147

BUFFALO BILL.

He is Presented With a Cane, By Thos. Lorton--Full Account of the Presentation and Speeches.

This morning the spacious and elegantly fitted up room connected with the Parlor saloon, Messrs. Davis & Rice proprietors, were thrown open to a few select friends, who had received invitations to be present at presentation of Thos. Lorton's wellknown Indian cane to Hon. Wm. F. Cody(Buffalo Bill). When all had assembled, Tom, with graceful ease approached the centre of the room, cane in hand, and when in front of "Buffalo Bill" stopped and made the following unique speech. "Buffalo Bill, I had not thought this moment would ever arrive, although Bill Canada's bill boards have long heralded your presence to our city. I thought, meself, that the thing was but a joke, a fanciful whim, [oto]? good to be true, and which would break as though but a dream; but to-day I find myself gladly disappointed, and happy that my time has been so well spent during the last three weeks, in arranging this cane for you, embellished as it is with trophies, gathered on raids on butcher shops, toy stores, furniture stores, tin shops, and millinery stores. I now present it to you as a small token of my good wishes towards you. You will take particular notice of the two scalps hanging from the centre. I had given up all hopes of securing these suitable ornaments, until a day or two ago, when I had the good fortune to scalp a couple of red devils, which I found hanging up in a butcher shop."

This cane was happily received by Mr. Cody (Buffalo Bill), who after making the corks fly, responded as follows:

"Sir your kind present, so artistically arranged, as to bring to mind all the various scenes in my somewhat exciting life, shall always be prized by me, as a token of friendship. Your ingenuity in arranging the different trinkets which embellish this cane is wonderful, and would do honor to any Sioux brave. Again thanking you, I bid you good-bye until this evening, when you and all who come to the Hawke's Hall may have a chance to see how the scouts of the west deal with the 'Poor Indian.' "

And so it is that the cane that has caused many an eye to twinkle, has passed into other hands, and still Tom is happy. He has been for weeks getting this cane up, and if anyone asked him as to what he was going to do with it, he would always reply that it was for Buffalo Bill.--The cane is but a sugar-cane stalk faucifully fitted up with ribbons, pieces of buffalo hide, small trinkets of "snide" jewelry, pieces of tin and a little bit of everything that Tom could lay his hands on.

Captain Jack.

We had the pleasure of meeting this morning at the Barnum House "Capt Jack," or J. W. Crawford.--He is now travelling with the Buffalo Bill combination. His life on the prairie as a scout, has won for him a name that will not soon be forgotten. He is twenty-eight years of age, stands five feet eleven inches high, and weighs 178 pounds. He entered the army in 1863, and at that time could not write his own name. He scouted for General Hartranft, and was wounded at Spottsylvania, Va., May 12, 1864. While in Saterlee Hospital, Philadelphia, one of the Sisters of Charity taught him to read and write (and may she be an angel for it). After five months spent in the hospital he returned to the field and was again wounded, this time at Petersburg, Va., April 2, 1865, after which he was discharged. Since then he has led a wandering life, mostly on the plains.

As guide to an expedition in search of gold, he was one of the first to explore the Black Hills country, and credited to him are some of the most daring and quickest time on record. Last August, in response to a telegram from Buffalo Bill, he started on horseback, and alone, to join General Crook, whose command he found in five days, after a ride of five hundred miles through the Big Horn country. On another occassion he carried dispathers for a [leading]? New York newspaper from Owl Creek to Fort Laramie, a distance of over four hundred miles, inside of fours, beating five fresh couriers and getting in five hours ahead of all others. The dispatch cost $250, and a supplemtary dispatch descriptive of Capt. Jack's remarkable ride cost $150 more, which, with $900. These costly disapatches appeared in that paper on Sept. 17, 1876, the day on which Capt. Jack wrote the poem on the death of Wild Bill, which is now in print. After Buffalo Bill left General Merritt's cavalry on the Yellowstone river, Capt. Jack was appointed chief of scouts with that command At present he is a character actor with Buffalo Bill's travelling company, and is met with rounds of applause wherever he appears.