The National tribune., 1886-04-15
oWILD BILL"
4 Tribute TO The Character Of this Fa-
nous Scout.
BY COL. MARSHALL.

:
The character there givea 90 Wild BIN is SO far
from the truth as t. Snow that it was drawn
from tie realms OF fiction: or else, that the
galan. Gen. Sheridan was INDUCING his humoT
by fcadiug YOUR correspondent with , liberal
dose Ct taay."
The writer OF this was we'll acquainted with
Jamys 3. Uick0E, known 10 the world as Wild
Bill 90; WAS born and raised in the Illinois
River valley nOt far IRON the birthplace OF
Wild Bill: hunted with lin in HIS youth be
fore lo went West. followed him 10 the West
few years later, ana knew him and Of him up
TO the t..ae Of his death in 1876; saw him
few days before he WAS killed AZ Dcadwood, in
tie Black Ellis, and was in Rapid City at the
time Of his murder. Having known him long
and well the writer most caphatlc&lly asserts
that the following statement, taken from The
article Il question, Is not in accordance with
the facts. hut is a most Nh warranted and IN
truthful at;ac. Epcn the memory and character
VI "TaNa u3n.
Gen. Sheridan Is reported to have answered
as follows 10 the question:
IBID YOU ever know Wild Bill?"
Nc-. knew Wild Bill; butt never heard or saw
ANYTHING good OF nina lie WAS a fraud. ini-
poster. You see; newspaper hero. Wild blll got
his it'putstuH through article written for liar
rSr'% Magazine, 10y Col. Geo. Ward Nichols, who ran
Zero, him sUa.sN here. heard nm boastnE oi Wlal
hc haa dO;" iu! could do. and took II al III The
sricie syas widely copied and then the dime-novei
Y
stOrlc5 81 adventure-al! OF which were pure ne
ton, bat nlaay people thought they were true.
lie got TO he The fashion, don YOU knew people
got crazy over i3d htil, ana. OF course 1urn'Shca
him plenty of capital 10 spread himself around on.
But lac was 4 worthless drunken rOwdy, and moth
Ing else As a scou; lie never amounted TO any
thing. the army people never had any confidence
IN i.ira; aEd lie WAS such miserable cowaru-oue
Of the mos Internal towards ever knew. never
ksw enc Of those IoUG-taiking buiIes who was not
coward. ana Wild Bill was the worst hrhggari
ever SAN
Ing AL over i.l iru.u his E1iT 10 ms heels, ana
b. knife IN his boot, AID talk ~ if he ate man
every morning fUT breakfast; but as soon as any
body heiu to talk b9cl, bed crawl under the table.
VIA. the name oi thai fellow who killed an
octor down in Texas?
where was, and he heard that Wild sill was blow
ing around and talking about cleaning out the
town. you know. Curry young fellow then,
b2i he'd walk RICH: into the mouth of a cannon,
and hc started out 10 hun; Cor Wild Bill. When /
heard o. x ] concluded there would be murder be-
fore might. and one less suhect FOR the haiigian
blt Il d.dn't turu uutso. Carry found Wild Bill in
sa.ooa somewhere, b.ow;S Ab1gi himself as IsGGl,
and made hin crawl on the ground
THE TRUTH OF THE MATTER.
Now, for the hundreds OF people who were ac-
qnaiutyd with Wild Bill, and knew OF his deeds
OF daring ana bravery, and his modest and un-
assuming bearing and conduct no answer TO
the above vii! BE- required, for they all know
that lie was brave and courageous to fault,
and that no one nor nothing, whether animal,
Indian or desperate, who was "spoiling for a
fight" ever had to wait 10 give Will Bill sec
ond invitation, but were always promptly &C
commoiated with more fight than they wanted.
If space permitted the writer could give par-
ticuiars and incidents of many of his thrilling
encounters as told by himself and corroborated
By others. At this time | can only refer to
few of them in q general way.
His first duel was with a cinnamon bear In
armed only with q knife. The fight lasted
about half an hour. The bear was killed and
Bill nearly So
In 1860 his big fight with the /" McCandlas"
gang took place at Rock Greek, Kan, some so
miles west of Topeka. Ten bOrder-rufiian cut
thr0ats made an attack on Bill for the purpose
OF stealing the stage stock which he was guard
ing, and he killed eight OF them alone, and was
shot and cut in a terrible manner. This was the
fight which gave him the name of Wild Bill.
In January, 1863 he had his famous duel
with tie Indian Chief Conquering Bear. This
duel was
FOUGHT WITH KNIVES,
and was desperately bloody encounter, end
Ing with the death OF the big Indian.
In 1865, in Jefferson County, Neb., he fought
with four desperadoes all firing at him at once
He killed three, badly wounded the other, and
was badly wounded himself.
In March, 1869, on the Wachita River, near
Antelope Hills, Indian Ter, the United States
troops under Gems, Primrose and Carr had Il
desperate and decisive battle with the blood
thirsty Cheycnnes, under their famous War
Chief Black Kettle. The savages were just
returning south from participation in the mas
sacre or the white settlers on the Republican
River. leaving behind them a broad and bloody
trail thckly stTewE with the charred ruins OF
devastated homes and the sickenng remains
of outraged, tortured and 1autii2ted humanity.
Ia yTG faTnOuc R,yr In
Bill, were the svenginE heroes of that battle.
Regardless OF their own danger they dashed
into The very midst Of tie Indians, and did
such fearful execution that they two, alone,
killed no less than so Of the red devils. Bat
the browning act Of the day was Wild Bil's
killing the Chief Black Kettle With his knife,
while surrounded by his warriors. Wild Bill
vas wounded, but his life was saved by the
intrepid daring aud heroic deed Of his friend
Buffalo Bill, who dashed to the rescue, aud
with a stream Of murGcrous fire poured death
On every hand.
On Feb. u, 1870 while City Marshal OF Hays
City, near old Fort Hays, Wild BIZ had fight
with ID drunken soldiers, in which he killed
three, wounded two more, and was shot all 10
pieces himself
The above bare mention, without detail OF
particulars, are only few of many thrilling
Incidents and adventures in the life Of Wild
Bill ali OF which 20 to prove that he was brave
and Courageous, even to rccklessness
MiiG Bill was often engaged a scout in our
frontier service against the Indians lie was
with Gen. Custer for long time, and was re-
peateGiy specially mentioned in the Army Re-
ports for his
GALLANT And EFFICIENT SERVICES.
The following lines from Gen. Custer's book,
"L:fc Oh the Plains" written and published
many years ago. read as though they had been
written on purpose 10 Tefute the charges and
denunciatous made in TIE NATIONAL
TRIBUNE article:
Among the white scouts we're numbered
some Of the most daring Of their class The
most prominent among them was Wild Bill,
whose highly varied career was made the sub
ject Of an illustrated sketch in one Of the pop
ular monthly periodicals few years ago
Wild Bill was strange character, just the one
which novelist might gloat over. He was
plainsnan IN every sense Of the word, yet un-
like any other Of his class. In person he was
about six feet one III hight, straight as the
stTaightcst Of the warriors whose implac,ble
foe he was; broad shoulders, well formed chest
and limbs, and face strikingly handsome;
sharp, clear blGe eye, which stared you straight
in the face when in conversation; finely
shaped nose inclined 10 be aguiline; we'll
turned mouth, with lips only partially con-
cealed by a handsome mustache. His hair
and complexion were those of perfect blonde
The former was worn ia uncut riEglets falling
carelessly over his powerfully y formed shoulders
Add 20 this figure costume Blending the i'm
Ia H.. !.