OLD WEST 4TH OF JULY
Celebrating the independence of our country was important even in the Old West. And, as we shall see, people putting on the celebration in the 1800’s ran into the same problems as today.
In 1868 the Nevada mining camps of Hamilton and Treasure Hill comprised of a few hardy miners and even fewer women. However, it was decided that they would have a 4th of July celebration.
They formed the flag committee, the music committee and the dance committee. The music committee’s job was simple, yet complicated. There was only one man in town who had a musical instrument, a violin. The complication was that he tended to get drunk. So, they had to regulate the flow of whiskey to the musician.
The dance committee comprised of all the women in town…a total of two. Like volunteer committees sometimes do, the flag committee waited until the last minute to get a flag. And then it was to late to travel the 120 miles to the nearest store. So, good ol’ American ingenuity took place. They found a quilt with a red lining, and some white canvas material. A traveling family camped nearby had a blue veil. This was doubly good because the family included a mother and four girls…more women for the dance. But the girls didn’t have shoes, making it impossible to dance on the rough planked floor. So, a collection of brogan shoes was taken up among the miners.
On the 4th of July, a parade formed at Hamilton and with the makeshift American flag proceeded to Treasure Hill. Speeches were made. Sentiment ran high. They decided to form a new town called the White Pine Pioneers, and that the flag should go into the town’s archives. Unfortunately, the town disappeared and the flag ended up being used as a bed sheet.
SHANGHAI PIERCE
A friend said to me, “There aren’t any cowboys from Rhode Island.” I had to correct him by telling that there was a great cowboy who came from Rhode Island.
Abel He
ad Pierce was born in Rhode Island on June 29, 1834. At the age of twenty he stowed away on a schooner and ended up in southern Texas. Abel took a job for a cattleman named Grimes. Starting out doing odd jobs, Abel worked his way up to trail boss, taking cattle to New Orleans.
Abel Head Pierce was a 6 foot, 5 inch bearded giant of a man who had a habit of wearing spurs with extra large rowels, and strutting around town. Someone remarked that he looked like a Shanghai rooster, and he became Shanghai Pierce. Now, that’s a name any cowboy would be proud of.
After serving in the Civil War, Shanghai returned to Texas and started accumulating cattle. Shanghai went to Kansas for a couple of years…supposedly to let things cool down in Texas after lynching a couple of rustlers.
He ended up with a 250,000 acre ranch appropriately called the Rancho Grande. Obviously, he was a major factor in the Texas cattle industry.
Looking for cattle that would be resistant to ticks that caused problems with Texas cattle going north, and a breed that would produce more meat, Shanghai went to Europe and brought home some Brahma cattle, which he crossed with the Texas Longhorns.
By the end of the 19th century Shanghai Pierce’s Rancho Grande approached a million acres. When Shanghai felt his life was close to coming to an end he hired a San Antonio sculptor to make a larger than life statue of himself to be placed over his grave. Asked why, Shanghai responded, “I knew that if I didn’t do it, no one else would.”
TOM CUSTER
It is said of George Armstrong Custer that his officers fell into two categories: Those who hated him and those who were related to him… and five of them were related. This story is about one of those relations… his brother Tom.
Tom Custer was five years younger than George, and he
spent his life in the shadow of his older brother. Although he wasn’t as flamboyant as George, Tom was his own man. For instance, unlike his brother, Tom liked his liquor.
In 1870, while camped with the Seventh Cavalry near Hays City, Kansas, where at the time Wild Bill Hickok was the marshal; Tom supposedly got drunk, and was chased out of town by Hickok. Tom vowed revenge. A short time later Hickok had a shootout with three troopers from the Seventh. It’s though that Tom Custer had something to do with the affair.
In 1874 Tom led an expedition into the Yellowstone River area and arrested a chief by the name of Rain-in-the-Face. Rain-in-the-Face later escaped, vowing to someday cut out Tom’s heart. Quite possibly Rain-in-the-Face got his wish for Toms body was so mutilated in the Little Big Horn battle that his initials, T. W. C., tattooed on his arm was the means of identification.
Although Tom never got the fame of his older brother, during the Civil War Tom’s exploits resulted in his accomplishing something no other soldier had done before him and few have accomplished since…Tom won two Congressional Medals of Honor…Tom Custer has been compared to Alvin York of World War I and Audie Murphy of World War II.
