b'SAMUEL F. CODYThe Incredible, Sometimes StrangerThan True Story Of The Other Cody THE TEXAS (?) COWBOY WHO BECAMETHE FATHER OF BRITISH AVIATION PART 2 By Alan RockmanWHEN SAMUEL F. COWDERYquickly blossomed between the veteran Cowboy and the BECAME SAMUEL F. CODY very pretty but very naive young teen. The circumstances of When Cowdery first signed uptheir meeting are vague at best - one account (Jenkins), fairly with the Forepaugh Circus he wasreliable, suggests that Cody originally met Miss Lee duringThe REAL Buffalo Bill (seen here) seemingly just another cowhandthat early 1888 season stopover in Morristown, but despiteand his legal advisers were not too hired to do roping and shootingthe mutual attraction they would not meet again until thepleased with promoters claiming in the Wild West part of the show.following April when they were married. Another moreSamuel F. Cody was his son or He would have to wait to exhibitrecent account, Kuntz\'s, suggests that Maud Lee was hired on his sharpshooting skills, for Forepaugh\'s chief acquisition wasby Forepaugh to be an assistant to Cody and that a romanceany other kind of relative, and none other than Doc Carver, Buffalo Bill\'s former partner whokindled while they were on the road, despite an early crisispromptly put out "cease and desist" had parted on bad terms with the famed showman scout. Hein the relationship (see below). Gould Lee does not evennotices when Samuel Cody and was particularly anxious to prove himself the better shooter,mention Maud Lee at all - saying that the British Lela DavisMaud Lee first appeared in Britain.and he garnered the top spot on Forepaugh\'s show bill. Samuelwas Cody\'s one-and-only wife and that he met her during Cowdery was relegated to the shadows at first but then a funnyhis cowpoke days when Cody supposedly was sent with a thing happened. Someone, either Forepaugh or an associate,remuda of horses to London by his Hashknife boss, Colonelteen Maud Lee who worshiped Oakley would have unintended noticed how the obscure Cowboy Samuel Franklin CowderySimpson, that were to be sold to Miss Davis\'s horse buyingfuture consequences and the gnashing of teeth on the part so physically resembled one William Frederick Cody, the veryfather (Gould Lee, pp.49-55) - a ludicrous assertion at bestof Oakley and Butler) (Kuntz, pp. 37-38). Jenkins makes no famous Buffalo Bill. So someone, maybe Forepaugh, maybeand one quickly refuted. At any rate, Cody and Miss Maudmention of the arrest and charges in his biography of Cody, one of the Circus bosses, or perhaps someone else suggested toLee soon became, in today\'s vernacular, an item - and formerely stating that Cody, NOT accompanied by Maud Lee Samuel Cowdery that he become Samuel Cody. According tothe first two years of their love they were inseparable - evenand sans free of any unsavory incident had completed the one of Cody\'s biographers: when legal wolves were howling at their door. first season with Forepaugh shortly before Christmas time, then signed on all by his lone self to the Butler-Oakley show. "Upon his entry into show business, Samuel FranklinA MORALS CHARGE, EXIT FOREPAUGH, ENTERBoth accounts are correct in that "Deadwood Dick" opened Cowdery changed his name to Samuel Franklin Cody.ANNIE OAKLEY AND FRANK BUTLER in Philadelphia on Christmas Eve 1888 and fizzled out by This was an obvious ploy to capitalize on his physicalForepaugh\'s Circus and Wild West Show was a troublesomethe end of the following month, the show\'s promise of Bold resemblance to a younger Buffalo Bill Cody, especiallyventure from the start. Forepaugh, as noted was not anBorder Boys - Bad Bucking Broncos - and Marvelous Mexican his long brown locks that fell over his shoulders. It is notethical employer and many of the performers were allegedMustangs" seems to have been strong on alliteration and little known when and how the name change decision was made,to have had a history of lack of moral and ethical character.else" (Jenkins, p. 33). Oakley and Butler swallowed their pride but since Forepaugh was demonstrably trying to imitateCody may have been a rowdy young cowpoke but even heand returned to the Buffalo Bill entourage; Sam Cody and Buffalo Bill\'s Wild West, and Forepaugh and his lieutenantswas unprepared for what came next when the first seasonMaud Lee swallowed their pride too, got married in April 1889 had a history of concocting frauds, it seems likely that theended and he returned to Maud Lee in Norristown. For just(which both the Jenkins and Kuntz accounts affirm), Cody suggestion was made to Cowdery by his circus bosses.three days after the lovebirds reunited, Cody