Texas Jack Jr.

[Dustin Checotah]

     Ceceilia Cia Oropeza Meehan · 

 

Texas Jack Jr. (c. 1860 – 1905)

On one of his cattle drives through Texas in the late 1860s, Texas Jack Omohundro chanced upon a number of ransacked wagons with an escort of soldiers dead and scalped nearby. Inspection of the wagons revealed a number of dead settlers who had come with this military escort bound west across the plains. Texas Jack rode to the nearest fort and lead some of the soldiers there in pursuit. Following the trail of horses leading away, they came upon a group of Comanche. Getting the drop on the Indians, Jack and the soldiers were able to rescue a boy and two girls that had been taken as a captive by the warriors.

Escorting the children to safety on the backs of the Comanche ponies he took with him, Jack pondered what to do with the children. He asked the boy, the oldest of the children, “What’s your name, son?” The shy boy hesitated and then asked, “What’s yours?”“Jack” The boy thought about it for a moment. “Me too.”

Texas Jack took the children to a Fort Worth orphanage where he sold the ponies and generously offered to fund their education. For the rest of his life, the boy called himself “Texas Jack Jr.” He would later take up his benefactor's mantle as an actor and showman, starring as Frederick Russell Burnham, American Chief of Scouts in an early British film called Major Wilson’s Last Stand, which depicted battles between the British South Africa Company and native Ndebele warriors in present day Zimbabwe. Having made his mark on cinema, he came back to America and started “Texas Jack’s Wild West Show & Circus," which he would tour around the world.

Jack Junior toured in America, Australia, Europe, and South Africa, carrying on the tradition of showing audiences a stylized version of the cowboy lifestyle established by his namesake. Traveling the world, the show was in Ladysmith, South Africa in 1902 where a young man approached Texas Jack Jr. to ask him if he was really from Texas and to ask for a job wrangling horses or setting up tents for his shows. Demonstrating his namesake’s keen eye for showmanship, Jack Jr. asked the young man if he could pull together a rope trick act. The young man said he believed he could and Jack Jr. hired him on the spot. Texas Jack Jr. suggested the young performer adopt the nickname “The Cherokee Kid." This was Will Rogers's first job in show business.

Courtesy: dimelibrary.com

[Warden Callaway]

Trivia,  My dentist for may years just retired at this last first of the year was Dr. Omohundro.  Many years ago I ask if there was any family connection.  He only muttered that he was an outlaw and a black sheep of the family.    He was the dentist's great (or great, great) uncle. 

 

 

[Singin' Sue 71615]

We have a young competitor here at EOT, that looks like this ones twin!!!

I'll try to snap a photo today!!!

[Alpo]

Saying up front that I ain't into boys, he's pretty.

[Waxahachie Kid #17017 L]

Great story. Nice lookin' young man, and he made a success of a very short life (+/- 45 years).

 

No tellin' what positive things will/may happen, when someone does a good turn for another, or someone cares enough to get involved.

 

Situations, and opportunities, present themselves, all the time. Hopefully we have the presence of mind, and the sense, to act on those situations, and opportunities. 

 

Great post. Thanks!

 

W.K.

 

 

 

  

 

[Singin' Sue 71615]

8 hours ago, Waxahachie Kid #17017 L said:

Here is the very pleasant man from EOT.

Someone please tell us his name! I was being pulled 3 ways from Sunday...so I didn't hear it.