Week 11: March 12th thru 18th

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Names in bold will be found in Players; bolded Titles in References.

3/12 of…1831

Clement Studebaker, born in Pinetown, Adams County, Pennsylvania: blacksmith, wagon maker, entrepreneur.  {001}

1864

Charles Young was born a slave in May’s Lick, KY, but grew up free because his father escaped to Ohio and served in the Fifth Regiment of the Colored Artillery (heavy), thus earning freedom for his family. The family later migrated to Ripley, KY, where Young graduated at the top of his high school class… in a white school, because that’s what there was. Young was to successfully compete for a West Point selection, and would enter the academy in 1883.  {001}

1874

Died: Christian Sharps, approximate age 64 (born c. 1810). Designer of the first commercially successful breech loading rifle. Manufactured in a number of variations—from military sniper rifles and cavalry carbines to sporting/buffalo rifles—by several different companies with whom Sharps was associated. C. Sharps and Co. was the last. Single shot Sharps Rifles (1859-74) are excellent long-range firearms, powerful and accurate. The design is still made today, in a wide variety of calibers by a number of manufacturers domestic and foreign. Sharps also designed some fine, small, multi-barreled pistols*. Ad U.S. PD c. 1860’s?  {001}
see also:
Wk. 26, 6/30/1874 – 2nd Battle of Adobe Walls
*Photo Gallery Index – Weapons Photos – Firearms
– Dirk’s Derringers P. 1 – left, 7th. down
Photo Gallery Index – Weapons Photos – Firearms
– Long Guns – Sharps Military & Buffalo Rifles

1874

Jesse James said to have filled Pinkerton agent Whicher with lead on the Lexington Road about four miles east of Independence, MO. [nothing in Pinkerton records]  {001}

1880

Las Vegas, NM. Charlie White and “Doc” Holliday exchange shots. White is lightly wounded and leaves town.  Miguel A. Otero (later governor of New Mexico) confirmed this event.  {001}

1887

Vigilantes at Lordsburg, NM, hold a necktie party for horse thief  Wm. “One Eared” Dodge.  {001}

1895

Blue Duck has acquired the slow death of consumption in prison and when he is informed he has but a month to live, he is able to acquire a pardon from President Grover Cleveland, that he “may go home to die among friends”.  (001}

1902

He’s served his time; train robber William “Billy the Kid” Chadburn gets out of prison. {001}
see:
Wk. 36, 09/03/1893 – Santa Fe train robbery

3/13 of…1878

A fire destroys part of Abilene, KS.  {001}

1894

The Santa Fe depot at Woodward, OK, is held up by William M. “Bill” Dalton and William “Bill” Doolin.  {001}

1894

A poacher named Edgar Howell unwittingly became a catalyst for a law to protect wildlife in the new Yellowstone National Park when he was caught skinning the carcasses of buffaloes he had shot there.  There were no laws in place to give Yellowstone’s caretakers authority to protect its wildlife.  Howell crowed to a reporter that the worst punishment he could receive for his poaching was ejection from the park and the forfeiture of equipment worth $26.75. Observing that the country’s last remaining herd of wild buffalo, estimated at only a few hundred animals, was in Yellowstone, George Bird Grinnell ran the story in Forest and Stream and succeeded in generating a public uproar that finally reached all the way to Congress, Grover Cleveland’s White House and led to the Lacey Act (1894), passed by congress “to protect the birds and animals in Yellowstone National Park, and to punish crimes in said park”.  {003 & 001}
see:
Wk 19, 05/07/1894 – “an Act to Protect the Birds and Animals …”
Photo Gallery Index – Resources & Hazards
– Animals Index Page – Mammals – Bison

1898

Henry Hathaway (Henri Leonard de Fiennes) born in Sacramento, CA. film director.  {001}

1909

Gen. William J. Palmer, dead at 72 years in Colorado Springs, CO. Brevet Brigadier General and Medal of Honor (1862) in the Civil War. Fascinated by railroads in his youth, he began helping build railroads before the war and continued with the Kansas Pacific in 1867—the line completing from Kansas City, MO, to Denver, CO, in 1870. Later in Colorado, with English partner Dr. William Bell, he would found the building of the largest network of narrow gauge (3′) railroads in the U.S. They opened up ranching county, timber resources, mine production, and built a steel mill in Pueblo, CO, to facilitate the project. The Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad lives on today as: two tourist railroads, automobile roads, and the mainline Union Pacific Railroad (now standard gauge) in Colorado and other western states. Founder of Colorado Springs, CO, and a benefactor of numerous institutions. TYH! Photo: U.S. PD c.1870  {001}
see also:
Wk. 15, 04/11/1879 – RR War!

