Old West Book Review: A Pair of Shootists; The Wild West Story of S. F Cody & Maud Lee
A Pair of Shootists; The Wild West Story of S. F Cody & Maud Lee, Jerry Kuntz, University of Oklahoma Press, (405‑325‑3200) $29.95, Hardcover. Photos, Notes to the Chapters, Index.
This carefully researched book brings to light the story of S. F. Cody, a Wild West performer who was in no way related to the famous Buffalo Bill Cody. Included in this book is background information regarding many of the Wild West performers and the numerous shows that featured cowboys, Indians, acrobats, wild horse stampedes and the carnival atmosphere surrounding the entertainment of long ago. Beginning around 1888, these shows became popular and grew in number. Touring every state in the Union, they hauled horses, cattle, equipment, Indians, trick riders and shootists who dazzled audiences with their derring‑do.
The forerunner of the Wild West shows actually began around 1883 when various sharpshooters held public contests to see who could out‑shoot the other using moving targets. In the beginning live birds were used, but eventually the sport graduated to glass‑ball targets. Soon these shooting contests added wild horse races, stagecoach holdups, and circus acts.
In this book, Samuel F. Cowdery is the central figure. Born in Davenport, Iowa in the 1870s, he traveled Out West seeking adventure and became an experienced buffalo hunter, horse trainer, cowboy and miner. In the late 1880s he joined the Forepaugh’s Wild West Show. His name was shortened to S. F. Cody by show promoters who were not bashful about fooling people into thinking Cowdery was either Buffalo Bill himself, or, at least Bill’s son.
There was no question that S. F. Cody could ride hard and shoot straight. He even looked like Buffalo Bill with his long hair, distinctive moustache and fringed buckskin garb. Next came Maud Maria Lee, a sixteen year old girl in 1888 who hailed from Norristown, Pennsylvania. Maude was the same size and shape as the famous Annie Oakley. An attractive brunette, Maud had some gymnastic training, loved the circus life, rode horses and was a crack shot. Also a member of the Forepaugh Wild West Show, it did not take long for Maud to meet Cody, and it did not take long for the Forepaugh promoters to seize upon the opportunity to make audiences believe that Maud Maria Lee was Annie Oakley.
The story tells of the pair’s travels with various touring groups, their trip to Europe with the Wild West extravaganza complete with advertising posters done in England bragging that S. F. Cody was the son of Buffalo Bill.
Long travel, harsh weather conditions, serious injuries, and the vagaries of salary payment took their toll. Maud began using narcotics to ease her pain and she gradually slid into mental instability. Maud returned to her parents in America while Cody took up with a new lady partner for his shooting act as well as in real life. While still in England, Cody developed an interest in the early airplane experiments. Certain the airplane would be invaluable for war, he even worked for a time for the British government. Cody was killed in 1913 in a crash with his biplane, and is buried in the military service cemetery at Thorn Hill.
After drug use, arrests, lawsuits, and brushes with the law, Maud was committed by her parents to the Norristown State Hospital, a mental institution where she died in 1947 from heart failure at age seventy‑five.
The wild west story of S. F. Cody and Maud Lee is not a happy one. Their best years together were those few when they first met, when the world was young, when they were the center of attention. Crowds cheered, the horses were fast, the shooting was usually straight, but they were never really Buffalo Bill or Annie Oakley. They had to settle for second best, and until now have been mostly forgotten.
A haunting story, this book is filled with good information heretofore overlooked.
Editor’s Note: The reviewer, Phyllis Morreale‑de la Garza is the author of numerous books including the novel Silk and Sagebrush; Women of the Old West, published by Silk Label Books, P.O. Box 700, Unionville, New York 10988‑0700.
*Courtesy of Chronicle of the Old West newspaper, for more click HERE.
Old West Book Review – The Texas Frontier and the Butterfield Overland Mail
The Texas Frontier and the Butterfield Overland Mail 1858-1861, Glen Sample Ely, University of Oklahoma Press, $34.95, Cloth, 440 pages, Illustrations, Maps, Photographs, Notes, Index.
Anyone interested in early Texas history will find this book a fascinating journey across that state during the years prior to the Civil War. While the Butterfield Overland Mail extended 2,795 miles from St. Louis, Missouri to San Francisco, California this book targets the 740 miles, border to border, across the Texas frontier.
The book combines Texas politics and intrigues while at the same time explaining the history and workings of the Butterfield stagecoach line. Throughout the book readers find both early photos taken by original Butterfield researchers Margaret and Roscoe Conkling, with modern-day pictures taken by author Ely as he meticulously followed their trail. Comparisons are made between Conkling photos taken 80 years ago, and the new pictures and how the sites look today. Changes due to weather erosion and human agricultural disruptions are noted.
All of the stagecoach sites are pictured; the crumbling walls, rock foundations, and long-forgotten artifacts help tell the story. Belt buckles, bullets, bridle bits, forks and knives plus various tools have been unearthed and on display here, including some graves with the stories of their occupants. At the end of the book readers will find notes containing all of the information available regarding dates, locations, employees, station masters, Indian raids, and everything you could ever possibly want to know about these stagecoach station sites.
As the author and friends traipsed from one location to the next across Texas, he brings to us the stories of those people who braved this frontier at a time when great changes were occurring in our country. Prospectors, adventurers, cattle ranchers, military men, schemers as well as honest pioneers tried to build and tame this unforgiving land. Always the threat of murderous Indian raids loomed as hardy people determined to make homes for themselves.
Meanwhile, scattered throughout the book are wonderful paintings done by Frederic Remington showing the dangerous journey traveled by these coaches. Butterfield crews, passengers, and hostlers alike braved this rugged road. Indians lurked along the way, and the accommodations at home stations usually offered little more than poor food and scant lodging. The coaches are described as rough-riding, jostling contraptions rattling over hard-packed roads or wallowing in muddy streams.
Apart from the actual everyday management of the stagecoaches, there were business executives back east busily working to make the enterprise financially lucrative. Some joined with Texas politicians and businessmen to make decisions about everything from toll bridges to the establishment of small communities.
Readers are taken on a journey through a rough and tumble time in antebellum Texas, covering everything good and bad about people striving to settle a wild frontier.
This book is a huge project by author Glen Sample Ely, a Texas historian and documentary producer. His love for Texas history is proudly displayed here, along with his talent for careful research and dogged determination to get it right. Readers will learn from the narrative, while being mesmerized by the haunting photographs showing what happened here. He also authored the book Where the West Begins: Debating Texas Identity.
The book is a must for your Old West library if you are interested in Texas history and the Butterfield Overland Mail.
Editor’s Note: The reviewer Phyllis Morreale-de Ia Garza is the author of numerous books about the Old West including the novel Charissa of the Overland, published by Silk Label Books, P.O. Box 700, Unionville, New York 10988 (845) 726-3434. www.silklabelbooks.com
Old West Book Review: Charles Goodnight: Father of the Texas Panhandle
Charles Goodnight: Father of the Texas Panhandle, William T. Hagan, University of Oklahoma Press, (405) 325‑3200, $19.95, Paperback. Illustrations, 168 pages, Maps, Bibliography.
Pioneer rancher and cattle baron of the Southwest, Charles Goodnight is known for his exploits as a Texas Ranger, scout, Indian fighter, and businessman. This book only touches upon Goodnight’s early life, and is really aimed at the last 30 years of his life. Complete biographies about Goodnight are written by J. Evetts Haley titled Charles Goodnight: Cowman and Plainsman, and The No‑Gun Man of Texas, by Laura V. Hamner.
Born in Illinois in 1836, Goodnight’s childhood included hard work, poverty, and long hours of drudgery on a farm. His education included only two years of school. However, he grew into a man of sharp business ability combined with his dedication to hard work. He blazed cattle trails in Texas, Colorado and Kansas but is best known for his exploits during the early days of Texas. When Goodnight was 28 years old, he was a member of the Ranger unit who found the white Indian captive Cynthia Ann Parker. Years later, Goodnight would become friendly with her son, Quanah who became a Comanche spokesman.
One incident in the life of Charles Goodnight is told about in the memorable Larry McMurtry Western movie “Lonesome Dove.” During a cattle drive through Colorado, Goodnight’s business partner Oliver Loving was fatally wounded by Indians, and the dying man requested that his body be returned to Texas. Goodnight made good on his promise, having Loving’s body packed in charcoal to make the long wagon journey back home.
This book covers the years spent building his ranches in the Texas Panhandle, with the financial banking of wealthy investors from as far away as Ireland. Foreign speculators had the money, and Goodnight had the experience and guts. Standing over 6 feet tall, weighing 200 pounds, a six‑gun on his hip and with grizzled beard and no‑nonsense steely eyes, Charles Goodnight seemed to fear no one.
Goodnight married a Texas school teacher named Mary Dyer, whose portrait shows her to be a thin‑lipped, cold‑eyed woman whose no‑nonsense demeanor seemed to match her husband’s. The couple had no children. After many years of hard ranch life, Goodnight described his wife as being a truly strong woman who even though living with no female companionship, and 75 miles from town, made married life cheery and pleasant.
Fights with partners, the railroad, encroaching neighbors, and politics are covered in this book. Goodnight remained sympathetic to the Indians’ plight, even though having been an Indian fighter in the 1870s with the Texas Rangers, he understood how these people had been forcibly removed from their land.
During the last year’s of Goodnight’s life, he sold most of his ranch holdings. Mary died several years before Goodnight did, and he was about to spend the last few years of his life in lonely isolation when a 26‑year‑old lady named Corrine Goodnight showed up wondering if they were related. The 91‑year‑old Goodnight enjoyed her company, hired her to be his secretary, and soon thereafter married her.
The couple traveled to Arizona, taking up residence first in Phoenix and then moving to Tucson where Goodnight died Dec. 12, 1929. Corrine had him laid to rest beside his first wife Mary, in Goodnight, Texas.
Charles Goodnight out‑lived most of his friends, and all of his enemies. He and Mary built a ranching empire in Palo Duro Canyon in the 1870s, and they are remembered for their contributions to the cattle industry, as well as being an inspiration to those dedicated to hard work, determination, and honest dealings.
