If you could meet a REAL person from the old west......

[Two Spurs]

Over in the thread “If you could just meet one cowboy actor, who would it be?” there were a wagon load of great responses.

 

The silver screen favorites included those who started the ball rolling in the early black and whites, recent and current actors, and of course- The Duke himself, John Wayne.

 

While most were/are actors only, you also have guys like Ben Johnson, Tom Selleck, and others who were/are flat out real deal cowboys and horsemen. (This to me is the coolest.)

 

Possum Skinner later said that he’d rather see his Grandpa again than any actor that ever lived. THAT was a moment to pause and nod my head with a smile. How great that is…

 

After that Mr. Pettifogger then brought up another interesting point:

If I could meet one "cowboy actor?" In other words someone who is not a cowboy, but an actor pretending to be a cowboy. Many Hollywood actors are drunk, druggy, liberals and I have no desire to meet these. There are many actors I would enjoy meeting, but not necessarily because they have "played" a cowboy. If I could meet someone from the old west it would be Wild Bill Hickok or John Wesley Hardin not some Hollywood type.

 

Which brings us to the next question:

If you could meet a REAL person from the old west, who would it be and why?

 

I gotta really think about this one.

 

 

[Widder, SASS #59054]

based ONLY on the type of character that Hollywood has portrayed and actually not knowing alot of their history, on of my picks would be Doc Holliday.

 

Jesse James would also be on the top of the list.

 

 

..........Widder

[Texas John Ringo, SASS #10138]

Gotta agree with Pettifogger.........John Wesley Hardin

[J-BAR #18287]

I would like to talk to G. A. Custer and tell him "Don't!"

[KingSnake]

Al Sieber

[evil dogooder]

Charlie pitts, he rode with the james gang, also happens to be a relative. My grandfather was named after him and I'm named after my grandfather

[Texas Man]

Wes Hardin because I live near his old stombing area and I once had a best friend who was kin to him and I dated his sister back in 1960s. That was a strange family too.

I had the chance to try on his boots and hat once. He was a true gunfighter and later after he got out of prision He married a lady from Junction and I have a ranch near by their old home. I also knew a old man by the name of Pete Bland that told me about when he went on a trail ride with Hardin and Also I talked with J. Marvin Hunter author of the 1920s area Fronier Times and He knew Hardin personally.

 

I have an idea there were more men like Hardin at the time just as deadly.

[Tom Bullweed]

William Clark (of Lewis and Clark)

James Masterson (Bat's brother that is rarely heard of but was involved in more arrests, more shootouts and more town cleanups)

Teddy Roosevelt (in his western days)

[Calico Mary]

Chiefs Hosa and Niwot, Black Kettle, or Sitting Bull

[Rowdy Yates, SASS #141]

David Crockett. No question.

[Yul Lose]

General Custer, and I'd ask him why he thought it was such a good idea to leave the Gatling guns behind.

[Hoss]

Buffalo Bill Cody.

 

After spending a couple of days in Cody, and touring the museum, I think he was "the most interesting man in the world" of his time.

[Rafe Conager SASS #56958]

_{^{Teddy Roosevelt- just an awesome person in history- cowboy, rancher, soldier}}

_{^{George Custer- civil war hero, controversial Indian fighter (love him or hate him)}}

_{^{Wyatt Earp- lawman, outlaw to some, entrepreneur that never quite made it}}

_{^{Wild Bill Hickok.- do you really need a reason?}}

 

_^Rafe

[Hashknife Cowboy]

Lincoln......Great Grandfather Santini in Texas 1885

[StirrupTrouble]

^{Either Geronimo or Sitting Bull}

[Kendoo KId]

Any relative of mine that may have been there. Looking into it soon.

[Chili Pepper Kid, SASS #60463]

Buffalo Bill Cody.

 

After spending a couple of days in Cody, and touring the museum, I think he was "the most interesting man in the world" of his time.

 

+1. And also because I have portrayed him at the Birthplace museam in LeClaire Iowa.

 

CPK

[Your Nemesis]

Jesse James Because I did a report on him in High school ( wow that was a long time ago) and found him interesting.

[Oklahoma Dee]

Hah! Thats an easy one!

 

Bill Tilghman - US Marshal of Oklahoma.

[Sgt. John Campbell, SASS #58165]

Mine's pretty easy, I'd like to meet the man who's name I chose to honor for my SASS alias, Sgt. John E. Campbell of the Arizona Rangers. Sgt. Jeff Kidder, also of the Arizona Rangers, would be another I'd enjoy meeting as well.

[Scout Brown]

1. Deputy U.S. Marshal--Bass Reeves--the real Lone Ranger;

2. James Butler Hickok-Prince of Pistoleers;

3. Mountain man James Beckworth

[Three Foot Johnson]

C. Smith, who was some sort of Overland station agent in present day southwest Montana in the 1860's.

 

I have his 1849 Colt and would like to ask him how it came to be lost in a field three miles east of East Helena, Montana.

[Rye Miles #13621]

Wyatt Earp. I've read so much about this man, what an interesting life. No question, good ol' Wyatt!

 

Rye

[Curley Fryes]

Wyatt Earp. I've read so much about this man, what an interesting life. No question, good ol' Wyatt!

 

Rye

+1....also to find out how much about his written history is made up!

[Eamon Chute]

His Excellency Norton I, Emperor of the United States and Protector of Mexico.

 

 

EC

[Ranger Dunn]

One of my distant relatives, John B. Dunn, Texas Ranger, Author of "The Perilous Trails of Texas", Founder of the Dunn Museum, and one of the founding families of Corpus Christi, Texas.

