Footnotes

'THE ROWDIEST OF ALL ROWDY WESTERN TOWNS' – AN ENGLISH ARCTIC EXPLORER VISITS DODGE CITY. On his return from the Arctic and having established the record for achieving Farthest North, the newly-promoted Captain Albert Hastings Markham decided to visit the United States for a little shooting in the prairies, for which purpose 'he made arrangements to join a United States Cavalry Regiment at Fort Sill, in the Indian Territory, with the nominal objective of scouting after a hostile band of Apache Indians' (M.E. and F.A. Markham, The Life of Sir Albert Hastings Markham, 1927, p. 197). He also took the opportunity of visiting his mother, his parents having emigrated to Trempealeau County, Wisconsin, when he was young; and, being something of a celebrity, gave lectures on his Arctic expedition; in this respect anticipating Wilde by a couple of years.

His journey took him to New York and thence to his mother at Independence, and from there to St Louis and into Indian Territory, travelling by rail and then stage to Fort Sill. After four weeks adventure and hunting with two Indians, he made his way, with the assistance of the Caddoc Indians, to Camp Supply, from where he took the stagecoach to Dodge City, on the approach to which he was joined by a party of what he calls "cow boys" armed with "six shooters"; staying with them at the camping site outside Dodge City known as Soldiers' Graves, or Bear Creek, Station. Dodge was then in the early years of its notoriety; Markham noting that it "enjoys the reputation of being the rowdiest of all rowdy western towns" and that it "contains a population of about 600 people – the houses are all wooden, and the majority of them are either saloons or dancing houses". He marvels at "the sink of iniquity, the perfect ʻhell upon earth' that Dodge City really is"; adding that "Like Sodom & Gomorrah it would be difficult to find half a dozen virtuous people residing there!"

Two extracts must suffice to give some idea of the Markham's much longer account, much of which is devoted to the murderous adventures that the "cow boys" confide to their English companion on the road: "shortly after crossing the Cimarron we passed what is called a ʻcow camp', that is a camp composed of ʻcow boys' or ʻherders' in attendance on a herd of cattle which they are driving from Texas to Kansas. This camp belonged to a party of 26 ʻcow boys' and ʻbull whackers', who had arrived thus far with 7,000 head of cattle. As we were jogging quietly along we were called in peremptory fashion to halt, when a couple of the roughest looking fellows I ever saw in my life each armed with a Winchester repeating rifle and a ʻsix shooter', and each carrying a saddle, intimated their intention of taking passage with us as far as Dodge! Our waggon was pretty crowded as it was but the driver thinking it better policy to acquiesce to their demand and thus avoid a brawl, consented to carry them on. One was a negro, the other a white man. Their clothes, if such rags as they had on their backs could be so called, were in the most tattered state it is possible to imagine! On their legs they wore stiff leather leggings, and their feet were wrapped up in old flannel and cloth bandages for want of shoes! One wore a crownless sombrero that it certainly could not be considered as a covering for the head – the other was hatless. Long flowing hair reaching to the shoulders with unkempt beard and moustache adorned the head & face of Jack the white man, whilst thick wool on the face of Bob, completes the description of their appearance, which, to say the least, was decidedly unprepossessing! We were not long kept in ignorance regarding the character of our fellow travellers, for it soon transpired, from their conversation, and they took no pains to keep it secret, that they had left their gang, or ʻoutfit' as they term their party, because they had enough of hard work & blood shed! Three days previously Jack had the ʻmisfortune' to shoot the ʻBoss', or head man of the outfit, and he was afraid the Boss' friends would take his life – hence his desertion...".

Indeed, Markham's tale grows more lurid as it progresses, especially when they arrive at a "ranche": "I soon found out that we were in a regular den of murderers and thieves, whose stories as they related them round the fire was enough to curdle one's blood, even if they were shorn of the fearful blasphemous expressions that interlarded their conversation. Out of the entire party there was not one who did not boast of having killed his man, or who had not himself been desperately wounded during one of their orgies. I was a little amused at the woman of the ranche coming up to the table at which only the black murderer and myself were seated and asking if ʻboth you gentlemen would take coffee?'".

