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Lessons from the Old West for Today’s Leaders

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Deputy Sheriff Bob Paul of Calaveras County recruited the finest six-gun and rifle shots and trackers in the region to be a part of the posse that tracked down Tom Bell.  He found experts in areas needed to get the job done and didn’t feel threatened by them.

Walk in someone else’s shoes.

Various members of the posse disguised themselves as outlaws and saloon patrons in order to collect information needed to apprehend criminals.  Instead of figuratively walking in someone else’s shoes, the posse made it experiential.  By doing this they were in a better position to propose solutions to potential problems and learned how to best achieve their objective.

Learn to give up trying to control everything. 

The leaders of the three posses after Tom Bell were comfortable with letting the men riding with them take on extra responsibility.  They recognized that being good at their job meant listening to those around them.  Officer George Walker listened to posse members Detectives Robert Harrison and Daniel Gay after they captured one of Bell’s gang members.  They wanted to persuade the desperado to act as a mole to help guide the other outlaws into a trap.

Read everything you can about your business.

Captain William King poured over newspapers to find out what the press was reporting about the posses progress.  While reading one of the area newspapers he happened onto a note written to him from the outlaw.  The fugitive’s rant against the lawman paved the way for the posse to ferret the bandit out of hiding.

Wait.  Patience increases your capacity for success.

A hard-earned discipline for every man with the posse after Tom Bell was patience.  Officer Robert Price exercised patience while scanning the banks of the San Joaquin River and the result was spotting the outlaw as he was trying to find a spot to cross the water.  If the lawman had allowed himself to be pressured into generating results he would have missed seeing the bandit out right.

To learn more about the business management skills used by the most successful Old West posses read Principles of Posse Management

 “Come Down Ma Evenin’ Star”–Lillian Russell (1912)

Added to the National Registry: 2019

Essay for the Library of Congress by Chris Enss 

When actors and Broadway producers Joe Weber and Lew Fields debuted their burlesque show “Twirly Whirly” in the fall of 1902, New York critics unanimously panned the production. An article in the September 12, 1902, edition of the “St. Louis Post” noted that “in the opinion of the theatrical reviewers at large, the piece itself showed how little real wit it takes to amuse the public.”

The only bright spot in the program was a ragtime song sung by the celebrated actress and singer Lillian Russell. According to the December 19, 1902, edition of the “Kansas City Daily Gazette,” “L. Russell’s stunning beauty and glorious delivery of a brilliant piece entitled ‘Come Down Ma Evenin’ Star’ was the one and only highlight in ‘Twirly Whirly.’” Written by composer and conductor John Stromberg, the sentimental ballad would become stage queen Lillian Russell’s signature tune.

Stromberg was a well-respected songwriter who had created several popular works for Weber and Fields’ productions. Born in Canada in 1853, Stromberg often collaborated on his songs with lyricist Edgar Smith. Although Stromberg penned “Come Down Ma Evenin’ Star” specifically for Lillian, he resisted handing the song over to her because he didn’t believe it was good enough. He had promised to write Lillian the “prettiest song she ever sang” and was consumed with doubt over the finished product.

In early July 1902, John Stromberg was found dead at his home in Freeport, New York. The official cause of death was ruled as paralysis of the heart, following a long attack of rheumatism. Friends and colleagues knew the exceptional agony Stromberg suffered as a result of his rheumatism and were saddened to learn the real reason he had died was because he’d taken a fatal dose of insecticide to stop the pain once and for all.

When Stromberg’s body was discovered, the sheet music for “Come Down Ma Evenin’ Star” was found in the pocket of the suit he was wearing.

Lillian Russell was the theater’s leading musical comedy prima donna in the 1890s. She had played in many of the Gilbert and Sullivan operettas and had received tremendous acclaim both abroad and in America. Her beauty and voice had drawn innumerable admirers who showered her with jewels. Although she thought Stromberg was an exceptional talent, she worried her fans would not be pleased with her singing a ballad. The song “Come Down Ma Evenin’ Star” would be a significant change in her style.

When the curtain rose on “Twirly Whirly” and Lillian took her place center stage, the audience erupted with applause before she even uttered a note. When the excitement died down, she sang “Come Down Ma Evenin’ Star” with the feeling of an opera aria, displaying deep and personal emotion to the public before her. At the conclusion of the song, the audience cheered and clapped approvingly. Lillian’s anxieties were at last relieved. A review of her performance in the mid-September edition of the “Daily Mirror” reported that “Miss Russell made a decided hit with ‘Come Down Ma Evenin’ Star.’”

