America's Hidden History | Bronco Charlie
October 3, 2019
27:35
America's Hidden History
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America's Hidden History | Bronco Charlie
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- - [Narrator] Modern historians have revised, rewritten,
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- and even deleted entire chapters of American history.
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- So what are we missing?
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- What happened to the history that didn't make the books?
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- Join historian David Barton, Tim Barton,
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- and special guests as they uncover the facts some historians
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- don't want you to know.
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- This is America's Hidden History.
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- (fast-tempo western guitar music)
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- We're in Fort Laramie, Wyoming.
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- Fort Laramie's one of the oldest historic sites in Wyoming.
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- Decades before it was a territory, the fort was here.
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- It has the oldest post office location in Wyoming.
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- But the reason that we're looking
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- at Fort Laramie is this is also
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- where the Pony Express had one of its offices.
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- And the Pony Express was a significant piece
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- of American history.
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- Yeah, and the reason we're actually focusing even
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- on the Pony Express right now is
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- because the hero for this show
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- is a guy named Bronco Charlie.
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- Now Bronco Charlie was one of the youngest guys
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- and most famous guys ever to ride for the Pony Express.
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- But to understand his story, really,
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- we need to understand the Pony Express a little better.
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- So back up in time.
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- When the mail is being delivered throughout America,
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- at that time it's being delivered stagecoach or steam ship.
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- And so there was a group of businessmen
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- who said you know, I think we can do this better.
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- I think we can do it faster.
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- And so they had a business venture saying
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- what if we got several hundred horses,
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- we have maybe a couple hundred stations,
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- and they would have horses at each station?
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- And what would happen is these stations
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- were spaced out maybe every 15 to 20 miles,
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- and so you run a horse as hard as you can
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- to the next station, you swap horses,
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- and this was their idea is if we just run horses
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- as hard as they'll go,
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- we probably can make the mail get there faster.
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- So these three business guys decide,
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- well, let's try this plan and see if it works.
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- And they actually made a fairly good team of it,
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- and they thought we can do this in half the time
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- that everybody does if we can get this all put together.
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- Well, they ended up getting over 500 horses,
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- they had roughly 190 stations,
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- and then put a station master at each station,
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- and the station master was in charge
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- of taking care of the horses at that station,
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- of maybe having some food there
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- so when the Pony Express rider comes up,
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- they have some food, a horse that's ready.
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- So they have horses, they have stations,
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- they have station masters,
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- but now they have to recruit riders.
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- So one of the fun things from history
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- is there's old recruiting posters from the Pony Express,
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- and one of my favorite ones says,
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- "Wanted, young, skinny, wiry fellows, not over 18.
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- "Must be expert riders, willing to risk death daily.
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- "Orphans preferred, $25 a week."
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- Back in 1860, that's a lot of money,
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- but it says orphans preferred.
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- Why do you prefer orphans?
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- Well, because we know this is dangerous,
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- and we don't want Mom and Dad upset
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- if you don't make it back alive.
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- And even at that, the fact they said young,
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- skinny, wiry fellas, why would you want that?
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- Well, because the horse has gotta carry the mail and you,
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- and you don't wanna run the horse out
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- over that 15, 20 miles.
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- So the average weight of a Pony Express rider
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- was between 100 and 125 pounds,
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- so it would be like today's professional jockeys.
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- These are small guys.
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- We know they were tough guys because
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- of what they did along the way
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- and fighting outlaws and fighting Indians
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- and fighting mountain lions and bears.
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- They were tough, tough, tough guys, but they are teenagers
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- in the 100 to 125-pound range; it's amazing.
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- Well, and so not only were they gonna have to be tough
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- in the sense of fighting off things,
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- and most Pony Express guys, they would come
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- with their own guns, but these business guys says,
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- there's a few things we wanna make sure they have just
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- for the journey, so there were two things
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- that every Pony Express rider had
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- in addition to all of their own gear.
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- They were all given a Bible,
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- which actually was printed by these three business guys,
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- which even says something of the culture of that time,
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- that if you have some free time,
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- what's the best thing to read?
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- Well, we think it's the Bible.
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- So every Pony Express rider got their own Bible.
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- But they also were given a horn or a trumpet,
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- and the reason was as you are riding the horse
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- as hard as you can to the next station,
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- when you get to where maybe you see the station
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- off in the distance, start blowing that horn.
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- The station master hears the horn,
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- comes out and gets another horse ready and waiting for you.
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- That way, when you get there, you can swap out really fast,
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- mount on this new horse, and you are gone again.
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- So that's something that the Bible, the trumpet, and a gun
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- were the constant companions of these Pony Express riders.
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- But in addition to that, they wanted you
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- to have high character as well.
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- So you took an oath as a Pony Express rider
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- that you will not swear, you will not use profanity,
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- you will not drink, you will not get in fights
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- with other Pony Express employees.
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- They wanted high character in the people they hired.
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- Now the Pony Express didn't last all that long,
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- only roughly for a year and a half because,
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- at this point, you have the expansion of the telegraph.
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- In DC, the federal government says we got a great idea.
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- We've got telegraphs that goes partway across the country.
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- Why don't we connect the telegraph all the way
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- to the West Coast, and that way we can get news
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- and message all the way east to west?
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- 10 days after the Pony Express starts,
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- they start building the transcontinental telegraph.
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- When they finally got it finished in San Francisco,
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- on the day that that first message went
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- from East Coast to West Coast,
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- that's the last run of the Pony Express.
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- So the Pony Express lasted about a year and a half,
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- but what they did in that period of time
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- was absolutely remarkable.
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- And the reason this matters for our story
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- is because the hero of our story is Bronco Charlie.
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- But his adventure starts when he's just a kid.
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- (dramatic, intense instrumental music)
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- (fast-tempo western guitar music)
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- We're in Cody, Wyoming.
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- Behind us is a statue of a Pony Express rider.
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- Now the Pony Express trail actually came not too far
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- from this area of Wyoming, but this is
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- where our story takes a little bit of a twist
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- because of the individual who is a part
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- of the Pony Express, Bronco Charlie.
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- Now he's the hero of this show,
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- but Bronco Charlie's story really does start much younger
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- when his family comes to California.
