Week 29: July 16th thru 22nd.

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

7/16 of… 1810

Joseph Ballinger Chiles  born Clark County, Kentucky. California pioneer, trailblazer.  {001}

1835

The Sternwheeler Warrior arrived at Fort Snelling, MN, again on July 16. She has unloaded cargo, made the run back to St. Louis, loaded cargo and returned in 20 days. During the 1830s the Warrior was one of about 12 vessels that carried large amounts of supplies, mostly food and clothing, to Fort Snelling.  {001}
see:
Photo Gallery Index – Transportation Photos
– Steamboats – Steamboat Warrior

1886

Ned Buntline, (Edward Zane Carroll Judson), age 65, died in Stamford, NY. Sailor and writer, he wrote dime novels, some about the West*, and numerous bad plays. Publisher, rabble-rouser and a notorious prevaricator, he survived a lynching attempt in 1846 after a killing. Judson claimed acquaintance with numerous Western legends: Wild Bill Hickok+3, Bat Masterson, Bill Tilghman, Wyatt Earp+2 and Buffalo Bill among others, (he did produce a play with Bill Cody+2: Scouts of the Prairie (1882)**. Claimed to have ordered the original long barreled pistols from Colt which came to be called (in modern times) “Buntline Specials”. This is heavily debated and likely not true. Books: Love at First Sight (1849); Buffalo Bill, King of the Border Men (1869) and others. Photo: PD Sarony NY  {001}
see:
*Wk. 23, 06/09/1860 –Beadle’s Dime Novel Series
**Quotes Index – Commentators Quotes – Legends Begin – Chicago Times
PLAYERS – Timelines Index – Timelines M-Z – Three Guardsmen Timeline

1945

Jack Randall, Addison Byron Owen Randall, aka Allen Byron, Byron Vance, age 39, died in Canoga Park, CA. “B” Western movie actor at Monogram Pictures. Poster U.S. ©? 1938 Monogram Pictures, movie promo for: Where the West Begins.  {001}

7/17 of… 1763

John Jacob Astor (Johann Jakob Astor) born in Walldorf, Electoral Palatinate, Holy Roman Empire. He will become  an American businessman, merchant, real estate mogul and investor. Founder of the American Fur Company (1808) and the Pacific Fur Trading Company (1810).  {001}
see also:
Timelines Index – Timelines M-Z – Trading Ship Tonquin Timeline.

1839

Phillip Houston Coe born in Texas. ??  {001}

1870

Hays City, KS: Wild Bill Hickok+3 back in town, likely in his role as a Deputy U.S. Marshal, was standing at the bar in Paddy Welch’s saloon. He was attacked from behind by two drunken troopers from Custer’s 7th Cavalry. Trooper Jeremiah Lonergan, a noted local pugilist, charged up and threw his arms around Hickok, pinned his arms and wrestled him to the floor. Reaching inside his blouse, Corporal John Kile (MOH – 1869) pulled his Army issue Remington revolver,* stuck the muzzle in Hickok’s ear and pulled the trigger. The notoriously failure prone piece misfired and Hickok lived to draw his own pistol and shoot Lonergan in the knee, causing him to release his grip. Hickok fired twice more, mortally wounding Kile who died at Fort Hays the next day.
Hickok, in doubt of how many other troopers might take offense and join the fray, jumped through a window, taking the sash and glass with him. Quickly stopping by his room for his Winchester and a hundred rounds of ammunition, he hid out overnight in the Boot Hill cemetery and the next day caught a train out of town at Union Pacific’s Big Creek Station. It was said that several 7th Cavalry troopers had attempted some ineffectual private pursuit. The military authorities at Fort Hayes did not pursue civil charges because the two soldiers were not on duty at the time and had engaged in a barroom brawl.  {001}
see also:
Photo Gallery Index – Weapons Photos – Firearms – Mike’s Revolvers Page 1
– Remington Army Revolver and 1851 Colt Navy.

