A Well Know Character...Little Jo Monaghan

In 1904, the Boise City Capital News reported the death of Jo Monaghan, "a well-known character" who had worked, ranched and ridden roundups in Idaho for more than thirty years.

Deemed like able, if a little odd, by his neighbors, Jo had never given anyone reason to suspect that he was actually a woman. He had even enjoyed such exclusively male privileges as voting and serving on juries.

Jo Monaghan arrived in Owyhee County, Ruby City, Idaho in 1867. This city was Idaho's latest center for the gold rush fever. Jo was only 5ft tall in his cowboy boots. He was slight and and had a high pitched voice. His nick name became "Little Joe".

Jo Monaghan lived in Ruby City, in a little shack for 10 years. He tried his skill at mining
(but was unsuccessful) and sheep herding. He also raised chickens and hogs, and made money by keeping a cow and selling the milk to the miners. 

He took a job as a sheepherder and spent 3 years, alone with just his horse and dog watching over the sheep. Jo fended off wolves through the long snowy winters.

Jo also worked on cattle drives or wrangling and shearing sheep for local ranchers. He never bathed or bunked with the other cow hands and laid his bedroll outside. He also had no interest in bars and dance halls.

Little Joe had only one close friend, an older mine superintendent. He entrusted him with all his hard earned money for safe keeping. The superintendent disappeared one day with all of Joe's savings, 2 decades worth. Joe and his neighbors formed a posse and chased after the thief, but never found him or the money.

Little Joe was a natural on horseback He took to breaking wild horses for a living-he became known throughout the Owyhee's as a superior horseman.

In early 1880's little Joe moved to Rockville, along the Idaho and Oregon border, and started a homestead. 21 citizens lived in Rockville-Joe loved the little city. He was well liked by all there and before long he had a dozen head of his own cattle and horses.

Joe continued to take jobs on other ranches. Through these ranchers- it was suggested that Little Joe try out for a Wild West Show. The other ranchers arranged a meeting between Little Joe and Andrew Whaylen. Andrew Whaylen was a former member of Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show who was starting his own show.

Whaylen's Wild West Show hired Little Joe and featured him as "Cowboy Joe" and offered $25 to any man who could bring in a bronc that Joe could not ride. Little Joe was able to ride any bucking horse with ease and even horses that had thrown all the other local riders.

Whaylen saw an article for Vitagraph Film Co. They touted themselves as the next big thing-"moving pictures". Whaylen wrote to the film co. and suggested they film his Wild West Show.

Albert Smith of Vitagraph eagerly accepted-it would be the first Western movie to be filmed west of the Mississippi. The shows star performance was Cowboy Joe Monaghan. He was filmed on a bucking bronc.

After the Wild West show closed for the season, Joe returned home to his ranch. In 1903 Joe was driving his cattle to pasture near the Boise river, when he took ill. He was taken to the Malloy Ranch for care. He died there on January 1904.


During the burial preparations, Joe's long held secret was revealed. Joe was actually a woman. There was further evidence found in Joe's home. The neighbors were going through Joe's things and found letters written by Joe's sister.

The letters told about a debutante from Buffalo New York, Josephine Monaghan, who had a child out of wedlock. She was disowned by her wealthy family. Her son's name was Laddie. She was a desperate mother trying to make a living by working as a waitress at a restaurant in New York City. Laddie was born in 1866 and her and the child were abandoned by the father. At one point Joe was forced to put, Laddie in an asylum. All this became to much for Josephine (Joe) and she left her child with her sister.

 Laddie eventually graduated from Columbia Law School and entered the New York State Bar Association.

 Josephine (Jo) Monaghan's amazing story was made into a movie called "The Ballad of Little Joe".

Information for this story came from the books-
"Cowgirls" by candace savage
"More Than Petticoats:Remarkable Idaho Women" by Lynn E Bragg



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Who are Those Guys???....Who is that Girl????

"They're beginning to get on my nerves. Who are those guys?"...A quote from Butch Cassidy played by Paul Newman in the movie "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

This is a classic quote from a movie about two "infamous" outlaws Robert LeRoy Parker (Butch Cassidy) and Harry Alonzo Longabaugh (Sundance Kid). Both were well known members of the gang "The Wild Bunch". But what of the young women we see with Butch Cassidy and Sundance? Who was she?

