PAGE TWO
THE GREATEST SING
IN AMERICAN H!Sr
CAL MAN HERO f
Thrilling Tale of Old F
Under Rigid
LOCAL CITIZEN ADDS
OF THE C
The following story taken from the
Dearborn Independent and written by
W alter Noble Burn* is tkmelv and
good reading in view of the fact that
a touch of local color ic added to
the story from an interview with W. j
L.. Bryan. Esquire of Boone, who re
member* McCanies well, having cast ;
his first vote for him when he was
running for sheriff of Watauga when,
Mr Bry an was a young man. We
are giving out the following information
hom Mr. Bryan's talk, which '
will add more than a little interest I
to the story as published in the Ford
journal:
i>. C. McCanles v u.s the son of Jim
McCanies, who formers lived on the
Watauga River near what is now
Shulk Mills. He wa> elected sheriff
at Watauga county the first term
:ri 185-"' Mr. Bryan represents McCanies
as having been a man of Herculean
statue, a fin. business man
and a very capable officer. He made!
hi.-- second race against John Horton j
well remembered by the older people!
of the county in IH57, and was attain |
elected. lie was married to a daughter
of Mr. Joe Green who resided j
near where the old German Reform j
Church now stands near Blowing
Rock, and had either three or four)
children when he left the county.'
which was in 1859. He collected a
considerable amount of money on
taxes, as big money went in those
days, -*nd had placed $1,000 in the
care of Mr. Bryan, who was conducting
a store in Boone for Jacob Rondels,
of Charlotte, it being left in
his care to vchange for silver and
gold, with which to pay off some
"sp. -ie" obligations However the
money was withdrawn before the exchange
was made. The Sheriff then
pi based from the store two pistols
and a new saddle and left for Wilkes
county, as he said, to pay off some
liabilities. Bui instead of going there
he made his way to the Watauga River.
took with him Mt>s Kate Shall,
a dashing young mountain beauty,
From there the couple made their way
on horseback to Johnson ?'itv. Tenn.
where McCanles sold his horses to
the late Dru Dyei of Watauga, and
boarded the train for the west. The
same Miss Shu 11 is living now at
Shulls Mills, she being 92 years old.
The story as published in the 'Independent"
follows:
Wild Bill Hickock's fight with the
el anaiess gang is one of the- classic
stories of the West. It has been
fight in American history." It has
been printed countless times. As the
fabric of many a penny dreadful, it
has been read by thousands of boys
of an older generation under their
desks at school or in the sanctuary
of the hayloft far from stern parental
eyes. It has been printed in books,
of a more pretentious nature by authors
of reputation and become familiar
to everyone interested in the
history of the old frontier. So thrilling
is this taie of desperate heroism
so picturesque in its quick, vivid drama.
that it seems little short of sacrilege
at this late day to impugn nts
veracity. But as it has been handed
down by tradition and :n type for
more than sixty years, it s mereiy
fiction with little more than a basis
of truth.
The old story runs in this way:
Ten members of the "McCandless
gang*' bound on a horse stealing foray,
swooped down on the relay staiton
of the Overland Stage < ompany
at "Rock Springs, Kansas," at the
outbreak of the Civil War. They were
lead by "Bill McCandless, horse thief
murderer, terror of the border. Wild
Bill was alone. He barricaded himself
in the cabin and when the bandits
broke down the door and stormed the
house he emptied his rifie'and sixshooter
and then fought on with his
bowie knife. Some stories say he
killed ten men, some eight. Nom
credits him with having killed fewei
than seven. He himself is said tc
have been so desperately wounded
that it was a yea r before he recovered.
The facts are: Only three mer
were killed. They were. Dave McCanles,
James Woods and James Gordon
Wild Bill killed McCanless?there is
no doubt of that. He shot Woods and
Gordon. It is probable that Woods
died from the wound that Wild Bill
gave him, though this is not certain,
Gordon, according to reliable evidence,
was killed by a shot front
another man. instead of having killed
ten men, or eight or seven, Wild
LE HANDED FIGHT
rORY-FORMER LO)F
THRILLING STORY
rentier Days Gives Way
I nvpstmafinn
s
5 INTEREST TO STORY
?LD WEST
Bill may be credited v. ih absolute
certainty with having: killed only one.
The fight did not occur at "Rock j
Springs. Kansas" usually seated in,
the stories as "fifty rmies west of j
: Topeka," nor in Kansas at all, but!
at Rock Creek. Nebraska Bill McCandless"
of tradition became David
Colbert McCanles of fact, neither
horse thief or murderer or criminal.
