Every good western needs a sidekick.

Growing up, I loved westerns. It didn't matter if it was a television show or a movie. It just had to be a western. I needed a hero on a horse, a heroine to save, and a sidekick.

Sidekicks are extremely important. As a reoccurring character he or she had many jobs. They often defined the hero's purpose by adding morals to the story. Their words to the plucky heroine often give insight into the hero's wounds and frailties. Sidekicks also allude to key events in the hero's past for the good or for the bad.

For those of you who think sidekicks are over rated, just remember, how many times a hero needs to be motivated. Dialogue can recall a memory, or deliver news that spurs the hero to the climatic rescue or to the dramatic kiss after the heroine is rescued.

Sidekicks can also be the ultimate cause of comic relief. Imagine, the story staying so serious. We, the viewers or readers would become so exhausted that we might get up and walk out or stop reading. Our beloved sidekick allows us to laugh, to groan, to watch the hero come to that Jesus Moment when he knows its all or nothing.

So as you are reading or watching your favorite flick, remember to give a little love to the sidekick.

Do you remember these famous sidekicks.

Gabby Hayes

Ward Bond  with John Wayne in the Searchers



Andy Devine in the old TV show Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok

                                                                                Jay Silverheels, who really needs no introduction

Buddy Ebsen as Davy Crocket's Friend, George Russell



                                                                                              Doug McClure as Trampas in the Virginian

    

Ken Curtis as Festus Haggen

Dennis Weaver is the tall drink of water in the back. All three of these actors were memorable sidekicks for Matt Dillon.

Until next time, Happy Trails

Nan

Female Spies of the Civil War

I first started researching female spies when writing Sam’s Legacy, book 4 in my MacLarens of Boundary Mountain series. The subject was so fascinating, I decided it deserved a blog post of its own.

During the turbulent, bloody years of the Civil War, 1861 to 1865, hundreds of daring ladies risked their lives as spies. Here are a few of their stories.

Rose O'Neal Greenhow

Confederate spy, Rose O'Neal Greenhow, nicknamed Wild Rose, was a darling of Washington, D.C. society. As a charming hostess to politicians and diplomats, she made a great spy and became the ringleader of a network of anti-Union spies, who forwarded coded messages. Rose even hid one message in her courier’s hair. This intel enabled Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard to gather enough forces to win the First Battle of Bull Run.

 

Rose O'Neal

In 1861, Allan Pinkerton, who was head of the secret service, raided Rose’s home and held her and her eight-year-old daughter, little Rose, under house arrest. Later, Rose went to prison, but after her release in 1862, Jefferson Davis sent her on a diplomatic mission to Europe. While there, Rose not only charmed Napoleon III and Queen Victoria, she became engaged to a British aristocrat, and also published her memoirs.

As she sailed back to America in 1864, Rose's ship encountered Union forces and her boat went down off the coast of North Carolina. She tried to escape in a rowboat but it was weighed down by gold for the Confederate treasury. Rose drowned when her lifeboat capsized.

Harriet Tubman

Union spy, Harriet Tubman started an espionage ring of former slaves, who sneaked behind Confederate lines, posing as servants or slaves to gather military intelligence. Tubman was also the first woman in US history to lead a military expedition.  In 1863 Tubman and several hundred black soldiers traveled upriver in gunboats, destroyed a Confederate supply depot, and freed over 750 slaves.

 

Harriet Tubman

Later, Tubman was a key figure in the suffrage movement. Tubman tried to collect $1,800 for her spy services but the government only paid her $20 a month.

Pauline Cushman

Pauline Cushman was the stage name of actress Harriot Wood, who became a Union spy. In 1863, while she was on tour in Kentucky, some Confederate officers dared her to interrupt her show to toast Jefferson Davis and the Confederacy.

Pauline Cushman

Pauline contacted the Union’s local provost marshal and offered to perform the toast as a type of initiation for spying for the Union. The marshal agreed. Pauline gathered intel on enemy operations, identified Confederate spies and served as a federal courier before she was caught with General Braxton Bragg’s battle plans tucked in her shoe. Pauline was sentenced to hang but was saved by the arrival of Union forces at Shelbyville. She received commendations and the rank of Brevet-Major from President Lincoln and James Garfield, a Union general at the time.

After the war, Pauline returned to her acting career, performing monologues on her exploits during the war.

