Jasper Joseph Inman Kane (19 March 1894, San Diego – 25 August 1975, Santa Monica, California) was a prolific American film director, film producer, film editor and screenwriter. He is best known for his extensive directorship and focus on western films.

1934–1950

Kane originally began as a professional cellist, but took up an interest in film directing in 1934 and began co-directing serials for Mascot and Republic from 1935. He soon became their top western director.

He made his first directorial credit with ''The Fighting Marines'' (1935). When Mascot and several other small film companies amalgamated into Republic Pictures in 1935, Kane became staff director, remaining at the studio until it ceased production in 1958. He piloted many Gene Autry and Roy Rogers movies and directed John Wayne on films such as ''The Lawless Nineties'' in 1936 and ''Flame of Barbary Coast'' (1944), and Joseph Schildkraut on ''The Cheaters'' in 1945. Between 1935 and his death in 1975 he directed over 125 films.

Unlike most Republic house directors, Kane was also credited as associate producer on many films. Between 1939 and 1957 he was a major film producer, producing over 60 films.

Kane was also a film editor and screenwriter responsible for the editing process of over 20 of his films, and he had a brief stint as an actor.

1950-death

During the 1950s, Kane worked steadily on television, with emphasis on westerns and action series. Joseph Kane spent the last decade of his life as a second-unit director on such productions as Universal Studios ''Beau Geste'' (1966) and ''In Enemy Country'' (1968).

He died in Santa Monica, California in 1975.

Partial filmography

''In Old Santa Fe'' (1934) with Ken Maynard, George "Gabby" Hayes, Gene Autry (unbilled singer), and Smiley Burnette (unbilled singer)

''Tumbling Tumblingweeds'' (1935) with Gene Autry, Smiley Burnette, and George "Gabby" Hayes

''The Headline Woman'' (1935)

''Melody Trail'' (1935) with Gene Autry, Ann Rutherford, and Smiley Burnette

''The Lawless Nineties'' (1936) with John Wayne

''Darkest Africa'' with Clyde Beatty

''King of the Pecos'' (1936) with John Wayne and Muriel Evans

''The Lonely Trail'' (1936) with John Wayne and Ann Rutherford

''Guns and Guitars'' (1936) with Gene Autry and Smiley Burnette

''Oh, Susanna!'' (1936) with Gene Autry and Smiley Burnette

''Ride Ranger Ride'' (1936) with Gene Autry and Smiley Burnette

''The Old Corral'' (1936) with Gene Autry and Smiley Burnette

''Git Along, Little Dogies'' (1937) with Gene Autry and Smiley Burnette

''Round-Up Time in Texas'' (1937) with Gene Autry and Smiley Burnette

''Yodelin' Kid from Pine Ridge'' (1937) with Gene Autry and Smiley Burnette

''Public Cowboy No. 1'' (1937) with Gene Autry, Smiley Burnette, and Ann Rutherford

''Boots and Saddles'' (1937) with Gene Autry and Smiley Burnette

''Springtime in the Rockies'' (1937) with Gene Autry and Smiley Burnette

''Heart of the Rockies'' (1937)

''The Old Barn Dance'' (1938) with Gene Autry, Smiley Burnette, and Roy Rogers (billed as Dick Weston)

''Gold Mine in the Sky'' (1938) with Gene Autry and Smiley Burnette

''Man from Music Mountain'' (1938) with Gene Autry and Smiley Burnette

''Colorado'' (1940) with Roy Rogers

''The Man from Music Mountain'' (1943) with Roy Rogers

''King of the Cowboys'' (1943) with Roy Rogers and Smiley Burnette

''The Yellow Rose of Texas'' (1944) with Roy Rogers

''Flame of Barbary Coast'' (1945) with John Wayne and William Frawley

''Ride the Man Down'' (1952) with Brian Donlevy and Ella Raines

''Timberjack'' (1955) with Sterling Hayden and Hoagy Carmichael

''Track of Thunder'' (1967) with Faith Domergue

''Smoke in the Wind'' (1975) with Walter Brennan

Famous actors directed by Kane

John Wayne

Walter Brennan

Gene Autry

Roy Rogers

George "Gabby" Hayes

Clyde Beatty

Jack Ingram

Jack O'Shea

Smiley Burnette

Ann Rutherford

Sterling Hayden

Hank Worden

Paul Fix

Barbara Stanwyck

Fred MacMurray

Scott Brady

Rod Cameron

Chubby Johnson

Jim Davis

Robert Armstrong

Elisha Cook, Jr.

Edgar Buchanan

Gerald Mohr

Peggy Moran

Lee Van Cleef

External links

Category:American film directors Category:American film producers Category:American film editors Category:American screenwriters Category:Western (genre) film directors Category:American classical cellists Category:People from San Diego, California Category:1894 births Category:1975 deaths

es:Joseph Kane fr:Joseph Kane

name	Billy the Kid
birth name	William Henry McCarty, Jr.
alias	William H. Bonney, William McCarty, Henry McCarty, Henry Antrim, Kid Antrim
birth date	November 23, 1859
death date	July 14, 1881
death place	Fort Sumner, New Mexico Territory, United States
death cause	Gunshot
occupation	Cowboy, gambler, cattle rustler, outlaw
parents	Father: unknown—possibly Patrick Henry McCarty, Michael McCarty, or William Bonney Stepfather: William Antrim Mother: Catherine McCarty/Katherine McCarty Bonney Half-brother: Joseph Antrim }}

William H. Bonney (born William Henry McCarty, Jr.) est. November 23, 1859 – c. July 14, 1881, better known as Billy the Kid but also known as Henry Antrim, was a 19th-century American gunman who participated in the Lincoln County War and became a frontier outlaw in the West. According to legend, he killed 21 men, but he is generally accepted to have killed between four and nine.

McCarty (or Bonney, the name he used at the height of his notoriety) was to tall with blue eyes, a smooth complexion, and prominent front teeth. He was said to be friendly and personable at times, and many recalled that he was as "lithe as a cat". Contemporaries described him as a "neat" dresser who favored an "unadorned Mexican sombrero". These qualities, along with his cunning and celebrated skill with firearms, contributed to his paradoxical image, as both a notorious outlaw and beloved folk hero.

Relatively unknown during most of his lifetime, Billy was catapulted into legend in 1881 when New Mexico's governor, Lew Wallace, placed a price on his head. In addition, the ''Las Vegas Gazette'' (Las Vegas, New Mexico) and the ''New York Sun'' carried stories about his exploits. Many other newspapers followed suit. After his death, several biographies were written that portrayed the Kid in varying lights.

Early life

William Henry McCarty, Jr. is believed by Michael Wallis and Robert M. Utley, scholars of western history, to have been

"born on the eve of the Civil War in an Irish neighborhood in New York City" (at 70 Allen Street). If indeed his birthplace was New York, no records that can prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he ever lived there have ever been uncovered".

While his biological father is obscure, some researchers have theorized that his name was Patrick McCarty, Michael McCarty, William McCarty, or Edward McCarty. His mother's name was Catherine McCarty, although "there have been continuing debates about whether McCarty was her maiden or married name." She is believed to have immigrated to New York during the time of the Great Famine.

By 1868, Catherine McCarty had moved with her two young sons, Henry and Joseph, to Indianapolis, Indiana. There she met William Antrim, who was 12 years her junior. In 1873, after several years of moving around the country, the two were married at the First Presbyterian Church in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and settled further south in Silver City. Antrim found sporadic work as a bartender and carpenter, but he became involved in prospecting and gambling for fortune, nearly abandoning his wife and stepsons. Young William McCarty did not often use the surname "Antrim."

Married to a husband who was frequently absent, McCarty's mother reportedly washed clothes, baked pies, and took in boarders in order to provide for her sons. Boarders and neighbors remembered her as "a jolly Irish lady, full of life and mischief", but she was already in the final stages of tuberculosis when the family reached Silver City. On September 16, 1874, Catherine McCarty died; she was buried in the Memory Lane Cemetery in Silver City.

At age 14, McCarty was taken in by a neighboring family who operated a hotel where he worked to pay for his keep. The manager was impressed by the youth, contending that he was the only young man who ever worked for him who did not steal anything. One of McCarty's schoolteachers later recalled that the young orphan was "no more of a problem than any other boy, always quite willing to help with chores around the schoolhouse." Early biographers sought to explain McCarty's subsequent descent into lawlessness by focusing on his habit of reading dime novels that romanticized crime. Another potential explanation was his slender physique, "which placed him in precarious situations with bigger and stronger boys."

Forced to seek new lodgings when his foster family began to experience "domestic problems," McCarty moved into a boarding house and pursued odd jobs. In April 1875, McCarty was arrested by Grant County Sheriff Harvey Whitehill, for stealing cheese. On September 24, 1875, McCarty was arrested again when found to possess clothing and firearms that a fellow boarder had stolen from a Chinese laundry owner. Two days after McCarty was placed in jail, the teenager escaped up the jailhouse chimney. From that point on, McCarty was more or less a fugitive.

According to some accounts, he eventually found work as an itinerant ranch hand and shepherd in southeastern Arizona. In 1876, McCarty settled in the vicinity of Fort Grant Army Post in Arizona, where he worked local ranches and tested his skills at local gaming houses. Sheriff Whitehill would later say that he liked the boy, and his acts of theft were more due to necessity than wantonness.

During this time, McCarty became acquainted with John R. Mackie, a Scottish-born ex-cavalry private with a criminal bent. The two men supposedly became involved in the risky, but profitable, enterprise of horse thievery. McCarty, who stole from local soldiers, became known by the sobriquet of "Kid Antrim". The biographer Robert M. Utley writes that the nickname arose because of McCarty's "slight build and beardless countenance, his young years, and his appealing personality." In 1877, McCarty was involved in a conflict with the civilian blacksmith at Fort Grant, an Irish immigrant named Frank "Windy" Cahill, who took pleasure in bullying young McCarty. On August 17, Cahill reportedly attacked McCarty after a verbal exchange and threw him to the ground. Reliable accounts say McCarty retaliated by shooting Cahill, who died the next day. The coroner's inquest concluded that McCarty's shooting of Cahill was "criminal and unjustifiable." Some of those who witnessed the incident later claimed that McCarty acted in self-defense. Years later, Louis Abraham, who had known McCarty in Silver City but was not a witness, denied that anyone was killed in the altercation.

In fear of Cahill's friends, McCarty fled Arizona Territory and entered New Mexico Territory. He eventually arrived at the former army post of Apache Tejo, where he joined a band of cattle rustlers who raided the sprawling herds of cattle magnate John Chisum. During this period, McCarty was spotted by a resident of Silver City, and the teenager's involvement with the notorious gang was mentioned in a local newspaper. McCarty rode for a time with the gang of rustlers known as the "Jesse Evans Gang", but soon turned up at Heiskell Jones's house in Pecos Valley, New Mexico.

According to this account, Apaches stole McCarty's horse, forcing him to walk many miles to the nearest settlement, which happened to be Jones's home. When he arrived, the young man was supposedly near death, but Mrs. Jones nursed him back to health. The Jones family developed a strong attachment to McCarty and gave him one of their horses. At some point in 1877, McCarty began to refer to himself as "William H. Bonney".

Lincoln County War

In 1877, McCarty (now widely known as William Bonney) moved to Lincoln County, New Mexico, and was hired by Doc Scurlock and Charlie Bowdre to work in their cheese factory. Through them he met Frank Coe, George Coe and Ab Saunders, three cousins who owned their own ranch near the ranch of Richard M. Brewer. After a short stint working on the ranch of Henry Hooker, McCarty began working on the Coe-Saunders ranch.

Late in 1877, McCarty, along with Brewer, Bowdre, Scurlock, the Coes and the Saunders, was hired as a cattle guard by John Tunstall, an English cattle rancher, banker and merchant, and his partner, Alexander McSween, a prominent lawyer.

A conflict known today as the Lincoln County War had erupted between the established town merchants, Lawrence Murphy and James Dolan, and competing business interests headed by Tunstall and McSween. Before the arrival of Tunstall and McSween, Murphy and Dolan presided over a monopoly of Lincoln County's cattle and merchant trade; their far-reaching operation was known locally as "The House", after a large mansion in Lincoln that served as Murphy and Dolan's headquarters. There was also an ethnic element to the House's conflict with Tunstall; Murphy and Dolan, both Irish immigrants, were strongly opposed to an Englishman like Tunstall cutting into their business.

Events turned bloody on February 18, 1878, when Tunstall was spotted while driving a herd of nine horses towards Lincoln and murdered by William Morton, Jesse Evans, Tom Hill, Frank Baker  and Sheriff William J. Brady of Lincoln County — all members of a posse serving the House, sent to attack McSween's holdings. After murdering Tunstall, the gunmen shot down his prized bay horse. "As a wry and macabre joke on Tunstall's great affection for horses, the dead bay's head was then pillowed on his hat", writes Frederick Nolan, Tunstall's biographer. Although members of the House sought to frame Tunstall's death as a "justifiable homicide", evidence at the scene suggested that Tunstall attempted to avoid a confrontation before he was shot down. Tunstall's murder enraged McCarty and the other ranch hands.

McSween, who abhorred violence, took steps to punish Tunstall's murderers through legal means; he obtained warrants for their arrests from the local justice of the peace, John B. Wilson. Tunstall's men formed their own group called the Regulators. After being deputized by Brewer, Tunstall's foreman, who had been appointed a special constable and given the warrant to arrest Tunstall's killers, proceeded to the Murphy-Dolan store. The wanted men, Bill Morton and Frank Baker, attempted to flee, but they were captured on March 6. Upon returning to Lincoln, the Regulators reported that Morton and Baker had been shot on March 9 near Agua Negra during an alleged escape attempt. During their journey to Lincoln, the Regulators killed one of their members, a man named McCloskey, whom they suspected of being a traitor.

On the day that McCloskey, Morton, and Baker were slain, Governor Samuel Beach Axtell arrived in Lincoln County to investigate the ongoing violence. The governor, accompanied by James Dolan and associate John Riley, proved hostile to the faction now headed by McSween. The Regulators "went from lawmen to outlaws". Axtell refused to acknowledge the so-called "Santa Fe Ring", a group of corrupt politicians and business leaders led by U.S. Attorney Thomas Benton Catron. Catron cooperated closely with the House, which was perceived as part of the notorious "ring".

The Regulators planned to settle a score with Sheriff William J. Brady, who had arrested McCarty and fellow deputy Fred Waite in the aftermath of Tunstall's murder. At the time Brady arrested them, the two men were trying to serve a warrant on him for his suspected role in looting Tunstall's store after the Englishman's death, as well as against his posse members for the murder of Tunstall. On April 1, the Regulators Jim French, Frank McNab, John Middleton, Fred Waite, Henry Brown and McCarty/Bonney ambushed Sheriff Brady and his deputy, George W. Hindman, killing them both in Lincoln's main street.

McCarty was shot in the thigh while attempting to retrieve a rifle that Brady had seized from him during an earlier arrest. With this move, the Regulators disillusioned many former supporters, who came to view both sides as "equally nefarious and bloodthirsty". The connection between McSween and the Regulators was ambiguous, however. McCarty was loyal to the memory of Tunstall, though not necessarily to McSween. Jacobsen doubts whether McCarty and McSween were acquainted at the time of Brady's death. According to a contemporary newspaper account, the Regulators disclaimed "all connection or sympathy with McSween and his affairs" and expressed their sole desire was to track down Tunstall's murderers.

