Bill Pickett And The Ponca City Press, 1908-1916
                When feared Apache chief Geronimo killed his last buffalo, it was
not to feed his people.  He did it for show.  It was part of an exhibition for a
journalists' meeting in Oklahoma.[1](
                The year was 1905.  And even though Geronimo had performed, the
highlight of the exhibition was yet to come.  The crowd was yet to see a man
leap from his horse and throw a one-thousand-pound running steer to the ground
with his bare hands and teeth.
                The man who would perform this task was five feet, seven inches
tall, weighing a mere 145 pounds.[2]2  But he was tough.  He was a crowd
pleaser.  He was a cowboy.  His name was Bill Pickett.  When he was introduced,
he got on his horse and lived up to his billing:
 
               He piled off onto the big steer's back and grasped a horn
               in each of his strong hands, dug his heels into the
               ground to
               slow the steer, and began to twist its neck in order to
               turn
               its nose upward.  When he was able to reach the nose, he
               sank his strong white teeth into the steer's tender upper
               lip, turned loose with both hands, and gave his body a
               twist.
               The steer fell over on its side and lay still as Pickett
               held
                 it bite-'em style.[3]3
 
                What Bill Pickett did became known as bulldogging.  And the crowd at
the 101 Ranch in Bliss, Oklahoma, loved it so well that it gave him the greatest
applause of the day.[4]4  Pickett would continue to win applause as he went on
the road with the 101 Ranch Wild West Show performing nationally and
internationally.  The shows were precursors to the modern-day rodeo.
                Several things set Pickett apart from others who worked steers for a
living.  First, he was an innovator, developing his own method of wrestling a
steer to the ground.  Second, he was among the best in the land at what he did.
Third, this innovative, steer-throwing man was black.  While he was not the only
person earning a reputation on what became the rodeo circuit, he was, whether
compared with black or white, in a class by himself.
                What Pickett did was invent one of the mainstays of the rodeo, which
became known as bulldogging or steer wrestling.  Pickett's performances won him
more than applause.  They won him praise in the newspapers of the various towns
in which he performed as early as 1904.[5]5
                This study looks at how two newspapers in the major town nearest
Pickett's home treated him.  It looks at the Ponca City Democrat  and the Ponca
City Daily Courier.  Questions addressed include: whether, or to what extent,
the political leanings of the two newspapers affected their coverage of Bill
Pickett.    In talking about journalism and politics, Frank Luther Mott's
American Journalism  says that between 1892 and 1914 "partisanship was, on the
whole, stronger in the weeklies than in the dailies."[6]6   This study seeks to
determine whether Mr. Mott's observations hold true for the Ponca City
newspapers.  Other questions include: was Bill Pickett's notoriety noted in the
editorial pages of the newspapers and to what
                                                        2
           extent was he mentioned in advertisements for the wild west show that
made him famous?  And, if Pickett did not appear in the newspaper, why?
                Two Ponca City newspapers were chosen for this analysis
           because Ponca City was within 15 miles of the 101 Ranch where
           Pickett worked; it was the center of commerce for the area.  Because
of its proximity, it was believed that the Ponca City newspapers
           would carry news about the ranch and Pickett's activities.
                The period analyzed was 1908 through 1916.  This was one of the two
periods during which the Miller Brothers Wild West Show toured the United
States.  The first period was chosen because previous research on the latter
period, 1925 - 31, documented that the Ponca City press did write about Pickett.
Also, the show had its largest audiences between 1913 to 1915 when Pickett was
in his prime.[7]7
                The Ponca City Democrat  and Ponca City Daily Courier   were
analyzed using parameters noted in the books: Bill Pickett, Bulldogger and The
101 Ranch.  Authors of these books noted the dates of each year's wild west
shows.  Using these dates, the analyses began in either February or March and
ended when the season ended, normally in October, November or December.  The
analyses began at least two weeks prior to the beginning of the show, to include
advertisements of the big event.
                The Ponca City Democrat  was established on September 14, 1893, by
Allen C. Smith. The Story of Oklahoma Newspapers  by Edward L. Carter, described
the Democrat  as partisan.[8]8  Included in the
                                                        3
           Democrat   was an insert called the Bliss Breeze..  Named for the
Bliss
           community, the Bliss Breeze was owned by the Miller brothers, the
owners of the 101 Ranch.
                The Ponca City Democrat  supported the state's first elected
           Governor, Democrat Charles N. Haskell.  It also supported the
adoption of the Grandfather Clause whose purpose was to disenfranchise all
blacks in the state.[9]9
 
               Neither treaty nor legislation can we say to the negro
               (sic)
               "you shall not enter Oklahoma."  But by adopting the
               "Grandfather Amendment" we can accomplish the desired
               result in a different way.  By eliminating the negro
               (sic)
               from politics we can kill this desire to enter Oklahoma
                 and the desire once removed, immigration ceases.[10]10
 
                The Democrat's  competition came from the Ponca City Daily Courier.
It was established in the fall of 1893 by Elbert W. Hoyt to be "as rabidly
Republican as Smith's paper was Democratic."[11]11
                The Courier  spent a good deal of time dealing with business issues,
but when it talked politics, it also showed its favoritism.  When the editor
thought the Republican president had done a good job, the heading of the article
would pronounce that fact.  If, on the other hand, he thought President Woodrow
Wilson, a Democrat, had done something wrong, he also said so.  The Courier  and
the Democrat   had six-columns and eight pages and appeared on Thursdays.
 
                                                        4
                                                BACKGROUND
                In 1908 Oklahoma was just getting used to statehood, having
           been proclaimed a state by President Theodore Roosevelt on
           November 16, 1907.[12]12  One month before  Roosevelt signed the
statehood proclamation, a delegation of black Oklahomans had
           visited Washington, D.C., to ask him not to sign because the
           Oklahoma constitution provided for segregated schools.[13]13  Blacks
wanted statehood, but they did not want segregation.  They were afraid that the
groundwork was being laid to add a host of "Jim Crow" laws that would require
separate facilities for the races.  Oklahoma had been seen as a "Negro Mecca"
where the "Jim Crow" laws of the Deep South could be avoided.[14]14
                Blacks had seen Oklahoma playing an important role in their future.
Shortly after the end of the Civil War, the U.S. government began considering
the Oklahoma Territory "as an area for the colonization of Black
freedmen."[15]15
                Blacks outside of the territory had heard this talk and began
agitating to open the land, or parts thereof, for blacks throughout the
South.[16]16  In the end, the land was opened to all settlers in the April 22,
1889, land run.[17]17
                Arthur L. Tolson, author of The Black Oklahomans A History,
1541-1972,  wrote that the land run was the beginning of trouble for Oklahoma
blacks.  Tolson said whites resented "efforts by Black leaders to colonize
masses of their race in the new territory."[18]18  This resentment was sometimes
along party lines, with Democrats criticizing the blacks' plans.  "Throughout
the territorial period,
                                                        5
           Democratic newspapers charged the Republicans were colonizing the
           western Oklahoma counties with Blacks."[19]19
                In 1904 when the lands of several tribes were attached to the
counties adjoining them, blacks again talked of a state of their own.[20]20
Some influential whites supported this notion.[21]21  Since Abraham
           Lincoln had freed the slaves, they felt obligated to ensure blacks of
their political and civil rights.[22]22  Opponents had a name for such people:
Republicans.
                Democrats helped their own political stock by making the Republican
Party synonymous with blacks.  Guthrie, headquarters for the territorial
Republican Party, was called a black town.[23]23  And Logan County where Guthrie
was located, was referred to as Africa, even though blacks were a small minority
of the population.[24]24
                One article, in particular, showed the role politics played in the
lives of employees in the Postmaster General's office, a political position.  It
also showed how closely politics was tied to race:
 
                Beginning today white boys will replace the negro(sic)
                youths who have been employed as special delivery
                messengers at the posto..ice (sic).  The change was announced
                by Postmaster Claude Weaver shortly after he took office....
                "As I am the first democratic postmaster Oklahoma City
                has had in sixteen years," Postmaster Weaver said Friday,
                "I thought it was only fitting that all the appointments
                within my power should be given to democrats."[25]25
 
                To be black in Oklahoma during the early 1900s meant living in the
worst part of town, if you were allowed to live in a so-called
                                                        6
           white town.  Being black meant being a menial laborer and having your
children attend segregated schools.  It also meant being denied
           public accommodations, such as restaurants, hotels and
libraries.[26]26
 
                Bill Pickett was not known on the political scene, but he left more
than a few people wide-eyed in his day.  It was in this kind of atmosphere that
Pickett played the horses, in a manner of speaking.  Pickett used his favorite
horse, a bay called Spradley, to get close enough to steers to throw them to the
ground as part of the 101 Ranch Wild West Show that traveled the country.
                Pickett grew up in Texas, wanting to be a cowboy.  He listened to
tales told by his cousins who had herded steers and delivered stock to
trains.[27]27
                Colonel Bailey C. Hanes in his book titled Bill Pickett,
           Bulldogger  told of what turned out to be a crucial day in young
           Pickett's childhood:
 
                On a day in 1881 that was to have unforeseen potential, he
                happened to notice a bulldog holding a cow motionless by
                her upper lip.  The dog's fangs apparently were quite painful
                to the sensitive membranes because their tenacious grip
                made the captive animal submissive.[28]28
 