Belle Boyd

Confederate spy, Belle Boyd was born to a prominent Virginia family in 1843. At the age of 17, she was arrested for shooting a drunken Union soldier who broke into her family home and insulted her mother, but she was cleared of all charges. Belle used her beauty and charm to beguile union officers into divulging information she then passed on to the Confederacy. To put a stop to her covert activities, Union officials sent Belle to live with relatives in Front Royal, Virginia in a hotel taken over by Union officers. She eavesdropped on the officer’s meetings through a hole in a door. The intel she provided enabled Stonewall Jackson to win battles in the Shenandoah Valley Campaign of 1862.

Belle Boyd

Belle was arrested by Union forces and sent to Old Capitol Prison, but she was released a month later and was deported to Richmond. Soon, she was caught behind federal lines and imprisoned for three more months. Belle then tried to sail for England in 1864 to serve as a Confederate courier, but she was intercepted by Union naval officer, Samuel Hardinge, who fell in love with the alluring spy. He helped her escape to London, where they wed, but he died shortly afterward. Belle remained in England to compose her memoirs and launch a successful acting career. She later returned to America, where she continued acting, married twice more, and delivered lectures across the country on her clandestine experiences.

Elizabeth Van Lew

Union spy, Elizabeth Van Lew, was raised in a wealthy slave-holding family in Richmond, Virginia. She developed strong abolitionist sympathies after attending a Quaker school in Philadelphia. When her father died in 1843, Elizabeth convinced her brother to free their slaves. When war broke out, Elizabeth and her mother visited Union prisoners of war in Richmond’s Libby Prison. She helped men escape, smuggled letters for them, and gathered valuable information about Confederate strategy from both prisoners and guards.

Elizabeth Van Lew

In late 1863, Union General Benjamin Butler recruited Elizabeth as a spy. She ran an entire espionage network based in Richmond. With the help of her servants, Elizabeth sent coded messages using invisible ink and hid the dispatches in hollowed-out eggs and vegetables. When the war ended, General Ulysses S. Grant appointed Elizabeth postmaster of Richmond. She had spent her family’s entire wealth on espionage activities, so the family of a Union officer she’d assisted during the war, the grandson of Paul Revere, provided for her until her death.

Antonia Ford

Confederate spy, Antonia Ford, was born to a wealthy Virginia family. At 23, Antonia gathered information from Union soldiers occupying her hometown. She provided intel to Confederate general J.E.B. Stuart, who rewarded Antonia with an honorary commission as aide-de-camp.

Antonio Ford

In 1863, Antonia was accused of spying for John Singleton Mosby, whose rangers captured Union General Edwin H. Stoughton in his headquarters. The Secret Service suspected that Antonia was involved in planning the attack because she and Stoughton had spent time together. The Secret Service sent a female operative, pretending to be a Confederate sympathizer, to meet with Antonia, who showed her Stuart’s commission. Antonia was arrested and they found smuggled papers on her.

After several months in prison, Antonia was released due to the petition of Union Major Joseph C. Willard—one of her captors. Willard resigned from the Union Army and married Antonia, who took an oath of allegiance to the United States. The couple’s son, Joseph Edward Willard, later became lieutenant governor of Virginia and the US ambassador to Spain.

Sam’s Legacy, book 4 in the MacLarens of Boundary Mountain series is available at these online retailers.

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SPOOKS OF THE WEST

October is a super time to travel in the west.  The Rockies haven’t filled with snow as yet, the southwest has lost its biting heat, and the crowds are gone.  But if, on top of that, you’d like to make western October travel Halloween-related, here are a few ghostly venues for you to visit.

Lobby of The Occidental

1.                    The Occidental Hotel, Buffalo, WY.  I’ve mentioned this place before (see https://cowboykisses.blogspot.com/2016/09/why-visit-buffalo-wy.html ) famous for having played host to several western luminaries:  Buffalo Bill, General Phil Sheridan, Butch Cassidy, Owen Wister and so on. But the Occidental is apparently considered one of the most haunted places in WY.  A former bordello, its main spirit visitor is said to be the daughter of one of the soiled doves.  She died on an upper floor and now moves furniture about.  Be warned!

Sheridan Inn (1)

2.                    Up the road a piece is The Sheridan Inn in, yes, Sheridan, WY.  The ashes of former employee Miss Kate Arnold have been laid to rest in room 306.  Miss Kate worked at the inn from 1901 to 1965 (yes!) doing about every job imaginable from gardening to babysitting, and from housekeeping to greeting guests.  She continues to look after the inn though you may not be too happy with flickering lights, cold spots and eery footsteps.

3.                    The St. James Hotel, originally called Lambert’s Inn, in Cimarron, NM, has witnessed no less than 26 murders. Bullet holes in the main dining room bear witness to visits by Jesse James, Buffalo Bill, Black jack Ketchum, the Earp brothers, Doc Holliday, and, of course, Billy the Kid among others. Psychics have apparently found the spirits of at least three restless souls and Room 18 is kept locked because of one poor man who bled to death.  You have been cautioned!

