Los Angeles herald., 1905-11-16
CHEROKEE BILL
FRONTIERSMAN
ROUGH RIDER TELLS STORY OF
HIS LIFE
z. s. Klnkead, Friend Of President
Roosevelt and Hero Of Many
Battles for Right, Visits
Los Angeles

scar on his neck seven inches long
from the slashing of his jugular vein,
registered in Washington, d. c., as
murdered, serving under President
Roosevelt in the Spanish-American
was as a Rough Rider, escort to MIR.
Roosevelt when running for the gov
ernorship of New York and holding
various other responsible positions, is
the record Of e. S. Kinkead, better
known as Cherokee Bill"
when the Spanish-American war
broke out" said "Cherokee Bill" yes
terday afternoon at his apartments at
lO6 Gladys avenue, Il enlisted as a
Rough Rider under Teddy Roosevelt in
the First United States volunteer cav
airy. l can say that Teddy has stood
by me all the time and l have stuck to
him. After the war / was one of his
escorts when he was running for the
Office of governor of New York and |
even went some better and made some
speeches on the platform for Teddy.
l had letters from him many times be-
fore he was governor and later presi-
dent and l kept them for 1 always
thought he would be big man some
day and he has got there, sure. love
that man. He is the grandest in the
placed before The Herald reporter d
large package of complimentary let
ters, many of them well worn, that had
been written to him by President
Roosevelt and other government Off
Gals.
Is one-sixteenth Cherokee
when Teddy went to Washington"
continued Cherokee Bill" he wrote
me a letter. giving me a fine job us
patrolman and detective at the St
Louis fair and also at the Portland fair,
from which l have just come with my
wife to Los Angeles. 1 am now waiting
for word from Teddy for another job,
and will get it, too"
The life of Cherokee Bill' reads like
a romance of the wild west. In fact his
life among the rough element in Texas
and the Indian Territory is remarkable
and full of thrilling events.
Cherokee Bill" takes his cognomen
as a descendant OF the Cherokee In
dian tribe. He is noble appearing
man, six feet in height. broad shoul-
dered, with no surplus flesh and weighs
100 pounds. His dark eyes are bright,
while his mouth and chin Indicate
courage and strength. When seen last
evening he expressed himself quietly in
language embematical of his life and
gave a brief history of his eventful
experiences.
well, you see, to begin with, I am
one-sixteenth Cherokee Indian" said
the speaker, 'and l was born forty
five years ago in Marshal Mo. When
/ was 13 years old my older brother
Tom stole me from my home and took
me to Fort Griffin, Tex, on a big ranch,
when the Indians were doing things
mighty brisk At 20 years old 1 went to
northern Texas as a full-hedged cow
boy. AS l could talk all the Indian
languages in all that country 1 was
soon given a chance to be Texas
ranger.
Captures Bank Robbers
But one of my toughest times was
when I was shot at by bank robbers
in Texas in 1883 when 1 rushed into the
bank as an officer. The bullets flew
thick and fast and the leader of the
gang, Bagley, plugged me in the hat,
too close to my head for comfort, and /
turned on him and plugged him in the
heart He fell dead The other robbers
scattered mounting and riding away
as fast as possible. / mounted the dead
mans horse and gave chase to Hayes,
the second leader in the gang. He had
a powerful horse and he gave me big
run, turning and shooting every little
while. But I did not turn on him. For
ing race Of twenty-five miles L caught
him.
The next was for me to turn scout
for the United States government at
Fort Sill, Indian Territory. Them was
the times when / had been in racke is
with the cattle thieves.
you see l had a little change i'm my
life in 1886. when L stole my wife when
she was Is years old and had to take
her 200 miles in a wagon pulled by a
mule to Kansas, where we were mar
ried. She died before the Spanish
American war. We had two daughters,
who are now in the Indian Territory.
But, you see, my wife is my second
wife, and right here, she was an actress
before | married her in 1S9S She was
chosen for the model for the Montana
statue and is a musician and can play
all kinds of musical instruments and
is a good Catholic"