                Bill Pickett was credited with inventing and popularizing
bull-dogging or steer wrestling.[29]29  Using his teeth to hold down a steer,
bulldog style, became Pickett's trademark.  He was to carry that trademark
across the nation and even into other nations.
                When not on the road, Pickett worked on the huge 101 Ranch,
                                                        7
           owned by the Miller brothers, George, Zack and Joe.  The 101 empire
consisted of 17,492 acres of deeded land, plus 92,500 acres of leased
           land.  Their livestock included mules, hogs, horses and cattle.  When
           Pickett was not taking part in a wild west show, there was plenty to
keep him busy on the 101 Ranch.  Amidst all those crops. livestock and cowhands
was the Miller mansion, known as the White House.
                The year 1908 was the first time the Miller Brothers' 101 Ranch Wild
West Show exhibition was given in Ponca City, Oklahoma.  Ponca City was 15 miles
north of Bliss, later called Marland, where the 101 ranch was located.  The date
was April 14.   The Ponca City Daily Courier  carried the following account of
the opening day:  "Mayor Hutchison declared a holiday between the hours of 11
a.m. and 6 p.m. in honor of the inaugural performance and the opening of the
first annual tour of the Miller brothers 101 Ranch Wild West show."[30]30
                In 1904, Colonel Joe Miller had gone to St. Louis with some Oklahoma
newspapermen to try to convince the National Editorial Association to hold its
1905 convention in Guthrie, Oklahoma.  According to the book about the 101
Ranch, Fabulous Empire,, journalist Frank Greer made a bid for the convention
and introduced Joe Miller who told the journalists about the roping skills of
Jim Hopkins; the riding skills of Johnny Brewer; and the bull-dogging of one
Bill Pickett.[31]31
                The National Editorial Association agreed to hold its 1905 meeting
in Guthrie.  So in 1904 the Millers held a "round-up" to see if they could
deliver what had been promised: a show to remember.
                                                        8
                The year 1908 was the beginning of the traveling wild west show
because the Millers had agreed to a joint venture with Edward
           Arlington that would see the show travel by rail during the 1908
           season.
                As a result: Pickett signed a new agreement with the Millers that
saw him move his family to the 101 Ranch and become a cowhand during the
off-season.  "Later the Millers built the Picketts a
           two-room house...a block west of the White House."[32]32  Pickett was
one of many employees of the 101 Ranch.  He became the premier bulldogger.
                In 1909 the show Pickett took part in was called the Miller
Brothers' 101 Ranch Real Wild West Show.[33]33 It took twenty-two railroad cars,
nine flats, seven horse cars, and six sleepers to carry the show to each
performance.  The show had thirty-six wagons, sixteen oxen, saddle horses,
steers for roping and bulldogging, mules and buffalo.[34]34
                The show set out to depict life in the West as it had been in the
old days.  The 101 Ranch  describes the 1911 show in Boston as including
twenty-one displays of skill.  Display No. 3 was an exhibition of how the Pony
Express operated.
                Display No. 5 depicted Mexican bandits holding up a stage coach and
preparing to make their getaway when they were attacked by a posse of
vigilantes.
                Bill Pickett was display No. 7.
                Pickett's biography says he was the only performer listed by name
that year.[35]35 The large ad shown lists his name prominently.[36]36  It
                                                        9
           promotes a show in Decatur.  Since the show toured Illinois in 1911,
it is assumed that this ad ran in a Decatur, Illinois, newspaper.
                In 1930 Pickett estimated that "he had bulldogged 5,000 head of
cattle in his lifetime, mostly steers."[37]37  Sometimes he would get fancy and
bulldog a steer with his hands tied behind his back:
 
                He jumped from his horse and proceeded to stop the steer
                as usual, turned his head and elevated the nose, clamped
                his teeth into the upper lip, and held the steer while an
                assistant tied Bill's hands behind him.  Then, hands securely
                bound, Bill would simply throw his weight onto the lip and
                topple the animal....  He would hold the downed animal
                with his teeth until the crowd was satisfied...."[38]38
 
                In 1912 the show would tour California, Nevada, Utah, Montana,
Washington, Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois, Ohio, Minnesota, Oregon, the Dakotas,
Arkansas, Louisiana and British Columbia.
                Pickett would bulldog in Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires.  In Mexico
he took on a bull.  In England he dogged a wild Scottish
           Highland steer and was arrested for animal cruelty.[39]39  The Earl
of Lonsdale invited the bulldogger to dinner, so he could see this "black man
who could throw a steer with his teeth."[40]40  So how was this internationally
recognized star treated in the Ponca City Democrat  and
           the Ponca City Daily Courier?  Was he treated in a partisan manner?
                                FINDINGS: Ponca City Daily Courier
                There were 42 references to the 101 Ranch Wild West show in the
Ponca City Daily Courier   between 1908 and 1916.  The greatest number of
references to the show occurred in 1908; there were fifteen
                                                        10
           references that year.  There were nine references to the show in 1909
and five references each in 1913 and 1915; there were two references
           each in 1911 and 1916; and three such references in 1912.
                Stories about the 101 Ranch Wild West Show were divided into five
categories: "Show Opening," "Show Leaving/Coming or on the Road," "Possible Sale
of Ranch," "Show in Foreign Land," and "Advertisements."
                Two categories tied for first place with nine references apiece:
Ads; Show Coming/Leaving or On the Road; and stories on the show
           opening.  There were no fewer than four stories mentioning the
opening of the Wild West show in 1908.  One of the articles was printed April
14, the day of the show.  It mentioned the parade that preceded the show:
 
                When the parade turned into Grand avenue(sic) from
                Fourth street(sic) headed by a splendid martial band, the
                Miller brothers -- Joe, George and Zack-- riding just behind
                the band and leading the parade, received an ovation of         resounding
cheers, waving hats, umbrellas and
                handkerchiefs, which continued as they passed down
                the whole length of the street and over to the show
                grounds.[41]41
 
