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About The frontier. (O'Neill City, Holt County, Neb.) 1880-1965 | View Entire Issue (April 14, 1932)
“Rightness expresses of actions what straightness does of lines, and there can no more be two kinds of right action than there can be two kinds of straight lines ” THE FRONTIER D. H. Cronin, Omaha, Publisher Romaine Saunders, Holt county, Managing Editor Entered at the Postoffice at O’Neill, Nebraska as Second Class Matter. ADVERTISING RATES: Display advertising on Pages 4, 6 and 8 are charged for on a basis of 26 cents an inch (one column wiJe) per week; on Page 1 the charge is 40 cents an inch per week. Local ad vertisement®, 10 cents per line first insertion, subsequent insertions 6 cents per line. Every subscription is regarded as an open account. The names of sub acribers will be instantly removed from our mailing list at expiration of time paid for, if publisher shall be notified; otherwise the subscription remains in force at the designated subscription price. Every subscriber must understand that these conditions are made a part of the contract be tween publisher and subscriber. Nebraska people are thinking demo cratic. Voters of Germany have faith in their Von Hindenburg. He retains the presidency by a greater vote than that polled by his two opponents. The senate is talking of speeding up their procedure. Now that they are finally talking about it, we may look for a little improvement in ten or fifteen years. A young man in the Nebraska re formatory blames a girl for leading him into crime. He will probably be laughed at to a certain extent, not be cause it is impossible but because he will not be considered gallant. Election returns are not encourag ing for republicans; nevertheless we have faith in the party of Lincoln and Roosevelt and after the political frenzy runs its course there will be another turning to the party of a chievement and progress. . I The jobless and hungry find little consolation that in 18H7 starving mobs seized barrels of flour in warehouses taken by storm. Not a bank in the country could or would pay its obliga tions in gold and silver und every enterprise depending on credit ceased to function. The police of numerous eastern cities have had abundant opportunity to demonstrate what they could do ap prehending the abductors of the fam ous aviator’s child. It cannot be ex pected that they will have any better success how that the fifty thousand has been paid over. Emil pniggs was called out fifteen miles northwest, early in April, by Albert Sterns to shoe an aristocratic blueblood stallion, imported from Bel gium and now owned by the Atkinson Belgium Colt Club. He is a magnifici ent anirpal weighing 2100. The club is composed of farmers of that com munity who arui interested in improv ing their, grade of horses. Dr. Nicholas Murray Butler blames Japan for shattering the world’s peace efforts. It is probably a good thing that we have been shown this soon how worthless a signed piece of paper is as a means of preventing war. No nation will declare war on another unless it feels certain of victory. Poor armaments are .one way of making them feel certain of victory. NOTABLE ANNIVERSARY Lucy Salamanca in National Republic The days of thundering buffalo hoofs; of savage, painted faces peer ing from ambush; of fleet-footed ponies, their riders leaning forward in the wind, pounding across the trail of the Peny Express; the days of great lumbering prairie scoorers and slow-moving wagon-trains; the days in short, of that bold, fearless, blust ering, manly, beloved and pictur esque hero of the plains, the idol of every American schoolboy — Buffalo Bill—are to live again. Not in theat rical review' are they to strut arti ficially across a stage, but across the open prairie in a cloud of dust these survivors of a thrilling, glorious past will ride to re-enact the stirring scenes of another day. Cowboys cow girls, tribes of Indians, true sons and daughters otf the plains, with the lusty yells and whoop.ngs of their kind, will show the world what real riding is like in the land of broncho busters. They will throw their stem, break their ponies, ing their songs while the remnants of a fast vanish ing race of red skins will circle in ceremonial dance about their ances tral campfires. Prairie schooners will appear at the herizon'u rim; there will be attacks and ‘'--cabpings" and the burning of a train. The Golden West will'pay homage te ‘be last of its great scouts-Buffalo Bill in pa geantry, cer« motuaj.i ap 1 t ti for four day* bfgLnuU\g July 21, in the ▼cry heart yf that .cpqntgy that Net knew and loved him~-*<or!h Platte, Nabracka. And in prrpura m cf the fiftieth anniversary of the first Buff alo Bill round-up in his home town, citizens of North Platte, business men of the west, statesmen, citizens from every corner of the country are plan nig to make the event of tremendous historical importance, reproducing faithfully the