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Buffalo Bill from Prairie to Palace

<h2 class="vspace">CHAPTER XXVI. SWINGING AROUND EUROPE.</h2> This man of many parts, this unique exemplification of the possibilities of human intellectual and physical development and progress, had now passed through successive, and with all truth it can be said, successful, gradations from the illiterate urchin of the rough cabin on the plains to a great practical educator; and the lessons taught in his magnificently illustrated lectures had for their object the welding together of human interests and the enlarging of the mutual sympathies of nations. I am aware that the selfish, captious, and narrow-minded may see in the exhibitions and travels of the Wild West under Colonel Cody’s leadership simply a scheme for personal aggrandizement or for the accumulation of great wealth. With the same foundation for truth, might not these same unworthy motives be attributed to the magnetic Edison, whose discoveries and inventions have startled the world into a wondering recognition of electric power? to Stanley, through whose terrible trials, weary wanderings, and persevering persistency the heart of Africa has been laid bare to scientific and humane investigation? to Humboldt and scores of other world-instructors? Such unworthy commentators, to whose eyes all advancement in knowledge is veneered with a base coating of selfish aims, are unworthy of serious consideration. In pursuance of a resolve made during his visit to England in 1887, Colonel Cody, in the spring preceding the Paris233 Exposition, set all of his able lieutenants and coadjutors to work preparing another Wild West for a trip to the French capital, thence through Continental Europe, and, after another visit to Old England, back to dear America. Under the spell of their leader’s energetic and systematic direction, these trusted assistants soon had all things in complete readiness, and once again on board the majestic Persian Monarch, and under the care of that able seaman and popular officer Captain Bristow, the Wild West was launched upon “the briny,” for Paris bound. The Wild West camp in Paris was pitched on immense grounds near the Porte Maillot, and the welcome extended to the Americans by the people of the sister republic was hearty, spontaneous, and grand. It was said that the audience which assembled on the occasion of the opening exhibition equaled any known in the record of premières of that brilliant capitale des deux mondes. Early in the performance the vast audience became thoroughly enthusiastic, and every act attracted the closest attention and the most absorbing interest. It was evident that the novel and startling display had won the fullest approval of the experienced sight-seers of the gay capital; and in France audiences rarely if ever take the middle ground. With them approval or commendation comes promptly and is quickly manifested, and the immediate triumph of the Wild West was a subject of hearty congratulation. As in England upon his first appearance there Colonel Cody was welcomed by those highest in authority and honor, so in France the initial performance was graced by the presence of the notables of the republic. President Carnot and wife, the members of his cabinet, and families; two American ministers, Hon. Whitelaw Reid, Hon. Louis MacLean; the Diplomatic Corps,234 officers of the United States Marine, and other prominent personages were among the auditors. It was an audience thoroughly representative of science, art, literature, and society, and the Wild West soon became second only in public interest to the great Exhibition itself. Colonel Cody soon became the recipient of especial social courtesies, the first of which was a breakfast given in his honor on May 29th by the Vicomtesse Chaudon de Briailles, at which the haut ton of Paris was present. In recognition of the courtesy of the Minister of War in granting the Wild West the use of a large tract of land in the military district, Colonel Cody invited fifty soldiers of the garrison of Paris to visit the show each day, a courtesy that was duly appreciated. Among the many incidents that occurred in Paris may be noted the fact that Isabella, ex-Queen of Spain, with her companions enjoyed a ride in the famous old Deadwood stagecoach. Altogether the Wild West’s visit to Paris, which lasted seven months, was a most thorough and emphatic success, and closed in a blaze of glory. It may seem strange to claim that the Wild West abroad was an incentive to the introduction of American subjects for art illustration; but the facts strongly warrant the assertion. It became a fad to introduce curios and bijouterie from the American plains and mountains. Buffalo robes of Indian tanning, bear-skins embroidered with porcupine quills, and mats woven in redskin camps became fashionable; while lassos, bows and arrows, Mexican bridles and saddles, and other things from the American borderland became most popular as souvenirs. <div id="ip_234" class="figcenter" style="width: 420px;"> <ANTIMG src="images/i_235.jpg" width-obs="364" height-obs="615" alt="" /> <div class="caption">ROSA BONHEUR’S PAINTING, “BUFFALO BILL ON HORSEBACK.”