BATTLE OF BEECHER’S ISLAND
The summer of 1868, Indians were conducting major raids on railroad work camps and homesteads. Major George Forsyth was ordered to put together a detachment of 50 volunteer frontiersmen to teach the Indians a lesson.
The first part of September they arrived at Kansas’ Fort Wallace, and immediately took after a group of Indians who had stolen some stock. On September 16, Forsyth and his men, low on rations, camped on the banks of the Arikaree River.
Unknown to Forsyth 4,000, Cheyenne, Arapaho and Sioux had been following him for three days. The morning of September 17 Major Forsyth and his men were awaken by the sounds of war cries. The 50 volunteers, with their animals, retreated and dug into a 40-yard by 150-yard sandbar.
By 9 A.M. the Indians had killed all of the volunteers’ horses and mules. Now there was no way of escape. A half hour later 300-mounted warriors, headed directly for the 50 volunteers. But, what the Indians didn’t realize was that all of Forsyth’s men were equipped with Spencer seven-shot repeating rifles and Colt pistols. Waiting until the last second to start firing, the charge was broken.
For eight days the Indian attacks continued, and the Spencer rifles kept them away from the volunteers. Two of the volunteers were able to get away and make it to Fort Wallace for help. By the time reinforcements arrived, the bulk of the Indians had left, with only a small contingency staying to starve out the volunteers.
Technology had made it possible for 50 men to face and essentially defeat a force of 1,500 warriors. During the battle, 10 of the volunteers were killed, and 20 wounded. But Indian causalities were estimated to be around 50 killed and as many as 200 wounded.
CRAWFORD GOLDSBY
In the Old West it seemed necessary to have the appropriate name before a person could make a reputation. That sure was true wit
h a man named Crawford Goldsby.
If someone came into a bank in the Old West and announced, “I’m Crawford Goldsby, and this is a hold-up,” the teller would probably have laughed. That’s why you’ve never heard of outlaw Crawford Goldsby.
Crawford was born in 1876. His mother was a combination of black, Cherokee and white. His father was white, Mexican and Sioux. At the age of 16 Crawford had a dispute with a man who proceeded to whip him. He got a gun and shot him. Although it wasn’t fatal, Crawford hightailed it to the Indian Territory.
Next, Crawford came up with a name with a little more pizzazz. He became “Cherokee Bill.” Now he could build a reputation. And he wasted no time doing it.
On June 26, 1894 Cherokee Bill killed his first man…a posse member that was chasing him. His sister’s husband had beaten her. Shortly afterward, the brother-in-law was dead. Next a railroad agent was killed in a holdup. A railroad conductor was killed when he tried to throw Cherokee off a train. And then a bystander was shot during another holdup.
Cherokee Bill was finally arrested, brought before Hanging Judge Parker, convicted, and sentenced to hang.
Cherokee Bill walked up the 12 steps to the hangman’s noose. When he got to the top he looked at the crowd, smiled and said, “Look at the people. Something must be going to happen.” When asked if he had anything to say, he replied, “I came here to die, not to make a speech.”
He died at the age of 20, after killing almost 13 people in just two years…An obvious result of changing his name from Crawford Goldsby to Cherokee Bill.
MORGAN KILLED
1881 wasn’t a good time for the Earps with the O. K. Corral shootout in which Virgil and Morgan were seriously shot. And then later Virgil was shot again. It was hoped that 1882 would be a better year. But it wasn’t.
Morgan Earp was the youngest of the three Earps who participated in the O. K. Corral shootout. He was also the friendliest of the clanish Earps who were not known for having a smile on their face.
For a while in Tombstone, Morgan was a shotgun guard for Wells Fargo. But realizing dealing faro was more profitable and less dangerous, he got a job at the Occidental Saloon.
During the O. K. Corral incident Morgan was seriously shot through the right shoulder. Over the next few months he healed to the point that by the following March he could participate in his favorite activity, billiards.
It was March 18, 1882. Morgan and Wyatt had just attended a play. Afterward they went to Hatch’s Saloon so Morgan could play a game of billiards with owner Bob Hatch. As Morgan was chalking up his cue, two 45-caliber gunshots blasted through the saloon window. The first shot hit Morgan. The other barely missed Wyatt…Quite possibly both Morgan and Wyatt were both marked for assassination. But, as was the story throughout Wyatt’s life, the second bullet missed.