was arrestedallegedly briefly returned to the Forepaugh show for one last Throughout his show business career, Samuel F. Cody wouldon a morals charge, specifically of "lassoing" two youngseason, then the two newlyweds set off to join yet another alternately embrace and deny stories of his being a directpreadolescent girls for indecent purposes. The two girls hadWild West show, that of Oklahoma Harry Hill\'s.blood relative of Buffalo Bill, but he never went back to theclaimed that a tall stranger fitting Cody\'s description had name Cowdery" (Kuntz, p. 30). "lassoed" them, and then dragged them into a nearby alley,For some time, the shows Sam Cody had associated himself only to run when they screamed for help. A stunned Codywith had all mentioned some relationship of his to the great The change of name would at first prove to be a blessing forprotested his innocence, this was corroborated by severalscout himself without plastering posters mentioning if Sam Cody insofar as his show business career was concerned, butwitnesses who asserted that Cody had been at home at theF. Cody was a cousin, a son, or some other vague relation it would also later become a curse when he allowed himselftime the incidents took place and had never ventured out -to William F. Cody. When Samuel F. Cody and Maud Lee, to be billed as Buffalo Bill\'s son - which aroused the ire ofhe also had one very important defender - a young womanwho had developed into quite a sharpshooter herself, joined the great man himself and his attorneys. But we anticipatewho bought him cinnamon pretzels and constantly smiledHill\'s entourage Oklahoma Harry Hill took it one step things. Shortly after Cody joined the Forepaugh troupe,at him - this was Maud Lee. Furthermore, there was nothingfurther - he made sure his press releases made mention the mercurial Doc Carver exited, to form his own Wildto suggest moral deviance in Cody\'s earlier life as Cowdery,that Samuel Cody was a "cousin" of Buffalo Bill\'s (which he West show, and Cody briefly became the sharpshooting starand within days he was acquitted of all charges, a smilingwas not). This could not have failed to attract the attention attraction of the Forepaugh Circus and Wild West Show -Maud Lee standing next to him as they exited the courthouseof Buffalo Bill\'s legal representatives, but before they could the "King of Cowboys" or so Forepaugh supposedly referred(Kuntz, pp. 33-37). It was at this time, just before Christmastake the action they most likely would have done, the show to the now "Captain Cody." 1888 that both Cody and Lee, still unmarried, had joined awent bust by summer\'s end. The couple promptly retreated show in Philadelphia entitled "Deadwood Dick" produced byto Cody\'s mother\'s home in Davenport, where they stayed Joining the Forepaugh Circus and Wild West Show wasnone other than Frank Butler and Annie Oakley! for a few months in early 1890 before they plotted their next a mixed blessing for the young cowpoke about to turnmove, and an extremely fateful one it was.showman, for Forepaugh, unlike his rival Cody, wasAlthough Oakley would later consider Buffalo Bill to be the unscrupulous in his business practices and cutthroat in thekindest, most thoughtful employer and friend, they had theirFLIGHT TO BRITAIN, BUFFALO BILL DEMANDS way he treated his troupe. Time after time, the circus wasmoments. When Cody seemed to favor Lillian Smith duringCEASE AND DESIST, THE "OTHER WOMAN" AND declared persona non grata in many of the towns it wastheir triumphant British tour the previous year, Oakley tookTHE SAD, BIZARRE ULTIMATE FATE OF MAUD LEE scheduled to perform in. For Cody, its one redeeming factorumbrage - she and Butler walked off the show upon its returnCODY AKA "ANNIE OAKLEY". . .was the nights he did get to perform in the venues where theto the states and proceeded to stage "Deadwood Dick" - hiringWhen Sam and Maud Cody decided to seek fame and circus experienced no problems with town authorities. Therethe youthful lovers Samuel Cody and Maud Lee (whetherfortune in Britain is a bit difficult to discern. For example, is where he found the crowds very appreciative. It was duringor not Annie Oakley noticed the strong resemblance of SamGould Lee, borrowing heavily on the recollections of a Cody a show stopover in Norristown, Pennsylvania that first springCody\'s to her former employer is not known since she madedevotee, claimed: "For when, towards the end of 1889, he that Cody met 16-year-old Maud Maria Lee - a romanceno mention of it. On the other hand, hiring the star-struckwalked from the New York quay up the gangway of the 18 September 2021'