</div> </div> Nor was this all, for the artists took a turn at producing236 American scenes, characters, and animals, and the Indian and cowboy were chiseled in marble. Busts were made of Buffalo Bill, the illustrated papers were full of pictures of the Wild West and its characters, and the comic papers were constantly caricaturing Cody and his people, some of their work being remarkably clever and artistic in execution. Invited to the studios of artists in Rome, Berlin, Paris, and elsewhere, Buffalo Bill extended the courtesies of his camp to many whose names are known the world over by their works. The Wild West became a central place of attraction to artists as well as to military men and statesmen, and often painters and sculptors were seen going about the camp looking for subjects for their brush and chisel. Having accepted an invitation from Rosa Bonheur to visit her at her elegant chateau, Buffalo Bill in turn extended the hospitalities of his camp to the famous artist, who day after day visited it and made studies for her pleasure, giving much time to sittings for a painting of Colonel Cody. The result was the superb painting that attracted so much comment abroad, and which she presented to the great frontiersman, who prizes it above all the souvenirs he has in his charming home at North Platte, where it holds the place of honor. The painting represents Buffalo Bill mounted upon his favorite horse, and it is needless to say that where both man and animal are portraits, it is a work of art coming from such a hand as that of Rosa Bonheur. The fact of uniting man and beast in a painting, giving each equal prominence, was never before done, I believe, by this great artist, yet her hand did not lose its cunning in departing from the rule of her life, as all can testify who have seen this superb picture. 237 <div id="ip_237" class="figcenter" style="width: 473px;"> <ANTIMG src="images/i_237.jpg" width-obs="473" height-obs="317" alt="" /> <div class="caption">INDIANS UNDER THE SHADOW OF ST. PETER’S, ROME.</div> </div> 238 With America as a vast and grand field for the brushes of English and European artists, there is little doubt that hereafter the foreign academies will possess many works on American scenes and characters; and with the example thus set them our own artists will find in their own country material enough to prevent their going to other lands to get artistic inspiration. After a short tour in the south of France in the fall, a vessel was chartered at Marseilles, the Mediterranean crossed at Barcelona, landing the first band of Americans with accompanying associates, scouts, cowboys, Mexican horses of Spanish descent, and wild buffaloes, etc., on the very spot where on his return to Spain landed the world’s greatest explorer Christopher Columbus. Here the patrons were demonstratively eulogistic, the exhibition seeming to delight them greatly, savoring as it did of an addenda to their national history; recalling after a lapse of 400 years the resplendent glories of Spanish conquests under Ferdinand and Isabella, of the sainted hero Cristobal Colon (1492), Columbus in America (1890), “Buffalo Bill” and the native American in Spain! Recrossing the Mediterranean via Corsica and Sardinia (encountering a tremendous storm), Naples (the placid waters of whose noble bay gave a welcome refuge) was reached, and in the shadow of old Vesuvius, which in fact formed a superbly grand scenic background, another peg in history was pinned by the visit of the cowboy and Indian to the various noted localities that here abound; the ruins of Herculaneum, Pompeii, and the great crater of “the burning mountain” striking wonder and awe as well as giving geological and geographical knowledge to the stoical “red man.” 239 Then the “famed of the famous cities” of the world, Rome, was next visited, to be conquered through the gentle power of intellectual interest in, and the reciprocal pleasure exchanged by, its unusual visitors; the honor being given to “the outfit,” as an organization, of attending a dazzling fête given in the Vatican by his holiness Pope Leo XIII., and of receiving the exalted pontiff’s blessing. The grandeur of the spectacle, the heavenly music, the entrancing singing, and impressive adjuncts produced a most profound impression on the astonished children of the prairie. The Wild West in the Vatican! The company were photographed in the Coliseum, which stately ruin seemed silently and solemnly to regret that its famed ancient arena was too small for this modern exhibition of the mimic struggle between that civilization born and emanating from ’neath its very walls, and a primitive people who were ne’er dreamed of in Rome’s world-conquering creators’ wildest flights of vivid imaginings. Strolling through its arena, gazing at its lions’ dens, or lolling lazily on its convenient ruins, hearing its interpreted history of Romulus, of Cæsar, and of Nero, roamed this band of Wild West Sioux (a people whose history in barbaric deeds equals, if not excels, the ancient Romans’), now hand-in-hand in peace and firmly cemented friendship with the American frontiersman, once gladiatorial antagonists on the Western plains. They, listening to the tale, on the spot, of those whose “morituri te salutant” was the short prelude to a savage death, formed a novel picture in a historic frame. The Wild West in the Coliseum! <div id="ip_239" class="figcenter" style="width: 431px;"> <ANTIMG src="images/i_240.jpg" width-obs="431" height-obs="313" alt="" /> <div class="caption">CAMPED IN THE COLISEUM.