Crawford -Goldsby "AKA Cherokee Bill.(February 8,1876-March 17,1896)

Was a 19th-century American outlaw.Responsible for the murders of eight men,he and his gang terrorized the Native American Territory for over two years.Cherokee was said to have a such a bad temper that when he and his brother-in-law Mose Brown,dispute about some hogs.
Cherokee shot and him.

He was born to Sgt.George & Ellen (Nee Beck) Goldsby at Fort Concho in
San Angelo,Texas.His daddy,was Biracial and from Perry County,Alabama,a sergeant of the Tenth United States Cavalry,and a Buffalo Soldier.Cherokee mama was a was a Cherokee Freedman,with mixed African,Native American and white ancestry.Cherokee had one sister,Georgia,and two brothers,Luther and Clarence.

In a signed deposition on January 29,1912,George Goldsby stated that he was born in Perry County,Alabama on February 22,1843.His Daddy was Thronton Goldsby of Selma,Alabama and his mama Hester King,
who was biracial,and lived on her own place west of Summerfield Road 
between Selma and Marion,Alabama.George also stated he had four brothers and two sisters by the same daddy & mama: Crawford .Abner,
Joseph,Blevens,Mary,and Susie.

George served as a hired servant with a Confederate infantry regiment 
during the American Civil War.While serving at Gettsburg,he fled and went to Harrisburg,Pennsylvanis,where he worked as a teamster in a 
Union quartermaster unit and subsequently enlisted as a white man in the 21st Pensylvania Cavalry Regiment under the name of George Goosby.(The spelling sometimes varied between Goosbey & Goosley).

After the Civil War ended,he returned to the Highland,Illinois.During his
last visit,the word was out that he would be captured and lynched for fighting with the Union Army,after which time he departed the area for 
the Native American territory.

In 1867,George  enlisted in the 10th Cavalry Regiment (Buffalo Soldier) under his proper name,and by 1872 was promoted to sergeant major.
After the expiration of his five-year term,he re-enlisted and became first sergeant of Company D,10th Cavalry.

During 1878 (When Crawford was two years old), serious trouble began
to occur in San Angela (San Angelo), Texas,between the African-American soldiers and cowboys and hunters.The incident that led to 
the largest confrontation took place in Morris' saloon.A group of cowboys and hunters ripped the chevrons from the sleeves of a company D sergeant and the stripes from his pants.The soldier returned to the post and enlisted the aid of fellow soldiers,who armed themselves with carbines and returned to the saloon.A blazing gunfight 
commenced,resulting in one hunter being killed and two others wounded. 

Texas Ranger Captain G.W. Arrington,along with a party of rangers,
went on-post (at Fort Concho) in an attempt to arrest George,charging 
that he was responsible for arming the soldiers.Colonel Benjamin Grierson,post commander,challenged the authority of the rangers in a federal fort.

George apparently knew that the Army could not,or would not,protect him from the post,so he went AWOL.He escaped from Texas into the 
Native America Territory.

Sometime after being abandoned at Fort Concho,Ellen Beck Goldsby moved with her family to Fort Gibson,Native America Territory.She left Crawford in the care of an elderly black lady known as "Aunty" Amanda 
Foster.She cared for him until he was seven,and then he was sent the Native America school at Cherokee,Kansas.Three years later,he was sent to the Native American school at Cherokee,Kansas.Three years later,he was sent to the Catholic Indian School at Carlisle,Pennsylvania.
At the age of 12,he returned home to Fort Gibson.

Upon returning home,Crawford learned that his mama had remarried.
After departing Fort Apache,on June 27,1889,Ellen married William Lynch in Kanasas City,Missouri,before proceeding to Fort Gibson.
William was born in Waynesville,Ohio,was a private in K Troop,
9th Cavalry.He had served during an earlier enlistment with H Troop,
10th Cavalry.She was the "authenticated" laundress of the 10th Cavalry,D Troop,and stayed with the unit which gave her rations,
transportion,and quarters.She transferred to Fort Fort Davis,Texas,and 
to Fort Grant,Arizona.She was also with the Unit at Fort Apache,Arizona.
Crawford and his stepdaddy,did not get along. Crawford began associate with unsavory characters,drink liquor,and rebel against authority.

By the time he was 15,Crawford had moved in with his sister and her husband,Mose Brown,near Nowata,Oklahoma.Mose and Crawford did 
not get along well,and Crawford did not stay for long.He went back to
Fort Gibson,moved in with a man named Bud Buffington,and began working odd jobs.

Crawford life as an outlaw began when he was 18.At a dance in Fort 
Gibson,Jake Lewis and he had a confrontation over a dispute that 
Jake had with one of of Crawford's brothers.A few days later,Crawford 
took a six-shooter and shot Jake.Thinking Jake was dead,Crawford 
went on the run,leaving Fort Gibson and heading for the Creek and 
Seminole nations,where he met up with outlaws Jim & Bill Cook,who were biracial Cherokees.