4.                    Texas certainly has its share of the supernatural.  Ranch Road 32 is known as The Devil’s Backbone.  It runs between Wimberly and Blanco and by day offers scenic views of Texas Hill Country.  Nighttime is another matter.  The foreman of a local ranch spotted twenty Confederate soldiers riding swiftly enough to shake his cabin.  The ghost of a Native American named Drago herds cattle here as well, and a miner’s wife and child wander about.  But drive carefully—it has also been the scene of several car accidents on its twisty roads, possibly leaving more ghosts behind.

Looking at White Rock Lake, Dallas (2)

5.                    The Lady of White Rock Lake near Dallas is possibly an urban myth, possibly a ghost to be reckoned with.  She wears a 1930s white evening dress, is soaked to the skin, and flags down cars asking for a lift home. She’ll even give you her address.  But by the time you get there, of course, she will have disappeared from your car leaving only a puddle.

6.                    And while we’re in Texas, there’re the Marfa Lights.  Near Rte. 67 on Mitchell Flats, these have been reported since the 1800s and no one knows exactly what they are.  Some say ghosts, some UFOs.  The orbs of light bounce around in an area that is basically uninhabited and of rough terrain.  Sometimes they move swiftly, sometimes are red, blue or white.  The official Marfa Lights viewing area is 9 miles east of town on Highway 90. Have fun!

Obviously, with the west known for its ghost towns, there is plenty more where these came from. Near Death Valley National Park is Rhyolite, a full sized town with two electric plants, near the Furnace Creek Visitor Center. Terlingua near Big Bend NP in TX is another semi-deserted mining town, complete with crumbling mine-owner's mansion.  St. Thomas, NV, near Lake Mead, was originally settled by Mormons who believed they were in Utah. When the Hoover Dam was built, the last occupant floated away but with the low water levels some of the structures are now visible and the NP service maintains a trail around it.  
 And if staying at home for Halloween is more your style, why not curl up with a couple of good ghost stories.  Patti Sherry-Crews and I offer you stories From the Files of Nat Tremayne: Two Tales of Hauntings in the Old West available at https://www.amazon.com/Files-Nat-Tremayne-Tales-Hauntings-ebook/dp/B0767HWT6S/

The Wild West gets even wilder when Nat Tremayne sends out his agents from Psychic Specters Investigations offices in St. Louis and Denver. Across country and across time, these agents will stop at nothing to unravel the mysteries that beset poor unsuspecting ranchers and cowboys who have no idea what they’re seeing . . .or not, as the case may be.
In The Ghost and The Bridegroom, P.S.I. Agent Healy Harrison is sent to Tucson to rid a rancher of the ghost in the bedroom interfering in his marriage to a mail-order bride. Healy doesn’t think she’s destined for romance—until she meets Pinkerton detective Aaron Turrell. But when their two cases dovetail, will their newfound love survive the ultimate showdown between mortal and immortal.

In Long A Ghost and Far Away, agent Dudley Worksop aims to unravel the mystery of Colby Gates’ dead wife. Lizzie not only seems to have reappeared as a ghost, but has time traveled from 2016 to the 1800s. Can revenge be had for her murder? And can the couple be reunited across country and across time?

Photo (1):  Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, WYO,17-SHER,1-2, Public Domain 

(2) Public Domain from Free Photos

Wild Women Rodeo Riders of the West

By Jacqui Nelson

No different than today, most 19th-century city folk only saw the Wild West when a vaudeville show or a rodeo visited their community. Many intrepid souls dedicated their lives to performing the thrilling but dangerous acts. They toured the country and sometimes even the world, entertaining commoners and royalty.

Here are 3 real-life cowgirls who became queens of the rodeo...

Lucille Mulhall, aka the First Cowgirl

( born 1885 in St. Louis, Missouri )

Lucille was called the First Cowgirl by reporters and by Teddy Roosevelt. However, "cowgirl" was a term used years previously in 1891 promotional materials created by Buffalo Bill Cody and his partner Nate Salsbury for their Wild West show (starring Annie Oakley and others).

Lucille was also called Rodeo Queen, Queen of the Western Prairie, and Queen of the Saddle. At age 14, she became one of the first women to compete with men in contests that included trick or fancy riding, saddle bronc riding, and steer riding and roping. She starred in Mulhall's Wild West, the Miller Brothers' 101 Ranch Wild West show, and in vaudeville.

In 1913, Lucille formed her own troupe and in 1916, she became the first woman to produce her own rodeo, Lucille Mulhall's Roundup.