When the smoke cleared Morgan was on the ground in a pool of blood. The 45 had shattered Morgan’s spine. The doctors said there was no hope. With brothers Wyatt, Virgil, James and Warren by his side, Morgan said, “This is the last game of pool I’ll ever play.” Then he whispered something to Wyatt. Morgan was dead in less than an hour from the time he was shot.
Later Morgan was dressed in one of Doc Holliday’s suits and brother Virgil took him to Colton, California to be buried where his parents lived.
KANSAS CATTLE TOWNS
To Texas cattlemen Dodge City, Abilene, Caldwell, Ellsworth, Hays and Newton were all spelled with dollar signs.
They were the end of the trail for cattle drives. In reality, were it not for cattle and the cowboys, they would 
probably have never grown beyond a few shacks and a dusty road.
But, on March 7, 1885, the Kansas legislature passed a bill that prohibited Texas cowboys and their cattle from coming into Kansas between March and December. What’s going on here?
Actually, four things…first, the future of Kansas’ “Cow Town” industry was very shaky at best. Railroads were being built directly to Texas, and soon Kansas railheads would no longer be needed. Second, it had been discovered that the plains of Kansas were good for more than just providing feed for passing cattle. Farmers were turning over the sod and planting crops. Although the cattlemen attempted to respect the farms, strays inevitably created havoc with crops. For some drives, conflict with farmers was a daily event.
The third, and probably most important reason was that Texas cattle were carriers of a tick fever. Over the years Texas cattle had become immune to the disease, and since it didn’t affect humans, there was no big concern. But, as the cattle passed through Kansas, ticks would leave the Texas cattle and infect the local dairy cows.
And then there was the preverbal straw that broke the camel’s back. The residents of these famous “Cow Towns” were getting fed up with the rowdy cowboys and the messy cattle.
So, the bottom line was that, as least this time, most of Kansas was behind this seemingly radical move by the legislature.
PEARL GREY
Pearl Grey was born on January 31, 1872. He was a talented baseball player, and played for the University of Pennsylvania while getting a degree in dentistry. Pearl was scheduled to follow in his father’s footsteps as a dentist. Looking for excitement, he played some semi-pro baseball. But that didn’t satisfy his need.
Incidentally, Pearl never liked his first name, which was thought by everyone to be a woman’s name. So he decided to change it to his mother’s maiden name, Zane.
Pearl, or as we know him now, Zane Grey never wanted to be a dentist. He wanted to be a writer. His first novel was a forgettable one about one of his ancestors. But his life was changed when in 1908 he met Colonel C. J. “Buffalo” Jones. Buffalo Jones convinced Zane to write his biography. So Zane could get a feel of the atmosphere of Buffalo Jones’ life, Jones took the 36-year-old writer out west.
While out west, Zane Grey experienced the excitement of the west, like roping mountain lions. Grey was fascinated with the people and landscape. The biography of Jones, “The Last of the Plainsmen” was completed that same year.
Although it got little attention, Zane Grey had found his calling.
About four years later Zane Grey published a novel that gained him lasting fame…Riders of the Purple Sage. This novel was about a weak easterner who became a man because of his exposure to the culture of the West. It was a theme that Zane would repeat in the almost 80 books he published during a life that lasted 64 years.
CLOTHES WASHING HINTS
FROM THE DECEMBER 21, 1897 TUCSON, ARIZONA DAILY STAR
In cold weather dry clothes indoors to prevent freezing.
A little kerosene oil put in the hot starch will prevent it from sticking.
Fold napkins square with the initials on the outside. They should also be ironed perfectly dry, and then put away nicely in the drawer.
Have plenty of the best soap, with borax, starch and bluing at hand. Add borax to the water in the proportion of one tablespoonful to a pail of water.
Sort your clothes in five grades. First, towels, table and bed linen; second, family linen; third, light-colored clothes; fourth, dark-colored clothes; fifth, flannels and stockings.
Colored cotton clothing of delicate shades should have the color set before washing. Add of salt a heaping tablespoonful to each pailful of cold water, and do not apply soap directly to the article.
