276

West Chester Local News

W. H. HODGSON, Proprietor.
W. W. THOMSON, Editor.

MONDAY, AUGUST 11, 1873.

TERMS. --- To Subscribers in the Borough, the NEWS will be served at Six Cents a Week, payable to the Carrier every Friday. To Mail Subscribers, 26 ct per month, or $3 per year, payable in advance.

A Drive with Buffalo Bill and Texas Jack.

A BRIEF ACCOUNT OF THEIR LIVES --- PRAIRIE LIFE VS. THE STAGE.

On Saturday afternoon last we had the pleasure of taking a drive with Buffalo Bill and Texas Jack behind two spanking steeds from Messrs. Mercer & James' livery stable. Texas Jack is the guest of Buffalo Bill, to whom he is endeared by a life of exposure, hardship, and daring on the plains, and in whose company he for several years served as scout hunter, and guide in the employ of the Government and for private parties. These noted scouts serve to add a zest to our everyday walks of life, proving as they do that the stories of frontier life are not magnified, but to the contrary, fall short in depicting the scences and excitement incidental thereto.

In the course of our drive through the rural suburbs of our borough we were somewhat surprised at both Bill and Jack taking such an interest in the flowers and trees which bedecked our course. They noticed everything in the way of flowers, and Jack's conversation gave ample proof of his being of quite a botanical turn in mind.

Jack is of medium height and 28 years of age. His complexion is what we might appropriately term a "rosy" one. His features are moderately fine, while his eyes denote a quickness in cunning and his whole phystognomy a man of coolness and deliberate forethought. He wears a slight moustache and imperial, while his hair, curly and very black, is rather long, but inclined to thinness. He is compactly built, with elastic stop, and shows powers of great endurance.

He was born in Eastern Virginia, and commenced a Texas life when a mere boy. During the rebellion he was a scout in the rebel army under General Floyd and was wounded on the left thigh by a musket ball. At the close of the war, on the very day of the fall of Richmond, he turned his horse towards Texas, and in a few days afterwards was again back to his old haunts pursuing the cattle trade as peaceably as though nothing more than ordinary had occurred. In the course of his cattle trading movements, he met Buffalo Bill in Nebraska in 1868, and who recognizing in him the requisites for a good scout induced him to quit the cattle business and join him in the scouting duty in the service of the United States. At this time Bill was chief of scouts of the department of the Platte, and consequently was happy in adding to his command so valuable an accession as his Texas friend, Jack, and with whom he has since associated in wild and civilized life, both being endeared to one another with a mutual admiration supported by love and love only. The christian name of Texas Jack serving our soldiers from the treachery of himself and amiable wife, and three lovely children --- two girls and a boy. The boy, second in age bears the name of Kit Carson Cody, and is a bright little fellow, already giving evidence at this early age of inheriting the daring of his father.

Mrs. Cody speaks of her life on the plains with much evident pleasure, and rather gives them preference to West Chester.

Both of our heroes above mentioned wear grand and costly mementoes from numerous friends for valor and esteem, and they relate with much enthusiasm the stories incidental to their histories.

In a few weeks J.B. Hickok, better and well known as Wild Bill, will also be the guest of Buffalo Bill. This noted scout is a native of Illinois, and is forty-two years old. He, as his name suggests, is full of daring spirit, and acts more from impulse than deliberation, and is considered a "terror" by the "red skins." His recklessness and daring have more than once endangered his life unnecessarily, and his scarred face and furrowed scalp bear lasting evidence of a life of rough usuage and remarkable fortitude. He is cunning, and we may on good authority add that he is tricky.

During the late war he filled the position of scout in both armies --- that is, he made it so appear, from the fact that he secured the confidence of the confederates when he was on his most important errands of trust for the Union army. It has been said, and we believe it to be true that he received pay from both armies, but his devotion to the latter was never doubted, and to him is due many valuable results in the contest.

He is a larger man than either Bill or Jack, and his a face lighted up with good expression and considerable intelligence.

Many persons may regard these men as rough and uncouth in their manners, but in such thoughts we assure our readers they are in error. It is true they have necessarily inherited from their long wild Western associations some eccentricitie of character, but these are to be admired rather than deprecated coming from the men whom we have above friefly described. For instance, a few days agao Bill and Jack indulged in a game of tenpins, which exercise and pastime they now refer to as "horse billiards," and Jack says he would rather "whack" cattle than be compelled to make that game an occupation. He also tells a shoe-blacking story, the scene of which is laid in "Old Virginny." He says during the war negroes were so scarce at times that white men were compelled to black their own shoes. In lieu of Annear's or Mason's "shine" a polish was made from elderberries, and on one occasion he, Jack, saw a bottle containing some of the fluid, and applying it to his nasal organ, and finding it right in point of smell, he drank it thinking it was wine. Jack says nothing in the way of harm came from the dose only the draping of his "nnards" in deep mourning for a period of thirty days. In this connection we will here add that Buffalo Bill is a teetotaller, drinking nothing but water. Jack does take "a little somethin'" but never to excess.

In throwing the lasso Jack is an expert. If he has any one particular weakness it is certainly for a rope, and no such article is left to lie still that meets his eye. He instinctively is led to take it in hand, and forming it into a lasso takes prisoner anything that stands within reach of his unerring skill and the length of the rope.

During the celebrated hunt of last fall, gotten up for the benefit of Earl of Dunrave, England, these scouts led the sport and the result was a grand success. So delighted was the Earl with enjoyments afforted him

West Chester Local News

W. H. HODGSON, Proprietor.
W. W. THOMSON, Editor.

MONDAY, AUGUST 11, 1873.