1912

O.C. “Deaf Charley” Hanks shot to death by detectives at Flo Williams’ whorehouse in San Antonio, TX. (“Hole in the Wall” gang member).  {001}

1912

“The Tall Texan” Ben Kilpatrick is killed (whacked on the head with an ice mallet) along with another gang member while trying to rob Train #9 on the Galveston, Harrisburg and San Antonio RR near Sanderson, TX. This was the last hurrah for any member of the Wild Bunch. Photo: U.S. PD, 1901 John Swartz, crop from “The Fort Worth Five” photo.  {001}
see:
Photo Gallery Index – Lawmen and Outlaws Photos – Wild Bunch.

3/14 of…1687

Eusebio Kino (08/10 /1645 – 03/15/1711) Italian Jesuit priest, missionary, geographer, explorer, cartographer and astronomer, left Cucurpe, MX, the “Rim of Christendom.” to begin his 24 year long explorations of the Pimería Alta, the Baja and lands destined to become Arizona…  {001}
see:
The Originals Index – Expeditions – Eusebio Francisco Kino
Photo Gallery Index – People and Places Photos – Quitobaquito Spring

1794

U.S. Patent number 72X (validated 1807) granted to Eli Whitney (1765–1825) for a mechanical cotton gin. It worked well enough to change the amount of land in the South devoted to growing cotton and increase the demand for slaves to pick it. By 1860 and estimated 80,000 had been brought to the cotton growing and politically aligned states. One in every three persons in the South was a slave. Thus the invention has often been cast as one of the major causes of the American Civil War. Photo:U.S. PD – Eli Whitney’s original patent, by Gamaliel  {001}

1808

Narcissa Prentiss Whitman born in Prattsburgh, NY. Pioneer, missionary.  {001}

1841

Born in St. Louis , MO, Charles Alexander Shibell: miner, sheriff, teamster, etc.  {001}

1849

William Sherley “Old Bill” Williams Mountain Man, master fur trapper, guide and interpreter. After service in the War of 1812 (sergeant & scout) he became a Protestant preacher before heading west. There, he lived with the Osage Indians (MO) working with the Harmony Mission and translating the bible into the Osage language. He was the interpreter for the treaty between the Osage and the United States (1825). He married A-Ci’n-Ga (Wind Blossom), a full-blood Osage woman. They became the parents of two daughters. He assimilated into the Osage as a fur trapper and never returned to European-American life. Later, Williams lived with the Ute for a time. He was with Joseph Walker’s historic California Trail Expedition (1833). As an Indian fighter, he had noted encounters with the Blackfeet, Apache, Comanche, and Modoc. After other mountain men had rejected John C. Frémont‘s request to lead a transcontinental railroad survey into Sangre de Cristo range, he asked Williams (1848). Due to heavy early snowfall after the team had entered the San Juan Mountains, Williams warned the party against continuing and recommended a more southern route. Frémont refused, continued, and the expedition lost ten members to starvation and exposure. Returning to Taos after helping to retrace group’s trail to try and find survivors, Williams was Ambushed and killed by Ute warriors along the Rio Grande River. Photo: U.S. PD Bill Pettit 1979, Old Bill Williams statue in Williams, AZ.  [001}
see:
*Wk. 30, 07/27/1833 – California Trail Expedition

1887

Louis and Ivan Thoen “discover” the enigmatic stone which bears their name, on the west face of Lookout Mountain near Spearfish, SD. Today, the actual Thoen Stone is located in the Adams Museum in Deadwood, SD, but a large replica of the stone is located on the site where it was discovered/created (debated). Photo: U.S. PD? internet.  {001}
see:
Lost Treasures in the Old West – Hoaxes – Thoen Stone

1782

Thomas Hart Benton born in Hart’s Mill, NC. U.S. senator.  {001}

1873

Four members of the Texas State Police, Captain Thomas G. Williams, Privates J.M. Daniels, Wesley Cherry and Andrew Melville (died 04/10/1873) are killed in a wild saloon shootout during an attempted arrest in Lampasas, TX. The killers, Mart, Merritt and Tom Horrell and likely others, all locals, are acquitted. The jury never even left their seats. Yes, these are the Horrell Brothers of the notorious Horrell-Higgins Feud.  {001}