A teaspoonful of borax to a quart of cold starch will make it stiff. Tablecloths should have as few creases in them as possible. Crease them twice lengthwise; have them very damp and iron them perfectly dry; fold over once or twice, according to their lengths, and place them carefully in a long drawer.
OLD WEST STORIES
I’ve done a number of short story videos for City 4, our local TV station. The stories are about people or events from the history of 
our American West.
Mel, the manager of the TV station has put several of them on YouTube. You can take a look at them by entering “Chronicle of the Old West” in the search line.
Incidentally, the picture isn’t of a wild man, but Al Sieber. Then again, after you hear his story you may think he was a wild man.
WHERE WHITE MAN WENT WRONG
Indian Chief “Two Eagles” was asked by a white U.S. government official, “You have observed the white man for 90 years. You’ve seen his wars and his technological advances. You’ve seen his progress, and the damage he’s do
ne.”
The chief nodded in agreement.
The official continued, “Considering all these events, in your opinion, where did the white man go wrong?
The chief stared at the government official then replied, “When white man find land, Indians running it, no taxes, no debt, plenty buffalo, plenty beaver, clean water. Women did all the work, Medicine Man free. Indian man spend all day hunting and fishing; all night having sex.”
Then the chief leaned back and smiled, “Only white man dumb enough to think he could improve system like that.”
BEING SCALPED
What follows is a December 20, 1883 article from the San Antonio Light newspaper. It’s the actual words of a soldier who had been scalped:
Quote…“I
magine someone who hates you grabbing a handful of your hair and giving it a sudden jerk upward, and a not particularly sharp blade of a knife being run quickly in a circle around your scalp in a saw like motion. Also imagine what effect that a strong, quick jerk on your hair to release the scalp would have on your nervous and physical systems, and you will have some idea how it feels to be scalped.
“When that Indian sawed his knife around the top of my head, first a sense of cold numbness pervaded my whole body. A flash of pain that started at my feet and ran like an electric shock to my brain quickly followed this. When the Indian tore my scalp from my head it seemed as if it must have been connected with cords to every part of my body.”…Unquote
Following the attack, a friend of the scalped man killed the Indian who had done the scalping, but, according to the soldier, his scalp wasn’t returned.
After recovery he chose to muster out of the service…but his commanding officer called him into his office, and suggested that the soldier was making a mistake by leaving the army. “Thank,” said his commanding officer, “how surprised and disgusted some red devil of an Indian might be if you should stay with us and happen to fall into his hands. When he went to raise your hair he would find that someone had been there before him.”
Incidentally, his commanding officer was General George Armstrong Custer whose command was wiped out shortly afterward at Little Big Horn.
CHARLES GOODNIGHT
Charles Goodnight was an early Texas cattleman who controlled up to 100,000 cattle on a million acres of land. But, one thing most people don’t know about Charles Goodnight is that he, more than anyone else, was responsible for cowboys “eaten’ good” while on the trail.
At the age of 
20, he agreed to take care of a neighbor’s cattle…if he was allowed to keep every fourth calf. In four years, he had 180 head of cattle, and later he bought the neighbor’s whole herd.
It has been said of Goodnight that he “stole when he wanted to and lynched when he had to.” By the end of the Civil War, he had a herd of 8,000 cattle.
To keep his burgeoning empire…he did the lynching. One time his wife, expressing her shock over a vigilante hanging said, “I understand they hanged them from a telegraph pole!” Charles Goodnight responded, “Well, I don’t think it hurt the telegraph pole.”
Goodnight was an innovator who, throughout the years, raised Durham, Hereford and Anus stock. He even did some early experiments with what was then called “cattalo”…a crossbreed of buffalo and beef cow. Unfortunately, the calves were sterile and the mother often died in birth. However, Goodnight’s southern plains buffalo were later bred with northern ones to create the hardy strain of buffalo that now occupy Yellowstone and other areas.
In 1890, at the age of 54, he sold his ranching interests, spending the rest of his life as a “snowbird” with summers in Texas, and winters in Tucson, Arizona. Charles Goodnight passed away on December 13, 1929.