On April 4, in what became known as the Gunfight of Blazer's Mills, the Regulators sought the arrest of Buckshot Roberts, a former buffalo hunter whom they suspected of involvement in the Tunstall murder. Roberts refused to be taken alive, although he suffered a severe bullet wound to the chest. During the gun battle, he shot and killed the Regulators' leader, Dick Brewer. Four other Regulators were wounded in the skirmish. The incident had the effect of further alienating the public, as many local residents "admired the way Roberts put up a gutsy fight against overwhelming odds."

Killing of Frank McNab and after

After Brewer's death, the Regulators elected Frank McNab as captain. For a short period, the Regulators benefited from the appointment of Sheriff John Copeland, who proved sympathetic to their cause. Copeland's authority was undermined by the House, which recruited members from among Brady's former deputies. On April 29, 1878, a posse including the Jesse Evans Gang and the Seven Rivers Warriors, under the direction of former Brady deputy George W. Peppin, engaged McNab, Ab Saunders and Frank Coe in a shootout at the Fritz Ranch. They killed McNab, severely wounded Saunders and captured Coe. Coe escaped custody a short time later.

The next day the Regulators "iron clad" took up defensive positions in the town of Lincoln, where they traded shots with Dolan's men as well as U.S. cavalrymen. The only casualty was Dutch Charley Kruling, a House gunman wounded by a rifle slug fired by George Coe. By shooting at US government troops, the Regulators gained a new set of enemies. On May 15, the Regulators tracked down Seven Rivers Warriors gang member Manuel Segovia, the suspected murderer of Frank McNab, and killed him. Around the time of Segovia's death, the Regulator "iron clad" gained a new member, a young Texas "cowpoke" named Tom O'Folliard, who became McCarty's close friend and constant companion.

The Regulators' position worsened when the governor, in a quasi-legal move, removed Copeland and appointed House ally George Peppin as sheriff. Under indictment for the Brady killing, McCarty and the other Regulators spent the next several months in hiding and were trapped, along with McSween, in McSween's home in Lincoln on July 15, by members of the House and some of Brady's men. On July 19, a column of U.S. cavalry soldiers entered the fray. Although the soldiers were ostensibly neutral, their actions favored the Dolan faction. After a five-day siege, the posse set McSween's house on fire. McCarty and the other Regulators fled. The posse shot McSween when he escaped the fire, essentially marking the end of the Lincoln County War.

Lew Wallace and amnesty

In the Autumn of 1878, the president appointed Lew Wallace, a former Union Army general, as Governor of the New Mexico Territory. In an effort to restore peace to Lincoln County, Wallace proclaimed an amnesty for any man involved in the Lincoln County War who was not already under indictment. McCarty, who had fled to Texas after his escape from McSween's house, was under indictment, but sent Wallace a letter requesting immunity in return for testifying in front of the Grand Jury. In March 1879, Wallace and McCarty met in Lincoln County to discuss the possibility of a deal. McCarty greeted the governor with a revolver in one hand and a Winchester rifle in the other. After taking several days to consider Wallace's offer, McCarty agreed to testify in return for amnesty.

The arrangement called for McCarty to submit to a token arrest and a short stay in jail until the conclusion of his courtroom testimony. Although McCarty's testimony helped to indict John Dolan, the district attorney, one of the powerful "House" faction leaders disregarded Wallace's order to set McCarty free after his testimony. After the Dolan trial, McCarty and O'Folliard escaped on horses supplied by friends.

For the next year-and-a-half, McCarty survived by rustling, gambling, and taking defensive action. In January 1880, he reportedly killed a man named Joe Grant in a Fort Sumner saloon. Grant, who did not realize who his opponent was, boasted that he would kill "Billy the Kid" if he ever encountered him. In those days people loaded their revolvers with only five rounds, with the hammer down on an empty chamber. This was done to prevent an accidental discharge should the hammer be struck. The Kid asked Grant if he could see his ivory-handled revolver and, while looking at the weapon, rotated the cylinder so the hammer would fall on the empty chamber when the trigger was pulled. He told Grant his identity. When Grant fired, nothing happened, and McCarty shot him. When asked about the incident later, he remarked, "It was a game for two, and I got there first."

Other versions of this story exist. One biographer, Joel Jacobsen, recounts the story as described in Utley, describing Grant as a "drunk" who was "making himself obnoxious in a bar". The Kid is described as rotating the cylinder "so an empty chamber was beneath the hammer". In Jacobsen's recounting of the incident, Grant tried to shoot McCarty in the back. "As [McCarty] was leaving the saloon, his back turned to Grant, he heard a distinct click. He spun around before Grant could reach a loaded chamber. Always a good marksman, he shot Grant in the chin."

In November 1880, a posse pursued and trapped McCarty's gang inside a ranch house owned by his friend James Greathouse at Anton Chico in the White Oaks area. James Carlyle of the posse entered the house under a white flag, in an effort to negotiate the group's surrender. Greathouse was sent out to act as a hostage for the posse. At some point in the evening, Carlyle evidently decided the outlaws were stalling. According to one version, Carlyle heard a shot that had been fired accidentally outside. Concluding that the posse had shot down Greathouse, he chose escape, crashed through a window and was fired upon and killed. Recognizing their mistake, the posse became demoralized and scattered, enabling McCarty and his gang to slip away. McCarty vehemently denied shooting Carlyle, and later wrote to Governor Wallace, claiming to be innocent of this crime and others attributed to him.

Pat Garrett

During this time, McCarty became acquainted with an ambitious local bartender and former buffalo hunter named Pat Garrett. While popular accounts often depict McCarty and Garrett as "bosom buddies", there is no evidence that they were friends. Running on a pledge to rid the area of rustlers, Garrett was elected as sheriff of Lincoln County in November 1880; in early December, he assembled a posse and set out to arrest McCarty, at that time known almost exclusively as "Billy the Kid." The Kid then carried a $500 bounty on his head that had been authorized by governor Lew Wallace.

The posse led by Garrett fared well, and his men closed in quickly. On December 19, McCarty barely escaped a midnight ambush in Fort Sumner, which left one member of the gang, Tom O'Folliard, dead. On December 23, the Kid was tracked to an abandoned stone building located in a remote location known as Stinking Springs (near present-day Taiban, New Mexico). While McCarty and his gang were asleep inside, Garrett's posse surrounded the building and waited for sunrise. The next morning, a cattle rustler named Charlie Bowdre stepped outside to feed his horse. Mistaken for McCarty, he was shot down by the posse. Soon afterward, somebody from within the building reached for the horse's halter rope, but Garrett shot and killed the horse, whose body blocked the building's only exit. As the lawmen began to cook breakfast over an open fire, Garrett and McCarty engaged in a friendly exchange, with Garrett inviting McCarty outside to eat, and McCarty inviting Garrett to "go to hell." Realizing that they had no hope of escape, the besieged and hungry outlaws finally surrendered and were allowed to join in the meal.

Escape from Lincoln

McCarty was transported from Fort Sumner to Las Vegas, where he gave an interview to a reporter from the ''Las Vegas Gazette''. Next, the prisoner was transferred to Santa Fe, where he sent four separate letters over the next three months to Governor Wallace seeking clemency. Wallace, however, refused to intervene, and the Kid's trial was held in April 1881 in Mesilla. On April 9, after two days of testimony, McCarty was found guilty of the murder of Sheriff Brady, the only conviction ever secured against any of the combatants in the Lincoln County War. On April 13, he was sentenced by Judge Warren Bristol to hang.

With his execution scheduled for May 13, McCarty was removed to Lincoln, where he was held under guard by two of Garrett's deputies, James Bell and Robert Ollinger, on the top floor of the town courthouse. On April 28, while Garrett was out of town, McCarty stunned the territory by killing both of his guards and escaping. The details of the escape are unclear. Some researchers believe that a sympathizer placed a pistol in a nearby privy that McCarty was permitted to use, under escort, each day. McCarty retrieved the gun, and turned it on Bell when the pair had reached the top of a flight of stairs in the courthouse. Another theory holds that McCarty slipped off his manacles at the top of the stairs, struck Bell over the head with them, grabbed Bell's own gun, and shot him with it.

Bell staggered into the street and collapsed, mortally wounded. McCarty scooped up Ollinger's 10-gauge double-barrel shotgun. Both barrels had been fully loaded with buckshot earlier by Ollinger himself. The Kid waited at the upstairs window for his second guard, who had been across the street with some other prisoners, to respond to the gunshot and come to Bell's aid. As Ollinger came running into view, McCarty leveled the shotgun at him, called out "Hello Bob!" and killed him. The Kid's escape was delayed for an hour while he worked free of his leg irons with a pickax and then the young outlaw mounted a horse and rode out of town, reportedly singing. The horse returned two days later.

Death

Sheriff Pat Garrett responded to rumors that McCarty was lurking in the vicinity of Fort Sumner almost three months after his escape. Garrett and two deputies set out on July 14, 1881, to question one of the town's residents, a friend of McCarty's named Pete Maxwell (son of the land baron Lucien Maxwell). Close to midnight, as Garrett and Maxwell sat talking in Maxwell's darkened bedroom, McCarty unexpectedly entered the room.

There are at least two versions of what happened next. One version suggests that as the Kid entered, he failed to recognize Garrett in the poor light. McCarty drew his pistol and backed away, asking "''¿Quién es? ¿Quién es?''" (Spanish for "Who is it? Who is it?"). Recognizing McCarty's voice, Garrett drew his own pistol and fired twice, the first bullet striking McCarty in the chest just above his heart; McCarty fell to the floor and gasped for a minute and died. In a second version, McCarty entered carrying a knife, evidently headed to a kitchen area. He noticed someone in the darkness, and uttered the words, "''¿Quién es? ¿Quién es?''" at which point he was shot and killed. Although the popularity of the first story persists, and portrays Garrett in a better light, some historians contend that the second version is probably the accurate one. A markedly different theory, in which Garrett and his posse set a trap for McCarty, has also been suggested. Most recently explored in the 2004 Discovery Channel documentary, ''Billy the Kid: Unmasked'', this version says that Garrett went to the bedroom of Pedro Maxwell's sister, Paulita, and bound and gagged her in her bed. When McCarty arrived, Garrett was waiting behind Paulita's bed and shot the Kid.

In his book, ''Billy the Kid: A Short and Violent Life'', Robert Utley told the story of Pat Garrett's book effort. In the weeks following Garrett's execution of the Kid, he felt the need to tell his side of the story. Many people had begun to talk about the unfairness of the encounter, so Garrett called upon his friend, Marshall Ashmun (Ash) Upson, to ghostwrite a book with him. Upson was a roving journalist who had a gift for graphic prose. Their collaboration led to a book entitled ''The Authentic Life of Billy, the Kid'', which was first published in April 1882. The book originally sold few copies; however, it eventually proved to be an important reference for historians who would later write about the Kid's life.

Notoriety

Like many gunfighters of the "Old West", Billy the Kid enjoyed a reputation built partly on exaggerated accounts of his exploits. McCarty was credited with the killing of between 15 to 26 men, depending on varying sources. Wallis has speculated that the Dolan faction created the Kid's image to distract the public's attention from their activities and those of their influential supporters in Santa Fe, notably the regional political leader Thomas Benton Catron.

The notoriety that McCarty gained during the Lincoln County War effectively doomed his appeals for amnesty. A number of the Regulators faded away or secured amnesty, but McCarty could not accomplish either. His negotiations with governor Lew Wallace (a famed Civil War general and author of the novel ''Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ'') for amnesty came to nothing. A string of negative newspaper editorials referred to him as "Billy the Kid". When a reporter reminded Wallace that the Kid was depending on the governor's intervention, the governor supposedly smiled and said, "Yes, but I can't see how a fellow like him can expect any clemency from me."

Firsthand accounts of character

Various accounts recorded by friends and acquaintances describe him as fun-loving and jolly, articulate in both his writing and his speech, and loyal to those for whom he cared. He was fluent in Spanish, popular with Latina girls, an accomplished dancer, and well loved in the territory's Hispanic community. "His many Hispanic friends did not view him as a ruthless killer but rather as a defender of the people who was forced to kill in self-defense," Wallis writes. "In the time that the Kid roamed the land he chided Hispanic villagers who were fearful of standing up to the big ranchers who stole their land, water, and way of life."

Several surviving accounts portrayed Billy McCarty as friendly, fun loving and loyal. Frank Coe, who rode as a Regulator, recalled years after the Kid's death:

"I never enjoyed better company. He was humorous and told me many amusing stories. He always found a touch of humor in everything, being naturally full of fun and jollity. Though he was serious in emergencies, his humor was often apparent even in such situations. Billy stood with us to the end, brave and reliable, one of the best soldiers we had. He never pushed in his advice or opinions, but he had a wonderful presence of mind. The tighter the place the more he showed his cool nerve and quick brain. He never seemed to care for money, except to buy cartridges with. Cartridges were scarce, and he always used about ten times as many as everyone else. He would practice shooting at anything he saw, from every conceivable angle, on and off his horse."

George Coe, a cousin to Frank who also served as a Regulator, said : "Billy was a brave, resourceful and honest boy. He would have been a successful man under other circumstances. The Kid was a thousand times better and braver than any man hunting him, including Pat Garrett."

Susan McSween, the widow of Alexander McSween, came to McCarty's defense in the years of his notoriety, saying:

"Billy was not a bad man, that is he was not a murderer who killed wantonly. Most of those he killed deserved what they got. Of course I cannot very well defend his stealing horses and cattle, but when you consider that the Murphy, Dolan, and Riley people forced him into such a lawless life through efforts to secure his arrest and conviction, it is hard to blame the poor boy for what he did."

Contemporaries of Bonney often claimed that tales of his crimes were exaggerated or denied their veracity altogether. Louis Abraham, who befriended the Kid in Silver City, denied the killing of the blacksmith attributed to Bonney there, saying:

"The story of Billy the Kid killing a blacksmith in Silver City is false. Billy was never in any trouble at all. He was a good boy, maybe a little too mischievous at times. When the boy was placed in jail and escaped, he was not bad, just scared. If he had only waited until they let him out he would have been all right, but he was scared and ran away. He got in with a band of rustlers in Apache Tejo in part of the county where he was made a hardened character."

Deluvina Maxwell, who was at the Maxwell farmhouse at the time of The Kid's death, said, "Garrett was afraid to go back in the room to make sure of whom he had shot. I went in and was the first to discover that they had killed my little boy. I hated those men and am glad that I lived long enough to see them all dead and buried."

Ferrotype

One of the few artifacts of McCarty's life is a 2x3 inch ferrotype taken by an unknown photographer sometime in late 1879 or early 1880. It is the only image of McCarty which scholars agree is authentic. The ferrotype survived because after Billy's death, Dan Dedrick, one of Billy's rustler friends, held onto the picture and passed it down in his family. The ferrotype appeared in several copied forms before the original was made public in the mid 1980s by Stephen and Art Upham, descendants of Dedrick. It was displayed for several years in the Lincoln County Heritage Trust Museum before it was withdrawn again.