SAMUEL COLT’S 45
We’ve all read and heard that it was Samuel Colt’s 45 that tamed the West. Did you know that gun manufacturing wasn’t Colt’s first venture into business? And did you know that Samuel Colt was a failure at gun manufacturing before he was a success. To get the whole story copy and then paste the following link in your web browser:
http://youtu.be/h9BHMhCKQtY
BUFFALO BILL’S METAL OF HONOR
Everybody knows about Buffalo Bill Cody. Here’s something about him that most people don’t know. And I’m sure it will surprise you.
Buffalo Bill C
ody was the consummate showman. Anytime he had the opportunity to get publicity, he took it…even making up stories about himself, and embellishing those that actually happened. But there was one accomplishment that didn’t get much publicity. That was that Buffalo Bill Cody won the Congressional Metal of Honor. Part of the reason was that, he had it, and then he lost it, and then he got it back. I’ll explain.
In May of 1872, with novels of his exploits in circulation, Cody was scouting for the 3rd Cavalry. He was guiding an advance unit of 6 men when, a mile away, Cody spotted the Indians they were pursuing. He led the soldiers to within 50 yards of the Indians before gunfire erupted. It wasn’t a major battle, but in the process Cody killed one Indian and the other men killed two others.
On the basis of the report that was written up about that encounter, on May 22, 1872, Buffalo Bill Cody was awarded the Congressional Metal of Honor. Right after this, Buffalo Bill quit his job as scout and started touring in the play The Scouts of the Plains.
But this wasn’t the end of the story of Buffalo Bill’s Metal of Honor. In 1916, just prior to his death, Congress took a look a the people who had received the Metal of Honor and rescinded Buffalo Bill’s along with 910 others. The reason given was that Buffalo Bill was a civilian employee at the time of his gallantry.
But, in the spirit of “all’s well that ends well,” in 1989, 72 years after his death Congress took another look, and restored Buffalo Bill’s Congressional Metal of Honor.
FRONTIER HOUSEKEEPING
Today one of the first things every newly married couple does, once the get back from their honeymoon, is to set up housekeeping. As we shall see, some 150 years ago, setting up housekeeping was a bit different.
Bethenia Owens and Lagrande Hill got married on May 15, 1854. She was fourteen years of age. Skipping any honeymoon, they immediately moved into their newly purchased home. It was a log cabin that was 12 feet by 14 feet in size.
The door was so low that a man had to stoop to go in and out. The cabin had neither floor nor chimney and wide cracks admitted both drafts and vermin…which included snakes and lizards.
Their furniture consisted of a pioneer bed, made by boring three holes in the logs of the wall in one corner, in which to drive the rails. That way the bed required only one leg. The table was a rough shelf, fastened to the wall. The cupboard was three shelves on the wall.
Her dishes were tin ware. The cooking utensils comprised of a pot, tea-kittle, frying-pan and coffee-pot. In addition Bethenia had a butter churn, a wash tub and board, twenty gallon iron pot for washing purposes, water bucket and tin dipper.
Her father gave her money to buy groceries, which she did the afternoon of her wedding. Her mother contributed a good straw bed, pillows and blankets.
Bethenia considered this a most excellent start in life.
Unfortunately, this marriage that started out so excellently didn’t end that way. Bethenia’s husband beat her, and at the age of eighteen she left him. What did she do then? She went back to her parent’s home, learned to read and write, went to school and ended up becoming the first woman physician in the West.
WIND WAGON
In the 1860’s when a pioneer family headed out west, they usually did it in a covered wagon pulled by horses or oxen. One man, Samuel Peppard, didn’t have horses or oxen, but that didn’t stop him.
On May 9, 1860 Samuel Peppard headed out west. This was during the time of the Pike’s Peak gold rush, and Samuel wanted to do some gold prospecting. He didn’t have any horses or oxen, and he didn’t want the obligation and expense of taking care of them.
But, he did live in the Kansas Territory. And anyone who has been through Kansas knows it’s pretty flat, and the wind tends to blow rather strongly. Being a creative person, Peppard decided to take advantage of the resources at hand, and so he designed the world’s first wind-sailor. Built like a small boat, it was about 8’ long and 3’ wide, and it had four large wagon wheels. Weighing about 350 pounds, it was designed to hold 4 people.