During the summer of 1894,the United States government purchased 
rights to a Strip of Cherokee land and agreed to pay $265.70 to each 
person who had a legal claim.Since Crawford and the Cook brothers 
were part Cherokee,they headed out to Tahlequah,Oklahoma,capitol 
of the Cherokee Nation,to get their money.

At the,Crawford was wanted for shooting Jake,while Jim Cook was wanted on larceny charges.The men did not want to be seen by the 
authorities,so they stopped at a hotel and a restaurant run by an acquaintance Effie Crittenden was asked if Crawford had been involved,
she stated that it was not Crawford,it was Cherokee Bill.After statement,Crawford got the nickname "Cherokee Bill" and became known as one of the most dangerous men of the Native American Territory.

After this,the Cooks and Crawford formed the Cook Gang and began to 
terrorize Oklaholma.The Gang quickly began robbing banks,stagecoaches,and stores,and were willing to shoot anyone who got in their way.Between August and October, Crawford and the cooks
went on a crime spree,robbing and mercilessly killing those who stood in their way.During this time,Crawford's hair started to fall out due to a 
disease inherited from his granddaddy.The disease left him with so 
little hair on his his head,he decided to shave the remainder off.

Crimes involving Cherokee Bill:

1.On May 26,1894,Robberly of T.H. Scales Store,Wetumka,Oklahoma.
35 cents was stolen.

2.On June 17,1894,Killing of Deputy Houston.

3.On July 4,1894,Kansas and Arkansas Railroad brakeman Samuel Collins was shot through the bowels after ejecting a drunk half breed for trying to steal a ride at Fort Gibson Oklaholma; a tramp who was 
was on the same car tried to run,was shot and died later;the assailant was Crawford Goldsby;according to an 1896 account Samuel apparently died as well.

4.On July 6,1894,Mississippi Railway Station Agent A.L. "Dick"Richards
of Nowata,Oklaholma was reportedly killed by Cherokee Bill of which 
he later boasted he later denied it.

5.On July 18,1994 Bill and his gang robbed Wells-Fargo Express Company and the St.Louis and San Francisco railroad train at Red Fork.

6.On July 30,they robbed the Lincoln County Bank in Chandler,Oklaholma,and made off with $500,Killing J.B. Mitchell in the 
process.

7.In September 1894,he shot and killed his brother-in-law,Joseph " Mose" Brown, either over an argument about some hogs-or because he through that Joseph'  ..got more of the parental estate than due him...

8.On 14,1894,Robbery of Parkinson's Store at Omulgee,Oklahoma.

9.On October 20,1894,train robbery at Correatta,Oklahoma.

10.On October 22,Crawford and three others robbed the post office and Donaldson's Store at Watova.

11.On November 8,1894,when the men robbed the Shufeldt and Son General Store,Crawford shot and killed Ernest Melton,who happened to enter the store during the robbery.

12.On December 23,1894,Crawford and an accomplice Jim French held up and robbed Nowata, Oklahoma station Agent Bristow of $ 190.00.


Because of the Ernest murder incident,the authorities stepped up their pursuit for Crawford and the Cook Gang. With the pressure on,the gang spilt up. Most of the men were captured or killed, Crawford managed to escape. When the authorities offered a $1300 reward for the capture of Crawford,some of his acquaintances came forward and agreed to help.

On January 31,1895,he was sentenced to death after being tried and convicted for the murder of Ernest Melton.His lawyer managed to postpone the execution date.

In June 1895 a pistol was discovered in a bucket at Fort Smith jail;Crawford claimed that a prison trustee named Bill Howell had brought the gun in and then had run away a few days later.

In the meantime,Crawford had made a friend,Sherman Vann,who was a trusty at the jail.Sherman managed to sneak a six-gun into Crawford's 
cell-a Colt revolver.

On July 26,1895,Crawford attempted a jail break with it.He jumped the night guards as they came to lock him up into his cell.A guard,
Lawrence Keating,was shot in the stomach.As Lawrence staggered back down the corridor,Crawford shot him in the back.Other guards arrived and prevented Crawford from escaping,they were not able to enter the 
jail either.Then another prisoner,Henry Starr,convinced the guards to 
let him go in and get Crawford out.Moments later he came back with 
Crawford,who was unarmed.

The second trial lasted three days,resulting in a guilty verdict and U.S.
District Judge Isaac Parker sentenced Crawford to be hanged on September 10,1895.A stay was granted,pending an appeal to the Supreme Court.On December 2,the Supreme Court affirmed the decision of the Fort Smith Court and Judge Parker again set the execution date as March 17,1896.

On the morning 17,Crawford awoke at six to have a smoke break.He ate a light breakfast sent from the hotel by his mama.At 9:20,his mama and
"Aunty" Amanda Foster were admitted to his cell and shortly afterwards Father Pius arrived.

