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Gathering Strays

Gathering Strays

Stories from Kansas and the Southwestern Plains

by Jim Hoy

Sales Date: February 21, 2023

408 Pages, 6.00 x 9.00 in

Paperback
9780700634101
Published: February 2023

$34.99

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eBook
9780700634118
Published: February 2023

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Description
Authors
Praise
Contents

"Part history, part memoir, part pulp folklore, Gathering Strays takes readers on an adventure through esoteric and mostly forgotten moments of the region’s past."—Kansas History
"If you’ve spent much time in Kansas, this book will increase your appreciation for the state's people and their history. If you’re new to Kansas, you’ll get a first class introduction to this place we call home."—Rex Buchanan for Kansas Public Radio
“Growing up on ranches in the Flint Hills of Kansas, Jim Hoy has spent his life riding and writing. He leads us on a fun, information-rich tour of the people, places, and events of the Old West. We meet memorable cowboys, outlaws, and other frontier folk and explore cow towns, ranches, rodeos, and more. Saddle up and enjoy the ride!”—Richard W. Slatta is professor emeritus of history at North Carolina State University and author of The Cowboy Encyclopedia and Cowboys of the Americas
“Jim Hoy is a fine storyteller with deep roots in the Flint Hills of Kansas and the Great Plains. This connection with the old days and old ways of the West gives him a perspective to interpret the history of the Great Plains. Anything he’s written is well worth reading, including this fine book.”—Jim Garry is a storyteller and the author of This Ol’ Drought Ain’t Broke Us Yet and The First Liar Never Has a Chance
“Gathering Strays is Jim Hoy’s amble through a lifetime of stories that didn’t fit in any of his other books. Already known for his history of cattle guards and the definitive chronicle of cowboy life in the Flint Hills, Hoy is a careful scholar and natural storyteller who turns his considerable attention to those true tales most Kansans have likely never heard before. Here you’ll meet horse thief Hurricane Bill Martin, the terror of Wichita; hapless outlaw Elmer McCurdy, killed in a gunfight in 1911 and whose mummified body went on tour as a carnival attraction for the next six decades; performer Buddy Heaton and his trained buffalo Old Grunter; eccentric rancher and practical joker Henry Mudge, who used chicken blood to fake murders; and sixteen-year-old Minnie Walkup, who in 1885 got away with poisoning her middle-aged husband for the money. This is the kind of book you read not just for the stories, but also to spend some time in the gentle company of Hoy, a native Kansan who makes you feel at home in the Sunflower State, no matter where you’re from.”—Max McCoy, author of Elevations: A Personal Exploration of the Arkansas River

Preface and Acknowledgments

I. Cattle Towns

1. Abilene, Prototype of the Cow Town
2. Joe McCoy’s Buffalo Stunt
3. Bloody Newton
4. Hell Is in Session in Ellsworth
5. Wild times in Ellsworth: Later Edition
6. Wichita: The Rowdy Family (Joe and Kate)
7. Wichita: Hurricane Bill Martin
8. Caldwell: The Border Queen
9. Dodge City: Queen of the Cow Towns
10. Trail City and Coolidge
11. Elgin, the Last Cow Town

II. Outlaws

12. Outlaws
12. Outlaws
13. An Armless Horse Thief
14. The Reno Gang: America’s First Train Robbers
15. The Fleagle Gang
16. The Short Life and Long Afterlife of Elmer McCurdy
17. Bootlegging
18, Jesse James
19. Tiger Bill
20. James Dalton
21. Dutch Henry
22. The Marlow Brothers
23. Femme Fatale
24. Sam Purple
25. West Texas Justice

III. The Cowboy

26. The Origin of the Cowboy
27. The Cowboy as Symbol
28. the Cowboy as Hero
29. Black Cowboys
30. Boots, Hats, and Leather Leggings
31. A Letter from a Wyoming Cowboy to His Mother in Kansas

IV. Trailing Cattle

32. The Goodnight-Loving Trail

33. Nelson Story’s Cattle Drive

34. The Chisholm Trail

35. The Log of a Cowboy

36. Texas-to-Kansas Cattle Drives

37. Prairie Cattle Company Roundup

V. Other Cowboys

38. The Mexican Vaquero
39. Gaucho Rodeo
40. Sabanero de Costariccens
41. Estancia Los Potreros
42. Celtic Cowboys
43. Jack Sammon, Australian Drover

VI. Rodeo

44. The Early Days of Rodeo
45. Going Down the Road
46. The First Indoor Rodeo
47. The First Bulldogger
48. Clay McGonagill, Steer Roper
49. Rodeo Bulls
50. The Belgrade Bull
51. Homer Venters, Rodeo Photographer
52. Shoat
53. Floyd Rumford
54. Buddy Heaton
55. Ranch Rodeo

VII. Cowboy Music

56. Singing Cowboys and Cowboy Songs

57. The Old Chisholm Trail

58. Folk Songs and Fire

59. The Lane County Bachelor

60. Home on the Range

61. Buck Ramsey

62. Carson Robison and the Queen of England

VIII. People

63. The Inimitable Henry Mudge

64. The Abernathy Boys

65. Lon Ford

66. Mary Elizabeth Haley

67. Ranicky Bill

68. Boney Joe

69. Cannonball Green

70. The Pony Express and Three Kansas Riders

71. Ame Cole, Frontiersman

72. Buffalo Bill

73. Jack McFall

74. Charlie Goodnight, Uncle Frank, My Son, and the Chuck Wagon

75. Ed Whitney

76. Landon Carter Haynes

77. Faye Gaines, Rancher

78. Ralph Bowlby and Flashaway

79. The Pilgrim Bard

80. Cattle Drives, Grasshoppers, Buffalo, and Indian Scares: The Memories of Alfred Bradshaw

81. Badger Clark

82. Fred Schouten

IX. Places

83. El Quartelejo
84. Beer City
85. Russell Springs and the Butterfield Overland Despatch
86. Smokey Valley Ranch
87. Cyclone Day in Codell
88. The Pig Pen Ranch

X. Happenings

89. A Prairie Burial

90. The Dewey-Berry Feud

91. The Cowboy War in Kansas

92. American Indians and the Santa Fe Trail

93. The Legend of Indian Hill

94. A Flying Saucer

XI. Animals

95. Armadillos
96. Bear Tales
97. Crow Hop
98. Locusts
99. Monkey Business
100. Rattlesnake Stores
101. Longhorns, Texas and English
102. The Murder Steer
103. The Saga of Black Kettle
104. Wolves

Glossary of Spanish Terms