The first time out, the wind blew the wagon over. So Peppard reconstructed the sails, rudder and brakes. By now everyone called it “Peppard’s Folly”.
With three of his friends aboard, Peppard raised the sails, and “Peppard’s Folly” took off across the prairie. Depending on the strength of the wind, it got up to 30 miles per hour.
On days when there was no wind, Peppard and his three friends just sat back, smoked a cigarette, and swapped stories.
They traveled about 500 miles before a dust devil came along and turned the wind wagon into a pile of rubble.
Peppard and his friends finally made it to Denver, but like most seekers of gold, they didn’t find anything.
Peppard later went back to Kansas, and lived to the ripe old age of 82. But he was always known as the guy who sailed to Denver.
NEWSPAPER BATTLE
Being first wasn’t always important in the Old West. But, it made all the difference in one race. And, the objects of the race didn’t even move an inch.
In 1859 the Pikes Peak Gold Rush was a bust. The settlements of Cherry Creek, Montana City and Denver City were on the verge of becoming ghost towns when another gold vein was discovered, and people came running.
John Merrick decided the area needed a newspaper. He bought an old press and headed to Cherry Creek. Not seeing any reason for haste, Merrick took his time putting his newspaper together.
But, four days after Merrick had arrived; William Byers arrived from Omaha, Nebraska also with a printing press and the same idea. Byers immediately located an office in the best building in town. It happened to be an attic of a tavern, and the roof leaked so bad a canvas had to be hung over the press to keep it dry.
A race was on. Bets were placed, and everyone cheered on their favorite editor. Finally, on Saturday evening, April 23, 1859, William Byers’ Rocky Mountain News hit the streets just twenty minutes before the first copy of John Merrick’s Cherry Creek Pioneer. In the news industry, a scoop of twenty minutes is like a lifetime. So, John Merrick sold out and left for the gold fields.
William Byers had the area to himself. However, his troubles weren’t over. There was a battle between the two neighboring towns on either side of Cherry Creek. So Byers couldn’t be accused of favoritism, he moved his equipment to a building that was virtually astride Cherry Creek. Not a good move. Four years after he started his newspaper, the area flooded, and washed away the building. His press wasn’t found until 35 years later.
BOB PARKER
On April 13, 1866 the Old West’s least likely looking and acting head of a bandit gang was born in Utah. His name was Robert Leroy Parker.
Bob Parker spent his childhood near Circleville, Utah, a hangout for outlaws. As a young person Bob Parker befriended an outlaw by the name of Mike Cassidy. Mike Cassidy taught Bob how to shoot. He also took Bob with him on some of his cattle rustling ventures.
Bob Parker, along with Mike Cassidy, stole a few horses, robbed a bank or two and created general havoc in a small way. Bob also had some legitimate jobs. He worked for a short while as a butcher in Rock Springs, Wyoming.
As Robert Leroy Parker started getting into trouble he assumed an alias, in part to make him sound meaner, and to save his family embarrassment. His last name came from his early friend, Mike Cassidy. His picked up his first name while a butcher in Rock Springs.
Butch Cassidy, and his partner the Sundance Kid, also an alias – the result of his spending time in a jail in Sundance, Wyoming – were lost in history until a movie starring Paul Newman and Robert Redford was released.
Although the real Butch Cassidy didn’t look anything like Paul Newman, he had the same “happy-go-lucky” attitude that Paul Newman portrayed. Although he was 5’9” tall, and was known for clowning around, he had the ability to rule a gang of bad desperados known as “the wild bunch.”
The biggest controversy concerning Butch Cassidy was portrayed at the end of the Newman – Redford movie. Although tradition says that Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid died in Bolivia, Robert Leroy Parker’s family maintains he returned to the United States, purchased a ranch, and searched for the loot he and the wild bunch had stashed until he died in 1937.
RICHARDSON/LOVING GUNFIGHT
Gunfights in the Old West were usually caused by one of three reasons…women, gambling and revenge. As we shall see, one of Dodge City’s most famous gunfights was over a woman.
Levi Richardson was a buffalo hunter who, because of the lack of buffalo, had become a freighter. He was a well-liked, hard working individual who was known for his proficiency with a pistol and rifle…As well as having a quick temper.
