BUFFALO BILL'S LIFE AND ADVENTURES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXV, Issue 10908, 12 November 1898, Page 5 (Supplement)

BUFFALO BILL'S LIFE AND ADVENTURES.

THE LIFE STORY OF THE FAMOUS

SCOUT. William Frederick Cody has been critically ill at Kansas City, Mo., and for a time his physicians gave but little hope of his recovery.

As Buffalo Bill" he has figured in the public mind as one of the most picturesque and gallant heroes in American life.

As scout and Indian fighter " Buffalo Bill's'' fame rests on a firm foundation. Our greatest generals have borne official witness to his gallant services, and throughout the West his name is honoured wherever frontier memories are cherished. Novelists have taken liberties,it is true, with Buffalo Bill" and all sorts of romances, fierce and tender, have been woven around him, but the truth is stronger than the fiction. filled many holes. The romance of his life may bo read between the lines of a single paragraph summing up the changing phases of his career. A mule-driver, pony-express rider, scout, stage-driver, ranchman, horse-breaker, justice of the peace in lawless sections, member of the Nebraska Legislature, actor in a border drama, and finally one of the most successful showmen of modern times.

through all these changes, whether on the putins surrounded by soldiers, scouts, cowpunchers, and Indians, or as in later years a cavalier in buckskins at the head of his Wild West aggregation, Buffalo Bill has remained unchanged. A tall, perfectly-proportioned man, as handsome as a picture, long-haired and keeneyed, who sits his horse as if bom in the saddle; a man without book-learning, but with the modesty of a woman, and a simple dignity that won its way everywhere.

When William was 11 years old his father migrated to Kansas and established a trading post on the plains, over which Mormons and gold-seekers were swarming on their respective pilgrimages. Then for the first lime little Bill saw the typical frontiersman in all his glory of beaded mocassins, wide-brimmed sombrero, pistolladen belt, and long hair. It is said from that day young Bill never cut his hair.

A year later the boy knew his first great sorrow. liiots followed the passage of the Enabling Act out in Kansas, and for the first time Northern sentiment- and Southern feeling clashed over the negro. There was merciless killing on both sides, and Isaac Cody was in the thick part of the trouble. He wus wounded in a night attack, but the enemy was beaten off only to return reinforced in the morning. Warning of this second attack was carried to Cody by his young son, who, mounted on his fleet broncho, ran the gauntlet of the enemy. In the fight that followed Isaac Cody was killed.

So at 12 years of age the boy was called upon to support a widowed mother. Within a month he had secured employment with Russell and Majors as a herder, later as a messenger, and finally as a stage-driver. I hose were wild days on the Kansas plains—davs that aged the bravest rapidly, ami put the courage and self-reliance of a man into little Bill Cody's heart. It is an oft-told story how Buffalo Bill killed his first Indian. 'He was only 12 years old at the time. The McCarthy brothers, Bill and Frank, famous plainsmen in their day, were in charge of a waggon train hurrying provisions to a detachment of United States troops, campaigning, under General Albert Sidney .Johnston, against the Mormons. Young Cody was in tho party, eager fur adventure, and as steady as a veteran in the face of danger. At noon camp was pitched near the South Plat about 350 miles west of Leavenwoitli, Kan. The horses were unritched, the cook began preparations for dinner and the tired plainsmen stretched themselves on the prairie grass for a nap. Without a warning sound a strong force of Indians attacked them. Four of the little party fell dead at the first volley. The hoi'M's stumpeded and the hard-pressed I ii:.'ruet> not:.umbered ten to one, made a jus!i for the high bluffs along the river bank. For hours tJiey worked their way toward Fort Kearney, 55 miles away, dodging from tree i.> Irce under a perilous tire from the enemy. One by one the brave men were picked oil', and when night fell it looked as t hough the gallant little band would be entirely exterminated. Li, tie liiil stood the strain of those terrible hours like a hero, but. as the day wore oil his strength deserted him. Steadily the survivors of the party kept up the running tight for life, while the exhausted boy fell far behind. Night fell and the boy found himself alone. About midnight ho saw in the. dim light an Indian peering down at him. (Jiii' than a flash he fired. There was a wild whoop and a crash, as the Indian plunged headlong into the river. Little Bill's bull"! had pierced the right eye of the savage.

Alining 1 lie noted frontier characters who knew and admired young Cody was that strange 111:111 "Wild Hill" Hickok, who met his death ill. the hands of an assassin in a Headword barroom.

Wild Hill at the time held the dangerous position of City Marshal at Abilene, Kan. lie was in need of help to stem the tide of lawlessness, and -Cody was his choice for deputy. The war of the rebellion found Codv a private in the Seventh Kansas Cavalry, known to both armies as the " Jayhawkers." Jsiit I he skilled frontiersman was not of the quality to remain long numbered in the ranks. By the time the war was one year old Cody had risen to the post- of chief of scouts under tleneral Curtis, with headquarters at St. Louis. Here it was, two years later, that the young scout-soldier won a wilt*.