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- They're living out in the frontier, that kind of lifestyle.
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- There were vaqueros who would ride by,
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- and he said the vaqueros were the best-looking thing around.
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- Well, when he was eight years old, he talked two vaqueros
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- into taking him to their ranch.
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- The ranch owner writes his parents a letter
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- and says hey, I've got your son.
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- We're gonna take care of him.
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- It's no big deal for us, we got him.
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- Well, all he wanted to do-- Now, wait a minute.
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- How parents today are gonna say,
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- oh, he's eight years old, you got him, that's fine.
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- I don't even know you, don't know who you are.
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- Well, so eight years old, he decides I just
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- wanna live here and work with the horses.
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- And so the vaqueros, he says they teach him
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- how to shoot, they teach him how to use a lariat,
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- they teach him how to really ride a horse,
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- but all he wants to do is break the wild horses.
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- And he explained they get this horse,
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- they put a blindfold on him, they get a saddle on him,
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- they get Bronco Charlie up on it.
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- Well, when they think he's got the hang of it,
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- they turn him loose, and the horse just takes off.
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- Well, as the horse is running,
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- it steps in a gopher hole, the horse falls, he flies off.
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- He says it hurts so bad, but I knew I'm not supposed
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- to let go of the reins, so he's on the ground,
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- holding the reins. He says the horse was bigger than me.
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- No eight year old could handle it.
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- It's pulling away, he's pulling back.
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- Well, the vaqueros come up, and they're able
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- to get the horse, and they help him get back up on it.
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- Only a couple days later, the vaqueros were going out
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- to round up more of these wild horses,
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- and he says, I wanted to show them
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- that I really could handle this.
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- I really was tough.
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- He says, so I took my lariat, and I walked into the pin
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- where all these horses were.
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- He says, and I was gonna get this horse named Rabbit,
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- and I was gonna ride it by myself.
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- He says, I caught five of the wrong horses
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- (David laughs) before I finally
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- caught the right horse.
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- When the vaqueros came back and they saw
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- what he had done, they were so impressed,
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- well, they gave him the nickname Bronco Carlos
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- or Bronco Charlie, which he says was a name he carried
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- with him the rest of his life.
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- Well, at the age of 11, he and his dad are in town,
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- and as they're in town, there was a horse
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- that had come through town without a rider on it,
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- and the horse-- And it was
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- a Pony Express horse because of the saddle.
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- And the assumption is that rider probably
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- is dead somewhere along the trail.
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- And so they run down to the station.
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- The station master's there and says,
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- I don't know what we're gonna do.
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- We were gonna take this rider
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- and put him on a different horse.
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- And Charlie says, my dad looked at me,
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- and we both just knew.
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- He says, my dad picked me up, put me on the horse,
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- and says go, son.
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- He says, and I just took off at a gallop
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- on my way to Placerville, and it's 40-something miles away.
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- He had to ride through the night.
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- He said when he was riding, he heard a mountain lion scream.
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- He said it was the most terrifying sound he'd heard
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- in his whole life.
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- It was like a woman was being murdered.
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- Well, he finally arrives at the post
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- at Placerville the next morning.
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- When he gets there, the station master looked
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- and had all kinds of questions.
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- He said, you're not the normal rider.
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- And Charlie said, I didn't know what to tell him
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- because nobody had even told me what to do.
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- My dad just put me on the horse and said go.
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- So I told him what happened, and they said okay,
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- you can stay here.
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- Well, this is the beginning of his journey
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- with the Pony Express.
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- But then they expanded his route,
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- and so he went from riding roughly 40 miles
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- to more than 170 miles was part of his route,
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- and he even acknowledged that during one of these rides,
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- he heard something whisking by his head.
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- He turned around, and he saw Indians up on a hill,
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- and they were shooting arrows down at him.
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- Well, as he's running, finally, arrows do hit him,
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- and he said it was at this point I thought what can I do,
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- and he remembered he had a gun.
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- So he drew his six gun, and he began firing back.
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- Well, he was able to maneuver and escape.
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- When he made it to the station, he was covered in blood.
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- They didn't make him keep going that night,
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- but the next morning, he was up to ride again.
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- Well, his adventure continues throughout the Pony Express.
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- Each time he's riding, he's got part
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- of the Sierra Nevadas to cross,
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- and that's a rugged mountain range.
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- And so he's going up to 170 miles by himself,
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- and we are still talking an 11 year old here.
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- But nonetheless, what he did over that period of time
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- is absolutely a remarkable story.
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- And what he accomplished
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- in those several months actually led to his fame
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- because people heard about this young boy,
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- and they began to write stories about him.
- 00:09:50.130 --> 00:09:52.070
- Now many of them were fictitious stories,
- 00:09:52.070 --> 00:09:54.130
- but he was a great kid to write about.
- 00:09:54.130 --> 00:09:56.140
- His fame really grew.
- 00:09:56.140 --> 00:09:57.290
- In fact, it grew so big that, in just a few years later,
- 00:09:57.290 --> 00:10:02.020
- because of his fame as the Pony Express,
- 00:10:02.020 --> 00:10:03.270
- he was going to be invited to join a pretty massive show
- 00:10:03.270 --> 00:10:06.270
- by Buffalo Bill.
- 00:10:06.270 --> 00:10:08.050
- (dramatic, intense instrumental music)
- 00:10:08.050 --> 00:10:12.190
- (fast-tempo western guitar music)
- 00:10:17.290 --> 00:10:22.180
- Behind us is the statue of Buffalo Bill.
- 00:10:22.180 --> 00:10:24.100
- Now Buffalo Bill was a very famous name in American history.
- 00:10:24.100 --> 00:10:27.000
- In fact, many movies have depicted him
- 00:10:27.000 --> 00:10:29.060
- as a hero or an individual in those stories.
- 00:10:29.060 --> 00:10:31.190
- The thing he's probably the most famous for
- 00:10:31.190 --> 00:10:34.160
- is a show he did called The Wild West.