1876

Buffalo Bill Cody+2, reputed to have killed and scalped Cheyenne sub-war chief Yellow Hair (usually reported as Yellow Hand) as the, “First scalp for Custer!” (Disputed. Even Cody later said it was, “Bunk, pure bunk!”)  {001}

1877

Wagnus Massacre: Deadwood – Bismarck Trail, SD – Two brothers, accompanied by one of their wives were attempting to catch up with the main portion of a wagon train traveling north, towards Bismarck, on a trail used for migration and freight. The bodies were found the next day, by the Bismarck Stagecoach, two miles north of Bear Butte, a sacred Plains Indian site. The men were shot and scalped and the woman was shot, scalped and horribly mutilated. The location of the incident implies that the attack was carried out by Sioux Indians (?).  {001}

1881

Mountain Man Jim Bridger, dead at 77 near Kansas City, MO. A member of The Upper Missouri Expedition of 1822 and one of the founders of The Rocky Mountain Fur Company (1830). In 1843, Bridger and Louis Vasquez built the trading post that would become Ft. Bridger, WY, on the Oregon Trail. Trail blazer and an army scout during Red Cloud’s War (1866-68), notorious story teller and a first class liar.  TYH! Photo: U.S. PD pre-1881, unknown. {001}

1899

Sam Ketchum, Will Carver and Elzy Lay, (Black Jack Ketchum Gang) are surprised at dawn in Turkey Creek Canyon, NM, by a pursuing posse after the recent train robbery at Twin Mountain. They kill Sheriff Edward Farr, Henry W. Love* and Tom Smith, wounding two of the three other surviving deputies. Ketchum receives a shoulder wound and is soon captured. Lay is shot twice, but he and Carver escape. Lay hides out in a remote cabin in Eddy County, NM, to recover from his wounds. Found by a posse the following month, he wounds one lawman before the others beat him into submission. He goes to prison. Carver gets away and joins the Wild Bunch in Utah.  {001}
see:
07/21/1899 – below – Henry W. Love

1971

Cliff “Ukulele Ike” (Clifton A.) Edwards, age 76, died in Hollywood, CA. Musician, vaudeville performer, sidekick+2 to Charles Starrett (8 films) — Thunder Over the Prairie-1941, also sidekick to Tim Holt (6 films) — Sagebrush Law-1943. Photo: U. S. PD 1947  William P. Gottlieb LOC.  {001}

1980

The first “Red Ryder” John “Red” Barry, aged 68, died a suicide in North Hollywood, CA. Poster: U.S. PD movie promo. Photo: U.S. PD pre-1980unknown, crop.  {001}

7/18 of… 1781

 

Francisco Hermenegildo Tomás Garcés, O.F.M. (age 43) Franciscan Monk and Explorer of the southwest. He played a large part in the group of Franciscan friars tasked with exploring and initiating relations with the natives in the area of the Sonoran Desert missions region, which included today’s state of Arizona and the present-day Mexican state of Sonora. This fellow was bold and active, his contribution to the Spanish conquest of the southwest was writ large. He accompanied both of Juan Bautista de Anza‘s expeditions.* Look him up! He was killed, along with several other friars, at Mission San Pedro y San Pablo de Bicuñer during the Yuma uprising. Illustration: US PD pre-1923, said to be Friar Garcés. {001}
see also:
*PLAYERS – Timelines Index – Timelines A-L Index –
Juan Bautista de Anza Timeline
Photo Gallery Indexx – People and Places Photos – Quitobaquito Spring

1843

Virgil Walter Earp born at Hartford, Ohio County, KY. Lawman.  {001}

1857

Troops of the Utah Expedition depart Ft. Leavenworth: the beginning of the Utah War (The Mormon War, Buchanan’s Folly, etc.). No battles were fought,  although the Mormon Nauvoo Legion blocked the U.S. Army’s entrance into the Salt Lake Valley. Some civilians were killed and there were several associated incidents, most notably the Mountain Meadows Massacre* and the Aiken Massacre of Oct 1857. The whole business was settled by negotiation in July 1858 and eventually led to Mormon submission to the U.S. Government.  {001}
see:
*Wk. 37, 09/11/1857 – Mountain Meadows Massacre

1865

President Andrew Johnson, through Secretary Seward asks Colorado Governor John Evans to resign because of his attempt to cover up the Sand Creek Massacre. Evans resigns as Governor, but remains popular in the Colorado Territory for his perceived toughness in dealing with “the enemies” of the Territory.  {003}
see:
Wk. 48, 11/27/1868 – Sand Creek Massacre

