Week 9: February 25 thru March 4th

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

2/26 of… 1860

Wiyot Massacre – Duluwat Island, (aka: Indian Island) in Humboldt Bay, CA. The ceremonies completed, most of the Indian men had left the island. Armed with hatchets, clubs and knives, (having left their guns behind so the noise of slaughter would be only screams, rather than gunshots) a group of whites attacked the Wiyot Indians, mostly women and children, remaining on the island. Reports of the number of Wiyots killed range from 80 to 200. Two other village sites were also raided, on the Eel River and on the South Spit.  {001}

1846

William Fredrick Cody, “Buffalo Bill“, born in Iowa Territory, near Le Claire.  {001}

1890

George Black swings in Laramie, WY for the brutal murder of neighbor Bob Burnett.  {001}

1903

Richard Jordan Gatling, age 84, died in New York, NY. Medical Doctor and inventor, he developed the first prototype for the gun that bears his name, in 1861. The Gatling Gun was steadily improved until replaced by single barrel machine guns just before WWI.  Photo: A Gatling Gun, cal. 45-70, c. 1870; Guns of the Old West [FB group] {001}

1907

Walter “Dub” Taylor born in Richmond, VA. Actor, sidekick+4.  {001}

1909

Hired killer James B. Miller, “Killer Miller”, was paid $2,000 to shotgun (both barrels) rancher A.A. “Gus” Bobbit to death from ambush at his ranch near Ada, OK.  Miller escaped to Ft. Worth, TX.  {001}

1919

Native Americans had lived in and along the Grand Canyon for thousands of years. Spanish explorers arrived in 1540. In 1857, a member of the U.S. Army Corps of Topographical Engineers crashed his boat early in his effort to explore the blank spot on maps; he provided the first sketches of the canyon. In 1869, John Wesley Powell led an expedition down the length of the canyon in four rowboats. Powell was the first to call it “The Grand Canyon”.  On this date, President Woodrow Wilson established the Grand Canyon National Park after 30 years of opposition from ranchers, miners, and other commercial interests. The Park covers 1,902 square miles today; the canyon is 277 river miles long, 10 miles wide, and a mile deep. Today, the park serves some 5 million visitors annually.  {003}
see also:
Quotes Index – Commentators Quotes – Explorers

1936

Letterman Hospital in the Presidio of San Francisco sees the passing of the last survivor of the Battle of the Little Bighorn, retired Army Colonel Charles A. Varnum at age 86. Stationed at Fort Lincoln in the Dakota Territory with Lt. Col. George Custer‘s 7th Cavalry, Varnum accompanied the Yellowstone Expedition (1873) and Black Hills Expedition (1874). He was Custer’s Chief of Scouts, managing the sorties and the resultant information from the mix of civilians, army personnel, Crow Indians, and Arikaree Indians scouting for the 7th. Custer ignored the warning from his scouts and attacked an Indian force far beyond his expectations and was wiped out in less than half an hour. Varnum had the good fortune to be with Benteen and Reno and survived the battle. (Article incomplete: more to follow)  {001}
see also:
The Originals Index – Western Forts and Trading Posts – Fort Lincoln
The Originals Index – Expeditions

2/27 of… 1843

Albert “Al” Sieber was born in Mingolsheim, Baden, Germany; the family immigrated to the U.S. several years later. He enlisted in Company B, 1st Minnesota Volunteer Infantry (03/04/1862) during the American Civil War. Prospector, ranch manager, later, in the West, he would become Chief of Scouts for the army.  {001}

1864

Andersonville, GA: the first Union prisoners arrive at Camp Sumter. It will become the most notorious prison of the American Civil War.  {001}

1872

Indian traditionalist and local bad boy Zeke Proctor, likely upset over numerous issues, confronts Jim Kesterson (wounded) and Polly Beck Hildebrand; Kesterson(?) (killed) at Hildebrand’s (Beck’s) Mill on Flint creek in the Going Snake District. Proctor, (prudently, no doubt) finally choose to surrender to sheriff Jack Wright of the Going Snake District of the Cherokee Nation (OK) and Cherokee judge Blackhaw Sixkiller was appointed to hear the case.  It would be controversial to say the least… {001}