- 00:10:34.160 --> 00:10:36.290
- As he's trying to find the right people
- 00:10:36.290 --> 00:10:39.060
- to be part of the show, one of the names that comes up
- 00:10:39.060 --> 00:10:42.090
- is someone who was very, very famous
- 00:10:42.090 --> 00:10:44.130
- as a young boy in the West, a Pony Express rider.
- 00:10:44.130 --> 00:10:47.070
- And Buffalo Bill says, well, let's show them
- 00:10:47.070 --> 00:10:48.240
- what the Pony Express was all about.
- 00:10:48.240 --> 00:10:50.170
- And so he hires a man named Bronco Charlie.
- 00:10:50.170 --> 00:10:53.190
- Now Bronco Charlie at this point is not a boy anymore.
- 00:10:53.190 --> 00:10:56.190
- He's a little bit of an older guy,
- 00:10:56.190 --> 00:10:58.070
- older guy only in terms of the Wild West.
- 00:10:58.070 --> 00:11:00.150
- He's in his 30s, roughly, now.
- 00:11:00.150 --> 00:11:01.260
- So he's a grownup in the West.
- 00:11:01.260 --> 00:11:03.060
- But in the West, that's pretty old.
- 00:11:03.060 --> 00:11:05.090
- 30 'cause he started busting broncs when he was eight,
- 00:11:05.090 --> 00:11:07.190
- and he's riding Pony Express when he's 11.
- 00:11:07.190 --> 00:11:09.170
- So man, when you're 30, that's really old in the West.
- 00:11:09.170 --> 00:11:11.280
- Well, so Bronco Charlie is part of the show.
- 00:11:11.280 --> 00:11:14.000
- And as being a young man who learned
- 00:11:14.000 --> 00:11:16.030
- to break this broncs and become a very good rider,
- 00:11:16.030 --> 00:11:19.010
- he's showing what does it look like
- 00:11:19.010 --> 00:11:21.030
- if you're a cowboy in the West,
- 00:11:21.030 --> 00:11:22.190
- you're working with horses, how do you actually do that?
- 00:11:22.190 --> 00:11:24.190
- Well, he did this in the show in the East for a while.
- 00:11:24.190 --> 00:11:27.220
- And they also even had, as part of the show,
- 00:11:27.220 --> 00:11:30.100
- well, how did the Pony Express work?
- 00:11:30.100 --> 00:11:32.010
- So they would have a ride come galloping into the arena,
- 00:11:32.010 --> 00:11:34.280
- he would jump off his horse, he would grab the mail
- 00:11:34.280 --> 00:11:37.200
- off the saddle, he would jump on another horse,
- 00:11:37.200 --> 00:11:39.180
- throw the mail up, and he'd take off,
- 00:11:39.180 --> 00:11:41.020
- and they'd show the exchange, how that exchange happened
- 00:11:41.020 --> 00:11:43.050
- from station to station to station.
- 00:11:43.050 --> 00:11:45.030
- They're trying to show people how the Old West really was.
- 00:11:45.030 --> 00:11:47.240
- And so Bronco Charlie was with the show for several years,
- 00:11:47.240 --> 00:11:50.000
- and the show did really, really well.
- 00:11:50.000 --> 00:11:51.290
- And it did so well, they said, hey,
- 00:11:51.290 --> 00:11:53.180
- if people in the East like this,
- 00:11:53.180 --> 00:11:54.270
- why don't we go further east?
- 00:11:54.270 --> 00:11:56.040
- Let's go to Europe and show those folks
- 00:11:56.040 --> 00:11:58.100
- what the Old West was like because, even in Europe,
- 00:11:58.100 --> 00:12:00.260
- the stories about the Wild West and the Old West
- 00:12:00.260 --> 00:12:02.190
- and what we don't hear, it was legendary in Europe.
- 00:12:02.190 --> 00:12:05.170
- And so they end up in Europe,
- 00:12:05.170 --> 00:12:07.000
- and it's a real hit in Europe as well.
- 00:12:07.000 --> 00:12:08.290
- Well, and in Europe, they feel like they're very advanced,
- 00:12:08.290 --> 00:12:11.130
- they're sophisticated, that the Wild West,
- 00:12:11.130 --> 00:12:13.210
- those guys are backwards.
- 00:12:13.210 --> 00:12:15.050
- And so one of the fun things that happened while they
- 00:12:15.050 --> 00:12:17.040
- were over in Europe was there was a bicycle race,
- 00:12:17.040 --> 00:12:20.270
- but it wasn't just a normal bicycle race.
- 00:12:20.270 --> 00:12:23.000
- - [David] So they actually set up a race
- 00:12:23.000 --> 00:12:24.280
- between bicycles and between Bronco Charlie.
- 00:12:24.280 --> 00:12:27.220
- The race is for six days.
- 00:12:27.220 --> 00:12:29.140
- For six days, you're watching a bike
- 00:12:29.140 --> 00:12:32.130
- and a horse go in circles!
- 00:12:32.130 --> 00:12:34.130
- Now, I gotta say, there's not a horse
- 00:12:34.130 --> 00:12:35.280
- that's gonna last six days on a gallop against a bicycle.
- 00:12:35.280 --> 00:12:38.260
- So Bronco Charlie had to change horses 53 times
- 00:12:38.260 --> 00:12:42.030
- during that race.
- 00:12:42.030 --> 00:12:43.150
- He used 53 different horses, and he won the race
- 00:12:43.150 --> 00:12:46.060
- with a two-mile advantage over the other guys.
- 00:12:46.060 --> 00:12:48.210
- They were still two miles behind in laps
- 00:12:48.210 --> 00:12:50.220
- when he crossed the finish line.
- 00:12:50.220 --> 00:12:52.070
- So actually, the old technology really
- 00:12:52.070 --> 00:12:54.110
- is pretty good against the new stuff.
- 00:12:54.110 --> 00:12:55.240
- (dramatic, intense instrumental music)
- 00:12:55.240 --> 00:13:00.140
- (fast-tempo western guitar music)
- 00:13:05.250 --> 00:13:09.290
- After the Wild West show, Bronco Charlie retires
- 00:13:14.260 --> 00:13:17.030
- from what he considered public life
- 00:13:17.030 --> 00:13:18.190
- where'd he'd been in the public eye for so many years.