The hanging was scheduled for 11:00 am,it was delayed until  2:00 P.M.
so that his sister Georgiacould see him before the hanging.She was 
scheduled to arrive at 1:00 P.M. on the eastbound train.

Shortly after 2:00  P.M. while on the gallows,it was reported Crawford was asked if he had anything to say and he replied, I came here to die,
not make a speech." About 12 minutes later,Crawford "Cherokee "Bill"
Goldsby,the most notorious outlaw in the Territory,was dead.

The body was placed in a coffin,which was placed in a box and taken to the Missouri Pacific depot.Placed aboard the train, Ellen & Georgia escorted the body to Fort Gibson,Oklahoma,for interment at the Cherokee National Cemetery.

On April 20,1897,Ike "Robinson" {Rogers}, who was reported to have been involved in the captured of Cherokee Bill,was shot and killed by Clarence Goldsby at Ft Gibson Oklaholma.

"Johanna July" (1857?-1946?)

A black Seminole,was born in Nacimiento de Los Negros,the settlement established in northern Mexico following the emigration of Native Americans and black Seminoles from the Indian Territory in 1849.

By 1870,the U.S.Army desperate for translators and scouts familiar with the border country,employed the black Seminoles leading to their return to the United States.Most of  them,including the July family,settled in or near Eagle Pass,Texas in 1871.There Johanna learned to tame horses and herd the family's goats and cattle.With the death of her daddy,she worked the stock and continued to tame wild horses for the U.S. Army and area ranchers.

She developed her own method of taming horses.She would lead a horse into the Rio Grande,swim up,grab the mane, and gently ease astride.As the horse tired from swimming, he lost the strength to buck.

Johanna is recalled as a tall,barefoot girl,who wore bright homespun dresses.She wore her hair in thick braids and wore long gold earrings and necklaces.When she married a man named Lesley,the couple moved
to another black Seminoles boarder community along the Rio Grande at
Fort Clark,Texas. Her new life,however,did not go smoothly. Not being used to household chores she burned beans and improperly cut fabric. her husband responded to her difficulties with violence and Johanna eventually left,riding her pony to Fort Duncan,Texas.

"Amos-Harris"

More affectionately known as "Big Amos" or "Nigger Amos" ,is said to have been Nebraska's first negro cowboy.He was reported to weight between 250 to 300 pounds,and was 6 foot 3.He spoke 5 languages.It was reported that he was born south of Galveston,Texas,on the Brazos River,the son of freed slaves.Amos was known as "One of God's True Noblemen."He carried a rawhide rope which he,himself,had braided.He was considered to be one of the best ropers in the Sandill's.


Legend has it that he drove 5 herds of cattle up from,Texas over Chisholm Trail to Nebraska in 1878 as a member of the famous Olive Crew.Amos was reported to be only 15 when he started this trade.It is reported that they drove over 15,000 hea
d of Texas cattle to the open range in Custer County and along the Dismal River.From here Amos,began his colorful career as a cowboy in the central counties of Nebraska.It was on one of these trips,that he bought and sold cattle to the Ed Cook and Tower Ranch Ainsworth.
On the 1880 census he was listed as being in the household of Ed Cook,for whom he was working at the time around Ainsworth Brown County and around Blaine and Loup counties for various other rancher.It lists his birth as 1852,and his parents as being born in Tennessee.
His birthdate is questionable,unknown even to himself.It was known to be between the 1840's to 1860's.Amos was a very cheerful and happy man.The people of the times,bankers,lawyers,lumbermen,editors,farmers,and other people with whom he had a working relationship remembered him as picturesque,courteous,friendly and happy.In 1897 he married,Miss Eliza Young,daughter of  R.Young of Nebraska They started life on a ranch 18 miles north of Brewster on the Galamus River.
They remained on this ranch until the turn of the century when they moved to Valley county where Eliza passed away.Amos later remarried Elizabeth Jane Fears.
In 1904 Amos went to Wheeler county and took a 400 acre claim west of Lake Erickson.He eventually lost his ranch to a homesteader.
When Amos would come to Brewster Café to eat,he always came in the back door and ate with the cook at the kitchen table.Meals were twenty-five cents.Amos had been brought up this tradition from the South.
No information is readily available just how Amos died,it is rumored that Amos may have died of "lead poisoning." One source states that he died of natural causes.He suffered small strokes and was in ill health.He died in 1911.Amos is buried at the Grand Island Cemetery.A Tombstone was donated by the African American community of Grand Island.

Amos with one of his wives.

