Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-12-31
vEYHEN WILLIAM f. CODY

III DeIlFeT, LneTe paSSeu lIUlI
the stage of the vanishing old
west one of the few survivors
from among the ranks Of the
great plains scouts and from
tiersmen, and the most widely
known of all Of this type whose
names were household words a
few decades ago. Yellowstone
Kelly, who is spending the eve
ming Of his life at Paradise,
Calf, and one or two others
who were noted Indian fighters
and plainsmen in their day, still
survive. When they have
passed on the chapter in west
ern history devoted to their
kind may be closed, and it
forms not the least thrilling of
the chapters on frontier days.
While the great reputation
as a frontiersman that Cody
enjoyed was well deserved, for
he was the hero of as many
desperate encounters and thrill
ing experiences as any of his
kind, he became more familiar
to later generations as a not too
successful Snowman land a
somewhat hazy recollection of
the stirring life he led and the
extraordinary deeds of heroism
he performed in the Cos and
los remains in the minds of the
public. In truth, Cody ranks
with Carson, Bridger and 9TH
err great frontier figures. In
many respects his exploits were
more spectacular and dramatic
than those of the others.
COdy's Childhood
From infancy Cody was ac-
customed to frontier life, with
its dangers and hardships. He
was born in Scott county, Iowa.,
February 1916, and as a young
ster became a proficient trap
per. When he was only seven
years old his father, Isaac
Cody, disposed of his farm and
moved to Kansas, establishing
himself on the Missouri-Kan-
sas border. Shortly afterward
he opened a trading post on the
Kickapoo reservation where his
son had an opportunity to ia
miliarize himself with the In
dian character.
Young Cody's remarkable
ability as a horseman he owed
to his uncle, Horace Billings,
whom he met in an unusual
manner. Billings, himself a
plainsman of note, was return
ing to the eastern settlements
with seven, other men and a
herd of several hundred horses
which they had taken wild in
California and driven across
the mountains and plains. By
chance they stopped at the
Cody trading post, for Billings
had never seen the elder Cody.
Watching the lad trying to
mount a fractions pony outside
the post, Billings approached,
slipped "a moose over the ami
mal's nose and sprang upon his
back. To Cody's delight the
stranger dashed away over the
prairie in a wide circle and re-
turned with the pony suffi-
GENTLY exhausted to be quite
tractable. On telling Billings
his name the latter was aston
ished to find the boy was his
nephew. He took especial pains
to make young Cody an accom-
plished horseman and roper
and instructed him also in 9TH
er arts of the plainsman. 1t
was in this way that Cody, at
the age Of 10 years, was a fine
d u DIN oIloC WIN P1oCo1
or rifle and could take care of
himself with the best of them
in any emergency of frontier
life. He picked up several In
dian languages and even be-
came as proficient with the
bow and arrow as the average
Red warrior.
Cody Saves His Father
In 1854, when the enabling
act of Kansas territory was
passed, excitement ran high
over whether or not Kansas
should be made a slave state.
The elder Cody, while address
ing a gathering against slavery
was attacked by a political OPP
ponent and stabbed in the
being seriously wound
ed. Having shed the first blood
in Kansas in favor of freedom
for the negro, he was obliged
n escape to a point near Fort