Editor’s Note: The reviewer, Phyllis Morreale‑de la Garza is the author of many books about the Old West including Hell Horse Winter of the Apache Kid, Silk Label Books, P.O. Box 700, Unionville, New York 10988 Ph. (845) 726‑3434 www.silklabelbooks,com
Old West Book Review: Cowboy’s Lament, A Life on the Open Range
Cowboy’s Lament, A Life on the Open Range, Frank Maynard, Texas Tech University Press, www.ttuDress.org, $29.95, Cloth. Maps, Photos, Bibliography, Index. Foreword by David Stanley, professor emeritus of English, Westminster College, Salt Lake City.
The Introduction to the book is a biography of the life and times of Frank Maynard, written by Jim Hoy, director of the Center for Great Plains Studies at Emporia State University in Kansas. The book is included in the “Voice in the American West” series, published by Texas Tech University Press.
This book is “dedicated to all the old-time cowboys whose stories didn’t get told.” It was written by a man who spent part of his early life riding the open range for a variety of cattle companies beginning in the 1870s when the great roundups were at their height. Maynard was a teenager when he left his happy home in Iowa and headed for Towanda, Kansas where he signed on with an outfit heading for Colorado.
For the next 15 years he experienced every exciting event in the life of a working cowboy that included rough horses, shooting scrapes, injuries, illness and uncertainty, plus wild and free comradery with his pals. What made Frank Maynard different is that he was a romantic who chronicled his experiences, writing stories and poetry about life as a cowboy. Meanwhile, he handled guns, broke horses had some narrow escapes dealing with disgruntled co-workers, cattle rustlers and Indians, but he always remained on the side of law and order. Maynard remained in touch with his family, having a close relationship with his parents and sisters.
In time he met a young lady named Flora Vienna Longstreth whom he fell in love with. However, it took Flora nearly three years to make up her mind about marrying a cowboy. Maynard’s poems indicated how his broken heart pined for her affection until she finally relented.
After the wedding Maynard gave up the cowboy life and became a successful carpenter where the couple lived the remainder of their lives in Colorado Springs. A photo of Flora shows her to be a stem, tight-lipped individual, and people who knew the Maynards thought Flora “ruled the roost.” Frank spent a great deal of time working in his carpentry shop, and writing about his adventures. In time he published some magazine articles as well as poetry, which are included in this book. He is credited with penning “The Cowboy’s Lament”, later put to music in “The Streets of Laredo.”
Maynard died of a heart attack in 1926 at age 73, and is buried in the Evergreen Cemetery in Colorado Springs. Flora died 5 years later.
Frank Maynard was one more cowboy who rode the open range in the old days, chasing cows, battling the elements, meeting gunslingers and lawmen who became famous such as Ed Masterson. He wrote about aII of it as it happened and as he experienced it. He tried having his material published in his old age but at that time there was little interest in the cowboy experience. However, now, one hundred years later the reading public is happy to hear from somebody who was really there. Maynard remained true to himself, a straight-shooter known for his loyalty to his family and friends, who avoided scrapes with drinking, gambling, and the outlaw elements that led many other cowboys astray.
When readers turn the last page, it occurs to us that this is the haunting story of a man who gave up the life he loved for the woman he would forever be faithful to. When looking at his photographs, we see his eyes glowing with a depth of sadness. This man was caught between two worlds; true to his marital vows while struggling with an aching heart filled with memories about those wild and free days when he lived on the open range.
Editor’s Note: Reviewer Phyllis Morreale-de la Garza is the author of numerous books about the Old West, including The Earp Gamble, published by Silk Label Books, P.O. Box 700, Unionville, New York 10988-0700. www.Silklabelbooks.com.
*Courtesy of Chronicle of the Old West newspaper, for more click HERE.
Old West Book Review: Victorian Wedding Dress
Victorian Wedding Dress in the United States; A History Through Paper Dolls, Norma lu Meehan and Mei Campbell, Texas Tech University Press, (800-832-4042), 32 Pages, $12.95, Paperback.
This unusual book is a wonderful collectors’ item for anyone interested in vintage clothing, in particular the wedding dress. Back in 1850, the Godey’s Lady’s Book featured a bridal gown on the cover, and that seemed to spark an unending fascination for brides in our country that continues today. The authors point out that in the United States, wedding gowns are a $160 billion dollar annual business.
This book uses paper dolls as models, and shows some magnificent wedding gowns designed and worn by American brides between the years 1859 to 1899. The authors point out that white was not always the chosen color for wedding dresses. It was Queen Victoria of Britain who wore a white satin gown when she wed Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg in 1840. While the queen chose white, thereby setting a fashion trend, it would be many years before most women would wear the white gown because their wedding dresses were to be worn for numerous occasions after their wedding as a matter of frugality.
Co-author Meehan is a fashion illustrator who volunteers as costume curator at the Northern Indiana Center for History. Co-author Campbell is curator of ethnology and textiles at the Museum of Texas Tech University. Combining their talents and expertise, they have chosen twenty wedding dresses selected from both collections to give readers a unique opportunity to marvel at the lovely designs and intricate workmanship of these gowns.
Dresses in this collection are carefully sketched from the original garment; some photographs are included adding a personal touch showing the brides themselves. Each dress is unique not only in color, workmanship and design, but a brief history of the bride, and, or the wedding is included.
For instance, in 1871 Maggie Knott married Dr. Samuel L. Kilmer in South Bend, Indiana. She wore a two-piece, ice-blue silk-brocade gown. In 1882, Florence Miller married Frank Dwight Austin in Leavenworth, Kansas. The bride’s dress was made in Paris, France and cost an astonishing five hundred dollars. It became an Austin family heirloom worn fifty-five years later by a granddaughter. In 1893, Alice Rhawn wed Mr. Clement Studebaker, Jr., one of the founders of the Studebaker Corporation. Their wedding was a society event in Philadelphia social circles. The mansion the Studebakers occupied after the wedding is now on the National Register of Historic Places.
On and on, readers get to examine twenty gowns while reading about the women who wore them. Descriptions include satin panniers, full bustles, pleated hems, long-trained skirts, pointed front bodices, sleeve ends trimmed in Spanish blonde lace, flounces and peplums. Wool, alpaca, satin, ivory brocade silk, chiffon, crepe, velvet, ostrich feathers, beadwork, Chantilly lace and bands of pearls delight the eye.
Not every bride in the Old West had such wealth and opportunity. Thus, we usually read about lugging water, milking the cow, rattlesnake bites, Indian attacks, hog ranches and saloon shootouts. However, this book reminds us that there has always been wealth and privilege; not all women were ranch girls, dance hall queens or homesteaders. Writers seem to depict women in hardship roles and poverty as a source of Old West entertainment, but here we see that refinement, manners, delicacy and careful attention to detail also had its place in our American Western experience. The history of these magnificent gowns reminds us about the other side of life.
You can get you copy of Victorian Wedding Dress HERE.
Editor’s Note: The reviewer, Phyllis Morreale-de la Garza is the author of many published books, including Silk and Sagebrush: Women of the Old West, published by Silk Label Books, P.O. Box 700, Unionville, New York 10988 (845-726-3434) www.silklabelbooks.com
*Courtesy of Chronicle of the Old West newspaper, for more click HERE.
Old West Book Review: Unsolved Arizona, A Puzzling History of Murder, Mayhem, & Mystery
Unsolved Arizona, A Puzzling History of Murder, Mayhem, & Mystery, Jane Eppinga, History Press, $21.99. Paper, Photos, Bibliography, Index.
This book will entertain history-mystery buffs with thirteen true stories about unsolved, odd, and fascinating episodes pertaining to Arizona.
Readers will find the Glen and Bessie Hyde adventure ending in tragedy as the couple honeymooned for twenty-six days on the Colorado River rapids. Their bodies were never found.
A chapter titled “Lust for the Dutchman’s Gold” takes the reader to Arizona’s Superstition Mountains where legends and scary stories abound. Spaniards, Apaches, Mexican miners, and American adventurers found, lost, hid, and died over golden treasure. Secret maps, wandering gold-seekers, lies and wild tales still haunt these mountains where nobody has ever found the gold, but scattered throughout the hills are decapitated skeletons. Lost treasure in the Superstitions has led more than one man to his death.
Here too you will find a chapter about the Wham paymaster robbery, a $28,345.10 loss of government funds. It happened in May of 1889 at Cedar Spring, Arizona. The military payroll consisting of $5.00, $10.00, and $20.00 gold pieces was stolen by a band of robbers as the payroll, carried in a wagon under escort, was ambushed and robbed. The Wham robbery was named after Major Joseph Washington Wham whose personal history included previous robberies, thus he became one of the suspects. In the end a variety of characters were arrested tried, and found not guilty. Local ranchers made jokes, soldiers escorting the payroll were told to keep quiet, Wham himself was never held responsible, and after all the political hyperbole, court room haggling and wild newspaper accounts, the money has never been recovered.
A chapter about the missing evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson tells of an eccentric who led authorities on a wild chase during which she disappeared for five weeks. Other chapters tell of a missing baby, a couple who vanished in the desert near Yuma, the mysterious disappearance of a Willcox rancher’s wife, and the kidnapping of a six-year-old girl, June Robles held in a cage in the desert outside Tucson. One chapter dwells on the details of the frustrating saga concerning the disappearance of a National Park Service ranger, Paul Fugate. In January 1980 Fugate walked away from his office in the Chiricahua National Monument in southern Cochise County, Arizona, and was never seen again. The author takes readers on a trip this time, following Fugate’s activities for several days leading up to his disappearance. Much of the information comes directly from Fugate’s wife.
The book is a mix of famous old-time mysteries and more recent crime investigations. They are all about Arizona, and remind us of the harsh desert conditions people are faced with then and now. Vast stretches of high desert offer scant vegetation, prickly cactus, little water and merciless heat. Desert dwellers including rattlesnakes and coyotes, wolves and mountain lions sometimes figure into the conditions people face when finding themselves lost, alone, or abandoned.
The author Jane Eppinga has written a large number of books targeting Arizona subjects, with special interest in the macabre. These include Arizona Twilight Tales: Good Ghosts: Apache Junction and the Superstition Mountains. She is a member of Arizona Professional Writers, and National Federation of Press Women.
Get your copy HERE.