The McCanles gang simmers down
to McCanles, Woods, his cousin, Gordon
his employee, and Munroe MeCanlcss
his twelve year old son.
Wild Bill was alone. There were
also present in the house Horace Welir.au
the station agent; Mrs. Wellman,
Sarah Kelsey. afterward Mrs. Sarah
Billings and possibly Kate Schell for
whose favor McCanless and Wild Bill
were rivals and who is regarded by
some as at least an indirect cause
of the tragedy. At the stables a short
distance away were several others in
th e employ of the -tage company.
Far from beir.tr desneratolv wounded
Wild Bill was unhurt.
My antiquarian adventure began
at Beatrice. Nebraska, where a fragment
of the documentary evidence of
Wild Bill's trial remains. Twenty five
; miles west in the cemeterj at Fairbuiv
is the corpus delicti of the old
case in the graves of McCanles and
Woods. On the gray granite marker
set up by Munroe Met allic in 1SS0
| is inscribed "I). C. McCanles, James
Woods, July Kb I SGI." The inscription
gives the authentic date of the
s tight and the authentic spelling of
the McCanles name,
i I found Clingman McCanles and
Lizzie McCanles. children of Dave
McCanles, on the farm <>f Mrs. Win.
Compton near the village of Endicott
seven miles southeast of Fairbury.
Mrs. Compton is a daughter of "Irish
John" Hughes and Dave McCanles*
iwidow. who were married in 1S65.
1 "Irish John" is generally credited
with having fired the shot that killed
Gordon. Their tragic heritage still
embitters the memories of these old
people. Lizzie McCanles recalled with
tears the "murder " of her father
Clingman McCanles said: "Wild Bill's
. act was fold blooded murder. He had
:o more right to Kill my father than
1 have to kill you."
Other children of* Dave McCanles
are stili living:. Munroe McCanles,
now 75 years old, lives in Kansas
City where he practiced law for sev1
eral years. Julius McCanles lives in
: Florence, Colorado, Charles McCanles
( is a grocer in Denver. Leroy McCan:
ley a brother of Dave McCanles and
associated with him in business at
Rock Creek, died two years ago at
! Florence, Colorado, where he was a
wealthy banker. Mrs Dave McCaa ? s
died at the home of her son Char:. i
in Denver in 1904.
The site of the old Rock Creek Sta
S lion, four miles southeast of Endicutr
is still plainly marked by large red
stones, known locaiiy as nigge.rheads
which formed the foundations of the
house. Close to the west end is the
old well, forty feet deep, lined with
* iggerheads and empty of water. No
trace of the stabies remains. Near
by Rock Creek flows under oaks, hex
elders and cotton woods. Deep indentations
on its bank show where Dave
| McCanles toll bridge stood. Rutted
outlines of the old Oregon trail are
discernible on a neighboring slope.
Express trains now flash by the scene
where once the Overland stage ohan'
ged horses and the endless caravans
, of covered wagons went by. All about
is the stillness of wooded hills and
.' rolling farmlands.
Standing by the skeleton foundations
it is easy to orientate the old
agedy and to y with approximate
1 accuracy. There stood Wild Bill when
the fight began;" On this spot McCanles
fell;" "There Woods stumbled
I; to his death;" and "Yonder toward
; , AlJ j i~
u.??r urn vi iurc, me aoomed ana woun
ded Gordon staggered in flight." Ea|
sy too. with the aid of old descrip^
tion.s. to reconstruct in fancy the old
; stage station, built of hewn logs, 36
feet long, sixteen feet wide, eight
j feet high at the eaves, with puncheon
floor, open stone fireplace, stone
chimney on the outside and a clap[
board roof sloping both ways from
a ridge pole. It was a house of a
' single room with an attic entered
> through a window in the east end by
I an outside ladder. Seventy five feet
. to the northwest stood the barn. 80
feet long, twenty wide and construei
ted of perpindicular logs.
Bound for Pike's Peak during the
I gold excitement and accompanied by
THE WATAUGA DEMOCRAT?
James Woods, his cousin, Dave MeCanles
arrived at Rock Creek from
North Carolina in 1859. Seeing goo'i
business prospects in selling supplies
to Pike's Peak arganauts and emigrants
swarming westward over the
Oregon trail he bought Newton Glenn
ranch on the west bank of the creek
and built a store. This became known
as Wot Rock Creek station 10 distill
guish i' from East Rook Crook station
which lie built later directly ?cross
the stream. This latter place
v.as -ometinies known as Elkhorn sta
.on from a pair c>f antlers nailed
above the door and was the scene of
the Wild Bill-McCanles fight.
