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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (June 26, 1921)
The Omaha Sunday Bee AMUSEMENTS EDITORIAL TEN CENTS VOL. 61 NO. 2. WORLD CHAMPION Little Oregon Lass Working Haxd To Duplicate Wonder teats ftqimdup World's Greatest 7orseomen Challenge For viitie By JACK A. BRISTOL. Cinderellt rose from the ashes tnd tattcri of. the cullery maid to Ihe envied place as belle of the prince's hall in but the wave of a wand and then when the clock struck 12 she was transformed back in the twinkling of an. eye. But here is a modern Cinderella who rose almost as quickly from taking a cowpuncher's place oil an obscure Oregon cattle ranch run by herself and two brothers from roping' steers, branding calves and horses, frequently sleeping on the ground at the side of a range campfire to the prominence of champion woman rider of the world, winner of the McAlpin trophy at the great Frontier day's roundup at Cheyenne, and much entertained guest of the largest cities of the east. And for her the clock is not going to strike 12, she , says, for she will defend her title, successfully she hopes, against the most famous cowgirls of the west when the world's championships in the cow country sports are again fought for at Cheyenne during the last week in July. A Slim Lass. " ' Slim, weighing a scant 100 unds and barely turned 21, little Miss Lorena Tnckey looks any thing but the champion horse woman of the world. , It is harder still to believe that she is known as one of the best "cowboys" on sher home range, and yet for several-years she rode with her broth ers, handling lariat and branding iron with the best of them, and she has "bossed her own roundup;" no mean accomplishment for one small maid. Miss Trickey learned " to ride literally before she could walk, her fondest memory of the father who died, while she was yera child being that of having him lift her to the broad, seat of his cow addle and giving the reins into her baby hands. His death left her and her two brothers to run the ranch, and as a child she would follow them on the roundup, help ing where she could, until she her self developed into a full-fledged "hand." Her Fame Spreads. Her fame as a rider and absolute superior of "anything that ran on ' fonr legs," spread over the range until someone suggested that she enter in a small, nearby rodeo. She did. won every event in which the entered,' the success bringing a desire for greater fields to conquer. Cheyenne, where the . world's championships are decided, . became her goal, and with her Iftt ria$ money, as a acst egg, , -k fife i Ajk Wii fl. wsry she began to save "for a tentative timid entry in the 'great rodeo where the famous ones of the cattle regions gather; -v She raised horses, trained polo ponies, traded for horses and cat tle with the Indians, and then or ganized her own roundup to gather them up from the range, brand them, and ship them to market This was all but a short while ago. ; : New Trick Feats. And then last year, before the gathered thousands, she electrified the big rodeo. She won the cow- girls' relay race, and conquered the worst outlaw bronchos that a . combing of the ranges of many states could produce. She startled other ridert with new trick feats . . while her pony was dashing at break-neck speed. She rode in the ; Roman standing races against men contestants, and overcame a wild steer, riding with but a circingle to hold on with. ' No lengthy deliberation on the part of the judges was needed. Little Miss Lorena Trickey was announced as the champion horse woman of the world, and the gold, silver and diamond : McAplin trophy became hers. A modern Cinderella had come into her own. Entertained at Princess. But that was not all, she was taken to New York to receive the plaque, emblematic of her cham pionship, and in her first view of the big cities of the east, this lit tle Cinderella was truly entertained as a princess. Maids and motors were at her call. Millionaires and society folk lionized her. Boxes at the opera and the horse shows i were hers, and theater invitations poured in until toward the end of her stay she had shyly to beg off. With the 1921 championship in July offering the possibility of a repetition of all this, is it any won ucr iu miss a i niicjr wui again battle wild horse, and wilder - der that Miss Trickey will again steers, risk life and limb in devis ing new feats of horsewomanship to go the other girl contenders one better? , , Covetous Eyes. .It wilt not be at all easy, either, this holding of a world's cham pionship. Others have covetous eyes on the beautiful trophy, the trip to the east to receive it and the wonderful experiences Miss Trickey had there.' For the east, to one of these cowgirls, holds all the glamour and romance that the west does for the eastern maicL In factalmost . every girl on the Vanges who has any pretense to real horsewomanship, seems to be W fm in determined training, for the event. Several of the more famous cow- girls, already well known at Fron tier days, are among those who are expected to give Miss Trickey the keenest competition. Wonderful Trick Rider. There is Ruth Roach of Fort Worth, Tex., who won the broncho-busting championship for women at Cheyenne two years ago, and who has been prominent in several preliminary events this year. A wonderful trick! rider, graceful even in the saddle of the worst outlaw horse and the