                The next day's paper said the show was good; however, the
           article singled out the horseback riding and the reproduction of the
           Pony Express as the premier exhibits of the show.
                The first ad regarding the show appeared April 11.  It was two
columns wide and more than twice as tall as it was wide.  The ad
                                                        11
           depicts the Miller brothers at the top and mentions the 101 Ranch
Wild West show in the biggest and boldest letters depicted.  Bold
           letters were also used to refer to the show as the Amusement
Sensation of New York City.[42]42
                Among the "On the Road" stories was one that told how the show had
captured the hearts of folks in Lexington, Kentucky.
           "Every act was of itself a feature and the entire show was a group of
           good things that Lexington will not fail to visit when Miller
Brothers
           come again."[43]43
                There were two articles that talked about the sale of the 101 Ranch:
One article said a John W. Gates had purchased title to the ranch and told of
his plans for the show.[44]44  A subsequent article quoted George Miller as
saying the dispatch that appeared in the newspapers regarding a sale, was fake.
He said the ranch and show remained in the hands of the Miller brothers.[45]45
                Bill Pickett is mentioned the first time because of his 'daring do'
in a foreign land: Mexico.  The headline read: "Bill Pickett in the Bull
           Ring."  The paper published a story it credited to the Mexican Herald
which  gave an account of Pickett battling a ferocious bull with his bare hands.
The account refers to him as "William Pickett, Negro steer thrower with the 101
Ranch Wild West show."[46]46  The sub-head gave Pickett another name:  "The
Dusky Demon of Oklahoma."  The Courier  writes that the account was taken from a
recent issue of the
           Mexican Herald..  The account that appeared in the Courier  covered
two long columns.  The  article appeared January 11, 1909, and it put Bill
Pickett on the map, so to speak, in Oklahoma.
                                                        12
                It was in Mexico that the "Dusky one" almost bit off more than he
could chew by trying to bulldog a fighting bull.  Joe Miller had bet
           five-thousand pesos that Pickett could survive hand-to-bull combat
            for at least five minutes.[47]47  Another account of this wager has
it that Pickett was supposed to hold the bull for seven and one-half
minutes.[48]48
                The Mexican press played a role  in the fight by publishing Joe
Miller's wager that Bill Pickett could bulldog a Mexican fighting bull.  Perhaps
the most respected matador in Mexico and Spain was quoted in the newspaper as
predicting that 'Pickett's funeral will follow his foolhardiness"'[49]49
                Bill Pickett entered the bull ring and immediately ran into trouble.
First of all, the bull was larger and stronger than the steers Pickett
bulldogged.  It had a huge neck.  Secondly, Pickett had
           trouble getting into position to bulldog the animal.  Normally a
bulldogger rides his horse alongside and just behind the steer and jumps off to
grab the horns to bring the animal to the ground.  But the bull refused to go
along.  When the bull got close to Pickett's horse, Spradley, it rammed a horn
into its hindquarters.
                Pickett jumped from his horse and grabbed the bull's horns.
Eventually he ended up between the horns.  He was able to hang on
           as the bull tried to shake him.[50]50  The book Bill Pickett
Bulldogger carries El Imparcial's  report of Pickett's high point in the ring:
                Pickett defeated the bull and the crowd departed
                disappointed....  Pickett subdued the beast and put
                his snout on the ground, doubling his neck under
                the weight of his [Pickett's] herculean strength."[51]51
                                                        13
                Because of Pickett's great strength and bravery, Joe Miller won his
bet.  Bill Pickett escaped with his life and a reputation that would grow
because of his battle with the bull.
                Pickett's name appeared in an advertisement for the show in
September 1911.  The ad is three columns wide and is one-third taller that it is
wide.  This ad has three drawings, each within a panel, of events that were part
of the Wild West show.  The right panel depicts Indians on horseback in full
headdress.  The left panel depicts cowboys on horseback.  The larger, middle
panel depicts a bull and a
           bullfighter; it also shows a man on his hands and knees.  This is
            obviously a depiction of Pickett following his battle with the
Mexican bull.  Pickett ended up on the ground and was saved by a
           bullfighter who entered the ring and distracted the bull.[52]52
                Pickett had a new nickname in this ad.  He is called "The Modern
Ursus."  In smaller letters it has more to say about the bulldogger: "Only man
who ever battled, barehanded with a Spanish bull,
                One year later, Pickett had earned the title: "Tavaromachic Titan."
This full-page ad had a box inside devoted to Pickett's heroics.  The ad goes on
to say Pickett is the only man to battle a Spanish bull and escape alive.[53]53
                The last mention of Pickett in the period studied was in an ad
           identical to the one just mentioned.[54]54
                                FINDINGS: Ponca City Democrat
                This study found a total of 40 references to the 101 Wild West Show
in the Ponca City Democrat  between 1908 and 1916.  The
                                                        14
           greatest number of references occurred in 1908, the year the show
           took its first season-long tour.  In 1915 there were eleven
references
            to the show.  There were five references each in 1909 and 1916;
there were three references in 1914 and one in 1913.
                The greatest single category for the stories about the 101 Ranch
           Wild West show is the "Show Leaving/Coming or On the Road," with 29.
This category contains items regarding the progress of the show as it played in
various cities.
                There were twelve references to the 101 show performers.  In 1908
there were seven references, but none to Bill Pickett.  The April 2, 1908,
article has a picture of Tom Nix (sic), in an article promoting the first Ponca
City show.  Performers Vester Pegg, Jimmy Kinney and D.V. Tantlinger were also
mentioned.
                In 1915 there were two references to former heavyweight
           boxing champion, Jess Willard, who had joined the show.
                There were five advertisements of the 101 Wild West show during the
period studied.  Four of the ads were two-columns wide in what was a six-column
newspaper; the length was roughly four times the width of the ad.  The fifth ad
was nearly twice the width of the others and it was slightly longer.
                The ads were interesting to look at.  In the April 15, 1909, ad,
readers were promised an exciting show: Women Sharpshooters, Rough Riders, Bull
Fighters, Steer Throwers, and Steer Tiers.  The ad
           showed a man riding a bucking horse.  The three Miller brothers,
           wearing cowboy hats, were depicted at the top of the ad.  It promoted
an April 17 one-day, afternoon exhibition in Ponca City at a cost of
                                                        15
           fifty cents for adults and twenty-five cents for children.[55]55
                The largest of the advertisements, dated April 9, 1908, promised
much of the same things mentioned in the previous ad.  But again, only the
Miller brothers are mentioned.
                The November 18, 1915, ad is the most cryptic of the ads.  It calls
the program: "The Show that has Made All America Talk."  The copy says the show
is "Coming Home After Its Most Successful Season."  It promises real Indians and
real cowboys and cowgirls.  An Indian in headdress is depicted riding horseback.
The Miller brothers are mentioned, as usual; however, there is no picture of
them in this advertisement.
                Claims that 1915 was the show's most successful season were
            not just talk.  Records back up the claim.  So the show was doing
well, making money, and doing so without mention of its stars in the Ponca City
Democrat.
                                COMPARISON AND ANALYSIS
                The Ponca City Democrat  and Ponca City Daily Courier  carried
roughly the same number of stories about the 101 Ranch Wild West
           show between 1908 and 1916.  There were forty stories in the Democrat
and forty-two in the Courier.  Both newspapers published fifteen references to
the show in its inaugural year, 1908.
                In certain years no references to the show were found.  No
references were found in the Democrat  in 1911 and 1912; no references were
found in the Courier in 1914.
                The greatest disparity between the two newspapers was in the
           category of "Show Leaving/Coming or On the Road" stories.  The
                                                        16
           Democrat  had twenty-nine such stories, while the Courier  had
           sixteen.  Perhaps the fact that the 101 Ranch had its newspaper
insert, the Bliss Breeze, gave the Ponca City Democrat the opportunity to plug
the show on the road.
                In 1908, ten of the fifteen references to the 101 Wild West show
           appearing in the Democrat  mentioned the show on the road or its
           impending return.  There were only six such stories in the Courier
in 1908.
                Sometime in 1909, the Bliss Breeze  disappeared from the pages of
the Democrat., so any advantage the Democrat  had disappeared.  However, since
the Miller brothers' show continued to be big news, stories continued to appear
in the Democrat  under the heading of "101 News."
                The other area where there was a great disparity between the
           two newspapers was in the number of advertisements: nine in the
Courier; five in the Democrat..  Three of the Courier  ads mentioned Bill
Pickett.
                The final major area where the Ponca City Democrat  and Ponca
            City Daily Courier  differed was in the coverage of Pickett.  The
Democrat  carried no ads or stories that mentioned him.  The Courier carried
three ads mentioning Pickett and the story of his battle with the Mexican bull.
                It was the Democrat's  failure to mention Pickett's battle with the
bull that makes its bias obvious.  Only a trained bullfighter, a matador, would
be expected to go one-on-one with a bull and
           survive.  Bill Pickett was not a matador, but he had used his bare
                                                        17
           hands to fight the bull to a standstill, and he had done it without a
red cape and fancy footwork.  He had gone nose-to-nose, as it were, and ridden
the horns of the bull.  Finally, a Mexican newspaper wrote that Pickett had
defeated the bull and put its nose in the dirt.[56]56
                Any man who had done what Bill Pickett did deserved a
           mention in the press.  The Mexican press wrote the story because bull
           fighting was that nation's favorite sport.[57]57 Both Ponca City
newspapers had mentioned the trip to Mexico.  The Democrat  mentioned it when
detailing the show's itinerary.[58]58  The Courier, however, using a copy of the
English language Mexican Herald,, described for Ponca City readers details of
the show's first performance in Mexico City, the night before the big
fight.[59]59
                Regardless of how a local newspaper played up the trip to Mexico, it
had a duty to inform its readers of Pickett's deed.  A bare-handed fight with a
bull was quite a feat, no matter who accomplished it.  The fact that a man from
the Ponca City area had fought the bull should have made it all the more
interesting to the people in Ponca City.
                The Ponca City Daily Courier  mentioned Bill Pickett's bull fight
           because the story had news value.  It was a story worth publishing
regardless of the race of the person involved.  If Bill Pickett had been white,
the story should and would have been published in the Democrat..  The fact that
Pickett was black should not have resulted in different treatment.  Publishing
the story was a news decision.
                The Courier  ran advertisements about the 101 Ranch Wild West
           show that mentioned Bill Pickett by name.  Undoubtedly, the paper
                                                        18
           would not have run these ads if the client had not asked.  Therefore,
           the Miller brothers had to view the name Bill Pickett as an asset to
include it in their advertisements.  Perhaps they were encouraged by the fact
that the Courier  had run the three-column story on Pickett's fight with the
bull.
                However, the name of Bill Pickett was not mentioned in the Ponca
City Democrat  during the nine-year period studied; either in the news and
editorial pages or in advertisements.  One might expect to see at least several
times the name of the man who had perhaps the most exciting act in the 101 Wild
West show.  One would think editorial judgment would dictate mentioning Bill
Pickett because of the notoriety he brought to the show.
                Perhaps the Ponca City Democrat  did not mention Pickett because
one-third of the reports published came from the show's road trips.  In essence,
then, someone with the show was telling the newspaper the highlights of the
performances.  Perhaps
           those reports said little about how the crowds were receiving Bill
Pickett.  And, of course, we don't know if such reports were edited, once
received.
                While editorial policy controlled the copy printed in the Democrat,,
it would have no bearing on advertisements.  The Miller brothers could mention
any names they wanted in an advertisement.
           Again, perhaps they did not want to mention Pickett's name while
           omitting others.  Perhaps the names of Pickett and others did not
appear in the paper because local readers already knew the
           performers.  But if one buys that argument, why would Pickett's
                                                        19
           name appear in the Courier?
                It is unlikely that the Miller brothers would not talk up their
           biggest star.  Promoting Pickett helped the show; it helped the
Millers; it put money in their pockets.  Mentioning Bill Pickett would
           be considered good business and the Millers were businessmen.
                The notion of the Miller brothers failing to mention Pickett is not
plausible.  As early as 1911 Pickett's name was the only one listed in the
show's newspaper advertisements.[60]60  The question is: which newspaper
advertisements?  The large ad shown in Pickett's biography lists his name
prominently for a show in Decatur.[61]61   So the
           question remains: why are not such ads in the Ponca City Democrat?
                Politics is the reason that the name, Bill Pickett, does not grace
the pages of the Ponca City Democrat.  During this period of American
journalistic history, newspapers were often partisan in their political
coverage.[62]62  The Ponca City Democrat's  allegiance is
           obvious.  This alignment is significant because it affected which
stories were reported and how they were reported.  As a political party responds
to its constituency, it is assumed that a partisan newspaper would perform
likewise.  Bill Pickett was treated in a partisan manner.
                Pickett's race is another reason that his name did not appear in the
Ponca City Democrat..  Pickett was black and such people were not normally
mentioned prominently in white newspapers in the early 1900s.  The fact that
Pickett was a cowboy original did not change that fact.
                The Democratic party's constituency during the late 1800s and
                                                        20
           early 1900s did not include black people.  The Republican party had
            gained the allegiance of blacks when Abraham Lincoln freed the
slaves in 1863.  Blacks in Oklahoma did not switch to the Democratic
           party until the 1930s.[63]63  The Ponca City Democrat  knew blacks
were not a part of the Democratic party's constituency.  This knowledge helped
determine  the stories both newspapers covered and how they covered them.  In
the case of Bill Pickett, partisanship kept his name out of the Ponca City
Democrat..  So partisan politics was alive and well in the early 1900s and
played a prominent role in newspaper coverage in Ponca City, Oklahoma.
                Pickett's grandson, Frank Sorrinna, said he had no idea why a local
newspaper failed to mention his grandfather.  As a boy,
           Sorrinna said he spent his time on the ranch with his grandfather,
but knew little about the town's people, except that they were afraid of
            his granddad.  "That's why they called him Wild Bill Pickett the
Dusky Demon."[64]64
                The fact that the Ponca City Democrat  was partial to  the
Democratic party did not bode well for Pickett.  A good Democratic editor
probably would not include too much positive news about blacks.  In the case of
Mr. Pickett there was no good news to be found in the partisan Democratic
newspaper.  So while Pickett received acclaim on the road, he could not get any
press on the pages of the Ponca City Democrat  back home.  For Pickett,
bulldogging a steer was an easier task.
 