Lillian would sing Stromberg’s final song often in her future years. She noted in her memoirs that each time she sang the song she would see John in his last, painful hours finishing the manuscript just for her. “I always thought of Honey Stromberg whenever I sang that song,” she wrote. “And, strange to say, no one ever sang it in public but me.”

In a final tribute to Stromberg, Weber and Fields, led by Lillian, staged a benefit for Stromberg’s widow. It netted more than $6,000.

In 1912, Lillian recorded her rendition of “Come Down Ma Evenin’ Star.” It was the only recording she ever made.

Visit https://www.loc.gov/programs/national-recording-preservation-board/recording-registry/descriptions-and-essays to hear Lillian Russell sing Come Down Ma Evenin’ Star.

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A pair of tired, dust-covered detectives escorted outlaw Tom Bell to a noose dangling off a limb of a sycamore tree.  No one spoke a word as the rope was slipped around his thick neck.  More than fifteen lawmen from Sacramento, Marysville, and Nevada City, California, made up the posse that apprehended Bell at his hideout at Firebaugh’s Ferry near the San Joaquin River.  The ruthless highwayman and his gang had eluded the law for more than a year.  Bell’s reign of terror would end here – a mere four hours after he was captured on Saturday, October 4, 1856.

Bell held in his hand a pair of letters his executioners allowed him to write before they administered justice.  Outside of the firm grip he had on his correspondence he didn’t show the least bit of fear.  Judge Joseph Belt, the self-appointed hangman and head of the posse, sauntered over to Bell and looked him in the eye.  “Do you have anything to say for yourself?” he asked.

“I have no revelations to make,” Bell replied.  “I would be grateful, however,” he added, “to drink to the health of this party present and hope that no personal prejudice has induced them to execute me.”  Judge Belt nodded to one of his men who stepped forward with a bottle of whiskey and offered it to Bell.

Bell lifted the bottle to the men and thanked them for their thoughtfulness.  “I have no bitterness toward anyone of you,” he said.  He took a drink and handed the bottle back to the lawman.  “If you let me now…before I go.  I’d like to read aloud the letter I wrote to my mother.”  Judge Belt scanned the faces of his men; no one seemed to have any objections.  “Go on,” Belt told the bandit.  Tom unfolded one of the letters in his hand and began reading.

“Dear Mother, I am about to make my exit to another country.  I take this opportunity to write you a few lines.  Probably you may never hear from me again.  If not, I hope we may meet where parting is no prodigal career in the country.  I have always recollected your fond admonitions, and if I had lived up to them I would not have been in my present position; but dear mother, though my fate has been a cruel one, yet I have no one to blame but myself.

“Give my respects to all old and youthful friends.  Tell them to beware of bad associations, and never to enter into any gambling saloons, for that has been my ruin.  If my old grandmother is living, remember me to her.  With these remarks, I bid you farewell forever.  Your only boy, Tom.”

Bell refolded his letter and bowed his head in prayer.  Two lawmen stepped forward, took the letters from him, and tied his hands behind his back.  Tom lifted his head and nodded to Judge Belt.  His horse was whipped from under him, and he swung into space.  Judge Belt’s posse was one of three notable posses assembled between March 1856 and October 1856 to track down Tom Bell and his gang of highwaymen terrorizing settlers in the Gold Country.

To learn more about the posse after Tom Belle read the

Principles of Posse Management:  Lessons from the Old West for Today’s Leaders

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Lessons from the Old West for Today’s Leaders.

Identify your objective and carefully consider how you want to hit your target.

Allan Pinkerton was able to track the bandits responsible for robbing the Adams Express Company only after he was given a full description of the Reno gang members.  That basic information led the posse to the outlaw’s hiding place where they could put together a plan to apprehend the bad guys and retrieve the stolen money.

Go the extra mile. 

When the Pinkerton posse kidnapped the leader of the Reno gang they were employing extreme measures to ensure the desperados faced justice.  That daring action proved to be positive for the detective agency because businesses could see the Pinkertons offered exceptional service.  Allan Pinkerton and his men were hired to solve several other robberies after brining in the Reno gang.

Never under estimate the powers of observation. 

If the posse wasn’t paying close attention to the coming and goings of various townspeople in Council Bluffs, Iowa, they would have missed the strange behavior of a citizen who eventually led them to the spot where the Reno gang was hiding.

Embrace the benefits of cross training.