- 00:13:18.190 --> 00:13:20.250
- And so he actually comes out,
- 00:13:20.250 --> 00:13:22.060
- and he lives on a farm, on a ranch.
- 00:13:22.060 --> 00:13:24.090
- He retires at this point; he's roughly 44 years old.
- 00:13:24.090 --> 00:13:27.090
- He has a wife, they have three kids,
- 00:13:27.090 --> 00:13:29.150
- and he's just living a normal life as a cowboy.
- 00:13:29.150 --> 00:13:32.180
- Well, he goes to town on occasion,
- 00:13:32.180 --> 00:13:34.030
- and actually he said one day he was going to town,
- 00:13:34.030 --> 00:13:36.000
- and the Salvation Army Hall was there.
- 00:13:36.000 --> 00:13:38.060
- And the Salvation Army was an organization largely trying
- 00:13:38.060 --> 00:13:41.070
- to reach the souls of the lost, if you will.
- 00:13:41.070 --> 00:13:44.060
- And he decided to go and sit in one of their halls,
- 00:13:44.060 --> 00:13:46.060
- and he sat in the back, and people saw him there,
- 00:13:46.060 --> 00:13:49.010
- and they actually accused him of being a sinner.
- 00:13:49.010 --> 00:13:51.180
- And that didn't sit well with him, and he was very offended.
- 00:13:51.180 --> 00:13:54.010
- And he got up, and he left.
- 00:13:54.010 --> 00:13:55.130
- Well, he actually wrote in a letter,
- 00:13:55.130 --> 00:13:57.040
- and he said that his son was sleeping.
- 00:13:57.040 --> 00:13:59.050
- His son wakes up screaming, and he and his wife get up,
- 00:13:59.050 --> 00:14:01.250
- and they run to see what's wrong with his son.
- 00:14:01.250 --> 00:14:04.020
- And he says, I had a dream, Daddy,
- 00:14:04.020 --> 00:14:06.040
- that the devil had you, and he burned you up.
- 00:14:06.040 --> 00:14:08.250
- And he said that that really made him think.
- 00:14:08.250 --> 00:14:11.090
- Very shortly after that, his son got sick,
- 00:14:11.090 --> 00:14:15.100
- and it was described from Bronco Charlie
- 00:14:15.100 --> 00:14:18.010
- as black diphtheria.
- 00:14:18.010 --> 00:14:19.170
- And actually, the son wasn't the only one that got sick.
- 00:14:19.170 --> 00:14:21.260
- All three of his kids got sick, and then his wife got sick.
- 00:14:21.260 --> 00:14:24.030
- In fact, when they called for the doctor,
- 00:14:24.030 --> 00:14:25.230
- the doctor recognizes this, it's like a plague,
- 00:14:25.230 --> 00:14:28.120
- and so the doctor says you need to stay in your house.
- 00:14:28.120 --> 00:14:30.180
- They put a quarantine on the house.
- 00:14:30.180 --> 00:14:31.280
- Nobody in the family could leave.
- 00:14:31.280 --> 00:14:33.090
- It wasn't long after that all three
- 00:14:33.090 --> 00:14:35.090
- of Bronco Charlie's kids died.
- 00:14:35.090 --> 00:14:37.070
- They all succumbed to black diphtheria.
- 00:14:37.070 --> 00:14:39.100
- He was torn up, he was devastated.
- 00:14:39.100 --> 00:14:41.110
- His wife was still sick.
- 00:14:41.110 --> 00:14:42.210
- He thought he was losing his wife, too.
- 00:14:42.210 --> 00:14:44.080
- He says he just cursed God, was so frustrated,
- 00:14:44.080 --> 00:14:47.090
- couldn't understand why this was happening.
- 00:14:47.090 --> 00:14:49.020
- Well, his wife gets better,
- 00:14:49.020 --> 00:14:50.250
- the quarantine is finally lifted on his home,
- 00:14:50.250 --> 00:14:53.170
- and so he decides he's gonna return
- 00:14:53.170 --> 00:14:55.210
- to town and actually go to the bar.
- 00:14:55.210 --> 00:14:57.060
- He's gonna try to drown out his sorrows with alcohol.
- 00:14:57.060 --> 00:14:59.240
- And as he goes to the bar, he hears the Salvation Army Band
- 00:14:59.240 --> 00:15:03.000
- playing, and he decides to stop and listen.
- 00:15:03.000 --> 00:15:05.160
- He heard the songs they were playing,
- 00:15:05.160 --> 00:15:07.130
- he heard people speaking, and he was so convicted,
- 00:15:07.130 --> 00:15:10.010
- he decided, he said, I had to give my life to God.
- 00:15:10.010 --> 00:15:12.070
- He says, so then and there, I gave my life to God,
- 00:15:12.070 --> 00:15:14.280
- which is a really neat redemption testimony for him.
- 00:15:14.280 --> 00:15:18.230
- Actually, he says that he was so passionate
- 00:15:18.230 --> 00:15:21.140
- that he began traveling and telling people the gospel.
- 00:15:21.140 --> 00:15:24.120
- Well, he was in a town, and he was sharing the gospel,
- 00:15:24.120 --> 00:15:26.250
- and he said really, I didn't know what to say.
- 00:15:26.250 --> 00:15:28.280
- I didn't know much, but I knew that Jesus had saved me,
- 00:15:28.280 --> 00:15:31.290
- and I knew that all that called
- 00:15:31.290 --> 00:15:33.220
- upon the name of the Lord could be saved.
- 00:15:33.220 --> 00:15:35.260
- He said, but a pastor came to me and said Charlie,
- 00:15:35.260 --> 00:15:38.130
- you might need to reconsider this whole preaching thing.
- 00:15:38.130 --> 00:15:41.100
- He says, your life has been so rough,
- 00:15:41.100 --> 00:15:43.190
- you might not be the best example to tell people the gospel
- 00:15:43.190 --> 00:15:46.200
- because of how much you've been a bad guy,
- 00:15:46.200 --> 00:15:49.160
- essentially is what the pastor says.