The ferrotype sold at auction on June 25, 2011, in a three-day Western show. It was purchased for 2.3 million dollars, some six times the estimate. It was the most expensive piece ever sold at Brian Lebel's Annual Old West Show & Auction, and the 6th most expensive photograph ever sold.

The photograph of The Kid, commonly known as the Upham tintype – after its longtime owner Frank Upham– was the subject of intense study by experts in the late 1980s. Their detailed findings were presented at a symposium held in 1989. The experts concluded that the Colt revolver carried by McCarty was probably not his primary weapon, since his holster is not the type normally associated with gunslingers. Rather, it is a common holster, with a safety strap across the top to keep the six-shooter from bouncing out. McCarty's main weapon appears to be the Winchester Carbine held in his hand in the ferrotype.

Left-handed or right-handed?

It was widely assumed throughout much of the 20th century that Billy the Kid was left-handed. This perception was encouraged by the above mentioned photograph of McCarty, in which he appears to be wearing a gun belt with a holster on his left side, but further examination revealed that as all Winchester Model 1873 rifles were made with the loading gate on the right side of the receiver, the "left-handed" photograph is in fact a mirror image. Indeed, the notion of a left-handed Billy became so entrenched that, in 1958, a film biography of "the Kid" (starring Paul Newman) was titled ''The Left Handed Gun''.

In 1954, western historians James D. Horan and Paul Sann announced the disclosure that McCarty was "right-handed and carried his pistol on his right hip". More recently, in response to a story from ''The Guardian'' that used an uncorrected McCarty ferrotype, Clyde Jeavons, a former curator of the National Film and Television Archive, cited their work and added:}}

A second look at the ferrotype confirms what Jeavons wrote. The prong on the belt buckle points the wrong way, and the buttons on the Kid's vest are on the left side, the side reserved for ladies' blouses. The convention for men's wear is that buttons go down the right side.

Wallis wrote in 2007 that McCarty was ambidextrous.

People who claimed to be Billy the Kid

Legends grew over time that Billy the Kid had somehow cheated death and survived, despite eyewitness accounts of his slaying. In 2004, researchers sought to exhume the remains of Catherine Antrim, McCarty's mother, "so her DNA could be tested and compared with DNA to be taken from the body buried under the Kid's gravestone". Ultimately, the case was bogged down in the courts, "much to the delight of New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, who knows all too well the value of Billy as a cultural icon and a draw for tourists". Several men have claimed to be McCarty over the years, and at least two became notable because they were successful in persuading a small segment of the public.

Brushy Bill Roberts

In 1949, a paralegal named William Morrison located a man in Central Texas named Ollie P. Roberts (nicknamed Brushy Bill), who claimed to be Billy the Kid and challenged the popular account of McCarty as shot to death by Pat Garrett in 1881. Despite discrepancies in birth dates and physical appearance, the town of Hico, Texas (Brushy Bill's residence), has capitalized on the Kid's infamy by opening the "Billy The Kid Museum". Brushy Bill's story was further promoted by the 1990 film ''Young Guns II'', as well as a 2011 episode of ''Brad Meltzer's Decoded'' on the History Channel. Robert Stack did a segment on Brushy Bill in early 1990 on the NBC television series ''Unsolved Mysteries''.

John Miller

Another individual who allegedly claimed to be Billy the Kid was John Miller, whose family supported his claim in 1938, some time after Miller's death. Miller was buried at the state-owned Pioneers' Home Cemetery in Prescott, Arizona. Tom Sullivan, a former sheriff of Lincoln County, and Steve Sederwall, a former mayor of Capitan, disinterred the bones of John Miller in May 2005. Though Sederwall and Sullivan believed the exhumation was allowed, official permission had not been given. DNA samples from the remains were sent to a lab in Dallas, Texas, to be compared with traces of blood obtained from a bench that was believed to be the one upon which McCarty's body was placed after he was shot to death. The two investigators had searched for McCarty's physical remains since 2003. They had started in Fort Sumner, New Mexico, and had eventually ended up in Arizona. To date, no results of the DNA tests have been made public. As of 2008, a lawsuit is pending against officials in Lincoln County that would, if successful, publicize the results of those tests along with other evidence collected by Sullivan and Sederwall.

Posthumous pardon considered

In 2010, the governor of New Mexico, Bill Richardson, considered a posthumous pardon for McCarty, who had been convicted for killing Sheriff William Brady. The pardon was considered to be a follow-through on a purported promise made by then Governor Lew Wallace in 1879. On December 31, 2010, on the last day of his term in office, Bill Richardson announced on ''Good Morning America'' his decision not to pardon McCarty. He cited "historical ambiguity" surrounding the conditions of Lew Wallace's pardon.

Grave Marker Theft and Locations

According to Garrett, McCarty was buried the day after he was killed in Fort Sumner's old military cemetery, between his fallen companions Tom O'Folliard and Charlie Bowdre. After Billy's burial, someone took a plain board, stenciled letters on it, and jammed it into the soft earth at the head of his grave to mark it. This marker remained until at least until the early part of 1882 before it was stolen or shot to pieces.

Pete Maxwell then placed the next marker and used a four-foot-long, wooden slat removed from the parade-ground picket fence near his home. A one-foot length was cut off and hammered onto the longer piece to form a cross, and the words "Billy The Kid (Bonney) July 14, 1881" were placed on the horizontal crosspiece. After Maxwell sold the old fort to the New England Livestock Company, one of the Board of Directors (a fellow named Chauncey from Boston), that visited Fort Sumner in the late 1880s took the marker claiming he was taking it back east to a museum. It was never recovered.

In 1889 and 1904 the Pecos River floods over took the cemetery and all the markers were washed away. The latter flood inundated the cemetery under four feet of muddy water until the cemetery had no grave markers left of any kind.

For over two decades Billy's grave remained unmarked. The exact location of Billy's grave in the small one-acre cemetery is unknown, however relying on old timers who had once lived nearby to pick the walls, corner, and cemetery entrance, they were able to approximate Billy's grave location.

In 1932, Charles W. Foor, the unofficial tour guide of the cemetery, spearheaded the drive to raise funds for a marker. Although the edges are damaged, this large white marker has never been stolen. It serves as a memorial monument noting three individuals buried in the cemetery, Tom O'Folliard, Charlie Bowdre, and William H. Bonney.

Eight years later, James N. Warner of Salida, Colo., donated the most famous marker and installed it in April, 1940. This individual grave marker was placed as a footstone with a pointed top. This is the marker which has been stolen and recovered twice. The first time the tombstone was stolen, it was not found for over 25 years. It was stolen in August, 1950, but not until May 1976 was it found in a field on a ranch near Granbury, Texas. Local resident Joe Bowlin brought it back, and it was ceremoniously reinstalled that June.

It was stolen again in February 8, 1981, but recovered days later in Huntington Beach, California. New Mexico Governor Bruce King arranged for Sheriff of the county seat to fly to California to take possession of the marker and return it to Fort Sumner It was reinstalled in May, 1981. A short time later, the village, which currently owned the cemetery, erected the steel cage to protect the gravesites, preserve the chipped-away white headstone and placed Billy's individual footstone in shackles, to discourage further vandalism and theft.

The cemetery is located 34° 24.253′ N, 104° 11.593′ W. about three and a half miles south of State Highway 60 on Route 212.

The stolen tombstone became the inspiration for the World's Richest Tombstone Race, held during Fort Sumner's Old Fort Days Celebration every June.

Selected references in popular culture

Billy the Kid has been the subject and inspiration for many popular works, including:

Literature

"Frontier Fighter" (1934), a first-hand account of the Lincoln County War from George W. Coe.

''Billy The Kid'' (1958), a serial poem by Jack Spicer.

''Billy the Kid'' was published in 1962 as an episode in the ongoing adventures of Lucky Luke by Goscinny and Morris.

''El bandido adolescente'' ("The teenage outlaw") (1965), a biography written by Spanish author Ramón J. Sender.

''Lincoln County War'' (1968), The definitive history of the Lincoln County War, by Maurice G. Fulton.

''The Collected Works of Billy the Kid: Left-handed Poems'', by Michael Ondaatje, 1970 Governor General's Award-winning biography in the form of experimental poetry.

''The Illegal Rebirth of Billy the Kid'' is a science fiction novel by Rebecca Ore, published in 1991.

''Anything for Billy'' is a 1988 novel by Larry McMurtry.

''Lucky Billy: a novel about Billy the Kid'' is a 2008 novel by John Vernon, a professor at Binghamton University.

Billy the Kid is described in the Morgan Kane book ''Meeting in Tascosa'', one of the 83 books in the Morgan Kane book series.

Film

''Billy the Kid'', a 1911 silent film directed by Laurence Trimble and starring Tefft Johnson. All copies are believed to be lost.

''Billy the Kid'', 1930 widescreen film directed by King Vidor and starring Johnny Mack Brown as Billy and Wallace Beery as Pat Garrett

''Billy the Kid Returns'', 1938: Roy Rogers plays a dual role, Billy the Kid and his dead-ringer lookalike who shows up after the Kid has been shot by Pat Garrett.

''Billy the Kid'', 1941 remake of the 1930 film, starring Robert Taylor and Brian Donlevy

Bob Steele and Buster Crabbe played Billy the Kid in a series of 42 western films from 1940 through 1946, released by Poverty Row studio Producers Distributing Corporation. Some of the titles include ''Blazing Frontier'', ''The Renegade'', ''Cattle Stampede'', and ''Western Cyclone'' (1943). In a 1952 film, Allan "Rocky" Lane goes after Billy the Kid's lost treasure.

''The Outlaw'', Howard Hughes' 1943 motion picture starring Jack Buetel as Billy and featuring Jane Russell in her breakthrough role as the Kid's fictional love interest.

''I Shot Billy the Kid'', a 1950 film directed by William Berke and starring Don "Red" Barry as Billy.

''The Law vs. Billy the Kid'' (1954, Columbia Pictures Corporation) starring Scott Brady as the Kid, James Griffith as Pat Garrett, Betta St. John as Nita Maxwell, and Alan Hale, Jr. as Bob Ollinger

''The Left Handed Gun'', Arthur Penn's 1958 motion picture based on a Gore Vidal teleplay, starring Paul Newman as Billy and John Dehner as Garrett

''The Boy from Oklahoma'' (1954), with Tyler MacDuff in the role of Billy the Kid

''One-Eyed Jacks'' (1961), is the only film directed by Marlon Brando, who also played its lead character, Rio. This story is from an adaptation by Rod Serling of a Charles Neider novelization of Billy the Kid's life, with a later revision among others by Sam Peckinpah.

''Billy the Kid vs. Dracula'' (1966), directed by William Beaudine, has Count Dracula, played by John Carradine, traveling to the Old West, where he takes a shine to Billy's fiancee and tries to turn her into a vampire. Chuck Courtney co-stars as Billy.

''I'll Kill Him and Return Alone'', a 1967 "spaghetti Western" directed by Julio Buchs, starred Peter Lee Lawrence as Billy and Fausto Tozzi as Pat Garrett.

''Chisum'' (1970) Set during the Lincoln wars directed by Andrew V. McLaglen, Geoffrey Deuel plays Billy & Glenn Corbett as Pat Garrett.

''Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid'', Sam Peckinpah's 1973 motion picture with Kris Kristofferson as Billy, James Coburn as Pat Garrett, and with a soundtrack by Bob Dylan, who also appears in the movie

''Young Guns'', Christopher Cain's 1988 motion picture starring Emilio Estevez as Billy and Patrick Wayne, son of John Wayne as Pat Garrett

Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, (1989) Billy the Kid, played by Dan Shor, is the "Historical Figure" that Bill and Ted pick up in the Old West.

''Gore Vidal's Billy the Kid'', Gore Vidal's 1989 film starring Val Kilmer as Billy and Duncan Regehr as Pat Garrett

''Young Guns II'', Geoff Murphy's 1990 motion picture starring Emilio Estevez as Billy and William Petersen as Pat Garrett

''Purgatory'', Uli Edel's 1999 made-for-TV movie starring Donnie Wahlberg as Deputy Glen/Billy The Kid

''Billy The Kid Unmasked'' ( a 2004 docu-drama) starring Brandan Dean Halpin as the Kid

''Requiem for Billy the Kid'', Anne Feinsilber's 2006 motion picture starring Kris Kristofferson.

''Birth of a Legend'', a 2011 film in two parts based on Frederick Nolan's book ''The Lincoln County War: A Documentary History'' directed by Andrew Wilkinson

Billy the Kid is a character in the series the Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel as an immortal who sided with the Dark Elders.

Music

"Billy the Kid", a folk song in the public domain, was published in John A. Lomax and Alan Lomax's ''American Ballads and Folksongs'', and also their ''Cowboy Songs and Other Frontier Ballads''. "Billy the Kid" folksong sung by Woody Guthrie, recorded by Alan Lomax in 1940 for the Library of Congress (#3412 B₂), with a melody Guthrie later used for his song "So Long, it's Been Good to Know You". He also recorded it in 1944 for Moe Asch's Asch/Folkways label (MA67).

Aaron Copland's ''Billy the Kid'', a ballet that premiered in 1938.

Bob Dylan's album ''Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid'', soundtrack of the 1973 film by Sam Peckinpah.

Jon Bon Jovi's album ''Blaze of Glory'', used as part of the soundtrack for ''Young Guns II'', and featured the song "Billy Get Your Gun".

Marty Robbins' song "Billy the Kid" from the album ''Gunfighter Ballads & Trail Songs Volume 3''.

Ry Cooder recorded the folk song "Billy the Kid", on the album ''Into The Purple Valley'', with his own melody and instrumental. It was also on ''Ry Cooder Classics Volume II''.

Billy Joel's song "The Ballad of Billy the Kid", a historically inaccurate re-telling of Billy the Kid's life, off of his 1973 album ''Piano Man''

Country singer Billy Dean co-wrote and recorded a song called "Billy the Kid," which was subsequently a hit single on the country charts in 1992. Really about young Billy Dean rather than the Western outlaw, it has since gone on to become Dean's signature song.

"Billy The Kid", was written by Robert W. Marr in 2010 when New Mexico Governor, Bill Richardson talked of pardoning the outlaw. "With a slap in the face to those who had died. To hell with the death and the tears that were cried".

"Me and Billy the Kid", by Joe Ely on his 1987 album ''Lord of the Highway''.

Stage

Joseph Santley's 1906 Broadway play, co-written by Santley, in which he also starred

Michael McClure's 1965 play The Beard recounts a fictional meeting between Billy the Kid and Jean Harlow.

Michael Ondaatje's 1973 play, ''The Collected Works of Billy the Kid''.

Television and radio

The 2004 Discovery Channel Quest, ''Billy the Kid: Unmasked'', investigated the life and death of Billy the Kid through forensic science.

The NBC series ''The Tall Man'' ran from 1960 to 1962, starring Clu Gulager as Billy and Barry Sullivan as Pat Garrett.

