69

"Sure enough." -and the man went away,
after giving him an admiring glance at the long
"ha'r" of the scout.

Looks were exchanged between the reporter
and Mr. Cody; each repressed a
smile, and the conversation continued:

"How many of your relatives will be
here to meet you and accompany you to
Pilot Knob to-morrow?" the reporter
asked.

"Those who are here are my sisters, Mrs.
Julia Goodman, of Valley Falls, Mrs. Eliza
Meyers, of Jackson county, and Mrs. Nellie
Jester, of Jackson county. Mrs. Mary
Bradford, who lives in Denver, will not be
able to meet with us."

"Will you remain long in the city?"

"We shall all spend several days in the
city, visiting old friends. You see, my
father was the first settler who crossed
the Missouri river to make Kansas
his permanent home in 1853."

Mr. Pryzbylowicz, who is an old resident,
joined in the conversation, and
stated his experience of killing his first
deer on the ground where a soap factory
stands, in 1852, and talked of his acquaintance
with Mr. Cody's father. He mentioned
the growth of the city, from the
time its first house was built until the
present time, and had much to say of its
ups and downs.

Mr. Cody, in continuing his conversation
with the reporter, said:

"I went to work with Majors & Russell,
who were freighters at first, and herded
cattle for them all over the hills around
the present city. I crossed the plains for
them in 1857, and afterward bull-whacked
it and rode pony-express for the firm until
they failed, in 1861. I then went to work
for the government. My mother was then
keeping the Valley Grove house, as a hotel,
in Salt Creek valley; a house which she kept
for a number of years. I was in the Seventh
Kansas in '44, and was discharged in 1865.

In 1866 I drove stage, and was married in
that year. I had steady employment until
the fall of 1872, after which I was made
chief of scouts of the department of the
Platte. There's where

I FIRST BEGAN

my theatrical life, which I have followed
every winter since. The first winter was
that of '72-73. In 1872 I organized the
Grand Duke Alexis buffalo hunt in Nebraska,
and was with the party all along
as a guide."

Here, Mr. Thomas Leonard came up to
shake hands, having been an
old-time friend of Mr. Cody, and
a side conversation occurred relating
to old times. Visits were planned and old
incidents recalled. Old names were brought
up, and eagerly enquired for by what we
may call the citizen-stranger. The old...