Stolen Pony Express Letter For Sale

If you didn’t know better you’d think the Pony Express was a Hollywood creation, skinny, tough boys riding from Missouri over the Sierra Nevadas to California in 10-days. A stamp for a one-ounce letter cost about $50 in today’s dollars. One stolen in an Indian attack and later recovered is coming to market next month at R.A. Siegel Auction Galleries in New York.As a lad, Buffalo Bill Cody once rode for 21-straight hours when his replacement at the way station wasn’t there. The Pony Express management advertised for riders under 18, slight, and “preferably orphans.” As brave as they were, the riders and the company were defeated by the telegraph. It lasted only 19-months and 180 riders were suddenly out of work by 1862. Unfortunately, few of the stamped envelopes survived because once people got the letter, they tossed the envelope.