The Gunsmoke radio show had an episode titled "Billy the Kid", broadcast 4/26/52. It purports to tell of Billy the Kid's first murder as a runaway boy and credits Matt Dillon with giving him the "Billy the Kid" moniker.

See also

Folklore of the United States

Cowboy

List of American Old West outlaws

List of Western lawmen

Notes

References

Burns, Walter Noble (1953/1992). ''The Saga of Billy the Kid''. New York: Konecky & Konecky Associates. ISBN 1-56852-178-2

Horan, James D.; Sann, Paul (1954). ''Pictorial History of the Wild West: A True Account of the Bad Men, Desperadoes, Rustlers, and Outlaws of the Old West—and the Men Who Fought Them to Establish Law and Order.'' (6th Ed.) New York: Crown Publishers.

Jacobsen, Joel (1997). ''Such Men as Billy the Kid: The Lincoln County War Reconsidered''. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 0-8032-7606-0

Nolan, Frederick (1965). ''The Life & Death of John Henry Tunstall''. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press.

Rasch, Philip J. (1995). ''Trailing Billy the Kid''. Stillwater, OK: Western Publications. ISBN 0-935269-19-3

Utley, Robert M. (1989). ''Billy the Kid: A Short and Violent Life''. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 0-8032-9558-8

Wallis, Michael (2007). ''Billy the Kid: The Endless Ride''. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. ISBN 0-393-06068-3

Further reading

Garrett, Pat F. (1882). ''The Authentic Life of Billy, the Kid''. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 1-4099-1035-0. Library of Congress CCN: 54-10053

Klasner, Lily. (1972). ''My Girlhood Among Outlaws''. University of Arizona Press. edited by Eve Ball. ISBN 0-8165-0354-0

Nolan, Frederick (1998). ''"The West of Billy the Kid".'' Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 0-8061-3082-2

Nolan, Frederick (2009). ''The Lincoln County War, Revised Edition.''Santa Fe, NM: Sunstone Press. ISBN 978-0-86534-721-2

Nolan, Frederick (2007). ''Tascosa: Its Life and Gaudy Times''. Lubbock, TX: Texas Tech University Press.

Trachman, Paul (1974). ''The Old West: The Gunfighters''. New York: Time-Life Books.

Tuska, Jon (1983). ''Billy the Kid, A Handbook''. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 0-8032-9406-9

Wallis, Michael (2007). ''Billy the Kid: The Endless Trail''. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. ISBN 0-393-06068-3

Utley, Robert M. (1987). ''High Noon In Lincoln''. Albuquerque, NM: University of New Mexico Press. ISBN 0-8263-1201-2

Gardner, Mark Lee (2010). ''To Hell On A Fast Horse: Billy the Kid, Pat Garrett, and the epic chase to justice in the Old West''.

New York, NY: William Morrow, An Imprint of Harper Collins Publishers. ISBN 978-0-06-136827-1.

External links

Billy the Kid Territory – guide by New Mexico Tourism Department

Peterson, Barbara Tucker and Louis Hart. "Billy the Kid: The Great Escape." ''Wild West magazine''. August 1998.

Nolan, Frederick. "The Hunting of Billy the Kid." ''Wild West magazine''. June 2003.

Turk, David S. "Billy the Kid and the U.S. Marshals Service." ''Wild West Magazine''. February 2007 (issued December 2006)

Category:1859 births Category:1881 deaths Category:American folklore Category:American escapees Category:American people convicted of murder Category:American people convicted of murdering police officers Category:American people of Irish descent Category:people shot dead by law enforcement officers in the United States Category:Deaths by firearm in New Mexico Category:Gunmen of the American Old West Category:Outlaws of the American Old West Category:People from Manhattan Category:People of the American Old West

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name	Roy Rogers
birth name	Leonard Franklin Slye
birth date	November 05, 1911
birth place	Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
death date	July 06, 1998
death place	Apple Valley, California, USA
spouse	Lucille Ascolese (1933–1935)Grace Arline Wilkins (1936–1946)Dale Evans (1947–1998)
years active	1932–1998
genre	Country
instrument	Vocals, guitar
associated acts	The Sons of the Pioneers
website	royrogers.com
occupation	Actor, singer
background	solo_singer }}

Roy Rogers, born Leonard Franklin Slye (November 5, 1911 – July 6, 1998), was an American singer and cowboy actor, one of the most heavily marketed and merchandised stars of his era, as well as being the namesake of the Roy Rogers Restaurants franchised chain. He and his wife Dale Evans, his golden palomino, Trigger, and his German Shepherd dog, Bullet, were featured in more than 100 movies and ''The Roy Rogers Show''. The show ran on radio for nine years before moving to television from 1951 through 1957. His productions usually featured a sidekick, often either Pat Brady (who drove a Jeep called "Nellybelle"), Andy Devine, or the crotchety George "Gabby" Hayes. Rogers's nickname was "King of the Cowboys". Evans's nickname was "Queen of the West."

Biography

Early life

Leonard Franklin Slye was born to Andrew ("Andy") and Mattie (Womack) Slye in Cincinnati, Ohio, where his family lived in a tenement building on 2nd Street. (Riverfront Stadium was constructed at this location in 1970 and Leonard would later joke that he had been born at second base.) Dissatisfied with his job and city life, Andy Slye and his brother Will built a 12-by-50-foot houseboat from salvage lumber, and, in July 1912, the Slye family floated on the Ohio River towards Portsmouth, Ohio. Desiring a more stable existence in Portsmouth, the Slyes purchased land on which to build a home, but the flood of 1913 allowed them to move the houseboat to their property and continue living in it on dry land.

In 1919, the Slyes purchased a farm in Duck Run, located near Lucasville, Ohio about 12 miles north of Portsmouth. There they built a six-room home. Leonard's father soon realized that the farm alone would provide insufficient income for his family, so he took a job at a shoe factory in Portsmouth. He lived there during the week and returned home on the weekends, bearing gifts for the family following paydays. One notable gift was a horse on which Leonard learned the basics of horsemanship.

After completing the eighth grade, Leonard attended high school in McDermott, Ohio. When he was 17, his family returned to Cincinnati, where his father began work at another shoe factory. He soon decided on the necessity to help his family financially, so he quit high school, joined his father at the shoe factory, and began attending night school. After being ridiculed for falling asleep in class, however, he quit school and never returned.

Leonard and his father felt imprisoned by their factory jobs. In 1929, his older sister, Mary, moved to Lawndale, California with her husband. Father and son decided to quit their shoe factory jobs. The family packed their 1923 Dodge for a visit with Mary and stayed four months before returning to Ohio. Almost immediately afterward, Leonard had the opportunity to travel to California with Mary's father-in-law, and the rest of the family followed in the spring of 1930.

The Slyes rented a small house near Mary. Leonard and his father immediately found employment as truck drivers for a highway construction project. They reported to work one morning, however, to learn their employer had gone bankrupt. The economic hardship of the Great Depression had followed them west, and the Slyes soon found themselves among the economic refugees traveling from job to job picking fruit and living in worker campsites. (He would later read John Steinbeck's ''The Grapes of Wrath'' and marvel at its accuracy.) One day, Andy Slye was told of a shoe factory hiring in Los Angeles and asked Leonard to join him in applying there for work. Leonard, having seen the joy that his guitar and singing had brought to the destitute around the campfires, hesitantly told his father that he was going to pursue a living in music. With his father's blessing, he and cousin Stanley Slye went to Los Angeles and sought musical engagements as The Slye Brothers.

In 1932, Leonard, now known as "Len," met Lucille Ascolese while on tour. That same year, a palomino colt was foaled in Santa Cietro, CA, named "Golden Cloud", and later renamed "Trigger" in 1938 after he was acquired by Roy. In May 1933, Len, 21, proposed to Lucille, 19, via a radio broadcast. Len then went on tour with the "O-Bar-O Cowboys" and in June 1933 met Grace Arline Wilkins at a Roswell, New Mexico radio station. She traded Len a lemon pie for his singing "Swiss Yodel" over the air. By August 1934, Len and Lucille had separated as she was reportedly jealous and tired of being a musician's wife. Len and Lucille's divorce was granted on May 28, 1935, and became final on June 8, 1936. Having corresponded since their first meeting, Len and Grace Arline Wilkins were married in Roswell, New Mexico, on June 11, 1936.

In 1941, the couple adopted a girl, Cheryl Darlene. Two years later, Arline bore a daughter, Linda Lou.

Rogers and Arline had a son, Roy Jr. ("Dusty") in 1946, but Arline died of complications from the birth a few days afterward on November 3. Rogers had met Dale Evans in 1944 when she was cast in a movie with Rogers. Following Arline's death, Rogers and Evans soon fell in love, and Rogers proposed to her during a rodeo at Chicago Stadium. They married on New Year's Eve in 1947 at the Flying L Ranch in Davis, Oklahoma, where a few months earlier they had filmed ''Home in Oklahoma''. Rogers and Evans remained married until Rogers's death in 1998.

Career

Leonard Slye moved to California to become a singer. After four years of little success, he formed the Sons of the Pioneers with Bob Nolan and Tim Spencer, a Western cowboy music group, in 1934. The group hit it big with songs like "Cool Water" and "Tumbling Tumbleweeds". From his first film appearance in 1935, he worked steadily in western films, including a large supporting role as a singing cowboy while still billed as "Leonard Slye" in a Gene Autry movie. In 1938, when Autry temporarily walked out on his movie contract, Slye was immediately rechristened "Roy Rogers." Slye's stage name was suggested by Republic Picture's staff after Will Rogers and the shortening of Leroy. and assigned the lead in ''Under Western Stars''. Rogers became a matinee idol and American legend. A competitor for Gene Autry as the nation's favorite singing cowboy was suddenly born. In addition to his own movies, Rogers played a supporting role in the John Wayne classic ''Dark Command'' (1940). Rogers became a major box office attraction. In the ''Motion Picture Herald'' Top Ten Money-Making Western Stars poll, Rogers was listed for 15 consecutive years from 1939 to 1954, holding first place from 1943 to 1954. He appeared in the similar ''Box Office'' poll from 1938 to 1955, holding first place from 1943 to 1952. (In the final three years of that poll he was second only to Randolph Scott.) Although these two polls are really an indication only of the popularity of series stars, Rogers also appeared in the ''Top Ten Money Makers Poll'' of all films in 1945 and 1946.

Rogers was an idol for many children through his films and television shows. Most of his postwar films were in Trucolor during an era when almost all other B-movies were black-and-white. Some of his movies would segue into animal adventures, in which Rogers's horse Trigger would go off on his own for a while, with the camera following him.

With money from not only Rogers' films but his own public appearances going to Republic Pictures, Rogers brought a clause into a 1940 contract with the studio where he would have the right to his likeness, voice and name for merchandising. There were Roy Rogers action figures, cowboy adventure novels, and playsets, as well as a comic strip, a long-lived Dell Comics comic book series (''Roy Rogers Comics'') written by Gaylord Du Bois, and a variety of marketing successes. Roy Rogers was second only to Walt Disney in the amount of items featuring his name. The Sons of the Pioneers continued their popularity, and they have never stopped performing from the time Rogers started the group, replacing members as they retired or passed away (all original members are deceased). Although Rogers was no longer an active member, they often appeared as Rogers' backup group in films, radio, and television, and Rogers would occasionally appear with them in performances up until his death. In August 1950, Evans and Rogers had a daughter, Robin Elizabeth, who had Down Syndrome and died of complications with mumps shortly before her second birthday. Evans wrote about losing their daughter in her book ''Angel Unaware''.

Rogers and Evans were also well known as advocates for adoption and as founders and operators of children's charities. They adopted several children. Both were outspoken Christians. In Apple Valley, California, where they made their home, numerous streets and highways as well as civic buildings have been named after them in recognition of their efforts on behalf of homeless and handicapped children. Rogers was an active Freemason and a Shriner, and was noted for his support of their charities.

Rogers and Evans's famous theme song, "Happy Trails", was written by Evans; they sang it as a duet to sign off their television show. In the fall of 1962, the couple co-hosted a comedy-western-variety program, ''The Roy Rogers and Dale Evans Show,'' aired on ABC. It was cancelled after three months, losing in the ratings to ''The Jackie Gleason Show'' on CBS. He also made numerous cameo or guest appearances on other popular television shows, starring as himself or other cowboy-type characters, such as in an episode of Wonder Woman called "The Bushwackers". Rogers also owned a Hollywood production company which handled his own series. It also filmed other undertakings, including the 1955-1956 CBS western series ''Brave Eagle'' starring Keith Larsen as a young peaceful Cheyenne chief, Kim Winona as Morning Star, his romantic interest, and the Hopi Indian Anthony Numkena as Keena, Brave Eagle's foster son.

In 1968 Rogers licensed his name to the Marriot corporation, which converted its Hot Shoppes locations to Roy Rogers Restaurants, with which Rogers otherwise had no involvement.

Rogers owned a Thoroughbred racehorse named Triggairo, who won 13 career races including the 1975 El Encino Stakes at Santa Anita Park.

Death

When Rogers died of congestive heart failure on July 6, 1998, he was residing in Apple Valley, California. He was interred at Sunset Hills Cemetery in Apple Valley, as was his wife, Dale Evans, three years later.

Homages and influence

For his contribution to the motion picture industry, Rogers has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1752 Vine Street, a second star at 1733 Vine Street for his contribution to radio, and a third star at 1620 Vine Street for his contribution to the television industry. Rogers and Evans were inducted into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, in 1976 and Rogers was inducted again as a member of the Sons of the Pioneers in 1995. Rogers was also twice elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame, first as a member of The Sons of the Pioneers in 1980 and as a soloist in 1988.

Rogers was mentioned in the Lyle Lovett single "If I Had A Boat", Elton John's 1973 album "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" contained the escapist ballad "Roy Rogers", and Toby Keith's "Should've Been A Cowboy".

In the 1988 film ''Die Hard'', the Bruce Willis character John McClane used the ''nom de guerre'' of "Roy", saying "I was always kinda partial to Roy Rogers actually".

''American Dad'' character Roger uses "Roy Rogers" as a pseudonym in the episode "Roy Rogers McFreely".

Cheryl Rogers Barnett, a daughter of Roy Rogers and Dale Evans, has written with Frank Thompson; ''Cowboy Princess: Life with My Parents, Roy Rogers and Dale Evans'''.

