Journal Notes

Several items from the Roy Rogers/Dale Evans Museum are being auctioned off next week. The museum closed in December of last year. I hope the memorabilia make it to a good home. The auction will be held at Christy’s in New York next week and in conjunction with that event I will be giving away 5 copies of the book Happy Trails to visitors to my site. All you need to do is drop me a line and let me know why Roy Rogers and Dale Evans are among your favorite cowboys and cowgirls and the winners will be select from there. Happy Trails is a coffee table book about the couple and the art director at Globe did a fabulous job laying the manuscript out. Every fan of the western duo needs to have a copy of this book. I’m working on a book about lawmen Sam Sixkiller now. I hope to speak with Sam’s great, great grandson later on today. I’m looking forward to diving into this next western. The setting is Oklahoma – Bill Tilghman territory. Now the Custer book has been turned into the my editor, I’ll be planning the book’s launch at various locations. One spot is going to be Fort Dodge. That will give me a great reason to visit Dodge City again. Hopefully, everything will be moving swiftly with the film Thunder Over the Prairie by then and I’ll have good news to share with the townsfolk there. Dodge City is one of my favorite places in the world. I’ve never met such wonderful people in my life. More than 110 years ago on this day Tom Horn and Matt Rash were the local gossip in Cold Springs, Colorado. After his supper, Matt Rash, a well known cow thief in Cold Springs, stepped out on the porch of his ranch house to have a smoke. Stock detective, Tom Horn, was in hiding nearby and shot Rash three times with a rifle. Rash went back inside and died on his bed while trying to write a note in his own blood. I?ve said it before, but I think there are some situations that call for such frontier justice. Of course, Tom Horn’s story wasn’t a happy one, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that there are some people that are evil to the core and need to be put down and not propped up. The law says otherwise of course. I think Paul Newman’s character in Hud responded to that fact best in the film of the same title. “I always say the law was meant to be interpreted in a lenient manner. And that’s what I try to do. Sometimes I lean to one side of it, sometimes I lean to the other.”

The first draft of the Elizabeth Custer book goes out to my brilliant editor today. I spent part of the long weekend working on the manuscript while watching a John Wayne movie marathon. The Cowboys is a wonderful film. I had forgotten just how wonderful. Red River and The Searchers remain my favorite Wayne films. Speaking of the Duke, I submitted an article to American Cowboy about the actor. The magazine is dedicating an entire issue to Wayne. I think it’s a brilliant idea. While waiting for the first edits on the Custer book to be given and returned, the funds for Thunder Over the Prairie film to be released, and the Wayne article to be approved, I’ll turn my attention to the next book, The Life and Times of Sam Sixkiller. Jeff Galpin, the graphic artist in charge of designing the cover of the book about my brother, sent a copy of the cover to me on Friday. I’m excited about The Plea’s future release. I continue to have a hard time reconciling the damage done to Rick by the scoundrel he was married to and her offspring. There’s a line from the movie Fort Apache that best sums up my feelings about these two curs, “You’re blackguards, liars, hypocrites, and a stench in the nostrils of honest men.” It’s righteous anger I feel. That’s why it never fades away. A lot happened on this day more than 130 years ago. In 1871, John Wesley Hardin got into a quarrel with Charles Cougar in Abilene, Kansas with his usual aplomb in such affairs he simply pulled out his gun and shot Cougar to death. On July 6. 1900, Warren Earp, always a surly drunk had been looking for a fight for several days with cowhand, Johnny Boyet. Johnny finally gave it to him and when the smoke cleared Warren lay riddled with bullets on the floor of a saloon in Wilcox, Arizona. Warren got what was coming to him. If only that happened more often.