Frank Loving, also known as “Cock-eyed” Frank because his eyes tended to look toward each other, was an ex-cowboy turned gambler. Loving, unlike Richardson, was known to be cool, with a steady nerve. Both men were spending some time in Dodge City, Kansas.
Now comes the catalyst…a woman. It seems that Levi Richardson fell in love with a young woman. Unfortunately, for him, she loved another. And, that person was none other than Cock-eyed Frank Loving.
It was about 8:00 Saturday evening, April 5, 1879. Richardson was warming himself at the potbelly stove in the Long Branch Saloon, when Loving came in and took a seat at one of the gambling tables. Richardson followed him to the table. A few, less than genteel, words were exchanged. With both men standing face to face, Richardson went for his gun. He pulled off a shot as Loving was drawing his pistol. Loving’s first shot misfired. Seeking cover, Loving ran behind the potbelly stove. But Richardson was right behind him taking two more shots.
Fortunately, for Loving, after that first misfire, his gun performed flawlessly. Using cool deliberation, Loving shot Richardson in the chest, side and arm. He died on the spot. Loving, on the other hand, suffered only a scratch on the hand. After the smoke settled, both guns were checked. In the fracas, both men had empted them. The amazing thing about the gunfight was that with led flying everywhere in a crowded room, no bystander was hit.
If you want to learn about more gunfights as they really happened go to www.ChronicleoftheOldWest.com and check out Dakota’s gunfight CD.
SOCKLESS JERRY SIMPSON
Any baseball fan knows of Shoeless Joe Jackson. Do you know about a politician who in the 1890’s was known as “Sockles
s” Jerry Simpson?
In the early 1890’s the United States was going through an economic downturn. The western farmers were unset over low crop prices, high shipping costs and even higher interest rates. They began forming groups like the Grangers and the Farmer’s Alliances to give mutual assistance. And finally, angered that the major political parties weren’t doing anything to help the plight of the farmer…these groups became the nucleus of the formation of a third party, called the Populists.
One of the farmers having a tough time was a man named Jerry Simpson. As a southwest Kansas rancher, Jerry knew the challenges of making a living by toiling the land. Hoping to be able to get help for the farmers, Jerry became involved in Republican politics. But becoming upset with their lack of action, he quickly became one of the most influential members of the Populist Party.
On March 30, 1891, Jerry declared his candidacy for the U. S. Congress on the Populist ticket. His opponents tried to label him as a backwoods hick who didn’t even wear socks. Jerry knew how to make lemonade out of lemons. And he quickly turned the insult into his advantage. He proudly started calling himself “Sockless Jerry”, the sockless Socrates of the plains. And it worked too. He not only was elected once, he was elected three times to Congress. As a matter of fact, had he not been born in Canada, and ineligible to become President, he would have been the Populist’s candidate for our highest office.
As with most third party movements in the United States, the Populist Party was short-lived. But during its life, it was able inspire the major parties to look at some more progressive ideas, such as the regulation of the railroads.
WOMEN JURORS
With lawlessness and corruption rampant in Laramie, Wyoming in 1870, and even vigilantism ineffective, something had to be done. An outlaw would be caught in the midst of a crime, and then declared not guilty by a jury of men who were hed
ging their bet should they end up a defendant.
Something had to be done. And, that something was to select women for jury duty. The judge didn’t just select a couple of women as token representatives; he made the grand jury half women.
This was not only the first time a woman served as a jurist in Wyoming, it was the first time in the United States. The national press came down hard on them. Men were heard to say that if their wife served on a jury, they would no longer live with them.
To protect their identity, the women wore veils. A female bailiff was appointed to spend the night outside the rooms where they were housed.
Women were thought to be incapable of serving on a jury because they were too emotional and too easily swayed. Those opposed to women’s rights thought the jurors would fail, thus ending the Suffrage Movement.
But, they were wrong. The jury handed down indictments for murder, horse and cattle stealing and illegal branding. When the jury retired to decide a murder case, initially all of the women were for conviction, but only half of the men. When the verdict was handed down, the man was convicted.
Afterward, the judge said the women served with dignity and intelligence, as well as being firm and resolute. He also noted that two days after the grand jury had begun, a number of unsavory characters had left town.