Posse members took on a variety jobs in an effort to achieve their objective.  Some worked as bartenders, others as railroad employees.  They gained valuable knowledge about the offenders they were after that helped define the best way to apprehend the Renos.

Follow a job to the end.

You haven’t failed until you quit trying.  The Pinkerton posse never abandoned their quest to arrest the Reno gang even when the outlaws fled to Canada.  The bandits thought they were safe in another country, but Pinkerton acquired the necessary legal documents to have them extradited.

To learn more about the business practices behind the forming of some of the most legendary posses read The Principles of Posse Management

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Newspaper readers from Hartford, Connecticut, to Portland, Oregon, were shocked to read about the bold and daring robbery of the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad on October 6, 1866.  It was the first robbery of its kind.  Banks and stage lines had been robbed before, but no one had perpetrated such a crime on a railroad.  According to the October 20, 1866, edition of the Altoona Tribune, three masked bandits entered the car stopped at a station near Seymour, Indiana, with the idea of taking money from the Adams Express safe.  They entered the car from the front platform, leveled their revolvers at the head of the guard on duty, and demanded he hand over the keys to the safe.  He did so with no argument.

While one of the bandits stood guard, the others opened and removed the contents of one of the three safes which included more than $20,000 in cash.  When the job was done, the desperadoes moved one of the safes to the door of the car, opened it, and tossed the box out.  The heavy safe hit the ground hard, rolled, and came to a stop.  One of the masked men pulled on the bell cord, and, as the engineer replied with the signal to apply the brakes, the robbers jumped out the train and made their escape.

The engineer saw the bandits leap off the train and speculated they were headed in the direction of Seymour.  The train slowed to a stop and one of the agents for the Adams Express Company who was on the train hopped off and ran back to the station with the news of the robbery.  He commandeered a handcar and recruited a few men to help him collect any evidence left behind by the thieves.  On the agent’s way back to the train, he found the safe tossed from the car.  The $15,000 inside had not been touched.

The Adams Express Company offered a $5,000 reward for the arrest and conviction of the robbers.  A witness aboard the train the evening it was robbed told authorities he recognized the desperadoes who stole the money as the Reno brothers, John and Simeon, and one of their friends, Frank Sparks.  Citizens and detectives alike began a vigorous search, but the brothers proved impossible to locate.

Unbeknownst to the Reno boys and the gang of outlaws with whom they associated, the Pinkerton Detective Agency had been hired to protect all Adams and Express Company shipments.  Armed with the descriptions provided by the witness, Allan Pinkerton, head of the investigation firm, set out to find the culprits.  Pinkerton traced the Renos to Seymour, a lawless community where rustlers, bandits, and cutthroats from all over the area gathered.

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Three dozen fresh-faced young men jockeyed for position behind a row of windows on a train leaving Poughkeepsie, New York, bound for Camp Mills on Long Island.  The new Army recruits waved goodbye to those on the railroad platform; they wore happy expressions and cheered as the car lurched forward.  The men were excited and blissfully naïve about the journey ahead of them.  Family and friends on the platform offered last-minute farewells as the train slowly began to move ahead.  Some people cried as the vehicle left the station, and they blew kisses to the courageous souls who had answered the call to serve their country when America announced it would join Britain, France, and Russia to fight in World War I.

The United States entered the war on April 6, 1917, and by the end of that same month thousands of men had eagerly flooded recruited stations, enlisted in the Army and Navy, and promised to defend the nation in time of peril.

On July 6, 1917, newspapers and unofficial dispatches from Canadian army headquarters in Europe documented when America went into battle for the first time during the World War.  A young Texan who had traveled to Ontario to enlist had the honor of being the first to carry the American flag in the European war.  He was carrying the official Stars and Stripes on his bayonet when he was wounded and subsequently transported to a medical unit.

According to the July 20, 1917, edition of the Democrat and Chronicle News the Texan’s brave action prompted even more patriotic men to join a branch of the service.  Men did not have a moratorium on devotion to country.  Women also wanted to do their part.  Annie Oakley was among them.  From the time the Spanish-America War began in 1898, Annie had desired to recruit and train women to be expert shots and fight for the United States.  She offered her unique services to President William McKinley in a letter dated April 5, 1898.

Dear Sir,

I for one feel confident that your good judgement will carry America safely through without war.  But in case of such an event I am ready to place a company of fifty lady sharp shooters at your disposal.  Every one of them will be an American and as they will furnish their own arms and ammunition there will be little if any expense to the government.

Very Truly,

Annie Oakley

To learn more about Annie at War read The Trials of Annie Oakley