The bulk of this week has been spent working on the Elizabeth Custer book entitled The Soldier’s Widow: Elizabeth Custer’s Life With & Without George. After I write the Introduction I’ll turn the manuscript into my publisher for the first round of edits. I’ve enjoyed working on this project, but I remain apprehensive about taking it on. As they say in the South “everybody has a dog in this hunt.” There have been so many books, magazine articles, etc., written about the Custers and there are many historians out there who claim to know all there is to know about them. I anticipate being challenged on every word written. I’ve done my own extensive research and this book will contain Custer artifacts never seen before, but I still expect a backlash. I expect an attack by scholars (of which I am not) the likes of which hasn’t been seen since the Battle at the Little Bighorn. I could be wrong, but I’ve been doing this long enough to know that there is always someone out there who longs to tell you that you don’t know what you’re talking about. If I can get past that I believe I’ll have a great time with the launch of the material. I had a wonderful conversation with my ex-mother-in-law this past week. She was such a blessing to me when I was some 31 years younger. It was nice to catch up on what has happened since last we spoke. Life for my ex-husband seems to have turned out well. He’s been happily married for 25 years and has two beautiful and accomplished children. I had always wondered how he turned out. I’ve spent a good portion of my adulthood worrying about how I’m going to turn out, or whether I would “turn out” at all. The question is how to meet one’s definitive destiny, which for many individuals probably never happens. What if the greatest military strategist of all time was born a watchmaker in Switzerland, or what if the most brilliant medical mind in history was housed in a man selling shoes in Oklahoma? Those kind of misalignments are exactly what I’ve been worried about. I’d like to blame it all on a misalignment. There’s been too much heartache in this life to think I’d turn out any differently I guess. I’m not feeling sorry for myself?well, maybe I am a little. It’s hard to watch my brother fade into nothing when the real criminals roam about waiting to destroy more lives. And they will. I suppose if things had turned out differently I never would have taken up writing. Not being able to write would truly be a tragedy to me. I think it would have been Elizabeth Custer’s undoing as well. She wrote about everything that happened in her life, both good and bad. It was cathartic for her and, as it turns out, educational to the rest of the world. Perhaps that’s the best I can hope for myself.

One hundred and thirty four years ago today, Elizabeth Custer and the other wives of the 7th Cavalry, were waiting for news from their husband’s heading off to the Little Big Horn. Elizabeth noted in her memoirs that she sensed things were not going to go well for George the day he rode off to meet the Plains Indians. “With my husband’s departure,” she wrote in 1887, “my last happy days in garrison were ended, as a premonition of disaster that I had never known before weighed me down. I could not shake off the baleful influence of depressing thought. This presentiment and suspense, such as I had never known, made me selfish, and I shut into my heart the most uncontrollable anxiety, and could lighten no one else’s burden.” She was a brave woman and George’s greatest champion. I don’t think Custer would have been Custer without Elizabeth. For all who stop by the site today, check out the new advertisement in the media section. Also, select one of the books from the Go West series for summer reading and I’ll send you a free copy.

There’s so much more that goes into writing a book than I ever considered. The marketing of the material is crucial. I’ve not quite finished the Elizabeth Custer book and I’m already thinking about the launch of tome and all that needs to be done this far in advance. The Soldier’s Widow is scheduled for release in May 2011. Although I haven’t made the arrangements yet I’d like to have the launch of the book in three different places; the Gene Autry Western Museum in Los Angeles, Fort Dodge, Kansas, Billings, MT., and New York City. New York is hosting Book Expo in May 2011 and it’s the perfect venue to kick off a new book. Elizabeth Custer lived out her final days in New York in an apartment on Park Avenue. I will begin making plans for all of these launches the day I ship the book to my editor. With my deep love for all things Old West I’m surprised that my idol growing up wasn’t a cowgirl. But alas, it was not. It was Nancy Sinatra. I thought she had an amazing voice and loved the song “These Boots Are Made For Walking.” She did a movie with Elvis and sang a song in the film called “Groovy Self” – I was quite fond of that tune as well. I tried to copy the fashions she wore on her album covers. The look didn’t really make it on a 7 year-old, but I had to try. One year for Christmas my grandmother gave me a pair of Go-Go boots like Nancy wore in the film Speedway. I was so proud. I wore those boots everywhere hoping beyond hope they would detract from my insanely short hair and what seemed to me to be gigantic Chiclets some referred to as teeth. On the far side of 40 now I’ve traded in my Go-Go boots for cowboy boots. I won’t ever trade in my Nancy Sinatra albums though. At a very crucial time in my life Nancy was all I had for inspiration. I?ve thought about writing her a couple of times to let her know, but talk myself out of it. Someday I might change my mind. Until then?”Come on, boots. Start walking.”