1879

The conflict raged throughout the West as the settlers/nestors/sodbusters, etc. continued to string the “Devil’s rope” around their crops and closing off the open range which the cattlemen considered a God given right. In Nebraska, Print Olive and family, who had regularly harassed the homesteaders, have taken to cutting settlers fences, driving cattle over their crops, then having them arrested for “rustling” the Olive cattle now on their land. Print’s brother, Bob Olive is killed doing it, so Print offers a $700 reward for the rustler/killers. Ami Whit Ketchum and Luther Mitchell, the “guilty” sodbusters are arrested by Sheriff Barney Gillian of Keith County and turned over to Print, who promptly has them lynched (he also shoots Mitchell for killing his brother) and the bodies burned. However, it’s a little too much for the populace and Print, Fred Fisher and others are indicted for murder. Barney Armstrong and Nigger Jim Kelly are indicted as accessories.  {003}

1930

“Poker Alice“, Alice Ivers Duffield Tubbs Huckert, gone at 79 years in Sturgis, SD. One of the most amazing poker players of the Old West. She claimed she had won $250,000 over her professional career (late 1860’s to about 1928). Early in her career she had worked for Robert “Bob” Ford at his tent saloon in Creede, CO. Well educated “finished” and a natty dresser, she was a looker, well into her fifties and used her charms to distract the men she played cards with. A heavy drinker and a cigar smoker, married three times to other gamblers (seven children), Alice gambled, ran saloons and brothels and was a bootlegger in the 1920’s. She was buried at the St. Aloysius Cemetery in Sturgis, SD. Photo: U.S. PD.  {001}

1953

Paul Hurst, a suicide at age 64, Hollywood, CA. Writer, director, actor. Played in silents and talkies. Hangman in The Ox-Bow Incident (1943), sidekick+4 to Monte Hale in Under Colorado Skies (1947) thru The Missourians (1950), thirteen in all. His most memorable performance was with John Wayne in Angel and the Bad Man (1947). Photo U.S. PD, Film Frame  {001}

1972

Pat Brady (Robert Ellsworth Patrick Aloysious “Bob” O’Brady), age 57, died in Green Mountain Falls, CO. Musician (Sons of the Pioneers), movie and TV actor. Sidekick+4 to Roy Rogers in five films (1949-50). Driving his Jeep “Nellybelle”, often with Roy’s German shepherd “Bullet”, he appeared in over 100 episodes of the Roy Rogers Show (TV, 1951-57).  Photo U.S. PD, unknown 08/28/1952  {001}

2/28 of… 1786

After years of suffering from small pox and the loss of leadership, the Comanche sought peace from Governor Juan Bautista de Anza. The last of the Comanche bands assented and a treaty was signed. Anza remained governor of Nuevo Mexico (New Mexico) until 1787. Appointed commander of the Presidio of Tucson in 1788, Anza died before he could take office.  {003}

1823

Johnson vs. M’Intosh: a landmark case decided by the Marshall Supreme Court rules that the white settlers’ “right of discovery” superseded the natives’ “right of occupancy”.   The case encompasses a succession of land sales.  In the 1770s, Illinois and Piankeshaw Indians sold some land to Thomas Johnson.  After American independence, Indians sold the same land to the U.S. government, which then sold it to William McIntosh.  The Court sustains the McIntosh family’s ownership of land purchased from the federal government.  It reasons that because the federal government now holds the land, the Indians only have a “right of occupancy” and hold no title to the land. It lays down the rule for aboriginal land title in the U.S., saying basically that title to all lands “discovered” by the white men vests title in the government, and Indians could not sell their lands to a private citizens. Only the government “owned” the land and could therefore dispose of it. Thus the abuses—already in practice worldwide —continued in the U.S.  {003 & 001}
For further reference see:
Wk. 22, 05/28/1830 – Indian Removal Act
Wk. 11, 03/18/1831 – Cherokee Nation v. Georgia
The Originals Index – Timelines – Timelines A-L – Indian Treaties Timeline
PLAYERS – Timelines – Timelines M-Z – Time to Ponder
References – Dictionary

1849

The paddle-wheeler California first entered San Francisco Bay steaming from New York around the tip of South America. Soon, more Paddle-wheelers would be transporting gold seekers and mail to California, both around Cape Horn and from the Panamanian overland route, and carrying ore and gold bricks back to the East Coast. The Paddle-wheelers could navigate the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers from San Francisco Bay, therefore, passengers could book transport to Sacramento and Stockton for closer jumping-off points to the gold fields. U.S. PD Contemporary advertising poster c. 1850’s – S.S. California.  {001}
see also:
Photo Gallery Index – Transportation Photos – The Clippers

1861

The Colorado Territory organized and incorporated under the United States of America.  {001}

1868

The passing of notable Philadelphia gunsmith Henry Deringer at age 81: businessman, gunsmith and inventor.  Having considerable experience building long guns for both civilian and military use; somewhere around 1825, he began to develop the small, short barreled handguns that were to make him famous, rich and a bit notorious. At first, they were flintlocks, then percussion. Very popular, usually sold in pairs with a bullet mold for about $25; widely copied and counterfeited. So much so, that with the addition of an additional “r”, derringer became the generic name for these little guns. However, it was the real thing in the hand of John Wilkes Booth that took the life of President Abraham Lincoln on the night of April 14, 1865, at Ford’s Theater in Washington, D.C. Photo: U.S. PD pre-1868 unknown.  {001}
see:
References – Dictionary – Deringer, for a photo of Booth’s Deringer
and Derringer, for other examples.