trials and triumphs and high-minded courage of those pion eers who made today’s west possible and in the face of unutterable odds opened up a wilderness to homes and commerce. North Platte, as the town where Buffalo Bill established his first per manent ranch, the town where his children were born and raised and went to school; and the town where the great “Wild W’est Show” that was to take the American frontier across the Atlantic was conceived and first staged, is to be the scene of the thrilling spectacle. It is very fitting that this Nebraska city should be the scene of the anniversary event, for Lincoln county, in which it is sit uated, earned its right to the early pioneers long before Buffalo Bill came upon the scene. More than a hun dred years ago five covered wagons made their way across Lincoln county on their journey up the Platte river, and in turn there followed caravans of trappers, soldiers, gold seekers of ’49 and in later years the cattle men. The California trail, the Mormon trail, the Oregon Trail and the Overland trail all across Lincoln county, and it was the scene of Indian battles, border warfare, frontier outlawry, trapping and hunting in those days when the west was truly "wild and wooly” and a man had to be quick on the draw for his own protection. The pony express, the overland stage, the overland telegraph, the Union Pacific, the Lincoln highway and the transcontinental air mail, crossing this county in successive stages, mark, in turn, the story of the west’s development. Just 22 miles south of North Platte the treaty of peace between Chief Red Cloud of the Sioux Indians and General Mitch eil was made, on the site of Snell canyon. Thirty thousand Sioux war riors are said to have been present on that occasion. Cottonwood Canyon, where passed the main trail in the early days, was traversed by the In dians and buffalo herds making their way between the Platte Valley and the Republican Valley. Here, at the mouth of the canyon, habitations of pioneers were established in 1858. It is in Lincoln county, too, that historic Fort McPherson is situated, und in the cemetery of the Fort some 2,000 soldiers, killed in Indian, war fare, have been given their last rest ing place. But no one of these historic spots thrills die Western traveler so much as the ranch that was the permanent home of Colonel William Cody, in North Platte, for more than thirty years. Scout’s Rest Ranch, he named it, and within its walls the intrepid scout entertained many notables from this country and abroad. It was at Scout’s Rest Ranch that Colonel Cody first assembled, in 1882 the famous Wild West Show whose anniversary will be celebrated this July. Commenting on the beginnings of this great exhibition of the conquest of western territory for the white man, a friend of the late scout re lates that North Platte, desirous of staging a fitting Fourth of July cele bration, invited Colonel Cody to take part and aid in getting up the pro gram. “The Colonel,” the friend states, “had' just returned home after a wint er on the road and he entered into the idea of the celebration with charac teristic enthusiasm. He offered to put up prizes for those cowboys who would attempt to ride the outlaw horses he had at the Cody and North Ranch on Whitewater Creek. The country was then all open range and cowboys filed in from far and wide from ranches between the Re publican and Niobrara rivers and from North Platte west to the Wyoming line, responding to the call for riders. They gave the crowd that day a show that I have never seen equalled.” This same friend gives an interest ing account of the meeting of Buffalo Bill and the “dime novel” author who was later to ad the glamor of fiction to his early exploits and clothe him in that aura of romance and fearless ness that has caused the pulse beats of young American to quicken, from that day to this. Ned Buntline (Ed ward Judson) of New York, a writer of thrilling and highly-colored tales of the Far West, had sauntered West to gain material for further stories. He was so impressed with the stir ring exhibition given on Colonel Cody’s ranch that he suggested that Buffalo Bill organize and head a wild west show. The suggestion appealed so! strongly to the Colonel that he invited his friends, Major North and Doctor Carver, to become partners in the en terprise. Both these me* had lived the life of the frontier and were eager ■ to became a part of a project that I promised to perpetuate the history of the opening-up of a great country. In the early spring of 1887 the show was actually assembled and entered into : hear ml at the Cody ranch. Re-1 hcarsals were continued until .Tune of that year when Buffalo Bill and his comrades, with Indians, cowboys, broncho*, buffalos, stagecoaches and other paraphenalia of pioneer days, starti*l oa tour. Speaking of the viay the outfit started out front North Platte, the late Colonel's friend says: "I remember the day we started off! A big crowd