(WEST NEBRASKA) Louis Friesleben photographer Reformed hors

Sale 2675 - Lot 304

Price Realized: $ 585

?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price

Estimate: $ 600 - $ 900

(WEST--NEBRASKA.) Louis Friesleben, photographer. Reformed horse thief Doc Middleton at the end of "America's Longest Horse Race." Photograph, 4 x 5½ inches, with photographer's inked stamp on verso, captioned in ink on verso "Doc. Middleton at the finish of his 1000 mile race from Chadron, Nebr. to Chicago. Billy the Bear"; minimal wear. Chicago, 1893

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James Middleton Riley (1851-1913), better known as "Doc Middleton," was perhaps the most prolific horse thief of the West in the 1870s. After a four-year prison sentence, he went straight and worked in law enforcement. In 1893, he was living in Chadron, Nebraska and was the most famous participant in a well-publicized 1,000-mile cowboy race from Chadron to Chicago. He was one of 7 of the 9 contestants who finished the race, which concluded at an encampment of Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show. It is today still remembered as America's longest horse race.