[Trailrider #896]

A man named Henry Pell. He was a young civilian teamster working for the Army out of Sidney Barracks, Nebraska, in 1875-76. He was with Crook's column during the Big Horn & Yellowstone Expedition of 1876, and carried a Sharps Carbine. I been tracking him for over 40 years, off & on. He would be fascinating to talk to in order to fill in blanks in his life (he live to be 84 years old).

 

Aside from Pell, Charles M. Russell, Bill Tilghman, Tom Horn (did he really shoot the Nichols boy, or not), Doc Holliday, et al.

[Wolf Bane, SASS 13557]

John "Liver-Eating" Johnson.

 

"A mountain man's a lonely man

And he leaves a lot behind.

It ought to have been different

But you often times will find

The story doesn't always go the way you had in mind

Jeremiah's story was that kind..."

 

Wolf Bane

SASS13557

[Anvil Al #59168]

Sitting Bull

 

Wild Bill Hickok

 

O Loving & C Goodnight

[Charlie Harley, #14153]

My great-grandfather, Charlie Van Bowen Harley, from whom I took my alias. He was a deputy marshal out of Fort Smith, Arkansas in the waning days of the Old West. Left the Marshals' Service to marry Ella Ophelia McVay and settle down in Paris, Arkansas.

[Garrison Joe, SASS #60708]

Chief Joseph of the Nez Pierce. Hin-mah-too-yah-lat-kekt. Would like to camp with him in the Wallowa Valley.

 

"You might as well expect rivers to run backwards as any man born free to be contented penned up."

Good luck, GJ

[Cat Brules]

Over in the thread “If you could just meet one cowboy actor, .....................

........................

After that Mr. Pettifogger then brought up another interesting point:

 

 

Which brings us to the next question:

If you could meet a REAL person from the old west, who would it be and why?

 

I gotta really think about this one.

 

I really must agree about meeting the actors. Aside from their (usually) limited ability to portray real people, THEY, themselves are a pitiful group of brown-nosing, undereducated, empty-headed nothings. They are not real at all and support agendas that most Americans despise.

 

SO, moving on to which Old West Character I would like to meet, and WHY, here's the one at the top of my list.

 

Wild Bill HIckock (see below for why)

 

I would also like to meet Billy the Kid and Jesse James. BUT, I think Hickock would be someone I could converse with for a significant period of time and get real answers. I am just not sure either Billy or Jesse would first, WANT to do that and second, BE ABLE to for a significant period of time without becoming beligerant. Also, I think Hickock is the one who actually, by his documented exploits, pretty much created the fictional persona of the Wild West gunfighter and badman.

[Rye Miles #13621]

+1....also to find out how much about his written history is made up!

I'm reading a book now titled, "The Lady at the OK Corral", it's about Josie and Wyatt and their life of adventure. The emphasis is on Josey but there's alot about all the Earps. Great read! If yer into Wyatt Earp you'll love this book. Author is Anne Kirshner

 

Rye

[Jefro, SASS#69420]

"Buck Barry" Texas Ranger and Frontiersman...........book by James K Greer. Buck was one of the real frontiersman. His great grandfather and grandfather shipped here to America disuised as an emigrant to save his neck from a British halter. Buck was raised here where I live in Sneads Ferry NC before heading west. Although Jim Bowie and Davy Crockett were more celebrated. Buck Barry did as much or more to tame the Old Southwest.

In 1845 young James Buckner Barry joined the newly fromed Texas Rangers. He fought outlaws and Indians from the Red River to the Rio Grande, served in the Mexican and Civil War, and served Bosque County Texas as a Peace officer and legislator. Buck did his last scouting for the Army in 1867 and died in 1907.

Much of the book is in Bucks' own words due to the prodding of his son knowing that this part of Texas history must be preserved. It is one of the best books I've read from that era, but becuse a bunch of it is from Bucks' own words I had to go to the dictionary a few times to understand what they were reffering to, this became fun at times. It was a real eye opener as to how they really lived, and died in those times. Check it out and see what you think, yer gonna like it. Good Luck

 

THE RANGER

 

Once along the border, like the drift of autum leaves,

Thronged the Indians, desperadoes and the cattle lifting thieves

Untill ther came swift-riding over the valley, hill, and flat

The Law in dirk and derringer and tall --white--hat.

 

Rip Ford and old Buck Barry--there is glamor in the names

Of the men who made Rangers, as the record still procaims:

The lifter left the cattle and the outlaw hid his gat

When they thought about the rider in the tall--white--hat

 

As tall as he his story from the borderland uncouth--

Some of it is legend but most of it is truth...

For fact stands out of hard fought fight, or years of stand-up strife--

The Ranger rode the border and the outlaw rode for life.

 

His is a tale unended. Still riding down the years

Come the hoofbeats of the Ranger and his stalwart form appears...

Though dark may be the danger, he has no care for that,

Riding on into the future in his tall--white--hat.

 

William B. Ruggles, Dallas

 

Jefro Relax-Enjoy

[Big Sage, SASS #49891 Life]

My Great Great Great Grandfather David Smith. Was an Overland Stage driver, hauled freight to the gold rush country, fought in the Civil War for California. Stationed at Ft. Ruby, Nv guarding the gold shipments from Calif. Mostly fought indians. After the war mined silver in Austin, Nv. Later settled in Campo, Ca.and owned a stage stop/general store.

 

Most famous person....would be Teddy Roosevelt.