Editor’s Note: The reviewer, Phyllis Morreale-de la Garza is the author of numerous books about the Old West including the novel Widow’s Peak published by Silk Label Books, P.O. Box 700, Unionville, New York 10988-0700, www.silklabelbooks.com
*Courtesy of Chronicle of the Old West newspaper, for more click HERE.
Old West Book Review: Riding the Edge of an Era
Riding the Edge of an Era; Growing up Cowboy on the Outlaw Trail, Diana Allen Kouris, High Plains Press (800) 552-7819, $17.95, Paperback.
High mountain trails deep with snow, ice storms and hail, bone-chilling wind mingled with the faraway cries of wily coyotes fill the pages of this real-life adventure. Carefully written from beginning to end by a lady whose family spans several generations of ranchers, the setting is Butch Cassidy country where Utah, Wyoming, and Colorado meet. From the writer’s earliest days, there was a no-nonsense approach to life where one mis-step could lead to serious injury and even death. The family consisted of parents and six children; a cowboy father, and a mother who could ride and rope as easily as rustle up Christmas dinner.
There was no TV or electricity, but the kids had many horses and memorable days filled with everything from hummingbirds to snowflakes. Picnics, swimming, and favorite pets are remembered, including a pony named Comet whose favorite sport was scraping his riders off under trees. Long trail drives, wild horse roundups, killer storms, and the learning of independence, the children grew into teenagers, and eventually adults. The reader grieves when a favorite horse is found dead where he fell in the mountains, and when another struggles in vain against fever, leaving his heart-broken young owner to mourn over the carrion remains. When the seven-year-old sister is crushed under the back wheels of a farm truck, and when at the end of the story the brave mother dies of cancer, and a favorite brother is lost in an accident, you will close the last page with a lump in your throat and tears in your eyes.
The author has captured real ranch life as it existed in the days between the old and new West, before battles between ranch families and the government’s Bureau of Land Management. Eventually the land is lost to Uncle Sam for a recreation area, and the family must make profound decisions.
Along the way, the author rides past crumbling cabins and deserted home sites where historic murders took place, and bodies were found. Most crimes were never solved due to a lack of enough lawmen in territories too sparsely populated for a sheriff to be interested. People faced life as it came at them on a daily basis. They were tough and independent, they solved their own problems, they never asked for a handout.
Filled with photographs complimenting the text, we see Nonie and Diana, Bob and Marie and Bill Allen and the others in the story as they grin back at camera lenses. The author writes with a sharp eye for detail and never misses describing scenes of “candy colored cactus flowers,” or “nighthawks darting overhead in evening coolness.” There is love, devotion, loyalty, sacrifice, and through it all, the powerful bond existed between Marie and Bill Allen, and their children. There were no crybabies here. If you fell off your horse, bloodied your knee, bumped your head or fell into the creek, you learned to laugh about it. This book is not about fluffy toy animals on Sesame Street or even fairness. It’s about surviving the elements, self-sufficiency and courage. It’s about cold winter cabins deprived of hot water, indoor plumbing or electric light. It’s about doing laundry by hand, milking a cow, and stacking hay during school vacations. It’s about Diana Allen, the smallest of the children helping drive a herd of cattle in a snowstorm when she was only 6 years old.
This highly memorable book reminds us of what good writing is about, how important original detail is to the text, and in the age of hard to find good stories, we can be grateful some wise storytellers still exist. This book is almost breathtaking in its sincerity; a most memorable read.
Editor’s Note: The Reviewer, Phyllis Morreale-de la Garza is the author of many published books, including Silk and Sagebrush: Women of the Old West, published by Silk Label Books, P.O. Box 700, Unionville, New York 10988 (845-726-3434) www.silklabelbooks.com
*Courtesy of Chronicle of the Old West newspaper, for more click HERE.
Old West Book Review: When Law Was In The Holster- The Frontier Life of Bob Paul
When Law Was In The Holster – The Frontier Life of Bob Paul, John Boessenecker, University of Oklahoma Press, (1-800-627-7377) $34.95, Hardcover.464 pages, Illustrations, Maps, Footnotes, Bibliography, Index.
This is the biography of Sheriff Bob Paul, a frontier lawman in Old Arizona. He is remembered mostly as the shotgun messenger riding the Tombstone stage that was ambushed one night in March, 1881. The driver, Bud Phitpott was killed during a volley of gunshots fired by the robbers hidden beside the road. Philpott’s body hurled over the side of the coach while the driving lines slipped away and the terrified horses bolted. Bob Paul worked the brake for nearly a mile until he finally got the runaway team under control.
This stage holdup had to do with Tombstone history and has been told many times in connection with the days of Doc Holliday and the Earps. However, Bob Paul was far more important as a lawman, and his history is filled with excitement and derring-do that more than matched the Earps who dabbled periodically in law enforcement while Bob Paul spent nearly 50 years behind a badge.
Paul was born on June 12, 1830 in Lowell, Massachusetts. The youngest of three brothers, Paul spent his first few years in Lowell before the family moved to the seaport town of New Bedford. Here, they worked hard in their boardinghouse.
Paul’s father died in 1839, leaving the family in dire financial straits. Young Bob, only 12 years old, signed on as a cabin boy with the 197-ton whale ship Majestic.
Thus began a succession of experiences on a variety of whale ships for the next 8 years. Bob Paul advanced from cabin boy to second or third mate, sailing the South Pacific from Peru to the Sea of Japan and back to Hawaii.
In 1848, Paul learned of the huge gold strike in California, and seething with gold fever, asked for a discharge from the whale ship Nassau. He sailed right away for San Francisco. In time his prospecting led to law enforcement, as he learned the vagaries of the gold mining business did not always lead to economic security. Paul, a straight-shooter who stood over six feet tall, with massive frame and lighting fists, had a no-nonsense demeanor. In the rough and tumble goldfields, he arrested claim jumpers, rescued a number of individuals from vigilante justice, and himself oversaw legal hangings when he became sheriff of Calaveras County.
The book discusses his marriage to a young Catholic woman, followed by his employment as a Wells Fargo detective. Eventually the Paul family, having added a number of children, moved from California to Pima County, Arizona where Margaret lived with the children in Tucson.
In Cochise County Paul dealt with Tombstone politics, the rustler element, and a succession of notorious outlaws. He supervised the execution of the murderers who perpetrated the “Bisbee Massacre”, and eventually ran for Pima County Sheriff. For the rest of his life he dealt with political enemies, newspaper critics, and family tragedies. Sheriff Paul is the man who arrested and held the infamous lady stagecoach robber Pearl Hart in his Tucson jail.
Sheriff Bob ‘Paul is not a romantic figure wearing a long black coat, or having a squadron of brothers who looked just like him. The one woman in his life was his beloved wife from whom he never strayed. Hollywood did not single him out to star in romanticized flicks, but Sheriff Bob Paul was the real deal, and deserves to be finally recognized. This fascinating story so well written and carefully researched is certainly an important addition to your Old West library. Kudos to author John Boessenecker for a job well done.
Editor’s Note: The reviewer, Phyllis Morreale-de la Garza is the author of 15 published books about the Old West, including Nine Days at Dragoon Springs, published by Silk Label Books, P. 0. Box 700, Unionville, New York 10988-0700 www.silklabelbooks.com.
*Courtesy of Chronicle of the Old West newspaper, for more click HERE.
Old West Book Review: Valentine T. McGillycuddy; Army Surgeon, Agent to the Sioux
Valentine T. McGillycuddy; Army Surgeon, Agent to the Sioux, Candy Moulton, University of Oklahoma Press, (405) 325-3200, $26.95, Paperback. Biography/U.S. History, 292 pages, Map, Illustrations, Notes, Bibliography, Index.
Valentine Trant McGillycuddy was born in 1849 in Racine, Wisconsin. His parents were shopkeepers. The boy had several siblings, and even as a child was drawn to healing the sick, practicing on the family pets. He entered the University of Michigan at age seventeen, and became a doctor at age twenty, completing medical school at the Marine Hospital of Detroit. The young doctor treated a variety of ailments from accidents and injuries to the hopeless mental conditions of patients at the Wayne County Insane Asylum.
Soon McGillycuddy’s own physical and mental conditions began to fail, and by 1870 he took some engineering courses and joined the U.S. Corps of Topographical Engineers. He headed Out West into the great outdoors to recover his health. Soon he became a cartographer and surveyor as well as physician. Tall and thin, McGillycuddy had a short beard and sharp eyes. He became a rugged outdoors man, good with fractious horses and able to withstand harsh weather conditions as he worked with various surveying crews, and to “keep warm” he became a hard drinker.
A member of the Boundary Commission in 1874, he entered the Northern Plains Indian Territory. From here it was on to the Black Hills where he met eccentric characters such as Calamity Jane tagging along with the Black Hills Expedition. In later years McGillycuddy wrote about Jane’s involvement with the expedition and we see how her imaginative legend was perpetrated as she told many whoppers to anyone who would listen.
McGillycuddy’s adventures led him deeper and deeper into the Territories where he would eventually meet Chief Red Cloud and many of the other important Indian leaders. His had dealings with General George Crook, including events swirling around the days of the Battle of the Little Bighorn. In time he was federally appointed Indian Agent to the Sioux
For a while this book concentrates mostly on all the politics surrounding the Sioux wars, military people, harangues between the generals and politicians in Washington D.C., treaties made and promises broken. All of this information is found in books written with greater detail than found here, but this one gives a quick and easy to understand evaluation of the Indian Wars problems. We wish this were told from McGillycuddy’s point of view, since many pages sometimes go by when he is not mentioned, thus he drifts into the background.
McGillycuddy had a wife named Fanny Hoyt whom he met early in his career, and who traipsed along with him as much as possible keeping a diary about army life and loneliness for a woman in the wilderness. She seemed to be a good sport however, learning to ride horseback and keeping the home fires burning. Rough housing, few female companions and harsh living conditions could not have been easy.
McGillycuddy was present at Camp Robinson the day Crazy Horse was murdered at the fort, where he demanding the dying chief be put into the adjutant’s office rather than the guardhouse.
After Fanny’s death from stroke, McGillycuddy married a second time to a woman much younger than himself who had a daughter with him and wrote his biography. McGillycuddy died in 1939. His cremated remains are buried on Harvey Peak in the Black Hills. He is much to be admired for his hard work, gumption, and straightforward dealings with those around him. He was a good husband and father.