</div> </div> The following extracts from cablegrams sent to the New York Herald by its special correspondent, tell of interesting241 occurrences that happened during the visit of the Wild West to the historic city of Rome: <blockquote> Rome, March 4, 1890. All Rome was to-day astir over an attempt of Buffalo Bill’s cowboys with wild horses, which were provided for the occasion by the Prince of Sermoneta. Several days past the Roman authorities have been busy with the erection of specially cut barriers for the purpose of keeping back the wild horses from the crowds. The animals are from the celebrated stud of the Prince of Sermoneta, and the prince himself declared that no cowboy in the world could ride these horses. The cowboys laughed over this surmise and then offered at least to undertake to mount one of them, if they might choose it. Every man, woman, and child expected that two or three people would be killed by this attempt. The anxiety and enthusiasm was great. Over 2,000 carriages were ranged round the field and more than 20,000 people lined the spacious barriers. Lord Dufferin and many other diplomatists were on the terrace, and among Romans were presently seen the consort of the Prime Minister Crispi, the Prince of Torlonia, Madame Depretis, Princess Collona, Gravina Antonelli, the Baroness Reugis, Princess Brancaccia, Grave Giannotti, and critics from among the highest aristocracy. In five minutes the horses were tamed. Two of the wild horses were driven without saddle or bridle in the arena. Buffalo Bill gave out that they would be tamed. The brutes made springs into the air, darted hither and thither in all directions, and bent themselves into all sorts of shapes—but all in vain. In five minutes the cowboys had caught the wild horses with the lasso, saddled, subdued, and bestrode them. Then the cowboys rode them round the arena, while the dense crowds of people applauded with delight. </blockquote> 242 <div id="ip_242" class="figcenter" style="width: 491px;"> <ANTIMG src="images/i_242.jpg" width-obs="491" height-obs="278" alt="" /> <div class="caption">THE ARENA IN VERONA.</div> </div> 243 <div class="tb">* * * * *</div> <blockquote> <h3>BUFFALO BILL IN VENICE.</h3> (By Telegraph, New York Herald.) Venice, April 16, 1890. Buffalo Bill and his Wild West have made a big show in Venice. This evening the directors have a special invitation on the Grand Canal, where the whole troupe will be shown. Colonel Cody is taken by the Venetian prefect in his own private residence. No one can think them ordinary artistes after they have seen the gathering of different Indians in gondolas, or seen the wonderful sight which presents itself at the Venetian palace and in the little steamboats that ply between the pier of St. Mark and the railway station. Thousands of Venetians assembled yesterday in Verona, where the company of the municipal authorities of justice have allowed the use of the amphitheater, or the so-called arena, one of the most interesting structures of Italy, and a rival of the Coliseum of Rome itself. Forty-five thousand persons can conveniently find sitting-room in this arena, and for standing-room there is also extensive space. As his royal highness Victor Emanuel was on a visit here once, 60,000 people were accommodated in it. It is, perhaps, interesting to know that this building is the largest in the world, although the Wild West Show quite filled it. The amphitheater (arena) was built in the year 290 A. D., under Diocletian, and is known in Germany as the Home of the Dietrich of Bern. It is 106 feet high, 168 meters long, and 134 meters broad (the arena itself is 83 meters long, 48 meters broad); the circumference is 525 meters. In the surrounding amphitheater (entering by the west side through arch No. 5, admission 1 franc, Sunday free), are five-and-forty rows of steps 18 inches high, 26 inches broad, built of gray, or rather reddish-yellow, limestone, where nearly 20,000 spectators can find places, and where many more people can see by standing on the wooden benches behind them. From an244 inscription on the second story it will be remembered that Napoleon I. visited this place in 1805. The restoration of the building was by recommendation of that emperor. A wonderful view is obtained from the higher steps. </blockquote> <div class="tb">* * * * *</div> <blockquote> <h3>THE WILD WEST AT THE VATICAN.