Sign up to receive email notices of recent acquisitions.
Lone Star Harry. American Representative Scout.
New York: Dick’s Publishing House 12 E. Union Square, [ca. 1894]. 12mo (17 x 12.5 cm), original pictorial pink wrappers. 16 pp. An entertaining account of cowboy, army scout and Wild West performer Lone Star Harry, including a thrilling cattle-drive narrative and instructions on gun-fighting technique; likely distributed as a Wild-West Show souvenir for Harry’s gun-toting act. Featuring a wood engraving of Lone Star Harry on the front wrapper, this pamphlet begins with a brief biography of Harry who claimed to have been born in 1855 in present-day Eagle Pass, Maverick County, Texas. “Broke in as a cowboy” at the age of fourteen, Lone Star Harry continued herding for various ranges until the age of twenty-two, when he was noticed by General Crook. For the next twelve years he worked as an Army scout and spent part of the time in the Cherokee Strip. Following this stint, he went on to serve as an agent for a number of Native Americans who performed in Wild West shows, and by 1890 had begun performing in shows himself as a trick-pistol shot with Doctor Solomon, and subsequently with Capt. Nettie Littel, Pawnee Bill, Wichita Jack, and then in 1893 with Buckskin Bill’s Railroad Wild West. During the 1893 season, Harry performed at the Chicago World’s Fair—winning “World’s Columbian medals as the greatest handler of revolvers the world had ever seen.” This pamphlet appears to have been published shortly thereafter. It may have been sold during his Wild West show act—or perhaps was handed out to audiences as a self-promoting souvenir. Most remarkable is the six-page “My Experience on the Texas Cattle Trail, A Picturesque Business Killed by Steam and Iron, Experiences during a Cattle Drive of 3,500 cattle from Texas up to Nebraska.” Harry offers fascinating details on cowboy life on Capt. King’s Nueces Texas ranch, from which in 1882 he spearheaded a cattle-drive of a herd of 3,500 head to Nebraska. The text includes information on handling cowponies; tips on how to quiet cattle after a stampede; and a section on gun handling—advising that if one is ever involved in a gunfight to “always stand sideways, left side toward them, then the left arm protects the heart, and the finest marksman in the world can’t reach it.” The booklet concludes with lyrics for five then-popular songs such as “Her Name Was Mary Ann,” “Back Among the Old Folks Again,” and “Don’t Cher Know?” Not in Adams, Rampaging Herd. OCLC records twenty examples, most held by Texas institutions. CONDITION: Good, light damp-staining to front-cover, toning to pages, partial separation at upper-hinge.
Item #5363
Price: $375.00