This is a good, well-written book about a fascinating character who has been mostly overlooked by historians until now. Kudos to Candy Moulton for bringing this man to our attention. You can grab this book HERE.
Editor’s Note: The reviewer, Phyllis Morreale-de la Garza is the author of numerous books about the Old West including The Apache Kid, published by Westernlore Press, P.O. Box 35305, Tucson, Arizona 85740.
*Courtesy of Chronicle of the Old West newspaper, for more click HERE.
Old West Book Review: The Gray Fox; George Crook and the Indian Wars
The Gray Fox; George Crook and the Indian Wars, Paul Magid, University of Oklahoma Press, (800 627-7377), $29.95, Cloth, 480 pages, Photographs, Notes, Bibliography, Index.
This book is the second of a trilogy written about the life and military career of General George Crook. The author concentrates here on the years 1866-1877. (The first book is titled From the Redwoods to Appomattox, telling about Crook’s early life and including his involvement in the Civil War, check it out HERE).
Born in Ohio in 1829, raised on the family farm, Crook was admitted to West Point when he was eighteen years old. He graduated near the bottom of his class in 1852. The Indians nicknamed him “The Gray Fox,” which was not exactly a compliment. Crook stood close to six feet tall, with blue eyes a little too close together, a sharply pointed nose, graying close-clipped hair, thin lips and humorless personality. He served for eight years on the Pacific Coast where he campaigned against Indians in both the Rogue River War and the Yakima War. When necessary, he could live off the land. His hunting expeditions while in the field became one of his peculiarities. Crook rarely dressed in military garb while campaigning. He was usually found wearing canvas clothing, high work boots and a straw hat. In Arizona he rode a mule named Apache. Crook relied heavily on mule packing opposed to hauling supplies and equipment in slow-moving wagon trains.
Author Magid follows the tortured and twisting trails of General Crook throughout the early Apache campaign in Arizona, and then Crook is transferred to the Northwest where he is embroiled in battles against Sioux and Cheyenne warriors. Readers follow him through long, grueling marches, freezing winter snows, forage shortages, sick and starving horses, loss of life and always the political harangues he faced with his superiors in Washington, D.C.
Crook was notorious for keeping battle plans to himself, much to the annoyance of some officers in his command. He was known to go off by himself to hunt game, returning to camp with fish and fowl, and occasionally deer or buffalo meat for the troops. He eventually learned the art of taxidermy to preserve some of. his best trophies. He was eccentric, somewhat mysterious, tough on himself as well as the men around him, but the Indians considered him a worthy and dangerous foe. They knew he was a man of his word.
This book is hardly a long, dry history lesson. The talented author keeps the story rolling forward with easy-to-read prose. Crook’s personality is fairly dealt with, even though the man was difficult to understand. Crook had a myriad of complicated issues to deal with, but kept his stoic silence most of the time. The author obviously is a Crook fan, and is to be commended for writing about the murder of Crazy Horse as honestly as possible, telling all sides of the story. Most likely Crook was aware of the skullduggery afoot. When, at the end of the Sioux War, Crazy Horse was lured to Camp Robinson on the pretext of talks about a reservation for his people, the war chief was captured instead, and brutally murdered inside the fort.
When we turn the last page, we have mixed emotions about General Crook. He left no personal diaries or notes about himself, so history must rely on the observations of those who worked and lived with him, as well as his military successes and failures. Criticized by some, praised by others, General Crook is a fascinating personality.
We look forward to the third book in Magid’s trilogy focusing on Crook’s involvement ending the Apache Wars in Arizona.
Editor’s Note: Reviewer Phyllis Morreale-de la Garza is the author of numerous books about the Old West, including the novel Hell Horse Winter of the Apache Kid, published by Silk Label Books, P.O. Box 700, Unionville, New York 10988-0700, www.silklabelbooks.corn.
*Courtesy of Chronicle of the Old West newspaper, for more click HERE.
Old West Book Review: Tracing The Santa Fe Trail
This photographic journey along the Santa Fe Trail is a treasure of outstanding color photos combined with a detailed, step by step history of this important trail wending its way across the American West between the Missouri river valley and northern Mexico.
Readers turn the pages of history from 1821 through 1880, witnessing caravans of freight wagons, lumbering oxen, stoic Missouri mules, and faithful horses traveling this international route used by military men, hunters, pioneers, homesteaders, tradesmen, bullwhackers and every sort of adventurer. By 1880 the railroads put the Santa Fe Trail out of importance but before trains on rails edged out horses and mules, this road seethed with adventure.
Maps inside the book give a detailed description of the trail running from St. Louis, Missouri to Santa Fe, New Mexico. As we turn the pages, magnificent photos combined with carefully written essays tell the story. Scenes of trapper’s tents along the Missouri River, historical markers explaining old battle scenes, patient oxen ready for work, military forts, restored buildings in Kansas boom towns, and haunting wagon ruts are still visible across the prairie.
The author takes us along this spectacular tour of historical places while explaining the importance of each scene. We get an emotional glimpse of what it must have been like to walk or ride along this trail. We imagine the squeak of freight wagons, the clank of trace chains, and can almost feel the lonesome prairie vastness surrounding brave travelers as they went along their way.
Every type of conveyance from buggies to huge Conestogas lumbered along. Trade goods included salt, tools, furs, medicine for fever and malaria, castor oil and opium. Some packages contained wines and brandies, chess sets, violin strings, playing cards, cooking utensils, cloth and leather goods as well as silver and gold. Businessmen Russell, Majors and Wadell, who would eventually come up with the idea of a Pony Express, first ran a freight business that consisted of over 3,500 freight wagons carrying thousands of tons of material.
Fortunes were made and lost, armies tramped cross-country while cemeteries sprang up along the way. This book is filled with surprising historical tidbits that we sometimes forget existed. For instance, we see pictured the historical landmark of Fort Osage built to house soldiers guarding the new Louisiana Territory. Pictures of the soldier’s quarters give us insight about how they lived. Plank floors, spartan bunk beds and a wood kitchen counter remind us of days gone by. Turning the pages we find everything from old adobe buildings to the Palace of the Governor in old Santa Fe. There are churches, Pueblos and Indian kivas inviting exploration.
Every page of this book causes the reader to reflect on the thoughtful and sentimental scenes chosen by the photographer. Faithful mules pulling a U.S. Army wagon, crumbling stone walls of an 1860 stage station, gushing water at a river crossing, remnants of two-hundred year-old cottonwood trees and historical grave markers show what lined the old Santa Fe Trail. We are filled with awe and admiration for the people who braved the new and dangerous land. Photographer Ronald J. Dulle is to be congratulated for his beautifully orchestrated photography combined with this important history lesson. This book belongs in your Old West library. You can grab this beautiful book HERE.
Editor’s Note: The reviewer, Phyllis Morreale-de la Garza is the author of numerous books about the Old West including The Apache Kid, published by Westernlore Press, P.O. Box 35305, Tucson, Arizona 85740
*Courtesy of Chronicle of the Old West newspaper, for more click HERE.
Old West Book Review: Cochise County Cowboys
The Cochise County Cowboys, who were these men? Joyce Aros, Goose Flats Publishing (P.O. Box 813, Tombstone, Arizona 85638) www.gooseflats.com/aros/ $11.95, Paperback. 112 Pages, Index.
When we read about “Cochise County Cowboys” it is usually within the context of those individuals accused of being enemies of the Earps during the 1880s conflict in Tombstone, Arizona. Wyatt Earp himself was interviewed in the 1930s, and when talking about his life and times he cooked up a lot of fancy along with the facts, determined to tell his side of the story with an eye toward an eventual book and movie contract. Wyatt might have the reputation of being the greatest “Frontier Marshal”, but in his old age he was also a sharp businessman.
Certainly he and his brothers, and their pal Doc Holliday were greatly embroiled in the booming silver mine town, but in reality they were only in Tombstone less than 2 years when they were chased out of the Territory wanted for murder.
Books, movies, magazine articles, museum artifacts, TV shows and lively historical re-enactors have kept the Tombstone/Earp story alive until it has become so convoluted nobody knows the truth of what really happened. And now, who really cares? Four brothers dressed in long black coats, thumping along the boardwalk, spurs jangling, totin’ well-oiled shootin’ irons is the stuff Hollywood is made of.
For night there has to be day, to have good there must be evil. If we are to believe the Earps were frontier defenders of law and order, then there has to be a pack of villains, con-men, robbers, thieves and cattle rustlers for the Earps to tangle with. The worse these characters were portrayed, the bigger heroes the Earps became. At least, that is what audiences gleaned after reading books about Wyatt, and watching movie and TV dramas starring heroes like Burt Lancaster, Hugh O’Brien, Kevin Costner and Kirk Douglas.
Enter “Cochise County Cowboys”, whose supposed leader was a grizzled individual known as “Old Man Clanton.” He lived in a shack in the hills, a widower with a passel of mean sons who toted guns and rode with their Pa beside a horde of equally murderous barn-burners with names like “Curly Bill’ and “Johnny Ringo.” They supposedly stirred up every conceivable mischief from stagecoach robbery to cheating at cards. They lived by their guns, fast horses and derring-do. A bunch of liars and back-shooters, they were cruel and heartless scoundrels who had taken over Cochise County. Fortunately the Earp brothers arrived just in the nick of time to save the gentle and defenseless townsfolk.
To top it all off, the fighting Earps caught three of those horrible villains at the O.K. Corral on a cold October day in 1881 known as the “Gunfight at the O.K. Corral.” Those gunshots are still being heard around the world. But now, after 135 years, some serious writer-researchers have determined to sniff out the truth, or at least come close to it, and evidence gleaned from census records, newspaper articles, personal letters and courthouse documents bring some truths to light.
Joyce Aros, a resident of Tombstone, Arizona is an astute observer of human nature, careful researcher, and dedicated historian who has doggedly followed the trail of a dozen “Cochise County Cowboys”. She brings to light the reality of how these men really worked, lived, and sometimes died. She is fair in her assessment of their contribution to the Tombstone saga. She scrapes away the frosting on a highly fantasized cake, and takes the reader into a new world of honest evaluation of the characters involved with the Earps in Tombstone. The four Clantons, the McLaury brothers, Frank Stilwell, Johnny Ringo, Major Frink, Billy Claiborne, Pete Spence, Curly Bill and Sherm McMasters are examined here.
