Yours of the 11th recd You say you are not my little favorite or I would take the time to come & see you My Dear dont you know that it is impossible for me to leave my show. it cant run without me. I have one hundred and fifty people My expenses are $1,000 a day I cant leave them, surely. I would come if it were possible. And I cant say when I can come either but I hope to some day. Yes. Dear. if I get near your home so that you can come I want you to be sure and do so. I am still haveing lots of rainy weather which
is bad for my business and I am still loosing lots of money. but will make it up when I get North. dont fear I will send the locket & picture soon— Little Pet. its impossible for me to write from every place. I have so much to do. but will think of you from every place. will that do? I have two little girls living have lost a little Boy & Girl.
[3] My Wife and I have separated but no divorce yet
[4] thats what I ment by saying as yet I am a single man. No Dear I am not afraid to trust you with my secret. I have none. You know now all about my family affairs. Little Pet. dont think I have forgotten or am neglecting you. if I dont write oftner. will write when ever I can.
Note 1: Buffalo Bill's Wild West performed in Montgomery, Alabama, on April 14 and 15, 1885, and may have been enroute from a performance in Mobile to its next date in Columbia, Tennessee, when this letter was written. [back]
Note 2: Although the recipient is not named here, details in the letter strongly suggest that it was Mollie Moses. [back]
Note 3: Cody's living children at the time were his daughters Arta (1866-1904) and Irma (1883-1918). Two of Cody's children had died young: his son Kit (1870-76) and daughter Orra (1872-1883). [back]
Note 4: The marriage between William F. Cody and Louisa Frederici Cody was often strained. William Cody had initiated divorce proceedings in 1883, but withdrew the petition upon the death of Orra Cody that fall. The Codys were living in separate residences in 1885, as they did for much of their marriage. [back]
