He at one time consented, saying, “I will take my horse just to show the white men what a race-horse is.” But he was unwell when the time came, and failed to go.
The question has been raised, whether this horse actually made the time reported. I believe he did.
Competent white men have measured the course carefully, and several persons kept the time, none of whom marked over ten minutes, while others marked less than nine-fifty.
If any man is sceptical, he can find a chance to leave some money with How-lish-wam-po. The chief don’t need it, because he has thousands of dollars buried, that once belonged to white men.
But he is human, and will take all that is offered, on the terms Joe Crabb made with him.
If there are real smart sports anywhere who desire a fine band of Indian horses, they have here a chance to obtain them, without stealing. Take your race-horses to Umatilla, and you won’t wait long. The probabilities are, that you may be disgusted with the country very soon.
For the benefit, it may be, of some of my readers, I would suggest that you have only to lead out the horse you propose running, and name the amount and distance. The Indians will find the horse to match the amount and distance, anywhere from fifty yards to one hundred miles. Don’t be tender-hearted if you should win a few hundred ponies. They won’t miss them. They only loan them to you to gamble on.
Having a long-standing acquaintance with How-lish-wam-po, as a neighbor, and subsequently as his “high tyee chief,” I am authorized to say to Commodore Vanderbilt, Robert Bonner, “Uncle” Harper, Rev. W. H. H. Murray, or any other horse-fancier, clerical or unclerical, that a sufficient forfeit will be deposited by How-lish-wam-po, and his friends, in any bank in Oregon, to defray the expenses of any
party who will measure speed with his horse, on his own turf, five and a quarter miles, turning a stake midway the race; said expense to be paid on the condition that the said parties win the race; in which event they can return with ponies enough to overload the Union Pacific Railroad, and make business for the “Erie” for a long time to come; with the proviso that How-lish-wam-po’s race-horse is alive and in condition to make the run, as we believe that he is at this present writing, 1874.
Parties seeking investments of the kind will receive prompt attention by addressing How-lish-wam-po, chief of Cayuse, Umatilla Reservation, Oregon, care Joe Crabb, Esq.