- 00:15:49.160 --> 00:15:51.030
- Charlies says the zeal for the Lord,
- 00:15:51.030 --> 00:15:53.040
- at that point, really, really died in me.
- 00:15:53.040 --> 00:15:55.110
- I've never felt as passionate as I did then,
- 00:15:55.110 --> 00:15:57.090
- which is really a sad thing for a pastor
- 00:15:57.090 --> 00:15:59.010
- to say. Yeah, what a sad thing.
- 00:15:59.010 --> 00:16:00.140
- Right?
- 00:16:00.140 --> 00:16:01.190
- That's the whole gospel message, right,
- 00:16:01.190 --> 00:16:03.120
- is that God can reach you and redeem you.
- 00:16:03.120 --> 00:16:05.160
- Well, nonetheless, Charlie does come to the Lord,
- 00:16:05.160 --> 00:16:08.110
- and so he and his wife were now living back on the farm.
- 00:16:08.110 --> 00:16:10.290
- When he's 67 years old, World War I breaks out.
- 00:16:10.290 --> 00:16:13.220
- Now, Charlie's been an adventure guy his whole life.
- 00:16:13.220 --> 00:16:17.020
- He decides he's gonna go on this adventure of World War I.
- 00:16:17.020 --> 00:16:20.060
- He goes and signs up at the US recruiting office,
- 00:16:20.060 --> 00:16:22.250
- except, like a recruiting office
- 00:16:22.250 --> 00:16:24.170
- would tell a 67-year-old today,
- 00:16:24.170 --> 00:16:26.110
- they said sir, you're a little too old.
- 00:16:26.110 --> 00:16:29.070
- Sorry, we're not gonna be able to let you enlist.
- 00:16:29.070 --> 00:16:32.010
- Well, he was so disappointed and frustrated,
- 00:16:32.010 --> 00:16:34.010
- one of his friends found out Canada actually took people
- 00:16:34.010 --> 00:16:36.270
- up to the age of 44, and Charlie thought I
- 00:16:36.270 --> 00:16:39.090
- can tell them I'm 44.
- 00:16:39.090 --> 00:16:40.210
- He got on his horse, and he rode to Canada.
- 00:16:40.210 --> 00:16:43.020
- He tells them he's 44 and he wants to fight.
- 00:16:43.020 --> 00:16:45.180
- The Canadian military signed him up.
- 00:16:45.180 --> 00:16:47.270
- He fought for two years in World War I
- 00:16:47.270 --> 00:16:50.000
- in the Canadian military.
- 00:16:50.000 --> 00:16:51.140
- At one point, he says he finally told his commanding officer
- 00:16:51.140 --> 00:16:53.210
- he actually was a bit older than 44.
- 00:16:53.210 --> 00:16:55.200
- At that point, he's 69, he finally retires
- 00:16:55.200 --> 00:16:58.110
- from World War I. And by the way,
- 00:16:58.110 --> 00:16:59.170
- some of the guys who fought with him said he
- 00:16:59.170 --> 00:17:01.080
- was so good at telling stories 'cause he
- 00:17:01.080 --> 00:17:03.090
- would go back and tell them about the Wild West
- 00:17:03.090 --> 00:17:05.100
- and tell them about the things he'd done.
- 00:17:05.100 --> 00:17:06.200
- And they said he so entertained us,
- 00:17:06.200 --> 00:17:09.000
- there they are on the front and fighting,
- 00:17:09.000 --> 00:17:10.180
- he even showed us tricks he could do with a horse
- 00:17:10.180 --> 00:17:12.160
- 'cause they're still using horses in World War I.
- 00:17:12.160 --> 00:17:14.170
- And he did, he entertained the troops
- 00:17:14.170 --> 00:17:15.290
- by horse tricks, which you can imagine, right?
- 00:17:15.290 --> 00:17:18.160
- This is a cowboy.
- 00:17:18.160 --> 00:17:19.230
- Eight years old, he's already doing things
- 00:17:19.230 --> 00:17:21.030
- on a horse, he's learning tricks,
- 00:17:21.030 --> 00:17:22.220
- and the stories he has to know
- 00:17:22.220 --> 00:17:25.090
- from the things he did with Buffalo Bill
- 00:17:25.090 --> 00:17:26.240
- to the Pony Express, really some amazing things in his life.
- 00:17:26.240 --> 00:17:30.020
- Well, when 69 finally hits, he retires,
- 00:17:30.020 --> 00:17:32.210
- comes back home, and he does settle back down
- 00:17:32.210 --> 00:17:35.060
- on his ranch, which one of the things,
- 00:17:35.060 --> 00:17:36.230
- it's pretty cool he says, and we don't know exactly
- 00:17:36.230 --> 00:17:39.030
- what year is this happened.
- 00:17:39.030 --> 00:17:40.180
- But he says that God gave him and his wife two more kids,
- 00:17:40.180 --> 00:17:43.140
- and God restored that to him,
- 00:17:43.140 --> 00:17:45.180
- which is a really neat testimony.
- 00:17:45.180 --> 00:17:47.040
- Now at this point, he's 69, but his story's not done.
- 00:17:47.040 --> 00:17:50.130
- (mid-tempo, jazzy big band music)
- 00:17:50.130 --> 00:17:54.180
- Hi, I'm down at the WallBuilders collection,
- 00:18:03.240 --> 00:18:05.270
- going through our icons,
- 00:18:05.270 --> 00:18:07.050
- doing some digging on Bronco Charlie.
- 00:18:07.050 --> 00:18:09.030
- And actually, we have a couple of original artifacts
- 00:18:09.030 --> 00:18:11.180
- from the Pony Express and Bronco Charlie himself.
- 00:18:11.180 --> 00:18:14.110
- So what I have here, this is an original Bible
- 00:18:14.110 --> 00:18:17.050
- from the Pony Express.
- 00:18:17.050 --> 00:18:18.050
- It was given by the owners,
- 00:18:18.050 --> 00:18:20.000
- it's got their names on the front of it,
- 00:18:20.000 --> 00:18:21.140
- to every single one of the riders.