Oh yes, I mentioned that Charles Goodnight was responsible for cowboys “eaten’ good” on the trail. It was Charles Goodnight, who in 1866 took a surplus Army wagon, and revamped it into the first chuckwagon.
WOMAN’S SUFFRAGE
Although women had been instrumental the development of our country, as 1869 was coming to a close, they didn’t have the right to hold a political office, or even vote.
But that was changed on December 10, 1869 as the first state gave women the right to vote and hold political office. One would expect that it would be an eastern state…Quite possibly in the New England area. But that wasn’t so. It was probably one of the most frontier areas of that time…Wyoming. So, why Wyoming? Why were the men in the Wyoming Territory so progressive when it came to women’s rights?
One major backer, a middle-aged territorial legislator by the name of William Bright backed the bill because his wife convinced his that “denying women the vote was a gross injustice.” Incidentally, the progressive wife happened to be about half his age. Then there was Edward Lee, the territorial secretary, who argued that if a black man can vote, why couldn’t his dear sweet mother. But most people supported the bill for another reason.
At the time the Wyoming territory had a population of about 7,000 adults. Of those 7,000 adults, only about 1,000 were women. And most of those extra 6,000 men were lonely for the companionship of a woman. So, it was thought that if Wyoming gave women the right to vote, the territory would get national publicity, and in turn women…particularly single women would come to this rugged, isolated area.
When Governor John Campbell signed the bill one lawmaker gave the toast, “To the lovely ladies, once our superiors, now our equals.”
Did it work? Well, if you visit Wyoming today you’ll meet some of the handsomest, most strong-minded women, and happiest men in the United States.
1800’S BREAKFAST DON’TS
The December 9, 1897 Daily Star Newspaper in Tucson, Arizona Territory had the following recommendations for breakfast don’ts. They happen to be good advice for us even today.
BREAKFAST DON’TS
Don’t serve a breakfast on any but a fresh tablecloth.
Don’t expect fresh coffee if you are half an hour late.
Don’t comment on the bills you receive in the morning’s mail.
Don’t ask the man of the house what he would like for dinner.
Don’t ask your husband how much money he intends to leave you for the day’s expenses. After dinner is a better time to settle the financial question.
Don’t become so engrossed in the newspaper that you can’t address a remark to anyone.
Incidentally, this was one of the items in the December 2013 Woman’s Sphere from Chronicle of the Old West.
HARVEY WHITEHILL
Sometimes Old West lawmen chased an outlaw only until he was out of sight. He was lucky. Then there were the unlucky outlaws that were chased by Harvey Whitehill.
As a yo
ung man, Harvey Whitehill mined in several areas in Colorado, and following the Civil War did some mining in New Mexico. As one of the founders of Silver City, New Mexico, he ended up as their sheriff. Whitehill came into the spotlight as the first person the arrest a young William Bonney for a petty theft. Bonney was to later became famous as Billy the Kid.
But, Sheriff Whitehill’s true nature came out following a November 24, 1883 train robbery. Four men held up a Southern Pacific train near Deming, New Mexico. In the process, the train’s engineer was killed.
Wells Fargo and Southern Pacific placed a reward of $2,000 on the head of each of the robbers. This whetted the appetite of semi-retired Sheriff Whitehill. Whitehill searched the scene of the crime and found a discarded out of the area newspaper. He traced it back to the subscriber, who was a storekeeper. The storekeeper remembered using it to wrap some food bought by a local Black cowboy named George Washington Cleveland.
Whitehill found Cleveland at a restaurant where he was working. Immediately Whitehill arrested him. Although Whitehill had no idea who else was involved in the train robbery, he said, “I arrested you for killing that train engineer. I already have your partners and they talked.” After that, Cleveland spilled his guts. The other three outlaws were arrested.
But, the four didn’t get a chance to go to trial…because they escaped from jail. When the posse caught up with them Cleveland was killed, and two others were captured, only to mysteriously die at the end of a rope on their way back to jail. Although the fourth person temporarily escaped, he was eventually captured.
BILLY CLAIBORN
Sometimes in life a person needs to let well enough alone, and not push an issue. Billy Claiborne should have learned that lesson. 
