EMPERIOR NORTON
Did you know that back in the 1870’s the United States was ruled by an Emperor? Well, even back then most of the citizens didn’t know 
it. Our Emperor was Emperor Norton, and he lived in San Francisco.
If you visit this link you’ll get the full story:
SACKETTS
Friday I picked up a DVD of the mini series TV adaption of Louis L’Amour’s Sackett books…I got it at Walmart for $5.00.
And Saturday afternoon I watched it. It was made in 1979. The movie starred Tom Selleck, Sam Elliott, Glenn Ford and Ben Johnson as well as a slew of other great character actors like Slim Pickens, Jack Elam and Buck Taylor.
I had watched it when it originally came out, but sure did enjoy seeing Tom Selleck and Sam Elliott back when they were much younger…just as I was.
It was well worth the $5.00 investment.
What ever happened to Jeff Osterhgage who played Tyrel Sackett?
WARREN EARP
We’ve all heard about bringing a knife to a gun fight. Well, on this date back in 1900 that’s just what Jam
es, Morgan, Virgil and Wyatt’s little brother did.
After participating in Wyatt’s ride of vengeance because of the cowboy’s wounding of Virgil and killing Morgan, Warren went to live with his parents in Colton, California
With Warren regularly getting into trouble, his father got fed up with him and sent him packing. Warren ended up in Willcox, Arizona where he did a little cowboying and a lot of drinking. On July 6, 1900, Warren got crossways with a John Boyet. Some say it was because of a woman, others say it was a carry-over from the Tombstone days. In a confrontation, Warren kept pushing Boyet, until Boyet finally pulled his gun and killed Warren. This was a case of bringing a knife to a gunfight. For, it was discovered that Warren didn’t have a gun. But he did have a knife.
It seems that, to his dying day, Warren was trying to live up to the reputation of his brothers Wyatt and Virgil by being able to buffalo a man, and disarm him.
CELEBRATING THE 4TH
In 1864 Orlando Robbins became the deputy sheriff of the gold mining town of Idaho City, Idaho. With the Civil War taking place in the east, 
the miners were polarized into Union and Confederate camps. Robbins’ major job was separating drunken miners supporting their individual cause.
As Independence Day approached, the Confederate supporters said they were not going to allow any Yankee sing the “Star Spangled Banner.” Now, Robbins, a Union supporter, wasn’t going to let anyone tell him what to do. So, on July 4, 1864 Orlando Robbins walked into a tavern of southern sympathizers, climbed on a pool table, pulled his two pistols, and with the tavern silent started singing the “Star Spangled Banner.” After finishing, he walked out, and the crowd parted like the Red Sea for Moses.
Orlando continued as a lawman, and in his 60’s he was dealing with outlaws one third his age. Truly, Orlando Robbins was as great a hero as any of the more famous Old West lawmen.
NEW YORK CATTLE DRIVE
Did you know that on this date back in 1854 the first cattle drive from Texas arrived in New York City? You would if you’re a subscriber to This Week In The Old West.
In case you’re not, here’s the story:
This cattle drive wasn’t done by a Texas cowboy, but an English immigrant who grew up in Illinois, by the name of Thomas Ponting.
Ponting wasn’t a novice around cattle. As a youth in England he drove cattle to London. And later in Illinois he drove cattle up to Wisconsin. Hearing about cheap cattle in Texas, he and partner Washington Malone went down there and bought 800 longhorn cattle.
Four months after their start they got to Illinois. It was winter. So they took time to fatten the cattle on corn. In the spring Ponting sold all but 150 of the longhorns. Those 150 he wanted to take to New York. When they got to Muncie,
Indiana Pointing got the idea of transporting them the rest of the way by rail car.
When they arrived in New York, they were taken to the Hundred Street Market and auctioned off.
Although Pointing’s cattle drive was a great feat in itself, his greatest achievement was to show that cattle could be brought 2,000 miles from Texas and sold at a profit. And with this a new page in Old West history was opened.
If you’re interested in receiving a story like this via email each Sunday, go to www.ThisWeekInTheOldWest.com. It’s free.
LITTLE BIG HORN
On this day back in 1876 the United States was preparing to celebrate its 100th birthday when news came from the western frontier that much of the 7th Cavalry led by Colonel George Armst
rong Custer had been wiped out by Indians led by Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse.
Custer had been told by his Indian scouts that he was about to attack a village of many thousand Indians…Some estimates say as many as 11,000 Indians. Dismissing his scouts reports Custer divided his 600 men into four battalions.
It didn’t take long for Custer to realize his scouts were right. Custer and his 215 men were attacked by about 3,000 Indians, and within an hour they were all wiped out.
