Title: Letter from Buffalo Bill | He Gives an Entertaining Description of His London Experience

Periodical: The Daily Picayune

Date: July 12, 1887

More metadata
 

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 Roy [1] 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. [back]

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. [back]

Note 3: President Ulysses S. Grant (1822-1885). [back]

Title: Letter from Buffalo Bill | He Gives an Entertaining Description of His London Experience

Periodical: The Daily Picayune

Date: July 12, 1887

Also appeared as:

  Title: Letter from Buffalo Bill He Gives an Entertaining Description of His London Experience |

  Periodical: The Daily Picayune

  Date: July 12, 1887

Also appeared as:

  Title:

  Periodical: New Zealand Herald

  Date: October 15, 1887

Topic: Buffalo Bill's Wild West in Britain

Keywords: Accidents United States. Army. Kansas Cavalry Regiment, 7th (1861-1865) United States. Army. Kansas Infantry Regiment, 13th (1862-1865)

People: Edward VII, King of Great Britain, 1841-1910 Grant, Ulysses S. (Ulysses Simpson), 1822-1885

Place: London (England)

Sponsor: This project is supported in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Geraldine W. & Robert J. Dellenback Foundation.

Editorial Statement | Conditions of Use

TEI encoded XML: View wfc.nsp00876.xml

Back to top