Jas Wallick's Bandit King
date: label: Date made
content: n.d.
name: label: depicted
content: Wallick, James H.
label: maker
content: Great Western Printing Company
notes: label: Description
content: This black and white wood engraving is colored with a blue tint overlay and was used as a theater poster or advertising billboard. Reading from top to bottom, the poster states, “The Sensational Event/ Jas. H. Wallick’s Bandict King / Jas. H. Wallick / Roan Charger and Bay Raider / Popular Prices.” At the center is an oval bust portrait of the actor Jas. H. Wallick. Above and below this portrait are two rectangular scenes, one showing Wallick with his two horses and the other depicting a performance of <i>The Great Bowie Knife Fight on Horseback</i>. The "Roan Charger" and the "Bay Raider" refer to the very expensive horses that purportedly once belonged to Jesse James.
label: Description
content: James H. Wallick (ca 1839-1908) was born in Hurley, New York. Sources have suggested varying possibilities for his birth name, including Patrick J. Fubbins, James Henry Wheeler, or James H. Fubbins Wallick. There has also been speculation that he took the last name Wallick to link himself to the actor James William Wallack, Sr. James Wallick appeared in melodramas and circuses before achieving his best-known success in <i>The Bandit King</i>, a touring Wild West show loosely based on the life of outlaw Jesse James, recast as an anti- hero named Joe Howard. After the death of James in 1882, Wallick created, produced, and starred in the drama, originally titled <i>Jesse James, The Bandit King,</i>. The production featured the typical Wild West genre like horses, buffalo, trick riding and an impressive sharpshooting demonstration. The show was comprised of 6 acts and 8 tableaux and sometimes featured Robert J. Ford, James's real-life killer. <i>The Bandit King</i> made several tours across the country from 1882 to about 1902. Wallick’s other productions included <i>The Cattle King</i> and <i>The Mountain King</i>. He made and lost several fortunes over the course of his career and suffered from heavy debt. He committed suicide in 1908.
label: Description
content: Jim Bowie (ca 1796-1836) was a Kentucky-born frontiersman, who became legendary for surviving a fierce knife duel known as the Sandbar Fight. The style of knife he carried became known as the Bowie knife, named in his honor. He was killed fighting at the Battle of the Alamo in Texas in 1836.
label: Description
content: This lithograph was produced by the Great Western Printing Company of St. Louis, Missouri, which was eventually bought by the National Printing and engraving Company of New York.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: Missouri, Saint Louis
topic: label: Subject
content: Horses
label: Subject
content: Theater
setName: label: See more items in
content: Home and Community Life: Domestic Life
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content: Clothing & Accessories
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content: Advertising
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content: Art
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content: Peters Prints
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content: Domestic Furnishings
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Harry T. Peters "America on Stone" Lithography Collection
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: DL.60.3011
label: catalog number
content: 60.3011
label: accession number
content: 228146
objectType: label: Object Name
content: engraving
label: Object Type
content: Engraving
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: paper (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: ink (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: image: 39 1/2 in x 13 1/4 in; 100.33 cm x 33.655 cm