The William F. Cody Archive: Documenting the life and times of Buffalo Bill

Colonel Cody's mammoth show is within a few days of its close, but I understand that the "Wild West" will be with us for some weeks to come. The staff and cattle need a rest after their exertions of the few past months, before they go back to America, so the buffalo and bucking bronco will go on the grass and the cow boy and Indian brave will loaf around the town for a little.

By the way, it does not appear to be generally known that Colonel Cody's Red Indians, like every other member of his company, are paid a regular weekly wage. The impression seems to be that the untutored child of the prairies "takes it out" in civilisation and his grub, but this is not the case. So the poor Indian has had long enough experience of the pale face and his ways to know the value of the glittering dollar, and he gets paid like any white man. The chiefs of course, get a larger salary than the ordinary warriors.

"The Wild West" is not, properly speaking, the property of Colonel Cody. I believe, he and Major Burke, along with Mr. Salisbury, run the show for a big American Syndicate, and have done so all along since it first appearance in this country.