had assembled to wish Buffalo Bill good luck. Five or six box cars, two open cars and two emigrant coaches accommodated the performers and the show property and these were attach ed to an east-bound freight train. “As the Colonel stood on the rear of the caboose, his flowing hair not yet tinged with gray, and as perfect a figure of man as could be, he told the crowd that he would not only exhibit the show at the Nation’s cap ital but at the capital of every state and later at the capital of every European country—whereupon Bill Tucker, noted saloon keeper and poker player of the community remarked, “That’s a hell of a lot of wind, even from Bill Cody.” “But the crowd wildly cheered as the train moved off and in after years the Colonel made good his assertion. The first exhibition of the show was given at Columbus, Nebraska, the home of Major North.” Buffalo Bill not only “made good his assertion,” but he was feted like a king in the European countries where the great American show went on tour. He was called the “Amer ican Ambassador” and the man who had “carried the American frontier to Europe.” Chartering a steamer which he named for his adopted State, Buffalo Bill and his troupe made their way in the “State of Nebraska” to Gravesend, England, in 1886. Here a tug flying Amercan colors, greeted them. From the “State of Nebraska” three ringing cheers went up. In a moment the band on the tug burst forth with “The Star Spangled Ban ner,” while the cowboy band on the troupe ship responded in kind with “Yankee Doodle.” This rousing wel come was the keynote of the famous scout’s safty in England. The mother country expressed rfti intense inter est in the stdry of the conquest of that new world to which her colonists had gone and which they had con quered in the face of such tremendous odds. The show presented a stirring and veracious picture of the hard ships encountered in the conquest of the West. The wigwam village; the Indian war dances; the chant of the Great Spirit as it was sung across the open plains; the rise and fall of the great tribes; the coming of the sold iers to the frontier posts; the buffalo hunts; thelives of scouts and trappers; the slow, perilous journeys of the first settlers in praire schooners a cross the desolate plains; the Dead wood stage and the Pony Express; Indian massacres and Indian fire and making of pioneer homes in the face of them; the United States cavalry on the firing line and “Death of the Sioux"—these were some of the scenes that unrolled in a moving panorama, genuine and heoric, across the exhibi tion field. The Prince and Princess of Wales were enthusiastic onlookers and lat er Queen Victoria, stirred by their en thusiasm, commanded special perform ances from the American scout. The Kings of Saxony, Denmark, and Greece; the Queen of the Belgians and the Crown Prince of Austria, attended the performances and; Buffalo Bill was feted as no other American hero had been feted by royalty heretofore. It was little wonder that this de piction of pioneer days should have met with such tremendous success. Every member of the famous troupe had lived the life he depicted. And Buffalo Bill himself had been over nearly every foot of that vast expanse from his earliest days. He was a true child of the prairies and he knew their hazards, the treachery and their wonder as few know them. From his earliest childhood he had pitted his skill and courage against their dan gers and in a life filled with daring and adventure he had become acquain ted with every phase of the great western development. He was born on a little farm in Scott county, Iowa, on the 2Gth of February, 1846, and from the time that he struck out with his father, at the age of eight, to search for a suit able homesite where the Cody family might settle to within a few years of his death, he was a plainsman in every sense of that word. Instinctively he possessed that faculty for locating water, for striking trails and finding desirablecamping grounds, that marks the adventurer and man of the open. He could ride a horse as no other man has ever ridden one, superbly, as if he were part of the animal, with a native grace that inspired the admira STARTER GENERATOR AND ARMATURE REWINDING All Types of Electric Motors Repaired I have just installed new equipment and Mr. Earl Shannon, who has had years of experience in this work,will have charge of this department. ••Service and First Class Work" W. H. STEIN Res. Phone 280 (Jar age Phone 162-W tion of everyone, wherever he rode. He broke his first horse before he was nine and had served as courier in a wagon train before he was twelve. This wagon train, or “bull train" as is was called in that country, was making its way to Fort Leavenworth, and it was during a memorable and disastrous passage that twelve-year old Will was forced to shoot his first Indian. Later, as rider for the Pony Ex press, he learned to scun the land scape for the slightest evidence of his