- 00:18:21.140 --> 00:18:23.150
- And what's awesome about this is they made it small
- 00:18:23.150 --> 00:18:25.240
- and compact so that the riders
- 00:18:25.240 --> 00:18:27.100
- could carry it with them so that they could refer to it
- 00:18:27.100 --> 00:18:29.140
- while they're doing this dangerous job.
- 00:18:29.140 --> 00:18:31.210
- It's a really cool, leather-bound, neat artifact.
- 00:18:31.210 --> 00:18:35.120
- And additionally, over here,
- 00:18:35.120 --> 00:18:37.270
- we've got the only surviving letter from Bronco Charlie.
- 00:18:37.270 --> 00:18:42.120
- So this is actually from his later years.
- 00:18:42.120 --> 00:18:44.090
- He's writing to a close friend of his
- 00:18:44.090 --> 00:18:46.030
- about his conversion to Christianity.
- 00:18:46.030 --> 00:18:48.200
- So it walks through how he wasn't saved
- 00:18:48.200 --> 00:18:51.180
- and then he had this transformative experience,
- 00:18:51.180 --> 00:18:53.170
- and he actually became something
- 00:18:53.170 --> 00:18:55.020
- of a minister of the gospel, something almost
- 00:18:55.020 --> 00:18:57.090
- like a cowboy pastor, even.
- 00:18:57.090 --> 00:18:59.010
- And he writes to his friend, and he says,
- 00:18:59.010 --> 00:19:01.060
- "I'm sorry to say a preacher who, mind you,
- 00:19:01.060 --> 00:19:03.200
- "told me that I was unlearned,
- 00:19:03.200 --> 00:19:05.210
- "and I went home and never preached again."
- 00:19:05.210 --> 00:19:09.030
- Bronco Charlie was basically the biggest celebrity
- 00:19:09.030 --> 00:19:11.230
- of the time back then, and to have a pastor come up
- 00:19:11.230 --> 00:19:14.270
- and tell him you probably shouldn't be preaching
- 00:19:14.270 --> 00:19:17.010
- because you know you didn't go to school
- 00:19:17.010 --> 00:19:18.130
- for it is crazy to think about.
- 00:19:18.130 --> 00:19:20.110
- But it's really neat and really captures a lot of his story.
- 00:19:20.110 --> 00:19:23.230
- And over here, we've got some awesome
- 00:19:23.230 --> 00:19:26.120
- and really colorful, really cool-looking comic books
- 00:19:26.120 --> 00:19:29.240
- and kids' books about the Pony Express,
- 00:19:29.240 --> 00:19:32.170
- and it shows how big of an impact this had
- 00:19:32.170 --> 00:19:34.280
- on the American imagination.
- 00:19:34.280 --> 00:19:36.140
- Every boy growing up wanted to be a Pony Express rider,
- 00:19:36.140 --> 00:19:38.250
- so they started doing this, and it shows the Pony Express
- 00:19:38.250 --> 00:19:41.190
- was such a big, impactful moment in American history,
- 00:19:41.190 --> 00:19:44.140
- and Bronco Charlie one of the most famous riders.
- 00:19:44.140 --> 00:19:46.270
- (dramatic, intense instrumental music)
- 00:19:46.270 --> 00:19:51.140
- (fast-tempo western guitar music)
- 00:19:56.250 --> 00:20:00.290
- We're standing in front of a Pony Express marker,
- 00:20:06.060 --> 00:20:07.270
- and this is actually where a station stop used
- 00:20:07.270 --> 00:20:10.030
- to be along the Pony Express route,
- 00:20:10.030 --> 00:20:11.140
- right along the Oregon Trail.
- 00:20:11.140 --> 00:20:12.280
- And the reason we're back by a Pony Express stop
- 00:20:12.280 --> 00:20:14.260
- is because Bronco Charlie, after his amazing adventures
- 00:20:14.260 --> 00:20:17.130
- throughout his life, when he's 80 years old,
- 00:20:17.130 --> 00:20:19.240
- actually, in his autobiography,
- 00:20:19.240 --> 00:20:21.090
- he said he was 81 years old, he decided he wanted
- 00:20:21.090 --> 00:20:23.160
- to relive the glory days of the Pony Express.
- 00:20:23.160 --> 00:20:25.130
- The mayor of New York found out he wants
- 00:20:25.130 --> 00:20:26.290
- to go on this ride, and the mayor says, well,
- 00:20:26.290 --> 00:20:28.260
- let me give you an official mail dispatch.
- 00:20:28.260 --> 00:20:30.230
- And it was really just a letter,
- 00:20:30.230 --> 00:20:32.080
- but it was a letter to the mayor of San Francisco.
- 00:20:32.080 --> 00:20:34.260
- And so Bronco Charlie gets on his horse,
- 00:20:34.260 --> 00:20:36.270
- he goes to New York City, he gets a letter from the mayor,
- 00:20:36.270 --> 00:20:39.230
- and then he rides his horse from New York City all the way
- 00:20:39.230 --> 00:20:42.090
- to San Francisco, California.
- 00:20:42.090 --> 00:20:44.000
- This is an 81-year-old man, mind you.
- 00:20:44.000 --> 00:20:45.270
- Now when the Pony Express was in action,
- 00:20:45.270 --> 00:20:47.280
- they would go 10 or 15 miles,
- 00:20:47.280 --> 00:20:49.180
- and they would swap out a horse.
- 00:20:49.180 --> 00:20:51.030
- That's when the next station was.
- 00:20:51.030 --> 00:20:52.150
- Well, this is not back in the 1860s anymore.
- 00:20:52.150 --> 00:20:56.090
- This is now roughly 1930s, and so,
- 00:20:56.090 --> 00:20:59.110
- to do this in the 1930s, he's not able
- 00:20:59.110 --> 00:21:01.150
- to swap out his horse along the way.
- 00:21:01.150 --> 00:21:03.090
- He's on one horse riding from New York all the way
- 00:21:03.090 --> 00:21:06.150
- to California.
- 00:21:06.150 --> 00:21:07.230
- It took him seven months to make this journey.
- 00:21:07.230 --> 00:21:10.080
- But as he was coming to towns, people knew who he was.
- 00:21:10.080 --> 00:21:12.200
- He was a famous guy, so, as he would come to town,
- 00:21:12.200 --> 00:21:15.110
- the people would line the streets of the towns.