1878

Passage of the Bland-Allison Act, re-introducing bi-metalism and making silver a part of the monetary standard. It required the government to buy a specified amount of silver and circulate it as silver dollars. The problem was that the great silver boom* destabilized the value of silver, and therefore the currency based upon it. The silver dollars never went into circulation.  {001}
see:
next article

1878

The announcement of the discovery of the Little Pittsburgh mine at Leadville, CO, marks the beginning of the great silver boom.  {001}
see also:
Wk. 15, 04/10/1899 – Haw Tabor

1900

Lonny Curry, Kid Curry’s brother, is killed by lawmen at his aunt Betty Lee’s home in Dodson, MO, during an attempted arrest (member of the Black Jack Ketchum Gang).  {001}

1918

George Francis, has been convicted of horse stealing. However, “Long George” seems to be missing. “He is now a fugitive from justice”. Chief Stock Inspector Frank C. Lavigne, out of Helena, MT, offers a $1,000 on a poster with a nice photo of George.  {001}

1926

Frank H. Maynard, age 72, died in Colorado Springs, CO. Maynard had been a real working cowboy in his youth, later becoming a successful carpenter and builder. He was a noted cowboy poet and author. He self published Rhymes of Range and Trail in 1911. He claimed (1923) to have penned the contemporary version of the cowboy song, Streets of Laredo (aka: Cowboy’s Lament). His memoirs were edited and published in 2010 by Jim Hoy as, Cowboys Lament: A Life on the Open Range. Photo: U.S. PD pre-1926 unknown.  {001}

1948

San Angelo, TX: Thirty-eight women meet to form the Girls Rodeo Association (GRA). In its inaugural year, the GRA had 74 members and held 60 events, mostly barrel racing, at various established rodeos. In 1981 the organization became the Women’s Professional Rodeo Association. The WPRA’s primary sanctioned event is Barrel racing, usually held in conjunction with Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA) events around the country. An All Women’s Division sanctions rodeos exclusively for women. In addition to Barrel racing, events include: breakaway calf roping, tie-down calf roping, team roping, bareback riding and bull riding. It all gets laid on the line at the Women’s National Finals Rodeo at Ft. Worth, TX in October. The skill, courage and talent of these ladies is certainly equal to that of the men. In 1985, they became the first women’s professional sports organization to achieve fiscal equality with their male counterparts. TYH! Logo: ©WPRA, Fair Use.  {001}

2/29 of… 1888

Wichita Falls, TX: A street shootout between outlaw Bob James and Deputy U.S. Marshall Edwin Johnson costs Johnson his right arm.   {001}

1896

William Augustus Wellman born in Brookline, MA. Pilot, actor, film director.  {001}

1908

Near Las Cruces, NM: a dispute over grazing goats instead of cattle on land that Patrick Floyd “Pat” Garrett {20} was trying to sell. An angry Garrett was allegedly reaching for a shotgun when he was shot twice by Jesse Wayne Brazel, who was then tried and acquitted of first degree murder (ruled self-defense). Claims that Garrett was murdered by Jim “Killer” Miller have been discounted, since Brazel acknowledged the shooting and eyewitness Carl Adamson testified at the trial. Controversy yet swirls… Pictured: U.S. PD, Left: Garrett, Right: Brazel.  {001}

1912

Chicago, IL: the passing of Robert H. “Pony Bob” Haslam, best known of the Pony Express Riders. Photo: U.S. PD pre-1912, unknown.  {001}
see:
Wk. 14, 04/03/1860 – 1st Run
Timelines – Timelines M-Z – Pony Express Timeline

March

The following days fall in March.

