The weekly tribune and the Cape County herald. (Cape Girardeau, Mo.) 1914-1918, 1916-12-21
BUFFALO BILL IS
SERIOUSLY ILL.,:
END MAY Be NEAR.
Indian Fighter Stricken at
Sisters Denver
Home.
HIS FATHER DIED AT
THE HANDS OF INDIANS
Cody Slew Famous Chief in Hand
to Hand Duel on
Plains.

Denver, Dec 2O.-Col. William f.
Cody, buffalo Bill" is seriously i'll
here at the horne Of his sister. Mrs.
May Cody Decker.
Members Of the Cody family have
been summoned here from Buffalo
Bill's ranch at Cody, Wyo. Col. Cody,
who is 20 years old, suffered Il general
: physical and nervous breakdown upon
his return from 4 tour Of the country
with the "lOl Ranch" Wild West Show.
in which he is Interested.
! William F. Cody was born in Scott
County, Ia. Feb. 26, lS46. His father
was frontiersman, who was killed
while defending a wagon train from
an attack by Indians.
Cody, when still young, became a
crack shot and while still in his
teens took his place among the men
Of the frontier in the dangerous work
Of keeping TIE wagon trails oren be-
tween settlements.
In 1860 he became a Government
pom express" rider, but soon after
Joined the Seventh Kansas Cavalry, in
which he served through the Civil
War until he was mustered out in
1865.
He earnct his title of Buffalo Bill''
in 1867, when the Kansas Pacific Rail
road was under construction by l,illing
buffaloes to supply the workmen with !
food.
in 1872 he was elected to the Ne /.
braska Legislature When the Indian I.
wars broke out in 1876 he offered his .
services to the Government as a scout. /
In the battle of Indian Crack he rode /
out in front of the battle lines and met
the Cheyenne Chief, Yellow Hand. /
who, at the head OF his braves, had
taunted Cody TO . duel with hunting |
knives. Cody killed the Chief after
a hand-to-hand combat which was not !
interfered with either by the Indians
or Cody's followers. !
For his services during the Indian
wars Cody was made Chief of Scouts,
with the rank of Colonel, and remained
in the service of the Government until
the Indian troubles were finally set
tied.
Following his discharge from the
army he came East and was enticed
on the sage by offers from various
enterprising theatrical managers. His
early ventures for the most part were
failures, and he returned to Wyoming.
In 1888 he came East with the first
Wild West show ever seen in this
country. His success was almost in
stantaneous. and his show grew in
size yearly.
He made a tour OF the world with
his aggregation of rough riders and
Indians, an dwas decorated by almost
every monarch in Europe. While in
Russia he conceived the idea Of bring
ing back to America a band Of Ural {
Cossacks, and the success of this ven
ture induced him to add Arabs, Sin
galese, Japs, South American GauchOs
and representatives of almost every
nation in the world to his show
In 1905 he formed a partnership
with Major Gordon B. Lille ("Paw-
nee BilD, which proved the beginning
of his financial downfall. In 1914 the
show went into the hands of re-
ceiver and Cody announced himself
dead broke"
Numerous friends came to his res
cue, and late in the spring of 1914, H.
H. Tammen, of Denver, who owned
the controlling interest in the Sells
FIoto Circus, put 4dy at the head of
that enterprise, and at the age of 6S
the venerable frontiersman again
made his bow to crowded grandstands.
In 1916 the Miller brothers, owners
Of the 1o1 Ranch, at Bliss, Okla, Of !
fered Cody an interest in their Wild /