 
                                                        21
                                                END NOTES
           1. Fred Gipson, Fabulous Empire  (Cambridge, Mass.: The Riverside
Press, 1946), p. 228.
           2. Colonel Bailey C. Haines, Bill Pickett, Bulldogger: The Biography
of a Black Cowboy  (Norman, OK.: University of Oklahoma Press, 1977), p.
           3. Ibid.. p. 59 - 60.
           4. Ibid.. p. 59 -60.
           5. Ibid., p. 40 - 41.
           6. Frank Luther Mott, American Journalism, A History: 1690 - 1960
(New York, N.Y.: The MacMillan Co., 1962), p. 590.
           7. Haines, Bill Pickett, Bulldogger,  p. 139.
           8. L. Edward Carter, The Story of Oklahoma Newspapers -- 1844 to 1984
(Western Heritage Books, Oklahoma Horizon Series), p. 73.
           9. Tolson, The Black Oklahomans A History, 1541 - 1972, p. 153.
           10. Ponca City Democrat, June 30, 1910.
           11. Carter, The Story of Oklahoma Newspapers, p. 73.
           12. Edwin C. McReynolds, Oklahoma: A History of The Sooner State
(Norman, OK.: University of Oklahoma Press), p. 317.
           13. Arthur L. Tolson, The Black Oklahomans A History, 1541 - 1972
(New Orleans, La.: Edward Printing Co., 1966)
           14. Ibid., p. 130.
           15. Ibid., p. 40.
           16. Ibid., p. 41 - 43.
           17. Ibid., p. 55.
           18. Ibid., p. 61.
           19. Ibid., p. 62.
                                                        22
           20. Ibid., p. 87
           21. Ibid., p. 88.
           22. Ibid., p. 106.
           23. Ibid., p. 107.
           24. Ibid., p. 113.
           25. Ponca City Democrat, May 6, 1915.
           26. Jimmie Lee Franklin, Journey Toward Hope  (Norman, OK.:
University of Oklahoma Press, 1982), p. 50.
           27. Haines, Bill Pickett, Bulldogger,  p. 2.
           28. Ibid., p. 25.
           29. Ellsworth Collings and Alma Miller England, The 101 Ranch
(Norman, Ok.: University of Oklahoma Press), p. xviii.
           30. Ponca City Daily Courier, April 9, 1908.
           31. Gipson, Fabulous Empire,, p. 227; also, Collings and Miller, The
101 Ranch, p. 142.
           32. Haines, Bill Pickett, Bulldogger, p. 70.
           33. Ibid.,  p. 112.
           34. Ibid. p. 112 - 113.
           35. Ibid., p. 124.
           36. Haines, Bill Pickett, Bulldogger, p. 125.
           37. Ibid., p. 155.
           38. Ibid., p. 154 - 155.
           39. Ibid., p.
           40. Ibid., p. 133.
           41. Ponca City Daily Courier, April 14, 1908.
           42. Ponca City Democrat, April 11, 1909.
                                                        23
           43. Ponca City Daily Courier, September 19, 1908.
           44. Ponca City Daily Courier, December 10, 1908.
           45. Ponca City Daily Courier, December 13, 1908.
           46. Ponca City Daily Courier, January 11, 1909.
           47. Haines, Bill Pickett, Bulldogger, p. 93.
           48. Collings and England, The 101 Ranch, p. 171.
           49. Haines, Bill Pickett, Bulldogger, p. 94.
           50. Ibid., p. 100 - 101.
           51. Ibid., p. 105 - 106.
           52. Ibid., p. 101 - 102.
           53. Ponca City Daily Courier, September 12, 1912.
           54. Ponca City Daily Courier, September 18, 1913.
           55. Ponca City Democrat, April 15, 1909.
           56. Haines, Bill Pickett, Bulldogger, p. 105 - 106.
           57. Ibid., p. 92.
           58. Ponca City Democrat, November 19, 1908.
           59. Ponca City Daily Courier, December 19, 1908.
           60. Haines, Bill Pickett, Bulldogger, p. 124.
           61. Ibid., p. 125.
           62. Mott, American Journalism,, A History, p. 590.
           63. Carter, The Story of Oklahoma Newspapers , p. 190.
           64. Frank Sorrinna, Interview, February 1995.
 
 
 
 
                                                        24
 
                                        Abstract 75 Words
                Noted black cowboy, Bill Pickett, received notoriety near and far
for inventing the rodeo sport of bulldogging..
                Several newspapers wrote about Pickett's feats during the early
1900s.  This study looks at the partisan Republican and Democratic newspapers in
the major town nearest Pickett's home, Ponca City, Oklahoma,  to determine
whether they treated him in a partisan manner between 1908 and 1916.  The study
found that the Ponca City Democrat  did treat Pickett in a partisan manner by
failing to mention his deeds.  The Ponca City Daily Courier, the Republican
newspaper, did treat Pickett fairly, mentioning him in its news pages and in
advertisements.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                Bill Pickett And The Ponca City Press,
                                                1908-1916:
 
                A Tale Of Partisan Reporting And A Cowpoke Done Wrong
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                Edward Welch Jr.
                                                School of Journalism and Broadcasting
                                                Paul Miller Bldg., Room 206
                                                Oklahoma State University
                                                Stillwater, Ok. 74078
                                                (405) 744-8276
                                                FAX (405) 744-7104
 
 
 
                                        Abstract 200 Words
                Noted black cowboy, Bill Pickett, received notoriety near and far
for inventing the rodeo sport of bulldogging.  He was later to be inducted into
the Cowboy Hall of Fame for bravely wrestling one thousand pound steers to the
ground, using only his hands and teeth.
                Several newspapers wrote about Pickett's feats during the early
1900s.  This study looks at whether the partisan Republican and Democratic
newspapers in the major town nearest Pickett's home, Ponca City, Oklahoma,  to
determine whether they treated him in a partisan manner between 1908 and 1916.
                This study found that the Ponca City Daily Courier  mentioned the
101 Ranch Wild West show in which Pickett participated forty-two times during
the period studied.  The Courier  mentioned Pickett four times: three times in
ads and once in a news story.  The study found that the Ponca City Democrat
mentioned the 101 Ranch Wild West show forty times, but did not mention Pickett
at all.
                This study found that the Ponca City Democrat did treat Pickett in a
partisan manner by failing to mention his deeds.  The Ponca City Daily Courier,
the Republican newspaper, did treat Pickett fairly, mentioning him in its news
pages and in advertisements.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
           Please look this over.  Do I need to change the organization of this
paper?  Do I spend too much time on background?  Should I combine the Comparison
with the Analysis?  Should the Analysis be my conclusion?
           What do you think?
           I'm leaving for Kazakhstan in the morning and won't be back until
March 12.  This gives you more time than I gave you last year(smile).
 
           Thank you for your comments.
 
           Sincerely,
 
           Edward Welch
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
            BILL PICKETT,  BLACK COWBOY, AND THE PONCA CITY DEMOCRAT 1908-1916
 
                                                BILL WHO?
 
 
                                        Edward Welch, Ph.D.
 
                                Oklahoma State University
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
           Bill Pickett, Black Cowboy, and the Ponca City Democrat, 1908 --
1916:                                           Bill Who?
 
                                                Abstract
 
 
                Noted black cowboy, Bill Pickett, received notoriety near and far
for inventing the rodeo sport of bulldogging.  He was later to be inducted into
the Cowboy Hall of Fame for bravely wrestling one thousand pound steers to the
ground, using only his hands and teeth.
 
                Several newspapers wrote about Pickett's feats during the early
1900s.  This study looks at how a newspaper in the major town nearest Pickett's
home treated him from 1908 to1916.  It looks at Ponca City Oklahoma's oldest
paper, the Ponca City Democrat.  Questions addressed include: was Bill Pickett's
notoriety noted in the editorial pages of the newspaper and to what extent was
he mentioned in its advertisements.  And, if Pickett did not appear in the
newspaper, why.  This study found a number of references to the show Pickett
appeared in, but  no mention of Pickett.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                SOUTHWEST/TEXAS POPULAR CULTURE ASSOCIATION
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
           His name was Willie M. Pickett.  He became known as Wild Bill Pickett
the Dusky Demon, and one day his greatness would be recognized in the Cowboy
Hall of Fame in Oklahoma City.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
           Prof. Patrick Washburn
           Asst. Director
           E.W. Scripps School of Journalism
           Ohio University
           Athens, Ohio 45701
 
           Prof. Washburn:
 
                This is a very rough copy of my piece on Bill Pickett.  I'm still
working on it.  I'm having particular trouble organizing it and perhaps some
other problems I'm unaware of.  I've enclosed an additional sheet of information
that I don't know what to do with.
                I'd appreciate any pearls of wisdom you could provide.
                Thank you for looking at my work.
 
           Sincerely,
 
 
           Edward Welch
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
           WHAT TO DO WITH THIS INFORMATION?
 