Filmography

''Slightly Static'' (1935) (uncredited) .... Member of Sons of the Pioneers

''The Old Homestead'' (1935) (as Leonard Slye) .... Sons of the Pioneers

''Way Up Thar'' (1935) (as Leonard Slye) .... Band Member

''Gallant Defender (1935) (uncredited) .... Nester (Sons of the Pioneers)

''The Mysterious Avenger'' (1936) (as Len Slye) .... Musician Len

''Song of the Saddle'' (1936) (uncredited) .... Sons of the Pioneers Guitarist

''Rhythm on the Range'' (1936) (uncredited) .... Leonard (Sons of the Pioneers)

''California Mail'' (1936) (uncredited) .... Square Dance Caller & Guitarist

''The Big Show'' (1936) (uncredited) .... Sons of the Pioneers guitar player

''The Old Corral'' (1936) (uncredited) .... Buck O'Keefe

''The Old Wyoming Trail'' (1937) (uncredited) .... Guitar player/Singer/Cowhand

''Wild Horse Rodeo'' (1937) (as Dick Weston) .... Singer

''The Old Barn Dance'' (1938) (as Dick Weston) .... Singer

''Under Western Stars'' (1938) .... U.S. Representative the Hon. Roy Rogers (first lead role)

''Billy the Kid Returns'' (1938) .... Roy Rogers/Billy the Kid

''A Feud There Was'' (1938) (uncredited) .... Egghead/Elmer Singing Voice

''Come On, Rangers'' (1938) .... Roy Rogers

''Shine On, Harvest Moon'' (1938) .... Roy Rogers

''Rough Riders' Round-up'' (1939) .... Roy Rogers

''Southward Ho'' (1939) .... Roy

''Frontier Pony Express'' (1939) .... Roy Rogers

''In Old Caliente'' (1939) .... Roy Rogers

''Wall Street Cowboy'' (1939) .... Roy Rogers

''The Arizona Kid'' (1939) .... Roy Rogers/The Arizona Kid

''Jeepers Creepers'' (1939) .... Roy

''Saga of Death Valley'' (1939) .... Roy Rogers

''Days of Jesse James'' (1939) .... Roy Rogers

''Dark Command'' (1940) .... Fletcher 'Fletch' McCloud

''Young Buffalo Bill'' (1940) .... Bill Cody

''The Carson City Kid'' (1940) .... The Carson City Kid

''The Ranger and the Lady'' (1940) .... Texas Ranger Captain Roy Colt

''Colorado'' (1940) .... Lieutenant Jerry Burke

''Young Bill Hickok'' (1940) .... 'Wild' Bill Hickok

''The Border Legion'' (1940) .... Dr. Stephen Kellogg, aka Steve Kells

''Robin Hood of the Pecos'' (1941) .... Vance Corbin

''Arkansas Judge'' (1941) .... Tom Martel

''In Old Cheyenne''' (1941) .... Steve Blane

''Sheriff of Tombstone'' (1941) .... Brett Starr

''Nevada City'' (1941) .... Jeff Connors

''Bad Man of Deadwood'' (1941) .... Brett Starr aka Bill Brady

''Jesse James at Bay'' (1941) .... Jesse James/Clint Burns

''Red River Valley'' (1941) .... Roy Rogers

''Man from Cheyenne'' (1942) .... Roy Rogers

''South of Santa Fe'' (1942) .... Roy Rogers

''Sunset on the Desert'' (1942) .... Roy Rogers & Deputy Bill Sloan

''Romance on the Range'' (1942) .... Roy Rogers

''Sons of the Pioneers'' (1942) .... Roy Rogers

''Sunset Serenade'' (1942) .... Roy Rogers

''Heart of the Golden West'' (1942) .... Roy Rogers

''Ridin' Down the Canyon'' (1942) .... Roy Rogers

''Idaho'' (1943) .... Roy Rogers

''King of the Cowboys'' (1943) .... Roy Rogers

''Song of Texas'' (1943) .... Roy Rogers

''Silver Spurs'' (1943) .... Roy Rogers

''Hands Across the Border'' (1944) .... Roy Rogers

''Cowboy and the Senorita'' (1944) .... Roy Rogers

''The Yellow Rose of Texas'' (1944) .... Roy Rogers

''Song of Nevada'' (1944) .... Roy Rogers

''San Fernando Valley'' (1944) .... Roy Rogers

''Lights of Old Santa Fe'' (1944) .... Roy Rogers

''Hollywood Canteen'' (1944) .... Roy Rogers and Trigger

''Utah'' (1945) .... Roy Rogers

''Where Do We Go from Here?'' (1945) (scenes deleted)

''Bells of Rosarita'' (1945) .... Roy Rogers

''The Man from Oklahoma'' (1945) .... Roy Rogers

''Along the Navajo Trail'' (1945) .... Roy Rogers

''Sunset in El Dorado'' (1945) .... Roy Rogers

''Don't Fence Me In'' (1945) .... Roy Rogers

''Song of Arizona'' (1946) .... Roy Rogers

''Rainbow Over Texas'' (1946) .... Roy Rogers

''My Pal Trigger'' (1946) .... Roy Rogers

''Under Nevada Skies'' (1946) .... Roy Rogers

''Roll on Texas Moon'' (1946) .... Roy Rogers

''Home in Oklahoma'' (1946) .... Roy Rogers

''Out California Way'' (1946) .... Roy Rogers

''Heldorado'' (1946) .... Nevada State Ranger Roy Rogers

''Apache Rose'' (1947) .... Roy Rogers

''Bells of San Angelo'' (1947) .... Border Investigator Roy Rogers

''Springtime in the Sierras'' (1947) .... Roy Rogers

''On the Old Spanish Trail'' (1947) .... Roy Rogers

''Pecos Bill'' (1948) .... Roy Rogers

''The Gay Ranchero'' (1948) .... Sheriff Roy Rogers

''Under California Stars''(1948) .... Roy Rogers

''Eyes of Texas'' (1948) .... U.S. Marshal Roy Rogers

''Night Time in Nevada'' (1948) .... Roy Rogers

''Grand Canyon Trail'' (1948) .... Roy Rogers

''The Far Frontier'' (1948) .... Roy Rogers

''Susanna Pass'' (1949) .... Roy Rogers

''Down Dakota Way'' (1949) .... Roy Rogers

''The Golden Stallion'' (1949) .... Roy Rogers

''Bells of Coronado'' (1950) .... Roy Rogers

''Twilight in the Sierras'' (1950) .... State Parole Officer Roy Rogers

''Trigger, Jr.'' (1950) .... Roy Rogers

''Sunset in the West'' (1950) .... Roy Rogers

''North of the Great Divide'' (1950) .... Roy Rogers

''Trail of Robin Hood'' (1950) .... Roy Rogers

''Spoilers of the Plains'' (1951) .... Roy Rogers

''Heart of the Rockies'' (1951) .... Roy Rogers

''In Old Amarillo'' (1951) .... Roy Rogers

''South of Caliente'' (1951) .... Roy Rogers

''Pals of the Golden West'' (1951) .... Border Patrolman Roy Rogers

''Son of Paleface'' (1952) .... Roy Barton

''Alias Jesse James'' (1959) (uncredited) .... Roy Rogers

''Mackintosh and T.J.'' (1975) .... Mackintosh

''The Fall Guy'' (1983) Season 2, Episode 11 "Happy Trails" .... Roy Rogers, King of the Cowboys

Discography

Charted albums

Year	Album	Chart Positions		Label
		! style="width:50px;"	! style="width:50px;"
1970	''The Country Side of Roy Rogers''
1971	''A Man from Duck Run''
1975	''Happy Trails to You''			20th Century
1991				RCA

Charted singles

Year	Single	Chart Positions		Album
		! style="width:50px;"	CAN Country
1946	"A Little White Cross on the Hill"
1947	"My Chickashay Gal"
	"Blue Shadows on the Trail"(Roy Rogers and the Sons of the Pioneers)
"(There'll Never Be Another) Pecos Bill"(Roy Rogers and the Sons of the Pioneers)
1950	"Stampede"
1970	"Money Can't Buy Love"			''The Country Side of Roy Rogers''
	"Lovenworth"
"Happy Anniversary"
1972	"These Are the Good Old Days"			Single only
1974	"Hoppy, Gene and Me"A			''Happy Trails to You''
1980	"Ride Concrete Cowboy, Ride"(Roy Rogers and the Sons of the Pioneers)			''Smokey & the Bandit II'' (soundtrack)
1991	"Hold on Partner" (w/ Clint Black)			''Tribute''

^A"Hoppy, Gene and Me" also peaked at number 65 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 38 on the ''RPM'' Adult Contemporary Tracks chart in Canada.

Music videos

! Year	! Video	! Director
1991	"Hold on Partner" (with Clint Black)	Jack Cole

Popular songs recorded by Rogers

"Don't Fence Me In"

"Hold That Critter Down"

"Little White Cross On The Hill"

"One More Ride"

"Ride Ranger Ride"

"That Pioneer Mother Of Mine"

"Tumbling Tumbleweeds"

"Way Out There" (singing and yodeling)

"Why, Oh Why, Did I Ever Leave Wyoming?"

"Hold On Partner" (duet with Clint Black)

See also

Roy Rogers Restaurants

Roy Rogers cocktail

Earl W. Bascom, cowboy artist who worked with Roy Rogers

Notes

References

Zwisohn, Laurence. (1998). "Roy Rogers". In ''The Encyclopedia of Country Music''. Paul Kingsbury, Editor. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 456–457.

External links

Official family website

Database and Cover gallery of Roy Rogers comic book appearances

Roy Rogers Ranch

Interview with Delores Chapman who had a bit part with Roy Rogers in North of the Great Divide

Profile at Turner Classic Movies

Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum

Dusty Rhoads: Cowboy Bassist and vocalist who toured with Roy Rogers; original member of the Whippoorwills

I Love Comix Archive: ''Roy Rogers''

The Ackerman Collection of Historical Photographs

RFD-TV Trigger and Bullet Happy Trails Tour

Public domain Roy Rogers media at Internet Archive

"Roy & Dale 100th Anniversary"

Category:1911 births Category:1998 deaths Category:Actors from Cincinnati, Ohio Category:Musicians from Ohio Category:American country singers Category:American film actors Category:American male singers Category:American Presbyterians Category:American racehorse owners and breeders Category:American television actors Category:Cardiovascular disease deaths in California Category:Country Music Hall of Fame inductees Category:Deaths from congestive heart failure Category:People from Portsmouth, Ohio Category:Western (genre) film actors Category:Yodelers Category:Decca Records artists Category:RCA Victor artists Category:Bell Records artists Category:Vocalion Records artists Category:20th-century actors

an:Roy Rogers de:Roy Rogers es:Roy Rogers (actor) fr:Roy Rogers it:Roy Rogers he:רוי רוג'רס nl:Roy Rogers no:Roy Rogers pt:Roy Rogers ro:Roy Rogers simple:Roy Rogers sh:Roy Rogers fi:Roy Rogers sv:Roy Rogers tr:Roy Rogers

Name	Buffalo Bill
Birth name	William Frederick Cody
Birth date	February 26, 1846
Birth place	near LeClaire, Iowa
Death date	January 10, 1917
Death place	Denver, Colorado, United States
Death cause	Kidney failure
Resting place	Lookout Mountain, Golden, Colorado |resting_place_coordinates |residence |nationality |other_names |known_for |education |employer |occupation |title |salary |networth |height |weight |term |predecessor |successor |party |boards |religion |spouse |partner |children Four children, two of whom died young: Kit died of scarlet fever in April 1876, and his daughter Orra died in 1880 |parents |relatives |signature |website |footnotes
Signature	Buffalo Bill Cody signature.svg }}

William Frederick "Buffalo Bill" Cody (February 26, 1846 – January 10, 1917) was an American soldier, bison hunter and showman. He was born in the Iowa Territory (now the U.S. state of Iowa), in LeClaire but lived several years in Canada before his family moved to the Kansas Territory. Buffalo Bill received the Medal of Honor in 1872 for service to the US Army as a scout. One of the most colorful figures of the American Old West, Buffalo Bill became famous for the shows he organized with cowboy themes, which he toured in Great Britain and Europe as well as the United States.

Nickname and work

William Frederick Cody ("Buffalo Bill") got his nickname after the American Civil War when he had a contract to supply Kansas Pacific Railroad workers with buffalo meat. Cody earned the nickname by killing 4,280 American bison (commonly known as buffalo) in eighteen months, (1867–1868). Bill Comstock also had the nickname. Cody and Comstock competed in a buffalo-shooting match over the exclusive right to use the name, which Cody won by killing 69 bison to Comstock's 48.

Cody had documented service as a soldier during the Civil War and as Chief of Scouts for the Third Cavalry during the Plains Wars. He claimed to have had many jobs, including as a trapper, bullwhacker, "Fifty-Niner" in Colorado, a Pony Express rider in 1860, wagonmaster, stagecoach driver, and a hotel manager, but historians have had difficulty documenting them, and he may have fabricated some for publicity.

He became world famous for his Wild West Shows, which toured in Great Britain and Europe. Audiences were enthusiastic about seeing a piece of the American West. The adventure story writer Emilio Salgari met Buffalo Bill in Italy, saw his show, and later featured him as a hero in some of his novels.

Early life and education

William Frederick Cody was born on February 26, 1846 on a farm just outside of Le Claire, Iowa. He was baptized as William Cody in the Dixie Union Chapel in Peel County (present-day Peel Region), Ontario, Canada in 1847, not far from his family's farm. His parents Isaac and Mary Cody were Canadians. The Chapel was built with Cody money and the land was donated by Philip Cody of Toronto Township. The Cody family were originally Quakers and opposed to slavery. They had emigrated from the United States with other Quaker families from Vermont, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania, shortly before or after the Revolutionary War, when slavery was still legal in those states, to buy land and farm in York, Peel, and Ontario counties.

thumb|left|William Cody at age 19 In 1853 Isaac Cody sold his land in rural Scott County, Iowa for $2000 and he and his family moved to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas Territory. In these years before the Civil War, Kansas was running high with emotion and physical conflict on both sides of the slavery question. When his father gave an antislavery speech at the local trading post, pro-slavery men formed a mob and one stabbed him. The boy helped to drag his father to safety, although the man never fully recovered from his injuries.

In Kansas, the family was frequently persecuted by pro-slavery supporters, forcing Isaac Cody to spend much of his time away from home. His enemies learned of a planned visit to his family and plotted to kill him on the way. The young Cody, despite his youth and the fact that he was ill, rode 30 miles (48 km) to warn his father. Cody's father died in 1857 from complications from his stabbing.

After the father's death, the Cody family suffered financially. At age 11, Bill Cody took a job with a freight carrier as a "boy extra." He would ride up and down the length of a wagon train, and deliver messages to the drivers and workmen. Next he joined Johnston's Army as an unofficial member of the scouts assigned to guide the Army to Utah to put down a rumored rebellion by the Mormon population of Salt Lake City. According to Cody's account in ''Buffalo Bill's Own Story'', the Utah War was where he first began his career as an "Indian fighter".

''Presently the moon rose, dead ahead of me; and painted boldly across its face was the figure of an Indian. He wore this war-bonnet of the Sioux, at his shoulder was a rifle pointed at someone in the river-bottom below; in another second he would drop one of my friends. I raised my old muzzle-loader and fired. The figure collapsed, tumbled down the bank and landed with a splash in the water. 'What is it?' called McCarthy, as he hurried back. 'It's over there in the water.' 'Hi!' he cried. 'Little Billy's killed an Indian all by himself!' So began my career as an Indian fighter.''

At the age of 14, Cody was struck by gold fever, but on his way to the gold fields, he met an agent for the Pony Express. He signed with them, and after building several stations and corrals, Cody was given a job as a rider, which he kept until he was called home to his sick mother's bedside.

Cody was active in the concordant bodies of Freemasonry, being initiated in Platte Valley Lodge No. 32, North Platte, Nebraska, on March 5, 1870. He received his 2nd and 3rd degrees on April 2, 1870, and January 10, 1870, respectively. He became a Knight Templar in 1889 and received his 32 degree in Scottish Rite Masonry in 1894.