If you like old Tombstone stories, and are interested in the real truth; this little book is a must for your Old West collection. I suspect Aros will have more of these books forthcoming; perhaps next will be about the Earp women? You can get Joyce’s awesome book HERE.
Editor’s Note: Reviewer Phyllis Morreale-de la Garza is the author of numerous books about the Old West, including The Earp Gamble, published by Silk Label Books, P.O. Box 700, Unionville, New York 10988-0700, www.silklabelbooks.com
*Courtesy of Chronicle of the Old West newspaper, for more click HERE.
Old West Book Review: Murdered on the Streets of Tombstone
Murdered on the Streets of Tombstone, Joyce Aros, Goose Flats Publishing, (520) 457-3884, $26.99, Paper. 340 pages, Author’s Notes, Photos, Illustrations, Bibliography, Index.
Countess books, movies, magazine articles, radio programs and internet chat rooms have hashed and re-hashed the history of Tombstone, Arizona “The Town Too Tough To Die.” The most important incident triggering all the excitement was a shootout that came to be known as “The Gunfight at the O.K. Corral.”
So along comes Hollywood to tell about a huge band of outlaws and cattle rustlers known as “The Cowboys” who are terrorizing Cochise County. But not to worry, in order to rid the Territory of these villainous, snaggle-toothed ruffians, the illustrious Earp boys arrive from Kansas to settle their hash.
And settle it they did! On a cold and windy day in late October, 1881, things came to a head and when the smoke cleared, brothers Frank and Tom McLaury, and their young pal Billy Clanton lay dead in the street behind the O.K. Corral.
One hundred and thirty years later, why are we still worrying about it? Everybody knows (Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas, Hugh O’Brien, and Rhonda Fleming told us) the Earps were the good-guy heroes, and the three dead cowboys had it coming.
But Wait! Not so fast! There is a lot more to the story, and Tombstone writer-researcher Joyce Aros gives us the benefit of her sleuthing. She has tediously combed through courtroom testimony, oral history on file at the Arizona Historical Society, books, letters, interviews plus a good dose of horse sense to draw her conclusions.
Aros begins her book explaining the circumstances of life in the new Territory, and how the Clantons and the McLaurys fit into all this. Aros allows the reader to become familiar with these men by putting faces on them. They were living, breathing human beings who had struggles, hopes and dreams in a new land where hardworking, determined men built their ranches.
The fateful day they came to town, Tom and Frank McLaury had business to finish before heading to Iowa to attend their sister’s wedding. Meeting with them was their friend Billy Clanton, a nineteen-year-old rancher who was on business of his own that day.
Aros is able to show the Earps were prepared to fight, but the young ranchers were not. Tom McLaury was not even carrying a gun, Frank McLaury was leading his horse, (who takes a horse to a gunfight?) and when confronted by the gun-wielding Earps, Billy Clanton shouted “I don’t want to fight!” Even so, guns blazed and in less than thirty seconds three men were dead.
Tom, Frank and Billy were not outlaws. They came to a sad and thunderous end behind a dusty corral on the streets of Tombstone, Arizona where they have been vilified for more than 130 years. When you turn the last page of this book, the Earps might still be your heroes, but certainly Tom, Frank and Billy will become real people whose lives were taken far too soon.
We still do not know for sure what triggered the deadly hatred the Earps had for these three young ranchers. However, through this detailed examination in Murdered on the Streets of Tombstone, Joyce Aros has done an incredible job of finally declaring balance to a tragedy that has gone unchallenged far too long. You can decide for yourself by grabbing the book HERE.
Editor’s Note: The reviewer Phyllis Morreale-de la Garza is the author of numerous books about the Old West including The Earp Gamble, published by Silk Label Books, P. 0. Box 700, Unionville, New York 10988 (845) 726-3434. Www.silklabelbooks.com
*Courtesy of Chronicle of the Old West newspaper, for more click HERE.
Old West Book Review: Texas Devils: Rangers and Regulars on the Lower Rio Grande
Texas Devils: Rangers and Regulars on the Lower Rio Grande, 1846-1861, by Michael L. Collins, University of Oklahoma Press, (405) 325-3200, $19.95, Paper. Photographs, Notes to the Chapters, Bibliography, Index.
This book is a carefully researched account of the turbulent times along the Lower Rio Grande in Texas from 1846-1861. The author delves into these fifteen years filled with conflict between Anglo ranchers, homesteaders and businessmen at odds with the Hispanic people after the Mexican War. New International boundaries pointed to trouble when people lost their old homelands and the Republic of Texas established a new government as well as new political rules.
The author creates a page-turner that reads in places like an exciting novel. With measured cadence and vivid word descriptions, the warring factions are brought to life. He explains how the Rangers were hired to defend the homeland, protect the new border and keep the peace. Understandably, the Mexican people were mostly filled with resentment toward these armed posses riding across their old homeland. Known by the Mexicans as Ids diablos Tejanos, or Texas Devils, these men patrolled the countryside often clashing with Mexican bandits and roving Comanches. Here are details regarding the various battles, what happened, who lived and who died. Often young Rangers were brutally murdered, their hacked remains left rolling in the sun.
In retaliation, the Rangers were known to exact their own brand of vengeance, and sometimes committed atrocities with equal savagery upon those they fought against. The book aims to tell the Ranger story with fairness, dispelling some of the romanticized myths surrounding the early Ranger companies.
Important leaders of the Ranger units are given biographical coverage as to their places in history. Some had political ambitions; some were mercenaries interested in land and plunder. Still others, like Major Samuel Heintzelman and Col. Robert E. Lee were military gentlemen performing their duties in Texas with dignity, and who were destined to fight in terrible battlefields back east.
A clear and sentimental portrait is drawn here regarding Robert E. Lee who left his beloved Virginia plantation (now Arlington National Cemetery) in service to his country. He knew the winds of war would call him home to face heart wrenching decisions that would linger to the end of his days.
Too, this Ranger story includes the well known Juan Cortina known on the border as the “Red Robber.” The son of wealthy Mexicans who owned vast ranch lands, he became a champion for the Mexican cause after his mother lost most of their land to gringo lawyers and speculators after the Mexican War. Filled with bitterness and revenge, he led his Mexican followers against the Texas Rangers. Somewhat of a Robin Hood, he became an illusive adversary much loved by the Mexican people.
The author points out that injustice on both sides of the border conflict were experienced by many people. In 1860 Civil War broke out in the United States, and Texas went with the Confederacy. So much turmoil ensued due to that cause, the fighting on the Texas border settled down since there was a much larger conflict to deal with. Meanwhile, old myths and fables die hard because we all need our heroes. However, still to this day Anglos and Hispanics on the Lower Rio Grande have their reasons to mistrust one another. Even after 150 years, there is still much work to be done. Western history readers will reflect on what is written here long after turning the last page. You can grab Michael’s book HERE.
Editor’s Note: The reviewer, Phyllis Morreale-de la Garza is the author of many books about the Old West including Hell Horse Winter of the Apache Kid, Silk Label Books, P.0. Box 700, Unionville, New York 10988 Ph. (845) 726-3434 www.silklabelbooks.com
*Courtesy of Chronicle of the Old West newspaper, for more click HERE.
Old West Book Review: The Boys Of Company K
This book is a very carefully researched, well-written documentary about the men who volunteered to “go west” during the Civil War to fight Indians on the northern plains. They marched on foot (horses were scarce due to the war back east) to Wyoming where they built forts, protected telegraph lines, lived in remote outposts where they were sometimes deprived of proper shelter, food and clothing.
The Eleventh Ohio Volunteer Cavalry, Company K is fascinating reading for anyone interested in the Plains Indians and their last days in relation to America’s Westward expansion. Important skirmishes, battles and fights are chronicled here sometimes by the men themselves who wrote letters home to family members, or to their local newspapers.
The soldiers suffered greatly, sometimes putting up with commanding officers who did not always have their welfare in mind. Food and supply shortages hindered camp life as did some horses who were little more than rugged Indian ponies bolting and bucking, offering more danger during emergencies than the Indians did.
Some letters included stories about Jim Bridger, a mountain man known for spinning wild yarns that entertained the troops.
The book is divided into sections beginning with “The Long Road to Laramie,” then comes “Life at the Fort”, which tells about such things as teamsters quarters, sutlers store, horse corrals and graveyard. Information covers daily drills, horse grooming, inspection and maneuvers, pulling guard duty or cutting wood. Laundresses on “Soapsuds Row” charged one dollar per month which was taken immediately out of soldiers pay. Terrible weather conditions included blizzards and sub-zero temperatures. More than one soldier froze to death when caught overnight on the plains. The term “firewater” came from the buyer tossing a splash of whiskey into a fire to see if it flared up. If not, that meant the whiskey had been watered down.
By July 1862 Indian attacks along the Oregon Trail forced the migration of travelers to stop for a while to allow time for soldiers to ride to the rescue. The government was worried that Indians could stop communication between East and West. Stage holdups, cut telegraph lines, and attacks on freighters kept the soldiers riding day and night.
For three years the men battled hot dry summers, cold winters, hail storms, sudden drops in temperature, unrelenting thunder storms, lice, poor rations, barren living quarters and always Indians. Readers get a glimpse of a soldier’s life on the lonely prairie where death could come at any moment.
The book tells of some chiefs who came to the fort with their followers seeking peace, food and a chance to voice their opinions concerning white people who had invaded their land and driven away buffalo and deer previously found in abundance.
The boys were glad when the 1866 they were told they were finally going home to Ohio. This time they rode their horses on the trip. Some friends were left in graveyards, killed by Indians, disease, and even suicide.
This book covers an important chapter in our Old West history that has been overshadowed by the eastern fighting during the Civil War time period. This chronicle is a must read for anybody interested in the Plains Indians Wars during the 1860s. You can grab it HERE.