—BUFFALO BILL’S INDIANS AND COWBOYS AT THE ANNIVERSARY CEREMONY OF LEO XIII.</h3> New York Herald, March 4, 1890.—(From our Special Correspondent.) Rome, March 3d. One of the strangest spectacles ever seen within the walls of the Vatican was the dramatic entry of Buffalo Bill at the head of his Indians and cowboys this morning, when the ecclesiastical and secular military court of the Holy See assembled to witness the twelfth annual thanksgiving of Leo XIII. for his coronation. In the midst of the splendid scene, crowded with the old Roman aristocracy and surrounded by walls immortalized by Michael Angelo and Raphael, there suddenly appeared a host of savages in war-paint, feathers, and blankets, carrying tomahawks and knives. A vast multitude surged in the great square before St. Peter’s early in the morning to witness the arrival of the Americans. Before half-past 9 o’clock the Ducal Hall, Royal Hall, and Sistine Chapel of the Vatican were packed with those who had influence enough to obtain admittance. Through the middle of the three audiences the pathway was bordered with the brilliant uniforms of the Swiss Guards, Palatine Guards, papal gendarmes, and private chamberlains. The sunlight fell upon the lines of glittering steel, nodding plumes, golden chains, shimmering robes of silk, and all the blazing emblems of pontifical power and glory. <h4>THE WILD WEST MAKE THEIR ENTRÉE.</h4> Suddenly a tall and chivalrous figure appeared at the entrance, and all eyes were turned toward him. It was245 Col. W. F. Cody, “Buffalo Bill.” With a sweep of his great sombrero he saluted the chamberlains, and then strode between the guards with his partner, Mr. Nate Salsbury, by his side. Rocky Bear led the Sioux warriors, who brought up the rear. They were painted in every color that Indian imagination could devise. Every man carried something with which to make big medicine in the presence of the great medicine man sent by the great spirit. Rocky Bear rolled his eyes and folded his hands on his breast as he stepped on tiptoe through the glowing sea of color. His braves furtively eyed the halbreds and two-handed swords of the Swiss Guards. The Indians and cowboys were ranged in the south corners of the Ducal Hall. Colonel Cody and Mr. Salsbury were escorted into the Sistine Chapel by chamberlains, where they were greeted by Miss Sherman, daughter of General Sherman. A princess invited Colonel Cody to a place in the tribune of the Roman nobles. He stood facing the gorgeous Diplomatic Corps, surrounded by the Prince and Princess Borghesi, the Marquis Serlupi, Princess Bandini, Duchess di Grazioli, Prince and Princess Massimo, Prince and Princess Ruspoli, and all the ancient noble families of the city. <h4>THE PAPAL BLESSING.</h4> When the Pope appeared in the sedia gestatoria, carried above the heads of his guards, preceded by the Knights of Malta and a procession of cardinals and archbishops, the cowboys bowed, and so did the Indians. Rocky Bear knelt and made the sign of the cross. The pontiff leaned affectionately toward the rude groups and blessed them. He seemed to be touched by the sight. As the papal train swept on the Indians became excited, and a squaw fainted. They had been warned not to utter a sound, and were with difficulty restrained from whooping.246 The Pope looked at Colonel Cody intently as he passed, and the great scout and Indian fighter bent low as he received the pontifical benediction. After the thanksgiving mass, with its grand choral accompaniment and now and then the sound of Leo XIII.’s voice heard ringing through the chapel, the great audience poured out of the Vatican. </blockquote> <div id="ip_246" class="figcenter" style="width: 312px;"> <ANTIMG src="images/i_246.jpg" width-obs="312" height-obs="367" alt="" /> <div class="caption">POPE LEO XIII.</div> </div> <div class="tb">* * * * *</div> Among the many verses written of and to the noted scout, the following may be given as a poet’s idea of his visit to Rome: <h3>BUFFALO BILL AND THE ROMANS.247</h3> <div class="poem-container"> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> I’ll take my stalwart Indian braves Down to the Coliseum, And the old Romans from their graves Will all arise to see ’em; Pretors and censors will return And hasten through the Forum, The ghostly Senate will adjourn Because it lacks a quorum. </div> <div class="stanza"> And up the ancient Appian way Will flock the ghostly legions, From Gaul unto Calabria, And from remoter regions; From British bog and wild lagoon, And Libyan desert sandy, They’ll all come, marching to the tune Of “Yankee Doodle Dandy.” </div> <div class="stanza"> Prepare the triumph car for me And purple throne to sit on, For I’ve done more than Julius C.