Unfortunately, on November 14, 1882 he didn’t let well enough alone, and paid the ultimate price.
Billy Claiborne was born in Louisiana in 1862. He came out west where he worked for cattleman “Texas” John Slaughter.
Billy was a cocky young man who would swagger when he walked. And he carried two guns. His friends started calling him “Billy the Kid” after the real “Billy the Kid”. Billy Claiborne liked the name, and so did the girls. He even started referring to himself as “Billy the Kid” Claiborn.
Now, as time passed, Billy wandered down to Tombstone, Arizona and there he hooked up with the McLaurys and Clantons.
On October 26, 1881 “Billy the Kid” Claiborne found himself with the McLaurys and Clantons in a Tombstone, Arizona alley facing the Earps and Doc Holliday. Realizing the desperate situation, Claiborn bugged out just before the shooting started.
Now, this is where Billy Claiborne should have left well enough alone, and high-tailed it out of town for a place where tempers were not raging. But, Billy wasn’t that smart.
After the shootout at the O. K. Corral, and the death of Virgil Earp at the hands of the cowboys, Wyatt Earp declared vengeance against all cowboys. One member of Wyatt’s posse was Buckskin Frank Leslie. During the cowboy roundup, one of the more prominent cowboys, Johnnie Ringo was killed, and Billy Claiborne thought the gunman was Buckskin Frank.
So on November 14, 1882 Billy Claiborne came after Buckskin Frank. Billy shot twice, and missed. Buckskin Frank shot once, and hit his mark.
As Buckskin Frank walked up to Billy, Billy said, “Don’t shoot again, I am killed.” An observer was heard to say, “Sure weren’t no Billy the Kid. He missed at thirty feet.”
RENDEZVOUS
The idea of the rendezvous was not that of a mountain man, but William Ashley, a St. Louis, Missouri merchant on a venture west. Ashley decided to cut out the competition for furs by going to Wyoming where the mo
untain men were, instead of waiting for the furs to come to St. Louis.
So on November 10, 1824 William Ashley left St. Louis for Wyoming. It was a six-month trip.
Since mountain men had little use for money, William took traps, weapons, trade goods, supplies and especially liquor. And he marked up the cost of goods as much as twenty times their eastern price, and he paid less than half the St. Louis price for the plews, as the mountain men called the beaver pelts.
But the mountain men didn’t care, this was a chance for these normally solitary men to relax, drink, gamble, drink, womanize and drink. It was an opportunity to rekindle relationships with other mountain men that they hadn’t seen for a year or more. And discover those who had gone to the rendezvous in the sky.
Several thousand Indians also showed up for the party. Even though some of the Indians and mountain men were mortal enemies, the rendezvous was a place of truce.
There were about 15 rendezvous over a period of that many years. By then trading posts, forts and civilization found their way in the remote sections of the west and beaver pelts lost their value. Some mountain men returned to civilization; others came out of the mountains to kill buffalo on the plains; still others went further back into the mountains, never to be heard from again.
DOC HOLLIDAY
The Old West’s most famous doctor didn’t become famous for saving lives, but taking them. His name was Doc Holliday. And on November 8, 1887 he died not achieving the one thing that he tried to accomplish most of his adult life.
Doc Holliday grew u
p in Georgia where he went to dental school and started a practice. But soon after he developed tuberculosis and started heading west for a dryer climate.
For Doc Holliday dentistry was more like an avocation with gambling his profession. Doc Holliday gravitated to where the action was: Dallas, Texas, Cheyenne, Wyoming, Dodge City, Kansas and Tombstone, Arizona.
And during his travels, Doc Holliday and Wyatt Earp became friends. Although they both displayed uncanny nerve at times of crisis, in most ways they were different. Wyatt Earp tended to be calm and laid back. He preferred to fight a person with his fists or pistol-whip them…resorting to shooting only if he found no other way to defeat his opponent.
On the other hand, Doc Holliday was a hothead. At 5’ 10” Doc was a frail looking man weighing less than 150 pounds. He wanted to stay away from any physical confrontation.
Of all the shootings Doc Holliday was involved in, the O. K. Corral shootout was the most famous. It’s generally accepted that at the O. K. Corral, Wyatt’s objective was to pistol whip the cowboys…whereas Doc Holliday wanted to kill them, and he probably fired the first shot.
