Cowboy Heros

Here is an article I found last night regarding some real cowboys in Montana in 1895. MY ggf and gf were ranchers in northern Montana anf the range wars and range riders were happening. Cattle ranchers hated sheep ranchers. I don't know why this killing happened but I suspect it was a range war. My family managed to keep out of it all.

JESSIE DAVIS KILLED: Jesse Davis was killed at a ranch about 25 miles north (sic) of Malta last Saturday night. He, with a party of half a dozen other unknown men, went to the ranch of James Marshall on Beaver Creek, to execute a threat made some days previous. …

Davis, approaching the door, told Marshall to come out. Marshall refused to move, and the door was opened and Davis crossed the threshold. As he did so, there was a flash, a loud report and Davis fell to the floor stone dead with a charge of shot directly to the neck. At this the rest of the party quickly mounted their horses and rode off in the darkness. … Jesse Davis is one of three brothers well known in and around Malta. He was the youngest of the three, being 22 years of age. … Marshall is a sheepman and lives on Beaver Creek just across the boundary line of Choteau and Valley counties. He is one of the firm of Mercer & Marshall and is quite a prosperous sheep owner.

This from the Glasgow Courier in Montana.
 
iu

Bob Fleming, Barney Furey, Frank Leigh, and Tom Mix in King Cowboy (1928)
 
They have quite a collection of fabrics from silent movies to Hell on Wheels. I find it fascinating how tiny most of the actor are/were. Today is not going to happen as my crud is hanging on. I will try to get actual measurements of John Wayne.
 
Twostep said:
They have quite a collection of fabrics from silent movies to Hell on Wheels. I find it fascinating how tiny most of the actor are/were. Today is not going to happen as my crud is hanging on. I will try to get actual measurements of John Wayne.
Click to expand...
6' 4"
 
There were a handful of real life famous cowgirls. To name three: Calamity Jane, Annie Oakley, but Belle Starr was my favorite, lol

For all her antics in the 1800’s I can’t believe she rode side saddle. It takes a heck of a rider to sit sidesaddle and wield a gun.

IMG_0229.jpeg
“Belle Starr was born Myra Maybelle Shirley near Carthage, Missouri, on February 5, 1848. Her father was John R. Shirley, a farmer who later owned a local inn. Her mother, twenty years younger than her husband, was Elizabeth (Eliza) Hatfield Shirley, who was related to the Hatfield family of the infamous Hatfield-McCoy feud. As a child, Shirley attended Carthage Female Academy. She enjoyed the outdoors and horseback riding, becoming a better rider than most women of her time. Among Shirley’s childhood friends in Missouri was Cole Younger, who after the Civil War joined neighbors Frank and Jesse James in robbing trains, stagecoaches, and banks. Fleeing the law, they sometimes hid on the Shirley farm, and the teenage Shirley became influenced by their life of crime.”

Belle Starr (1848–1889) - Encyclopedia of Arkansas
 
Imogene said:
There were a handful of real life famous cowgirls. To name three: Calamity Jane, Annie Oakley, but Belle Starr was my favorite, lol

For all her antics in the 1800’s I can’t believe she rode side saddle. It takes a heck of a rider to sit sidesaddle and wield a gun.

View attachment 378388
“Belle Starr was born Myra Maybelle Shirley near Carthage, Missouri, on February 5, 1848. Her father was John R. Shirley, a farmer who later owned a local inn. Her mother, twenty years younger than her husband, was Elizabeth (Eliza) Hatfield Shirley, who was related to the Hatfield family of the infamous Hatfield-McCoy feud. As a child, Shirley attended Carthage Female Academy. She enjoyed the outdoors and horseback riding, becoming a better rider than most women of her time. Among Shirley’s childhood friends in Missouri was Cole Younger, who after the Civil War joined neighbors Frank and Jesse James in robbing trains, stagecoaches, and banks. Fleeing the law, they sometimes hid on the Shirley farm, and the teenage Shirley became influenced by their life of crime.”

Belle Starr (1848–1889) - Encyclopedia of Arkansas
Click to expand...
I liked to watch Hopalong Cassidy on TV. I remember I really liked it when Annie Oakley was in them. I had a crush on her. :) I loved watching her ride and do her stunts. Didn't she do the Buffalo Bill's "Wild West Show"?

Here is an episode of Hopalong...the beginning shows off Annie. No need to watch the whole thing unless you want.

 
Imogene said:
There were a handful of real life famous cowgirls. To name three: Calamity Jane, Annie Oakley, but Belle Starr was my favorite, lol

For all her antics in the 1800’s I can’t believe she rode side saddle. It takes a heck of a rider to sit sidesaddle and wield a gun.

View attachment 378388
“Belle Starr was born Myra Maybelle Shirley near Carthage, Missouri, on February 5, 1848. Her father was John R. Shirley, a farmer who later owned a local inn. Her mother, twenty years younger than her husband, was Elizabeth (Eliza) Hatfield Shirley, who was related to the Hatfield family of the infamous Hatfield-McCoy feud. As a child, Shirley attended Carthage Female Academy. She enjoyed the outdoors and horseback riding, becoming a better rider than most women of her time. Among Shirley’s childhood friends in Missouri was Cole Younger, who after the Civil War joined neighbors Frank and Jesse James in robbing trains, stagecoaches, and banks. Fleeing the law, they sometimes hid on the Shirley farm, and the teenage Shirley became influenced by their life of crime.”

Belle Starr (1848–1889) - Encyclopedia of Arkansas
Click to expand...
Beautiful poem on Belle Star’s tombstone featuring a star, a bell and a horse
IMG_2234.jpeg
‘Shed not for her a bitter tear, Nor give the heart to vain regret, Tis but the casket that lies here, The gem that filled it sparkles yet’
 
Wren said:
Beautiful poem on Belle Star’s tombstone featuring a star, a bell and a horse

‘Shed not for her a bitter tear, Nor give the heart to vain regret, Tis but the casket that lies here, The gem that filled it sparkles yet’
Click to expand...

When I studied the photo I posted of her, I thought the horse looked way more impressive than your ordinary farm horse for those days. The horse is a beautiful specimen and pretty much perfectly put together.

So I googled around. Since we all know the internet doesn’t lie🙄🙄, I learned she only rode Thorobreds and raced them.

Her love for good horse flesh is likely why someone saw fit to add a horse to the memorial❤️
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top