LeeAnne Sharpe with the Spirit of the West organization contacted me Wednesday night to let me know that I’m being honored with the Spirit of the West Alive award in October. The award recognizes those individuals who have continued to keep the idea of the Old West in the public eye. Past recipients have been Buck Taylor, Bruce Dern, Bob Boze Bell, and Peter Brown. I’m very honored and thank the folks at the organization for considering me at all. I don’t remember when the last time was I received such happy news. I must admit, however, that I’m a lot like Robert Duvall’s character from the movie Tender Mercies. “I don’t trust happiness,” Duvall’s character says to his. “I never have and I never will.” I continue to work away at getting the Libbie Custer book complete. Soon. Very soon. I will have it all done. I’m including a few of the best things ever said by and about some famous western legends and locations in today’s post. Enjoy. “For my handling of the situation at Tombstone, I have no regrets. Were it to be done again, I would do it exactly as I did it at the time.” — Wyatt Earp, lawman. “We are rough men and used to rough ways.” – Bob Younger to a newspaper reporter following the 1876 Northfield, Minnesota raid. “Cimarron is in the hands of a mob.” — The Santa Fe New Mexican newspaper commenting on Cimarron, New Mexico during the Colfax County War. November 9, 1875. “Can’t you hurry this up a bit? I hear they eat dinner in Hades at twelve sharp and I don’t aim to be late.” – Black Jack Ketchum, just before he was hanged at Clayton, New Mexico on April 26, 1901. “They say I killed six or seven men for snoring. It ain’t true. I only killed one man for snoring.” — John Wesley Hardin. “I love it. It is wild with adventure.” – Henry Starr describing the bandit life in the Old West shortly before he was shot to death in a gunfight in Arkansas. “Dodge City is a wicked little town. Indeed, its character is so clearly and egregiously bad that one might conclude, were the evidence in these later times positive of its possibility, that it was marked for special Providential punishment.” — a letter that appeared in the Washington D.C. Evening Star, January 1, 1878. “There is no law, no restraint in this seething cauldron of vice and depravity.” – The New York Tribune describing Abilene, Kansas. I do believe that particular quote applies to the country as a whole these days.

There was a happy surprise in the August 2010 edition of Wild West Magazine I picked up Saturday. The Many Loves of Buffalo Bill was reviewed and the reviewer liked it. I didn’t realize the book was going to be reviewed and am thrilled the material was well received. Maybe that’s why sales for the book increased this past week. I finished handwriting the Elizabeth Custer book Friday. I’m now on to the second rewrite. Progress is being made albeit slow. I have grown quite fond of Elizabeth in the process of writing this book and admire her tremendously. She knew her husband was not a saint, but believed with everything she was that he was not to blame for the happenings at the Little Big Horn. She researched the accounts of the event herself and courageously took on anyone who said Custer was at fault. She championed him right up to the time she died. She outlived all of her husband’s critics, namely Marcus Reno and Frederick Benteen. Reno died at the age of 54 after an operation for cancer of the tongue. Benteen died of heart failure in his mid-60s. Neither one of the men lived great lives after the battle. Elizabeth made sure the world knew they were cowards no matter how much they tried to blame George’s ego for the loss of life at the Last Stand. George once told Elizabeth, “I don’t believe a man ever perpetrated a rank injustice knowingly upon his fellow man but that he suffered for it before he died.” I believe that was true for Reno and Benteen. And now for a look back?on Saturday June 19, 1880, feared ex-marshal George Flatt was out drinking in Caldwell, Kansas and got into a bit of trouble with new the new marshal, Frank Hunt. Flatt was later ambushed and killed on his way to eat supper and witnesses identified Hunt fleeing the scene. I do believe Hunt suffered greatly before he died. I hope Custer’s words turn out to be true for those in my own sphere of influence who have “perpetrated a rank injustice.”