"Rufus Buck Gang"{July 28,1895}

Was an outlaw multi-racial gang of members who were part African American and part Creek Native American They operated in the Native American Territory of the Arkansas-Oklahoma area from 1895-1896.Formed by Rufus Buck,the gang consisted of Lewis Davis,Sam Sampson,Maoma July,and Lucky Davis.The gang began building up a small stockpile of weapons while staying in Okmulgee,Oklahoma until killing U.S. deputy marshal John Garrett on July 28,1895 the gang began holding up various stores and ranches in the Fort Smith area during the next two weeks.In one incident a salesman named Callahan-after being robbed-was offered a chance to escape if he could outrun the gang.When the elderly Callahan successfully escaped the gang killed his assistant in frustration.At least two women victims who were raped by the gang died of injuries.Continuing attacks on both locals settlers and Creek indiscriminately,the gang was captured outside Muskogee by a combined force of lawman and Native American police Creek Light Horse,led by Marshal S.Morton Rutherford,on August 10.While the Creek wanted to hold the gang for trial the men were brought before "Hanging Judge Isaac Parker where they were hanged on July 1,1896.

"James Coody Johnson"(May 4,1864-February 1927)

Was an African Creek entrepreneur,interpreter,and politician.He was a

leading advocate for African American rights and dual citizen of the Creek and Seminole nations.James was born at Fort Gibson to Robert Johnson,an African-Creek interpreter to the Seminole nation and Elizabeth Davis Johnson.She was the daughter of Sarah Davis,a leading free African-Creek merchant who had purchased her freedom and that of her two daughters.
Sarah Davis owned and operated a hotel in the Creek Agency village in present-day Arkansas.James grew up speaking Seminole and English.He was educated at the Presbyterian Mission near Wewoka.The Seminole nation sponsored his college education at Lincoln University,a historically black college (HBCU) in Pennsylvania.After graduation in 1884,James returned to Native American Territory and spent the next year and a half as a cowboy.In 1866 the Creek's treaty with the United States after the Civil War granted full citizenship to Creek slaves.African Creeks,as they were called,made achievements in education and politics.After his daddy died in 1886,James returned to the Creek country and became and interpreter to federal Judge Isaac Parker.After studying law (reading law) under Judge Parker,James admitted to practice in the federal courts.He was one of the few freedmen accorded dual citizenship in both Creek & Seminole nation.
Before Arkansas achieved statehood in 1907,James was president of the Negro Protection League.James was a leading advocate for African-American rights and opposed introduction of Jim Crow laws in Oklahoma.With statehood and requirement to register for land allotments,African Creeks lost much of  the freedom they had in earlier decades.The Dawes Commission,ruling that African American descent barred people from being considered full members of the Creek Nation,divided its people after statehood.
He continued to work for the exercise of full citizenship by African Americans after the new legislature passed laws impossing segregation and other restrictions.
James died in his home in Wewoka,Oklahoma.

"Mary Fields" AKA Stagecoach Mary.(1832-1914)