1865

The Squaw Fight, Grass Valley, UT. Mormon Militia (Nauvoo) attack a small Ute camp, killing or driving off the few warriors then taking some old people and a few women and children prisoners. One of the women prisoners precipitates an incident which results in a complete massacre and looting of the camp.The murdered Indians are found to have “good Indian” passes from Salina’s Bishop. Such incidents would recur many times in the Black Hawk’s War (west).  {001}

1876

LCW: Cattle rustler Jesus Largo taken from Sheriff Saturnino Baca’s Lincoln, NM, jail and lynched by Doc Scurlock, Charlie Bowdre, Ab Sanders and Frank and George Coe.  {001}

1882

Crowley P. Dake, U.S. Marshal for the Arizona Territory leaves office (Prescott, AZ). Marshal Dake, via his support of Virgil and Wyatt Earp+2 and Wells Fargo Secret Agent Fred Dodge was a major player in the elimination of the outlaws operating in Cochise County, with help from the Pinkertons (U.S. Secret Service) and U.S. Army General Orlando B. Wilcox.  {001}

1901

Tom Horn, hired gun for rancher John Coble, kills fourteen-year-old Willie Nickell from ambush instead of his father, Kels P. Nickell — nester and maybe rustler (some said Willie had on his daddy’s coat and hat). Horn is arrested without resistance by then Deputy U.S. Marshall Joe Lefors. Some later claim he was framed but outrage over the murder led to Tom’s demise. Near Cheyenne, WY. Photo: U.S. PD, Willie Nickell.  {001}
see:
Wk. 47, 11/20/1903 – Tom Horn

1903

Chill Wills born in Seagoville, TX. Musician, movie actor, sidekick+2.  {001}

7/19 of… 1814

Samuel Colt is born in Hartford, CT. American industrialist, firearms designer/maker.  {001}

1847

The Donner Party is formed, elects George Donner as captain, and makes the fateful decision to take the “Hastings Cutoff”, an alleged shortcut to the California Trail. Twenty-three wagons and 87 people.  {001}

1872

Wichita, KS: Rowdy Joe Lowe pistol whips drunken and disorderly customer Joseph Walter to the point where local doctors consider the man’s injuries “critical”.  {001}

1878

LCW: Unarmed Canadian Alexander Anderson “Alex” McSween is shot (five times) and killed by the Murphy-Dolan faction under leader Sheriff George Peppin. Anderson was fleeing his burning home at the end of “The Five Day Battle” of the Lincoln County (NM) War. McSween’s law partner Harvey Morris was also killed. Jim French, Jose Chavez y Chavez, Tom Folliard, and Billy the Kid escape. Susan McSween had been allowed safe passage earlier from the burning house. Murphy-Dolan partisan Deputy Bob Beckwith is accidently killed by John Jones, a Murphy-Dolan man. Henry Brown, George Coe and Joseph Smith escape from their position in a warehouse during the melee.   {001}

1878

Samuel “Sam” Bass+4, Jim Murphy, Frank Jackson+2 and Seaborn Barnes try to scout the bank that they intend to rob the following day in Round Rock, TX. Murphy had double-crossed them and the Texas Rangers were ready and waiting. Jackson and Bass kill Deputy Sheriff Ellis Grimes and seriously wound Deputy Morris Moore. Seaborn Barnes is killed by Ranger Private Dick Ware. Bass is seriously wounded by Texas Rangers George Harold and Dick Ware but rescued by Jackson…  {001}

1879

Las Vegas, NM. Mike Gordon was drunk, belligerent and shooting up the town.  Somebody did a public service and no one in the crowd who witnessed the shooting could say who did it (“excusable homicide” as defined by the Coroner’s jury). Gordon was found shot later in the night and died early the next morning. Doc Holliday had some trouble with Mike that night at his saloon, but he never owned up to killing him and no charges were ever brought against him. Hoodoo Brown‘s records for that month seemed to have been mislaid so if there was any legal action, we don’t know. Two years later the Tombstone Nugget quoted the Las Vegas Optic describing Doc as, “the identical individual who killed poor inoffensive Mike Gordon”. In later years, Bat Masterson muddied the water on this one with a clear description of Doc’s actions.  {001}

