A…
source date: 1890
availability: public-domain

d the shooter and stopped the fun. A. Thomas, of Kingston, was thrown from a horse on a pile of rocks, striking upon his face and cutting his nose nearly off. From ihe May 16, 1890, Issue of The Enterprise The First Pony Express How Wm. H. Russell Won a Wager of $200,000 In the winter of 1860 there was a Wall street lobby at Washington exerting a strong influence on the government to get a subsidy of $50,000,000 for carrying the mails overland for one year between New York and San Fran- cisco. In those early times this seemed an enor- mous sum of money to ask Congress to appro- priate for such a purpose, and the lobby did not meet with much encouragement. The discussion attracted universal atten- tion, and finally Wm. H. Russell, a well known western character, offered to bet $200,000 that he could put on a mail line between San Fran- cisco and St. Joseph that would make the dis- tance, 1950 miles, in ten days. He was given encouragement by Secretary of War Floyd and set to work making arrangements to carry his wager to a successful issue. The bet was taken, and April 3, 1860, was the fixed date for start-