b'Pickett continued from page 55arisen, the horses and vehicles of the 101 Ranch show areto the public. They also had to be impressed for public service if found fit (in accordanceprofits coming in from an with Section 115 of the Army Act), and will be paid for onoil refinery on the ranch the spot at the market value to be settled by the purchasinggrounds, oil having been officer. Should you not accept the price paid as fair value,discovered on ranch property you have the right to appeal to the county court but you mustsome years earlier. As for Bill not hinder the delivery of the horses and vehicles, etc. ThePickett, now 48 at war\'s end, purchasing officer may claim to purchase such harness andhe had begun to slow down, stable gear as he may acquire with the horse or vehicle . . . but he was still a working Cowboy, doing chores and Never mind that the horses had been brought over fromparticipating in roundups for the states and thus were American property. Neverthe Millers and other nearby mind that King George V was impressed with the show.ranches. He had even caught C A R D I N A LF I N A N C I A LCO M PA N YL I M I T E DPA R T N E R S H I P Never mind that Zack Miller appealed to the Americanthe attention of Hollywood, NMLS #66247 Embassy and British authorities. All was in vain. Hewhich would feature Pickett received compensation of 80,000 American dollars, scantas the star of his very CONVENTIONAL FINANCING (Purchase/Refinance)considering the high price of the animals and the vehiclesown silent film called The confiscated. He lost almost all of the animals, save for aBulldogger, produced by the few trained horses and most of the show\'s property as well,Norman Film Manufacturing 580 Minimum ScorePrimary Residence/Second Home/Investment including stagecoaches, cars and, show wagons. There wasCompany doing what he an emotional price as well, as the Miller brothers, Pickettdid best - bulldogging, what and the show entourage had loved their animals dearly andelse!However, due to the were extremely distressed to see them go to a fate that couldsickening racism of the times,Wild west shows were popular nationwide, but especially in the east. USDA 100% FINANCING (Wickenburg) 580 Minimum Score only result in their demise, collectively or individually. the film would barely seePeople thought they were seeing an authentic portrayal of the west.the light of day, and only to Years later, Joe Miller\'s son, Joe Miller Jr. would comment:limited audiences, though a"My father often wondered how the British cavalrystunning poster remains a collector\'s item to this day. Upon receiving the news, a sick Zack Miller, stunned and FHA FINANCING (Purchase/Refi) 3.5% Down580 Minimum Score performed on those Mexican mustangs and Wild Westsaddened, got up out of his sickbed to arrange the funeral of broncos.Knowing how much he cared about animals,Pickett would maintain this part-time working cowboyhis old friend and employee. Another old and dear friend, I\'m sure he fretted for a long time over their fate on theexistence - until one day in the mid-1920s, when theWill Rogers, himself just three and a half years away from battlegrounds of France and Belgium" (Ibid., pp. 423-424). Millers decided to resume the Wild West shows he dutifullyhis demise in that fatal Alaskan air crash, made the public VA FINANCING (Purchase/Refi) 580 Minimum Score Bill Pickett would return to the states with a much-diminishedwent back on the road - and back to wowing crowds, everannouncement of Pickett\'s passing, remarking that Pickett so smaller as the Wild West was fast becoming a fadedhad been also been a close friend of his. Pickett would be 101 Ranch show. Arguably this was the beginning of the endmemory, with his bulldogging exploits. He would estimate,buried on a windswept hill on the grounds of his beloved for the show, though it soldiered on for almost fifteen moreby 1930 that he had bulldogged some five thousand head of101 Ranch beneath a sandstone marker bearing the simple JUMBO FINANCING ($3 Million to 90%) 680 Minimum Score years, with the Millers putting on two Wild West shows incattle, mostly steers (Hanes, p.155). inscription - BILL PICKETT, C.S.C.A. (Cherokee Strip 1915 featuring Pickett and Cowboy Boxer Jess Willard. Then,Cowpuncher\'s Association, a further irony in that Pickett in 1916, the Millers would sign on perhaps the most stellar ofHe was still the best at what he did, but what he did waswas the only Black member of the association). As over 1000 their attractions, even eclipsing Pickett and Mix, if only forcoming to a sad end. The shows drew fewer and fewer crowdspeople, Cowboys, Cowgirls, Indians, family and friends COMMUNITY LENDING 5% Forgiveable Grants for Down Payment a brief time. It was Buffalo Bill Cody himself, free from theuntil the Great Depression of 1929 put the final kibosh onwatched, Pickett\'s coffin was lowered into his grave, the shackles of the Sells-Floto Circus, and quite eager to join thethe Miller Wild West shows - the last performance heldchurch choir singing "Swing Low Sweet Chariot" (Ibid.,Miller show, though in obviously failing health. Pickett wouldin Washington, D.C. on August 4, 1931. The 101 Ranchpp. 