tremendous respect for the telegraph line lnelfost of the pony messengers went Into tho overland stage service and some of them did great stunts as stage drivers There was one fellow I have forgotten his name but he used to drive a stage off the road to ovoid Indians or road agents and followun broken trail as cheerfully as If hehad been alone on a bronco He could drive n stage wherever there was ground under Its wheels and he squeezed out of more tight holes than any other man In the service A lot of the old messengers came to grief In the 18C4 massacre when tho hostile tribes were allrtd against the Overland That was the only time In history when the Sioux Arapahoes Cheyennes Utcs Snakes the whole outfit got together They made simultaneous attacks all along the stage line from St Louis to Salt Lake raided stations statons held up the stages massacred travelers drivers guards I was in August and travel was heavy The Injuns had a royal time and carried off great bunches of scalps and millions of dollars worth of booty They were so well satisfied that they kept quiet for a long time after that but the Overland service was paralyzed for months and even the Government malls couldnt be carried for a while Ive often thought that a story of the brave deeds that have been done all over the world In order that let ters and dispatches might be delivered safely would be the most exciting read cxcilng Ing Imaginable Our own army messengers mes-sengers in Indian days furnished enough stories for a book but If I were doing the writing Id put the Ion express ex-press messengers in a place of honor New York Sun |