Chadron-Chicago Cowboy Race (1893)

By The Explore Nebraska History team

America's longest horse race began here June 13, 1893. The 1,000 mile race ended June 27 in Chicago at Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show. The race apparently was the idea of Chadron jokester John G. Maher. Seven of nine riders finished, some traveling up to ninety miles a day. Nebraska badman "Doc" Middleton was an entrant. John Berry won, riding Sandy and Poison, but was disqualified for having prior knowledge of the route. Chadron officials declared Joe Gillespie the winner.

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Doc Middleton and his Horse: David Cherry "Doc" Middleton came to Nebraska in the early 1870s from Arizona. Formerly known as Henry Shepherd, alias Riley, was an early-day horse thief and well known outlaw of Nebraska who became known when he organized the Hoodoo gang to get rid of vigilantes. In the middle of the 1870s he was running off livestock from the ranges of the Niobrara. He is said to have farmed with his brother Joe (or John T.) in Brown County and to have had a ranch near Mariaville, there and near Rushville, Nebraska, in the early 1880s. His second wife, Mary Richardson, who later married again, was from Holt County, and in June of 1884 he eloped from Stuart, Nebraska, with his former wife's sister, Irene Richardson, to Neligh where they were married and later returned to O'Neill, Nebraska. He was also a saloon keeper at Gordon, Rushville, Brewster and Valentine, Nebraska. He also spent three weeks with the Buffalo Bill Wild West Show in the 1890s. Irene, his last wife was born on September 19, 1868, the daughter of Henry Richardson of Carns, Keya Paha County, Nebraska, and died at Hot Springs, South Dakota, November 13, 1911. She was buried in the Crawford, Nebraska, cemetery. She was survived by her husband; three sons, D.W. and J.W. (Wes and William) of Alliance, Henry, born in 1900; and one daughter, Ruth of Ardmore, born in 1894; and one brother, Thomas of Custer, South Dakota. Doc ran a saloon at Orin Junction, Wyoming, before his death at 69 in the Douglas, Wyoming jail of erysipelas with pneumonia complications on December 27, 1913. He was to be buried in Crawford beside his wife but because of difficulty in performing the transfer was buried "temporarily" at Douglas and moved the following Decoration Day. This never happened and he is still interred at Douglas Cemetery. This is a staged photo showing David "Doc" Middleton and his horse at the finish of the 1000 mile race from Chadron, Nebraska, to Chicago, Illinois. He stands next to the horse with his left hand on the saddle. In the background can be seen an artificial wooden structure with a Native American man seated on top. The "landscape" in the background is a sectionalized painted canvas showing wilderness and a sign indicating the 1000 Mile Tree. ~ Source: RG2248 Middleton, David C. "Doc", Nebraska State Historical Society ~ Date: 1893

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Second and Bordeaux Sts., Chadron

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“Chadron-Chicago Cowboy Race (1893),” Explore Nebraska History, accessed October 10, 2024, https://mynehistory.com/items/show/118.

Chadron-Chicago Cowboy Race (1893)

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