Week 50: December 10 thru 16th

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

12/10 of… 1869

Governor John Allen Campbell signs the Suffrage Act passed by the territorial legislature, and Wyoming becomes the first state to allow women over 21 years old to vote. This action will prevent statehood for over 20 years as bigots and pro-alcohol men hold sway in the U.S. Congress.  {001}
see:
Quotes Index – Women Quotes – Elizabeth Cady Stanton

1875

Convicted and sentenced to hang for the murder of his employer, Robert Casey, in Lincoln, NM — William J. “Buffalo Bill“ Wilson drops through the trap… only it doesn’t do the job and they have to do it over!  {001}

1878

The passing of Henry Wells, two days shy of his 73rd birthday in Glasgow, Scotland. This entrepreneurial businessman formed, invested in and served as an officer for companies related to transport: canals and eastern railroads (too early for rail in the west). He held a special interest in the express businesses: stage and freight lines. Founding partner of American Express Co., Wells Fargo & Company and numerous others. Founder and namesake of Wells College in Aurora, NY. A very busy man! TYH! Photo: U.S. PD pre-1878, unknown.  {001}

1884

(T) Joe Hill (aka: Joe Olney) died from injuries after his horse stumbled and fell at Bowie Station, AZ. Joe was a lifetime criminal and a member of the Cowboys. He was also an informant to the Earp faction, who were aware he was wanted for murder in Texas. His information helped lead to the assassination of John Ringo.  {001}

1928

B. Dan D. Blocker, aka Don Blocker, Dan Davis Blocker born in DeKalb, TX. TV star.  {001}

12/11 of… 1811

The first of the mighty earthquakes that would rattle the mid-west for a month or so. Maybe 500 dead in the sparsely settled country around New Madrid, MO. The Mississippi River ran uphill several times. Destined to happen again.  {001}

1845

Dallas Stoudenmire born in Aberfoil, AL. Gunfighter.  {001}

1880

Oliver Winchester, age 70, died in New Haven, CT. After acquiring the failing Smith and Wesson Volcanic Repeating Arms Company and building some 12,000 Henry Rifles on the patent granted to engineer William Tyler Henry, he finally brought the company to a measure of success. It was reorganized to become the Winchester Repeating Arms Company, and design improvements by Nelson King led to the Model 1866, the
“Yellow Boy” and then the ’73 — the “Gun That Won the West!” TYH! Photo: U.S. PD c. late 1840’s, unknown.  {001}
see:
Photo Gallery Index – Weapons Photos Index – Long Guns

1888

“Colorow the Ute is dead, Pneumonia takes him to the Happy Hunting Grounds. Protests to the last that he was cheated out of the White River Country. A troublesome Redskin. Deaf-Over Weight,” The Denver Republican of 12/13/1888 thus reported the death of Northern Ute (Muache) Chief Colorow (Too-p’weets). Note: The paper said the 12th, it was the 11th. Photo: U.S. PD c. 1880’s, unknown.  {001}

1939

Novelist/screenwriter/rancher/conservationist Thomas McGuane, born in Wyandotte, Michigan. He is a member of the Cutting Horse Association Hall of Fame — Montana’s cutting horse champion for three years in a row. His screenplays include Rancho Deluxe (1973) and The Missouri Breaks (1976). He has published ten novels and two collections of short stories. His latest novel: Driving on the Rim (2010). Photo: U.S. PD unknown   {003}
see:
Quotes Index – Rules to Live By – Thomas McGuane

12/12 of… 1805

Born: Henry Wells in Thetford, VT. Express and transportation pioneer. {001}

1865

E. Remington and Sons (Ilion, NY) take Elliot’s patent for the Model 1866 Remington Double Derringer. A small two-shot pistol in .41 cal. rimfire. This gun was dependable and effective at short range, popular and relatively common in the west (150,000 made thru 1935). A “Doc” performance pistol, an “E. Rem… “B” model (extractor), assembly #23 (late 1860’s). Doc Holliday’s derringer, #474, was given to him by “Big Nose” Kate.* Photo: Doc Boyle.  {001}
see:
*Photo Gallery Index – Weapons Photos Index
– Doc Holliday’s Guns – Remington Derringer

1868

Frank, Simeon “Sim”, and William Reno — along with Reno Gang member Charles Anderson — are lynched by 65 hooded vigilantes in New Albany, ID. This is the end of America’s first gang of train robbers. “Judge Lynch” had spoken through the auspices of the “Scarlet Mask Society” of Jackson County. Charlie Anderson and Frank Reno are the only prisoners in U.S. history known to have been lynched while technically in federal custody.  {001}
see:
The Originals Index – Outlaw Gangs Index – Reno Gang

1891

Charles Fredrick Gebhart, aka “Buck Jones” is born in Vincennes, ID. Movie actor.  {001}

1901

Wild Bunch gang members Ben Kilpatrick and Laura Bullion captured in Knoxville, TN.  {001}

1917

Richard “Chito” Martin, born in Spokane, WA. Movie actor, sidekick.  {001}

1919

Scotts Bluff, NE, declared a National Monument and placed under the management of the National Park Service.  {001}
see:
The Originals Index – Landmarks and Registers – Scotts Bluff