Editor’s Note: The reviewer Phyllis Morreale-de La Garza is the author of numerous books about the Old West including Hell Horse Winter of the Apache Kid published by Silk Label Books, P.O. Box 700, Unionville, New York 10988 (845) 726-3434. Www.silklabelbooks.com
*Courtesy of Chronicle of the Old West newspaper, for more click HERE.
Old West Book Review: Lost Mines and Buried Treasures
Lost Mines and Buried Treasures. This dandy little book is fun to read, easy to understand, and is chock full of ideas about hunting for lost treasure in Wyoming.
The author, W.C. Jameson has long been interested in searching for hidden loot, and when still a boy, helped cart gold bars out of the Guadalupe Mountains in Old Mexico. Thus gold fever hit him hard. Now Jameson writes books, conducts writer’s workshops, plays a guitar and sings his Western songs all across the United States. I myself met Jameson in El Paso, Texas some years ago when he was the president of Western Writers of America. Cordial, witty, and easy to like, wearing a beard and long Wyatt Earp coat, he helped aspiring writers find publication. He was even instrumental in having the SPUR awards televised that year at the Camino Real on the Mexican border.
Inside this latest book readers will find 16 stories about lost treasure and how it came to be. Some have to do with stagecoach robberies, holdups and bank shoot-outs that went wrong. Others tell of gold nuggets glistening under the water of cold mountain streams.
Sometimes robbers hid the loot, only to be gunned down by local posses before they could tell the location of buried strong boxes. Other individuals panned gold from creeks only to be murdered by Indians. Some men found the gold all right, but were unable to carry it out of the hills and when they returned later with help, they became disoriented and never could pinpoint the location of the stash.
The idea of sinking a shovel into the earth, hitting a strongbox, and pulling up a million dollar bonanza is a fantasy to many of us, but some brave souls really do strike out with maps and shovels to try their luck. Here you will find the Lost Cabin Gold Mine where rich men lost their lives to marauding Indians and the Snake River Pothole Gold where glistening nuggets lured men to their deaths. The Birdseye Stage Station Gold heist resulted in $30,000 in gold coins buried somewhere near the robbery site. But who can find it now?
Indian raids, lost jade deposits, shoot-outs and the usual double-cross when gold is involved fill these pages. Jameson makes the stories sound believable since he gives directions and information gleaned from original sources. My particular favorite is the buried treasure of Nate Champion, whom I have always considered one of the heroes of the Johnson County Range War. Nate Champion single-handedly held off a passel of hired Texas gunmen. Alone inside his cabin, Champion kept a diary of what happened throughout that long day so those who found his body would know what happened there. According to the Jameson account, Nate had a stash of gold buried outside the cabin his killers never found.
There is the story of Big Nose George Parrot who was not only the ugliest man alive, but a killer and gun-slinging outlaw reported to have buried $150,000 in stolen loot. Of course George died with his lips sealed and his neck stretched by vigilantes. The desecration of his body parts by the local doctor gets even worse as Parrot’s tanned hide became a pair of shoes, and the top of his skull an ashtray. To this day folks still hunt in vain for poor Parrot’s buried treasure.
I suspect the sale of this book will provide more loot than might be found buried beside a burned-out cabin, but readers will have a grand time exploring these tales and who knows? You might be the lucky one.
Jameson’s stories are always fun. Sometimes his topics are controversial, like who is really buried in Billy the Kid’s grave. You will have a good time reading his stories, but remember Jameson might just be pulling your leg. You can join in on the fun and grab this book HERE.
Editor’s Note: The Reviewer, Phyllis Morreale-de la Garza is the author of many published books about the Old West. Her most recent is a novel titled Hell Horse Winter of the Apache Kid published by Silk Label Books, P.O. Box 700, Unionville, New York 10988 Www. silklabelbooks.com.
*Courtesy of Chronicle of the Old West newspaper, for more click HERE.
Old West Book Review: The Many Loves of Buffalo Bill
The Many Loves of Buffalo Bill. This book is a short introduction to the personal life of “Buffalo Bill” Cody who was born William F. Cody, in 1846 in Scott County, Iowa. He had a brother and three sisters who adored him, plus a worried mother who wanted the best for her son. William’s father died when the boy was ten years old, and William became the “little man” of the family at an early age. During his early years he worked as a freighter, buffalo hunter, army scout, Indian fighter, and daredevil rider for the Pony Express.
Tall and handsome, William cut a dashing figure with his long blonde hair and buckskin jackets. He deftly handled wagons and horses, and was a crack shot. From the very beginning of his working days, he was determined to take care of his mother and sisters, and accepted many dangerous jobs if the pay was good.
When still in his early twenties, he noticed Margaret Louisa Frederici’s good looks and superb horsemanship. Louisa was the daughter of a hard working farm family, who had been educated by Catholic nuns in a convent in St. Louis. The girl won the heart of William Cody, but a rocky personal road was ahead for both people. They married on March 6, 1866. Louisa had fallen madly in love with the dashing William Cody, but she eventually learned to despise him because of his philandering. She wanted William to find a steady job close to home, but that was not to his liking.
Always a good provider, off Cody went into one adventure after another while his wife kept the home fires burning. The couple had several children; two died at an early age. Staying at home, making many of her husband’s elaborate costumes, Louisa raised the children, took care of their ranch in Nebraska and stashed money William sent to her in properties she put into her own name.
“Buffalo Bill” had a dream about putting together a “Wild West” show, and that is exactly what he did. Year after year, he traveled to cities throughout the United States and even Europe. He employed hundreds of cowboys, cowgirls, sharpshooters, trick riders, stagecoach drivers, wild Indians and herds of horses and buffalo to fill his acts.
While William traveled constantly, he naturally attracted the attention of numerous women who fell for the dashing showman. Some women became romantically involved with him, while others, such as Annie Oakley, found the relationship strictly business. Nevertheless, Louisa harbored a burning jealously of her husband. This did not improve when she made a surprise visit to a hotel where he stayed while on tour, and discovered “Mr. And Mrs. William Cody” were registered there. Louisa’s threats reverberated for many years thereafter.
As news filtered back to Louisa about William’s affairs, including one of long standing with a beautiful blonde actress named Katherine Clemmons, the wife burned with resentment. It was later told by servants that Louisa tried to poison William on more than one occasion by serving him a tea concoction that made him violently ill.
Cody eventually applied for a divorce, but Louisa fought the legal action and the judge ruled in her favor. There was not enough evidence to prove attempted murder. In time the two reconciled, and remained together until death did they part.
Buffalo Bill Cody passed away due to heart failure January 10, 1817 and was buried in Colorado on Lookout Mountain. Thus ended the career of probably the most famous wild west showman of all time. He met presidents as well as kings and queens, Indian chiefs and lady sharpshooters. He had millions of adoring fans. A more flamboyant character is hard to imagine.
This little book is a first step toward uncovering the personal life of Buffalo Bill Cody. It is fast-paced and fun to read. You can join the fun by grabbing this book HERE.
Editor’s Note: Reviewer, Phyllis Morreale-de la Garza is the author of numerous books about the Old West including The Apache Kid, published by Westemlore Press, P. 0. Box 35305, Tucson, Arizona 85740
*Courtesy of Chronicle of the Old West newspaper, for more click HERE.
Old West Book Review: The Lady Was A Gambler
The stories in this book are about thirteen women gamblers who lived by their wits. Some were the product of hard times; others chose their profession simply because they liked adventure. The book is fun to read, the chapters are short with stories told right to the point. A bibliography appears at the back of the book offering information about each lady if the reader is inclined to do additional research. Unfortunately the bibliography regarding Calamity Jane omits the best biography written about her to date titled Calamity Jane, by James D. McLaird, published by the University of Oklahoma Press, 2005, and was reviewed in this column a while back.
In any case, this book, written for light entertainment, does a good job in picking out a variety of interesting women, albeit some better known than others.
Kitty LeRoy was a bigamist, cardsharp, and knife-wielding saloonkeeper who dressed like a gypsy. She hailed from Dallas, Texas eventually making her way north to Deadwood Gulch, South Dakota where she ran a saloon, cheated at cards, and married multiple times without bothering with divorces. Her last jealous husband shot her to death at the Lone Star Saloon before taking his own life.
Belle Ryan Cora was one of the most glamorous women gamblers, whose father was also a minister.
Abandoned by her first husband, the distraught Belle fled to New Orleans. Here she worked as a prostitute, and met a handsome gambler. The pair moved on to the California goldfields, settling in San Francisco where they ran a profitable brothel and gambling den. When her lover was hanged by vigilantes, Belle died of a broken heart after giving most of her money to local charities.
Alice Ivers was known as Poker Alice, and worked the saloons in Deadwood, South Dakota. An attractive blonde, she was an expert at five-card draw, faro, and blackjack. After her husband was killed in a mine accident, she began earning her living exclusively at the gambling tables. Alice traveled throughout many western states, where she gambled, drank whiskey, smoked cigars and swore mightily whenever she lost a hand. A friend of Wild Bill Hickok, she was nearby the night he was killed. In her old age, she dressed like a man and sold bootleg whiskey. Alice was reported to be worth millions in her youth, but died a pauper in 1930 after a short illness.
Gertrudis Maria Barcelo was a sultry vamp living in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Born in Sonora, Mexico in 1800, her wealthy parents lavished their beautiful daughter with every gift including a good education. To the dismay of her parents, Gertrudis married a gambler, and the pair headed north to Santa Fe where she spent her dowry on an elaborate gambling house and bordello known as The Palace. Meanwhile, “Madam Barcelo” invested her money in mines, hotels and freight lines. She worked as an American spy, supporting the U.S. in its interest to remain separate from Mexico. Her affair with the governor of New Mexico led to the breakup of her marriage, but she remained a gambler to the end, becoming the richest woman in Santa Fe. When she died in 1852, her elaborate funeral was complete with music, cowboys, horses, speeches by church and city officials, barbecues, and merrymaking that was long remembered.
Women gamblers Belle Siddons, Lottie Deno, Belle Starr, Eleanora Dumont, Jenny Rowe, Minnie Smith and others are found in this entertaining book. These true stories remind us that women were rough, tough and headstrong in the Old Days, and would have laughed at political labels such as “Women’s Lib” because even in the 1800s, nothing could stop a woman who really wanted to blaze her own trail. You can go all in and grab this book HERE.