In the late 1800’s tuberculosis wasn’t curable, and most people with it became bedridden with a slow death…Doc Holliday’s adult life was spent with the secret hope that he would be shot and killed before he became an invalid.
This was his greatest failure. Because on November 8, 1887 Doc Holliday died in bed at a Glenwood Springs sanatorium. His last words reflected his since of humor and a realization of his failure. With Doc’s last breath he supposedly said, “This is funny.”
TETON JACKSON
Many people spend their lives doing something they hate. On the other hand, when a person finds something he loves, and d
oes it well, even if it is stealing horses, he’s lucky.
Harvey Gleason was over six feet tall. He had a shabby beard, ruddy face with flaming red hair and black eyes. By his mid 40s, he had supposedly killed several soldiers and deputy marshals.
But, people didn’t know him as Harvey Gleason, everyone knew his as Teton Jackson. He got his name from his favorite area in Wyoming, the Teton Mountains and Jackson Hole. For a living Teton Jackson stole horses. Not one or two at a time, but hundreds. For about eight years, Teton and his men stole horsed during the summer and hid out among the Teton Mountains during the winter.
While in Eagle Rock, Idaho, Teton killed a man. When the sheriff came to investigate the shooting, he found the victim frozen stiff on the ground. Needing evidence of the killing, and unable to transport the whole body, the sheriff brought in just the head. An investigation found the killing to be justified.
Finally, tired of loosing horses, livestock associations in Idaho and Wyoming started putting up rewards for Teton and his men. And, money talked. A local sheriff found Teton, and brought him in. He was tried and on November 5, 1885, sentenced to 14 years in prison. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. But, relief was short lived. For nine months later, Teton escaped from jail. Even though Teton was free for two years before he was recaptured, few horses were stolen because his gang’s numbers were drastically reduced by posse bullets and jail.
After four more years in jail, Teton received a pardon for good behavior. And he continued that good behavior for the next 35 years, marring a Shoshone woman, and doing some guiding, always riding a horse with his brand on it.
OLIVER LOVING
On September 25, 1867, Oliver Loving, one of the great pioneer Texas cattlemen, died at the age of 55. Incidentally, the story of his de
ath may have a familiar ring.
Oliver Loving was born in Kentucky, and moved to Texas at the age of 33 where he engaged in farming and freighting. And finally, at the age of 44, when most men are choosing a quiet life, Loving got involved with cattle, and driving them to places where they had never been.
In 1858 he took Texas longhorns to Chicago along what was to be later known as the Shawnee Trail. About a year later he took cattle up to Denver to supply the needs of the gold miners.
Following the Civil War, Oliver Loving teamed up with Charles Goodnight and in 1866 they established the Goodnight-Loving Trail that went from Texas to Fort Sumner, New Mexico.
The second year they took the trail they encountered a number of Indians, causing delays in the drive. To assure the buyers that the cattle were on the way, Loving and Billy Wilson went in advance of the cattle to Fort Sumner. Along the way they encountered some Indians. And in a skirmish Loving was shot in the wrist and side.
Thinking he was going to die, Loving persuaded Wilson to leave him. But Loving didn’t die. For seven days he crawled, without food, until he encountered some men who took him to Fort Sumner. Gangrene had set in his arm, but an inexperienced doctor chose not to amputate.
When partner Charles Goodnight arrived in Fort Sumner, he was excited to discover Loving had survived. But the news was not good. The gangrene had gotten so bad that even after amputation, Loving died three weeks later.
If the story of Loving’s death sounds a bit familiar, it’s probable because you’ve watched the movie Lonesome Dove, and remember the character, Gus McCall, said to have been patterned after Loving.
MEAT PACKING CAPITAL
Today Chicago, Illinois is considered the meat packing capital of the United States. But that title was supposed to have gone t
o another town.
In the late 1860’s Texas cattlemen were having a problem with a disease called Texas fever. It didn’t affect the Texas Longhorns. But northern cattle, exposed to ticks from the Longhorns, were adversely affected. Because of this, cattle drives were not allowed to travel through Colorado, Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois and Kentucky which basically cut them off from Northern markets.