1929

Charles Goodnight, age 93, died in Tucson, AZ. Famous Texas rancher, he was known as the “Father of the Texas Panhandle”. Called “making the gather”, Goodnight and partner Oliver Loving collected feral cattle from post-civil war west Texas and then, pioneered the Goodnight Loving Trail (last of the great Texas trails) to the rail-head at Pueblo CO, (1866). Invented and used the “Chuckwagon”* for the first drive on that trail. Founder of the JA Ranch (1880), he made the first practical sidesaddle. Also: college founder, newspaperman, banker, filmmaker.  TYH!  {001}
see:
*The Originals Index – Cowboy Photos – Grabil’s “Mess Scene”

1957

Edward “Ed” McGivern, age 83, died in Lewiston, MT. Exhibition shooter for most of his life, researcher, author, police trainer and consultant. A double action man and one of the greatest shooters of all time. Read Fast and Fancy Revolver Shooting (1938).  TYH! Photo: U.S. PD pre-1957 from Ed’s book (1975 reprint).  {001}

12/13 of… 1798

Joseph R. Walker Born in Tennessee. Mountain Man, explorer, guide.  {001}

1866

An attempted arrest by state militia at the City Hotel in Lexington, MO, results in a wild shootout. Gang leader Archibald “Little Archie” Clement is shot in the chest, but still attempts an escape on horseback… and is soon shot to the ground by militiamen at the courthouse. The mortally wounded outlaw was lying in the street trying to cock his revolver with his teeth when a trooper said, “Arch, you are dying. What do you want me to do with you?” Clement replied, “I’ve done what I always said I would do … die before I’d surrender.”
Clement was a participant in “Bloody Bill” Anderson’s operations such as the Lawrence, KS, raid and the Centralia Massacre during the Civil War. Afterwards, he stayed with the people he knew and organized what, after his death, would become the James-Younger Gang. Photo: U.S. PD pre-1866 unknown.  {001}
see:
Quotes Index – Gunfighter Quotes – Major Bacon Montgomery

1871

Marshal “Wild Bill” Hickok is informed by the citizens of Abilene, KS, that his services are “no longer needed”.  {001}

1901

Shootout in Knoxville, TN. Kid Curry killed Knoxville policemen William Dinwiddle and Robert Saylor, escaped the local law and the Pinkertons.  {001}

1901

Laura Bullion, girlfriend of Ben Kilpatrick (the “Tall Texan”) is sentenced to five years in prison in St. Louis, MO, after passing bills from a Wild Bunch train heist.  {001}

1974

Dead at 65 is Rufe Davis, fourth to play the sidekick “Lullaby” in the Three Mesquiteers movie series: 7 with Bob Steele and Robert Livingston: The Trail Blazers – 1940, Saddlemates – 1941 and 7 more with Bob Steele and Tom Tyler: Outlaws of the Cherokee Trail (1941), The Phantom Plainsman (1942). Photo: U.S. PD pre-1974, studio promo.  {001}

12/14 of… 1852

Ned Christie born at Tablequah, OK, on the Cherokee Strip. Whiskey runner, horse thief, outlaw.  {001}

1893

A Southern Pacific express train is taken near Roscoe, CA, for about $22,000 by a veteran of the Lincoln County War. John “Kid” Thompson and another unidentified outlaw are credited with the heist.   {001) .

1902

Died, Turkish/Syrian Hadji Ali “Hi Jolly“, age est. 74. Camel Driver and scout for the U.S. Camel Corps.  Quartzite, AZ.  Photo: via http://burnpit.us  {001}

1989

“Jack Mahoney“, Jacques O’Mahoney, etc. age 70, died in Bremerton, WA. Movie actor, premier stuntman for the Durango Kid series. He also portrayed the Range Rider in the TV series (79 episodes from 1951-1953 and one in 1956). In 1958, he starred as Yancy Derringer in 34 TV episodes.  TYH! Photo: U.S. PD, pre-1989, studio promo.  {001}

12/15 of… 1881

Near Marysville in Yuba County, CA, Black Bart gets the mail off the stage and runs away from the posse.  {001}

1883

Texas gambler Newt Boyce had carved up several fellows and was offered lodging in the Caldwell, KS, jail for the night. After being released the next morning, he spent the day getting drunk and threatening Marshall Henry Newton Brown and Deputy Ben Wheeler. When Wheeler reported to Brown that Boyce had threatened him with a pistol, Brown armed himself with a Winchester rifle and went in search of Boyce. The confrontation in front of Phillips Saloon was short. When Boyce reached into his coat, Brown delivered two quick shots. One struck home and Boyce only lived a few more hours.  {001}

1885

New York City, NY notes the passing of the “The Father of American Mixology“; Jerry Thomas has mixed his last “Blue Blazer” at 55 years. His early experience included working as a bartender, gold prospector and minstrel show manager during the California Gold Rush before returning east in 1851 to operate his first bar. However, he was soon on the road again, working as the head bartender at hotels and saloons in Charleston, SC; Chicago, IL;  New Orleans, LA; San Francisco, CA and St. Louis, MO, for some years. Often wearing flashy jewelry and his bar tools and cups embellished with precious stones and metals, he was well known for his showmanship as a bartender. He developed spectacular and elaborate techniques of mixing cocktails, sometimes juggling bottles, cups and mixers in the process. His set of solid-silver bar tools accompanied his European tour.
Later in life he owned and operated three other bars in New York. His 1862 drink book, the first published in the United States, Bar-Tender’s Guide (alternately titled How to Mix Drinks or The Bon-Vivant’s Companion) made his fortune and reputation. {001}
see more: (this article expanded)
The Originals Index – Alcohol in the Old West – Jerry Thomas, etc.