                                      

Etta Place

Her name was Etta Place or maybe it was really Ethel, Eva, Rita or Ethel Bishop. There have been many theories on the true identity of Etta Place. Some say she was Ethel Bishop a young music teacher who lived in San Antonio, Texas. Another theory suggests that she was really a cattle rustler named Ann Bassett. Whatever her true identity, Etta was always described as having classic good looks.
 
Those who met Etta claimed the first thing they noticed about her was her striking beauty. She had a nice smile, brown hair, and was always cordial and refined. They also claimed she was an excellent shot with a rifle. That may be why she was reportedly only one of 5 women to have ever been allowed into the Wild Bunch hideout at Robbers Roost in southern Utah.

Etta was the companion of the Wild Bunch gang for many years. It is not know exactly how she became apart of the gang. Some believe she met the gang in a brothel and started dating Parker. But, then became involved with Longabaugh later. Rumors said she married Longabaugh, before traveling with he and Parker on their "adventures" to New York City, Argentina, and Chile but nothing was ever proven. She was spotted many times with both men throughout this time, but it was her disappearance that created the biggest sensation.

  Butch Cassidy and Sundance Kid

Little is really known about what really happened to Etta Place.  Some say she was tired of running from the law and left Longabaugh and the gang to head back to the United States to teach.  Others suggest she died either by her own hand or someone else's in Argentina. To this day, rumors and speculations still surround the disappearance of Etta Place. Many authors and historians have tried to solve the mystery but have failed.

Maybe we should all be asking, "Who was that girl Etta Place?"



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The Real McCoy....Who was he?

Ever wondered where the phrase "The Real McCoy" came from? Joseph G. McCoy, cattle baron, cowboy and business man was the inspiration for that phrase-


Joseph Geiting McCoy-Cattle Baron

Born on a farm in Sangamon county, Illinois, on December 21, 1837. McCoy is often cited as the inspiration for the phrase "The Real McCoy" because of his reputation and reliability and because he referred to himself by that phrase. He was educated in local schools and spent a year in the academy of Knox College in Galesburg. After his marriage to Sarah Epler in 1861, he entered the mule and cattle raising business. At the close of the Civil War, McCoy expanded his enterprise by buying animals in large quantities and shipping them to major livestock centers. In 1867 he joined a firm that shipped as many as a thousand cattle a week.

McCoy viewed the livestock industry from a national perspective and recognized the need for better contacts between southwestern ranchers, midwestern feeders, and meat-packers. He resolved to build a stock depot west of farming sections on the Great Plains to which cowboys from Texas could drive Longhorn herds.

Joseph McCoy made good on his pledge to Texas ranchers that if they would drive their Longhorn cattle from Texas to Kansas that he would have them shipped by rail to other markets and that the ranchers would receive a good price for their stock.


In the 1860s, cattle ranchers in Texas faced difficulties getting their longhorn cattle to market. Kansas homesteaders objected to the cattle crossing their land because the cattle might carry ticks which could spread a disease called Texas Fever fatal to some types of cattle. The disease could make a Longhorn sick, but they were hardier stock than the northern cattle and Longhorns seldom died from the disease.

McCoy himself said of the disease:
"In 1868 a great number of cattle arrived in Kansas and the mid-west from Texas; appx. 40,000. With them came a tick born disease called “Spanish Fever”. The local shorthorn breeds were seriously affected and in some towns the loss of the cattle was almost 100%. The result was a great prejudice against Texas cattle in Eastern Kansas and Missouri."

McCoy expected that the railroads companies were interested in expanding their freight operations and he saw this as a good business opportunity. He succeeded in obtaining cooperation from the Kansas Pacific Railway provided he assumed all the financial risks. The cattle would be shipped from his proposed stockyards to Kansas City. He then made an agreement with the Hannibal and St. Joseph line, which provided a route to Quincy, Ill.; from there the cattle could be sent to Chicago.

McCoy purchased a 250-acre tract at the edge of a frontier village along the Union Pacific. There he built a pen to handle a thousand head of cattle, a hotel known as the Drover's Cottage, a bank, office, and livery stable This village became known as Abilene, Kansas - one of the first cow towns. McCoy's plan was for cattle to be driven to Abilene from Texas and taken from there by rail to bigger cities in The Midwest and The East.
 
Abilene sat near the end of the Chisholm Trail (named after Jesse Chisholm) established during the American Civil War for supplying the Confederate army. This trail ran to the west of the settled portion of Kansas, making it possible to use the trail without creating hostility from the Kansas homesteaders.

