Wild Bill Monument

[WildBill]

Oldgringo sent this to me today from Deadwood, South Dakota. It is snowing.

[speedsix]

...they sure didn't leave you much leg room...did they think you wuz a midget???

[sugar land dave]

Sorry pardner. Looks like yer all wet this time!

[Dragonfighter]

I just read about him the other day. It is reported that the calcium carbonate had permeated the casket and basically petrified him so that when they moved him from the original grave to the one pictured he weighed over 400# and was "perfectly preserved" ; whatever the standard for perfect preservation in the 1880's was.

[The Annoyed Man]

Is....Is......he dead?

[WildBill]

Is....Is......he dead?

Terrified, stupefied, mortified, petrified ...

[Oldgringo]

That was/is a long steep hill to climb back in the day before Dodge Rams had Cummins Diesel engines. BTW, Martha Jane Burke aka Calamity Jane is buried next to Wild Bill along with "Potato Creek" Johnny.

[puma guy]

That was/is a long steep hill to climb back in the day before Dodge Rams had Cummins Diesel engines. BTW, Martha Jane Burke aka Calamity Jane is buried next to Wild Bill along with "Potato Creek" Johnny.

I read that he really had no use for Calamity Jane and her burial next to him was kind of a joke. Anyone know what happened to his wife/widow that he married not too long before he was murdered?

EDIT: Found this, his original grave & marker set by Charlie Utter "Colorado Charlie" (seated) and Steve Utter (standing).

[jmorris]

That was/is a long steep hill to climb back in the day before Dodge Rams had Cummins Diesel engines. BTW, Martha Jane Burke aka Calamity Jane is buried next to Wild Bill along with "Potato Creek" Johnny.

I read that he really had no use for Calamity Jane and her burial next to him was kind of a joke. Anyone know what happened to his wife/widow that he married not too long before he was murdered?

EDIT: Found this, his original grave & marker set by Charlie Utter "Colorado Charlie" (seated) and Steve Utter (standing).

http://uwacadweb.uwyo.edu/robertshistor ... rriage.htm

[puma guy]

That was/is a long steep hill to climb back in the day before Dodge Rams had Cummins Diesel engines. BTW, Martha Jane Burke aka Calamity Jane is buried next to Wild Bill along with "Potato Creek" Johnny.

I read that he really had no use for Calamity Jane and her burial next to him was kind of a joke. Anyone know what happened to his wife/widow that he married not too long before he was murdered?

EDIT: Found this, his original grave & marker set by Charlie Utter "Colorado Charlie" (seated) and Steve Utter (standing).

http://uwacadweb.uwyo.edu/robertshistor ... rriage.htm

Thanks

Here's a picture I found of (l to r) James Butler "Wild Bill" Hickok, John Baker "Texas Jack" Omohundro, and William F. "Buffalo Bill" Cody that may be from the time they were in "Scouts of The Prairie" and he first met Agnes Thatcher Lake. Fascinating stuff to read.

[JALLEN]

Where was Jingles?

[jimlongley]

My paternal grandmother was born in Santa Fe in 1879 to a Cavalry officer. She grew up in that "Old West" and told vivid tales of the realities of frontier life which I wish I had listened to more carefully instead of concentrating on her meeting Buffalo Bill and Annie Oakley among others.

When on a "pilgrimage" west as a child, we visited Deadwood and that famous grave, and got snowed on, in the summer time, in Montana.

Same thing a couple of years later traveling to the Boy Scout Jamboree.

[Oldgringo]

...When on a "pilgrimage" west as a child, we visited Deadwood and that famous grave, and got snowed on, in the summer time, in Montana.

Same thing a couple of years later traveling to the Boy Scout Jamboree.

Yep, where we'll be tomorrow, 48°North on Flathead Lake, MT, June 20th is a pretty big deal.

[The Annoyed Man]

That was/is a long steep hill to climb back in the day before Dodge Rams had Cummins Diesel engines. BTW, Martha Jane Burke aka Calamity Jane is buried next to Wild Bill along with "Potato Creek" Johnny.

I read that he really had no use for Calamity Jane and her burial next to him was kind of a joke. Anyone know what happened to his wife/widow that he married not too long before he was murdered?

EDIT: Found this, his original grave & marker set by Charlie Utter "Colorado Charlie" (seated) and Steve Utter (standing).

http://uwacadweb.uwyo.edu/robertshistor ... rriage.htm

Oh Lordy thanks for that link. I love reading stuff like this. My favorite part:

The minister was not convinced that the marriage would go well. He wrote in the Marriage Record of the First Methodist Church of Cheyenne (a microfilmed copy of which is the collection of the Cultural Resources Division, Wyoming State Parks and Cultural Resources Department): “Don’t think he meant it.” 

[puma guy]

That was/is a long steep hill to climb back in the day before Dodge Rams had Cummins Diesel engines. BTW, Martha Jane Burke aka Calamity Jane is buried next to Wild Bill along with "Potato Creek" Johnny.

I read that he really had no use for Calamity Jane and her burial next to him was kind of a joke. Anyone know what happened to his wife/widow that he married not too long before he was murdered?

EDIT: Found this, his original grave & marker set by Charlie Utter "Colorado Charlie" (seated) and Steve Utter (standing).

http://uwacadweb.uwyo.edu/robertshistor ... rriage.htm

Oh Lordy thanks for that link. I love reading stuff like this. My favorite part:

The minister was not convinced that the marriage would go well. He wrote in the Marriage Record of the First Methodist Church of Cheyenne (a microfilmed copy of which is the collection of the Cultural Resources Division, Wyoming State Parks and Cultural Resources Department): “Don’t think he meant it.” 

I'm with you on that. I enjoy it too. I read that Wild Bill had a premonition about dying, so maybe that would explain his writing this in a letter to Agnes shortly before his death. "Agnes Darling, if such should be we never meet again, while firing my last shot, I will gently breathe the name of my wife — Agnes — and with wishes even for my enemies I will make the plunge and try to swim to the other shore."

Here's another tidbit I discovered about Colorado Charlie. He was a very meticulous man in his appearance, wearing tailored buckskins and decorated moccasins. And unheard of in his time, he bathed everyday!