CHINESE EXCLUSION ACT
Famine and political instability in the 1850’s made it difficult for Chinese citizens. Adding to this burden was the Chinese tradition 
of men taking care of their extended families.
Gold had been discovered in California and reports of easy wealth reached China. So, thousands of men made arrangements to come to California. The plan was to work the gold fields, accumulate a sizeable wealth, and return to China. But, in order to get passage, they borrowed from wealthy Chinese or Anglos. Thus becoming indentured to them until the passage had been paid off. Unfortunately, the Chinese were paid just enough to keep their hopes alive, but not enough to pay off their debt.
By 1880 over 100,000 Chinese lived in the United States, with most of them in California. Laws prevented Chinese from owning mines. So those Chinese who were free found a variety of ways to earn a living. Groups of them would go to abandoned claims and work the slag piles left behind by gold miners…and many became wealthy this way.
Others opened laundries and restaurants, considered “women’s work” by most Anglo men.
With the Chinese being treated with a growing resentment, the government responded by limiting Chinese immigration with the Chinese Exclusion Act. But, only laborers were excluded. Professionals and merchants who supported our trade with China were allowed in. Six years later, on March 12, 1888, the Chinese government officially supported the principals of the Exclusion Act by not allowing any laborers to immigrate to the United States.
It’s interesting to note that the Chinese Exclusion Act remained the law of the land until 1943 when China became our ally during World War II.
SEQUOYAH
Anyone who has visited the coast of Northern California has marveled over the giant redwood trees called Sequoias. Have you ever w
ondered where their name came from?
It comes from the name of a Cherokee Indian born in 1760 in Tennessee. As a young man he was a metal craftsman, making silver jewelry. While fighting on the American side in the War of 1812, he became intrigued with what he called “talking leaves,” or words on paper. Although Sequohah had no formal education, he comprehended the basic nature of the symbolic representation of sounds.
In 1809 he began working on a Cherokee written language. At first he tried picture symbols, but found them impractical. Looking at English, Greek and Hebrew, he developed 86 characters that would express the various sounds in the Cherokee language. It was so simple that it could be mastered in less than a week.
In 1821 he submitted his new written language to the Cherokee leaders. As a demonstration Sequohah wrote a message to his six-year-old daughter. She read the message and responded in kind. The tribal council immediately adopted the system.
The Cherokee were divided into two groups, Sequohah’s in Georgia and Tennessee, and the western Cherokee in Oklahoma. In 1822 Sequohah went to Oklahoma, and taught the alphabet to the Cherokee there.
Finally, on February 21, 1828 a printing press with Cherokee type was developed. Within months, the first Indian language newspaper appeared, called the Cherokee Phoenix.
While in Mexico teaching the Cherokee language, he became ill with dysentery, and died. Although the spelling is a bit different, the giant Sequoias stand as monuments to the man who developed the Cherokee alphabet.
KILLING A WOMAN
One of the codes of the Old West was that women were not to be hurt. In an incident that took place n
ear Yuma, Arizona on February 7, 1901, that code was broken.
The ownership of a ranch occupied by Joseph and Mary Burns was under dispute. Constable Marian Alexander went to the ranch to serve papers on the Burns. With Joseph Burns away, Mary Burns met Constable Alexander with a rifle. Unarmed and unprepared for a confrontation, Alexander left.
Alexander returned with two other men and a shotgun. Mrs. Burns still had her rifle. The two men stayed on their horses while Constable Alexander walked over to Mary Burns. An argument ensued, and Alexander pulled the triggers on both barrels…killing Mary Burns.
The news spread across the area like wildfire. Constable Alexander surrendered, and was placed in the Yuma Territorial Prison…more for his protection. The papers editorialized that “the jail was not deemed strong enough to save the murderer from the anger of the citizens.”
Mary Burns’ brother Frank King, and father, Samuel King, arrived in town. Alexander and the other two men were indicted by a grand jury, which, incidentally contained Samuel King, Mary Burns’ father. Alexander was sentenced to life in prison.
As Alexander was leaving the courthouse in the company of police, a sniper fatally shot him. The police hurried to the shooter’s location, and found both Frank and Samuel King nearby. Neither was armed, and no one identified them as the shooter, they were released.