McCoy advertised extensively throughout Texas to encourage cattle owners to drive their cattle to market in Abilene. The first herds arrived in August 1867; an initial shipment to Chicago left Abilene in September. By the end of the year 35,000 head had been driven over the Chisholm Trail to Abilene, and in 1868 the number rose to 75,000 head; by 1870 the number doubled. By 1871 as many as 5,000 cowboys were being paid off during a single day, and Abilene became known as a rough town in the Old West. Due to their long legs and hard hoofs, Longhorns were ideal trail cattle, even gaining weight on their way to market. One story says that McCoy bragged before leaving Chicago that he would bring 200,000 head in 10 years and actually brought two million head in 4 years, leading to the phrase "It's the Real McCoy"

As Abilene's leading citizen, McCoy was elected mayor and served until 1873.

Rival railroad terminal towns, farther west and south, soon diverted trade from Abilene, and McCoy moved to the new cow towns. In 1872 he went to Wichita, Kans., where he became a promotion agent for American and Texas Refrigerator Car. By 1880 he was a commission dealer in livestock in Kansas City and had been employed by the U.S. Census Bureau to report on the livestock industry for the eleventh census. For a time he lived in Oklahoma and served as agent for the Cherokee Nation in collecting land revenues. In 1890 he was an unsuccessful Democratic candidate for the U.S. Congress.

Joseph G McCoy died in Kansas City, Missouri on Oct. 19, 1915.






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A Breast Collar That Trigger Wore.....Over The Neck Style

In the picture above, you will see Roy Rogers and Trigger and one of his amazing saddles with the over the neck style leather Breast Collar. You can see this style in many of Roy’s photos and movies with Trigger.

Trigger's finest saddles were made by Edward H. Bohlin. He was known as the Michelangelo of saddle making. Many of Trigger's saddles were covered in intricate patterns in silver and gold, and some of them weighed as much as 150 pounds.
 

Along with his Bohlin saddles, Roy also purchased the Music saddle. It is one of the most elaborate saddles ever made. It was created in the early 1930's for a lady named Mrs. Music and she rode this saddle in the annual Rose Parade and other events for a number of years. She was a small lady and this saddle has a very small seat. It took 16 men almost a year to produce this saddle set that originally sold for $20,000 and reportedly contained 1,400 ounces of sterling silver, 136 ounces of gold and hundreds of Czech rubies. Roy bought the items from the original owner's estate in 1950 for $50,000

Would you love to have a western breast collar with the over the neck style that is inspired by Trigger's. Buckaroo Leather now has the Hollywood One Piece Breast Collar. (above)

And if you also love the parade style horse tack inspired by Ed Bohlin we have a vintage parade headstall that is beautiful. This was a custom order and can be made to order especially for you.







Our family has been dedicated for 30 years in serving the 
Western Horseman the safest most durable 
Quality American made leather horse tack....... Buckaroo John Brand Buckaroo Leather, The Brand to Demand 
Visit Our Unique Store Today 
Buckaroo Leather Shopping Site

Old West Natural Remedies.....Lydia Pinkham Story

Today, many people look for natural or home remedies for their aliments. Natural herbs, spices, “mothers”recipe for curing the cold, can all be found on the internet.

In the Old West Traveling Medicine Wagons came to the towns to sell you that miracle tonic that would cure whatever ailed you. The biggest producer of patent medicine was Lydia E Pinkham. Her success was not only the product, which like all the patent medicines contained a high alcohol content, but her unique marketing strategy.
 
Her strategy was to simply give the women of the 1800's a voice. Women' s medical conditions and problems were not discussed in the 1800's. Lydia Pinkham encouraged women to talk about their conditions and gain knowledge on how to treat them.

Her Story….

Lydia Estes Pinkham (February 9, 1819 – May 17, 1883) was an iconic concocter and shrewd marketer of a commercially successful herbal-alcoholic "women's tonic" meant to relieve menstrual and menopausal pains.
 
Lydia Pinkham was born in the manufacturing city of Lynn, Massachusetts, the tenth of the twelve children of William and Rebecca Estes. William Estes was originally a shoemaker, but by the time Lydia was born in 1819 he had become wealthy through dealing in real estate and had risen to the status of "gentleman farmer" Lydia was educated at Lynn Academy and worked as a schoolteacher before her marriage in September 1843.

