Texas Jack, Army Scout and Hunter
also hired to be in the play and helped Jack with his lines. He fell instantly in love with her.
The play opened on December 16, 1872. The play was enormously successful even though Buffalo Bill and Texas Jack continuously flubbed their lines. The play had Indians, outlaws, beautiful girls, horses, and the two famous scouts. From Chicago, the play went on to St. Louis, Cincinnati, Rochester, Albany, Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Richmond, Norfolk, Harrisburg, and finally Port Jervis, New York.
At the end of the season, Buffalo Bill and Texas Jack parted company with Ned Buntline, as they felt he had skimmed off too much of the profits. The two went back to guiding hunting trips. But the following year they returned to New York, where they signed up with a Major Burke to put together another Wild West show. They also convinced Wild Bill Hickok to join them. While planning the new show, Texas Jack married Josephine in Rochester, New York.
The next three years were enormously successful. The show called "Scouts of the Plains" did well everywhere it went. Jack began writing articles for the magazine "Spirit of the Times," about his various adventures. By that time Ned Buntline had also wrote several dime novels about both Buffalo Bill and Texas Jack and the two were becoming famous.
In 1880, Jack and his wife journeyed to Leadville, Colorado. Supposedly he went there because the high altitude and dry climate would be good for his failing health. Soon after his arrival, Jack joined forces with the Tabor Light Cavalry. Tabor was the leading citizen of the town and a wealthy mine owner. The cavalry was the local law enforcement. Josephine opened up a dance studio for children.
But their happy life there didn't last long. In May, Jack caught a severe cold. It grew worse and turned into pneumonia, then consumption. Finally he died on June 28, 1880. The Tabor Opera House was used for his funeral. He was given a military send-off by the Tabor Light Cavalry. His friends erected a simple wooden marker. In 1908, Buffalo Bill visited Leadville and replaced the wooden marker with a permanent granite one.
Latest Articles