Editor’s Note: The Reviewer, Phyllis Morreale-de la Garza is the author of many published books, including Silk and Sagebrush: Women of the Old West, published by Silk Label Books, P.O. Box 700, Unionville, New York 10988 (845-726-3434) www.silklabelbooks.com
*Courtesy of Chronicle of the Old West newspaper, for more click HERE.
Old West Book Review: Riding For The Brand
Riding For The Brand. Author, rancher, researcher and historian, Michael Pettit is a Cowden family descendant who chronicles his sentimental journey about trailing his family history in this book. His ancestors began migrating toward Texas in the 1850s, seeking land and opportunities in a country where few white settlers had gone before them. From place to place, the Cowdens found fertile valleys and water thinking this was their final stop. However, drought and vagaries of Comanche wars plus uncertain boundary lines caused them to move yet again. Over the years they migrating all the way across Texas and eventually into New Mexico where some family members remain today on their 50,000 acre ranch near Santa Rosa, in the western part of the state.
Pettit follows his family trail using personal letters, oral accounts, plus newspaper stories and legal documents found in libraries and courthouses. He visited lonely graveyards, always seeking the names of relatives who passed this way. They were born, lived, fought the elements, while standing up to every conceivable difficulty that made ranching pioneers tough. Cowdens lost family members from old age, childhood plagues and ranch accidents, but still they persevered.
Life for the Cowden women going back to the old days was never easy. Early graves are scattered across Texas, showing how many of these women died young. We can only imagine the hard work and drudgery on these ranches combined with moving to new locations and setting up households yet again inside hardscrabble shacks and raising large families many miles from friends and neighbors, town and supplies, or doctors and medical attention. These ranch women put in long, hard days and learned self-sufficiency.
While discovering facts about his family, Pettit finds a wealth of information about the land, weather conditions, Indian culture, economic woes, the oil business, cattle raising and cowboy life. He delves into old time cattle drives, and the stories of cowboys who worked for the ranchers. The book explains how early ranchers eventually organized Cattle Raisers Associations to protect themselves from rustlers and other woes. Brand inspectors were hired, while new brands and symbols were registered. Ranchers shared information regarding disease, vaccinations, predators, and opportunities in the cattle market.
Meanwhile, Pettit spends time on his relative’s ranch in New Mexico, telling the history of the outfit while helping with modern day ranch work. The horses, the branding, the care of livestock and life inside the bunkhouse telling tall tales for entertainment makes reading a combination of Old West history entwined with present-day life on a large working cattle ranch.
Pettit’s storytelling is straightforward, honest, and always with an eye for accuracy. He keeps a diary which in itself is filled with important data as he makes the rounds each day. He knows his family, understands the people and tries to explain how life on these ranches is never easy. As the book evolves, it becomes apparent that modern-day Cowdens have continued their ancestral way of life. Perhaps they now have telephones, pickup trucks and other modern conveniences, but this rugged existence is never easy and certainly not for the frivolous or faint of heart. However, the Cowdens wouldn’t have it any other way.
Riding for the Brand is warmly written and gives readers a wonderful insight into modern day ranching as well as an appreciation for the old Texas cattle ranching days. Saddle up and get this book HERE.
Editor’s Note: The reviewer, Phyllis Morreale-de la Garza is the author of numerous books about the Old West including Silk and Sagebrush, Women of the Old West, published by Silk Label Books, P.O. Box 700, Unionville, New York 10988 www.silklabelbooks.com
*Courtesy of Chronicle of the Old West newspaper, for more click HERE.
Old West Book Review: Myth, Memory and Massacre The Pearl River Capture of Cynthia Ann Parker
Students of Texas history are familiar with the story of Cynthia Ann Parker, the nine-year-old white girl taken captive by Comanches, May 19, 1836. For the next 24 years, Cynthia Ann lived with her Comanche captors, bore at least four children and somehow survived the rigors of life among the Indians until her rescue in 1860 by a troop of Texas Rangers in a fight known as “The Battle of Pease River.”
By now Cynthia Ann had been assimilated into the tribe, had forgotten most if not all of the English language, resisted parting with her Comanche children, and had become a hardened, sun-burned woman with huge work-worn hands, chopped hair and haunted eyes.
Ripped from her family at age 9, having witnessed the brutal murders of her parents and friends, faced with abuse and humiliation in a Comanche camp, Cynthia Ann Parker became the most famous of the white captives in Texas. There were many hundreds of other white girls and women taken captive by marauding Comanches, too. Most were raped, tortured and killed. Others traded back to their families were covered with scars and facial mutilation. But what made Cynthia Ann different is that one of her children grew up to become Quanah Parker, famous in his own right as a chief and important negotiator between Indians and Whites.
After her rescue, Cynthia Ann never did adjust completely to return to White society. She died of a broken heart in 1870 and is buried at Fort Sill, Oklahoma between two of her Comanche children.
If you are interested in the complete history of the life and times of Cynthia Ann Parker, you must look elsewhere because there are many books available on the subject. This book, Myth, Memory and Massacre delves mainly into events regarding the accidental rescue of Cynthia Ann by the Rangers at Pease River. When the Rangers attacked a Comanche hunting party, they had no idea Cynthia Ann Parker was living with this clan. The Rangers nearly killed her as she ran away clutching her baby, but one of the men realized she had blue eyes and correctly guessed she was a White captive. It took a while to figure out who she was.
From here the authors begin their discussion of who, why, where and how. They carefully dissect events beginning with the initial raid upon the camp, pointing out this was a hunting camp filled with women and children who had been butchering and preparing buffalo meat for winter. Most of the Indians killed were women and children. The surprise rescue of the white woman is what caused such a sensation throughout Texas since nobody thought Cynthia Ann could still be alive. The publicity gave some individuals riding with the Rangers the opportunity for self importance and political gain. Their actions, motives and self-promotion are exposed with regard to their showing the battle of Pease River had been a great victory with many more Indians killed, and at least one war chief taken out of action, which was probably not true.
The authors have done a great deal of careful research and tedious fact- finding. Their conclusions are meant to clear up, in their opinion, many falsehoods regarding the rescue of Cynthia Ann that after many years of telling and re-telling has become folklore. The authors aim to show how the rescue of Cynthia Ann Parker was eventually used for political advantage, and finally how the analyzation of these events historically have been misleading. For those interested in “the rest of the story” concerning Cynthia Ann Parker, this book might help close the final chapter. You can tell for yourself and grab this amazing book HERE.
Editor’s Note: The reviewer, Phyllis Morreale-de la Garza is the author of numerous books about the Old West including Hell Horse Winter of the Apache Kid, Silk Label Books, P.O. Box 700, Unionville, New York 10988 vvww.silklapelbooks.
*Courtesy of Chronicle of the Old West newspaper, for more click HERE.
Old West Book Review: Cowboys
Beginning with the cover photo, western buffs will be mightily entertained by this unusual book made up mostly of beautiful, large, clear photographs. On the cover readers see the chuck wagon cook pouring flour from a bucket into a washtub, one cowboy sitting inside a storage box on top of the chuck wagon, while another pours what looks like “white lightning” from a jug into somebody’s tin cup. Here you have the makings of a fine outdoor dinner. Bed rolls on the ground and smoke rising from the fire under enormous Dutch ovens tell it all.
The book begins by telling the story of the original photographer Frank M. Sherman, who, along with his three cowboy brothers before 1900 rode the old-time trails driving cattle throughout Colorado and beyond. Frank eventually became a photographer, and by 1903 he owned a photo studio in Colorado Springs, Colorado. He wanted to expand his post card collection, so re-joined his brothers on a cattle drive at that time. During the drive he unexpectedly got information that President Theodore Roosevelt was traveling by train through Colorado, and the cowboys invited him to stop and enjoy a “cowboy chuck wagon breakfast” with them. Thus the president appears in this book laughing with the crew. His silk high-hat and elegant suit makes a comical contrast with the battered cowboy garb assembled around him. Everybody looks like they are having a great time.
In 1906 Frank re-located to Oregon where he opened a photo shop, and also became a prominent small fruit grower. He married, had a family, but was tragically killed in a shooting accident at his farm in 1921. His widow abandoned the property, including Frank’s collection of glass negatives
These precious negatives languished in the basement of the house until 1966 when a new lady owner of the property discovered the box and just before hauling it all to the city garbage dump, contacted the local photographer John Eggen. She asked if he would like to have the plates since she did not know anything about them and had no interest in it. Mr. Eggen accepted the offer, and when examining the contents of this mysterious box he found three hundred 5 X 7 glass plates, a treasure chest record of real old-time cowboys working on the open range.
Mr. Eggen compiled a book which was published in 1992. Having grown up on a ranch in western South Dakota, Mr. Eggen appreciated these wonderful photos and carefully preserved them here for us to see.
Page after page, readers will find the guns, the spurs, the chaps, the steely-eyed expressions on the faces of real working cowboys. The chuck wagons and all the gear, bucking horses, cattle branding, ranch buildings and corrals, throwing a bronc to trim its hooves, roping steers, and the desolate plains are here. Cowboys chop wood, haul “buffalo chips”, harness horses, run cows through the dipping pens, and doctor sick calves. Readers see the dust and the smoke and the brand inspection. Some of these men grinned for the cameraman, but most were a no-nonsense crowd doing a hard job.
Who said the Old West was merely a fantasy? Surely that remark came from somebody who lived in Hollywood. This book shows what true grit is all about.
Cowboys by John Eggen belongs in your Old West library. You can get it HERE.
Editor’s Note: The Reviewer, Phyllis Morreale-de la Garza is the author of many published books, including the novel Widow’s Peak, published by Silk Label Books, P.O. Box 700, Unionville, New York 10988 (845-726-3434) www.silklabelbooks.com
*Courtesy of Chronicle of the Old West newspaper, for more click HERE.
Old West Book Review: Agnes Lake Hickok
The amazing story of Agnes Lake Hickok, the wife of Wild Bill Hickok, appears for the first time in this wonderfully written and carefully researched volume. Beginning with the early life of the girl born in Germany in 1826, the book tells how Agnes Messmann immigrated to the United States after a long ocean voyage. Some family members died during the harrowing trip, but the rest eventually arrived at a German-speaking community north of Cincinnati, Ohio where they farmed.