McCanies used the West Side Sta
tion as a depot for freighters and
emigrants and the east side station'
as a relay station for the Overland
stage and the pony express. His toll)
bridge, which he built across Rock
("reek between the two stations and
for crossing which he charged from
ten cents to a dollar and a half for
each team outfit, brought him in a
large revenue, as emigrant traffic was
heavy. He en.plowed from teki to
twenty men at the two stations to
tend store, take care of the norscs
and stock, give service to the stages
and freight in supplies for the emi
grant trade from Atchison, Nebraska
City and Fort Leavenworth. His business
is said to have netted him from
$500 to $1,000 a month. Then* is a
tradition that shortly before bis deathhe
buried $10,000 in gold in iron
kettle at Rock Creek and marked the
spot with two boulders. This story
may be purely apocryphal but certain
it is that many men have due industriously
in an effort to unearth the
hidden treasure.
McCanles' wife and children joined
him a few months after his arrival;
and made their home at East Rock .
Creek station. The domestic situs-1
tion wa s complicated soon afterward
by the arrival of Kate Schell with
whom McCanles had had an affdir in
North Carolina and whom he cstab-1
I ished as mistress of the west side
house. Kate Schell was twenty years;
old. Some stories represent her as
I a. gay. dashing, devil-may-care young,
woman who sometimes sat in at n
card game with men and was not a !
verse to a toodv. Others picture herj
as a quiet girl of some education and j
refinement. Ail agree that with her i
lark hair and eves and trim figure,j
>he was unusually pretty. Why, with
Keck ( reek dividing domesticity from
romance Mr.>. McCanles who was an
intrepid woman, did not take matters
into her ow n hands and visit summary
vengeance on her rival, was a question
often debate d among the settle;
s. The bitterness between the two
women, however, never reached the
point of open vendetta ami the reason
doubtless lay in the submission
of both to the iron will of McOanles.
Kate Scbell remains a mystery figure
in the Rook Creek drama stepping
abruptly into view out of the
unknown two years before the tragedy
and immediately disappearing
into oblivion.
McCanles, who was twenty eight I
year; old when he arrived at Rock
Creek, was six feet in. height, weighed
two hundred pounds and -.vas of,
extraordinary strength. The daguerre
otype photograph* of him still in posession
01 his family show a -warded
man with a merry eve and .he 10uust
look of a jovial buccaneer. His}
character and psychology are difficult)
to guage even b\ the cr.nons of hisj
own wild times. He was a shrewd bus
I iness man and became the richest man
! of his part of the frontier. He \va* dy
: nnic, aggressive, belligerent, domii
veering, with an egotism that amouuj
- led almost, if not quite, to megaloI
mania; yet he was generous, hospi-'
<table, unquestionably courageous, full
I of boisterous, roistering fun. played
j the fiddle and banjo and played a |
j rousing song. He was the champion;
wrestler of the countryside and reveled
in a good fist fight. In a country
without law, ho arrogated himself
I . u.. , ..;< t ,.^o J ? --
uiv n^iu >u puiii.-Mi tiucii) ami nificilessly
anyone who violated his personal
code of right and justice. He
was a hard drinker, an inveterate
gambler, immoral if not unmoral, and
a bully, but there is no record that
he ever killed anyone or was guilty
of any grave crime. Viewed through
the perspective of the years, ne
seems to have been a jovial ruffian
and though bad em ugh, not half so
bad as he had been painted. If he
had enemies he also had many friends
Here are some anecdotes of this
complex frontier character narrated
over McCanles' grave in the cemetery
at Fairbury by Ross Helvey who
had located the spot for me. Helvey
had the stories from his father Tom
Helvey who on the day after the
fight at Rock Creek, assisted in the
burial of the three dead men.
"Harry Golf, who worked for McCanles
about the station was a great
fellow to get drunk," said Helvey.
"McCanles had done everything tc
keep him sober but it wasn't any use.
McCanles found Gotf lying under a
tree one day, dead drunk. He filled
Goff's hair and beard with powder
and laying a train of powder along
the ground, called his men about to
watch the fun. He set a match to
EVERY THURSDAY?BOONE, N. C
ihe train and in a moment there was
.111 explosion that left GotT hairless
and beardless and came near putting
out his eyes. GotT jumped up in a
rage and wanted to fight. McCanies
knocked him down, tied him on an
?roken horse and turned the animal
loose. The horse bucked all over
the landscape until it was worn out.