She was six feet tall;heavy;tough;short-tempered;two fisted;packed a

pair of six-shooters and an eight or ten gauge shotgun.She was born a slave in Tennessee.Well after the Civil War loosened things,up as a free in 1884,having made her way to to Cascade County (west central Montana) in search of improved sustenance and adventure,she took a job with the Ursuline nuns at their mission in the city of Cascade--Called St.Peter Mission,the nuns' simple frontier facility was relatively well funded,if remote,and the nuns did a thriving business converting heathen savages,and other disgusting customers,to the true path of salvation -- although not salvation from the white men.Mary was hired to do 'heavy work' and to haul freight and supplies to keep the nuns' operation functional and well fed.She chopped wood,did stone work and rough carpentry,dug certain necessary holes,and when reserves were low she did one of her customary supply runs to the train stop,or even to Great Falls,or the city of Helena when special needs arose.On such a night run Mary's wagon was attacked by wolves.The terrified horses bolted controllable and overturned the wagon,thereby unceremoniously dumping Mary and and all of her supplies onto the dark prairie.When dawn broke,got the freight delivered,to the great relief of the nuns who had spent more than $30 dollars on the goods in question.At the same time,they had no hesitation to dock Mary's pay for the molasses that leaked from a keg was cracked on a rock in the overturn.She broke more noses than any other person in central Montana;so claims the Great Falls Examiner,the only newspaper available in Cascade at the time.Once a "hired hand"at the mission confronted with the complaint that she was earning $2.00 a month more than he was ( $9 vs $ 7),and did she that she was worth so much money anyway,being only an uppity colored woman?To make matters worse,he made this same complaint and general description in public at one of of the local saloons (where Mary was a regular customer),and followed that up with a (more polite) version version directly to Bishop Filbbus N.E..This more than enough to boil her blood,and at the very next opportunity the two of them were engaged in a shoot-out behind the nunnery,next to the sheep shed.Bullets flew in every direction until the six-guns were empty,and blood was spill.Neither actually hit the other by direct fire,one bullet shot by Mary bounced off the stone wall of the nunnery and hit the forlorn man in the butt cheek,which completely ruined  his new $1.85 trousers.Not only that,other bullets Mary fired passed through the laundry of the Bishop,which was hanging on the line,generously ventilating his underwear and the two white shirts he had had shipped from Boston only the week before.That was enough for the bishop;he fired Mary;and gave the injured man a raise.Out of work and needing some money,she tried the restaurant business in Cascade.Unfortunately Mary's cooking means that nobody would eat it,and the restaurant closed in short order.In 1895,she landed a job carrying the U.S. mail.Since she had always been so independent and determined,this work was perfect for her,and she quickly developed a reputation for delivering letters and parcels no watter what the weather,nor how rugged the terrain was.Mary and her mule Moses,plunged through anything,from bitterly raw buzzard's to wilting heat,reaching remote miner's cabins and other outposts with important mail which helped to accommodate the land claim,process,as well as other matters needing expeditious communication.These efforts on her part helped greatly to advance the development of a considerable portion of central Montana,contribution which she is given little credit.Known by then as Stagecoach Mary (for ability to delivery on a regular schedule),she continued in this capacity until she reached well into her sixties,it wore her down.Mary retired from the mail delivery business,she still needed an income.At the age of seventy,she opened a laundry service,also in Cascade.Figuring by now she deserved to relax just a bit,Mary didn't do a lot of laundry,but rather spent a considerable portion of her time in the local saloon,drinking whiskey and smoking her foul cigars with the sundry assortment of sweating and dusty men who were attracted to the place.While Mary claimed to be a crack shot,actually her aim toward the cuspidor was rather general.One lout failed to pay his bill to her(he had ordered extra starch in the cuffs and collar).Hearing him out in the street,she left the saloon and knocked him flat with one blow-at the age of 72.She told her wobbly,drinking companions that the satisfaction she got from that was worth more than the bill owned.As luck would have it,a tooth of his that she knocked out was giving him trouble,he was grateful.Mary died of liver failure.Neighbors buried her in the Hillside Cemetery in Cascade,marking the spot with a simple wooden cross which may still exist today.

"Ned Huddleston (Also known as Isom Dart) 1849-1900.

Was a mild mannered,laid back gentleman outlaw who never shot anyone during his regin as an outlaw he just threatened to shoot instead.He was born in Arkansas taking the name Huddleston from his owner.During the civil war 1860-1865 from the age of eleven and onwards Isom served confederate officers as servant and general hand.Working as a cook,nurse and scout.He was sixteen years old when the civil war and slavery ended,and decided to make his bid for a new life,so he packed up and went off to the Texas.In Texas he got a job on a ranch and learned how to ride a horse and later to handle a gun.His skill at horse riding was excellent and it is said that he had a natural talent for handing them. Later he became a horse trainer and rider in Mexico and it was whilst in Mexico that he fell in with some Mexican bandits.Dart rode with them,stealing horses and driving them across the Rio Grande and into Texas to deliver them on a pre ordered arrangement with crooked land owners.It is thought that he trained the horses that were used by the Wild Bunch alias Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid  and their gang.He also trained horses not to be afraid of gunfire, which is useful if you are an outlaw!Isom later formed his own gang,specifically for horse stealing and it became known as The Gault Gang,their hideout and base camp was in Browns Park in North West Colorado. He had several successful trips selling stolen horses but one day in 1875 his luck took a bad turn.Several lawmen planned to ambush the Tip Gault Gang and kill or arrest its leader.The gang had stolen some horses belonging to Margaret Anderson's ranch south of Saratoga,Wyming.Later at night whilst the gang were huddled around a camp fire the lawmen engaged in the shootout,every gang member was shot dead around the campfire except Ned,who is thought played dead from the first gunshot.Isom spent a very unpleasant night hiding amongst the unburied blood bespattered dead bodies of his gang,a few hours later near sun up he rifled through their pockets and looted money belts,hidden guns,and anything else he could find before he escaped on foot.Isom didn't get far though as he was later shot wounded by a rancher whilst attempting to steal a horse from a stable.He now knew how close he had come to death for the second time and out of desperation he quickly stole another horse,saddled up and rode to Oklahoma to lie low for a while,there that he changed his name to Isom Dart.