178-179).and Closing Costs tour with the famous scout, but there is no historical record orWild West shows had come to the end of their existence, commentary to note if they had bonded, been friendly withas Pickett\'s own life would less than 9 months later. He hadIt remained for Zack Miller, the last of the Miller brothers each or what both great Westerners thought of each other.stopped performing shows by the end of the 1920s, he hadand a close friend of Pickett\'s who knew how loyal the "Dusky Both Cody and Pickett were stars of what might arguably havelost his beloved wife Maggie in that fateful year of 1929,Demon" had been to his family, to deliver the final and very CONSTRUCTION & RENOVATION LOANS been the 101 Ranch Wild West show\'s greatest performancesand at the beginning of 1932, at age 61, Pickett was back totouching eulogy in the shape of a poem he had written:- the New York Stampede - where they were cheered on bydoing what he had originally started as a working Cowboy, vast crowds of tens of thousands, including former Presidentroping, riding, branding, bulldogging - and breaking horses.OLD BILL IS DEADTheodore Roosevelt and their old friend Will Rogers, whoIt would be an unbroken horse that would be the cause ofOld Bill is dead and gone awayHELOC: Home Equity Line of Credit would attend all of the performances of the show during theirBill Pickett\'s demise on March 19, 1932. Pickett had onlyOver the Great Dividestay in New York, and on the very last day would invite Pickettjust evaded serious injury four days earlier when anotherGone to a place where the preachers sayand other friends to see him roping, riding and cracking jokesunbroken horse almost tossed the Dusky Demon out of theBoth saint and sinner will abideheadlining the famed the Ziegfeld Follies, then performing onsaddle - it took every effort Pickett had to control him, but the roof of the New Amsterdam Theatre (Ibid.,p. 458, Hanes,control him he did, looking like the young, strong Bill PickettIf they "check his brand" like I think they willWE EVEN Finance Manufactured pp. 142-43). The tour soldiered on down the east coast, whereof old as he rode the bronc down to a steady pace. He mustIt\'s a running boss they\'ll give to Billat seasons end, Buffalo Bill Cody, suffering greatly as uremichave felt that the fates had smiled on him then and wouldAnd some good wild steers till he gets his fillpoisoning destroyed his kidneys, would make his very lastcontinue to smile on him as he approached a 3-year-oldWith a great big crowd for him a thrillHomes & Container Homes performance in Portsmouth, Virginia on November 11, 1916 -Chestnut gelding, a 1000-pound mass of meanness, with hisBill\'s hide was black but his heart was whitethen went home to Colorado and to die two months later. rope. Perhaps thinking he still had the strength of his youth, Pickett threw his rope around the chestnut\'s saddle horn andHe\'d sit up through the coldest nightAs for Bill Pickett, he would return home to Oklahoma andproceeded to pull him near him when the horse suddenlyTo help a doggie in a dyin\' fightlive another almost sixteen years, still performing as longbolted and Pickett was unable to hold him. To save a dollar for his bossas the Millers continued 101 West shows. But Trail\'s End - like a distant train slowly but surely approaching its finalGrabbing his rope Pickett approached the massive geldingAnd all Bill wanted was a good fast hossdestination - was not too far away on the horizon, first forone more time, ready to make another attempt at ropingThree square meals and a place to laythe show itself, and then so tragically and so needlessly forhim when a nearby running horse stepped on the rope,His tired self at the end of daythe aging Black Cowboy named Bill Pickett. making it slack - then to the horror of the small crowd ofThere\'s one other thing, since I\'ve come to thinkCowboys nearby the rope flipped up and caught Pickett TRAIL\'S END at one end at the same time the gelding hit the other end.Bill was always willing to take a drink"The Millers failed to see the approaching collapse of theirPickett was tossed fifteen feet into the air, and as he cameIf the job was tough, be it hot or coldempire. Despite telltale omens, they truly believed the 101down the infuriated chestnut kicked him in the head,You could get it done if Bill was toldRanch would last forever. Charging ahead in the 1920s themaking a sound as if a ripe melon had been squashed.He\'d fix the fence, or skin a cowMillers took no notice that, as old cowhands would have putStunned, blood flowing from his mouth, ears, and throat,Or ride a horse and EVEN PLOWit, they had become hopelessly caught in their own loops"Pickett briefly stood up, then collapsed, lapsing into a comaOr do anything, if you told him how(Wallis, p. 452). for the next two weeks, a coma which, despite the initiallyLike many men in the old-time Westpositive comments of a doctor who knew Pickett andOn any job, he\'d do his bestAt first, things didn\'t seem so dire for the 101 or Bill Pickett.his physical prowess, ("Oh hell, it\'s Pickett. He\'ll live") he During the World War I years, the Millers, realizing theynever came out of alive. Bill Pickett, 61 years old, and withHe left a blank that\'s hard to fillwould be unable to put on shows for quite some time, choseso many wondrous - and not- so-wondrous experiencesFor there\'ll never be another Billto diversify and turn their ranch into a tourist attraction,behind him, gave up the ghost in the Ponca City HospitalBoth White and Black will mourn the dayopening up a general store, a restaurant, and a gas stationon April 2, 1932 (Hanes, pp. 171-175). That the Biggest Boss took Bill away ArizonaRealCountry.com November 2022 57'