Military service

After his mother recovered, Cody wished to enlist as a soldier, but was refused for his age. He began working with a United States freight caravan which delivered supplies to Fort Laramie. In 1863 he enlisted as a teamster with the rank of Private in Company H, 7th Kansas Cavalry and served until discharged in 1865.

The next year Cody married Louisa Frederici, and they had four children together. Two died young.

From 1868 until 1872 Cody was employed as a scout by the United States Army. Part of the time he scouted for Indians. At other times, he hunted and killed bison to supply the Army and the Kansas Pacific Railroad. In January 1872 Cody was a scout for Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich of Russia's highly publicized royal hunt.

Medal of Honor

In 1872, Cody was awarded a Medal of Honor for "gallantry in action" while serving as a civilian scout for the 3^rd Cavalry Regiment. In 1917, the U.S. Army—after Congress revised the standards for award of the medal—removed from the rolls 911 medals previously awarded either to civilians, or for actions that would not warrant a Medal of Honor under the new higher standards. Among those revoked was Cody's.

In 1977, Dr. Mary Edwards Walker's medal was restored, and other reviews began. Cody's medal—along with those given to four other civilian scouts—was re-instated on June 12, 1989.

Buffalo Bill's Wild West

In December 1872 Cody traveled to Chicago to make his stage debut with friend Texas Jack Omohundro in ''The Scouts of the Prairie'', one of the original Wild West shows produced by Ned Buntline. During the 1873–1874 season, Cody and Omohundro invited their friend James Butler "Wild Bill" Hickok to join them in a new play called ''Scouts of the Plains''.

The troupe toured for ten years. Cody's part typically included an 1876 incident at the Warbonnet Creek, where he claimed to have scalped a Cheyenne warrior. He said it was in revenge for the death of George Armstrong Custer.

In 1883, in the area of North Platte, Nebraska, Cody founded "Buffalo Bill's Wild West", a circus-like attraction that toured annually. (Despite popular misconception, the word "show" was not a part of the title.) With his show, Cody traveled throughout the United States and Europe and made many contacts. He stayed, for instance, in Garden City, Kansas, in the presidential suite of the former Windsor Hotel. He was befriended by the mayor and state representative, a frontier scout, rancher, and hunter named Charles "Buffalo" Jones.

In 1893 Cody changed the title to "Buffalo Bill's Wild West and Congress of Rough Riders of the World". The show began with a parade on horseback, with participants from horse-culture groups that included US and other military, American Indians, and performers from all over the world in their best attire. Turks, Gauchos, Arabs, Mongols and Georgians, displayed their distinctive horses and colorful costumes. Visitors would see main events, feats of skill, staged races, and sideshows. Many historical western figures participated in the show. For example, Sitting Bull appeared with a band of 20 of his braves.

Cody's headline performers were well known in their own right. People such as Annie Oakley and her husband Frank Butler did sharp shooting, together with the likes of Gabriel Dumont. Performers re-enacted the riding of the Pony Express, Indian attacks on wagon trains, and stagecoach robberies. The show was said to end with a re-enactment of Custer's Last Stand, in which Cody portrayed General Custer, but this is more legend than fact. The finale was typically a portrayal of an Indian attack on a settler's cabin. Cody would ride in with an entourage of cowboys to defend a settler and his family. This finale was featured predominantly as early as 1886, but vanished after 1907; in total, it was used in 23 of 33 tours. The show influenced many 20th-century portrayals of "the West" in cinema and literature.

With his profits, Cody purchased a ranch near North Platte, Nebraska, in 1886. Scout's Rest Ranch included an eighteen-room mansion and a large barn for winter storage of the show's livestock.

In 1887 Cody took the show to Great Britain in celebration of the Jubilee year of Queen Victoria. It played in London before going on to Birmingham and Salford near Manchester, where it stayed for five months.

In 1889 the show toured Europe, and in 1890 Cody met Pope Leo XIII. He set up an independent exhibition near the Chicago World's Fair of 1893, which greatly contributed to his popularity. It vexed the promoters of the fair, who had first rejected his request to participate.

In 1908 Pawnee Bill and Buffalo Bill joined forces and created the "Two Bills" show. That show was foreclosed on when it was playing in Denver, Colorado.

Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Tours Europe

Buffalo Bill’s Wild West toured Europe eight times, the first four tours were between 1887 and 1892, and the last four were from 1902 to 1906.

The Wild West first came to London in 1887 as part of the American Exhibition that coincided with the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria. The Prince of Wales, later King Edward VII, requested a private preview of the Wild West performance, he was impressed enough to arrange a command performance for Queen Victoria. The Queen enjoyed the show and meeting the performers, setting the stage for another command performance on June 20, 1887 for her Jubilee guests. Royalty from all over Europe attended, including the future Kaiser Wilhelm II and future King George V, these royal encounters provided Buffalo Bill’s Wild West an endorsement and publicity that ensured its success. Buffalo Bill’s Wild West closed its successful London run in October 1887 after over 300 performances and more than two and a half million tickets sold. The tour made stops in Birmingham and Manchester before returning to the U.S. in May 1888 for a short summer tour.

Buffalo Bill’s Wild West returned to Europe in May 1889 as part of the Exposition Universelle in Paris France, an event that commemorated the 100th anniversary of the Storming of the Bastille and featured the debut of the Eiffel Tower. The tour moved to the South of France and Barcelona Spain then on to Italy. While in Rome a Wild West delegation was received by Pope Leo XIII. Buffalo Bill was disappointed that the condition of the Colosseum did not allow it to be a venue however at Verona the Wild West did perform in an ancient Roman amphitheater. The tour finished with stops in Austria-Hungary and Germany.

The Wild West tour returned to Germany in 1891 and moved through Belgium and the Netherlands before returning to Great Britain to close the season. The 1892 tour was confined to Great Britain and featured another command performance for Queen Victoria. The tour finished with a sixth month run in London before leaving Europe for nearly a decade.

Buffalo Bill’s Wild West returned to Europe in December 1902 with a fourteen-week run in London complete with a visit from King Edward VII and the future King George V. The Wild West traveled throughout Great Britain during the 1902-03 tour as well as the 1904 tour, performing in nearly every city large enough to support it. The 1905 tour began in April with a two-month run in Paris and proceeded to the rest of France, performing mostly one-night stands, concluding in December. The final tour of 1906 began in France on March 4, and then quickly moved on to Italy for two months. The Wild West then traveled east performing in Austria, the Balkans, Hungary, Romania, and the Ukraine before coming back west to visit Poland, The Czech Republic, Germany, and Belgium.

Buffalo Bill’s Wild West was enormously successful in Europe making Buffalo Bill an international celebrity and an American icon. It was a genuine American cultural export; Mark Twain commented, “…It is often said on the other side of the water that none of the exhibitions which we send to England are purely and distinctly American. If you will take the Wild West show over there you can remove that reproach.” The Wild West brought an exotic foreign world to life for its European audiences, allowing a last glimpse at the fading American frontier.

Life in Cody, Wyoming

In 1895, Cody was instrumental in the founding of Cody, the seat of Park County in northwestern Wyoming. The Old Trail Town museum is at the center of the community and honors the traditions of Western life. Cody first passed through the region in the 1870s. He was so impressed by the development possibilities from irrigation, rich soil, grand scenery, hunting, and proximity to Yellowstone Park that he returned in the mid-1890s to start a town. He brought with him associates for whom streets were named: Beck, Alger, Rumsey, Bleistein and Salsbury. The town was incorporated in 1901.

In November 1902, Cody opened the Irma Hotel, which he named after his daughter. He envisioned a growing number of tourists coming to Cody via the recently opened Burlington rail line. He expected that they would proceed up the Cody Road along the North Fork of the Shoshone River to visit Yellowstone Park. To accommodate travelers, Cody completed construction of the Wapiti Inn and Pahaska Tepee in 1905 along the Cody Road.

Cody also established the TE Ranch, located on the South Fork of the Shoshone River about thirty-five miles from Cody. When he acquired the TE property, he sent cattle from Nebraska and South Dakota. His new herd carried the TE brand. The late 1890s were relatively prosperous years for "Buffalo Bill's Wild West", and he bought more land to add to the TE Ranch. Eventually Cody held around 8,000 acres (32 km²) of private land for grazing operations and ran about 1,000 head of cattle. He also operated a dude ranch, pack horse camping trips, and big game hunting business at and from the TE Ranch. In his spacious ranch house, he entertained notable guests from Europe and America.

Irrigation

Larry McMurtry, along with historians such as RL Wilson, asserts that at the turn of the 19th to 20th century, Buffalo Bill Cody was the most recognizable celebrity on earth. While Cody's show brought appreciation for the Western and American Indian cultures, he saw the American West change dramatically during his life. Bison herds, which had once numbered in the millions, were now threatened with extinction. Railroads crossed the plains, barbed wire, and other types of fences divided the land for farmers and ranchers, and the once-threatening Indian tribes were now confined to reservations. Wyoming's resources of coal, oil and natural gas were beginning to be exploited toward the end of his life.

Even the Shoshone River was dammed for hydroelectric power as well as for irrigation. In 1897 and 1899 Cody and his associates acquired from the State of Wyoming the right to take water from the Shoshone River to irrigate about of land in the Big Horn Basin. They began developing a canal to carry water diverted from the river, but their plans did not include a water storage reservoir. Cody and his associates were unable to raise sufficient capital to complete their plan. Early in 1903 they joined with the Wyoming Board of Land Commissioners in urging the federal government to step in and help with irrigation development in the valley.

The Shoshone Project became one of the first federal water development projects undertaken by the newly formed Reclamation Service, later to become known as the Bureau of Reclamation. After Reclamation took over the project in 1903, investigating engineers recommended constructing a dam on the Shoshone River in the canyon west of Cody. Construction of the Shoshone Dam started in 1905, a year after the Shoshone Project was authorized. When it was completed in 1910, it was the tallest dam in the world. Almost three decades after its construction, the name of the dam and reservoir was changed to Buffalo Bill Dam by an act of Congress to honor Cody.

Life in Staten Island, New York

Cody brought his "Wild West Show" to an area of Mariners Harbor called Erastina (named for Staten Island promoter Erastus Wiman) for two seasons from June to October in 1886 and again in 1887. During the winter of 1886, the show moved indoors to Madison Square Garden. His show, featuring Native Americans, trick riders, "the smallest cowboy" and sharpshooters (including Annie Oakley), is said to have drawn millions of visitors to the island.

His 1879 autobiography is titled ''The Life and Adventures of Buffalo Bill''. A final autobiography, titled "The Great West That Was: 'Buffalo Bill's' Life Story," was serialized in ''Hearst's International Magazine'' from August 1916 to July 1917 and ghostwritten by James J. Montague. It contained a number of errors, in part because of its completion after Cody's death in July 1917.

Death

Cody died of kidney failure on January 10, 1917, surrounded by family and friends at his sister's house in Denver. Cody was baptized into the Catholic Church the day before his death by Father Christopher Walsh of the Denver Cathedral. He received a full masonic funeral. Upon the news of Cody's death, tributes were made by King George V of the United Kingdom, Kaiser Wilhelm II of Imperial Germany, and President Woodrow Wilson. His funeral was in Denver at the Elks Lodge Hall. The Wyoming governor John B. Kendrick, a friend of Cody's, led the funeral procession.

242px|right|thumb|Cody's grave lies atop Lookout Mountain in Golden, Colorado.

At his death, Cody's once great fortune had dwindled to less than $100,000. He left his burial arrangements up to his wife Louisa. She said that he had always said he wanted to be buried on Lookout Mountain, which was corroborated by their daughter Irma, Cody's sisters, and family friends. But other family members joined the people of Cody to say Buffalo Bill should be buried in the town he founded. The controversy continued.

On June 3, 1917, Cody was buried on Colorado's Lookout Mountain in Golden, west of the city of Denver, on the edge of the Rocky Mountains, overlooking the Great Plains. His burial site was selected by his sister, Mary Decker. In 1948 the Cody chapter of the American Legion offered a reward for the 'return' of the body, so the Denver chapter mounted a guard over the grave until a deeper shaft could be blasted into the rock.

Philosophy

As a frontier scout, he respected Native Americans and supported their rights. He employed many more natives than Sitting Bull, as he thought his show offered them good pay for a better life. He called them "the former foe, present friend, the American", and once said, "Every Indian outbreak that I have ever known has resulted from broken promises and broken treaties by the government."

Buffalo Bill also supported the rights of women. He said, "What we want to do is give women even more liberty than they have. Let them do any kind of work they see fit, and if they do it as well as men, give them the same pay."

In his shows the Indians were usually depicted attacking stagecoaches and wagon trains in order to be driven off by cowboys and soldiers. He also had the wives and children of his Indian performers set up camp – as they would in the homelands – as part of the show, so that the paying public could see the human side of the "fierce warriors"; that they were families like any other, just part of a different culture.

He supported conservation by speaking out against hide-hunting and pushing for a hunting season.

Legacy and honors

Buffalo Bill and his exploits became well known in American culture and he was portrayed in many literary works, television shows, and movies, especially during the 1950s and 1960s, when they were most popular. He is featured as a character in the Broadway musical ''Annie Get Your Gun''.

He was honored by two U.S. postage stamps. One was a 15¢ Great Americans series postage stamp.

On television, his character was featured on shows such as ''Bat Masterson'' and even ''Bonanza''. His persona has been portrayed as anything from an elder statesman to a flamboyant, self-serving exhibitionist. He has been played by a wide variety of actors over the years.

In 2011, Bill's picture at age 19 was used on the cover of Tyler The Creator's 2nd studio album "Goblin".

''Buffalo Bill's / defunct''

A free verse poem on mortality by E. E. Cummings uses Buffalo Bill as an image of life and vibrancy. The poem is commonly known by its first two lines: "Buffalo Bill's / defunct". In ''Poetry,'' edited by J. Hunter, it is titled "portrait". The poet expresses Buffalo Bill's showmanship by describing his "watersmooth-silver / stallion", and using a staccato beat for the quick shooting of clay pigeons.

Other Buffalo Bills

Buffalo Bill is also the name of a musician, producer, and M.C. from the group Mechanics of Sound. He is best known for his work with Melodic Undertone Production Group and his help in the underground hip hop movement of San Antonio.

"Buffalo Bill" was the first song written by Australian country music singer Sara Storer. Living in Camooweal, north of Mount Isa, she met a retired water buffalo shooter whose stories inspired her to write the song, which won a Golden Guitar at the Tamworth Country Music Festival in 2001 for New Talent of the Year and appears on her first album, ''Chasing Buffalos''.

Buffalo Bill is also the name of a fictional character from Thomas Harris's ''The Silence of the Lambs'', who was also parodied in the movie ''Joe Dirt'' under the name Buffalo Bob.

Two television series, ''Buffalo Bill, Jr.'' (1955–56) starring Dickie Jones and '''Buffalo Bill'' (1983–84) starring Dabney Coleman, had nothing to do with the historic person.