                The mast head of the Democrat read:
 
                                PONCA CITY DEMOCRAT
                                  And The Bliss Breeze
 
           Bliss is where the 101 Ranch was located.  It would later be called
Marland.  The Bliss Breeze, then, told of news in that area.  The Bliss-area
portion of the newspaper could begin on page three.  That segment carried the
Bliss Breeze title, albeit in smaller type than that of the Democrat, seen on
the front page.
                A sub-heading seen weekly in the Bliss portion of the paper was
"News of the 101 Ranch."  In 1908, in the first of what would be many seasons on
the road, this column mentioned the wild west show's progress:
 
                "Reports from Joe and Zack Miller indicate that the show is
                being well received along the route and in nearly every
                instance crowded houses greet every performance."Ap 23, 1908 PCD
 
                The "101" column included information on the following: the progress
of crops; guests at the ranch; business trips by the Miller family; seed
purchases; and personnel moves at the ranch.  S.A. Paxson was the editor and
manager of The Bliss Breeze(Ap 12, 1908, pg6)
                A personnel matter mentioned in the April 30, 1908 Democrat was the
resignation of Stacy Paxson, who resigned and left for Kansas City.(pg6)  The
following week there was a column titled Breeze Breezelets which explained that
Arthur Rynearson would edit the Bliss portion of the paper.
                The Miller brothers had their own newspaper press on the
ranch.(BPB49) Apparently one of the brothers had used the press for an illegal
enterprise.  Joe Miller spent time in prison for printing counterfeit
money.(BPB71)  Thus, in addition to having land and livestock, it appears the
Millers had the power of the press.
                The Bliss Breeze was initially published in 1905.  The publication
was thought to have died after printing just two newspapers.  Perhaps it did die
as a stand along publication, but it lived anew within the Ponca City Democrat.
There ceased to be a mention of The Bliss Breeze within the Democrat, in June
1909.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
            Interview w/ Frank Sorrinna(Philips) Feb. 8 1995
            Stayed with him
            What did people think of Pickett?  They were afraid of him.  That's
why they called him Wild Bill Picket the Dusty Demon.  Miller Bros tried to beat
him out of his money.  Told story of Mexico bull fight & money that had been won
            on a bet.  Said they (Millers) arranged a hold up where Pickett lost
his money.
            How did kids react to you? Kids were scared of me.
            Have any idea why there is no mention of Pickett in Ponca City
newspaper?  I have no idea why.
            I didn't spend any time with the towns people.  They were poor.  I
stayed on the ranch.  My granddaddy kept my pocket full of quarters.  I was
rich.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
           When feared Apache chief Geronimo killed his last buffalo it was not
to feed his people.  He did it for show.  It was part of an exhibition for a
journalists' meeting in Oklahoma.[65](
                The year was 1905.  And even though Geronimo had performed, the
highlight of the exhibition was yet to come.  The crowd was yet to see a man
leap from his horse and throw a one-thousand pound running steer to the ground
with his bare hands and teeth.
                The man who would perform this task was five feet, seven inches
tall, weighing a mere 145 pounds.[66]2  But he was tough.  He was a crowd
pleaser.  He was a cowboy.  His name was Bill Pickett.  When he was introduced,
he got on his horse and lived up to his billing:
 
               He piled off onto the big steer's back and grasped a horn
               in each of his strong hands, dug his heels into the
               ground to
               slow the steer, and began to twist its neck in order to
               turn
               its nose upward.  When he was able to reach the nose, he
               sank his strong white teeth into the steer's tender upper
               lip, turned loose with both hands, and gave his body a
               twist.
               The steer fell over on its side and lay still as Pickett
               held
                 it bite-'em style.[67]3
 
                What Bill Pickett did became known as bulldogging.  And the crowd at
the 101 Ranch in Bliss, Oklahoma loved it so well that it gave him the greatest
applause of the day.[68]4  Pickett would continue to win applause as he went on
the road with the 101 Ranch Wild West Show, performing nationally and
internationally.  The shows were precursors to the modern day rodeo.
                Several things set Pickett apart from others who worked steers for a
living.  First, he was an innovator, developing his own method for wrestling a
steer to the ground.  Second, he was among the best in the land at what he did.
Third, this innovative, steer-throwing man was black.  While he was not the only
person earning a reputation on what became the rodeo circuit, he was, whether
compared with black or white, in a class by himself.
                What Pickett did was invent one of the mainstays of the rodeo,
bulldogging or steer wrestling.  Pickett's performances won him more than
applause.  They won him praise in the newspapers of the various towns in which
he performed as early as 1904.[69]5
                This study looks at how two newspapers in the major town nearest
Pickett's home treated him.  It looks at Ponca City's oldest paper, the Ponca
City Democrat and the Ponca City Daily Courier.  Questions addressed include:
was Bill Pickett's notoriety noted in the editorial pages of the newspapers and
to what extent was he mentioned in advertisements for the wild west show that
made him famous.  And, if Pickett did not appear in the newspaper, why.  Another
question is whether, or to what extent the political leanings of the two
newspapers affected their coverage of Bill Pickett.
                Two Ponca City newspapers were chosen for this analysis because
Ponca City was within 15 miles of the 101 Ranch where Pickett worked; it was the
center of commerce for the area.  Because of its proximity, it was believed that
the Ponca City newspapers
                                                        2
           would carry news about the ranch and Pickett's activities.
                The period analyzed was 1908 through 1916.  This was one of the two
periods during which the Miller Brothers Wild West Show toured the United
States.  The other period was 1925 through August 1931.[70]6  Bill Pickett
participated during both periods.  The first period was chosen for several
reasons: 1. Previous research on the latter period, 1925 - 31 documented that
the Ponca City press did write about Pickett; 2. Pickett was in his mid-50s
during the latter period; 3.The show had its largest audiences between 1913 to
1915 when Pickett was in his prime.[71]7
                The Ponca City Democrat  and Ponca City Daily Courier were analyzed
from 1908 through 1916, using parameters noted in the books: Bill Pickett,
Bulldogger and The 101 Ranch.  These authors noted the dates of each year's wild
west show.  Using these dates, the analyses began in either February or March
and ended when the season ended, normally in October, November or December.  The
analyses began at least two weeks prior to the beginning of the show, to include
advertisements of the big event.
                This study did not analyze the Ponca City Democrat  during the
months of January through September, 1913 because copies of these newspapers do
not exist on microfilm.  The newspaper itself, now the Ponca City News,, has no
record of these issues.
                The Ponca City Democrat was established on September 14, 1893 by
Allen C. Smith.[72]8 The Story of Oklahoma Newspapers by Edward L. Carter,
described the Democrat as partisan.[73]9  Included in the Democrat was an insert
called the Bliss Breeze.  It was named for the Bliss
                                                        3
           community.  It was owned by the Miller brothers, the owners of
           the 101 Ranch.  The Democrat's  competition came from the Ponca City
Courier.  It was established in the fall of 1893 by Elbert W. Hoyt to be "as
rabidly Republican as Smith's paper was Democratic."[74]10  Both papers had
six-columns and eight pages and appeared on Thursdays.
 
                                                BACKGROUND
                In 1908 Oklahoma was just getting used to statehood, having been
proclaimed a state by President Theodore Roosevelt on November 16, 1907.[75]11
One month before  Roosevelt signed the statehood proclamation, a delegation of
black Oklahomans had visited Washington, D.C. to ask him not to sign because the
Oklahoma constitution provided for segregated schools.[76]12  Blacks wanted
Oklahoma to be a state, but they did not want segregation.  They were afraid
that the groundwork was being laid to add a host of "Jim Crow" laws that would
require separate facilities for the races.  Oklahoma had been seen as a"Negro
Mecca" where the "Jim Crow" laws of the Deep South could be avoided.[77]13
Southern states and some Northern states enacted such laws in the 1880s and
'90s.
                Blacks had eyes for Oklahoma.  They and others had seen it playing
an important role in their future.  Shortly after the end of the Civil War, the
U.S. government began considering the Oklahoma Territory "as an area for the
colonization of Black freedmen."[78]16
                The land would be available because the government told the Five
Civilized Tribes to relinquish certain lands to the government as a result of
their siding with the South during the Civil War.[79]17
                Blacks outside of the territory had heard talk of setting aside
lands for the freedmen and began agitating to open the land, or parts thereof,
for blacks throughout the South.[80]19  In the end, the land was opened to all
settlers on April 22, 1889.[81]20
                Arthur L. Tolson, author of The Black Oklahomans A History,
1541-1972, wrote that the land run was the beginning of trouble for Oklahoma
blacks.  Tolson said whites resented "efforts by Black leaders to colonize
masses of their race in the new territory."[82]21  This resentment was sometimes
along party lines, with Democrats criticizing the blacks' plans.  "Throughout
the territorial period, Democratic newspapers charged the Republicans were
colonizing the
           western Oklahoma counties with Blacks."[83]22
                In 1904 when the lands of several tribes were attached to the
counties adjoining them, blacks again talked of a state of their own.[84]25
Some influential whites supported this notion.[85]26  Since Abraham Lincoln had
freed the slaves, they felt obligated to ensure blacks of their political and
civil rights.[86]27  Opponents had a name for such people: Republicans.
                Democrats helped their own political stock by making the Republican
Party synonymous with blacks.  Guthrie, the territorial state capital and also
headquarters for the territorial Republican Party, was called a black
town.[87]28  And Logan County where Guthrie was located, was referred to as
Africa, even though blacks were a small minority of the population.[88]29
 
                                        THE NEWSPAPERS
           It was the job of the Ponca City newspapers, the Ponca City Daily
Courier and the Ponca City Democrat, to inform the community of what they needed
and wanted to know.
                The Ponca City Democrat  supported the state's first elected
Governor, Democrat, Charles N. Haskell.  It also supported the adoption of the
Grandfather Clause whose purpose was to disenfranchise all blacks in the
state.[89]32
 
               Neither treaty nor legislation can we say to the negro
               (sic)
               "you shall not enter Oklahoma."  But by adopting the
               "Grandfather Amendment" we can accomplish the desired
               result in a different way.  By eliminating the negro
               (sic)
               from politics we can kill this desire to enter Oklahoma
               and the desire once removed, immigration ceases.[90]33
 
                The Democrat ran articles on blacks accused of crimes, including a
story that five blacks would be hanged for killing a white man.[91]34
                There were at least two Back-to-Africa Movement stories.  One
reported the movement was a direct result of the passage of the Grandfather
Clause which disenfranchised Oklahoma blacks.[92]35
                An apparent editorial supporting a municipal electric lighting
system used the "nigger in the woodpile" phrase.  The writer promised to "smoke
him out."[93]36
                                                        7
                One article, in particular, showed the role politics played in the
lives of employees in the Postmaster General's Office, a political position.  It
also showed how closely politics was tied to race:
 