"William "Curly" Neal"(1849-1936)

Helped turn a frontier western mining camp in Santa Catalina Mountains of Arizona into a booming town that attracted businessmen and financiers,elite vacationers,and royals from around the world.His various business ventures as a teamster,passenger and freight hauler,rancher,hotelier, and entrepreneur point toward the pioneering spirit that helped him settle Oracle,Arizona Territory and become one of the areas wealthiest citizens.He was born in Tahlequah in the Cherokee nation.His father was of African-American descent and his mother,a Native American,had walked the trail of tears.Not much is known about his childhood other than he ran away from home at age seven following the death of his parents.For a time Curly,so called because of his long black curls,lived in and around railway stations doing odd jobs to support himself.At age nineteen he had the good fortune of meeting Colonel W.F. Cody and found steady employment as a military scout during the Native American Wars in Colorado,Wyoming,New Mexico,and Arizona.William survived numerous skirmishes so proven by multiple arrow and bullet wounds.Wild Buffalo Bill Cody,three years, his senior,remained a lifelong friend.William came to Tucson in 1878.He left the army to become a cook.William also started a business digging cellars,opened a livery in Tucson,and ran a stage coach line to the northern Arizona mining towns around Mammoth.In 1885 he won a contract with the U.S. Postal  Service hauling mail and did so for forty-two years out of Tucson to the northern Catalina towns of Oracle,American Flag,Southern Belle,Willow Springs,and Mammoth.He also secured contracts to haul ore,fuel wood,and water from the mines to the mills.William,one of the friends of Wiley and Hannah Box of Tucson,soon became romantically involved with their daughter, Anna Magdalena Box.Annie was of African and Native American descent and twenty-one years younger than William.They married on January 4,1892 and lived in Oracle,Arizona,forty miles northeast of Tucson in the foothills of the Santa Catalina Mountains,on their Ranch.He delivered gold bullion from mines in the Mammoth area into Tucson without armed escorts.His wife often "rode shotgun" with him and was was an excellent sharpshooter.In 1895 William financed the building of the luxurious Mountan View Hotel in Oracle on their 160-acre Ranch,which boasted a cool summer climate,pure country air,and spectacular mountain views.It became and internationally renown resort/health sanitarium for suffers of tuberculosis.Health and pleasure seekers came from around the world to enjoy the "epitome of western opulence."The grand year-around hotel/health resort doubled as a dude ranch and was in operation for fifty-nine years.William died in a freak car accident at his home at the Mountain View Hotel.He was fondly remembered by the Catalina Mountain residents as an honest unpretentious "quintessential frontier figure."

"Annie Box Neal"(1870-1950)

Was the proprietor and manager of the Mountain View Hotel in Oracle Arizona,a western mining town in the Catalina Mountains.Her secluded grand resort was reorganized as the "epitome of western opulence"in its day and received distinguished guests from Russia,Australia, China,and other places around the world.Annie had a flair for entertainment and was renowned for her gracious hostess skills,which brought her unprecedented success.Anna Magdalena Box,of African American and Native American descent,was born in the Cherokee Nation,Native American Territory,in 1870.Her grandmother had come to the Territory on the Trail of Tears.In 1876,she accompanied her parents and other Cherokee Freepeople to Tucson Arizona Territory.Annie was enrolled in St.Joseph's Academy next to San Augustine's Mission for Native Americans while her parents supported themselves through gambling and mining investments.Annie grew up into a six-foot tall beautiful confident woman.In 1892 when she was twenty-two she married teamster William "Curly"Neal,who shared her African-American/Native-American heritage.An excellent sharp-shooter,Annie "ran shotgun"with her husband as they delivered gold bullion from the mines to a local bank.Annie and William never had children,but they raised her younger sister after her mother's death.Following her mother's death,William proposed an ingenious project to help her overcome her grief:They would establish a year-round hotel/health resort on their 160-acre ranch.Though seemingly isolated the ranch,nearly 5,000 feet above sea level,had a mile climate that allowed escape from the Arizona desert.It also had spectacular views.The resort,supported by the Neals' property holdings in Tucson and Oracle as well as a thriving stagecoach business and other business interests was built without outside financial assistance.Annie designed and decorated the two-story $90,000 Mountain View Hotel,which doubled as a health sanatorium and a recreational playground for the very wealthy.She anticipated every need and desire of her clientele who made their way to her truly opulent  mountain get-away to enjoy exquisite dining,fine music,and entertainment in the form of competitions and redeos.She proudly boasted that Wild Buffalo Bill Cody,a friend and frequent guest,was the only person to whom she lost a shooting match.Annie , a charming,soft-spoken refined gentlewoman,was an exceptional host and entertainment diva who pampered her guests.She expertly managed the premier Mountain View Hotel Resort,which enjoyed a successful run until the post World War 1 era.