The Buffalo Bills, an NFL team based in Buffalo, New York, was named after Buffalo Bill. Prior to that team's existence, other early football teams (such as the Buffalo Bills of the AAFC) used the nickname, solely due to name recognition, as Bill Cody had no special connection with the city.

The Buffalo Bills are a barbershop-quartet singing group consisting of Vern Reed, Al Shea, Bill Spangenberg, and Wayne Ward. They appeared in the original Broadway cast of ''The Music Man'' (opened 1957) and in the 1962 motion-picture version of that play.

"Buffalo Bill" is the title of a song by the jam band Phish.

Buffalo Bill is the name of a bluegrass band in Wisconsin.

Samuel Cowdery, buffalo hunter, "wild west" showman and aviation pioneer changed his surname to Cody and was often taken for the original Buffalo Bill in his touring show ''Captain Cody King of the Cowboys''.

William Wilson "Buffalo Bill" Quinn is a retired Lieutenant General and Silver Star recipient. He served in World War II as a colonel and became a full colonel in Korea; at the end of the Korean War he became a brigadier general.

"The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill" is the title of a song by the Beatles that indirectly refers to Buffalo Bill.

"Buffalo Bill" is the title of a song by American rapper Eminem.

In The Three Stooges short ''Goofs and Saddles'', Moe Howard's character is known as Buffalo Bill.

Bubble O' Bill is the name of an ice-cream available in New Zealand and Australia with a label depicting Buffalo Bill with a gum ball for his nose.

The image of 19 year-old Buffalo Bill was used as the cover of Tyler, The Creator's sophomore release, ''Goblin''.

Buffalo Bills is also the name of a bar and nightclub in Whistler, British Columbia, Canada.

See also

Buffalo Bill Cody Homestead

List of Medal of Honor recipients for the Indian Wars

Ned Buntline: Contemporary of Buffalo Bill and author of successful dime novel series "Buffalo Bill Cody – King of the Border Men"

William "Doc" Carver

Pony Express

Show Indians

References

Bibliography

Cunningham, Tom F. (2007) ''Your Fathers Ghosts: Buffalo Bill's Wild West in Scotland'', Edinburgh: Black and White Publishing, ISBN 1-84502-117-7

Gallop, Alan (2001) ''Buffalo Bill's British Wild West'', Stroud: Sutton, ISBN 0-7509-2702-X

Griffin, Charles Eldridge (2010) ''Four Years in Europe with Buffalo Bill'', Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, ISBN 0-8032-3465-1

Jonnes, Jill (2010) ''Eiffel's Tower: And the World's Fair where Buffalo Bill Beguiled Paris, the Artists Quarreled, and Thomas Edison Became a Count'', New York: Penguin, ISBN 0-14-311729-7

Kasson, Joy S. (2000) ''Buffalo Bill's Wild West: Celebrity, Memory, and Popular History'', New York: Hill and Wang, ISBN 0-8090-3244-9

Moses, L.G. (1996) ''Wild West Shows and the Images of American Indians, 1883–1933'', Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, ISBN 0-8263-2089-9

Russell, Don (1960) ''The Lives and Legends of Buffalo Bill'', Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, ISBN 0-8061-1537-8

Rydell, Robert W.; Kroes, Rob (2005) ''Buffalo Bill in Bologna: The Americanization of the World, 1869–1922'' Chicago:University of Chicago Press, ISBN 0-226-73242-8

Further reading

Buffalo Bill Days (June 22–24, 2007). A 20-page special section of ''The Sheridan Press'', published in June 2007 by Sheridan Newspapers, Inc., 144 Grinnell Avenue, Post Office Box 2006, Sheridan, Wyoming, 82801, USA. ''(Includes extensive information about Buffalo Bill, as well as the schedule of the annual three-day event held in Sheridan, Wyoming.)''

Story of the Wild West and Camp-Fire Chats by Buffalo Bill (Hon. W.F. Cody.) "A Full and Complete History of the Renowned Pioneer Quartette, Boone, Crockett, Carson and Buffalo Bill.", c1888 by HS Smith, published 1889 by Standard Publishing Co., Philadelphia, PA.

''The life of Hon. William F. Cody, known as Buffalo Bill, the famous hunter, scout and guide. An autobiography'', F. E. Bliss. Hartford, Conn, 1879 Digitized from the Library of Congress.

"Buffalo Bill’s Wild West: Celebrity, Memory and Popular History", by Joy S. Kasson, published by Hill & Wang publishing co., 2001

External links

William F. Cody Archive

Heppler, Jason. "The Wild West Show and the Progressive Image of American Indians". University of Nebraska–Lincoln and Buffalo Bill Historical Center. Retrieved August 23, 2011.

Library of Congress: excerpt from chapter 1 of ''Buffalo Bill Cody: The Man behind the Legend''

In Hotel Lobbies: Buffalo Bill at the Willard Hotel

Category:1846 births Category:1917 deaths Category:American folklore Category:American hunters Category:American people of the Indian Wars Category:American people of Jersey descent Category:American pioneers Category:American Roman Catholics Category:American stage actors Category:American writers Category:Bison hunters Category:Civilian recipients of the Medal of Honor Category:Converts to Roman Catholicism Category:Deaths from renal failure Category:History of Nebraska Category:Circus Hall of Fame inductees Category:People from North Platte, Nebraska Category:People from Park County, Wyoming Category:People from Scott County, Iowa Category:People from Staten Island Category:People of the Great Sioux War of 1876–77 Category:Pony Express riders Category:Tall tales Category:Union Army soldiers Category:Utah War Category:Wild west shows

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Name	Wild Bill Hickok
Birth name	James Butler Hickok
Birth date	May 27, 1837
Birth place	Troy Grove, Illinois, US
Death date	August 02, 1876
Death place	Deadwood, Dakota Territory, US
Death cause	Murdered by Jack McCall
Resting place	Mount Moriah Cemetery
Occupation	Lawman, gunfighter, gambler
Signature	Wild Bill Hickock signature.svg }}

James Butler Hickok (May 27, 1837 – August 2, 1876), better known as Wild Bill Hickok, was a folk hero of the American Old West. His skills as a gunfighter and scout, along with his reputation as a lawman, provided the basis for his fame, although some of his exploits are fictionalized.

Hickok came to the West as a stagecoach driver, then became a lawman in the frontier territories of Kansas and Nebraska. He fought for the Union Army during the American Civil War, and gained publicity after the war as a scout, marksman, actor, and professional gambler. Between his law-enforcement duties and gambling, which easily overlapped, Hickok was involved in several notable shootouts. He was shot and killed while playing poker in the Number Ten Saloon in Deadwood, Dakota Territory (now South Dakota).

Life and career

Early life

Hickok was born in Homer, Illinois (now Troy Grove, Illinois) on May 27, 1837 of English ancestry. His birthplace is now the Wild Bill Hickok Memorial, a listed historic site under the supervision of the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency. Hickok was a good shot from a very young age and was recognized locally as an outstanding marksman with a pistol.

In 1855, at age 18, Hickok moved to Leavenworth in Kansas Territory following a fight with Charles Hudson, which resulted in both falling into a canal. Mistakenly thinking he had killed Hudson, Hickok fled and joined General Jim Lane's vigilante "Free State Army" (or Jayhawkers, also known as the "Red Legs"). While a Jayhawker, he met 12-year-old William Cody (later known as "Buffalo Bill") who, despite his age, was a scout for the U.S. Army during the Utah War.

Because of his "sweeping nose and protruding upper lip", Hickok was derisively called "Duck Bill" (especially by David McCanles). He grew a mustache following the McCanles incident, and in 1861 began calling himself "Wild Bill". When later recounting his exploits to audiences, he claimed that his nickname until 1861 had been "Shanghai Bill", a name given to him, he said, by The Red Legs (because of his height and slim build). Although Hickok photographs seem to indicate he had dark hair, all contemporary descriptions confirm he was, in fact, golden blond (as reddish shades of hair appeared black in early photographic processes).

Hickok used the name William Hickok from 1858 and William Haycock during the Civil War. Arrested as Haycock in 1865, he afterward resumed using his real name of James Hickok. Most newspapers continued to use the name William Haycock when referring to "Wild Bill" until 1869. Military records after 1865 used his correct name, although acknowledging he was also known as Haycock.

Early career

In 1857, Hickok claimed a homestead tract in Johnson County, Kansas (in what is now Lenexa). On March 22, 1858, he was elected as one of the first four constables of Monticello Township, Kansas. In 1859, he joined the Russell, Waddell, & Majors freight company, the foundation company of the Pony Express. The following year, he was badly injured by a bear while he was driving a freight team from Independence, Missouri to Santa Fe, Texas. According to Hickok's own account, he found the road blocked by a Cinnamon bear and its two cubs. Dismounting, he approached the bear and fired a shot into its head, but the bullet ricocheted from its skull, infuriating it. The bear attacked, crushing Hickok with its body. Hickok managed to fire another shot, disabling a paw. The bear then grabbed his arm in its mouth, but Hickok was able to grab his knife and slash its throat, killing it. Badly injured with a crushed chest, shoulder and arm, Hickok was bedridden for four months before being sent to the Rock Creek Station in Nebraska (built on land which the company had recently purchased from a local, David McCanles) to work as a stable hand while he recovered.

McCanles incident

In 1861 he was involved in a deadly shootout with David McCanles at the Rock Creek Station, an event whose veracity is still the subject of much debate. On December 16, 40-year-old David McCanles; his 12-year-old son, William Monroe McCanles; and farmhands, James Woods and James Gordon; called at the station's office to demand payment of an overdue, second installment on the property. David McCanles was allegedly threatening the station manager, Horace Wellman, when he was shot by either Hickok (who was allegedly hiding behind a curtain) or Wellman. Hickok, Wellman, and an employee, J.W. Brink, were tried for murder, but judged to have acted in self-defense. McCanles was the first man Hickok was reputed to have killed in a fight.

Civil War and scouting

When the Civil War broke out in April 1861, Hickok signed on as a teamster (an outfitter or packer) for the Union Army in Sedalia, Missouri. By the end of the year, he was a wagon-master, but in September 1862 he was discharged for an undisclosed reason. There are no known records of his whereabouts for over a year, though at least one source claims that Hickok was operating as a spy in Confederate territory during this time. In late 1863 he was openly employed by the provost marshal of Southwest Missouri as a member of the Springfield, MO ''detective police''.

Hickok's duties as a police detective were mostly mundane, and included counting the number of troops in uniform drinking while on duty, checking hotel liquor licenses and tracking down individuals in debt to the cash-strapped Union Army. In 1864, Hickok, along with several other detective police, had not been paid for some time. He either resigned or was reassigned, as he was hired by General John B. Sanborn that year as a scout (at five dollars a day plus a horse and equipment). In June 1865, Hickok was mustered out and afterward spent his time in and around Springfield gambling.

Lawman and gunfighter notoriety

On July 21, 1865, in the town square of Springfield, Missouri, Hickok met and killed Davis Tutt in a "quick draw" duel –the first of its kind. Fiction later popularized Hickok's "quick draw gunfight" as typical, but Hickok's is the first one on record to fit the portrayal. However, rather than the face-to-face fast draw as is commonly shown in movies, the two men faced each other sideways in the duelling stance, drawing and aiming their weapons before firing.

Hickok had first met former Confederate Army soldier Davis Tutt in early 1865, while both were gambling in Springfield. Hickok often borrowed money from Tutt and they were originally friends, but they had a falling out over a woman. (It was also rumored that Hickok once had an affair with Tutt's sister, perhaps fathering a child.) There was also a long-standing dispute over Hickok's girlfriend, Susannah Moore. Hickok refused to play cards with Tutt, who retaliated by financing other players in an attempt to bankrupt him.

According to the accepted account, the dispute came to a head when Tutt was coaching an opponent of Hickok's during a card game. Hickok was on a winning streak, and the frustrated Tutt requested he repay a $40 loan, which Hickok immediately did. Tutt then demanded another $35 owed from a previous card game. Hickok refused, as he had a "memorandum" proving it to be for $25. Tutt then took Hickok's watch, which was lying on the table, as collateral for the $35, at which point Hickok warned him not to wear it or he, Hickok, would shoot him. The next day, Tutt appeared in the square wearing the watch prominently, and Hickok tried to negotiate the watch's return. Tutt stated he would now accept no less than $45, but both agreed they would not fight over it and went for a drink together. Tutt left the saloon, but returned to the square at 6 p.m., while Hickok arrived on the other side and warned him not to approach him while wearing the watch. Both men faced each other and fired almost simultaneously. Tutt's shot missed, but Hickok's did not, piercing Tutt through the heart from about 75 yards away. Tutt called out, "Boys, I'm killed" before he collapsed and died.

Two days later Hickok was arrested for murder (the charge was later reduced to manslaughter). He was released on $2,000 bail and stood trial on August 3, 1865. At the end of the trial, Judge Sempronius H. Boyd gave the jury two contradictory instructions. He first instructed the jury that a conviction was its only option under the law. He then instructed them that they could apply the unwritten law of the "fair fight" and acquit. The jury voted for acquittal, a verdict that was not popular at the time.

Several weeks later, Hickok was interviewed by Colonel George W. Nichols, and the interview was published in Harper's New Monthly Magazine. Using the name "Wild Bill Hitchcock" [sic], the article recounted the 'hundreds' of men whom Hickok supposedly personally killed, and other exaggerated exploits. The article was controversial wherever Hickok was known, and it led to several frontier newspapers writing rebuttals. (Hickok is known to have killed five men (one by accident); was an accessory in the deaths of three more; and wounded one more.)

Hickok was reported to be "an inveterate hater of Indians", but it is difficult to separate fact from fiction. Witnesses confirm that while scouting from Fort Harker Kansas on May 11, 1867, Hickok was attacked by a large group of Indians, who fled after Hickok shot and killed two. In July, Hickok told a newspaper reporter he had led several soldiers in pursuit of Indians who had killed four men near the fort on July 2. He reported returning with five prisoners after killing ten. Witnesses confirm the story was true in part; the party did set out to find those who had killed the four men, but the group returned to the fort "without nary a dead Indian, [never] even seeing a live one".

In September 1865, Hickok came in second in the election for city marshal of Springfield. Leaving Springfield, he was recommended for the position of deputy United States marshal at Fort Riley, Kansas. This was during the Indian wars in which Hickok sometimes served as a scout for General George A. Custer's 7th Cavalry.

In 1867, Hickok moved to Niagara Falls, where he tried acting in a stage play called ''The Daring Buffalo Chasers of the Plains''. He proved to be a terrible actor, and returned to the West, where he ran for sheriff in Ellsworth County, Kansas, on November 5, 1867. He was defeated by a former soldier, E.W. Kingsbury.

In December 1867, newspapers reported Hickok's arrival in Hays City, Kansas. On March 28, 1868, he was again in Hays as a deputy U.S. Marshall, picking up 11 Union deserters charged with stealing government property and who were to be transferred to Topeka for trial. He requested a military escort from Fort Hays, and was assigned William F. Cody, along with a sergeant and five privates. The group arrived in Topeka on April 2. Hickok was still in Hays in August 1868, when he brought 200 Cheyenne Indians to Hays to be viewed by "excursionists". On September 1, Hickok was in Lincoln County, Kansas, where he was hired as a scout by the 10th Cavalry Regiment, a segregated African American unit. On September 4, Hickok was wounded in the foot while rescuing several cattlemen in the Bijou Creek Basin who were surrounded by Indians. The 10th arrived at Fort Lyon, Colorado, in October and remained for the rest of 1868.