abso lute mistress of any of them, pro Whenever I see a film cowboy leap !'8htly to the saddle, subdue a malev- olent mustang with one cut over the flanks and dash madly over the mesa, bounding over the chapparal as he dashes, I wonder how he .gets' away with it . ' ,; Sometimes I think it must be trick photography. But people who have : . . . ,, been in Hojlywood say theactually qo Ii. iney uo 11 wun mean nurses, too, horses that live only to curse the day they were born, and' revenge the misfortune. of . their nativity on anybody who attempts to ride them. I love and admire hones, but neither my love nor admiration is in the least degree returned.. The most gentle horse , that ever drew a junk wagon . will' bare his fangs and try to sink them in my quivering flesh if I attempt to pet his nose or give him a lump of sugar. The first time I ever mounted a pony he turned his '.head, 'regarded me with a glance in which' pity and hatred strived for the mastery and proceeded to roll over on his back. "He was a light pony, otherwise I would have had to wear plaster casts on both arms and legs instead of merely one 'arm and one leg. There are people who can . win the OMAHA, SUNDAY MORNING; JUNE 26, 1921. COWGIRL TRAINS ficient in the quick changing from horse to horse in the cowgirls relay, and the winnef of prize after prize in the smaller rodeos preliminary to the big Wyoming one, she is said to be one of the little Oregonian's most formidable competitors. Among the favorites, too, will be Mrs. Hugh Strickland, who en joys the distinction of - nearly keeping even -with the laurels won by a famous husband, who is the . broncho-busting champion. Emulates Husband. When Hugh began to win broncho-busting events, his wife, not to be outdone, 'commenced to A Noble Animal, the- Horse By JAMES J. respect and confidence of a horse by merely looking at him. I am not one of them. Somehow or other horses resent my glances as if they were mortar insults and fly into a black rage if they find me in their neighborhood at all. You will, therefore, understand that I was rather reluctant, while the guest at a farm last Sunday, to join a little riding party that was sallying forth to view the countryside. I requested, when the invitation was extended, to be allowed to ac company the oarty in a fliwer. I don't know . much about a flivver, but at least it is incapable of person al hatred, and I knew that the worst it could do was to refuse to go. A Fliwer Is Impersonal Flivvers follow people about and assault them in moving pictures, but rarely elsewhere. I felt that with a fliwer I should be reasonably safe. But the man who was organizing the party was one of those back slapping, buck-up-old-scout pests who wouldn't take "no" for an answer. "We're going over rotten roads that no car could stick to," he said. "I'll put you aboard an old crowbait that is. only about two days ahead of the sausage factory, and he can't Hfa0L STRICKLAND, -CHAMPION BRONCHO BUSTER, OUT AFTER. VWOMBN3. TITLE. enter the cowgirls' riding events. She became a noted wild horse tamer herself, a leading competi tor in the cowgirls' relay races, and thinks nothing of mounting a wild long-horn steer for a thrilling dash across the range. Ak the Frontier Days last year, when Strickland was riding a vicious bronc to victory and the championship, . Mrs. Strickland, perched high upon a corral fence, kicked trim-booted heels - against the. boards and remarked, "Well, there is one championship in the family, I'll have to go after the McAlpin trophy next time to keep up' with him." . ,And this year she is after it Prairie Rose a Favorite.' The noted Prairie Rose will also be on hand, with many who have seen her mount a blindfolded and roped broncho, fighting the four or' five wranglers attempting to MONTAGUE. do .'any thing but die under you at the worst. Don t stick around here and be a kill joy. Buck up and come 6n al6ng." - Ten minutes later he practically carried me out ; , to the barn and showed, me an aged shipwreck that might have been a horse 20 years ago, 'but which now could not be sure that he wasn't a hat rack. I walked up and looked at the horse. The horse looked back at me and his pale dead eyes lit up with a dull glow of animosity. He pawed the ground once or twic e with his foot, . and again re garded me, this time with a challenge in his glance. But the animal appeared so frail, so, worn by the years, that it seemed impossible for harm to be in him. So,' when the farm boy had saddled him,. I, mounted. He stood stolidly at first Then, suddenly realizing that I was not in the foreground, where he had seen me first, he cast his eyes about to discover what had become of me. With a final twist of his rheumatic i neck he brought me within the line of his vision, t ... He Wished. No other words can deaerttfe - the demoniac chuckle that ecaped; from his throat 1 D iDlFE OF WORLD hold him , yell "Turn 'im 'loose, boys," and with a shrill "Yrp Yip" ride him to a finish, golden curls streaming out above a gay colored cowgirl costume. Prairie Rose will be a favorite for the closely contested championship. Daisy Parsons, the wonderful little rider who is not yet even in her 'teens, is mentioned as a possi bility, although she is too small to take part in the broncho-busting portion of " the contest Kitty Cannutt, Joella Irwin, Bonnie Mc Carroll, Dona Card Glover and other ,noted western riders are all said to be desirous