Title: Letter from William F. Cody to George T. Beck

Date: May 17, 1896

Author: Cody, William Frederick, 1846-1917

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WM Russell Allen, Prest.
J. W. Wallace, Sec'y & Treas.
[drawing]

Woodward & Tiernan Prt'g Co. St. Louis


The Southern
Absolutely Fire Proof.
Henry C. Lewis, Manager.
St. Louis,

May 17 1896 [1]

My Dear George—

Well from the letters that came in to day Banking house of Meyer-Chapman & Bretche [2] Red. also Millis & Co [3] — Red Lodge [4] — I guess Hymer was right. We do owe thousands in Red Lodge and you never mentioned it. Why did you not tell us in Philadelphia that we owed Millis & Co $2700? God only know how much more that we owe that you dont mention. And I have begged you to let me know— But you wont. George these letters settles it. I cant stand being treated   this way any longer— its not justice or even friendship. Every thing else at your end as near as I can find out is being run in a loose careless way. there seems to be no head or tail to any thing.

N And we can get no report on what you are doing. We got a statement to day of dirt mooved. Yes. But we dont know what you are doing out side. Millis bill for instance. I send these letters to Alger to forward to you I want you to know what the best business firms in that country are saying You ceartainly dont care   or wont or are as they say drunk all the time. of all the worry I ever had this caps it all—

You must get expenses down— do what we you can with our own teams let the rest go— there is no one now to protect your bills but my self. The rest have all quit— dissatisfied with management they are allso getting letters from the best men in that country. And claim they can get not no report from you. George its not right—

Still your discouraged friend

Cody

Note 1: Buffalo Bill's Wild West performed in St. Louis, Missouri, May 18-23, 1896; no performance was held on Sunday, May 17. The day's entry in the 1896 Route Diary: "St. Louis, Mo. / Sunday, May 17. Arrived in town at 1.30 P.M., a good run considering distance traveled. Everything on the lot at 4.30, and all up before dark. Byrns, the Irish soldier, who left at Cumberland, Md., joined us again to-day and went on duty. Nate Salsbury, manager of the Wild West, came on from Chicago, and met us at the lot to-day. We found the lot large but uneven, with every indication of being bad in wet weather. J. Allen Darnaby tells an amusing story, much to the delight of Messrs. Hutchinson, Showles and Stanton." [back]

Note 2: William F. Meyer, John Chapman, and Paul Breteche were the founding partners of Meyer, Chapman & Breteche, a banking company in Red Lodge, Montana, which became Meyer and Chapman Bank upon the death in 1898 of Paul Breteche. [back]

Note 3: In 1889 Orville E. Millis (1857-1935) established a wholesale and retail store in Red Lodge, Montana; Millis was one of three Carbon County Commissioners appointed in 1894. Shoshone Irrigation Company purchased goods from the company. [back]

Note 4: Red Lodge, Montana, lies 65 miles north of Cody and the closest rail line to Cody, Wyoming. [back]

Title: Letter from William F. Cody to George T. Beck

Source: University of Wyoming, American Heritage Center, Buffalo Bill Letters to George T. Beck (Acc. #9972), ah031347-49

Date: May 17, 1896

Author: Cody, William Frederick, 1846-1917

Topic: Buffalo Bill's Wyoming

People: Beck, George Washington Thornton, 1856-1943 Meyer, William F. Chapman, John Breteche, Paul Millis, Orville E., 1857-1935 Alger, Horace Chapin, 1857-1906

Place: Shoshone Irrigation District (Wyo.)

Sponsor: Supported in part by a grant from the Wyoming Cultural Trust Fund, a program of the Department of State Parks and Cultural Resources.

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