Historical Context

Markham's encounter with the Wild West occurred early in that relatively brief period that marks it out in popular imagination. He sailed for America in September 1877. By the following month he was travelling in the Indian territories, courtesy of the celebrated Union veteran, General ʻLittle Phil' Sheridan, who was then in charge of the territories (and shared Markham's love of hunting the soon-to-be-extinct buffalo to death). He reached Dodge City itself on 14 December 1877.

Dodge City had been staked out six years earlier, in 1871, and had only just gained its status as the pre-eminent cow town on the Great Western Cattle Trail (due to a change in the quarantine line in 1876 that ruled out most of its competitors). By Markham's own testimony, at the time of his visit it numbered just 600 souls. It was not until 1879 that the notorious Dodge City Gang rose to prominence; and indeed many of the events of the Wild West that were to enter popular legend took place a few years after our Victorian Englishman's encounter with his "cow boys" with their "six shooters", such as the death of Billy the Kid in 1881, the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral that same year, and the death of Jessie James in 1882.

Records of the Wild West

Although the events of these years received extensive newspaper coverage at the time, and had clearly come to the attention of our intrepid English traveller, very few first hand records survive, especially by proficient diarists such as Markham. Indeed, it could well be that his standing, as a captain of the Royal Navy, Arctic traveller and minor celebrity, emboldened him to undertake this Wild West adventure of his own.

Contemporary records made on the western trail are relatively plentiful, most no doubt having been kept as family records for descendants or for the benefit of those left behind. By contrast, first-hand accounts of cowboy life are much rarer and many of those that have come down to us are retrospective, often dictated to ghost writers; near contemporaneous accounts, such as Charlie Siringo's Texas Cowboy (1886), being the exception rather than the rule. That ours was actually written on the spot, Markham leaves us in no doubt. Indeed, part of the diary was written-up in Dodge City itself. For, after having taken supper at Dodge House Hotel, Markham informs us that "as my train was not due until midnight, after taking a stroll through the town, I devoted the remaining hours to writing journal".

Siringo, famously, wrote his memoir for the cash ("My excuse for writing this book is money – and lots of it"). Markham, too, probably had at least half an eye on publication, although nothing seems to have come of it; but, as his later journals show (the great bulk of which could not possibly have been written with any publication in mind), he was, quite simply, an inveterate keeper of records, recorder of impressions and writer of diaries; and when, having recently returned from the far north, he found himself in the Wild West, he seized his opportunity and, taking to his journal, freeze-framed his encounter with a transient but much mythologised culture for posterity.

Inserted Illustrations and Ephemera

The American journal contains the following drawings and pieces of printed ephemera: printed passenger list and track chart of Cunard steamer Algeria; watercolour of skunk and rattlesnake; watercolour of "Ye Pussy that was hunted to death"; watercolour of "ʻThe Buffs' on Cacke Creek"; printed programme Fort Sill, 1877; watercolour of hounds chasing bear; watercolour of hunter on horseback shooting bison (buffalo); watercolour of camp; watercolour of five shot gobblers; watercolour of "the fierce wild beasts"; watercolour of accident in water; printed menu of Chicago & Alton Railway, 18 December 1877; letter signed by citizens of Whitehall, 16 January 1878; printed Burns Night programme; postcard and letter to Markham inviting him to speak at Trempealeau and from Galesville, WI; pass signed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives; letter from the citizens of Arcadia.

Included in the lot is Markham's autograph journal of some 30 pages describing a brief trip he made to the United States in 1867, during which he visited Chicago ("...wherever I go there is still the everlasting spitting & chewing going on...") and a Barnum's freak show.