In July 1869, Hickok was back in Hays and was elected city marshal of Hays and sheriff of Ellis County, Kansas, in a special election held on August 23, 1869. The county was having particular difficulty holding sheriffs—three had quit over the previous 18 months. Hickok likely was already acting sheriff when elected, as a newspaper reported him arresting offenders on August 18 and the commander of Fort Hays praised Hickok for his work in apprehending deserters in a letter he wrote to the assistant adjutant general on August 21. Regularly scheduled county elections were held on November 2, 1869, and Hickok (Independent) lost to his deputy, Peter Lanihan (Democrat). However, Hickok and Lanihan remained sheriff and deputy, respectively. Hickok accused a J.V. Macintosh of irregularities and misconduct during the election. On 9 December, Hickok and Lanihan both served legal papers on Macintosh, and local newspapers acknowledged Hickok had guardianship of Hays City.

In his first month as sheriff in Hays, he killed two men in gunfights. The first was Bill Mulvey, who "got the drop" on Hickok. Hickok looked past him and yelled, "Don't shoot him in the back; he is drunk," which was enough of a distraction to allow him to win the gunfight. The second was a cowboy, Samuel Strawhun, who encountered Hickok and Deputy Sheriff Lanihan at 1 am on September 27 when they had been called to a saloon where Strawhun was causing a disturbance. After Strawhun "made remarks against Hickok", Strawhun died instantly from a bullet through the head as Hickok "tried to restore order". At Strawhun's inquest, despite 'very contradictory' evidence from witnesses, the jury found the shooting justifiable.

On July 17, 1870, in Hays, he was involved in a gunfight with disorderly soldiers of the 7th U.S. Cavalry. Two troopers, Jeremiah Lonergan and John Kyle (sometimes Kile), set upon Hickok in a saloon. Lonergan pinned Hickok to the ground while Kyle put his gun to Hickok's ear. Kyle's gun misfired, which allowed Hickok to reach his own guns. Lonergan was wounded in the knee, while Kyle, shot twice, died the next day.

In the next election, Hickok failed to win re-election. On April 15, 1871, Hickok became marshal of Abilene, Kansas, taking over from former marshal Tom "Bear River" Smith, who had been killed on November 2, 1870. The outlaw John Wesley Hardin was in Abilene in 1871, and was befriended by Hickok. In his 1895 autobiography (published after his own death and 19 years after Hickok's), Hardin claimed to have disarmed Hickok using the famous road agent's spin during a failed attempt to arrest him for wearing his pistols in a saloon. He further claimed Hickok, as a result, had two guns cocked and pointed at him. This story is considered to be apocryphal or at the very least an exaggeration, as Hardin claimed this at a time when Hickok could not defend himself. Hardin was an extremely accomplished and well known gunfighter (and is known to have killed over 27 men in his lifetime). Hardin idolized Hickok and identified with Wild Bill. It is recorded that when Hardin's cousin, Mannen Clements, was jailed for the killing of two cowboys, Hickok –at Hardin's request– arranged for his escape.

While working in Abilene, Hickok and Phil Coe, a saloon owner, had an ongoing dispute that later resulted in a shootout. Coe had been the business partner of known gunman Ben Thompson, with whom he co-owned the Bulls Head Saloon. On October 5, 1871, Hickok was standing off a crowd during a street brawl, during which time Coe fired two shots. Hickok ordered him to be arrested for firing a pistol within the city limits. Coe explained he was shooting at a stray dog, but suddenly turned his gun on Hickok, who fired first and killed Coe. Hickok caught the glimpse of movement of someone running toward him and quickly fired two shots in reaction, accidentally shooting and killing Abilene Special Deputy Marshal Mike Williams, who was coming to his aid, an event that haunted Hickok for the remainder of his life. There is another account of the Coe shootout. Theophilus Little, mayor of Abilene and owner of the town's lumberyard, recorded his time in Abilene by writing in a notebook that was recently given to the Abilene Historical Society. Writing in 1911, he detailed his admiration of Hickok and included a paragraph on the shooting that differs considerably from the accepted account.

"Phil" Coe was from Texas, ran the "Bull's Head" a saloon and gambling den, sold whiskey and men's souls. A vile a character as I ever met for some cause Wild Bill incurred Coe's hatred and he vowed to secure the death of the Marshall. Not having the courage to do it himself, he one day filled about 200 cowboys with whiskey intending to get them into trouble with Wild Bill, hoping that they would get to shooting and in the melee shoot the marshal. But Coe "reckoned without his host". Wild Bill had learned of the scheme and cornered Coe, had his two pistols drawn on Coe. Just as he pulled the trigger one of the policemen rushed around the corner between Coe and the pistols and both balls entered his body, killing him instantly. In an instant, he pulled the triggers again, sending two bullets into Coe's abdomen (Coe lived a day or two) and whirling with his two guns drawn on the drunken crowd of cowboys, "and now do any of you fellows want the rest of these bullets." Not a word was uttered.

Coe supposedly stated he could "kill a crow on the wing", and Hickok's retort is one of the West's most famous sayings (though possibly apocryphal): "Did the crow have a pistol? Was he shooting back? I will be." Hickok was relieved of his duties as marshal less than two months after having accidentally killed deputy Mike Williams, allegedly owing to this incident being only one of a series of questionable shootings and claims of misconduct.

Hickok's favorite guns were a pair of cap-and-ball Colt 1851 .36 Navy Model pistols, which he wore until his death. These had ivory handles, silver plating and were ornately engraved with "J.B. Hickock-1869" engraved on the backstrap. He wore his revolvers backwards in a belt or sash (when donning city clothes or buckskins, respectively), and seldom used holsters per se; he drew the pistols using a "reverse", "twist" or cavalry draw, as would a cavalryman.

In 1873, Buffalo Bill Cody and Texas Jack Omohundro invited Hickok to join them in a new play called ''Scouts of the Plains'' after their earlier success. Hickok and Texas Jack eventually left the show, before Cody formed his ''Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show'' in 1882.

In 1876, Hickok was diagnosed by a doctor in Kansas City, Missouri, with glaucoma and 'ophthalmia', a condition that was widely rumored at the time by Hickok's detractors to be the result of various sexually transmitted diseases. In truth, he seems to have been afflicted with trachoma, a common vision disorder of the time. His marksmanship and health apparently had been suffering for some time, as he had been arrested several times for vagrancy, despite earning a good income from gambling and displays of showmanship only a few years earlier. On March 5, 1876, Hickok married Agnes Thatcher Lake, a 50-year-old circus proprietor in Cheyenne, Wyoming Territory. Hickok left his new bride a few months later, joining Charlie Utter's wagon train to seek his fortune in the gold fields of South Dakota. Martha Jane Cannary, known popularly as Calamity Jane, claimed in her autobiography that she was married to Hickok and had divorced him so he could be free to marry Agnes Lake, but no records have been found that support Jane's account. The two were believed to have met for the first time after Jane was released from the guardhouse in Fort Laramie and joined the wagon train in which Hickok was traveling. The wagon train arrived in Deadwood in July, 1876. Jane herself confirmed this account in an 1896 newspaper interview, although she claimed she had been hospitalized with illness rather than in the guardhouse.

Shortly before Hickok's death, he wrote a letter to his new wife, which read in part, "Agnes Darling, if such should be we never meet again, while firing my last shot, I will gently breathe the name of my wife — Agnes — and with wishes even for my enemies I will make the plunge and try to swim to the other shore."

Death

Wild Bill had a premonition Deadwood would be his last camp, and expressed this belief to his friend Charlie Utter (also known as Colorado Charlie), and the others who were traveling with them at the time. On August 2, 1876, Hickok was playing poker at Nuttal & Mann's Saloon No. 10 in Deadwood, in the Black Hills, Dakota Territory. Hickok, as a precaution, usually sat with his back to the wall. The only seat available when he joined the poker game was a chair that put his back to a door. Twice he asked another player, Charles Rich, to change seats with him, and on both occasions Rich refused.

A former buffalo hunter named John McCall (better known as "Jack" or "Broken Nose Jack" McCall) walked in unnoticed. Jack McCall walked to within a few feet of Wild Bill and then suddenly drew a pistol and shouted, "Take that!" before firing.

The assassin's bullet hit Hickok in the back of the head, killing him instantly. The bullet emerged through Wild Bill's right cheek, striking Captain Massie in the left wrist. Legend has it that Hickok had lost his stake and had just borrowed $50 from the house to continue playing.

Hickok's dead-man's hand

When shot, Hickock was holding a pair of aces and a pair of eights, all black. The fifth card's identity is debated, or had been discarded and its replacement had not yet been dealt. In 1979, Hickok was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame.

Killing's aftermath

The motive for the killing is unknown. McCall may have been paid for the deed, but more likely McCall became enraged over what he perceived as a condescending offer from Hickok to let him have enough money for breakfast after he had lost all his money playing poker the previous day. At the resulting two-hour trial by a "miners jury" (an ad hoc local group of assembled miners and businessmen), McCall claimed he was avenging Hickok's earlier slaying of his brother, which may have been true. A Lew McCall is known to have been killed by a lawman in Abilene, but it is unknown if he was related, and the name of the lawman was not recorded. McCall was acquitted of the murder, resulting in the ''Black Hills Pioneer'' editorializing: "Should it ever be our misfortune to kill a man ... we would simply ask that our trial may take place in some of the mining camps of these hills." Calamity Jane was reputed to have led a mob that threatened McCall with lynching, but at the time of Wild Bill’s death, Jane was being held by military authorities.

McCall was subsequently rearrested after bragging about his deed, and a new trial was held. The authorities did not consider this to be double jeopardy because at the time Deadwood was not recognized by the U.S. as a legitimately incorporated town, as it was in Indian country and the jury was irregular. The new trial was held in Yankton, capital of the territory. Hickok's brother, Lorenzo Butler Hickok, traveled from Illinois to attend the retrial and spoke to McCall after the trial, noting he showed no remorse. This time, McCall was found guilty and sentenced to death. Reporter Leander Richardson interviewed McCall shortly before his death and helped bury him. Richardson wrote of the encounter for the April 1877 issue of ''Scribner's Monthly'', in which he mentions McCall's second trial.

As I write the closing lines of this brief sketch, word reaches me that the slayer of Wild Bill has been rearrested by the United State authorities, and after trial has been sentenced to death for willful murder. He is now at Yankton, D.T. awaiting execution. At the trial it was proved that the murderer was hired to do his work by gamblers who feared the time when better citizens should appoint Bill the champion of law and order – a post which he formerly sustained in Kansas border life, with credit to his manhood and his courage.

McCall was hanged on March 1, 1877, and buried in the Roman Catholic cemetery. The cemetery was moved in 1881, and his body was exhumed and found to have the noose still around his neck. The killing of Wild Bill and the capture of Jack McCall is reenacted every evening (in summer) in Deadwood.

Funeral and burial

Charlie Utter, Hickok's friend and companion, claimed Hickok's body and placed a notice in the local newspaper, the ''Black Hills Pioneer'', which read:

"Died in Deadwood, Black Hills, August 2, 1876, from the effects of a pistol shot, J. B. Hickock [sic] (Wild Bill) formerly of Cheyenne, Wyoming. Funeral services will be held at Charlie Utter's Camp, on Thursday afternoon, August 3, 1876, at 3 o'clock P. M. All are respectfully invited to attend."

Almost the entire town attended the funeral, and Utter had Hickok buried with a wooden grave marker reading:

"Wild Bill, J. B. Hickock [sic] killed by the assassin Jack McCall in Deadwood, Black Hills, August 2, 1876. Pard, we will meet again in the happy hunting ground to part no more. Good bye, Colorado Charlie, C. H. Utter."

Hickok was originally buried in the Ingelside Cemetery, Deadwood's original graveyard. This graveyard filled quickly, preventing further use, and in 1879, on the third anniversary of his original burial, Utter paid to move Hickok to the new Mount Moriah cemetery. As the old cemetery was an area that was better suited for the constant influx of new settlers to live on, the remaining bodies there were moved up the hill to the Mount Moriah Cemetery in the 1880s. Utter supervised the move and noted that while perfectly preserved, Hickok had been imperfectly embalmed. As a result, calcium carbonate from the surrounding soil had replaced the flesh leading to petrifaction. One of the workers, Joseph McLintock, wrote a detailed description of the reinterment. McLintock used a cane to tap the body, face and head, finding no soft tissue anywhere. He noted the sound was similar to tapping a brick wall, and believed the remains to now weigh more than . William Austin, the cemetery caretaker, estimated , which made it difficult for the men to carry them to the new site. The original grave marker was moved to the new site, but by 1891 had been destroyed by souvenir hunters whittling pieces from it, and it was replaced with a statue. This, in turn, was destroyed by relic hunters and replaced in 1902 by a life-size sandstone sculpture of Hickok. This, too, was badly defaced, which led to its complete enclosure in a cage for protection. This was cut open by relic hunters in the 1950s and the statue removed.

Hickok is currently interred in a ten foot (3 m) square plot at the Mount Moriah Cemetery, surrounded by a cast-iron fence with a U.S. flag flying nearby. A monument has since been built there. It has been reported that Calamity Jane was buried next to him because that was her dying wish. However, four of the men on the self-appointed committee who planned Calamity's funeral (Albert Malter, Frank Ankeney, Jim Carson, and Anson Higby) later stated since Bill had “absolutely no use” for Jane in this life, they decided to play a posthumous joke on Hickok by laying her to rest for eternity by his side. Potato Creek Johnny, a local Deadwood celebrity from the late 19th century and early 20th century, is buried next to Wild Bill.

Hickok in popular culture

In literature

Dime novel fame

It is difficult to separate the truth from fiction about Hickok, the first "dime novel" hero of the western era, in many ways one of the first comic book heroes, keeping company with another who achieved part of his fame in such a way, frontiersman Davy Crockett. In the dime store novels, exploits of Hickok were presented in heroic form, making him seem larger than life. In truth, most of the stories were greatly exaggerated or fabricated by both the writers and himself.

In film and television

''The Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok'' is an American western television program which ran from 1951 to 1958.

A 1964 episode of the TV series ''The Great Adventure'' featured Lloyd Bridges as Hickok.

''Wild Bill'', a 1995 film surrounding Hickok's life, starred Lloyd Bridges' son Jeff.

''Little Big Man'' is a 1970 Arthur Penn epic western starring Dustin Hoffman. Wild Bill (Jeff Corey) is historically inaccurately depicted as a friend of the title character.

In ''The White Buffalo'', a 1977 film, Charles Bronson plays Hickok.

''The Young Riders'', an ABC TV series which ran from 1989 to 1992, features Hickok as a main character.

The HBO series, ''Deadwood'' (2004–2006), features the Hickok character.

Notes

References

External links

Profile by Don Collier

Wild Bill Hickok collection at Nebraska State Historical Society

Today at High Noon: The First Showdown – Blog post on Hickok's first showdown.

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