1888

Rube Burrow, (the Burrow Gang),  S.C. Brock, aka Joe Jackson and another accomplice rob the Illinois Central near Duck Hill, MS — killing passenger Chester Hughes who had tried to intervene in the robbery.  {001}

1890

James McLaughlin, U.S. Indian Agent at Fort Yates on Standing Rock Agency, feared that the Lakota leader of the Traditionalist Faction was about to flee the reservation with the Ghost Dancers, so he ordered the police to arrest him. Forty Indian policemen were sent to arrest Hunkpapa Lakota Chief Sitting Bull. In the altercation which followed, six policemen and eight tribesmen were killed and Indian police officer Red Tomahawk, shot Sitting Bull in the head. Sitting Bull had had a vision which predicted he would be killed by his own people, not the whites. Several bands of Lakota fleeing the scene later became the victims of the Wounded Knee Massacre*. {001}
see also:
*Wk. 52, 12/29 & 30/1890 – Wounded Knee
Wk. 11, 03/15/1921 – Caroline Weldon

1915

Tom Cobb dies, having never fully recovered from being shot in the stomach,* during the Porum Range War. Tom’s sister, Lula Cobb married Joe Davis who was a principal in the war.  {028}
see also:
*Wk.38, 09/21/1911 – Tom Cobb
PLAYERS – Timelines Master Index- Timelines A-L – Porum Range War Timeline

1941

In Alamogordo, NM, Oliver Milton Lee {22} is dead of a stroke at 75. He had been bold, brash, and was a crack shot. Lawman (deputy sheriff, deputy U.S. marshal), gunfighter, businessman, state legislator. He built and defended his Dog Canyon Ranch (NM) with vigor. Several unsettling events clouded Lee’s life: the (revenge?) shooting of Walter Good in 1888, and the Fountain disappearances in 1898*. Photo: U.S. PD c.1920’s?, unknown.  {001}
see:
*Wk. 28, 07/12/1898 – Albert J. Fountain

1970

President Nixon signs a bill returning the Sacred Blue Lake (taken in 1906 for National Forest) to the Taos Pueblo People. This event was considered a watershed in modern legal relations between Indian tribes and the U.S. Government. (Taos Pueblo is the oldest continuously inhabited structure in North America; its construction began not long after 1000 A.D.)  {001}

12/16 of… 1853

Frank H. Maynard born in Iowa City, Johnson County, IA. Cowboy, carpenter, poet and author.  {001}

1865

Mark Twain‘s short story “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County” was first published (using this title) by Bret Harte  in The Californian. The story was immensely popular, and was printed in many different magazines and newspapers around the world.  {001}

1900

Unarmed Indian Scout Baptiste “Little Bat” Garnier murdered by bartender Jim Haguewood at Dietrich’s Saloon in Crawford, NE. At the time, Garnier was Chief of Scouts at Fort Robinson. Born c. 1854, he was a good cowhand, a fine hunter, an excellent tracker. An accomplished linguist: French, English, Lakota and perhaps others, he was a translator and therefore had been a witness and nearly a victim at the Wounded Knee Massacre. Photo: U.S. PD pre-1900.  {001}

1914

He didn’t have an account, but Henry Starr withdrew $1,400 from the Prue State Bank at Prue, OK.  {001}

1916

Issur Danielovitch (aka Izzy Demsky) Kirk Douglas born in Amsterdam, NY. Actor, producer, director.  {001}

1938

Boerne, TX, sees the passing of Fred Dodge (Fredrick J. Dodge), age 84. Dodge was an undercover detective for Wells Fargo, a constable in Tombstone, AZ Territory, and a Texas cattleman. Friend of Wyatt Earp.  {001}
see:
PLAYERS – Timelines Index – Timelines A-L Index – Fred J Dodge Timeline

1978

Chill Wills, dead at 75 in Encino, CA. This burlesque and vaudeville player, musician, and a fine character actor was characterized by a deep, gravelly voice. He first appeared with his “Avalon Boys” band in Bar 20 Rides Again (1935), a Hopalong Cassidy film. Then a few more with Hoppy led to numerous other films including: Rio Grande (1950) and McLintock (1963) with John Wayne, Giant (1956), The Alamo (1960). Chill was the voice of Francis the Talking Mule in seven films (1950’s).  TYH! Photo: U.S. PD 1941, studio promo.  {001}

End: Week 50, December 10th thru 16th.
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{001} C 09/18; E 08/18; F 06/11; P 10/17