For years, a rumor circulated that after the shooting of Alexander, a rifle belonging to Samuel King was found in a nearby bale of hay, but in the spirit of frontier justice, it disappeared.
THE DALTON BROTHERS
Ma and Pa Dalton had t
en sons. Most of them grew up to be law-abiding citizens. One of the brothers, Frank, was killed while serving as a deputy for “Hanging Judge” Isaac Parker. Following their brother’s example, Grat, Bob and Emmett worked as lawmen in the Oklahoma Territory. But, they spent their spare time rustling cattle, and accepting bribes from whiskey smugglers. Although they managed to escape prosecution, by 1890 they were discredited as lawmen.
Deciding it was time for the Daltons to engage in some serious crime, Bob and Grat headed for California where they met up with their brother Bill. On February 6, 1891 Bob, Grat and Bill decided to rob a train. A little north of Bakersfield, they managed to flag down a Southern Pacific train traveling from San Francisco to Los Angeles.
While Bill kept the passengers occupied by shooting over their heads, Bob and Grat asked the engineer to show them the location of the express car. But the engineer refused, and he tried to escape. One shot from a Dalton pistol stopped the engineer in his tracks.
Bob and Grat found the express car on their own. They demanded the guard open the express car door. But he refused. And not only that, he started shooting at them from a small spy hole.
Totally frustrated, the Daltons rode away empty handed. Now, after the fiasco of their first major attempt at outlawry, the average person would probably decide that maybe the outlaw trail was not for them. But the Daltons weren’t average. And they kept it up, until a year and a half later when they decided to rob two banks in Coffeyville, Kansas, and the Dalton gang was wiped out.
I guess sometimes when a person fails they shouldn’t try try again.
REVEREND PEABODY
It required a special “Man of God” to minister to wild frontier towns. There were few towns as wild as Tombstone, Arizona…and there were few ministers who were capable of bringing God to a town like Tombstone than Reverend Peabody.
In 1882, Tombstone, Arizona was a wild frontier town. Of every three downtown businesses, two were either saloons or gambling dens. At this time, Tombstone had approximately 4,000 residents. Only a few citizens were interested in attending church. Churches were usually in a tent. And, the sound of the honky-tonk pianos and the nearby saloons would often drown out the minister.
All of this changed on January 28, 1882 when Reverend Endicott Peabody arrived in town. Although Reverend Peabody was an Episcopal Minister educated back east and in England, he wasn’t a typical minister. He weighed around 200 pounds, enjoyed boxing and baseball, and worked out every day. As one contemporary said, “He had muscles of iron.” While not tending to his perish, Peabody umpired baseball games, and refereed boxing matches.
The Episcopal women had been holding raffles for the building fund, and their husbands were working on the church. Progress was slow. Peabody, not one to be easily intimidated, solicited donations on both sides of Tombstone’s “Dead Line.”
He went into a hotel casino; walked up to a high-stakes poker game; introduced himself; and asked for a donation for the church. One player handed over $150 in chips, and told everyone else to do the same. The local musical society put on the opera H.M.S. Pinafore with the proceeds going to the church building fund. It raised $250 because saloons bought a lot of tickets that were never used.
Six months after Reverend Peabody’s arrival, St. Paul’s Episcopal Church was completed. Right after its completion, Peabody went back to Massachusetts. St. Paul’s is still in Tombstone, and is one of Arizona’s oldest Protestant churches.
LIVER-EATING JOHNSON
On January 21, 1900 one of the Old West’s most intriguing and gruesome men died in a veterans’ hospital i
n California. This was a strange ending for this man who was depicted in a movie Starring Robert Redford called “Jeremiah Johnson”.
John Johnson was a red bearded giant of a man who headed to the mountains when most mountain men were leaving them.
Early on Johnson came across a covered wagon that had been attached by Indians. The only survivor was the mother…and she had been driven mad from the experience. Over the years John Johnson provided her with food.
The Indians left her alone because they felt she had been driven mad from the touch of the Great Spirit.
Johnson took a Flathead woman as his wife. When he was away trapping, a Crow raiding party killed his wife, and the baby she was carrying.
This started the legend for which “Liver-Eating” Johnson is known. For 20 years Johnson took revenge against the Crow. He supposedly killed as many as 300 Crow Indians, with a few Sioux thrown in for extra measure…And legend says he ate the livers of the Indians he killed.