3/1 of…1867

Creation of the 37th State, Nebraska. “The Cornhusker State”. Nebraska Seal U.S. PD.  {001}

1872

John Henry “Doc” Holliday graduates from the Pennsylvania College of Dental Surgery.  {001}

1872

President Ulysses S. Grant signs an Act of Dedication preserving 3,468.4 square miles of distant wilderness as Yellowstone National Park. Early descriptions of the place the Arapaho called Henihco’oo or Héetíhco’oo were generally dismissed as tall tales. Jim Bridger maintained he had seen petrified trees and waterfalls shooting up to the sky. Trapper Joe Meek related tales of boiling mud, and steaming rivers. On the back-burner due to the Civil War and the Indian Wars the United States Geological Survey finally explored the Yellowstone in 1871. The team persuasively led by geologist Ferdinand Vandeveer Hayden delivered a 500-page report to Congress; Congress and President Grant, delivered the world’s first national park.  {003}
see also:
Wk. 51, 12/23/1887 – Hayden
The Originals Index – Expeditions – Hayden

1877

Yankton, SD, 10:15 a.m.: the trap door to eternity opened under the feet of “Broken Nose Jack” McCall, age 25, convicted of the murder of Wild Bill Hickok in Deadwood (2nd trial). Photo: U.S. PD prior to 1877 – Jack McCall –  {001}
see:
Wk. 31, 08/02/1876 – Wild Bill Hickok
Quotes Index – Gunfighter Quotes – Jack McCall (3)

1881

Wilcox, AZ, Constable George Collins kills traveling sailor Charles Wesley Brown for “skylarking.”  {001}

1952

First airing of the syndicated Western anthology TV show, Death Valley Days. Replacing the long running radio show of the same name.  {001}
see:
Wk. 37, 09/14/1951 – Death Valley Days

1962

Roscoe “Soapy” Ates, dead of cancer at 87, Hollywood, CA. Sidekick+4 to singing cowboy Eddie Dean in fifteen films, 1946-48: Colorado Serenade (1946), Wild West (1946), Shadow Valley (1947), and Tioga Kid (1948). Other films: Hills of Oklahoma (1950) with singer Rex Allen, and The Stranger Wore a Gun+2 (1953), with Randolph Scott+2. Photo: U.S. PD from Picture Show magazine 02/25/1933.  {001}

1965

Brace Beemer died in Troy, MI. Second but most famous voice of the “Lone Ranger” on the radio series (1941-1954). Photo: U.S. PD c. 1950’s? Fan Club photo.  {001}

3/2 of… 1793

Samuel Houston born in Rockbridge county, VA.  {001}

1836

The Republic of Texas declared by a new constitution. Mexico does not agree!  {001}

1861

The Dakota Territory created.  {001}

1861

The Nevada Territory separated itself from the Utah Territory.  {001}

1866

King’s Improvement (Nelson King) added the loading port, closed magazine and wooden forearm to the Henry Rifle design which resulted in the 1866 Winchester “Yellow Boy“. A dramatic improvement to the firearm, but it still chambered the .44 Henry rimfire cartridge. Photo: Doc. This one is a 2nd. model carbine, #76942. One of my performance guns.
Further improvements added the steel frame, a dustcover, and most importantly the .44-40 centerfire cartridge. This resulted in the 1873 Winchester, “The Gun That Won the West!” Photo: Doc. Another handy small carbine (first model) and one of my performance guns #95551A.  {001}
see:
Photo Gallery Index – Weapons Photos – Long Guns

1896

Railroad: The Railroad Safety Appliance Act (SAA) is a U. S. federal law that made air brakes and automatic couplers mandatory on all trains in the United States. After a seven-year grace period for the railroads to acquire and install equipment, the law took effect in 1900. It was immediately credited with a sharp drop in accidents on American railroads in the early 20th century. The results of the switch to the Janney coupler* constitute an excellent example of the benefit.
Between 1877 and 1887, approximately 38% of all railroad worker accidents involved coupling. That percentage fell as the railroads began to replace link and pin couplers** with automatic (Janney) couplers. By 1902, only two years after the SAA‘s effective date, coupling accidents constituted only 4% of all employee accidents. Coupler-related accidents dropped from nearly 11,000 in 1892 to just over 2,000 in 1902, even though the number of railroad employees steadily increased during that decade.  [001}
see also:
Wk.17, 04/29/1873 – Janney coupler
*References – Dictionary – Janney coupler
**References – Dictionary – Link and Pin coupler
Photo Gallery Index – Transportation Photos – Railroads in the West

