"Ride 'Em, Cowboy !:

Soapy Williams, Peaceful Henry and Others Visit Manhattan

Throughout the Winter there was noted in the tangle of traffic in the New York theatre district a certain automobile radiator mounted with a sweeping pair of steer horns. Little boys, old men, actors, girls, prosperous personages stopped to gaze agape at the primitive ornament. " Must be advertisin' something" was the preliminary reaction. Closer inspection revealed that it was advertising something:

"TEX AUSTIN'S RODEO." Tex Austin, it appears, is the champion manager of cowboy championships. "He always pays 100 cents on the dollar. He plays no favorites. No one ever bought, stole or ran away with a title at one of Tex Austin's contests." So reads his literature--which has been deposited by the mailman in most of the ranch post boxes of the West.

Tex Austin's world's championship cowboy contest takes place at the Yankee Stadium, New York, Aug. 15 to 25. Here then is the greatest primitive spectacle of the struggle of man against beast that the laws of our land permit. " Bronk " riding, steer bulldogging (diving from horseback to the horns of a wild steer and throwing it by the application of human leverage to the sweeping horns); calf roping; trick and fancy riding for both sexes; steer riding; relay race; and cowgirls' bronk riding are featured. There is certainly nothing on the stage; little in the movies or the prize ring; little in football or polo that can compare with this program in display of sheer force and courage. At bronk riding and steer bull-dogging, contestants are frequently seriously injured, occasionally killed. Tex Austin imports from the West and Southwest steers and broncos selected especially for their lack of amiability. Certain famous bad horses: Mystery, Nose Dive, P. J. Nutt and Peaceful Henry came east to his last year's contest. Groups of the most famous riders of the Western rodeos came with them to ride or fall for the prize money. This year the purses aggregate $50,000; the riders will include: Mike Hastings, Pinky Gist, Yakima Canutt (half-breed; world's champion in 1921), Howard Tegland, Roy Quick, Paddy Ryan, Soapy Williams, Ike Rude, Powder River Thompson, Hugh Strickland, Mabel Strickland (world's woman champion in 1922), Bonnie McCarroll, Rene Halfley, Bonnie Gray. They pay their own way and come under the following instructions: "If you do your part, your share in the gate receipts should take care of your expenses; if you think you are good there is no excuse for your not being here; if you really are good here is the place it will pay you to prove it."