The Somerset press. [volume] (Somerset, Ohio) 1873-1977, 1875-10-29
MISCELLANY.
The "BflI" Heroes.

! The ssBill'' Heroes.
The most astonishing crop the plains
ever prodnced. was the one of "Bill"
/ heroes If an ambitions frountiersman
named William ehanced to see an lndi-
an or kill few bison. he at once took
unto his name an addition, and became
a character But let il not be supposed
/ he WAS a hp-o among his companions.
To them he ever remained plain Bill, or,
at the best, with Jones or Brown added
as the case might be. ] remember one
particular teamSter whose name was
| William Hobbs. He could not have
placed a bullet from his carbine in a
harm door at one hundred PAGES. And
yet, without any provOcatiOn whatever
| he seized upon the word California and
wore il, although the wonderful State
had never. to my certain knowledge,
been favored with his presence This
man had not been cut out for hero.
His becoming one was in direct violation
of natnre's laws. He was fat, short Of
wind, red-faced. and timid as hare. As
the frontiersmen expressed it, having
never lost any Indians, he could not be
induced by any consideration TO ind one
However. by lying in wait for tourists
and correspondents, he often managed to
get business as a guide He had donne,i
suit of buckskin made in St. Louis,
and would state to the gaping stranger,
"My names California Bill here; over
thar it's 'Paiche, on count of my fight
! in the tribe" He conld not have told
one of the latter from a Digger, yet
soon the Eastern papers came back with
thrilling descriptions of this noted scout
and Indian slayer. "Iron muscles rap
ped in buckskin, piercing eyes, dead
shot at redskins" and so forth. And
yet have known this dead shot to miss
four times in succession, a bison at fifty
yards; and on one occasion, having mis-
taken a Mexican herder for an Indian
he had fed so fast and far that he lost
hat and pistol and ruined his horse.
After this he was fain to go East and
perambulate Broadway in long hair and
dirty bnckskin, and be heraIded by op-
en- mouthed newsboys as "Forny Bill,
the felier what chaws up the Ingun ma.
tons These specimens are also apt to
fall upon some cheap story writer, who
embalms them as heroes. and gives them
the entree of saloons and hotels. But
when forced back by want to the haunts
of the frontier, the breeches of skin,
broad hat, and swagger are put away,
and the usual garments of the plain
adopted. Out there, where the poverty
of spirit lurking beneath Ii known, a
lions skin does not change the charac-
ter Of the animal borrowing it.
Buffalo Bill and Wild Bill, whom ]
meet often on the plains, mnch more
fairly deserved their names. The form
er knew first as teamster, then bar
tender, and finally scout. He certainly
knew more about the plains than any
one ever met. Wild Bill, during the
year that was cognizant of his actions.
filed at intervals the position of scout,
saloon-keeper, refugee, and sheriff. The
nnmber of persons knew him to kill
was five, three at Hays and two at
Abilene. 1t seems as if snch men as
Bill were designed bv Providence to act
as a sort of carnivore for keeping down
the increase of their species. In all my
residence upon the frontier, during
which time sixty-two graves were filled
by violence, in no case was the murder
other than benefit to society Wv. E.
Webb, in Harper.