1899

English mine owner William Broderick Cloete puts up $10,000 while one Lock Campbell and three others sign a pact to search for the Lost Nigger Mine. The mine is said to have been discovered in 1887 by William Kelley “Nigger Bill“, age 14, a ranch hand on the Regan Ranch at Dryden, TX. Legend has it that his employers disbelieved him but Kelley had a sample assayed and it was high grade ore. This is a complicated, convoluted tale complete with a maybe murder (Kelley) and a lot of money and time invested. It’s still lost. Reminds one of the Lost Dutchman’s Mine* in Arizona or the Lost Pegleg Mine** in California. Look it all up, too much for justice here.  {001}
see:
*Wk 43, 10/25/1891 – Jacob Waltz
**Wk. 41, 10/10/1801 – Lost Pegleg Mine

7/20 of… 1860

Denver, CO. A drunken Jim Gordon hurrahs Arapahoe and Blake streets and murders German immigrant Jacob Gantz. Gantz is tortured by having the pistol snapped four times against his head while pleading for his life before the fatal shot. The murder on Denver’s public streets enrages the city.  {001}

1867

The Indian Peace Commission is established by the U.S. Congress for the purpose of negotiating peace with all Indian tribes fighting with the U.S. government.  {001}

1868

Three members of the Reno Gang: Theodore F. Clifton, Thomas Volney “Val” Elliott and Charles W. Roseberry are lynched by vigilantes at Hangman Crossing, ID. (Date conflict: Jul 10); (One day’s good as the next for this business. – Doc)  {001}
see:
The Originals Index – Outlaw Gangs Index – Reno Gang

1874

Just east of the Rockies: farmers saw a cloud approaching from the west, sparkling around the edges where the wings of billions of Rocky Mountain Locusts reflected the light of the sun.  The most massive single swarm of locusts in history — 1,800 miles long, half a mile thick and 110 miles wide stretching from Canada to Texas as it erupted into America’s Great Plains. Woodcut: U.S. PD LOC.  {003}
see:
Wk. 37, 09/14/1895 – Charles Valentine Riley
The Originals Index – Resources & Hazards –  Animals Index Page
– Arachnids and Insects – Rocky Mountain Locust

1878

Sam Bass+4 had convinced Frank Jackson+2 to take his bay horse, guns an ammunition but Frank had stayed close to watch over him. He observed the discovery of the mortally wounded outlaw by lawmen and his removal back to Round Rock.  {001}
see:
*07/19/1878 – above

1882

Another bloody shootout between the Cowboys and Mexican vaqueros, as the smugglers cross into southern New Mexico and try for a herd of cattle. The Cowboys follow, recovering the herd and leaving the bodies; the border continues to heat up.  {001}

1889

Natrona County, WY. Range detective George Henderson, in the employ of neighboring cattleman Abert John Bothwell and in complicity with the Wyoming Cattlemen’s Association, puts up a false charge of rustling against Ellen L. Watson (named Cattle Kate by the press) and her homesteader husband Jim Averell. Armed men take them from their respective ranches and they are quickly lynched — even as hired man Frank Buchanan, a witness to the abductions, attempts to save them by attacking the ten men perpetrating the murders — wounding several before he is driven off. Arrests are made in the affair by Sheriff Fank Hadsell but threats, disappearances, unsolved killings and a fatal poisoning prevent trial.  The cattlemen’s captive press slanders the victims in an attempt to justify the crime. Lynching participant Sheriff Frank M. Canton flees to Oklahoma and becomes a US Marshal for Judge Issac Parker. Justice is never served and the Johnson County War looms. Many years later a fearful witness, Dan Fitger, tells the truth…  {001}

1910

Western movie star Muriel Evans (Muriel Adele Evanson) born in Minneapolis, MN.  {001}

1923

“Viva Villa” for the last time… Mexican revolutionary General Pancho Villa (José Doroteo Arango Arámbula, aka: Francisco Villa) assassinated in Parral, Mexico, along with several bodyguards and retainers.  {001}

1937

WB – Butch Cassidy, (Robert Leroy Parker, aka George Cassidy, William T. Phillips) dies of cancer in Spangle, WA. Or was he dead in Argentina years before? Problem is, the grave in Argentina has never been located and no grave in the U.S. has been opened, so there’s no DNA to test. Parker relatives and others swear he came back. Still a great debate.  {001}
see:
Wk. 45, 11/07/1908 – San Vicente, Bolivia
References – Books – Novels and History (non-ref)
– Butch Cassidy, My Brother

