Cowboy To Cowboy

A Frenchman, his surname Richard was pronounced Reshaw by those who knew him, and this 1850s Old West character crisscrossed the frontier in what is now known as Wyoming and Colorado.  While reading the book, it occurs to us that perhaps Reshaw was the inspiration for the Pasquinel character featured in James Michener’s Centennial.

Richard was a contradiction who could be at one time very generous and at other times confrontational.  The Indian tribesmen gave him a name in Sioux that meant “Always has plenty of meat” because he was willing to share with those in need.  On the other hand, he could display a vicious temper and it was said that during a whiskey-drinking spree, he wildly drove his carriage into an emigrant train causing a stampede that killed several people.

Richard bought and sold commodities such as bacon in St. Louis, and sold it at highly inflated prices to the miners and travelers.  He was a fur trapper, buffalo hide trader, whiskey peddler, livestock dealer and all around opportunist who always looked for ways to make money.  By the time he was fifty years old the 1860 Colorado census records show his personal estate was worth $50,000, a huge sum for those days.

He married an Indian woman, and some of their children were eventually sent to St. Louis to be educated.  This book goes into great detail about the lives of Richard’s children as well as his many business associates, as well as information about the history of Wyoming and Colorado, fights between the U.S. military and Indian tribes, attacks at stage stations and the numerous depredations that took place.

One of Richard’s most lucrative business ventures had to do with a toll bridge he constructed across the North Platte River near present day Casper, Wyoming.  Richard was quick to see the advantage of charging the emigrant trains to cross their wagons, livestock and equipment over his bridge as they made their way west.  He ran this operation for many years, but around 1865 he departed from his toll bridge business on the North Platte.  It was suggested that due to his family connections with the Sioux Indians and other tribesmen, he was warned that big trouble was coming between the Indians and the U.S. government, and he would be wise to make himself scarce before it was too late.  The Plains Indians were on the prod following the Sand Creek Massacre, and retribution would be forthcoming.

Even without his toll bridge business, Richard continued to be involved in various business ventures.  He died a violent death where he camped along the banks of the Niobrara River.  Supposedly he was transporting a large quantity of gold.  While his body was recovered, it was never known for sure who the killers were.  Both boot prints and moccasin tracks were found at the murder scene.  Some men were suspected, one was arrested, but due to lack of evidence the murder of John Baptiste Richard remains an unsolved mystery.

This man was kind, he was clever, he was mean, he was generous, he was complicated.  A husband, father, trail blazer, entrepreneur, he was a fascinating character that history has mostly overlooked until now.

The author has done a huge amount of careful research, presenting here not only the life of John Baptiste Richard but including a great deal of Wyoming and Colorado history.  One photo in the book may or may not be that of John Baptiste Richard.  It was labeled differently by several different historians.  We might never know exactly what he looked like which only adds to his mystique. Grab your copy of this interesting book HERE.

Editor’s Note:  The reviewer Phyllis Morreale-de la Garza is the author of numerous books about the Old West including Hell Horse Winter of the Apache Kid, published by Silk Label Books, P.O. Box 700, Unionville, New York. 10988-0700. Www.silklabelbooks.com

*Courtesy of Chronicle of the Old West newspaper, for more click HERE.

3 eggs
1 teacupful of brown sugar
½ of a nutmeg
2 tablespoonfuls of butter

Beat well together. Stir in 1 teacupful of molasses with above ingredients. If you have no molasses, maple syrup will work. Bake in pie shell.

*Courtesy of Chronicle of the Old West newspaper, for more click HERE.

Retired lawman and veteran writer of more than a dozen non-fiction books about Old West history, Bob Alexander again writes a hard-hitting book.  Riding Lucifer’s Line is a collection of 24 profiles about Texas Rangers who lost their lives on the Mexico-Texas border known as “Lucifer’s Line.”  The chosen time period covers the last quarter of the Nineteenth Century through the first quarter of the Twentieth Century.