                Beginning today white boys will replace the negro(sic)
                youths who have been employed as special delivery
                messengers at the posto..ice (sic).  The change was announced
                by Postmaster Claude Weaver shortly after he took office....
                "As I am the first democratic postmaster Oklahoma City
                has had in sixteen years," Postmaster Weaver said Friday,
                "I thought it was only fitting that all the appointments
                within my power should be given to democrats."[94]37
                The Courier was the Republican newspaper.  It spent a good deal of
time dealing with business issues, but when it talked politics it also showed
its favoritism.  In 1908 it accused Democrats of trying to hoodwink blacks.  It
reported that the West Virginia Democratic convention had approved a platform
calling for a Jim Crow law and disenfranchising blacks, while Democrats in
Nebraska and Kansas were organizing black voters into clubs supporting their
presidential candidate, William Jennings Bryan.[95]38
                When the editor thought the Republican president had done a good
job, the heading of the article would pronounce that fact.  If, on the other
hand, he thought President Woodrow Wilson, a Democrat, had done something wrong,
he also said so.  That was the case when President Wilson responded to women
seeking the right to vote.  Wilson told the 700 women that suffrage was an issue
for the states, not the federal government.  Then he punctuated his statement by
           walking out of the meeting.[96]39
 
                Bill Pickett was not known on the political scene, but he left more
than a few people wide-eyed in his day.  He played the horses, in a manner of
speaking.  Pickett used his favorite horse, a bay called Spradley, to get close
enough to steers to throw them to the ground as part of the 101 Ranch Wild West
Show that traveled the country.
                Pickett grew up in Texas, wanting to be a cowboy.  He listened to
tales told by his cousins who had herded steer and delivered stock to
trains.[97]40
                Biographer, Colonel Bailey C. Hanes' book titled Bill Pickett,
           Bulldogger told of what turned out to be a crucial day in the young
           Pickett's childhood.
 
                On a day in 1881 that was to have unforeseen potential, he
                happened to notice a bulldog holding a cow motionless by
                her upper lip.  The dog's fangs apparently were quite painful
                to the sensitive membranes because their tenacious grip
                made the captive animal submissive.[98]41
 
                Bill Pickett was credited with inventing and popularizing
bull-dogging or steer wrestling.[99]42  Using his teeth to hold down a steer,
bulldog style, became Pickett's trademark.  He was to carry that trademark
across the nation and even into other nations.
                When not on the road, Pickett worked on the huge 101 Ranch,
           owned by the Miller brothers, George, Zack and Joe.  The 101 empire
consisted of 17,492 acres of deeded land, plus 92,500 acres of lease
                                                        9
           land.  The Millers grew cotton, cabbage, tomatoes, onions,
watermelons, oats, potatoes, corn, alfalfa and wheat.  Livestock included:
mules, hogs, horses and cattle.  When  Pickett was not taking part in a wild
west show, there was plenty to keep him busy on the 101 Ranch.  Amidst all those
crops. livestock and cowhands was the Miller mansion, known as the White House.
                1908 was the first time the Miller Brothers' 101 Ranch Wild West
Show exhibition was given in Ponca City, Oklahoma.  Ponca City was 15 miles
north of Bliss, later called Marland, where the
           101 ranch was located.  The date was April 14.   The Ponca City Daily
Courier  carried the following account of the opening day.  "Mayor Hutchison
declared a holiday between the hours of 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. in honor of the
inaugural performance and the opening of the first annual tour of the Miller
brothers 101 Ranch Wild West show."[100]43
 
                Earlier in the year, Colonel Joe Miller had gone to St. Louis with
some Oklahoma newspapermen to try and convince the National Editorial
Association to hold its 1905 convention in Guthrie, Oklahoma.  According to the
book about the 101 Ranch, Fabulous Empire,, journalist Frank Greer made a bid
for the convention and introduced Joe Miller who told the journalists about the
roping skills of Jim Hopkins; the riding skills of Johnny Brewer; and the
bull-dogging of one, Bill Pickett.[101]46
                The National Editorial Association agreed to hold its 1905 meeting
in Guthrie.  So in 1904 the Millers held a "round-up" to see if they could
deliver what had been promised: a show to remember.
 
                1908 was the beginning of the traveling wild west show because the
Millers had agreed to a joint venture with Edward Arlington that would see the
show travel by rail during the 1908 season.
                As a result: Pickett signed a new agreement with the Millers that
saw him move his family to the 101 Ranch and become a cowhand during the
off-season.  "Later the Millers built the Picketts a
           two-room house...a block west of the White House."[102]48  Pickett
was one of many employees of the 101 Ranch.  The business of
                                                        11
           ranching in the late 1890s and early 1900s was cattle and Bill
Pickett was a cattleman.  Bill Pickett became the premier bull-dogger or steer
wrestler.
                Alma Miller England, the daughter of the founder of the 101 Ranch,
described bulldogging as perhaps the most thrilling of the sports in the wild
west show, in the book on which she collaborated, The 101 Ranch..  The
bulldogger had to throw a steer by hand.  Bill Pickett had an unfair advantage:
He used his hands and his teeth:
 
                "He slid off a horse, hooked a steer with both hands on
                the horns, twisted his neck and then sunk his teeth in
                the steer's nostrils to bring him down."[103]49
 
                The show Pickett took part in was called the Miller Brothers' 101
Ranch Real Wild West Show in 1909.[104]50 It took 22 railroad cars, nine flats,
seven horse cars, and six sleepers to carry the show to each performance.  The
show had 36 wagons, 16 oxen, saddle horses, steers for roping and bulldogging,
mules and buffalo.[105]51
                The show set out to depict life in the West as it had been in the
old days.  The 101 Ranch describes the 1911 show in Boston as including twenty
one displays of skill.  Display No. 3 was an exhibition of how the Pony Express
operated.
                Display No. 5 depicted Mexican bandits holding up a stage coach and
preparing to make their get away when they were attacked by a posse of
vigilantes.
                Bill Pickett was display No. 7.
                In display No. 9, D.V. Tantlinger, chief of the cowboys,
                                                        12
           demonstrated the use of the boomerang in hunting and battle.
Princess Wenona showed her skills as a horseback rifle shot in display No. 15.
                Displays 17 and 18 involved trick riding on bare-back broncos, steer
and buffalo mounts.  The final display depicted encamped pioneers under attack
by Indians.  The pioneers were massacred, but the cowboys avenged their
death.[106]52
                Bill Pickett grew up practicing bulldogging wild steers in areas
that had mesquite brush so tall that a lasso could not be used with efficiency.
                Apparently the bull-dog style of handling a steer was necessary in
Texas, where cattlemen returned from the Civil War to find millions of cattle
hiding in the brush, some unbranded and untamed.[107]53  Blacks joined the white
cowboys to ride into the brush and hunt for wild cattle.
 
                Each cowboy had a few horses, a bag of cornbread and
                dried beef, and a length of good rope as well as a
                number of shorter pieces for hog-tying animals.
                Once on a hunt, he led a bleak, stark, wary life."[108]54
 
                The Negro Cowboys  by Philip Durham and Everett L. Jones found
blacks working in the cattle business in Texas and in the Indian
Nations(Oklahoma) before the Civil War.[109]55  "There
           thousands of Negroes, most slaves, some free, learned to ride and
rope and brand."[110]56  So being a black cowboy was not an oddity in Texas and
in what became known as Oklahoma.
                                                        13
                Novelty or not, Pickett's act itself was something to behold.  In
1911 he performed with the show in Boston, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Illinois,
Wisconsin, Oklahoma, Texas and California.  Pickett's biography says he was the
only performer listed by name that year.(124BPB) The large ad shown lists his
name prominently.[111]57  It promotes a show in Decatur.  Since the show toured
Illinois in 1911, it is assumed that this ad ran in a Decatur, Illinois
newspaper.
                In 1912 the show would tour California, Nevada, Utah, Montana,
Washington, Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois, Ohio, Minnesota, Oregon, the Dakotas,
Arkansas, Louisiana and British Columbia.
                In 1930 Pickett estimated that "he had bulldogged 5,000 head of
cattle in his lifetime, mostly steers."[112]58  Sometimes he would get fancy and
bulldog a steer with his hands tied behind his back:
 
                He jumped from his horse and proceeded to stop the steer
                as usual, turned his head and elevated the nose, clamped
                his steeth into the upper lip, and held the steer while an
                assistant tied Bill's hands behind him.  Then, hands securely
                bound, Bill would simply throw his weight onto the lip and
                topple the animal....  He would hold the downed animal
                with his teeth until the crowd was satisfied...."[113]59
 
                Pickett would bulldog in Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires.  In Mexico
he took on a bull.  In England he dogged a wild Scottish
           Highland steer and was arrested for animal cruelty.[114]60  The Earl
of Lonsdale invited the bulldogger to dinner, so he could see this "black man
who could throw a steer with his teeth."[115]61  So how was this internationally
recognized star treated in the Ponca City Democrat  and
                                                        14
           the Ponca City Daily Courier?
                                PONCA CITY DEMOCRAT
                We found a total of 40 references to the 101 Wild West Show in the
Ponca City Democrat  between 1908 and 1916.  The greatest number of references
occurred in 1908, the year the show took its first season-long tour.  In 1915
there were 11 references  to the show.  There were five references each in 1909
and 1916; there were three references in 1914 and one in 1913.
                Stories about the 101 Ranch Wild West Show were divided into five
categories: "Show Opening," "Show Leaving/Coming or on the Road," "Possible Sale
of Ranch," "Show in Foreign Land," and "Advertisements."
                The greatest single category for the stories about the 101 Ranch
Wild West show is the "Show Leaving/Coming or On the Road," with 29.  This
category contains items regarding the progress of the show as it played in
various cities:
 
                Latest word from the show in Canada is that they are
                having fine weather and cannot accommodate the crowds.[116]62
 
