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This looks like fun. I will look at my end to see what can be found 
out. A while back I visited the longriders site and there was a query 
about two women who were riding from Cairo to Aswan in the 80's. 
Apparently they stopped by to chat with the Reuters Arabic bureau chief 
here, but he never heard if they made it or the authorities drove them 
crazy and they gave up.  That's a trip I'd like to make, although the 
police/security bureaucracy is a nightmare.  The actual trip would be a 
piece of cake in comparison.  So I'll go for virtual and see if we can 
dig something up. Surely the old Egyptian papers would have noticed. 
There was no television then.

Maryanne
Cairo, Egypt

On Friday, Jan 31, 2003, at 20:05 Africa/Cairo, CMNewell wrote:

> Linda--
>
> I'll see your Hopkins photo, and raise you one <G>.
>
> http://www.minglewood-arabs.net/distance_stuff.html
>
> > Charlotte, does Harris cite any independent sources
> > to verify Hopkins' story?
>
>
> The previous chapter in the book, "Great Horses and Riders", quotes an 
> article by Charles B. Roth,  titled "Great Riders", published in the 
> US Remount magazine "The Horse", in April, 1936. Hopkins is both 
> mentioned as a rider, and quoted on the subject of other riders and 
> horses. Roth  says that Hopkins lived in Long Island City, NY, so 
> perhaps the local historical society might be a place to look for his 
> papers.
>
> Says Roth:
>      "A modest man, Mr. Hopkins does not list himself in the great 
> riders, but in my opinion he not only belongs in the list--he belongs 
> at the head of it.
>         "Look at his record: In over 400 long distance races he was 
> beaten but once, and then by foul; he finished first, but was 
> disqualified. These races varied in length from 50 to 3,000 miles. 
> Three times he won the title of 'The World's Greatest Horseman,' in 
> competition with picked riders from the cavalry of the world...His 
> most famous race was held in 1886. It was 1,799 miles long. The 
> starting point was Galveston, Texas; the finish line was Rutland, 
> Vermont. The race was backed by Lucky Baldwin and Richard K. Fox, 
> owner of the old "Police Gazette"."
>
>      So, perhaps the "Police Gazette" followed Mr. Hopkins subsequent 
> career.
>
> > I was thinking. If somebody actually wanted
> > to document the reality of this race, what
> > contemporary sources exist? You'd need some
> > current day professor or archivist or Near
> > Eastern librarian who knows the first source
> > material from that era and that locale. I
> > was checking in some of my old college books,
> > and one of the books cites a bunch of stuff
> > written post 1900, like a "Gazeteer" set of
> > yearbooks for 1908-1912 from somebody posted in
> > Aden, but nothing that goes back as far as 1890.
> > This is getting intriguing. We've yet to
> > see anything that proves Mr. Hopkins' story,
> > except Mr. Hopkins telling it. Who would I
> > call...Who would I call...
>
>
> Now you've got *me* intrigued with tracking this down...
>
>                    --CMNewell
>
>
>
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