Letter from Buffalo Bill Johnston, Jeremy Christianson, Frank Seefeldt, Douglas, 1964- This project is supported in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Geraldine W. & Robert J. Dellenback Foundation. 2014 William F. Cody Archive University of Nebraska-Lincoln Center for Digital Research in the Humanities
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Letter from Buffalo Bill He Gives an Entertaining Description of His London Experience The Daily Picayune New Orleans, Louisiana July 12, 1887 4 Buffalo Bill's Little Joke Columbus Daily Enquirer Columbus, Georgia December 12, 1887 XXIX 320 4 nsp01053 Buffalo Bill's Little Joke Columbus Daily Enquirer Columbus, Georgia December 12, 1887 XXIX 320 4 nsp01053

Texts Newspapers Buffalo Bill's Wild West in Britain Buffalo Bill's Wild West Company United States. Army. Kansas Cavalry Regiment, 7th (1861-1865) United States. Army. Kansas Infantry Regiment, 13th (1862-1865) Edward VII, King of Great Britain, 1841-1910 Grant, Ulysses S. (Ulysses Simpson), 1822-1885 London (England) Weakly, Laura K. Initial encoding Clark, Linda Proofing Hanna, S. Transcription Letter from Buffalo Bill. He Gives an Entertaining Description of His London Experience.

The El Paso Inter-Republics of July 7 contains the following:

Colonel William Roy1 of this city, an old friend and comrade of Buffalo Bill, is in receipt of a frank and characteristic letter from the great scout. It shows conclusively that he is the same Bill, howe'er fortune has smiled. The letter runs as follows:

LONDON, June 23, 1887.

My Dear Colonel--It was a genuine pleasant surprise to receive your letter. I have often thought of you and wondered what had become of you. So glad you are still on top of the earth. Well, ever since I got out of the mud hole in New Orleans,2 things have been coming my way pretty smooth and I have captured this country from the queen down, and am doing them to the tune of $10,000 a day. Talk about show business, there never was anything like it ever known and never will be again, and, with my European reputation, you can easily guess the business I will do when I get back to my own country.

It's pretty hard work with two and three performances a day and the society racket, receptions, dinners, etc. No man, not even Grant,3 was received better than your humble servant. I have dined with every one of the royalty from Albert, Prince of Wales, down. I sometimes wonder if it is the same old Bill Cody, the bull whacker. Well, colonel, I still wear the same sized hat, and when I make my fill I am coming back to visit all the old boys. If you meet any of them, tell them I ain't got the big-head worth a cent. I am over here for dust. Will be glad to hear from any of them. Write me again. Your old-time friend.

BILL CODY. Note 1. William Roy likely became an acquaintance of William F. Cody in Kansas during the Civil War, when Roy was adjutant with the 13th Kansas Infantry and Cody was a volunteer in the 7th Kansas Cavalry. Note 2: The "mud-hole in New Orleans" refers to the forty-four consecutive days of rain the show experienced during their New Orleans performances which ran from December 23, 1884, through April 10, 1885. Audiences and gate receipts were very small, and by the end of that winter the company was in debt $60,000. Note 3: President Ulysses S. Grant (1822-1885).