1876

Brothers Bob, Print and Thomas Jefferson “Jay” Olive make a contribution to dealing with rustlers around Williamson, TX. James H. Crow and Turk Turner are found nicely bundled in the green hides of the beeves they were discovered butchering; the Olive brand on each hide prominently displayed. The “death of skins“* indicated a clear warning to others with a “sticky loop“.*  {003}
see:
*References – Dictionary – Death of Skins and Sticky Loop

1916

The U.S. Army‘s Mexican Expedition, led by Major General John J. Pershing, enters Mexico in an attempt to capture and punish Pancho Villa for the murder of U.S. citizens and attacks on border communities. Numerous battles will be fought but Villa will never be taken.  {001}
see also:
Wk. 10, 03/09/1916 – Columbus, NM
Wk. 6, 02/07/1917 – Pershing‘s Mexican Expedition recalled

1932

Fredrick Jackson Turner, age 70, died in California. Influential American historian. A collection of his writings, The Significance of the Frontier in American History, won the Pulitzer Prize in 1933. Turner was a major influence on the interpretation of the mechanisms and ramifications of the American frontier from the 1890’s through the early part of the 20th Century. Today his ideas are disputed and somewhat discredited.  Photo: U.S. PD c. 1890, unknown.  {001}
see also:
Wk. 28, 07/12/1893 – Jackson’s Frontier Thesis

3/15 of… 1881

(T) An attempt is made to rob The Kinnear Stage near Drew’s Station, AZ. Driver Bud Philpot and miner Peter Roerig are killed. Messenger Bob Paul wounds one of the bandits, (Leonard) and eventually stops the runaway team. Luther King is arrested by the pursuing posse and identifies the bandits as Bill Leonard, Harry Head and Jim Crane, then is soon allowed to escape by Behan under-sheriff Harry Woods. Later, Sheriff Behan is almost able to frame Doc Holliday for the incident.  {001}
see:
Quotes Index – Doc Holliday Quotes – Doc Holliday – Kinnear comment

1881

The Texas and Pacific RR and some west Texas cattlemen establish Abilene, TX.  {001}

1883

Lillie Langtree played at the Cheyenne Opera House in Cheyenne, WY.  {001}
see also:
Wk. 11 03/16/1903 – Judge Roy Bean

1885

Some fifty vigilantes lynch twins Elizabeth & James Taylor and Thomas Jones (their ranch foreman/accomplice) for the poisoning of Elizabeth’s husband and the shooting of one John E. Roberts. Spring Ranch, Clay County, NE. A short drop from a tall railroad bridge ends the rustling and horse thievery.  {001}

1896

Doolin Gang outlaws, Dynamite Dan Clifton and gang leader Bill Doolin escape Federal custody.  {001}

1997

Gail Davis (born Betty Jean Grayson), age 71, died in Los Angeles, CA. Supporting actress to Roy Rogers in The Far Frontier (1948) and fourteen films with Gene Autry. Her TV credits include: Star of Annie Oakley (1954-1956), and numerous guest appearances on various TV westerns, including: The Cisco Kid (6), The Lone Ranger, The Adventures of Kit Carson (2) and The Gene Autry Show.  TYH! Photo: U.S. PD c. 1941, Gail Davis & Gene Autry, archives of Ontario.  {001}

1903

An article in the New York World describes “Laughing” Sam (or was it Dick?) Carey of the Hole-in-the-Wall Gang as the most dangerous “desperado” in Wyoming. He is virtually unknown today.  {001}

1921

Died, Caroline Weldon at age 76, alone in her Brooklyn, NY apartment. After a failed marriage and a short affair resulting in a son, she joined the National Indian Defense Association (1885?), headed by Dr. Thomas Bland and his wife Cora Bland. Weldon went west to aid the Sioux in their struggle to fight the US government’s attempt to expropriate vast portions of the Sioux Reservation, under the Dawes Act,* for the purpose of opening it to white settlement with the intent of rendering the two new states of North Dakota and South Dakota economically viable. Moving to live at Chief Sitting Bull’s compound on the Grand River at Standing Rock Indian Reservation with her son Christie, she befriended the chief (leader of the Traditionalist Faction among the Sioux) and became his secretary, interpreter and advocate. She became a very controversial associate. Indian Agent James McLaughlin mounted a smear campaign, resulting in her being hated and reviled by much of the white community and vilified in the national press. She and Sitting Bull parted ways in 1890 over the Ghost Dance and, also ill, she returned east. Almost as she had predicted, he was murdered later that year.**
Weldon painted four portraits of Sitting Bull, two of which are known to have survived. One at the North Dakota Historical Society in Bismarck, ND and the other in Little Rock, at the Historic Arkansas Museum. Weldon’s story is loosely told in the 2017 movie “Woman Walks Ahead“.  Photo: U.S. PD 1915 by By Henry Sauerland. Portrait: 1890.  {001}
see also:
*Wk. 06, 02/08/1887 – Dawes Act
(General Allotment Act)
**Wk. 50, 12/15/1890 – Sitting Bull