- 00:21:15.110 --> 00:21:17.050
- They would cheer for him as he would come by.
- 00:21:17.050 --> 00:21:19.090
- One reporter actually said by the time he made it
- 00:21:19.090 --> 00:21:21.080
- to California, he had killed 27 rattlesnakes
- 00:21:21.080 --> 00:21:24.060
- because, well, what do cowboys do?
- 00:21:24.060 --> 00:21:25.250
- You carry your gun, you see a rattlesnake,
- 00:21:25.250 --> 00:21:27.240
- and you just shoot it.
- 00:21:27.240 --> 00:21:29.100
- He's total cowboy.
- 00:21:29.100 --> 00:21:30.240
- Well, he makes this last ride seven months of a ride.
- 00:21:30.240 --> 00:21:34.080
- He delivers this letter in San Francisco
- 00:21:34.080 --> 00:21:36.170
- to great fanfare, people were celebrating,
- 00:21:36.170 --> 00:21:39.030
- and now he's had this great adventure,
- 00:21:39.030 --> 00:21:41.000
- so he can finally go back and settle down
- 00:21:41.000 --> 00:21:43.050
- and retire once again except World War II breaks out.
- 00:21:43.050 --> 00:21:47.090
- And just like in World War I where he says
- 00:21:47.090 --> 00:21:49.030
- I wanna be involved, I wanna fight,
- 00:21:49.030 --> 00:21:51.000
- I want a piece of the action,
- 00:21:51.000 --> 00:21:52.090
- now the recruiting office said sir,
- 00:21:52.090 --> 00:21:54.240
- you're a little older than what we're looking for.
- 00:21:54.240 --> 00:21:57.190
- But it was reported that he actually
- 00:21:57.190 --> 00:22:00.080
- was recognized as being this famous guy,
- 00:22:00.080 --> 00:22:02.150
- and he was asked to come be part of the fundraising efforts,
- 00:22:02.150 --> 00:22:06.050
- some of these big rallies they would do to raise funds.
- 00:22:06.050 --> 00:22:08.150
- It was reported not only did he show up,
- 00:22:08.150 --> 00:22:10.080
- but he rode his horse to the event
- 00:22:10.080 --> 00:22:12.080
- because what do cowboys do?
- 00:22:12.080 --> 00:22:13.130
- They ride horses; that's just what you do.
- 00:22:13.130 --> 00:22:15.240
- Well, that's when he's 92 years old.
- 00:22:15.240 --> 00:22:17.230
- He actually was interviewed by a reporter
- 00:22:17.230 --> 00:22:19.150
- when he was 100 years old.
- 00:22:19.150 --> 00:22:20.210
- It was just days before his 101st birthday.
- 00:22:20.210 --> 00:22:23.060
- And when he was interviewed,
- 00:22:23.060 --> 00:22:24.210
- the reporter asked him a very interesting question.
- 00:22:24.210 --> 00:22:26.060
- They said, Bronco Charlie, in all the things you've done,
- 00:22:26.060 --> 00:22:29.020
- 100 years of life, do you have any regret?
- 00:22:29.020 --> 00:22:32.030
- And that's an interesting question
- 00:22:32.030 --> 00:22:33.190
- to ask a cowboy with all the things he's done,
- 00:22:33.190 --> 00:22:36.130
- on the Pony Express, being a part of Buffalo Bill,
- 00:22:36.130 --> 00:22:40.000
- his kids that died, and then he's part of World War I,
- 00:22:40.000 --> 00:22:43.080
- and then he has this amazing ride again as an 81 year old,
- 00:22:43.080 --> 00:22:46.020
- and then World War II, he's helping raise money.
- 00:22:46.020 --> 00:22:48.020
- He's done a lot of stuff in his life.
- 00:22:48.020 --> 00:22:50.030
- The reporter asked do you have any regrets.
- 00:22:50.030 --> 00:22:51.250
- He answers and says the only regret I have right now
- 00:22:51.250 --> 00:22:54.170
- is that I can't be with my brothers
- 00:22:54.170 --> 00:22:55.240
- in Korea as they're fighting this war.
- 00:22:55.240 --> 00:22:57.200
- Well, it was the middle of the Korean War,
- 00:22:57.200 --> 00:22:59.200
- and this 100 year old's only regret
- 00:22:59.200 --> 00:23:01.230
- is that he can't go fight war,
- 00:23:01.230 --> 00:23:03.160
- which is an amazing thing to tell about him.
- 00:23:03.160 --> 00:23:05.050
- Actually, he told the reporter, he said I don't know
- 00:23:05.050 --> 00:23:06.290
- why they won't take me.
- 00:23:06.290 --> 00:23:08.140
- I can still ride a horse now as good as I ever could.
- 00:23:08.140 --> 00:23:10.190
- In fact, I can take a bullwhip at 28 feet.
- 00:23:10.190 --> 00:23:13.010
- I can crack a cigarette in half.
- 00:23:13.010 --> 00:23:14.230
- I could still be useful.
- 00:23:14.230 --> 00:23:16.200
- Well, this is one of the last reports about Bronco Charlie.
- 00:23:16.200 --> 00:23:19.200
- He died when he was 105 years old.
- 00:23:20.250 --> 00:23:23.090
- Now 105 is amazing even for us today.
- 00:23:23.090 --> 00:23:26.190
- But when he died, he was the last Pony Express rider
- 00:23:26.190 --> 00:23:29.140
- that was still alive, so there was some celebration
- 00:23:29.140 --> 00:23:32.080
- of his life at that moment.
- 00:23:32.080 --> 00:23:33.250
- But even though today we can look back
- 00:23:33.250 --> 00:23:35.130
- and see the amazing things he's done,
- 00:23:35.130 --> 00:23:37.070
- he's a hidden figure in much of our history
- 00:23:37.070 --> 00:23:39.270
- because today, most people don't know his story
- 00:23:39.270 --> 00:23:42.030
- and haven't heard about him.
- 00:23:42.030 --> 00:23:43.040
- Bronco Charlie certainly is one
- 00:23:43.040 --> 00:23:45.030
- of the hidden heroes from America's history.
