Buffalo Bill's Wild West: When the Wild West of America came to the East End of Glasgow

The monument sits where, more than 130 years ago, Cody and his troupe of performers entertained the nation for three months between 1891 and 1892 at the East End Exhibition building

The Glasgow Herald announced the upcoming appearance by the group on 6 November 1891 saying, “What will certainly be the most sensational among the entertainments in Glasgow during the winter season will be opened in the East End next Thursday.”

Promising “realistic representations of life on the western plains of America,” the mythology around the show extended to its description of how the show’s performers came to be in the company of Cody.

The Glasgow Herald report said: “Following the suppression of the last of the Indian rebellions, the native chiefs by whom it was led were confided in the care of Colonel Cody, in the hope that in the course of the tour in which they would make with him their ideas would become enlarged, and they would learn the futility of rebelling against the power of the white man.”

In truth though, the Native Americans who joined Cody in Glasgow were often Lakota tribe members who had been largely let down by government promises. The tour was seen as an opportunity to earn money whilst representing their culture.

In the group that arrived in Glasgow, Kicking Bear, Short Bull and One Bull were Lakota who had once been very real adversaries of the American army.

Kicking Bear - the last of the Lakota to surrender after the massacre at Wounded Knee -  became an often seen face around Dennistoun during their stay, even having his picture taken at a studio on Bellgrove Street.

It was not just Native Americans who took part in the shows. One of the stars of the show was Annie Oakley, a five-foot tall sharpshooter, who by then was in such demand that she earned nearly as much as Cody. She performed extraordinary feats of marksmanship, such as shooting a cigar from the hand of her husband, fellow sharpshooter Frank E. Butler.

Cody himself was involved with the US Army during the Indian wars, however he was a civilian scout, eventually becoming chief of scouts, rather than a colonel as suggested by the Glasgow Herald report. He would be awarded the medal of honour - an award which would controversially be revoked and then reinstated in the years after his death.

His evocative moniker however harked back to his time hunting buffalo on behalf of the Kansas Pacific Railroad. 

Now though, Cody was a showman.

Buffalo Bill’s Wild West arrived in Glasgow on 26 October and after a number of delays, the show opened on 16 November 1891 to around 5000 people. The spectacle was met with instant fervour for their displays of bronco riding and roping, as well as recreations of scenes from the Indian Wars and life in the western frontier.

Reviewing the show, The Scotsman wrote: “As an entertainment, the Wild West Show can be compared with no other form of performance or show before the public at the present time.”

When not entertaining the thousands who turned out to each night’s show, the group certainly made themselves at home in the city. Like many in the city, they found football to be the hottest ticket in town - second perhaps to their own. Cody himself, complete with white sombrero, turned up at Ibrox as Rangers and Queen’s Park faced off in a Glasgow Cup quarter-final. 

Although perhaps as a testament to his showman nature, he arrived well after kick off having missed the first two goals of the game. Some have speculated in order to take the adulation of those in attendance, which the Scottish Referee newspaper say the crowd duly obliged with.

It reported: “He was well received by the standers as they passed along in search of a seat, which could not be found till Mr. Lawson, secy., got alongside and brought them to anchor in the reserved seats in front of the pavilion.”

Queen’s Park ran out 3-0 winners.

The group brought equally bad luck on the green side of Glasgow, with Cody’s manager and publicist Major John Burke kicking off a fixture between Celtic and Dumbarton.

Celtic were soundly beaten 8-0 in the New Year’s Day fixture - a result that is still their largest ever defeat at Parkhead.

However, whilst Burke took in the game at Parkhead two of his compatriots were getting themselves into an altogether different tussle - with one spending a weekend in Tobago Street Police Station.

Charging Thunder, a performer in the show, spent a weekend in the cells after striking George C. Crager, an interpreter, around the neck and head with a club. Charging Thunder would plead guilty to the charge, explaining that a mix up between lemonade and whisky at a Duke Street pub led to the incident.

At trial, the Glasgow Weekly Mail reported the sheriff as saying, “it was a shame to supply these Indians with whisky”. Charging Thunder spent 30 days in Barlinnie Prison - although he would have his own unique coda, eventually settling in Gorton, Manchester when the tour returned at the turn of the century.

Buffalo Bill’s Wild West’s run came to an end on 27 February 1892, but it would be two months before the last of the group would leave Glasgow. They would return to the city as part of a much wider tour in 1904.

Charles Eldridge Griffin documented that spell in his diary turned book Four Years in Europe with Buffalo Bill. It is apparent that the appetite was as high as ever.

He wrote: “Aug. 1 to 6 found us at Glasgow, the metropolis of Scotland, and there we did the largest week's business in the history of the Wild West as a travelling organisation, and only excelled by the abnormal business of the Chicago World's Fair season, in 1893.”

The legacy of Buffalo Bill’s visits to Glasgow, and the wider tour, have had a long-term cultural impact on the city. The shows created a folklore around the Wild West that, whilst perhaps was a little more showbiz than reality, captured the imaginations of people for decades afterwards. Would the Grand Ole Opry on Govan Road exist without Bill and his cohorts visit?

The statue on Whitehill Street was erected in 2006, more than 100 years after Cody’s last appearance in the city - a testament to the longevity of a moment in history that is unlikely, for good reason, to be repeated.