Hiding one morning through the streets of St. Louis at the head of his scouts young Cody came upon a crowd of drunken soldiers annoying a party of schoolgirls. Chivalric always where women were concerned, Cody dismounted, and ordered the men to disperse. They answered with oaths of defiance, and the young scout sailed into them, I was a short, sharp fight, and Cody won the victory. Three of the enemy were knocked senseless, and the panic- 1 stricken girls made their escape. All but one— black-eyed little —too frightened to run, and whom the stalwart young plainsman tucked under his arm, and escorted her home. She was Louisa Frederci. daughter of a French exile, and one of the prettiest girls in St. Louis. Like a true knight, Cody married her after the war, and carried her out to Salt Creek Valley. lint he soon returned to the old life, joining the scouting forces under General Cook.

In the spring of 1876 the Sioux was under way, and General Crook's command, with Cody as chief of scouts, faced the Indian forces at Bonnet Creek. There was a clear open space between the lines of battle, where both sides were crouching ready for the onslaught. Suddenly a superbly-mounted Indian rode fearlessly into the open, and shouted in the Cheyenne tongue: " I know you Pa-he-haska (Long Hair). Come out and fight me if you dare." The challenger was Yellow Hand, a noted war chief, and the man to whom lie hurled his defiance was Buffalo Bill. Before General Crook could interfere Cody had spurred forward to meet the savage. He fired his revolver as he dashed ahead, a.nd Yellow Hand's horse dropped dead. At the same instant Buffalo Bill's charger stepped in a hole, and fell, throwing his gallant rider. Yellow Hand and Cody gained their feet, and rushed upon each other. The Indian swung his tomahawk high in the air, and brought it down with lighting speed for the scout's head. But the blade never reached its mark. Cody's left hand closed on the handle of the descending weapon, while with the right he drove his hunting knife to the hilt in Yellow Hand's heart. The Indians made a desperate attempt to cut off Buffalo Bill from his men, but the soldiers charged to the rescue just in the nick of time.

In 1866 Cody was serving with distinction as chief of scouts under General Sherman. Two years later he met General Sheridan during the war against the Dog Soldier Indians, and a warm personal friendship sprang up between the two men, which lasted until the gallant soldier's death. In one of the intervals of his army scouting, his Nebraska friends made him a justice of the peace in one of the lawless sections of the State, and begged him to reconstruct things. He did it, but, as he afterwards said, "it was a long sight harder than Indian fighting."

On one occasion Cody was attacked in a [ cabin by sis desperadoes, who he had warned to leave the county. Single-handed lie fought and killed the entire party. Five fell in the fierce exchange of shots, and the sixth man died under Cody's knife. Later the cowboys of the Platte sent their idol to the Nebraska Legislature, frith a raising majority, and 110 one can tell what political honours might not have been earned by Buffalo Bill but for an accident.' He had made a host of Eastern friends 011 the frontier. For several years, while stationed at Fort McPhemm, it had been his delight to arrange buffalo hunts and rough-riding exhibitions for the entertainment of prominent visitors. Among these were August Belmont and other wealthy New Yorkers, who, in 1872, invited the noted scout to visit this city. He came in buckskins, the picturesque embodiment of what a frontiersman should be. Crowds followed him through the streets, and stories of his adventurous career were upon evenlip. It happened that- Cody, escorted by a. party of clubmen, visited a theatre one evening, where a well-known impersonator had advertised his first appearance as " Buffalo Bill." The original sat behind the curtains of a private box, amazed to note the enthusiasm produced by a bad replica of himself. The natural thought that slowly formed in the scout's shrewd train was this: If an imitation could win such favour how much more successful would the real article be. That thought was the turning-point of his career. It set him a thinking, and paved the way for prompt action when the opportunity presented itself. Ned Buntline those days was at the zenith of his popularity as a writer of blood-and-thunder romances. He had about exhausted the threadbare fields of war and piracy, when his publishers said: "Go out into the West at our expense. Take your time about it., but lind us a real true man. Then write about him."

Buntline went 011 his mission, and the man he found was Buffalo Bill. A few years later it was this old dime novelist who helped Cody map out his first crude theatrical venture.

How England's aristocracy welcomed Buffalo Bill is a matter of history. The camp of the Wild West in London was the meeting ground of distinguished people. The Prince of Wales was among the first visitors to greet the scout-actor, and following him came Court society en masse. BUFFALO BILL IMPROVING. Kansas City, September 24. Buffalo Bill's condition has so far improved that it is thought that he will rejoin his " Wild West'' in a few days. Colonel Cody's illness seems to have caused much concern among his friends everywhere. He has been receiving all sorts of bracing telegrams to-day. Amongst those who sent messages was General -Miles, who said: " I wish to express my deep regret on account of your illness, my great faith in your fortitude and strength and earnest hope for your speedy recovery.—Nelson A. Miles." A cablegram expressing sincere feeling came from J. A. Bailey, of the Barnum and Bailey Circus, in London.