TERMS. --- To Subscribers in the Borough, the NEWS will be served at Six Cents a Week, payable to the Carrier every Friday. To Mail Subscribers, [26 cts?] per month, or $3 per year, payable in advance.

A Drive with Buffalo Bill and Texas Jack.

A BRIEF ACCOUNT OF THEIR LIVES --- PRAIRIE LIFE VS. THE STAGE.

On Saturday afternoon last we had the pleasure of taking a drive with Buffalo Bill and Texas Jack behind two spanking steeds from Messrs. Mercer & James' livery stable. Texas Jack is the guest of Buffalo Bill, to whom he is endeared by a life of exposure, hardship, and daring on the plains, and in whose company he for several years served as scout hunter, and guide in the employ of the Government and for private parties. These noted scouts serve to add a zest to our everyday walks of life, proving as they do that the stories of frontier life are not magnified, but to the contrary, fall short in depicting the scences and excitement incidental thereto.
In the course of our drive through the rural suburbs of our borough we were somewhat surprised at both Bill and Jack taking such an interest in the flowers and trees which bedecked our course. They noticed everything in the way of flowers, and Jack's conversation gave ample proof of his being of quite a botanical turn in mind.
Jack is of medium height and 28 years of age. His complexion is what we might appropriately term a "rosy" one. His features are moderately fine, while his eyes denote a quickness in cunning and his whole phystognomy a man of coolness and deliberate forethought. He wears a slight moustache and imperial, while his hair, curly and very black, is rather long, but inclined to thinness. He is compactly built, with elastic [?], and shows powers of great endurance.
He was born in Eastern Virginia, and commenced a Texas life when a mere boy. During the rebellion he was a scout in the rebel army under General Floyd and was wounded on the left thigh by a musket ball. At the close of the war, on the very day of the fall of Richmond, he turned his horse towards Texas, and in a few days afterwards was again back to his old haunts pursuing the cattle trade as peaceably as though nothing more than ordinary had occurred. In the course of his cattle trading movements, he met Buffalo Bill in Nebraska in 1868, and who recognizing in him the requisites for a good scout induced him to quit the cattle business and join him in the scouting duty in the service of the United States. At this time Bill was chief of scouts of the department of the Platte, and consequently was happy in adding to his command so valuable an accession as his Texas friend, Jack, and with whom he has since associated in wild and civilized life, both being endeared to one another with a mutual admiration supported by love and love only. The christian name of Texas Jack serving our soldiers from the treachery of himself and amiable wife, and three lovely children --- two girls and a boy. The boy, second in age bears the name of Kit Carson Cody, and is a bright little fellow, already giving evidence at this early age of inheriting the daring of his father.
Mrs. Cody speaks of her life on the plains with much evident pleasure, and rather gives them preference to West Chester.
Both of our heroes above mentioned wear grand and costly mementoes from numerous friends for valor and esteem, and they relate with much enthusiasm the stories incidental to their histories.
In a few weeks J.B. Hickok, better and well known as Wild Bill, will also be the guest of Buffalo Bill. This noted scout is a native of Illinois, and is forty-two years old. He, as his name suggests, is full of daring spirit, and acts more from impulse than deliberation, and is considered a "terror" by the "red skins." His recklessness and daring have more than once endangered his life unnecessarily, and his scarred face and furrowed scalp bear lasting evidence of a life of rough usuage and remarkable fortitude. He is cunning, and we may on good authority add that he is tricky.
During the late war he filled the position of scout in both armies --- that is, he made it so appear, from the fact that he secured the confidence of the confederates when he was on his most important errands of trust for the Union army. It has been said, and we believe it to be true that he received pay from both armies, but his devotion to the latter was never doubted, and to him is due many valuable results in the contest.
He is a larger man than either Bill or Jack, and his a face lighted up with good expression and considerable intelligence.
Many persons may regard these men as rough and uncouth in their manners, but in such thoughts we assure our readers they are in error. It is true they have necessarily inherited from their long wild Western associations some [eccentricitie?] of character, but these are to be admired rather than deprecated coming from the men whom we have above friefly described. For instance, a few days agao Bill and Jack indulged in a game of tenpins, which exercise and pastime they now refer to as "horse billiards," and Jack says he would rather "whack" cattle than be compelled to make that game an occupation. He also tells a shoe-blacking story, the scene of which is laid in "Old Virginny." He says during the war negroes were so scarce at times that white men were compelled to black their own shoes. In lieu of [Annear's?] or Mason's "shine" a polish was made from elderberries, and on one occasion he, Jack, saw a bottle containing some of the fluid, and applying it to his nasal organ, and finding it right in point of smell, he drank it thinking it was wine. Jack says nothing in the way of harm came from the dose only the draping of his "[nnards?]" in deep mourning for a period of thirty days. In this connection we will here add that Buffalo Bill is a teetotaller, drinking nothing but water. Jack does take "a little somethin'" but never to excess.
In throwing the lasso Jack is an expert. If he has any one particular weakness it is certainly for a rope, and no such article is left to lie still that meets his eye. He instinctively is led to take it in hand, and forming it into a lasso [taked?] prisoner anything that stands within reach of his unerring skill and the length of the rope.
During the celebrated hunt of last fall, gotten up for the benefit of Earl of Dunrave, England, these scouts led the sport and the result was a grand success. So delighted was the Earl with enjoyments afforted him