— He could not down the Briton! Cæsar and Cicero shall bow, And ancient warriors famous, Before the myrtle-bandaged brow Of Buffalo Williamus. </div> <div class="stanza"> We march, unwhipped, through history— No bulwark can detain us— And link the age of Grover C. And Scipio Africanus. I’ll take my stalwart Indian braves Down to the Coliseum, And the old Romans from their graves Will all arise to see ’em. </div> </div></div> Artistic Florence, practical Bologna, grand and stately Milan, and unique Verona were next added to the list. Verona’s superb and well-preserved Arena, excelling in superficial area the Coliseum and holding 45,000 people, was especially granted for the Wild West’s use. The Indians were249 taken by Buffalo Bill to picturesque Venice, and there shown the marvelous results of the ancient white man’s energy and artistic architectural skill. They were immortalized by the camera in the ducal palace, St. Marc’s Piazza, and in the strange street vehicle of the Adriatic’s erstwhile pride—the gondola; contributing another interesting object lesson to the distant juvenile student members of their tribe, to testify more fully to their puzzled senses the fact of strange sights and marvels whose existence is to be learned in the breadth of knowledge. <div id="ip_249" class="figcenter" style="width: 587px;"> <ANTIMG src="images/i_248.jpg" width-obs="587" height-obs="349" alt="" /> <div class="caption">BUFFALO BILL AND HIS INDIANS IN VENICE.</div> </div> Moving via Innsbruck through the beautifully scenic Tyrol, the Bavarian capital, Munich, with its naturally artistic instincts, gave a grand reception to the beginning of a marvelously successful tour through German land, which included Vienna (with an excursion on the “Blue Danube”), Berlin, Dresden, Leipsic, Magdeburg, Hanover, Brunswick, Hamburg, Bremen, Dusseldorf, Cologne, along the Rhine past Bonn, Coblentz, “Fair Bingen on the Rhine,” to Frankfort, Stuttgart, and Strasburg. These historic cities, with all their wealth of legendary interest, art galleries, scientific conservatories, educative edifices, cathedrals, modern palaces, ancient ruins, army maneuverings, fortifications, commercial and varied manufacturing and agricultural industries, and the social, genial, friendly, quiet customs of its peoples, should form good instruction to the rugged rovers of the American plains—heirs to an empire as much more vast in extent and resources as is the brightness of the diamond—after the skill expended by the lapidary—in dazzling brilliancy to the rude, unpolished stone before man’s industry lends value to its existence. At Strasburg the management decided to close temporarily250 this extraordinary tour and winter the company. Although in the proximity of points contemplated for a winter campaign (southern France and the Riviera), this was deemed advisable on account of the first and only attack from envious humanity that the organization had encountered. This matter necessitated the manly but expensive voluntary procedure of taking the Indians to America to meet face to face and deny the imputations of some villifiers, whom circumstances of petty political “charity” and “I-am-ism” and native buoyancy permit at times to float temporarily on the surface of a cosmopolite community, and to whose ravings a too credulous public and press give hearing. The quaint little village of Benfield furnished an ancient nunnery and a castle with stables and good range. Here the little community of Americans spent the winter comfortably, being feasted and fêted by the inhabitants, whose esteem they gained to such an extent that their departure was marked by a general holiday, assisting hands, and such public demonstrations of regret that many a rude cowboy when once again careering o’er the pampas of Texas will rest his weary steed while memory reverts to the pleasant days and whole-souled friendships cemented at the foot of the Vosges Mountains in disputed Alsace-Lorraine. In Alsace-Lorraine! whose anomalous position menaces the peace not only of the two countries interested but of the civilized world; whose situation makes it intensely even sadly interesting as the theater of that future human tragedy for which the ear of mankind strains day and night, listening for detonations from the muzzles of the acme of invented mechanisms of destruction. The lurid-garbed Angel of Devastation hovers, careering through the atmosphere of the251 seemingly doomed valley, gaily laughing, shrieking exultingly, at the white-robed Angel of Peace as the latter gloomily wanders, prayerful, tearful, hopelessly hunting, ceaselessly seeking, the return of modern man’s boasted newly created gods—Equity, Justice, Reason! What a field for the vaunted champions of humanity, the leaders of civilization! What a neighborhood wherein to sow the seeds of “peace on earth and good-will to men.” What a crucible for the universal panacea, arbitration! What a test of the efficacy of prayer in damming up the conflicting torrents of ambition, cupidity, passion, and revenge, which threaten to color crimson the swift current of the Rhine, until its renown as the home of wealth and luxury be eclipsed by eternal notoriety as the Valley of Death! <hr /> 252 </div> <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

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