This was the Indian’s greatest victory in the Plains Indian War. But the Indians weren’t able to enjoy it for long. The army accelerated their efforts against the Indian. Within five years virtually all the Sioux and Cheyenne would be on reservations.
REPUBLIC OF CALIFORNIA
We all know that Texas was an independent republic before becoming a state. But did you know that California was an independent republic too?
Although owned by Mexico, back in 1846 there were very few Mexican settlers in California. In reality there American settlers comprised the largest segment of the population.
On June 14, 1846, anticipating a war with Mexico, 33 Americans lead by William Ide invaded the Mexican outpost of Sonoma, north of San Francisco. They surrounded the home of Mexican General, Mariano Vallejo. With a bloodless victory, the Americans took a cotton sheet and with red paint they made a flag of a grizzly bear and single red star…A reference to the Texas Republic…and printed the words on the flag “California Republic”. The revolt was known as the Bear Flag Revolt.
Three weeks after California became an independent republic; American forces took control of Monterey and officially raised the American flag over California. Since this was what the American rebels wanted, they dissolved their government.
Incidentally, that Bear Flag became the official flag of California.
THE LONG RIDERS
I had a couple of hours downtime yesterday and I decided to watch a western movie. I picked one from my collection of DVD’s that I hadn’t seen in a while…The Long Riders.
This movie was written and produced by Stacey and James Keach. It’s about the James-Younger gang. As far as I’m concerned it’s an extraordinary film. The unique thing is that actor brothers play outlaw brothers. The Carradines are the Youngers, and the Keachs are Jesse and Frank. Even Robert Ford and his brother are played by brothers.
Historically, it’s fairly accurate as well. Probably Bell Starr had a bigger role in the movie than she did in the life of Cole Younger.
What’s your opinion of the movie?
PEARL HART
Just when everyone thought the wild Old West was gone, on this date back in 1899 a small slight woman by the name of Pearl Hart and 
her boyfriend held up a stagecoach in the Florence, Arizona area.
Their take was a little over $400. But they weren’t able to spend it, because in a short time they were captured and jailed.
Shortly afterward, with the help of some men, Pearl escaped. But, because of her fame, she was recognized and returned to jail.
Pearl and her boyfriend were tried and convicted. The boyfriend got 30 years and Pearl got 5.
Pearl’s life after she got out of jail is surrounded in myth. Some say she became “The Arizona Bandit” with Buffalo Bill and in vaudeville. Others say she married a Calvin Bywater and settled down to a life of domestic bliss.
Whichever one it was, Pearl never got crosswise with the law again.
OLD WEST PHOTOS
Our good friend Michael F. Blake turned us on to some unbelievable Old West pictures that were taken between 1867 and 1884.
It’s just amazing the skill of photographers during this time. Especially when you consider if they can take a dozen pictures a day they’re working hard.
Here’s the link: http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2012/05/the-american-west-150-years-ago/100304/
CYNTHIA ANN PARKER
On this date back in 1836 on
e of the Old West’s most tragic events began to unfold.
At the age of nine, Cynthia Ann Parker’s family was killed and she, along with some other children, was kidnapped. The Comanche took her, and she lived with them for 25 years.
She became the wife of Peta Nocona, and gave birth to two boys and a girl. Comanche warriors normally take more than one wife. Nocona was happy with just Cynthia Ann.
In December 1860 a group of Texas Rangers attached Nocona’s village and rescued Cynthia Ann and her daughter.
Rather than feeling she had been rescued, Cynthia Ann felt she was kidnapped a second time. Cynthia Ann resigned herself to a life among a people she no longer understood. In 1863 her daughter died. And she died seven years later of influenza brought on by self-imposed starvation.
Incidentally, her son Quanah Parker became the last great war chief of the Comanche tribe. One wonders if he would have gone to war had Cynthia Ann not been kidnapped.
DICK FELLOWS
We see outlaws in the movies riding at breakneck speed to chase down a stagecoach, and then jump from the horse to the stagecoach to encounter the driver and guard. All outlaws weren’t that good of horsemen.
One such person got out of San Quentin Prison on this date back in 1881. His name was Dick Fellows.
Raised in Kentucky, Dick Fellows…An alias…came to California, and falling on hard times decided to rob stagecoaches. He picked the correct stage. It was carrying $240,000. However, as he was getting ready to go after the stage, the stolen horse he was riding threw him, and he was knocked unconscious.
Not one to give up, Fellows stole another horse and held up the next stage. He was successful. After the stage left, he tried to lift the strong box on his horse. The horse startled and raced off.
With night coming on he started walking with the strong box. Next he fell over a high bluff, knocking himself unconscious a second time. He woke up with a broken leg and foot.
Although the strong box has $1800 in it, he never got a chance to spend it, before Wells Fargo Detectives caught up with him.