As I begin my average work day with a cup of orange juice and cherry pop tarts, because one needs that daily intake of fruit, I’ve decided this entry will be a combination of book and Old West news. The Many Loves of Buffalo Bill Cody received a favorable review from the folks at American Cowboy Magazine. The review is in the July issue of the periodical. An add for the books in the Go West series that deal with entertainers of the Old West will appear in True West Magazine next month. I’ve teamed up with western clothing company Cattle Kate’s in the ad. They have the best western gear. I own more than a few of the dresses they sell. I will be performing standup comedy on Friday night for a local benefit to send a couple of missionaries to the Ukraine. I enjoyed doing standup years ago when I was in college and look forward to making people laugh again. At least I hope it turns out that way. Emailed the producer that have optioned Playing for Time, but have received no word back on the progress of that film. Hope to attract some attention to the Roy Rogers/Dale Evans material during the auction of their museum items next month. Perhaps a studio executive will finally give the script a green light. I know Clint Black is out there doing his part. The new word on production efforts for Thunder Over the Prairie is that all money should be in escrow for the film by July 1st, 2010. After Walter Hill is given the go-ahead to write the script, we’ll be on our way. The Elizabeth Custer book is slowly reaching completion. I want so much for this book to be the best in the series. I’m taking my time with the material, double and triple checking every fact and date. Hope to launch the book next June on the 135th anniversary of the Battle of the Little Big Horn. The plan is to launch the material in New York at Book Expo and then LA at the Gene Autry Western Museum. Still miss my brother terribly. He never leaves my thoughts. To think of his suffering is sometimes more than I can bear. But I can’t forget him. Graphic artist Jeff Galpin is designing the cover for the book I’m working on about Rick. Hope to have it up on the site in the not too distance future. On this day in 1866, Lewis Peacock’s Carpetbaggers got themselves shot up at the Nance Farm new Lick Skillet, Texas by Bob Lee’s Texans. Three of them were killed in the gunfight. None of Lee’s men were hurt. Nobody in Texas liked the Reconstructionists. Also on this day in 1893, Mike Tovey was killed during a stagecoach robbery. He had ridden shotgun for Wells Fargo for 28 years.