 
Isaac Pinkham was a 29 year old shoe manufacturer when he married Lydia in 1843, he would try various business without much success. Lydia gave birth to her first child Charles Hacker Pinkham in 1844, lost her second child to gastroenteritis, and gave birth to her second surviving child Daniel Rogers Pinkham in 1848. A third son, William Pinkham, was born in 1852 and a daughter Aroline Chase Pinkham in 1857. (All the Pinkham children would eventually be involved in the Pinkham medicine business.)

Like many women of her time Lydia Pinkham brewed home remedies, which she continually collected. Her remedy for "female complaints" became very popular among her neighbors to whom she gave it away. One story is that her husband was given the recipe as part payment for a debt, whatever truth may be in this the ingredients of her remedy were generally consistent with the herbal knowledge available to her through such sources as John King's American Dispensary, which she is known to have owned and used. In Lydia Pinkham's time and place the reputation of the medical profession was low. Medical fees were too expensive for most Americans to afford except in emergencies, in which case the remedies were more likely to kill than cure.

Isaac Pinkham was financially ruined in the Panic of 1873, he narrowly escaped arrest for debt and his health was permanently broken by the associated stress. The fortunes of the Pinkham family had long been patchy but they now entered on hard times. Lydia sometimes accepted payment for her popular remedy for female complaints. It is reputed to have been her son Daniel who came up with the idea, in 1875 of making a family business of the remedy. Lydia initially made the remedy on her stove before its success enabled production to be transferred to a factory, she answered letters from customers and probably wrote most of the advertising copy. 

Mass marketed from 1876 on, Lydia E. Pinkham's Vegetable Compound became one of the best known patent medicines of the 19th century. Descendants of this product are still available today. Lydia's skill was in marketing her product directly to women and her company continued her shrewd marketing tactics after her death. Her own face was on the label and her company was particularly keen on the use of testimonials from grateful women.

Advertising copy urged women to write to Mrs. Pinkham. They did, and they received answers. They continued to write and receive answers for decades after Lydia Pinkham's death. These staff-written answers combined forthright talk about women's medical issues, advice, and, of course, recommendations for her product. In 1905 the Ladies' Home Journal published a photograph of Lydia Pinkham's tombstone and exposed the ruse. The Pinkham Company insisted that it had never meant to imply that the letters were being answered by Lydia Pinkham, but by her daughter-in-law, Jennie Pinkham.

Although Pinkham's motives were partly self-serving, many modern-day feminists admire her for distributing information on menstruation and the "facts of life" and consider her to be a crusader for women's health issues in a day when women were poorly served by the medical establishment.

(biography from Wikipedia)

 
You can still purchase Lydia Pinkham Vegetable Compound today. The ingredients have been updated to meet FDA standards, but the claims of relief are the same.

The original formula for Lydia Pinkham's Vegetable Compound was:

Unicorn root (Aletris farinosa L.) 8 oz.
Life root (Senecio aureus L.) 6 oz.
Black cohosh (Cimicifuga racemosa (L.) Nutt.) 6 oz.
Pleurisy root (Asclepias tuberosa L.) 6 oz.
Fenugreek seed (Trigonella foenum-graecum L.) 12 oz.




 

The Modern formula-straight from the bottle:

Supplement Facts
Serving Size: 1 Tablespoon
Amount Per 1 Tablespoonful %Daily Value
Vitamin C 20 mg 33%
Vitamin E 5 mg 16.5%%
Proprietary Blend 3 g
Jamaica Dogwood (bark)
Motherwart (leaf)
Dandelion (root)
Pleurisy (root)
Glycyrrhiza (licorice root)
Black Cohosh (root)
Gentian (root)

Ingredients: water, fructose, ascorbic acid, dogwood bark, motherwart leaf, flavor, dandelion root, alcohol 10%, pleurisy root, licorice root, salicylic acid, edetic acid, sodium benzoate, black cohosh root, dl-alpha tocopheryl acetate, BHA, butylparaben, gentian root.
 
Directions: Shake before using. Take 1 tablespoon 3 times a day with meals. For best results, take regularly throughout the month. If preferred, mix with fruit juice.

If you are pregnant or nursing a baby, seek the advice of a health professional before using this product.





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Western Horseman the safest most durable 
Quality American made leather horse tack....... Buckaroo John Brand Buckaroo Leather, The Brand to Demand 
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