At age twelve, Agnes witnessed her first circus. After a sixteen-mile trip to town by wagon, the family was entertained by an elephant, an animal act featuring lions and leopards, trick dogs, an Indian rubber man, clowns and dancing horses. Apparently this event impressed young Agnes so much that by her 19th birthday she declared her independence and eloped with a circus man named William Lake she met when another circus came to her hometown.
Against her family’s wishes, Agnes took up the grueling, albeit exciting life of a circus performer. For nearly forty years the couple criss-crossed the eastern and southern United States working for a variety of circuses. Lake himself had done equestrian acts, plus tricks and stunts with dogs and other animals, but he was primarily known for his clown act. The Lakes even crossed the Atlantic to perform one season in Germany. Back in America, Agnes was famous for her equestrienne “high school” routines riding highly trained horses, as well as her daring feat as a slack-wire walker. Later, she worked as an animal trainer with lions and tigers. Her daughter became famous as an expert circus equestrienne, too. Agnes raised several children, and experienced the tragic deaths of two infants. She understood the hard days of constant travel by wagon and later by train. The shocking death of her husband at the hand of a murderer, tossed her into the position of running the circus by herself for several seasons.
In Abilene, Kansas, Agnes now widowed, met the dashing bachelor and town marshal known as Wild Bill Hickok. Various versions of this encounter include the two people being instantly attracted to one another. However, it was five years later when they met again, and married on March 5, 1876. Their union has always been a curiosity since Hickok was an avowed bachelor, and Agnes was much older than him. Shortly after their marriage, Hickok ventured to the Black Hills to make arrangements for the couple to settle on a ranch when he was murdered in August of 1876 in a Deadwood barroom while playing cards.
This is where popular history and Agnes Lake Hickok part company. When he was killed, Wild Bill was already a legend in the west. Since he had been acquainted with Calamity Jane, novelists and newspaper writers were quick to team those two up romantically. In reality, it is highly unlikely that Wild Bill and Calamity had any serious personal relationship. Calamity Jane was a rollicking drunkard who made up enormous lies about herself, and Wild Bill was never known to consort with lewd women. However, dime novels, plays, and eventually Hollywood movies found wonderful grist for their mill, thus Agnes was forgotten in connection with the life of Wild Bill.
Be that as it may, Wild Bill and Calamity rest in peace a few yards away from each other as a tourist attraction in a Deadwood cemetery. Agnes died of old age in 1907, and rests in the family plot in Cincinnati, Ohio beside her first husband.
Agnes is seldom mentioned in connection with Wild Bill, but she had tremendous strength and fortitude and was one of the most admired circus performers of her day. Bill and Agnes Lake’s Hippo-Olympiad and Mammoth Circus was one of the largest traveling tent shows in the United States. It boasted of 240 men and horses and over the years entertained millions of people across the country. Known as the “Circus Queen,” with or without Wild Bill, Agnes Lake Hickok is a legend in her own right. You can find out more by grabbing this book HERE.
Editor’s Note: The reviewer, Phyllis Morreale-de la Garza is the author of numerous books including the novel Silk and Sagebrush; Women of the Old West,, published by Silk Label Books, P.O. Box 700, Unionville, New York 10988-0700
*Courtesy of Chronicle of the Old West newspaper, for more click HERE.
Old West Book Review: Captain John R. Hughes
The true story of Texas Ranger Captain John R. Hughes is another splendid work of author Chuck Parsons who specializes in writing about the life and times of various outlaws and lawmen. His non-fiction books are fast-paced, exciting Old West adventures.
This one begins with the early history of John R. Hughes’ ancestors with examination of his younger days leading up to his adventuresome life with the Texas Rangers. Hughes was born in 1855, one of seven children. His family was in the farming business in the Midwest.
Young John was adventuresome, and when he became curious about stories he’d heard about Indian Territory,” he ran away from home and worked at a number of jobs. At one ranch he single-handedly recovered a herd of stolen horses from a band of outlaws. His wandering led him all the way to Texas, where John and his older brother ran a horse operation for nine years known as the Long Hollow Ranch.
In time John Hughes joined the Texas Rangers, and author Parsons carefully follows the monthly return records that chronicle the unrelenting hunt for cattle rustlers, horse thieves, drunkards, embezzlers, smugglers, train robbers, and murderers. Many photographs appear throughout the text of steely-eyed Texas Rangers packing plenty of iron, including one filled with more than thirty armed Rangers standing at the ready to prevent the Fitzsimmons-Maher prizefight in 1896. This event alone is worthy of a separate story.
Not all who dealt with the Rangers admired them. Bat Masterson, who lived in Texas during his early career considered the Rangers little more than “a four-flushing band of swashbucklers.” This statement is wildly hilarious when one considers that Bat Masterson was associated with the Earps who were hardly choir boys.
This biography of Capt. John R. Hughes is filled with hard riding, straight-shooting derring-do. Hughes covered thousands of miles in all kinds of weather, recovering stolen stock while faced with sudden death in ambushes and shootouts. Combined with this, Hughes as Captain dealt with personal problems of his men along with administrative concerns and political distractions.
One photo in the book shows Hughes with the beautiful and mysterious Elfreda Wuerschmidt taken near Rockport, Texas. This twenty-year-old beauty, the love of Hughes’ life, died of unknown circumstances, leaving Captain Hughes a lifelong bachelor who often visited the lady’s unmarked grave. He never shared his broken-hearted feelings with snoopy biographers, thus we do not know how she died.
By 1915, after 27 years of faithful service, Hughes retired from the Texas Rangers. Nearing sixty, he spent his remaining years gathering honors, and resounding best wishes from his legions of grateful and admiring citizens of the Lone Star State. He became a celebrity giving newspaper interviews and riding in rodeo parades. He traded his horse for an automobile and even became the protagonist in a Zane Grey novel, titled Lone Star Ranger.
At age 92, wracked with illness and infirmity, white saddened by the gradual loss of friends and family, on June 3, 1947 Captain John R. Hughes took his own life with his pearl handled Colt 45.
Chuck Parson’s well-written, carefully researched and deeply sentimental tribute to this fascinating Texas Ranger belongs in your Old West library. Get your copy HERE.
Editor’s Note: Reviewer Phyllis Morreale-de Ia Garza is the author of numerous books about the Old West, including the novel Railroad Avenue, published by Silk Label Books, P.O. Box 700, Unionville, New York 10988-0700. www.silklabelbooks.com
*Courtesy of Chronicle of the Old West newspaper, for more click HERE.
Old West Book Review: Texas Ranger N.O. Reynolds
Parsons and Brice have chosen Texas Ranger (Nelson Orcelus) N.O. Reynolds not because he is well-known, but because he is deserving of recognition. Reynolds was one of those brave, dedicated individuals who believed in justice, law and order. He was willing to ride hard, shoot straight and suffer all of the hardships and dangers in a land filled with deadly intrigues.
Author Parsons has written numerous Western history books. He was for seventeen years “The answer Man” for True West magazine, as well as editor for the Quarterly and Newsletter of the National Association for Outlaw and lawman History. (NOLA).
For writing this book, Parsons has partnered with native born Texan Donaly E. Brice, Senior Research Assistant of the Texas State Library and Archives Commission. Brice has authored a number of books depicting Texas history.
Carefully researched, well-written, the biography of N.O. Reynolds is fast-paced reading about a man who served with the Texas Rangers, Company E, Frontier Battalion in various ranks for nearly five years. During that time only one man, Tim McCarty was killed in Reynold’s command. “Citizens of Texas wanted lawmen with courage and efficiency,” and they certainly got that with N.O. Reynolds. He seemed always in the middle of things when it came to a variety of feuds and gunslinger escapades. The Horrell-Higgins feud, Comanche raids, the Hoo Doo War, the transporting of Texas man-killer John Wesley Hardin, night rides, unruly lynch mobs, shootouts, ambushes, tracking thieves and killers, and capturing the Sam Bass gang were all part of Reynolds’ Job which he handled with steadfast efficiency.
In 1879, after nearly five years of service in Company E, Reynolds resigned from the Ranger Service citing health issues. He had been a Texas Ranger since 1874. At this time he went into the liquor business and bought property and ran a bar for a while but in 1880 he accepted a job as commander of Company D with the Texas Rangers. However, he stalled taking the job citing trouble selling his business, and the job was filled by somebody else.
in 1882 Reynolds, at age 35, married the 20-year old Irene T. Nevill, the younger sister of one of his sergeants. The couple married at the bride’s home in Austin. They would have two daughters, Emma Elizabeth and Lula Jenkins. Lula Jenkins Reynolds Blunt died of appendicitis when still a young woman; her early death was a great tragedy for the family
In 1883 Reynolds became City Marshal of Lampasas, Texas. Here he was still a businessman, his name carne up periodically in newspapers as locals tattled on him for selling liquor on Sundays.
In 1888 to 1890 he was elected sheriff of Lampasas County. He dealt with murder, mayhem and fence cutters. Ranchers cut fences in desperation allowing their cattle to roam for grass and water during a hard drought. Murder followed as desperate cattleman struggled over open rangeland vs private property.
Eventually Reynolds would move to the Gulf Coast of Texas where he worked in the shoe business. According to newspaper advertising, within ten years he was back again in the liquor business. Reynolds’ final employment was work as a night foreman at the Yellow Pine Paper Mill in Orange, one hundred miles east of Houston. He remained here until his retirement in old age. Reynolds died of pneumonia March 1, 1922. His wife died in 1947, and the two rest side by side in the Center Point Cemetery where thirty-two Texas Rangers are buried.
In 1987 the Kerr County Historical Commission with the Center Point Sesquicentennial Committee sponsored a marker dedication honoring these men. In addition, in 1999 a Texas Ranger memorial service sponsored by the Former Texas Ranger Association of San Antonio was held here honoring these brave men who rode, fought, and lived in a different time. Get your copy of this book HERE.
The reviewer, Phyllis Morreale-de la Garza is the author of numerous books about the Old West, including the true crime Death For Dinner, The Benders of (Old) Kansas, published by Silk Label Books, P. 0. Box 700, Unionville, New York, 10988-0700 www.silklabelbooks.com.
*Courtesy of Chronicle of the Old West newspaper, for more click HERE.