A young man named Joseph McCoy got the idea to transport the Texas Longhorns through the quarantine states on trains. He selected the remote town of Abilene, Kansas as the starting point.
Then he chose St. Louis, Missouri as the destination point. This was the headquarters of the Missouri-Pacific Railroad. So, at the age of 19, he presented his idea to the President of the railroad.
The railroad President said, “It occurs to me that you haven’t any cattle to ship and never did have any, and I, sir, have no evidence that you ever will have. Therefore you get out of this office, and let me not be troubled with any more of your style.”
McCoy found a warmer reception from the St. Jo. Railroad that ended in Chicago. Starting on September 5, 1867, almost 1,000 carloads of cattle were shipped from Abilene to Chicago. The next year 75,000 cattle were shipped.
Realizing his mistake the Missouri-Pacific President, who had rejected McCoy’s proposal, tried to solicit his business. Joseph McCoy told him, “It occurs to me that I have no cattle for your railroad, never have had and there is no evidence that I ever will have.”
MASS LYNCHING
In the predawn darkness of August 28, 1885, nine men were lynched. The local newspaper didn’t report it. Residents didn’t talk about it. And, even today little is said about it. But, we’re going to talk about it.
The year was 1885. With the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad, passing through the town, Flagstaff, Arizona was booming. As well as families, soiled doves, gamblers and hard cases arrived. A section of town called Whiskey Row had saloons that were open round the clock. And, there were as many as a dozen robberies each night. The nearest law was in Prescott, Arizona, some 87 miles away.
When the local paper wrote articles condemning the bad element, they threatened to burn down the town. Six local businessmen met in secret to discuss a solution to the problem. In order to discover the troublemakers, one of the men volu
nteered to cruse Whiskey Row with a pocket of gold coins. After four nights, the men had accumulated quite a list.
In the middle of August an ultimatum was tacked on the door of every saloon. It read: “Notice – Tinhorns have 24 hours left.” A few left town. But many stayed.
The names of the remaining tinhorns were put in a hat, and the morning of August 28, 1885 ten names were drawn out. Quietly, nine of the ten were found; hands tied; and all nine men were hanged. That morning citizens were whispering about men hanging from a tree outside town.
After about 24 hours the men were cut down and buried. No one spoke of it openly. Nothing was ever written about it in the newspaper. The sheriff arrived from Prescott, and returned empty handed, because no one knew anything about a lynching. Life went on as if nothing had happened. Except for one thing, that is. All the tinhorns decided Flagstaff, Arizona wasn’t that exciting a place to live.
CLAY ALLISON
Clay Allison was a hard-drinking, prankster of the type who becomes a legend in his own time. During his lifetime, Allison only killed four people. But the stories about him that didn’t involve killing are as entertaini
ng as those that did.
There’s the story of Clay Allison looking up gunman Mace Bowman with the object of killing him. But, Bowman was a congenial person, and the two men ended up getting drunk together. Still curious about who was the fastest, they decided to test each other’s speed with some fast draws. Allison found that Bowman was faster than he was. So, Allison suggested they strip to underwear, and shoot at each other’s bare feet to see who could move faster. They were either poor shots or fleet of feet, because a short time later the two men, out of breath, bellied up to the bar for another drink.
Then, there was the time on August 15, 1874, when Allison arrived in Cheyenne, Wyoming with a raging toothache. Now, Cheyenne had two dentists. So, Allison chose the closest one and climbed in his chair. Unfortunately the dentist drilled the wrong tooth. When the dentist announced his mistake, Allison angrily jumped out of the chair, and went over to the other dentist’s office. The other dentist took care of the problem.
With his pain gone, Allison returned to the first dentist, and pinned the dentist in his chair. Grabbing the dentist’s forceps, and proceeded to pull, according to different stories, one, three or all of the dentist’s teeth. I can assure you that dentist never drilled on the wrong tooth again.
THE BUCK GANG
There was a gang in the Old West lasted only thirteen days. But during those thirteen days, they cut a swath of carnage that no other gang could match.
Rufus Buck was a Ute Indian living in the Indian Territory. His gang comprised of four Creek Indians and a combination Creek and black. All of them had served time in jail for minor offences.