Later “Liver-Eating” Johnson came out of the mountains, and joined the Union Army during the Civil War. After the war, he was a deputy sheriff in Wyoming.
As he got older, Johnson made peace with the Crow Indians…And on January 21, 1900, he died in a veterans’ hospital in California.
Why did John Johnson eat the livers of the Indians? Was he a cannibal?…Technically, yes…But Indians often ate the raw liver of animals they killed. They believed it would transfer the power of the animal to the hunter. Maybe he wanted the Indians to think anyone who would do something this gruesome was touched by the Great Spirit.
JOHN FREMONT POLITICIAN
After being kicked out of college for “incorrigible negligence,” John C. Fremont became a member of the U. S. Topographical Corp. 
The result of a wise marriage to the daughter of an influential Senator, Fremont was appointed to head expeditions charting the best routes to Washington, Oregon, California and Nevada. His reports on the expeditions became very popular with people interested in settling the west.
At this time, California was a possession of Mexico. But, the United States was very interested in acquiring it. Although a member of the army, Fremont was not considered a combat soldier. But, in 1845, President James Polk sent Fremont on an expedition with 60-armed men. Although outwardly another exploration, President Polk, feeling war with Mexico was inevitable, wanted a military force nearby.
When in May of 1846 war was declared with Mexico, Fremont immediately went into California. With news of a U. S. military force in California, Anglo-Americans started rebelling against their Mexican leaders. On January 16, 1847 Fremont, now in Los Angeles, was appointed the Governor of California. Although appointed by his commander, there became a dispute within military ranks, and Fremont ended up being court martialed. Even though he was pardoned by President Polk, Fremont resigned, and returned to California.
Still with the taste of political power from his short stint as California’s governor, Fremont ran for senator in the newly recognized state. Then in 1856 Fremont became the Republican Party’s first Presidential candidate. In 1878, as a 65-year-old legend, he was appointed the territorial Governor of Arizona.
John Fremont was a much better explorer and mapper than he was a politician, for his service as a politician was like his time in college, highlighted by “incorrigible negligence.”
FRANK JAMES BORN
It interesting how sometimes a man’s death is almost more important than his life when it comes to fame.
On January 10, 1843, Frank James was born in Clay County, Missouri. Frank was the older brother of Jesse James. Together, the two of them robbed banks, trains and even city fair ticket booths in the middle of a crowd of 10,000 people.
This happened during a time when the citizens of Missouri had a hatred for large corporate railroads and banks. Although they were anything but, some Americans began to see the James brothers as heroes, modern-day Robin Hoods who stole from the rich and gave to the poor.
When Jesse was killed for $5,000 in reward money in 1882 by one of his own gang members, Jesse achieved a reputation as a martyr in the cause of the common people against powerful interests. One Kansas City newspaper mournfully reported his death in a story headlined, “GOODBYE JESSE.”
Frank James, on the other hand, turned himself in a few months after his brother was murdered. Prosecutors were unable to convince juries that Frank was a criminal, and he was declared a free man after avoiding conviction at three separate trials in Missouri and Alabama.
For the next 30 years, Frank lived an honest and peaceful existence, working as a race starter at county fairs, a theater doorman, and a star attraction in traveling theater companies. He also guided people on a tour of his and Jesse’s family farm. Frank died in 1915 at the age of 72.
Today Frank James is known best as Jesse James’ brother. It seems sometimes a person has to leave this world in a spectacular way to receive enduring fame.
ALFRED PACKER
On January 7, 1901 Alfre
d Packer was released from prison after serving 18 years. Why was he in prison? Cannibalism.
Back in the 1860’s Packer was a prospector in the Rocky Mountains. Because of the meager pickings, he supplemented his income by serving as a guide in the Utah and Colorado wilderness.
In early November 1873, Packer left Bingham Canyon, Utah, leading a party of 21 men bound for the gold fields near Breckenridge, Colorado. After three months of difficult travel, the party staggered into the camp of the Ute Indian Chief Ouray, near present-day Montrose, Colorado. The Ute graciously provided the hungry and exhausted men with food and shelter. Although the Ute advised the men to stay in the camp until spring, Packer and five other men decided to continue the journey.
