March 2022 Issue

EAST COAST EQUESTRIAN March 2022 Page 51 By Lois Szymanski Imagine the rough and tumble Wild West, where outlaws like Butch Cassidy and the Sun- dance Kid robbed banks, trains and stagecoaches. Now, you can experience it yourself. Grab your cowboy hat, board the train and meet the Mason Dixon Cowboys. Better yet, you can join them and become a cowboy too. The Mason Dixon Cowboys bring the late 1800s to life, chas- ing trains on horseback, brandish- ing pistols and robbing patrons. And now, they’re looking for new recruits. “We’ve been around for 12 or 15 years,” said cowboy reen- actor John Moss of Coatesville, PA. A retired veterinary surgeon, horses have been a part of his life for as long as he can remember. Moss – who goes by Clambone Doc -- spoke of how the group was formed. “We were all Civil War reenactors. Going from the Civil War to the Wild West wasn’t a big step,” he said. “We were at a Civil War event at Old Bedford Village when we saw they were doing a Wild West event the next week. We didn’t know what it was, but they were looking for horses and it sounded like fun.” So, the group signed up to reenact the James Younger gang’s Northfield bank robbery, which took place in Minnesota in Sep- tember 1876. “I studied the history and actually got the court records,” Moss said. “I wrote a script of the bank robbery that involved eight horses and many people in the town. We each took specific names, like Jesse James, Cole Younger, Frank James and the others. We’re not actors, but we explained the history to the people and how the Civil war lingered throughout the 1870s.” Outlaws Wanted: Be a Bandit with the Mason Dixon Cowboys Fellow Mason Dixon Cow- boys member, Carol Popadick of Atglen, PA, remembered it well. “I said I would be Quail Miller, who got shot off his horse. [My horse] was really good with that, so I’d roll off the horse and die in the street. Petey knew not to run off.” The group continued to par- ticipate in events at Old Bedford Village, moving on to robbing the stagecoach and other reenact- ments. “It’s all ad-lib,” Moss said with a laugh. Sometimes it’s funny and sometimes it goes over like a lead balloon. We try to make the uniforms, tack and our clothing as accurate as possible. One of my hobbies is that I love making all the clothes and historic tack. I made an 1883 stock saddle and did a Buffalo Bill impression for several years.” Popadick laughed too. “It’s amazing at times, he said. “Sometimes we do generic reenactments from history, but when you’re full speed on a horse and shooting in the air it’s really exciting.” Then, five or six years ago, someone found the Steam Into History ride at the Northern Cen- tral Railway in New Freedom, PA. Moss called the train station. They had robbed banks and stagecoach- es, but never a train. Would they be interested? They were. “I had a big Percheron back then who was the best horse ever,” Moss said. “We started doing these charity train robber- ies. You’d go in the morning, rob three trains and be done. In New Freedom, they have an 1863 replica steam engine.” Chris Morgan of Westmin- ster, MD took her grandson Cole to ride the train. She said he loved it. “When you get on the train, they give you coins and jewelry and some of the cowboys board the train too,” Morgan said. “My husband, Keith hid some coins in his hat but when the bandits came, Cole spilled the beans and said, ‘My grandfather has money in his hat!’”. According to Morgan, everything was realistic, from (Continued on page 53) Left to right, Mason Dixon Cowboys Carl Popodick on Midnight, Beth Brown on Banjo and Dave Arroyo on Gabe prepare to ‘rob’ the Northern Central Railroad in New Freedom, PA. The group is seeking new members with gun-acclimated horses for future robberies. Photo credit: John Moss