Colonel William F Cody, 100 Years -- January 10, 2017

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Colonel William F Cody, Buffalo Bill, died 100 years ago today, on 10-January-1917.  He received the Congressional Medal of Honor in 1872 for his gallantry as a scout.  It was revoked in 1917 when Congress changed the rules and had many older medals reviewed.  It was restored in 1989.  

Seattle Star, 10-January-1917

"BUFFALO BILL"
LOSES HARD FIGHT;
HE DIES AT NOON

DENVER Colo., Jan 10 — Wm F Cody (Buffalo Bill) is dead. The noted plainsman and scout breathed his last at 12:05 p m. today, and with his paasing it seemed to the thousands of friends who had closely followed hi« fight for life as if the laat vestige of the old West, the "wild and woolly" West, had passed with him.

He died at the home of his sister. Mrs May Cody Decker, of this city, where for weeks he lay critically ill, fighting the hardest battle of his life.

Hope Gone for Weeks

Weeks ago friends despaired of his recovery from a complication of disease. but Buffalo Bill refused to give up. He rallied to the extent that he could be removed to Glenwood Springs for his health, but a relapse occurred and he was brought back to Denver.

Thruout his 70 years, Buffalo Bill has always been active and won the most admiration of young America by his adventuresome life. 

Killed Buffaloes

He was born William Frederick Cody, but in 1867 killed 4,280 buffalo in 18 months, and ever since
America has known him as Buffalo Bill.

Up to the civil war, Cody was a pony express rider. He enlisted with the the Seventh Kansas aa scout
and guide during the war. and became colonel.

Government Scout

In 1868 Cody tiecame a government scout and furnished the thrills of Indian warfare, of which most American boys have read. He boasts he took part in more Indian battles than any other white man.  In one he savs. he killed Yellow Hand, the Cheyenne chief, in a hand-to-hand fight.

Buffalo Bill bacame rich with his Wild West show, which he started in 1876. He toured the world with his cowboye and ponies, giving Europe its first glimpse of America's wild and woolly West.  Later he lost the bulk of his fortune.

Tried to Make Stage Star

Retiring from the show, Buffalo Bill lived on his Western ranch, where he has devoted his later years to reclamation of arid lands in Wyoming.  He turned the Big Horn valley from a barren, sun-dried  waste into fruitful, wealth-producing country. 

At one time Cody spent $60,000 to make Mrs Katherlne Clemmons Gould, wife of the millionaire, Howard Gould, a stage star.  He sued her for that amount, which he claimed he lost in the unsuccessful venture.  The suit was withdrawn, however, before decision was made.