| 183"Buffalo Bill."
WILLIAM F. CODY.
Wm. F. Cody (Buffalo Bill) was born in Scott County, Iowa, in 1842. At ten years of age he accompanied his father, Isaac Cody, to Kansas. The elder Cody was one of the first settlers in Kansas, and he was elected to the first Legislature of the Territory. He took a prominent part in the famous "bleeding Kansas" troubles, and in 1856 was killed by the pro-slavery party because of the unceasing efforts he had made to secure the admission of Kansas as a free State.
At that time young Cody, but fourteen years of age, was working with the "Government freighters," between Salt Lake City and the Missouri River, in the summer time, wintering in the Rocky Mountains. He had entered the service of Russell, Major & Waddall as a fraighter across the plains, in order to support his widowed mother and sisters, and continued in that employment until the establishment of the Pony Express, in which he was the first rider who started on the route. In this way five eventful years of his life were passed. It is impossible to detail all the adventures he encountered during that critical period in Western history. Although not out of his teens, his reputation as a daredevil scout, who feared neither hostile Indian nor treacherous white man, was wide spread.
BILL'S FIRST FIGHT.
His first experience with Indian fights occurred when he was fourteen years of age, when he was in the employ of Simpson & Poole, noted emigrant guides and cattle drivers. These men were conducting two trains of emigrant wagons across the plains, the trains being about fifteen miles apart. Suddenly, when half-way between these two trains, Simpson, Poole and young Cody were attacked by a large party of Indians, armed with bows and arrows, who rushed upon them from an ambush. The white men, however, were equal to the emergency, and killed three mules and arranging their bodies in a triangle, sheltered themselves behind these mules as a breastwork, from which they discharged their rifles at the reds with deadly effect, each shot telling. The Indians fired away with their bows and arrows, but produced more effect on the dead mules than upon the brave enemies behind them. Finally the Indians, with an air of savage satisfaction, made up their minds to surround the mules and the white men, and to "starve the latter one." But this little game was | 183"Buffalo Bill."
WILLIAM F. CODY.
Wm. F. Cody (Buffalo Bill) was born in Scott County, Iowa, in 1842. At ten years of age he accompanied his father, Isaac Cody, to Kansas. The elder Cody was one of the first settlers in Kansas, and he was elected to the first Legislature of the Territory. He took a prominent part in the famous "bleeding Kansas" troubles, and in 1856 was killed by the pro-slavery party because of the uneasing efforts he had made to secure the admission of Kansas as a free State.
At that time young Cody, but fourteen years of age, was working with the "Government freighters," between Salt Lake City and the Missouri River, in the summer time, wintering in the Rocky Mountains. He had entered the service of Russell, Major & Waddall as a fraighter across the plains, in order to support his widowed mother and sisters, and continued in that employment until the establishment of the Pony Express, in which he was the first rider who started on the route. In this way five eventful years of his life were passed. It is impossible to detail all the adventures he encountered during that critical period in Western history. Although not out of his teens, his reputation as a daredevil scout, who feared neither hostile Indian nor treacherous white man, was wide spread.
BILL'S FIRST FIGHT.
His first experience with Indian fights occurred when he was fourteen years of age, when he was in the employ of Simpson & Poole, noted emigrant guides and cattle drivers. These men were conducting two trains of emigrant wagons across the plains, the trains being about fifteen miles apart. Suddenly, when half-way between these two trains, Simpson, Poole and young Cody were attacked by a large party of Indians, armed with bows and arrows, who rushed upon them from an ambush. The white men, however, were equal to the emergency, and killed three mules and arranging their bodies in a triangle, sheltered themselves behind these mules as a breastwork, from which they discharged their rifles at the reds with deadly effect, each shot telling. The Indians fired away with their bows and arrows, but produced more effect on the dead mules than upon the brave enemies behind them. Finally the Indians, with an air of savage satisfaction, made up their minds to surround the mules and the white men, and to "starve the latter one." But this little game was |
