A RANCHMAN'S RECOLLECTIONS 



a circus some time before the illness which resulted 

 in his death, my boy, who had heard me talk of Mr. 

 Cody's early life, and had read numerous stories 

 about him, asked me to take a little bunch of boys 

 to call on him after the afternoon show. 



I introduced myself from the Leavenworth stand- 

 point. Col. Cody exclaimed, "Why, I know your 

 father well ! I bought guns and ammunition from 

 him ; he used to sell the old Dupont powder." Then 

 he had us all come into the wonderful shelter tent 

 kept for him between performances. The boys will 

 never forget that visit, and Col. Cody's kindly chat 

 with them. The hand that shook "Buffalo Bill's" is 

 still a tradition in Stamford. I sought to go when 

 the boys went, but the colonel detained me for an 

 hour or so, asking about all the old friends whom he 

 had known in the early days, many of them dead, 

 and as those who had gone beyond were mentioned 

 a shadow of sadness would flit across his face, fol- 

 lowed perhaps by some story of such men as Levi 

 Wilson, Len Smith, Capt. Tough and Alexander 

 Caldwell — men of force and personality in the '50's 

 and '6o's. 



Col. Cody then made me tell him all I knew of 

 the Texas cattle industry, and In turn he told me 

 about his own ranch near Cody, Wyo., adding, "You 

 know I have been over this wonderful west until It 

 Is just like going from one room In your own home 

 to another, and when I had seen It all I picked out 



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