Cowboy To Cowboy

On this date back in 1836 one of the Old West’s most tragic events began to unfold.

At the age of nine, Cynthia Ann Parker’s family was killed and she, along with some other children, was kidnapped. The Comanche took her, and she lived with them for 25 years.

She became the wife of Peta Nocona, and gave birth to two boys and a girl. Comanche warriors normally take more than one wife. Nocona was happy with just Cynthia Ann.

In December 1860 a group of Texas Rangers attached Nocona’s village and rescued Cynthia Ann and her daughter.

Rather than feeling she had been rescued, Cynthia Ann felt she was kidnapped a second time. Cynthia Ann resigned herself to a life among a people she no longer understood. In 1863 her daughter died. And she died seven years later of influenza brought on by self-imposed starvation.

Incidentally, her son Quanah Parker became the last great war chief of the Comanche tribe. One wonders if he would have gone to war had Cynthia Ann not been kidnapped.

We see outlaws in the movies riding at breakneck speed to chase down a stagecoach, and then jump from the horse to the stagecoach to encounter the driver and guard. All outlaws weren’t that good of horsemen.

One such person got out of San Quentin Prison on this date back in 1881. His name was Dick Fellows.

Raised in Kentucky, Dick Fellows…An alias…came to California, and falling on hard times decided to rob stagecoaches. He picked the correct stage. It was carrying $240,000. However, as he was getting ready to go after the stage, the stolen horse he was riding threw him, and he was knocked unconscious.

Not one to give up, Fellows stole another horse and held up the next stage. He was successful. After the stage left, he tried to lift the strong box on his horse. The horse startled and raced off.

With night coming on he started walking with the strong box. Next he fell over a high bluff, knocking himself unconscious a second time. He woke up with a broken leg and foot.

Although the strong box has $1800 in it, he never got a chance to spend it, before Wells Fargo Detectives caught up with him.

When he got out of San Quentin, I believe most people would take the hint and go straight. But not Fellows. He went back to robbing stages, only to be caught again and sentenced to life in Folsom Prison.

We’ve all watched Dr. Quinn Medicine Women…actually it’s still in reruns and still looks as good as it did the first time around. Have you ever wondered where they got the idea for the show?

I’m not exactly sure, but it could have been Bethena Owens. Go to the link below and you’ll know what I’m talking about.

http://www.mynewsletterbuilder.com/email/newsletter/1411337371

The resolution for the National Day of the Cowboy is under assault in the California Assembly.

An animal rights advocate is maintaining the National Day of the Cowboy isn’t about the pioneer and our western heritage, but ranchers and rodeo.  He wants to change the resolution to the day of the rodeo rancher.  And then he goes on to talk about how animals are abused at rodeos.

This resolution has always been about all who are part of heritage preservation and cowboy culture.  It’s about the music, the art, the artisans, the literature, the cowboys, the cowgirls, poetry, ranching, land and animal stewardship, historic events, cowboy organizations, the cowboy’s horse, landmarks, family stories, ferriers, saddle makers, those who simply love cowboys and our mythical cowboy too.

Anyone from California needs to contact their California State Legislator and express their support of SCR 70 as soon as possible.  The vote is this coming Thursday.

Here’s another Old West Myth and Fact. Tradition and the early Colt Pistol manuals says to load only five cartridges in a pistol and leave the empty cylinder under the hammer. The reason being if the hammer is accidently hit with a live cartridge under it, it could go off…Incidentally; modern pistols have a safety bar to prevent accidental firing.

So, did they load only five cartridges? Not always. Wyatt Earp’s pistol fell to the floor in a saloon and it went off. Lawman Dallas Stoudenmire was being interviewed by a newspaper reporter. During the interview Dallas showed his shooting skills. The reporter said all six shots hit the target. A couple of years ago we published an article in Chronicle of the Old West from 1898 where two men went into the back room of a saloon, and while there a pistol was fired. The people in the saloon though it was a gun fight. Actually, one of the men dropped their pistol.

My feeling is if you were an average Joe you probably loaded five cartridges, but if there was a chance of gunplay you wanted as much firepower as possible. And that extra cartridge could mean the difference between life and death.

What do you think?

On this date back in 1846, Zachary Taylor led American forces against an attacking Mexican Army in the Battle of Palo Alto.

Mexico had never recognized the independence of Texas, and when the U.S. annexed Texas, Mexico sent troops into the disputed Rio Grande River area.

President Polk ordered General Taylor into Texas to defend the border. It was viewed by Mexico as a hostile invasion and the Mexican Army attacked the American forces.

Although the Mexican forces were much larger in number, General Taylor was not only victorious in this battle; he won four additional battles and gained control over the three northeastern Mexican states.

Incidentally, as a result of these and other victories, Zachary Taylor became a national hero referred to as “Old Rough and Ready”. This eventually catapulted him into the Presidency. Unfortunately, he was a much better general than President.

On this date back in 1859 Andy Adams, the author of The Log of a Cowboy was born. He’s considered one of the most authentic chroniclers of the Old West.

Andy was born in Indians and ran away from home when a teenager. Ending up in Texas, he became a cowboy during the golden era of the cowboy. When the cattle drives ended he went to Colorado looking for gold. Not able to find his fortune, he settled down in Colorado Springs.

Andy began writing stories of his experiences as a cowboy. He wrote and published four books in four years. He’s best known for The Log of a Cowboy. This book is a must for any person interested in the Old West cowboy.

OK folks. We’ve all heard about the Johnny Depp Lone Ranger movie. And you’ve probably wondered what Johnny is going to look like…Well, here it is.

He was inspired to update Native American Tonto’s look after seeing a painting by the artist Kirby Sattler.

According to Depp; “I looked at the face of this warrior and thought: That’s it. The stripes down the face and across the eyes . . . it seemed to me like you could almost see the separate sections of the individual, if you know what I mean.”

Sorry Johnny, I don’t know what you mean.

Boy was I taken back to the days of yesteryear as I attended the Silver Screen Project Show put on by Marvin O’Dell and friends.

This is a multi-media show about the heyday of the “B” and TV Westerns, with film clips, photos, live songs and commentary. Everyone was covered from Tom Mix to Roy Rogers. Incidentally, Tom and Roy weren’t the first and last of the B-Western heroes, they’re just two of my favorites.

Incidentally, they take their show on the road. If you would be interested in their performing in your area, contact Marvin O’Dell at meoteo@aol.com.

I’m working on getting them up in the White Mountains of Arizona in August.

We’re going to add another element to the posts on Cowboy to Cowboy.  And that is “Old West Myth and Fact.”  As with anything that has happened in the past, even my exploits, when time gets between the event and the present, a lot of myth begins to surround the fact.  And this is very true with the Old West.

So, we’re going to look at things that we accept as fact and see if it truly was fact.  We’re asking you to put in your two cents, because we could be wrong.  The desire is to discover the truth about how it really happened.

The first topic we’ll cover is cowboys and pistols.  From everything I’ve been able to discover cowboys normally didn’t carry pistols.  First, anytime they were working cattle, the pistol would get in the way.  On a cattle drive a long gun was much more practical.  Any pistols stayed in the chuck wagon.

 Many a cowboy never buckled on a six-shooter because gunmen normally never bothered a man without a gun, and a man without a gun sure wasn’t going to bother a man with one.

 In addition, most western towns wouldn’t allow guns to be carried within the city limits.

What do you say?