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BUFFALO BILL.
A Short History of this Distinguished
Native of Scott County.

Hon. W. F. Cody, perhaps better known
to the world as "Buffalo Bill," arrived
from New York by the train from the east
last evening, and took up his quarters at
the Burtis. A GAZETTE reporter had the
pleasure of making his acquaintance an
hour later, and from him learned a very
little concerning his eventful life. Mr.
Cody was born in Scott county, near Le.
Claire, in 1845. His father, who is well
remembered by early settlers, was Isaac
Cody, who on arriving in the then territory
of Iowa first made his home in Davenport,
afterward residıng at Walnut Grove, 15
mıles north, and still later near Le-
Claire. When his now-famous son was
eight years of age, Mr. Cody removed to
Kansas, where a few years later he lost his
life in the endeavor to make Kansas a free
white State. After his father's death, when
young Cody was but 12 years old, the support
of his widowed mother and sister
devolved upon him, and he took to the
plains for a livelihood. Growing up under
such circumstances, his natural fondness
for excitement and adventure led hım to
become a scout and guide, and the most of
his life since has been passed as such. For
the past 12 years, he has been a guide and
chief scout for nearly every military expedition
carried on in Nebraska, Dakota, and
Wyoming. He was with General Crook,
within thirty-five miles of the scene
of the Custer massacre at the time
of that terrible slaughter in 1876. The
sobriquet of Buffalo Bill was earned while
the Kansas Pacific railroad was being constructed
when he was employed by the
company for eighteen months as a hunter,
to provide meat for the scene time The 1,500 men who
were working on the construction of the
road. During that time he killed 4,280
buffalo. In a single run through a herd
one day, on a hoise without a saddle or
bridle, he slaughtered 69 buffalo.

For four years past Mr. Cody has been
engaged in the stock business, running a
ranche at North Platte, Neb. He now
owns a herd of 4,000 cattle at that place.
On Monday and Tuesday evening of next
week at the Burtis Opera House, he will
open out for his eighth annual theatrical
season, with the largest combination he
ever had. The dramatic portion of the
troupe comes from New York, arriving
Friday night, while the Indians, from the Indian
Territory, accompanied by the Boy
Chief of the Pawnees, a white child adopted
by the tribe and made chief at the age of 13
years, will come in Saturday morning.