That cured GotT of drunkenness.
. mar. in mv country in a wrestle
or a fist fight, lie wasn't far wrong
ther. big powerful fellow was
tting with a gang of workmen on
nv father's porch when McCanles
.hopped in on a little neighborly visit.
He went up to the big man and
-aid 'Get up. t ou'd orter be a good
tighter.' The man stood up and McCanles
felt his muscles. 'Yes,* he de.
.ared, "you're a powerful good man
but I can lick you Step out here
in the yard and we'll fight it out.'
The big fellow was game, ami as McCanles
had said, was a powerful good
man. They fought for nearly an hour
McCanles won but he used to say it
was the hardest fight he ever had in
his life.
Making of a Bad Man
When the Civil War broke out McCanles
determined to turn his properties
into cash, go back to th?> south
and fight for the Confederacy. Having
disposed of West Rock Creek station.
he sold the Elkhorn station to
u..,. ~r *u,
Stage C ompany in May 18B1, and
moved his family to a ranch four
miles away at a point where Rock
Creek empties into the little Blue
River, near the present village of
Kndicott He received a sum down
and the remainder was to be paid in
monthly installments over a short
period to be agreed upon. Holliday
placed Horace Wellman at the sta
tion as agent and Wellman was to
deliver the monthly payments to McCanles.
At this juncture Wild Bill Hickok
steps into the story. He was not Wild
Bill then; the McCanles fight conferred
that title upon him. His name was
James Butler Hickok but he was
known as Bill Hickock.
Wild Bill Hickock in later years
was said to be the handsomest man
of his day on the frontier. Kate
Schell it is said fell in love with him
at first sight. The budding romance
I reached the tars of McCanles and
i .. U r I-- ...... .... I?... 1
uimiit- iuiimumv jettious. nuv ne
| threw no lai i*t about Hickock's neck
r did he drag him by way of punhinont
at his horse's heels. The
I youthful Appollo, who with a bullet
| from his six-shooter could hit a tonal
o can tossed into the air and
vho was as dynamic and fiery a per|
sonality as McCanles himself, was
not a man to he trifled with and was
looked upon even then as dangerous.
| When the first months' rent on
[ the station fell due, Wellman failed
j to pay. lie told McCanles the money
j had not come from company headquarters.
McCanles was skeptical but
waited another month. Wellman failed
to pay the second installment
This angered McCanles.
j At four o'clock in the afternoon,
i
An Er-:
It requires n
aate the ou
Not only is
market, but
to keep in cc
after years c
All 1
hut
?
SEE THE
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i -July twelfth, McCanles. accompanied1
; Sy Gordon. Woods and Munroe McCanles,
rode to the Rock Creek stage !
station.
The four riders dismounted at the'
la?'. It is presumed that Woods and
Gordon remained at the barn to prevent
interference by the stable hands
in case McCanles got int? trouble.
McCanles met Wellman at the south
door of the cabin. He charged him
w:th dealing rht money due him and
demanded immediate payment or posession
of the premises.
Til get your money in time Mae"
\Yc::nian said rut 1 haven't been.
! able to get it'yet."'
"You'ii a liar," McCanles burled
! at him "and a thief to boot."
Mrs. Wellman crowded to the door
: ... v..... u,a ?i . - ?i.. i
?.-> ii* ? hm?-1..iu icuvavoj u> uie iioum'
: She was a corageous woman, noted !
for her sharpness of tongue and she
voileyed vituperation upon the lower- j
i ing giant facing her.
"My business," said McCanles conj
tcmp'.uously, "is with men, not withi
! a woman."
Wild Bill Hickoek thereupon brush
ed Mrs. Well man aside and confronti
ed McCanles.
"I'm a man," he said.
"I've come to have the thing out I
with Well man," McCanles replied,
"This ain't no affair of yours, Bill.*'
"Perhaps 'tis or 'taint," snapped
back Hickoek.
"We are friends, Bill aint we?" j
asked McCanles.
WiM B?U did not answer.
"You -end Well man out here so
I can settle with him or I'll come
in and get him," McCanles threatened.
Wild Bill stepped back into the
house as if to comply. As Well man
did not reappear, McCanles walked
inside. He was just in time to see
Wild Bill disappearing behind t blan1
ket which curtained off the east end I
of the house as a bedroom.
"Come out from behind that curtain
Bill/' McCanlcs roared.