Buck supposedly boasted, “that his outfit would make a record that would sweep all the other gangs of the territory into insignificance.” And on July 28, 1895, the gang started a thirteen-day crime spree that did exactly that.
They killed Deputy Marshal John Garrett. They came across a Mrs. Wilson. She was kidnapped and violated. From there they saw Gus Chambers with some horses. When he resisted, the Buck Gang killed him. They next robbed a stockman, taking his clothes and boots. Fortunately, he was able to escape in a hail of bullets. Two days later, they invaded the home of Rosetta Hassan. She was violated in front of her husband and children.
The gang was arrested, and brought before Hanging Judge Isaac Parker, and they were sentenced to be hanged. He scheduled it for July 1, 1896 between nine in the morning and five in the evening.
Quite possibly Judge Parker should have stated an exact time, because, on the day of the hanging, one of the gang members said he wanted to be hanged at ten in the morning so his body could be on the 11:30 train. Rufus Buck protested, saying that if he was hanged that early, there would be a several hour delay before his body could be on the appropriate train. The Rufus Gang then decided they wanted to be hanged separately.
Marshal Crump smiled, set the time for 1:00, and hanged them all at one time.
ELLA WATSON HANGED
On July 20, 1889 the first woman in Wyoming, either legally or illegally, was hanged. I think you’ll find her story very interesting.
Ella Watson has been described as “a dare devil in the saddle, handy with a six shooter and adept with the lariat and branding iron.” She has also been described as a homely prostitute who happened to take the wrong form of payment for her services.
In truth she was homely. Ella Watson secretly married a Wyoming Territory merchant named Jim Averill. Jim wasn’t liked by the cattle ranchers. That’s because Jim had acquired land traditionally used for grazing, and he rubbed salt in the wound by writing “anti-cattlemen” letters to the local paper.
Ella filed for a homestead, and built a log cabin close to Jim Averill’s store where she started plying her trade as a soiled dove. She also started taking cattle as payment for her services.
The cattle ranchers accused Jim and Ella of cattle rustling. Now, quite possibly a cowboy or two may have paid her with cattle not belonging to him…but because the local authorities wouldn’t take action against them, the cattlemen kidnapped Jim and Ella and lynched them.
It was well known who did the lynching. There were even five witnesses. But they were all either shot or disappeared. So the trial never took place.
Now, most people have never heard of Ella Watson, because after her death she acquired another name.
The town’s people started protesting the lynching. So the cattlemen planted stories in local newspapers changing the homely prostitute Ella Watson into a gun slinging gang leader by the name of “Cattle Kate”. She became so famous her story was written-up in New York’s “Police Gazette.”
DODGE CITY, KANSAS
As the railroad headed west, towns grew up along side it. One of the more famous Western towns was named Buffalo City. However, that wasn’t the name under which it became famous.
It was the middle of July 1872 when the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad reached a peddler’s camp by the name of Buffalo City, Kansas, located about five miles from the military reservation of Fort Dodge. Almost overnight tent saloons and gambling dens sprang up. Within a matter of weeks it was a town of false-fronted buildings. And shortly afterward the Buffalo City town signs were taken down and replaced with signs reading, Dodge City, after the name of one of the town fathers, Colonel Richard I. Dodge.
Because it was against the law to sell liquor in unorganized regions of Kansas, the Dodge City residents petitioned to organize the county of Ford. Interestingly, the petition contained the names of as many transients and railroad people as residents. Even though it was challenged, the state legislature, out of expediency, approved Ford County
Dodge City started out as a hangout for buffalo hunters. Then when the cattle drives and cowboys started coming north, with twenty saloons, numerous dance halls and houses of ill repute, Dodge City became known as the “Queen of the Cow Towns.”
Over the next few years the likes of Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, Bat Masterson and Belle Starr took residence there. But, they only stayed there temporarily, because fame had other places to go and other events in which to participate.
Dodge City only had about 3,000 residents at the height of the population. By 1885, a little over 15 years after it became a town, the railhead had moved on to other towns. The Chisholm Trail was being plowed under by wheat farmers, and the law was maintaining order, so Dodge City settled down and became civilized.