Two months later, Packer arrived alone at the Los Pinos Indian Agency, looking surprisingly fit for a man who had just completed an arduous winter trek through the Rockies. At first Packer claimed he had become separated from his five companions during a blizzard and survived on wild game.
Later Packer confessed that four men had died naturally from the extreme winter conditions and the starving survivors ate them. When only Packer and one other man, Shannon Bell, remained alive, Bell went insane and threatened to kill Packer. Packer said he shot Bell in self-defense and eventually ate his corpse.
Packer was tried and a jury convicted him of manslaughter. He remained imprisoned in the Canon City penitentiary until 1901 when the Denver Post published a series of articles and editorials questioning his guilt.
After his release Alfred Packer around Littleton, Colorado, maintaining his innocence until the day he died in 1907.
STEPHEN AUSTIN JAILED
On January 2, 1834 Stephen Austin was imprisoned by the Mexican government.
Prior to this Austin did his best to satisfy the rebellious Anglo-Americans in Texas. And because of proble
ms with the Mexican Republic, Austin was forces to constantly return to Mexico City where he argued for the rights of the American colonists in Texas.
Alarmed by the growing numbers of Americans migrating to Texas and rumors the U.S. intended to annex the region, the Mexican government began to limit immigration in 1830.
The Mexican policy angered many Anglo-American colonists who already had a long list of grievances against their distant government. In 1833, a group of colonial leaders drafted a constitution that would create a new Anglo-dominated Mexican state of Texas.
Once the constitution was done, the colonial leaders directed Austin to travel to Mexico City to present it to the government along with a list of other demands. Austin conceded to the will of the people, but President Santa Ana not only refused to grant Texas independence, he threw Austin in prison on suspicion of inciting insurrection.
When he was finally released eight months later in August 1835, Austin found that the Anglo-American colonists were on the brink of rebellion. They were now demanding a Republic of Texas that would break entirely from Mexico.
Reluctantly, Austin abandoned his hope that the Anglo Texans could somehow remain a part of Mexico, and he began to prepare for war. The following year Austin helped lead the Texan rebels to victory over the Mexicans and assisted in the creation of the independent Republic of Texas. Defeated by Sam Houston in a bid for the presidency of the new nation, Austin instead took the position of secretary of state. He died in office later that year.
WOUNDED KNEE
On December 29 in 1890, the final chapter in America’s Indian wars was written as the U.S. Cavalry killed 146 Sioux at Wounded Kne
e.
Throughout 1890, the U.S. government had been worrying about a Ghost Dance spiritual movement, which taught that Indians had been defeated and confined to reservations because they had angered the gods by abandoning their traditional customs. If they practiced the Ghost Dance and rejected the ways of the white man, the gods would create the world anew and destroy all non-believers, including non-Indians.
The U.S. Army’s 7th cavalry surrounded a band of Ghost Dancers under the Sioux Chief Big Foot near Wounded Knee Creek and demanded they surrender their weapons. As that was happening, a fight broke out between an Indian and a U.S. soldier and a shot was fired. A brutal battle followed, in which it’s estimated almost 150 Indians were killed. Nearly half of them were women and children. The cavalry lost 25 men.
HARDIN’S CHRISTMAS
Although he’s not as famous as Billy the Kid or Jesse James, John Wesley Hardin probably holds the record for killing more men in the shortest period of time. From the time he first killed in 1868 until he shot his last man ten years later, Hardin is known to have murdered more than 20 men. Incidentally, his father was a Methodist preacher, and he was named after the founder of the Methodist Church.
So, how did John Wesley Harden spend Christmas of 1869? On Christmas Day he went to the tiny town of Towash, Texas, seeking some holiday companionship and a good game of cards. A big winner, Hardin got in an argument with a man named James Bradley, an obvious sour looser.
Bradley pulled a knife. Unarmed, in accordance with town ordinances, Harden went to his room and got his pistol. Later in the afternoon Harden encountered Bradley on the street. Bradley let out some curse words; pulled his pistol; and shot at Harden…Missing him. Hardin responded with a shot to Bradley’s head and chest. Harden then casually rode out of town.
The moral of the story? Christmas should be spent in church, with family, not gambling and shooting off your gun. Right, James Bradley?