"Oliver Jackson Toussaint" [1862-1948]

Was an example of 19th Century western African American entrepreneurship.Oliver created a restaurant,a farm and a laundry service.His most ambitious venture was the establishment of Dearfield,Colorado,an agricultural colony for African Americans about 70 miles northeast of Denver.Born in Ohio,one year before President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation,Oliver was one of six children of Hezekiah and Caroline Jackson.At 14 he began working in the catering and restaurant business in Ohio.In 1887 when he was 25 years old he and his wife Minerva moved to Denver Colorado.Disillusioned at the lack of economic and security of black Denverities after decades in the city and inspired by Booker T. Washington's 1901 autobiography,by Up From Slavery,Oliver Jackson increasing came to believe that the destiny of Denver African Americans lay with a return to farming.In 1906,He and Minerva laid plans for the establishments of an agricultural colony for African Americans on the High Plains.Unable to get much cooperation for the U.S. Land Office or much support from major African American organizations,the Jackson's after four years,found an area that they believe would support a colony of 200 families.Oliver also campaigned among prominent Colorado public figures for support and endorsement of his scheme.During the 1908 gubernatorial campaign,Oliver surprised many of his Republican friend by supporting Democratic candidate,John Franklin Shafroth who subsequently won the election.Oliver support earned him an appointment as a messenger for the Governor's office.In 1910 he persuaded Governor Shafroth to help him file a claim on the land that would become Dearfield Colorado.For over a decade Dearfield attracted settlers from Denver,Minneapolis,Kansas City and other Urban areas.At one time there were 70 families,well over 700 people living in in the colony.Unfortunately,after World War1,the demand of their crops decreased,focusing many of the families to sell or abandon their farms.Oliver and Minerva Jackson stayed.Unable to find someone to take over the colony and unwilling to abandon the dream of a place where Afrian Americans could generate their own wealth,they would spend the rest of their lives in Dearfield.Minerva passed away in 1942Six years later Oliver died in Denver.

"Lucretia Marchbanks"(March 25, 1832-1911)

Born a slave in Putman County, Tennessee.She belonged to a slave name Martin Marchbanks,whose father had settled east of Algood Tennessee.Her father was half African American and Half White and the half brother of Martin Marchbanks.Before the Civil War even began,her father was able to purchase his freedom for $700,which he had spent years very carefully savings.Lucretia the oldest of eleven was trained in cooking and housekeeping.She was "given" to Marchbank's oldest daughter who she traveled west with prior to the Civil War.Once was freed by the Emancipation Proclamation.Lucretia continued to travel,spending time in California.Before returning to her home in Tennessee.However gotten a taste of the west,she soon headed that way again,working in the gold camps of Colorado before being lured by the reports of gold in the Black Hills.Arriving in Deadwood on June 1,1876,she soon found work as the Kitchen Manager in the Grand Central In no time,the hotel,which really wasn't so grand,was better known for the great food served in its restaurant and She had become better known as "Aunt Lou"in Deadwood Gulch.She more than just a friendly face with great cooking talents;she was also a tough manager and brooked no intimidation from her customers.On one day Lucretia proved that when a Mexican man came into the restaurant boasting that he had killed a Native American and acting as though he'd like to kill someone else.As the nervous customers looked, on Aunt Lou soon confronted him, while brandishing a large knife and in no time,the stranger took his leave.Two years later she was offered a better position working as a cook for the Golden Gate Mine in Nearby Lead.Work of her culinary skills continued to spread and she was soon lured again as a cook and housekeeper for a boarding house owned by Harry Gregg in Sawpit Gulch,also in Lead.Catering to the Desmet Mine workers,one story tells that she was late from a meeting she was able to fix supper for the miners in 25 minutes,plus fixing lunch buckets for those on the night shift.During her tenure at Gregg's boarding house,she made some $40 per month.But like her father,she was a frugal woman and saved nearly every dime.By 1883,Aunt Lou had earned a reputation as the best cook in the Black Hills and having saved her money,soon opened,her own establishment called the Rustic Hotel in Sawpit Gulch.The restaurant of the hotel, which was really more of a boarding house,was soon overrun with customers.Excelling at making plum pudding as well as numerous other culinary delights, one of her boarders once asked for a recipe,her reply was, "oh just a handful of this and a handful of that."Her legendary cooking skills became so widespread that the New York Stock Exchange,in discussing a Black Hills Mining News article,asked "Who is "Aunt Lou"The Black Hills Daily Times soon answered in a commentary entitled "We'll Tell You She Is,"which read:"Aunt Lou is an old respected colored lady who has had charge of the superintendent's establishment of the Desmet mine as Housekeeper,Cook and superintendent of all superintendents who have ever been employed at the mine. Her accomplishments as culinary artist are beyond praise.She rules the house where she presides with autocratic power by Divine right brooking no cavil or presumptuous interference.The superintendent may be a big man in the mines or the mill but the moment he sets foot within her realm he but a meek and ordinary mortal.A skillful nurse as well as a fine cook and housekeeper,her services to the victims of mountain fever have received an infinitesimal part of the praise to which they are richly entiled"On another occaasion during a festival to raise money for the Congregational Church in 1880,the prize of diamond ring was raffled off and given to the most popular woman in the Black Hills.Through many popular white women were her competed against her for the honor,men and women alike voted for Aunt Lou,who easily won the coveted prize.Continuing to accumulate her hard earned money,Aunt Lou decided that she had cooked long enough and sold the Rustic Hotel in 1885 to Mrs. A.M. Porter.She soon purchased a ranch in between Sundance and Beluah,Wyoming.There,she was actively engaged in raising horses and cattle with the help of a hired man name George Baggely,who worked for her the next twenty years.Lucretia "Aunt Lou" Marchbanks is buried in the little cemetery in Beulah,Wyoming.