of annexing Miss Trickey's honors, and the maid from the Oregon ranch will have to surpass herself to retain her title. To Include Several Events. Judged by a committee headed by "Miss Wyoming," whose figure, carved in gold, is the principal one Then he brought his four feet to gether, and with a swift upward movement of his. back shot me up in the air. . When I returned to the ground, he had gone on, but only for a little way. I was directly in the range of the heel that reached out for me, but fortunately I crawled away just in time to avoid it. Again the farm boy held him, and again I mounted. This "time the horse instead of bucking proceeded at a slow trot toward the carriage house. I soon discovered why. The door he went through was low, too low to admit anything but the horse. I was scraped off, and left flounder ing on the floor. Again a questirtg heel sought my ribs, but I had rolled out of the way. I was mad now, and determined that no horse should conquer me. So again soliciting the aid of the farm boy I made my third mount. I had just settled in the saddle when the horse darted out of the barn at a gallop, slid down a steep bank to a pond nearby, and with an acrobatic flip tossed me into the wa ter. I decided then that time had taught me nothing about equitation. I quit ft UCowlfht, nil. br SU Midictt Inc.) LIKE FIGHTER UOELLA tmlN, WQTEQ COWGIRL, OF Y 6, RANCH. on the championship trophy, the contest will Include several events. The cowgirls', telay will be one of the most exciting events. Here each girl rider dashes in to her station, dismounts . usually while her first mount is still in full gal lop, remounts a fresh horse, some times not gaining the saddle until she has gone a hundred feet or more. The race demands a high degree of horsewomanship, as a bad break in luck might cost even the most skillful the victory. How ever, " the judges . will award the highest points toward the cham pionship to the best rider, regard-, less of place. , Thrills From Trick Riders. The trick riding furnishes thrills, and several points toward the trophy. In this the girls ride up side down, jumping on and off, at the horse's side, under it, and go through all manner . of exciting stunts while the horse is on a tear ing run In this event Miss Trick ey is said to be the . only girl who can go entirely around under her horse's neck and back up to the saddle on the other side while the horse is on the ran. - The broncho busting is the strong point of many of the girl contestants,' and to see a slight, pretty maid walk over a. a squeal ing, kicking, biting outlaw strug gling blindfolded against several strong men, mount and defy him to do his worst, makes the heart of the normal spectator skip sev eral beats. Ability in the broncho riding will count heavily toward the championship. To Rope Own Horse. , In one event of the champion ship contest each maid will have to rope her own horse, saddle him, tie a blanket roll and slicker to the saddle, mount and ride to a goal. Another is left open, and each cow girl can do in it whatever she thinks will best demonstrate her horsewomanship. Some will choose broncho-busting, some . trick-riding, but what the little champion plans has so far been kept a dark secret ' ' Some say it .will be something sensationally new. Some even think that Miss Trickey will at tempt to bulldog a. young steer, in , Itself conclusive . proof, of horse womanship for a cowboy, but ab . solutely unheard of for a girl In bulldogging, the rider guiding the horse with the knees, pursues the fleeing steer. He leans far out from the saddle over the animal's horns and at the proper moment . throws himself from Tiis horse grasping the steer's horns, and with a deft twist of the animal's head, throws him. . On her home ranch, back in Ore- : gon, Miss Trickey has done this with a yearling steer, having been . taught the trick by her brothers. , It is extremely dangerous, though, even for a husky man, and should this slight, wiry girl succeed in such a thing, her championship , would be assured without further contest Miss Trickey, in addition to de fending her championship, intends issuing a challenge to eastern girls, to compete in their own kind of ' riding. Can Ride Eastern Style, , ' "I don't want people to think that I am only a roughrider," she said. "At the New York horse ; show last, winter, when I sug gested that I'd like to try one ol the hunters ihey seemed shocked as though they thought I might try to make him buck or something. I'd like the chance to . show the eastern girls that we of the west can ride in their style -as well, and should any of them ; accept my challenge, they'll find !me ready to back it up at Chey ' enne in any maner they want from polo riding to tooling a hunter over the jumps." Starts Training. Needless to say, there is a mar velous strength in Miss Trickey's wiry figure, and already she has started training for her defense of the title in July, training as painstakingly and strenuously as that of any pugilist, for as she says she thinks the east is won derful, and she has set her heart on winning, with the return there as an important part of the prize. Will the little modern Cinderella succeed in stopping the clock from striking 12 for her, so that she may remain a celebrity, and per haps while again in the big cities meet the prince who logically be longs in .every Cinderella's story! She .think she. wilL , ,.. wry