3/16 of… 1888

Mexican rurales help Southern Pacific Special Officer Bob Paul and his posse kill train robbers Dick Heart, Tom Johnson and Larry Shehan near Chihuahua, MX.  {001}

1888

Small-time holdup men and thieves the Blalock brothers (Bill & John) catch Constable David Gordon awaiting their arrival at their home in Columbus, KS. Bill kills him with a shotgun.  {001}

1899

The Hot Springs Shootout: The Sheriff’s Department and the Police Department each represent a faction devoted to a larger share of the “take” (the payoff from local gambling interests). They spend the afternoon and early evening shooting at each other in downtown Hot Springs, AR. Five killed, one wounded participant, and one wounded bystander. Complicated tale, worth looking up!  {001}

1903

Phantly Roy Bean, aka Judge Roy Bean, “Law West of the Pecos” age 77 or 78, (born in Mason County, KY in 1825) died in Langtry, Val Verde County, TX. He dispensed his own eccentric version of the law from his saloon “The Jersey Lily” for over 20 years. Bean made no secret of his fascination with the British actress Lillie Langtry. “Judge Roy Bean” ran on TV in 1956. “The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean” (1972) starred Paul Newman.  Photo: U.S. PD (crop).  {001}
see also:
Photo Gallery Index – People and Places Photos – The Saloon and JP Office
Wk. 07, 02/12/1929 – Lillie Langtry

3/17 of… 1804

James  “Jim” Bridger born in Richmond , VA: mountain man, trapper, scout, entrepreneur.  {001}

1874

John {18} (b. 1851) and Jim Younger pursued and shot it out with St. Clair County Deputy Sherriff Edwin P. Daniels and two Pinkerton Agents, John Boyle and Louis J. Lull who had been posing as cattle buyers while searching for the Younger’s after the Gads Hill train robbery. Lull shot John through the throat but before he fell from his horse and died, he shot Lull and Daniels with his shotgun. Jim shot in the thigh by Lull, killed Daniels with his pistol. Lull died the next day, Boyle escaped uninjured. Monegaw Springs, MO. Photo: John Younger U.S. PD c. 1870’s, The Henneberry Company 1903.  {001}

1879

New Mexico Territorial Governor Lew Wallace meets with Billy the Kid and offers him a pardon for information and testimony against participants in the Lincoln County War. The reality and politics of the times prevent the deal from working out.  {001}

1890

Born:  Artemus Ward “Art” Acord in Prattsville, Utah: cowboy, rodeo champion, wild west show performer, stuntman and pioneer western movie star.  {001}

1896

Crawford (Charles?) Goldsby “Cherokee Bill” hanged in Ft. Smith, AR for the murder of one Ernest Melton during a store robbery in the Cherokee Nation… and killing jail guard Larry Keating, with a smuggled pistol, during an attempted escape while in Federal custody. Photo: U.S. PD c.1890’s, Cherokee Bill Gang, Goldsby in center, unknown.  {001}

1902

Alice Greenough Orr born on a ranch near Red Lodge, MT. “The First Rodeo Queen!”  {001}

2002

Willian “Bill” Whitney died in Jackson, CA at age 86. movie director (Republic Pictures) & TV director. Serials: The Lone Ranger (1938); The Adventures of Red Ryder (1940). Some movies: Trigger Trio (1937) part of The Three Mesquiteers Series; The Golden Stallion (1945) and Helldorado (1946) w/Roy Rogers; Colorado Sundown (1952) and others w/Rex Allen. Audie Murphy stared in two Whitney films: Arizona Raiders (1965) and 40 Guns to Apache Pass (1967) at Columbia Pictures. His TV credits include episodes in almost every western series of note from 1958 to 1974: 30 episodes of Stories of the Century starting in 1954; Frontier Doctor (1958-59); The Tall Man (1961); The Wild West (1965); and Bonanza (1961-67) to list a few. Whitney is also credited with being the originator of many of the techniques for filming action/stunt sequences. Photo: U.S. ©? c. 1982’s outake, from Quell and Co., his last film. Director & sheriff! Photo: U.S. PD? Fair Use.  {001}