"Bass Reeves"(July 1838-January 1910).

Is through to be one of the first,if not the first,African Americans to receive a commission as a Deputy U.S. Marshall west of the Mississippi River.Born enslaved in Crawford

County,Arkansas and then moved to Paris Texas,Bass took the surname of his master,George Reeves a farmer and politician.It was during the Civil War that bass parted company with George:some say because Bass beat up George after after a dispute in a card game.Others believe that Bass heard too much about the "freeing of slaves" and simply ran away.He fled north into Native American Territory and lived with Seminole and Creek Native Americans.Bass became a crack shot with a pistol.He later moved to Arkansas and homesteaded near Van Buren.Once he got his farm going, he married Nellie Jennie from Texas.They began raising a family.In time,they had ten children-five boys and five girls.Bass and his family farmed until 1875 when Isaac Parker was appointed federal judge in Fort Smith.Isaac appointed James F.Fagan as U.S. Marshal.It was James job to to hire 200 deputy U.S. Marshals.James heard about Bass who knew Native American Territory and could speak several Native American languages.James recruited Bass as deputy U.S. marshal.Although he arrested some the most dangerous criminals of the time,he was not shot(despite having his hat and belt shot off on separate occasions).He had to arrest his own son for murder.Bass worked a total of thirty-two years as a federal peace officer.During his career he worked the Native American Territory,pre-state Oklahoma.At statehood he became a member of the Muskogee Oklahoma police department at age of 68.Bass became a legend in the Native American Territory and was one of Judge Isaac C. Parker's, (of Fort Smith,Arkansas'federal court),most valued deputies.Bass was at one point in his career,himself charged with murdering  a posse cook.At his trial he was represented by William Henry Harrison Clayton best known as W.H.H. Clayton,the former U.S. Attorney,who had established a close friendship with Bass while working together in law enforcement.Clayton,was able to convince a jury to acquit Bass in a trial in front of Judge Parker.Bass was an expert with a rifle and pistol.During his long career he developed superior detective skills.Before he retired from federal service in 1907,he had arrested over 3,000 felons.Bass admitted having to shoot and kill fourteen outlaws in defending his life while making arrests. Many scholars consider Bass to be one of the most outstanding frontier heroes in United States heroes history.His health failed in January when he died of Kidney Disease.In 1972 his nephew Judge Paul L. Brady (1937-?),resumed his uncle's legacy.Judge Brady became the first African-American appointed a Federal Administrative Law Judge,retiring in 1997.

"Nat "Deadwood Dick" Love" (1854-1921)

Prounce Nate Love,was an African American cowboy following American Civil War.In

1907,Nat wrote his autobiography "Life and Adventures of Nat Love." in his autobiography,Nat Love explains that his father was a slave foreman in the fields,and his mother managed the kitchen.He also had and older brother Jordan and sister Sally.Nat was born a slave on the plantation of Robert Love in Davidson County,Tennessee,in 1854.Despite slavery era statues that outlawed black literacy he learned to read and write as a child with the help of his father,Sampson Love.When slavery ended,Sampson attempted to start a family farm to raise tobacco and corn,but he died shortly after the second crop was planted.Nat then took a second job working on a local farm to help make ends meet.After a few years of working odd jobs,he won a horse in a raffle.He sold the horse for one hundred dollars and gave half to his mother,and he used the other half to leave town.He went west to Dodge City,Kansas,to find work as a cowboy.In Dodge City,he joined the cowboys from the Duval Ranch which was stationed in Texas.Because of his excellent horse riding skills,the Duval Ranch cowboys gave nat the nickname "Red River Dick."Once he joined the Duval cowboys he left Dodge City and returned with them to the home ranch in the Texas Panhandle.Nat Love's autobiography tells of many adventures fighting against cattle rustlers and inclement weather.His many yeras of experience made him an expert marksman and cowboy.He entered a rodeo in Deadwood,South  Dakota on the 4th of July in 1876.He won the rope throw,tie,bridle,and bronco riding contest.It was at this contest that the fans gave him the nickname "Deadwood Dick."In October 1877,he was captured by a band of Akimel O' odham(Pima) while rounding up stray cattle near the Gila River in Arizona.He reported that his life fighting ability.A while after being captured He stole a pony and managed to escape into west texas.He continued to work as cowboy in the southwest for another 15 years before he began to settle down and got married in 1889.The next year he took in Denver, Colorodo as a Pullman porter on the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad.He worked on the routes west of Denver and moved his family several times to Wyoming,Utah,and Nevada before moving settling down in southern California.