enemy. Redskins in ambush, or specks across the prairie, his trained eye sought out unerringly and his life was beset with constant peril every foot of the way. An enterprise of Russel, Majors and Waddell, the Pony Express was one of the picturesque features of western life of that early day and marked the first attempt to establish regular com munications between the Missouri Riv er and Sacramento. Stage-coach sta tions had alHeady been established along this trail and these were utilized for the Pony Express. Riders re ceived from one hundred to one hun dred and twenty-five dollars a month, and they earned every cent of it. Great physical endurance was essen tial in the riders, in addition to cool, brave and resourceful nature, for their lives were in constant peril. In in stances when the comrade who was to relieve them on the relay had been disabled by Indians or outlaws, these riders had to do double duty, continu ing in the saddle to the next relay point. Two hundred and fifty miles were made daily, constituting an aver age of a little over ten miles an hour over rough country. As little weight as possible was carried on these runs; the letters were written on the finest tissue paper and a charge of five dol lars a half-ounce was made. Pouches were locked, sealed and strapped to a riders back. Little wonder that they served as tempting prey to the outlaws of the regions or prowling bands of hostile Indians. Buffalo Bill experienced many narrow escapes dur ing the period that he served as a rider over this route. Before he was eighteen Will Cody had enlisted with the Union army and when the order sending his regiment to the front was countermanded he was selected, because of his know ledge of the plains, his nature and fearlessness, as a bearer of military dispatches to Fort Lamed. Attempts were made upon his life by old pro slavery enemies of his father but the boy’s keen eye and resourcefulness saved him when ambuscades had been set to Waylay him in a plot to steal his dispatches. With a wounded horse he fled from his pursuers and finally arrived at a ranch on foot, shouldering his saddle and bridle. Here he obtained a fresh mount and Continued to Fort Lamed. During his days in the army he served as spy, entering the Confedeifite ranks in search of information and as scout along the old trail between Fort Lyon and Fort Larned where Colonel Clark, in command of the Ninth Kansas Regiment had been detailed to pro tect stage coaches, emigrants and car avans, which were in constant jeop ardy because of hostile Indians along the way. As a driver of a stagecoach along the Overland Trail, after the war and a,s scout for Uncle Sam between Fort Ellsworth and Fort Fletcher, Will Cody lived a life fraught with excit ment and danger. Many interesting events in these days shaped his care er as a great scout, but perhaps the most interesting part of his career was that during which he earned the sob riquet of “Buffalo Bill.” Work on the Kansas Pacific Rail road was pushing forward across the plains. Twelve hundred men were employed on the railroad construction and Goddard Brothers, who had un dertaken to feed this vast crew, were hard pressed to obtain fresh meat. To supply this indispensable article of diet buffalo hunters were employed and as Will was known as an expert buffalo slayer he was invited to join the staff. The young scout was prompted to accept for another reason than to supply the workers with food. He knew that as a first step to sub duing the Indian the buffalo had to go. He knew, too, that cattle raising and farming were impossible where buffalo roamed. Savage and untam able, these wild cattle of the plains ruined fences and crops and killed domestic cattle. If the land were ever to be homesteaded by the white man, it was necessary to first destroy these wild herds that roamed the prairies. He considered the destruction of the buffalo not wanton but absolutely nec essary for pnogijfcss and he never killed for slaughter’s sake alone. Of the more than 40,000 buffalo felled by his shots, every animal was used to feed the men who were laying the first iron rails across the plains. The method employed by Buffalo Bill in felling these mammoth animals is very interesting. He would ride on the right hand side of a herd as near to the fron as he could get, shoting to the left hand. This method usualy caused the herd to run in a solid circle, or to “mill” and thus they were kept in one spot, running round and round. Thus he could kill as many as he needed for that day and they were conveniently felled in a single spot for the skinners and meat wagons that followed after. Another method was to get a “stand” on a small herd and shoot down the animals that were inclined to break away to lead the herd out of range. Our purely American phrase, “to buffalo,” is said to have been derived from this method, mean ing to confuse, intimidate, bluff or out-general. 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