Carefully researched including newspaper accounts, personal letters, courtroom papers and official Texas Ranger documents, Alexander shows how the hard riding, straight-shooting Rangers rode with boldness into mortal danger.  Their weapons of choice included Winchesters and the Colt’s .45 caliber six-shooters.  They relied on horses for transportation, and faced every weather condition while crisscrossing the vast and untamed land.  From choking dry desert and cactus-studded hills, to the swampy, mosquito infested marshes to the south, these men answered the call.

Alexander points out that Texas Rangers were sometimes hated and despised by the Hispanic population, even referred to as “devils”, by those who naturally resisted the new boundary after Texas split from Mexico.  And while not all of the Rangers were angels on horseback, they dealt with the harsh realities of an unforgiving adversary good at ambush and body mutilation.

Sonny Smith was the youngest Ranger killed in the line of duty.  At seventeen years he was shot down ambushed by a wounded desperado hiding in the weeds near a pond.  John McBride and Conrad Mortimer were caught in a crossfire, trapped inside a shack by a Mexican lynch mob.  Sam Frazier was killed by people he had threatened, and George R. “Red” Bingham was shot through the heart during a running gun battle with outlaws.  Frank Sieker’s death was the result of a “terrible mistake” when Rangers mistook two Mexicans as horse thieves who were really leading horses of their own that had escaped, but due to language differences, the fight was on.  Charles Fusselman was shot in the head during an ambush while chasing cattle thieves.  Grover Scott Russell was ambushed inside a grocery store by the mother of the man he was trying to arrest. The lady used an axe.

The list of murdered Texas Rangers goes on and on, as readers find out what happened to whom, who the killers were and if they were brought to justice.  These stories are real, and there are no happy endings when a young man in the prime of life is suddenly left dead riddled with bullet holes, or his skull crushed with an axe.

Two sections in the book provide photographs of many of these men and some others. A brief history of the Texas Rangers is explained in the book’s Foreword, and the Afterword gives yet another brief history lesson in what it took to be a Texas Ranger, details of their enlistment requirements and pay.  Bob Alexander also explains how life on the Texas-Mexico border continues to this day to be a dangerous proposition.  Horse and cattle rustling have now become mostly a war with drug cartels and human smugglers.

This book is a fast-paced, sentimental eye-opener into the lives of these twenty-four brave men who were determined to make Texas a safer place, but forfeited their own lives in the name of law and order.  The struggle continues to this day.

Bob Alexander’s vast experience in law enforcement, border issues, and his love of Texas history once again come through in this latest book. Get your copy HERE.

Editor’s Note:  The reviewer, Phyllis Morreale-de la Garza is the author of numerous books about the Old West including Silk and Sagebrush, Women of the Old West, published by Silk Label Books, P.O. Box 700, Unionville, New York 10988 www.silklabelbooks.com

*Courtesy of Chronicle of the Old West newspaper, for more click HERE.

From an 1888 cookbook

Mix thoroughly a quart of stale bread, very finely grated; the grated rind of a lemon; quarter of an ounce of minced parsley and thyme, one part thyme, two parts parsley; and pepper and salt to season.  Add to these one unbeaten egg and half a cup of butter; mix all well together and moisten with hot water or milk.  Other herbs than parsley or thyme may be used if preferred, and a little onion, finely minced, added if desired.  The proportions given here may be increased when more is required.

*Courtesy of Chronicle of the Old West newspaper, for more click HERE.

2 Cups yellow cornmeal
2 Tablespoons butter or margarine
1/2 Teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon sugar
2 Cups milk
1 Teaspoon baking powder

Preheat Dutch oven to 400 degrees F.

Cook cornmeal in a saucepan with butter, salt, sugar and milk until the mixture comes to a boil. Turn off heat, cover, and let stand 5 minutes. Add baking powder. Spoon the mix onto the Dutch oven in heaping tablespoon-size balls, then bake for 10 to 15 minutes. They are done when slightly brown around the edges.

*Courtesy of Chronicle of the Old West newspaper, for more click HERE.