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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.

March 19, 2014 | Categories: Old West History | Leave A Comment »

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.

March 8, 2014 | Categories: Old West History | Leave A Comment »

SEQUOHAH

The subject of today’s story was considered an ingenious natural mechanic…and his invention changed the life of his people forever.

Sequohah, born in 1760 in Tennessee, grew up among his mother’s people, the Cherokee. He became a metal craftsman, making beautiful silver jewelry. As a young man he joined the Cherokee volunteers who joined Andrew Jackson in the War of 1812. While with the American soldiers, he became intrigued with what he called “talking leaves,” or words on paper that somehow recorded human speech. Although Sequohah had no formal education, he somehow comprehended the basic nature of the symbolic representation of sounds.

In 1809 he began working on a Cherokee language. At first he tried picture symbols, but soon found them to be impractical. Then he started looking at English, Greek and Hebrew. He finally developed 86 characters that would express the various sounds in the Cherokee language. It was so simple in its concept 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. And Cherokee of all ages started learning the written language.

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 the first printing press with Cherokee type arrived in Georgia. Within months, the first Indian language newspaper appeared. It was called the Cherokee Phoenix.

Sequohah later went to Mexico to teach Cherokee there the language. While in Mexico he became ill with dysentery, and died.

Great monuments to the man who developed the Cherokee alphabet stand today along the northern California coast. They are the giant redwood trees called the Sequoia.

February 21, 2014 | Categories: Uncategorized | Leave A Comment »

FIRST DAYLIGHT BANK ROBBERY

No one noticed a group of men who rode into Liberty, Missouri on February 13, 1866. But, a short while later, when they rode out, everyone noticed them, because they had just done what no one had ever done before.

It was February of 1866. The Civil War was over. Supposedly, Jessie James was at his mother’s home in Kearney, Missouri recovering from a war wound, and his brother Frank was spending his time with Jessie reading books.

About ten miles away, on February 13, Valentine’s Day, a dozen men rode into Liberty, Missouri. They wore long military coats. It was a cold day, and the streets were deserted. Three men dismounted and took casual positions on the street. The others rode up to the Clay County Savings Association. Two went inside.

A clerk and cashier were inside. One of the men in long coats walked up to the clerk and asked him to change a ten dollar bill. The long coated man then pulled his pistol, and casually asked for all the money in the bank.

These men were doing something that had never been done before…holding up a bank during operating hours. A gain sack was filled with gold and silver coins, paper money and securities totaling $60,000.

After the robbery, the men mounted their horses, and riding at full gallop, whooped, and shot their way out of town. Unfortunately, a 19-year-old college student, George Wymore, was walking down the street. One rider fired at him four times, and Wymore fell dead. A later examination of Wymore discovered that any one of the four shots would have killed him.

In spite of their alibis, this first bank robbery was led by the two James boys from nearby Kearney. Over the next few years they robbed at least twelve other banks, more than a handful of trains, almost a handful of stagecoaches, and even a county fair.

February 13, 2014 | Categories: Old West Myth & Fact | Leave A Comment »

FRONTIER PHARMACY

From:
Current Newspaper, Carlsbad, New Mexico
February 13, 1896

Catnip – The leaves can be made into a tea and fed to babies with colic.

Chicory – Young leaves can be eaten as a spring green and the roots dried and roasted as a coffee substitute.

Dandelion – The leaves and small flower buds are a sought-after spring green. Dried and roasted roots make a coffee substitute. Can also be used as a remedy for dropsy.

Goldenrod – The flowers can be used for dying yarn. The leaves can be made into tea for nausea.

Milkweed – The “fluff” from this plant makes a great stuffing for mattresses and pillows. The leaves can be used to make chair seats; shoots, roots, and young lower buds are all edible.

Red Raspberry – The leaves can be dried and made into a tea for dysentery, to ease childbirth pains and as a wash for sores.

Rose Hips – Tea made from these berries can be used as a treatment for scurvy.

Sassafras – The inner bark of the roots can be boiled in water for a spring tonic and as a beverage with meals.

Willow – The inner bark can be used to make tea for reducing fever.

February 4, 2014 | Categories: Uncategorized | Leave A Comment »