Little Annie Oakley & Other Rugged People

Little Annie Oakley BY STEWART H. HOLBROOK THE MACMILLAN COMPANY NEW YORK 1948 COPYRIGHT, 1948, BY STEWART H. HOLBROOK All rights reserved no part of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who wishes to quote brief passages in connection with a review written for inclusion in magazine or newspaper. Third Printing PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA FoT WILLIAM M. DOERFLINGEK who suggested it PLAZA 6605597 MAR 2 11966 Anthers Note OVER a period of years almost any American writer will have developed an interest and often an enthusiasm for a wide variety of things native to his country. Ours is a big country, too, yet big as it is, I never cease to marvel at the incredible number of places, people, and events, both past and present, that I should like to write about. But were I to have the lives of four men, placed beginning to end, I could scarce accomplish the object. In the past twenty years and more, however, I have many times come upon subjects which for one reason or another were so compelling as to cause me to lay aside whatever book I was working on and devote gladly enough my time to them. They appeared in magazine or newspaper articles, commonly referred to among the higher literati as fugitive pieces. Then, one day, came a friend, William Doerflinger, to suggest that a modest portion of the book-reading public might enjoy a collection of my fugitives between hard covers. The editors of the periodicals concerned were without exception both prompt and graceful in granting permission to use the pieces in book form and I thank the men of the American Mercury 9 the Ameri can Scholar, the New Yorker, the NewYork Times, the Saturday Review of Literature, Life, Esquire, and the Country Press. Portland, Oregon, STEWART H. HOLBROOK Contents LITTLE ANNIE OAKLEY 1 THE ORIGINAL NATURE MAN 8 MURDER AT HARVARD 19 THE LATE CALAMITY JANE 31 ETHAN ALLEN, AUTHOR 39 SALOON IN THE TIMBER 45 THE BANK THE JAMES BOYS DIDNT ROB 53 ANARCHISTS AT HOME 63 LIFE AND TIMES OF NED BUNTLINE 78 A SALUTE TO BUFFALO BILL 88 GENERAL WALLACE AND Ben-HuT 102 WESTERN MALES ARE SISSIES 107 BOSTONS SCOLLAY SQUARE 113 BOSTONS TEMPLE OF BURLESQUE 122 BOSTON NOCTURNE 131 THE MAN WHO NAMED TOMBSTONE 139 KING OF THE BULL COOKS 148 LITTLE LUKE SHORT 157 FRANK MERRIWELL 161 THE LAST OF THE WOBBLIES 167 KIT CARSON 177 THE GREATEST CORPORAL SINCE NAPOLEON 182 CONTENTS BUGHOUSE CAMP 190 FIRST BOMB 201 LUMBERJACKS SATURDAY NIGHT 207 THE WILDEST MAN OF THE WEST 216 WHISTLE PUNKS 225 THERE THEY STAND, THE YANKEES 230 LITTLE ANNIE OAKLEY and Other RUGGED PEOPLE