1943

Died: Charles H. Sternberg, age 93. Geologist and noted amateur fossil hunter. He excavated dinosaurs for Edward Drinker Cope during the “Bone Wars*”. Sternberg’s fossils, collected from the cretaceous chalk beds of Kansas and other locations are displayed throughout the world.  {001}
see:
Wk. 15, 04/12/1897 – Edward Drinker Cope

7/21 of… 1832

Battle of Wisconsin Heights: fought near present-day Sauk City, WI, between the U.S. Army, the state militia and some 300 Menominee Indians, opposing the Fox and Sauk tribes, led by Sauk Chief Black Hawk. Vastly outnumbered and sustaining heavy casualties, Black Hawk’s warriors managed to delay the combined government forces long enough, to allow the majority of the Sauk and Fox civilians in the group to escape across the Wisconsin River. Even so, this was the deciding battle of the Black Hawk War (east) and but a temporary reprieve. The Indians lost 70, or more, killed, captured or drowned. Then, when the militia did catch up to the fleeing band, it resulted in the Bad Axe Massacre. Painting: c. 1830’s Samuel Mardsen Brookes, the Wisconsin Heights Battlefield.  {001}

1851

Samuel “Sam” Bass+4 born in Mitchell, ID. Texas outlaw.  {001}

1860

“Professor“ Charles Stark, “The Mexican Negro” dies of wounds inflicted by Charley Harrison, Denver, CO.  {001}
see:
Wk. 28, 07/12/1860 – Charley Harrison vs Charles Stark

1865

Generally thought to be the first old west showdown. James Butler “Wild Bill” Hickok+3, a professional gambler and former Union scout, and Davis Tutt, cowboy and former Confederate soldier met in the market square in Springfield, MO. The two fell out over a woman and a gambling debt, and ultimately determined to resolve their differences by a duel. They faced off with about 75 paces separating them and fired simultaneously. Tutt’s shot went wild, but Hickok’s struck Tutt through the heart. Wild Bill’s reputation as one of the finest pistol shots in the old west was cemented*. TYH!  {003 & 007}
see:
*Photo Gallery Index – Weapons Index
– Firearms – Mikes Revolvers Page 1 – Colt Dragoon

1873

The James Gang’s first train robbery (derailed it and put the locomotive on its side!). Engineer John Rafferty is killed as the boys take  a mere $3000 from the express car then rob passengers in frustration on the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific near Adair, Iowa.  The second successful(?) (third overall) peacetime train robbery in the United States. Five of the seven miscreants were later identified by a farmer who had fed them during their escape: Frank and Jesse James, Clell Miller, and Bob and Jim Younger. The train they had intended to rob — the one with the big gold shipment?? That was the next train!  {001}

1878

Samuel “Sam” Bass+4, age 27 to the day, died of his wounds*. He would reveal nothing, Round Rock, TX.  Photo: U.S. PD.  {001}
see:
*07/19 and 20/1878 – above
Quotes Index – Gunfighter Quotes – Sam Bass

Sam met his fate at Round Rock, July the twenty-first,
They pierced poor Sam with rifle balls and emptied out his purse.
Poor Sam he is a corpse and six foot under clay,
And Jackson’s in the bushes trying to get away.

verse from “The Ballad of Sam Bass“

1884

“Mysterious Dave“ Mather kills Thomas Nixon after a long-running feud. Dodge City, KS.  {001}

1884

Johnny Tyler takes his revenge from Tombstone. Tyler’s cronies catch Doc Holliday unarmed at Hyman’s Saloon in Leadville, CO. Doc had been searched by Capt. Ed Bradbury‘s policemen on several occasions and was taking no chances on getting arrested for carrying a weapon. Taunting him to”pull his gun”, which they knew he did not have, they cursed and taunted him out the door. The newspaper later took Doc’s side, saying “he never made any bad breaks”, but it did nothing for Doc’s humiliation. Worse yet, in spite of his tears of anger and frustration, he had no way to retaliate…  {001}
see:
Wk 41, 10/11/1880 Doc & Johnny Tyler