Wild Bill stepped out with a rifle
in hi hands?it was McCanles* own
rifle left behind when he had sold
the station?-and shot McCanles thru)
the heart. McCanles staggered back
11 rough the door and fell dead on I
the ground at the feet of his little
son.
Hearing the shot, Woods and Gordon
ran to the house. Woods rushed
! in at the West end door as Gordon
entered the front. Wild Bill shot
Woods twice with a six-shooter and
Gordon once. Both turned and ran.
Woods ran around the house and fell
1 in some weeds at the east end. Gor
don staggered towards the Rock
5 Creek ^bridge and Wild Bill, stepping
: out the front door, emptied his revolver
at him. wounding him again
i in the back.
Death of Wild Bill
Wjld Bill subsequently became the
most famous of the frontier's long
; roll of bad men. He was scout and
spy in the Union army during the
. Civil War, scout in later Indian campaigns
and marshal of Hays City,
, Abilene, and Ellsworth,the toughest
C&
...u-.....ii.
->? Rim. Ui tM \^5?JL
?
^eptionar
o technical knowledge of autorr.obil
standing value of the Ford Tourin
it the lowest priced five-passenger
i-? OK*.1 a v.ai uiai v.u?i? nine IU VJ
jndition and has an unusually high
>f service.
Ford Cars are sold on convenient deferred term*
be purchased under the Ford Weekly Purchase F
(vD Detroit, Michigan
NEAREST AUTHORIZED FORD DE
5-TRUCKS - TRACT
UHMMHMMBMHm
APRIL 17, 1924
towns on the border in old cattle tra ! i
and radroad building days. lie is ycii } J
erally rated as the quickest man on
the draw and the deadliest marksman
with a six-shooter the West ever
knew. How many men he killed
a dubious o ; est ion. Butfalo Bill who
was associated with him in Indian
iiiiu Mivr> mui ijv.ini.iiv.lv uiice
told me that tn?* dead men who slept
in Wild Bill's "private graveyard"
numbered more than thirty.
\N ild Bill was killed in Deadwood
in 1871). While playing poker he va*
shot in the back of the head by Jack
McCall who was hanged for the crime
at Yanktown. Though Wild Bill's
death was instantaneous his hands
Hashed to his guns and drew them,
halfway from their scabbards as he
leli lifeless across the card table
When tried before a "miner's court
McCall was asked why he had not
shot his victim in front and given,
him a fair show. His laconic answer
was a tribute to Wild Bill's deadly
facility with a revolver. "I don't want
to commit suicide," said McCall.
Woman Gets $3,000 as **
"Extra Rib" Plea Faila
Philadelphia. A Tier a briet deliberation,
a Jury before .Indue Audenrfed
In the personal damage suit of ?.i7.rlo
Wegsela against Bart hold Hos??nhnr- {
Iter, returned a TerdUt of $3,000 roe.
the pinlin iff.
As to w hether she possesses the pr->- j
xerbial extra rib of women, or had
one of the regular number split Into
two sections by the accident in which
ahe wui hurt, wu an intervatln* arvf
nauauai topic of the teatlmony. Sho
was knocked down by the defendant**
automobile. Tbe Hb condition <r?o
the bone ef contention in the medical j
t antimony.
Counsel for Che defeooe soeftvt to
pro to by the doctor who had eaamfnmf
the 'ojured wonaaa that the vocal 1*4
fractn-e or divided rib wm is reality
the uinch-dJscnaaed estra rib of woman
The phrai'dan replied la the nec*tire.
Jndge Andeorled rest rioted the controversy
over the extra rib. rem arte
tnf dryly: "Moot of us know a rVt
waa taken from Adam to make HIrt."
Rich New York Woman
Leave* Driver $17,000
New York. Mary HL B. Koote ?f
i Lerchmont, prominent member of tba
! New York Soroeta Hub, In her will .
I Wed for probate at White Plain* recently,
left to her chauffeur. Pet or!
! Weta*, and hU wlhe. real eetata worth ,
more than $10,000, har $8,000 Ucnoualaa '
and the contents of her garage. Weiss'
bad been in her ewiptoy 15 jeara
Mr*. Toota'a estate 1? rallied at t
$100,000. To her nlecea, Dale Wto- '
j cheater Ooolldge and Mary Roawioat1
Ooaildge. nmid to be distant reiatlraaj
I of President Coattdga, <ti Water-'
j town, mam., waa left her Jewelry ami.
j furniture. >
Tha reaMae is left equally to the1
niece# and a nra>hew. Jaahaa Warena
! CWlige.
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