                There were 12 references to the 101 show performers.  In 1908 there
were seven references, but none to Bill Pickett.  The April 2, 1908 article has
a picture of Tom Nix(sic), in an article promoting the
           first Ponca City show.  Performers Vester Pegg, Jimmy Kinney and
           D.V. Tantlinger were also mentioned.
                In 1915 there were two references to former heavyweight
                                                        15
 
           boxing champion, Jess Willard, who had joined the show.
                There were five advertisements of the 101 Wild West show during the
period studied.  Four of the ads were two-columns wide in what was a six-column
newspaper; the length was roughly four times the width of the ad.  The fifth ad
was nearly twice the width of the others and it was slightly longer.
                The ads were interesting to look at.  In the April 15, 1909 ad,
readers were promised an exciting show: Women Sharpshooters, Rough Riders, Bull
Fighters, Steer Throwers, and Steer Tiers.  The ad
           showed a man riding a bucking horse.  The three Miller brothers,
wearing cowboy hats, were depicted at the top of the ad.  It promoted an April
17 one-day, afternoon exhibition in Ponca City at a cost of 50 cents for adults
and 25 cents for children.[117]63
                The largest of the advertisements, dated April 9, 1908, promised
much of the same things mentioned in the previous ad.  But again, only the
Miller brothers are mentioned.
                The November 18, 1915 ad is the most cryptic of the ads.  It calls
the program: "The Show that has Made All America Talk."  The copy says the show
is "Coming Home After Its Most Successful Season."  It promises real Indians and
real cowboys and cowgirls.  An Indian in headdress is depicted riding horseback.
The Miller brothers are mentioned, as usual; however, there is no picture of
them in this advertisement.
                Claims that 1915 was the show's most successful season were
                                                        16
            not just talk.  Records back up their claim.  So the show was doing
well, making money, and doing so without mention of its stars in the Ponca City
Democrat.
                        THE PONCA CITY DAILY COURIERThere were 42 references to the 101
Ranch Wild West show in the Ponca City Daily Courier between 1908 and 1916.  The
greatest number of references to the show occurred in 1908; there were 15
references that year.  There were nine references to the show in 1909 and five
references each in 1913 and 1915; there were two references each in 1911 and
1916; and three such references in 1912.
                Two categories tied for first place with nine references apiece:
Ads; Show Coming/Leaving or On the Road; and stories on the show opening.  There
were no fewer than four stories mentioning the opening of the Wild West show in
1908.  One of the articles was printed April 14, the day of the show.  It
mentioned the parade that preceded the show:
 
                When the parade turned into Grand avenue(sic) from
                Fourth street(sic) headed by a splendid martial band, the
                Miller brothers -- Joe, George and Zack-- riding just behind
                the band and leading the parade, received an ovation of         resounding
cheers, waving hats, umbrellas and
                handkerchiefs, which continued as they passed down
                the whole length of the street and over to the show
                grounds.[118]64
 