1893

Medal of Honor recipient at the Battle of Cajón De Los Negros, Lt. Powhatan H. Clarke, age 30, killed in an accident on the Little Bighorn River in MT. Drowned, after striking his head on a rock while diving into the river.  Photo: U.S. PD pre-1893 – crop.  {001}
see:
Wk. 18, 05/03/1886
Battle of Cajón De Los Negros

1894

John Wesley “Wes” Hardin passes the Texas bar exam. Fresh out of prison, pardoned, he’s a lawyer!  {001}

1895

Kenneth Olin Maynard, “Ken Maynard” born in Vevay, ID. Movie star.  {001}

1899

Deputy Henry W. Love dies of gunfight wounds. Santa Fe, NM.  {001}
see:
07/16/1899 – above

1938

Owen Wister, age 78, died in Saunderstown, RI. Musician, attorney, author. He shared a love of the West with long-time friends Theodore Roosevelt and Frederic Remington. The 11,490-foot Mount Wister in Grand Teton National Park is named in his honor. He is the author of The Virginian, considered by many to be the first Western novel. Photo: U.S. PD,  1903 L.C. Page and company, Boston.  {001}
see also:
Wk. 22, 05/28/1902 – The Virginian

7/22 of…1793

Scottish explorer Alexander Mackenzie (1764-1820) left this inscription, “Alex Mackenzie from Canada by land 22nd July 1793,” (painted on a rock in bear grease dyed with vermillion) two days after completing the first known transcontinental crossing of North America north of Mexico (via Canada). The inscription was chiseled into the rock by later surveyors. (Note: this was ten years before Lewis & Clark) Photo: U.S. PD Wikipedia.  {001}
see also:
The Originals  Index – Expeditions – The Fur Trade
The Originals  Index – Western Forts and Trading Posts

1852

U.S. Army captain Randolph B. Marcy tours Wichita Indian villages near Rush Springs, OK Terr.  {001}
see also:
References – Books used as Reference –The Prairie Traveler – 1859

1855

Texas Ranger Captain C. F. Ruff and his men kill thirteen Mescalero Apaches near Eagle Springs, TX.  {001}

1859

The Eighth Hand Cart Company (Rowley) passes by Chimney Rock, NE, on the trail to Zion.  {001}
see:
PLAYERS – H – Mormon Handcarts
Photo Gallery Index – Transportation Photos – Mormon Handcarts
The Originals Index – Landmarks and Registers – Chimney Rock (NE)

1859

Jenks Party: “Drawing shows several tents and covered wagons encamped on the banks of the Humboldt River in western Nevada. Both women and men prepare food over open fires, haul water, and prepare bedding. In the foreground, inside a covered wagon, a couple courts. Jenks and his party reached here on Friday…”  Drawing & text: U.S. PD 1859 Daniel A. Jenks.  {001}
see also:
Wk. 33, 08/13/1853 – Halloway Massacre

1870

Formation of the Texas State Police.  {001}

1877

Captain Nicolas Nolan+2 and his Buffalo Soldiers+2 reach Laguna Sabinas on the Llano Estacado, (the Staked Plains). The dry summer provides little water…  {001}

1880

Stage driver M.K. McLennan reins to a stop while passengers W. J. Turner and his wife have a “western experience” — as Black Bart takes the same stage for the second time, in Sonoma County, CA, between Point Arena and Duncan’s Mills.  {001}
see:
Wk. 31, 08/03/1877 – Black Bart’s third heist

1884

PVW: Ranch foreman Marion McCann shot George Blaine through the throat and lightly wounded John Tewksbury during an argument over stock ownership at the Stinson Ranch in the Tonto Basin. Only a small preview of what was to become the Pleasant Valley War, AZ.  {001}

1892

Residents of Keokuk Falls, OK, witness a shootout in their streets! Bartender Al Cook and Doc Nicolas Stutsman manage to wound each other, but both survive.  {001}

1911

The Los Angles Times (CA) reports that Wyatt B.S. Earp+2, using the alias W.W. Sapp, was arrested with two other men over an attempt to con one J.Y. Peterson out of an alleged $25,000 in a faro game.  {001}

End: Week 29, July 16th thru 22nd

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{001} C 08/19; E 02/21; F 06/11; P 12/17