CODY, William Frederick, American scout, hunter and showman, best known as "BurrALo BILL": b. Scott County, Iowa, 26 Feb. 1846; d. Denver, Colo., 10 Jan. 1917. His parents moved to the country about Fort Leavenworth, Kan., where in 1856 the father was stabbed b7 a white man, named Dunn, for expressing his hatred of slavery. The father never quite re covered from his wound and died in 1857. When still very young he was employed by the express companies as a rider to carry pack ages and valuables on horseback across the country, a most dangerous occupation. Soon he became known as a fearless and perfect rider, a keen scout, a reliable plainsman and hunter. When but little over 21 he attracted the notice of United States army officers, who were constantly in need of the services of ex pert scouts who could be depended upon and who knew the habits and language of the red man. In 1868-69 he was made chief of scouts by General Sheridan, then campaigning against the hostiles. Colonel John Schuyler Crosby, then adjutant under Sheridan, says of Cody: "He carried despatches 100 miles for General Sheridan through terrific fire of hostile bands of Indians and returned with replies safely.' This and his many personal encounters with the Indians, in some of which he saved the day for the troops, made him a noted man. He was the last of the sixgreat scouts of America — Boone, Crockett, Carson, Bridger, "Wild Bill,' "Buffalo Bill.' He gained his name from his dexterity as a hunter, his record being 4,862 buffalo in one season-69 in one day. He con tinued actively engaged in frontier work for many years, killing the Cheyenne chief, "Yellow Hand," in a celebrated personal encounter dur ing the Sioux War of 1876. Early in the
eighties he began the carrying out of a cher ished idea—to gather about him some of the re maining elements which went to make up a fron tier life and exhibit this unique existence in the Eastern States and in Europe. He presently accomplished this end, forming the exhibition called the "Wild West,' now known the world over. In this he gathered scores of Indians, some of whom were once his mortal foes; hun dreds of "cow-boys"; the old "Deadwood coach,' used so many years to carry mail and passengers, and much other really valuable material. With this gigantic show he toured America and Europe for nearly 20 years, amass ing a fortune which he invested in lands in Nebraska and Wyoming. In the latter State is a town named after him, on his land. In 1901 he became president of "the Military Col lege and International Academy of Rough Rid ers,* a school on his property in Wyoming where young men may learn to ride and become masters of themselves and their horses — a post graduate school in manhood, as he termed it. In 1872 he was elected to the Nebraska legisla ture, later became judge-advocate-general of the Wyoming National Guard. On 3 June 1917 a last tribute was paid to the memory of "Buffalo Bill' by a vast assemblage, when the body of the famous scout was placed in a vault blasted from solid rock on the top of Lookout Moun tain, 20 miles from Denver. With others, he has written The Great Salt Lake Trail' ; and is author of The Life of Hon. William F. Cody' (1879) ; (Story of the Wild West and Camp Fire Chats' (1:•:•) ; The Adventures of Buf falo Bill' (1904) ; (True Tales of the Plains' (1908).