I am home again, after several days of trailing after Elizabeth Custer. Fort Leavenworth is a beautiful post. George and Elizabeth stayed there during George’s court martial in the late 1860s. I met with Becky and her assistant at the Fort museum bookshop and she gave me a tour of the facilities and promised to start carrying my books in the store. Both women were kind and eager to help. They had wonderful stories of encounters with Elizabeth’s ghost at the quarters where she and George lived for a time. The quarters are called the Syracuse House. The assistant at the bookstore gives guided tours of the post and the story of Elizabeth’s visit back to her old home is included on the tour. The women in the bookstore sent me to the archive department at the museum to collect information about Elizabeth and her time at Fort Leavenworth. Not only was I informed that the museum had nothing about Mrs. Custer, but the archivist was not even certain George and Elizabeth ever lived in the Syracuse House. Historical facts varied under the same museum roof. I managed to acquire a photo from the archives of the quarters. Military families are still being rotated in and out of the home. The post is located near the Missouri River in order for steamers to be loaded with supplies and sent on their way to points west. The book The Soldier’s Widow is due to be released in May of next year. Part of the promotional tour will include Fort Leavenworth and I am hoping New York. That is the only place I have not been where Elizabeth lived. Missouri as a whole was humid, sticky, and generally uncomfortable in every way. I do not see the Missouri Mark Twain described in his works. At the start of 2010, I received numerous threatening letters. The author’s were identified. I was persuaded not to press charges because they were young and in college. I agreed, but now I have changed my mind. Visits to my site on June 12 from Norborne, MO. and June 14 from Greensboro, NC., from the same two people who sent the initial threats make me believe that this is too serious to let go any further. So in between unpacking from the trip, completing the work on Chapter 10 of the Custer book, I will be conversing with the authorities on the next course of action. A new ad for the Go West series of books will appear in the next edition of True West Magazine. True West was recently named one of the best publications of its kind and I agree. Bob Boze Bell, Meghan Saar, and the other fine people whom run that magazine are talented and living the dream. It has been a delight to work with them. I have been asked about the progress for the various films Howard Kazanjian and I have been working on. The update is boring and frustrating. Howard continues to work on getting the funds for Thunder Over the Prairie from a new studio being formed in Hollywood. It has been more than a year since we met with Walter Hill to discuss the project. He is still interested, but the funds have been slow in coming around. Howard is to meet with the financiers tomorrow. In the meantime, other avenues of fund raising are taking place. I have not checked in on Playing for Time in a while. The last I heard the production company was meeting with casting directors. If all goes with the funding for Thunder Over the Prairie we will have the capitol for the Roy Rogers/Dale Evans film. I am going to continue to work on the Libbie Custer bio and then move on to the Sam Sixkiller book. At 49, I continue to believe the films will be made. Maybe I should let the notion go, but it is all I have dreamed of since I kid in humid, sticky, and generally uncomfortable Missouri.

I’ll be traveling to Missouri this coming week. Given the spiritual and emotional climate in that area, it feels a great deal like going back into the lion’s den. I’ll be visiting Fort Leavenworth where George and Elizabeth Custer were stationed during the time of his court martial. I hope to gather key information about their lives to use in the last chapter of the book. The book is tentatively titled The Soldier’s Widow: Elizabeth Custer’s Life With and Without George. My Deadline is August 1st. I’m going to be cutting it close. A new ad promoting the books I’ve written about the women entertainers of the Old West will appear in the August issue of True West Magazine. I’ve teamed up with the western clothing store Cattle Kate’s in this ½ page ad. Anyone who purchases a wedding dress from Cattle Kate’s gets a discounted copy of Hearts West: Mail Order Brides of the Old West. I’d like to team up with other western type businesses for the next few ads and see what kind of response the book gets. Hearts West is an old title, but it does fairly well. In addition to researching the Custer book, I was going back to Missouri to attend my nieces wedding. I anticipated watching my brother Rick’s oldest daughter getting married without him there to have been very difficult. Due to the threats made on my life I won’t be going. Which is too bad because Nikki really is a treasure. But it’s better for her to have a day without drama. After reporting the threats I received at the beginning of the year the authorities responded by putting a tracing application on my computer. The threats were easily traced. I’m not happy Big Brother has invaded my privacy, but I do want the threats stopped. I haven’t had any trouble with that kind of vile act since I informed the people that I could see it was them doing the deed. I could even see their mother checking on her baby’s progress from where she works at New Liberty Hospital in Clay County, MO. The Freedom of Information Act was very helpful in acquiring that information. They can’t lie their way out of this one this time. In addition to watching out for lions while in the Show Me State, I’ll have to be mindful of snakes as well. I won’t be updating this site until I return. If I return. Turmoil is not new to that area of the country. In 1873, several cavalrymen had a quarrel with a prostitute named Emma Stanely at Red Beard’s Dancehall in Delano, Kansas. One of the troopers shot her in the thigh. Red Beard charged into the troopers with guns blazing and wounded two of them. I admire the way they handled trouble in the Old West. I hope to return in a week with tales of the research I did at the various Kansas Forts. Until then, Happy Trails.