Tad Lucas, aka Rodeo's First Lady

( born 1902 in Cody, Nebraska )

Born Barbara Barnes and the youngest of 24 children, Tad's family gave her the nickname "Tadpole" because of the way she moved. She won her first steer-riding contest at the age of 14. During World War I, she rode bulls along Cody’s main street to raise money for the Red Cross.

In 1922 (at the age of 20), Tad was a full-time performer, riding relays, pony express races, saddle broncs and competing in trick riding contests. That same year, she met her husband, bronc rider Buck Lucas, at a rodeo in Fort Worth. In 1933, she won champion all-around cowgirl at the Chicago World’s Fair. She also crushed her arm while trick riding and was told she’d never ride again. After three years in a cast, she was back performing.

Tad’s daughter, Mitzi Lucas Riley, become a trick rider and performed with Tad for 20 years.

Vera McGinnis, aka Hollywood Stuntwoman

( born 1892 in Missouri )

 

Vera’s family encouraged her to ride but they also moved a lot and lived in towns. At age 17, she went to business school then worked as a stenographer and also with the Salt Lake City Sight Seeing Company—where she could interact with cowboys and cowgirls from the rodeos.

In Salt Lake City, she participated in her first rodeo relay race. She placed third overall and, even though she fell and broke some teeth, she discovered her passion and signed a contract as a relay race rider.

In 1922, she traveled with the Jack Burroughs Wild West Show and broke two ribs in a bronco-busting contest in Honolulu. The following year she tied for second place in trick riding at Ringling's Madison Square Garden Rodeo in New York City. In the summer of 1924, she joined Tex Austin's International Rodeo and performed in London, Dublin, Paris, and Brussels.

Vera was one of the first female riders to appear in trousers rather than a split skirt. She was also a Hollywood stuntwoman and played the double for Estelle Taylor in Cimarron.

Eldora Calhoun, aka Eldorado Jane

( born... in my mind )

Who is Eldorado Jane? 

She's the heroine of my novel, Between Home & Heartbreak (set in 1879 Texas). She's a trick rider at the top of her game. She's the queen of a Wild West show. But more importantly... is she a long-lost friend or scheming superstar?



Here's the book blurb...

Plain Jane Dority vanished while riding in a storm beside her childhood best friend. Eighteen years later, Wild West trick-riding superstar Eldorado Jane returns to claim her birthright: the Dority homestead now owned by the steadfast Texan who never forgot Jane or forgave himself for her disappearance. 



Lewis Adams would give anything to see his friend come home, but he’s certain Eldorado Jane isn’t his Jane. So why does this mesmerizing woman—with the talent and fame to have anything she desires—want the remote patch of land that he loves? There’s only one way to find out: accept a wager with a deceiver who holds the power to bring back his friend or break his heart. The outcome rests in her hands. Or does it?

And here's an excerpt (where Samson is Eldora's horse & Lila is one of my hero, Lewis' horses)…

Led by the blasted Appaloosa Cayuse, Lewis’ horses spilled through the hole Samson had busted in the corral. The volatile stallion crowded him and Lila into a corner, shielding and hemming them in at the same time. Whatever had spooked the horse, he’d gone from needing protection to offering it in a heartbeat.


Either way, he was ensuring Lewis lost everything.


A shrill whistle whipped Samson around and sent him thundering after the last horse departing the corral. Lewis leapt onto Lila bareback and gave chase.


Samson plowed a path straight through the river of heaving horse flesh. Lewis slipped Lila into his wake. The brute had become Lewis’ best chance to avert disaster. If he could catch the lead horse, the Appaloosa, and turn him, his followers might embrace their herd mentality and turn as well.


Lewis scanned the distance remaining between the stampede and the trail.


Eldora Calhoun stood dead ahead. Disbelief then fear sent Lewis’ heart racing as fast as the herd. Horses usually tried to avoid running over people or anything that made for unstable footing—if they weren’t spooked witless.


Eldora couldn’t stop them. She was going to get herself killed. Unless Lewis reached her before the horses did.


Samson pulled ahead to run even with the Appaloosa. Lewis urged Lila to move up beside the pair but the herd jostled Lila sideways, away from Samson, hemming them in again, leaving him unable to reach Eldora.


Finally, she moved.


Pivoting sideways, she braced one foot behind her and raised her hands as if preparing to grasp something in front of her…where nothing existed but air. Never once had her gaze left Samson.


Understanding made his heart leap with hope. She intended to mount Samson on the run.

Want to read more about Eldora and Lewis?

CLICK HERE to read the scene when they first meet.

~ * ~

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