THE HOME TRAIL.
From London the Wild West visited Birmingham, where it occupied the
Aston Lower Grounds; thence to Manchester--“Cottonopolis,” as it is
endearingly called by its inhabitants--where the winter season was
opened. In the short space of two months the largest theater ever seen
in the world was here erected by an enterprising firm of Manchester
builders, together with a commodious building attached to it for the
accommodation of the troupe, whose tents and tepees were erected under
its shelter. The whole of the structure was comfortably heated by steam
and illuminated by electric light. This building was built on the great
race-course, where several times in the course of each year it is not
uncommon for 80,000 or 100,000 persons to assemble; and the buildings
in which Ormonde, Ben d’Or, Robert the Devil, and a thousand other
world-famed equine wonders had taken their rest and refreshment, were
now appropriated to the comfort of the broncos, mustangs, and other
four-footed coadjutors of the Wild West.
The first performance given in Manchester was complimentary, and the
entire beauty, rank, and fashion of Manchester and the surrounding
towns were invited guests. The mayors, town councils, corporation
officials, prominent merchants and manufacturers, bishops and clergy of
all denominations, and an able-bodied horde of pressmen came down in
their thousands. From Liverpool, across country through Leeds and York
to Hull and New Castle, and from Carlisle, as far south as Birmingham,
everybody of consequence was present, and the immense building was
filled to its utmost capacity. The consequence was that from the
opening day, and despite the dreary winter weather, the well-lighted,
well-warmed “Temple of Buffalo Bill and Thespis”--as somebody called
it--was constantly crowded with pleasure-seeking throngs. Incidentally
it may be mentioned that the scores of requisitions from the heads
of schools and charitable institutions for reduced rates for “their
little waifs,” was always met by the management of the Wild West
with a courteous invitation for the little ones to attend the
Wednesday afternoon performances free of charge. During their stay in
“Cottonopolis” the members of the Wild West were welcomed with the
same ungrudging and overwhelming hospitality that had marked their
visit to the capital. While here Colonel Cody was publicly presented
with a magnificent rifle by the artistic, dramatic, and literary
gentlemen of Manchester, and the event having got wind in London, the
élite of the metropolitan _literati_, headed by Sir Somers Vine and
including representatives of all the great American journals, secured
a special train and ran up to Manchester some hundred strong to grace
the ceremony with their presence. The presentation took place in the
arena, and afterward Colonel Cody invited the whole crowd of local
celebrities and London visitors to a regular camp dinner, with fried
oysters, Boston pork and beans, Maryland chicken, and other American
dishes, and a real Indian “rib-roast” as the _piece de resistance_. The
banquet was held in the race-course pavilion. Among the guests were the
Mayor of Salford, a number of civic dignitaries from both Manchester
and the neighboring borough, United States Consul Moffat of London and
Consul Hale of Manchester, the latter of whom made the speech of the
evening. This dinner was certainly an entirely original lay-out to the
visitors, and the comments of the English guests upon the novel and to
them outlandish fare they were consuming were highly amusing to the
American members of the party. To the Englishmen corn-cake, hominy, and
other American _fixings_ were a complete revelation, and the rib-roast,
served in tin platters and eaten in the fingers, without knives or
forks, was a source of huge wonderment. The American flag was rarely
ever toasted more heartily by Englishmen than on that occasion, and for
a week afterward the press of the country were dilating on the strange
and savage doings at the Wild West camp.
The afternoon of Good Friday, the consent of the directors of the
Manchester race-track having been obtained, a series of open-air
horse races and athletic sports was performed by the members of
the company--red and white--which included hurdle-races, bareback
horsemanship, etc. Notwithstanding very inclement weather during the
earlier part of the day, an attendance of nearly 30,000 was recorded,
and the weather cleared up and kept fine during the progress of the
sports.
During this visit to Manchester the Freemasons of the district treated
Colonel Cody with marked hospitality, and he was a frequent visitor at
their lodges. A mark of especial honor from this occult and powerful
body was a public presentation to him of a magnificent gold watch in
the name of the Freemasons of England. The season in Manchester was
a grand success in every way, and the people had begun to regard the
institution as a permanency among them; but their engagements in the
land of the stars and stripes were as fixed and unalterable as the
laws of the Medes and Persians, and on Monday evening, May 1st, was
given the last indoor representation in Manchester. The occasion was a
perfect ovation. On Tuesday afternoon a benefit was tendered Colonel
Cody by the race-course people. An outdoor performance was given, and
despite the unfavorable weather the turn-stiles showed that nearly
50,000 people had paid admission to the grounds. Thus ended the Wild
West performances in Manchester.
On Friday morning, May 4th, at 11 A. M., amid the cheers, well-wishes,
and handshaking of a vast crowd, the Wild West left Manchester by
special train for Hull, where the last performance in England was given
on the afternoon of Saturday, May 5th, and at 9 o’clock on that evening
the entire effects of the monster aggregation were aboard the good ship
Persian Monarch, upon which vessel, under the command of the brave,
gallant, and courteous Captain Bristow, the Wild West left for New York
the next morning at 3 o’clock. On the homeward voyage Colonel Cody’s
favorite horse Charlie died. For fifteen years he had ridden Charlie in
sunshine and in storm, in days of adversity as well as prosperity, and
to this noble animal’s fleetness of foot Colonel Cody owed his life on
more than one occasion when pursued by Indians.
During the night of May 19th, the Persian Monarch arrived off New York
harbor, and by daylight of the 20th steamed up toward Staten Island,
where they were to debark.
The arrival of this vessel, outside of the company’s reception, was an
event of future commercial importance to the port of New York, from the
fact of her being the first passenger-ship of her size, draught, and
class to effect a landing (at Bechtel’s wharf) directly on the shores
of Staten Island, thus demonstrating the marine value of some ten
miles of seashore of what in a few short years must be a part of the
greater New York.
Upon the arrival of this giant combination at its home, it would
seem that a long and undisturbed rest would have been natural and
consequent. Such, however, was not to be the case. The master-mind
concluded that it would be well to show to his own countrymen what
manner of exhibition it was that had accomplished such wonderful
results on its visit to Albion. A summer season was inaugurated at
Erastina, S. I., and New York followed. In this latter city Colonel
Cody originated, at Madison Square Garden, the now popular and
much-copied idea of leviathan spectacle. Visits respectively to
Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington followed, and this remarkable
exhibition closed, at the Richmond, Va., exposition, a wonderful
and uninterrupted season which had begun two years and seven months
before at St. Louis, Mo. Faithful to his promises, and following his
invariable custom, Colonel Cody saw that all his people, from the
Texan cowboy and the Mexican vacquero to the Sioux warrior of Dakota,
had safe and pleasant conduct to their homes. The realistic story
of America had been told in the mother country, and the interest of
Continental Europe had also been awakened. The returning red man,
cowboy, and Mexican had had experiences and learned lessons the value
of which it is impossible to compute, and the influence of which must
perforce permeate their entire lives and broaden their thought and
moral nature, leading to results of unbounded possibilities. The cowboy
by the camp-fire of his prairie home, the vacquero among his companions
in Mexico’s mountains, and the red man in his lodge and with his
people, had wonderful tales to tell during the winter nights of their
well-earned resting-spell.