- 00:23:45.030 --> 00:23:47.150
- (gentle, pleasant acoustic guitar music)
- 00:23:47.150 --> 00:23:52.070
- (horse whinnies)
- 00:23:57.120 --> 00:23:58.220
- (chickens clucking)
- 00:23:58.220 --> 00:24:01.240
- Looking back on Bronco Charlie,
- 00:24:03.030 --> 00:24:04.220
- I think the word that stand out
- 00:24:04.220 --> 00:24:06.090
- to me more than anything else is expectations,
- 00:24:06.090 --> 00:24:08.140
- the expectations that his father had for him,
- 00:24:08.140 --> 00:24:10.170
- the expectations he had for himself.
- 00:24:10.170 --> 00:24:12.180
- Father looks at the station master
- 00:24:12.180 --> 00:24:14.020
- when there's nobody in the saddle
- 00:24:14.020 --> 00:24:15.000
- and says can anybody ride?
- 00:24:15.000 --> 00:24:16.060
- Yeah, just take an 11 year old in there.
- 00:24:16.060 --> 00:24:17.260
- Take off, kid.
- 00:24:17.260 --> 00:24:19.080
- Expectation is he could do it.
- 00:24:19.080 --> 00:24:20.240
- And then even as I look at him late in life,
- 00:24:20.240 --> 00:24:23.160
- golly, I'm 80 years old.
- 00:24:23.160 --> 00:24:24.290
- I can do this, I can cross the country.
- 00:24:24.290 --> 00:24:27.030
- I'm 67 years old, I can fight in World War I.
- 00:24:27.030 --> 00:24:29.250
- And I think that's a real good indication
- 00:24:29.250 --> 00:24:33.150
- of maybe where the culture has gone today,
- 00:24:33.150 --> 00:24:35.220
- is that we've changed what we expect we
- 00:24:35.220 --> 00:24:37.110
- can do for ourselves or what others expect of us,
- 00:24:37.110 --> 00:24:40.200
- and we just don't do as much as we used to.
- 00:24:40.200 --> 00:24:42.070
- Well, even the idea of expectations,
- 00:24:42.070 --> 00:24:44.100
- the word that I think of the most with him is grit.
- 00:24:44.100 --> 00:24:48.010
- For him, he was embracing the way life came,
- 00:24:48.010 --> 00:24:51.100
- but the way he kept going was
- 00:24:51.100 --> 00:24:52.190
- because he had so much courage.
- 00:24:52.190 --> 00:24:54.020
- The expectation was if you could, maybe you should, right?
- 00:24:54.020 --> 00:24:57.070
- If you have the ability, if you can do something,
- 00:24:57.070 --> 00:25:00.080
- well, you should go for it.
- 00:25:00.080 --> 00:25:01.150
- Well, think about how different we'd be today
- 00:25:01.150 --> 00:25:02.210
- if we blew off those expectations.
- 00:25:02.210 --> 00:25:04.260
- Oh, you're only 13, you can't do that.
- 00:25:04.260 --> 00:25:06.150
- Okay, then I won't even try.
- 00:25:06.150 --> 00:25:08.010
- Or you're 67, you can't.
- 00:25:08.010 --> 00:25:09.080
- All right, then I won't.
- 00:25:09.080 --> 00:25:10.230
- We respond to what somebody else's expectations are rather
- 00:25:10.230 --> 00:25:13.100
- than giving it the shot. Yeah.
- 00:25:13.100 --> 00:25:14.110
- And that's that grit.
- 00:25:14.110 --> 00:25:15.250
- Well, and even one of the cool things
- 00:25:15.250 --> 00:25:17.110
- about his life is when he has this moment
- 00:25:17.110 --> 00:25:21.220
- where he comes to God, and his story of faith is so unique.
- 00:25:21.220 --> 00:25:26.000
- But we know from studying history it
- 00:25:26.000 --> 00:25:28.060
- was not uncommon for guys back in that era
- 00:25:28.060 --> 00:25:30.280
- to have grown up with the Bible, to be familiar with God.
- 00:25:30.280 --> 00:25:34.210
- But it's so neat to see someone
- 00:25:34.210 --> 00:25:36.200
- who is as rough and as tough and as gritty as he is
- 00:25:36.200 --> 00:25:40.250
- to have this moment where he's drawn to God.
- 00:25:40.250 --> 00:25:42.240
- And certainly recognize, then,
- 00:25:42.240 --> 00:25:44.200
- if you're in a situation where your wife
- 00:25:44.200 --> 00:25:46.130
- and your kids have some kind of plague,
- 00:25:46.130 --> 00:25:49.290
- your house is under quarantine,
- 00:25:49.290 --> 00:25:51.210
- you're gonna be questioning everything.
- 00:25:51.210 --> 00:25:54.070
- When your kids die, it makes sense
- 00:25:54.070 --> 00:25:56.170
- what he was feeling in life.
- 00:25:56.170 --> 00:25:58.090
- It's just such a cool testimony
- 00:25:58.090 --> 00:25:59.290
- to see God get a hold of his life
- 00:25:59.290 --> 00:26:02.200
- and then he continues on with the life
- 00:26:02.200 --> 00:26:04.090
- with the same grit, the same courage, the same fortitude,
- 00:26:04.090 --> 00:26:07.290
- not this idea of the limitations culture puts on him.
- 00:26:07.290 --> 00:26:10.270
- It really is such a unique life
- 00:26:10.270 --> 00:26:13.220
- by someone who is the epitome of
- 00:26:13.220 --> 00:26:16.200
- what we imagine from early America.
- 00:26:16.200 --> 00:26:18.180
- There wasn't anything they couldn't do.
- 00:26:18.180 --> 00:26:20.290
- They just went for it, and they made it happen.
- 00:26:20.290 --> 00:26:22.240
- (dramatic, intense instrumental music)
- 00:26:22.240 --> 00:26:27.120
- - [Announcer] We hope you're enjoying TBN's exclusive series
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- America's Hidden History, thrilling stories of ordinary
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- 00:26:36.060 --> 00:26:38.130
- in extraordinary ways to shape our nation.
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