                The next day's paper said the show was good; however, the
           article singled out the horseback riding and the reproduction of the
                                                        17
           Pony Express as the premier exhibits of the show.
                The first ad regarding the show appeared April 11.  It was two
columns wide and more than trwice as tall as it was wide.  The ad depicts the
Miller brothers at the top and mentions the 101 Ranch Wild West in the biggest
and boldest letters depicted.  Bold letters were also used to refer to the show
as the Amusement Sensation of New York City.[119]65
                Among the "On the Road" stories was one that told how the show had
captured the hearts of folks in Lexington, Ky.
           "Every act was of itself a feature and the entire show was a group of
           good things that Lexington will not fail to visit when Miller
Brothers
           come again."[120]66
                There were two articles tht talked about the sale of the 101 Ranch:
One article said a John W. Gates had purchased title to the ranch and told of
his plans for the show.[121]67  A subsequent article quoted George Miller as
saying the dispatch that appeared in the newspapers regarding a sale, was fake.
He said the ranch and show remained in the hands of the Miller brothers.[122]68
                Bill Pickett is mentioned the first time because of his daring do in
a foreign land: Mexico.  The headline read: "Bill Pickett in the Bull
           Ring."  The paper published a story it credited to the Mexican Herald
which  gave an account of Pickett battling a ferocious bull with his bare hands.
The account refers to him as "William Pickett, Negro steer thrower with the 101
Ranch Wild West show."[123]69  The sub-head gave Pickett another name:  "The
Dusky Demon of Oklahoma."  The Courier writes that the account was taken from a
recent issue of the
                                                        18
           Mexican Herald.  The account that appeared in the Courier covered two
long columns.  The  article appeared January 11, 1909 and it put Bill Pickett on
the map, so to speak, in Oklahoma.
                It was in Mexico that the "Dusky" one almost bit off more than he
could chew by trying to bulldog a fighting bull.  Joe Miller had bet five
thousand pesos that Pickett could survive hand-to-bull combat for at least five
minutes.[124]70  Another account of this wager has it that Pickett was supposed
to hold the bull for seven and one-half minutes.[125]71
                Bill Pickett entered the bull ring and immediately ran into trouble.
First of all, the bull was larger and stronger than the steers Pickett
bulldogged.  It had a huge neck.  Secondly, Pickett had trouble getting into
position to bulldog the animal.  Normally a bulldogger rides his horse alongside
and just behind the steer and jumps off to grab the horns to bring the animal to
the ground.  But the bull refused to go along.  When the bull got close to
Pickett's horse, Spradley, it rammed a horn into its hindquarters.
                Pickett jumped from his horse and grabbed the bull's horns.
Eventually he ended up between the horns.  He was able to hang on
           as the bull tried to shake him.[126]72  The book Bill Pickett
Bulldogger carries El Imparcial's  report of Pickett's high point in the ring:
                Pickett defeated the bull and the crowd departed
                disappointed....  Pickett subdued the beast and put
                his snout on the ground, doubling his neck under
                the weight of his [Pickett's] herculean strength."[127]73
                                                        19
                Because of Pickett's great strength and bravery, Joe Miller won his
bet.  Bill Pickett escaped with his life and a reputation that would grow
because of his battle with the bull.
                Pickett's name appeared in an advertisement for the show in
September 1911.  The ad is three columns wide and is one-third taller that it is
wide.  This ad has three drawings, each within a panel, of events that were part
of the Wild West show.  The right panel depicts Indians on horseback in full
headdress.  The left panel depicts cowboys on horseback.  The larger, middle
panel depicts a bull and a
           bullfighter; it also shows a man on his hands and knees.  This is
            obviously a depiction of Pickett following his battle with the
Mexican bull.  Pickett ended up on the ground and was saved by a bullfighter who
entered the ring and distracted the bull.[128]74
                Pickett had a new nickname in this ad.  He is called "The Modern
Ursus."  In smaller letters it has more to say about the bulldogger: "Only man
who ever battled, barehanded with a Spanish bull,
                One year later, Pickett had earned the title: "Tavaromachic Titan."
This full-page ad had a box inside devoted to Pickett's heroics.  The ad goes on
to say Pickett is the only man to battle a Spanish bull and escape alive.[129]75
                The last mention of Pickett in the period studied was in an ad
           identical to the one just mentioned.[130]76
                                        Comparison
                The Ponca City Democrat and Ponca City Daily Courier carried
roughtly the saame number of stories about the 101 Ranch Wild West
                                                        20
           show between 1908 and 1916.  There were 40 stories in the Democrat
and42 in the Courier.  Both newspapers published 15 references to the show in
its inaugural year, 1908.
                In certain years no references to the show were found.  No
references were found in the Democrat in 1911 and 1912; no references were found
in the Courier in 1914.
                The greatest disparity between the two newspapers was in the
           category of "Show Leaving/Coming or On the Road" stories.  The
Democrat had 29 such stories, while the Courier had 16.  Perhaps the fact that
the 101 Ranch had its newspaper insert, the Bliss Breeze, gave the Ponca City
Democrat the opportunity to plug the show on the road.
                In 1908, ten of the fifteen references to the 101 Wild West show
appearing in the Democrat mentioned the show on the road or its impending
return.  There were only six such stories in the Courier in 1908.
                Sometime in 1909, the Bliss Breeze  disappeared from the pages of
the Democrat., so any advantage the Democrat had disappeared.  However, since
the Miller brothers' show continued to be big news, stories continued to appear
in the Democrat under the heading of "101 News."
                The other area where there was a great disparity between the
           two newspapers was in the number of advertisements: nine in the
Courier; five in the Democrat..  Three of the Courier ads mentioned Bill
Pickett.
                The final major area where the Ponca City Democrat and Ponca
                                                        21
            City Daily Courier differed was in the coverage of Pickett.  The
Democrat carried no ads or stories that mentioned him.  The Courier carried
three ads mentioning Pickett and the story of his battle with the Mexican bull.
                It was the Democrat's failure to mention Pickett's battle with the
bull that makes its bias obvious.  Only a trained bullfighter, a matador, would
be expected to go one on one with a bull and survive.  Bill Pickett was not a
matador, but he had used his bare
           hands to fight the bull to a standstill and he had sone it without a
red cape and fancy footwork.  He had gone nose to nose, as it were, and ridden
the horns of the bull.  Finally, a Mexican newspaper wrote that Pickett had
defeated the bull and put its nose in the dirt.[131]77
                Any man who had done what Bill Pickett did deserved a mention in the
press.  The Mexican press wrote the story because bull fighting was that
nation's favorite sport.[132]78  The Mexican press played a role  in the fight
by publishing Joe Miller's wager that Bill Pickett could bulldog a Mexican
fighting bull.  Perhaps the most respected matador in Mexico and Spain, was
quoted in the newspaper as predicting that 'Pickett's funeral will follow his
foolhardiness"'[133]79
                With a quote like that, the Mexican press had to follow up on
Pickett's battle.  Both Ponca City newspapers had mentioned the trip
           to Mexico.  The Democrat  mentioned it when detailing the show's
itenerary.[134]80  The Courier, however, using a copy of the  English language
Mexican Herald, described for Ponca City readers details of the show's first
performance in Mexico City the night before the big fight.[135]81
                                                        22
                Regardless of how a local newspaper played up the trip to Mexico, it
had a duty to inform its readers of Pickett's deed.  A bare-handed fight with a
bull was quite a feat, no matter who accomplished it.  The fact that a man from
the Ponca City area had fought the bull should have made it all the more
interesting to the people in Ponca City.
                The Ponca City Daily Courier mentioned Bill Pickett's bull fight
           because the story had news value.  It was a story worth publishing
regardless of the race of the person involved.  If Bill Pickett had been white,
the story should and would have been published in the Democrat.  The fact that
Pickett was black should not have resulted in different treatment.  Publishing
the story was a news decision.
                The Courier ran advertisements about the 101 Ranch Wild West show
that mentioned Bill Pickett by name.  Undoubtedly, the paper would not have run
these ads if the client had not asked.  Therefore, the Miller brothers had to
view the name Bill Pickett as an asset to include it in their advertisements.
Perhaps they were encouraged by the fact that the Courier had run the
three-column story on Pickett's fight with the bull.
                Of course a local newspaper need not mention the names of  stars in
a show that was doing well nationally.  The 101 show had
           traveled internationally and been well received.
                Not once was Bill Pickett mentioned in the Ponca City Democrat
during the nine-year period studied; either in the news editorial
           pages or in advertisements.  One might expect to see the name of the
man who had perhaps the most exciting act in the 101 Wild West
                                                        23
           show at least several times.  One would think editorial judgment
would dictate mentioning Bill Pickett because of the notoriety he brought to the
show.
                Perhaps the Ponca City Democrat did not mention Pickett because one
third of the reports published came from the show's road trips.  In essence,
then, someone with the show was telling the newspaper the highlights of the
performances.  Perhaps
           those reports said little about how the crowds were receiving Bill
Pickett.  And of course we don't know how such reports were edited, once
received.
                While editorial policy controlled the copy printed in the Democrat,
it would have no bearing on advertisements.  The Miller brothers could mention
any names they wanted in an advertisement.  Again, perhaps they did not want to
mention Pickett's name while omitting others.  Perhaps the names of Pickett and
others did not appear in the paper because local readers already knew the
performers.
                It is unlikely that the Miller brothers would not talk up their
           biggest star.  Promoting Pickett helped the show; it helped the
Millers; it put money in their pockets.  Mentioning Bill Pickett would
           be considered good business and the Millers were businessmen.
                The notion of the Miller brothers failing to mention Pickett is not
plausible.  As early as 1911 Pickett's name was the only one listed in the
show's newspaper advertisements.[136]82  The question is: which newspaper
advertisements.  The large ad shown in Pickett's biography lists his name
prominently for a show in Decatur.[137]83   So the
                                                        24
           question remains: why are not such ads in the Ponca City Democrat.
                                        ANALYSIS
                Politics may have been the reason that the name, Bill Pickett, does
not grace the pages of the Ponca City Democrat.  During this period of American
journalistic history, newspapers were often aligned with a political party.  The
Ponca City Democrat's  allegiance is
           obvious.  This alignment is signifigant because it affected which
stories were reported and how they were reported.  As a political party responds
to its constituency, it is assumed that a party-backed newspaper would perform
likewise.
                Factors having to do with politics and race are the likely reasons
that Bill Pickett's name did not appear in the Ponca City Democrat.  Pickett was
black and such people were not normally mentioned prominently in white
newspapers in the early 1900s.  The fact that Pickett was a cowboy original did
not change that fact.
                The Democratic party's constituency during the late 1800s and early
1900s did not include black people.  The Republican party had gained the
allegiance of blacks when Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves in 1863.  Blacks in
Oklahoma did not switch to the Democratic
           party until the 1930s.[138]84  The Ponca City Democrat  knew blacks
were not a part of the Democratic party's constituency.  This knowledge helped
determine the newspaper's coverage.
                Pickett's grandson, Frank Sorrinna, said he had no idea why a local
newspaper failed to mention his grandfather.  As a boy,
           Sorrinna said he spent his time on the ranch with his grandfather,
but knew little about the town's people, except that they were afraid of
                                                        25
            his granddad.  "That's why they called him Wild Bill Pickett the
Dusky Demon."[139]85
                The fact that the newspaper was aligned with the Democratic party
did not bode well for Pickett.  A good editor should know what his readers want
to read in the newspaper.  A good Democratic editor probably would not include
too much positive news about blacks.  So
           while Pickett received acclaim on the road, he could not get any
press on the pages of the Ponca City Democrat back home.  For Pickett,
bulldogging a steer was an easier task.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                END NOTES
           1. Fred Gipson, Fabulous Empire  (Cambridge, Mass.: The Riverside
Press, 1946), p. 228.
           2. Colonel Bailey C. Haines, Bill Pickett, Bulldogger: The Biography
of a Black Cowboy (Norman, OK.: University of Oklahoma Press, 1977), p. 59.
           3. Ibid.. p. 59 - 60.
           4. Ibid.. p. 59 -60.
           5. Ibid., p. 40 - 41.
           6. Ibid., p. 8.
           7. Ibid., p. 139.
           8. L. Edward Carter, The Story of Oklahoma Newspapers -- 1844 to 1984
(Western Heritage Books, Oklahoma Horizon Series), p. 73.
           9. Ibid., p. 73.
           10. Ibid., p. 73.
           11. Edwin C. McReynolds, Oklahoma: A History of The Sooner State
(Norman, OK.: University of Oklahoma Press), p. 317.
           12. Arthur L. Tolson, The Black Oklahomans A History, 1541 - 1972
           13. Ibid., p. 130.
           14. Ibid., p. 125.
           15. Ibid., p. 126.
           16. Ibid., p. 40.
           17. Ibid., p. 40.
           18. Ibid., p. 41.
           19. Ibid., p. 41 - 43.
                                                        27
           20. Ibid., p. 55.
           21. Ibid., p. 61.
           22. Ibid., p. 62.
           23. Ibid., p. 62,  64 - 68.
           24. Ibid., p. 67.
           25. Ibid., p. 87
           26. Ibid., p. 88.
           27. Ibid., p. 106.
           28. Ibid., p. 107.
           29. Ibid., p. 113.
           30. McReynolds, Oklahoma: A History of The Sooner State, p. 317.
           31. Frank S. Wyatt, Brief History of Oklahoma (Oklahoma City, OK.:
Webb Publishing Co.), p. 111.
           32. Tolson, The Black Oklahomans A History, 1541 - 1972, p. 153.
           33. Ponca City Democrat, June 30, 1910.
           34. Ponca City Democrat, April 27, 1911; see also Ponca City Democrat
October 13, 1913.
           35. Ponca City Democrat, May 25, 1911.
           36. Ponca City Democrat, March 14, 1912.
           37. Ponca City Democrat, May 6, 1915.
           38. Ponca City Daily Courier
           39. Ponca City Daily Courier, July 2, 1914.
           40. Haines, Bill Pickett, Bulldogger: The Biography of a Black
Cowboy, p. 24.
           41. Ibid., p. 25.
 
                                                        28
           42. Ellsworth Collings and Alma Miller England, The 101 Ranch
(Norman, Ok.: University of Oklahoma Press), p. xviii.
           43. Ponca City Daily Courier, April 9, 1908.
           44. Collings and England, The 101 Ranch, p. 142.
           45. Ibid., p. 142.
           46. Gipson, Fabulous Empire, p. 227; also, Collings and Miller, The
101 Ranch, p. 142.
           47. Haines, Bill Pickett, Bulldogger, p. 63 - 65.
           48. Ibid., p. 70.
           49. Collings and Miller, The 101 Ranch, p. 171.
           50. Haines, Bill Pickett, Bulldogger, p. 112.
           51. Ibid. p. 112 - 113.
           52. Collings and Miller, The 101 Ranch, p. 176 - 178.
           53. Philip Curham and Everett L. Jones, The Negro Cowboys (Cornwall,
N.Y.: The Cornwall Press, Inc., 1965), p. 24 -25.
           54. Ibid., p. 25.
           55. Ibid., p. 18.
           56. Ibid., p. 19.
           57. Haines, Bill Pickett, Bulldogger, p. 125.
           58. Ibid., p. 155.
           59. Ibid., p. 154 - 155.
           60. Ibid., p.
           61. Ibid., p. 133.
           62. Ponca City Democrat, June 2, 1908.
           63. Ponca City Democrat, April 15, 1909.
           64. Ponca City Daily Courier, April 14, 1908.
                                                        29
           65. Ponca City Daily Courier, April 11, 1908.
           66. Ponca City Daily Courier, September 19, 1908.
           67. Ponca City Daily Courier, December 10, 1908.
           68. Ponca City Daily Courier, December 13, 1908.
           69. Ponca City Daily Courier, January 11, 1909.
           70. Haines, Bill Pickett, Bulldogger, p. 93.
           71. Collings and England, The 101 Ranch, p. 171.
           72. Haines, Bill Pickett, Bulldogger, p. 100 - 101.
           73. Ibid., p. 105 -106.
           74. Ibid. p. 101 - 102.
           75. Ponca City Daily Courier, September 12, 1912.
           76. Ponca City Daily Courier, September 18, 1913.
           77. Haines, Bill Pickett, Bulldogger, p. 105 - 106.
           78. Ibid., p. 92.
           79. Ibid., p. 94.
           80. Ponca City Democrat, November 19, 1908.
           81. Ponca City Daily Courier, December 19, 1908.
           82. Haines, Bill Pickett, Bulldogger, p. 124.
           83. Ibid., p. 125.
           84. Carter, The Story of Oklahoma Newspapers , p. 190.
           85. Frank Sorrinna, Interview, February 1995.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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