1987

Randolph Scott+2, age 89, died in Beverly Hills, CA. He made some 100+ movies, more than sixty of them westerns: The Virginian (1929) with Gary Cooper, then Heritage of the Desert (1932). These plus nine more adaptations of Zane Grey stories established Scott as an upcoming star. Others: Rocky Mountain Mystery (1935), The Stranger Wore a Gun+2 (1953) and the iconic Ride the High Country (1962) with Joel McCrea, directed by Sam Peckinpah. Photo: U.S. PD, Studio Pub, early 1930’s.  {001}

3/3 of… 1836

Louis “Moses” Rose, alleged to be the only man at the Alamo who did not cross Col. Travis’ famous “line in the sand”. He slipped out through the Mexican lines later that night, the only survivor among the fighters. Most historians doubt that Travis actually ever drew such a line: likely an argument with any “real” Texan.  {001}

1840

Joseph, (Young Joseph) born in the Wallowa Valley, OR. Chief of the Wallowa Nez Perce.  {001}

1849

The Minnesota Territory is created from unorganized lands and parts of the Iowa and Wisconsin Territories.  {001}

1851

Senator Thomas Hart Benton is defeated in a run for his sixth term.  {001}

1855

The U.S. Camel Corps created by congress with $30,000 in initial funding.  {001}
see:
Photo Gallery Index – Transportation Photos – Camels?

1906

James Stephen “Big Jim” Hogg, passes at 54 years. American lawyer and statesman, the 20th Governor of Texas and the first native born. His final request and a lasting legacy to Texas, was for a pecan tree be planted on his grave instead of a headstone and asking that the seeds be distributed throughout the state to make Texas a “Land of Trees”. He got his wish. TYH! Photo: U.S. PD,  Frontispiece, Speeches and State Papers of James Stephen Hogg (1905).  {001}
see:
The Originals Index – Resources & Hazards – Plants – Food Plants – Pecan

1956

Children’s TV series The Adventures of Champion (by Flying A) folds after its first season (26 episodes). Photo: U.S. PD 1956 promo pic.  {001}

3/4 of… 1826

Born: Theodore Dehone Judah in Bridgeport, CT. RR engineer, visionary.  {001}

1853

Franklin Pierce inaugurated as fourteenth President of the United States.  {001}

1857

James Buchanan inaugurated as fifteenth President of the United States.  {001}

1861

Abraham Lincoln inaugurated as sixteenth president of the United States.  {001}

1863

Territory of Idaho incorporated, with the first territorial capital at Lewiston. At this time it included most of modern day Idaho, Montana and Wyoming.   {001}

1869

Ulysses S. Grant inaugurated as eighteenth President of the United States.  {001}

1873

The ever contentious William “Bully” Brooks meets buffalo hunter Kirk Jordan on the street. Jordan demonstrates his displeasure with Brooks by delivering one round from his buffalo rifle towards Brooks, who has prudently and quickly ducked behind several water barrels. Wood, water, and iron barrel bands allow Brooks to live and calm down the situation the following day. Dodge City, KS  {001}

1877

Rutherford B. Hayes inaugurated as nineteenth President of the United States.  {001}

1881

James A. Garfield inaugurated as twentieth President of the United States.  {001}

1885

S. Grover Cleveland inaugurated as twenty-second President of the United States.  {001}

1889

Benjamin Harrison inaugurated as twenty-third President of the United States.  {001}

1893

S. Grover Cleveland inaugurated as twenty-fourth President of the United States.  {001}

1896

Doolin Gang outlaw George “Red Buck” Waightman killed by a Custer County posse – Arapaho, OK Territory.  {001}
see:
The Originals Index – Outlaw Gangs Index – Doolin Gang – Wild Bunch

1897

William McKinley inaugurated as twenty-fifth President of the United States.  {001}

1904

Dorothy Page (Dorothy Lillian Stofflett) born in Northhampton, PA. Singer, movie actress.  {001}

1909

William Howard Taft inaugurated as twenty-seventh President of the United States.  {001}

1913

Thomas Woodrow Wilson inaugurated as twenty-eighth President of the United States.  {001}

1918

Camp Funston, KS reports the first case of  influenza, marking the beginning of the Spanish flu epidemic.  {001}

1962

Died: Adolph “Ad” Topperwein, age 93, in San Antonio, TX. He married Elizabeth Servaty in 1903, and they went on to become famous exhibition shooters, performing as The Fabulous Topperweins for nearly forty years*. Both were fine shooters but “Plinky” (Elizabeth) was fantastic. Look up their amazing records!  Photos: U.S. PD  {001}
see:
Wk. 18, 04/30/1904 – Louisiana Purchase Exposition of 1904

End: Week 9, February 26th thru March 4th
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{001} C 04/19; E 11/20; F 06/11; P 10/17