When he got out of San Quentin, I believe most people would take the hint and go straight. But not Fellows. He went back to robbing stages, only to be caught again and sentenced to life in Folsom Prison.
BATTLE OF PALO ALTO
On this date back in 1846, Zachary Taylor led American forces against an attacking Mexican Army in the Battle of Palo Alto.
Mexico had never recognized the independence of Texas, and when the U.S. annexed Texas, Mexico sent troops into the disputed Rio Grande River area.
President Polk ordered General Taylor into Texas to defend the border. It was viewed by Mexico as a hostile invasion and the Mexican Army attacked the American forces.
Although the Mexican forces were much larger in number, General Taylor was not only victorious in this battle; he won four additional battles and gained control over the three northeastern Mexican states.
Incidentally, as a result of these and other victories, Zachary Taylor became a national hero referred to as “Old Rough and Ready”. This eventually catapulted him into the Presidency. Unfortunately, he was a much better general than President.
ANDY ADAMS
On this date back in 1859 Andy Adams, the author of The Log of a Cowboy was born. He’s considered one of the most authentic chroniclers of the Old West.
Andy was born in Indians and ran away from home when a teenager. Ending up in Texas, he became a cowboy during the golden era of the cowboy. When the cattle drives ended he went to Colorado looking for gold. Not able to find his fortune, he settled down in Colorado Springs.
Andy began writing stories of his experiences as a cowboy. He wrote and published four books in four years. He’s best known for The Log of a Cowboy. This book is a must for any person interested in the Old West cowboy.
TIME ZONES
Have you ever wondered how time zones came about? Well, wonder no more. All you have to do is to click on the video 
link below and you’ll know the whole scoop.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5EKHRnnonxE
BAT MASTERSON
I find Bat Masterson one of the more intriguing men of the Old West. He is known as a gunfighter, but he was in very few gun fights.
The last gunfight he was in took place on this day back in 1881. It was to help out his brother Jim. Jim owned a business in Dodge City and was having trouble with Al Updegraff, a business partner. It had even involved gunfire.
I don’t know if Jim actually said the words, “I going to get my big brother and he’ll beat you up,” but Bat, in Tombstone at the time, heard about the conflict and jumped on a train to Dodge City.
Not a man to mince words, Bat immediately spotted Updegraff and brother-in-law Peacock and said, “I have come over a thousand miles to settle this. I know you are heeled, now fight!” All three men immediately drew their guns.
In the fracas Updegraff took a bullet in his right lung. The mayor and sheriff arrived with shotguns and stopped the shooting. No one was mortally injured in the shooting, and in accordance with Old West standards, the gunfight was fought fairly. So Masterson was fined $8. He paid the fine and took the next train out of Dodge City.
As an aside, had Bat not left Tombstone to help his brother, the chances are excellent he would have been around to help his friend Wyatt Earp in another gunfight…The one that took place at the OK Corral.
BUTCH CASSIDY
On this date back in 1866 Robert Leroy Parker was born in Beaver, Utah Territory. But we know him as Butch Cassidy.
Supposedly, he picked up the name “Butch” from the short period of time he worked in a Rock Springs, Wyoming butcher shop. The last name came from a minor criminal mentor by the name of Mike Cassidy…I also suspect he didn’t want to bring shame on his strict Mormon family by using Parker.
Although Butch’s organizational skills and personality were probably suited more for a legitimate business life, he assembled a group of ruffians known as the “wild bunch.” Even though they could be considered misfits, Butch was able to meld them into a sophisticated criminal operation.
By the 1900’s the wild days of the West were fading and law enforcement was becoming more effective. So Butch, The Sundance Kid and Etta place fled to Argentina.
Here’s where legend and fact get blurry. Some say Butch and the Sundance Kid were killed by Bolivian troops. However members of his family maintain Butch came back to the United States and died of old age under another name.
Just as an aside. There are more than a dozen Old West outlaws, including Billy the Kid, who were supposedly not really killed, and they lived a long life under an alias. Sometimes I wonder if any Old West outlaw was ever killed.
PONY EXPRESS
On April 3, 1860, the first Pony Express mail riders, traveling by horse and rider relay teams, simultaneously left St. Joseph, Missouri, and
Sacramento, California. Ten days later, on April 13, the westbound rider and mail packet completed the approximately 1,800-mile journey and arrived in Sacramento, beating the eastbound packet’s arrival in St. Joseph by two days and setting a new standard for mail delivery.
Before the Pony Express a letter was delivered by ship or Butterfield Express, which could take from one to several months. So the ten day delivery was quite an improvement.
Unfortunately, as the Pony Express riders were riding east and west, they would come across men putting poles in the ground and stringing wire for the first transcontinental telegraph, which was completed in October 1861. With the transcontinental telegraph, there was no need for the Pony Express, and it ceased operations.