3/18 of… 1831

Cherokee Nation v. Georgia, an avoided decision by the Marshall Supreme Court which declared that Indian Tribes were “domestic dependent nations” describing the relationship akin to that of a “ward to a guardian”. Thus, they were unable to protect themselves by suing the Federal Government for any protection or justice. This set the stage for the removals and land thefts which soon followed.  {001}
see also:
Wk. 22 05/28/1830 – Indian Removal Act
Wk. 9, 02/28/1823 – Johnson vs. M’Intosh
PLAYERS – Timelines – Timelines A-L – Indian Treaties Timeline

1848

A group of New York investors founded the Pacific Mail Steamship Company with three new side-wheel steamships: the 1050 ton SS California, the SS Oregon (1250 tons), and the SS Panama (1058 tons), expecting to be transporting agricultural goods from the West Coast. However, their timing was fortuitous and during in 1849 California Gold Rush the company played a key role in the transportation of goods and people and the growth of San Francisco, CA, gateway to the goldfields. Logo: U.S. PD, pre-1923. Ship Poster: U.S. PD (sharpened) U.S. Poster Museum. The California was the company’s first ship.  {001}

1852

Henry Wells (L) and William Fargo (R) found Wells Fargo & Company in response to the board of directors of American Express Co. refusing to extend service into California; via the Isthmus of Panama! They will do just that. These boys have been working together since at least 1844 and they understand the business. And we thought they just ran stagecoaches! Well, they did too! Photos: U.S. PD c. 1860’s [colorized].  {001}
see also:
PLAYERS – Timelines Index – Timelines M – Z Index – Wells Fargo Timeline

1877

The Battle of Yellow House Canyon; near present day Lubbock, TX; the last major battle between the Buffalo Hunters and the Indians in Texas marking the end of the Buffalo Hunter’s War (The Staked Plains War). Quahadi warriors under Black Horse had killed a hunter named Sewell and the hunters followed and attacked the Indian camp. They were outnumbered but staged a successful retreat back to Rath City. The army followed up.*  Some accounts have “Buffalo Jones” at the battle.  {001}
see:
*Wk. 18, 05/04/1877 – Buffalo Soldiers

1880

John Marvin Hunter; born in Mason County, TX,  Journalist.  {001}

1880

The Southern Pacific RR completes the line to Tucson to connect with the San Francisco and Pacific RR.  {001}

1882

(T) Morgan Earp murdered at Campbell & Hatch’s Billiard Parlor by Clanton sympathizers. Tombstone, AZ Marietta Spencer names husband Pete, Frank Stillwell, ”Indian Charlie”, Hank Swilling and John Doe Freis as the killers. Stillwell was likely the shooter.  {001}
see:
Photo Gallery Index – Pushin’ Up Daisies – Morgan Earp

1889

Died in New Haven, CT at age 67; Othneil Charles Marsh, Professor of Vertebrate Paleontology at Yale (1866). “Invited” by the U.S. Army to lead a fossil hunting expedition to the White River Badlands. He goes and collects two tons of fossils before he is scared off by the Sioux. Returns to D.C. an Indian advocate and sees Sec. of Interior Delano, deposed. His fierce competition to harvest dinosaur bones in the west and “discover” and name new species, with rival Edward Drinker Cope (Academy of Natural Sciences – Philadelphia), became known as The Bone Wars (1877-1892). Photo: U.S. PD 1865-1880?, Matthew Brady or Corbin Handy?   {001}
see also:
The Originals Index – Range Wars and Feuds – Bone Wars
Photo Gallery Index – People and Places Photos
– Marsh’s bone hunting team – 5th down

1911

Lester Alvin Burnette, “Smiley Burnette”; born in Summum, IL; movie & television Actor.  {001}

1914

Fort Collins, CO: feisty brothel owner Madame Marie LaFitte died from diabetes and complications from burns suffered in a house fire at the age of 69. In her time she had run into a few legal issues over property, prostitution and alcohol delivery (she was a bootlegger). Denied a headstone in Grandview Cemetery with the good folks of the city, she was buried in Potters field.  {003}

End: Week 11, March 12 thru 18th
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{001} C 03/19; E 04/19: F 01/16; P 03/18