GOLIAD
We all know of the Texan’s battle cry of “Remember the Alamo” during their battle with Mexico. But there was a second part to that battle cry.
On this date back in 1836 Santa Anna’s army defeated a group of Texans at Goliad. When they surrendered he took 417 revolutionaries out and executed them.
His thinking was that an inexplicable act such as this would break the rebel’s spirit. Instead it inspired them, and the battle cry became “Remember the Alamo and Goliad!”
Less than a month later, Texan forces under General Sam Houston dealt a stunning blow to Santa Anna’s army in the Battle of San Jacinto, and Texas won its independence.
JIM BRIDGER BORN
On this date back in 1804 that great mountain man Jim Bridger was born.
At the age of 20 Jim headed west along the routes that Lewis and Clark had pioneered. At the age of 21 h
e was the first white to see the Great Salt Lake…Incidentally; he thought it was the Pacific Ocean.
Getting married to the daughter of a Flathead Indian Chief, he decided to settle down and started a trading post, founding Fort Bridger along the Oregon Trail in Wyoming.
At the age of 64 with eyesight failing and rheumatism, he retired in Westport, Missouri and died at the age of 76 on July 17, 1881.
NAMING OF SHOW LOW
I live in the northeastern part of Arizona in the White Mountains. The name of the town where I live is Show Low. How the name came about is a very interesting history.
To hear that story go to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCJ4vUTc4sY
SO YOU WANT TO GO BACK TO THE OLD WEST?
You want to go back to the Old West? In searching some old files I came across the following information. This is how it was at the end of the 1800’s.
- The average life expectancy in the U.S. was forty-seven.
- Only 14 percent of the homes in the U.S. had a bathtub.
- Only 8 percent of homes had a telephone.
- There were only 8,000 cars in the U.S., and only 144 miles of paved roads.
- The average wage in the U.S. was 22 cents an hour.
- The average U.S. worker made between $200 and $400 per year.
- More than 95 percent of all births in the U.S. took place at home.
- Ninety percent of all U.S. physicians had no college education. Instead, they attended medical schools, many of which were condemned in the press and by the government as “substandard.”
- Most women only washed their hair once a month! When they did they used borax or egg yolks for shampoo.
- The five leading causes of death in the U. S. were:
- Pneumonia and influenza
- Tuberculosis
- Diarrhea
- Heart disease
- Stroke
- One in ten U.S. adults couldn’t read or write.
- Only 6 percent of all Americans had graduated from high school.
APACHE KID
I just finished putting together our weekly radio show that will be aired the week of March 19 – 25. As a part of Arizona’s centennial celebr
ation, it included a conversation with Phyllis de la Garza about the Apache Kid. Phyllis has written a couple of books about him.
The Apache Kid, raised on the San Carlos Apache Reservation, became a sergeant of the Indian Scouts under Al Sieber. While Sieber was away, some Apache had a tiswin party. Unable to break up the party, Apache Kid joined in.
The Kid and some other scouts ended up going AWOL. When they returned, they were tried for being AWOL and sentenced to hang. Eventually, the sentence was changed to life. And after a year and a half, they were pardoned.
All of this took place in a military court. Next, Apache Kid was tried in civilian court for shooting Al Sieber in the leg…Although he was present at the shooting, there is no evidence he knew or had anything to do with the shooting.
On the way to Yuma Territorial Prison, with several other prisoners, the guards were overcome and everyone escaped. The Apache Kid was never captured. From that point, any atrocity that took place in the area was blamed on the Apache Kid.
I relate this story, not because I think the Apache Kid was a totally innocent person, but to show how events, rather than the person involved in the events can control so much of our lives.
END OF KANSAS TRAIL DRIVES
It seems that Kansas had a love-hate relationship with Texas cattle and the cowboys that brought them up.
The love part was the profits to be made providing supplies to the cattle drives and a good time to trail-weary cowboys. Frontier struggling towns like Dodge City, Caldwell, Ellsworth, Hays, and Newton competed with Abilene to be the top “Cow Town” of Kansas.
But, as Kansas started getting less “frontier” and farming became more important, residents, anxious to attract businesses other than saloons and places of ill repute, started getting less enamored with the Texas cattle industry.
Although the Texas cattlemen tried to stay away from cultivated farmland, according to one cowboy “there was scarcely a day when we didn’t have a row with some settler.”
In addition to this, the Texas cattle carried a tick fever and hoof-and-mouth disease for which they were immune, but the Kansas cattle weren’t.
So, on this date back in 1885 the Kansas Legislature passed a bill that barred Texas cattle from the state between March and December 1.
This, along with the closing of open range with barbed wire fences, signaled an end to the cattle drives to Kansas.
