Cowboy Whiskey Men

 

     

Foreword:   Media heroes from comic books to motion pictures, the American cowboy is the iconic symbol of the Old West.  Likely beginning as young ranch hands, as they aged some cowpunchers looked for less taxing, more lucrative employment.  What naturally came to mind was the saloon and the whiskey trade.  Here are the brief accounts of three such cowboys, each of them with a unique story.                

In 1886 a 26 year old Missouri-born ranch hand rode his horse up to a South Dakota stage coach station that held a saloon. The next day he owned the place and thereupon was launched the career of Daniel P. Roberts, also known as “Devil Dan.” Little did he realize that the trajectory of his career also would make him part of a Presidential Inaugural.

When that wilderness station subsequently grew into the boom town of Belle Fourche, Roberts in 1905 opened a new drinking establishment on the main street that he called The Stand-Up Bar.  Robert’s saloon was a cut above the average. As the centerpiece of the house he bought an ornate Chicago-made Brunswick bar and saloon outfit, featuring an elegant cherry wood back and matching front counter.  

No sooner had Roberts opened the Stand Up Bar, however, than he was embarked on the trip of his life. A cowboy acquaintance of his had been one of Theodore Roosevelt’s Rough Riders. When Roosevelt was inaugurated as President in 1905 the man conceived the idea of having a cowboy section in the Inaugural parade, convinced the President-to-be, and recruited Dan. 

Shipping their horses by rail ahead of them, the cowboys, including future movie star Tom Mix, followed in their own railroad coaches, having a raucous time. In Washington, as shown here, Roberts and the others were reunited with their ponies and rode around streets of the Nation’s Capitol to exercise their mounts.

For the parade, security agents allowed the riders to carry pistols in their holsters as part as their costume, but the guns were unloaded. Riding eight abreast in the parade, they were cheered lustily by the waiting crowds. As they passed the reviewing stand President Roosevelt is said to have jumped up, clapped his hands and shouted: "That's bully!”  

Returning home, Roberts took up the role of saloonkeeper in earnest. Like other Western cow towns, Belle Fourche was a wild, wide open place. The main street was known as Saloon Street because of all the “watering holes” located there. Said one observer:  “The cowboys wanted to gamble, to drink and dance, and they wanted girls. The merchants of Belle Fourche saw that the cowboys had what they wanted.”  Among them was “Devil Dan” who operated the Stand Up Bar until South Dakota went “dry” in 1917.  

Shown below is a letterhead for the The Valley Saloon, a drinking establishment in the small but violence-ridden town of Saco, Montana.  It identifies the proprietor as a man named “Tom Dunn.”  In January 1897 the proprietor was writing to a wholesale liquor dealer to complain about shipping charges on his recent order.  But “Dunn” never existed nor would the saloon owner using that alias live beyond the following year. 

 

Tom Dunn was, in truth, Ed Starr, a member of several well known outlaw gangs.  According to Helen Huntington in her book, War on Powder River,  Starr was regarded as a “vicious nonentity” and “a killer for killing’s sake.”  When he arrived in Saco, shown here, Starr was on the lam from Wyoming, the cowboy gunslinger who had killed a United States marshal.  When he showed up in northern Montana, Starr/Dunn built a reputation as a skilled cattle broker and was appointed deputy livestock inspector for the region, reputedly compiling a good record.  

Old habits die hard, however, and in 1898 about nine miles from Saco Starr/Dunn, shown here, became involved in selling a string of horses, some of them apparently rustled.  In this scheme he had as a partner another notorious Western “bad man” named Henry Thompson, known as “Long Henry.”  When the time came for the two to settle accounts on the stolen animals, they could not agree on a division of the profits.  

The dispute led to gunplay.  Although Starr/Dunn wounded Thompson, he did not drop him. , Also an expert markman, Thompson almost simultaneously fired thee times.  The first bullet struck the cowboy saloonkeeper in the heart, killing him instantly.  The other two shots hit him in the body as he fell to the ground.  A Montana newspaper noted:  “Dunn was widely known as an expert with a gun and his friends could never understand his poor marksmanship on that occasion….[Dunn], probably, in getting off that first shot, lost the delicate balance which usually sent his bullets dead center.”   

The glass paperweight at left bears the photograph of a man riding a buffalo and bears the legend:  “Bob Yokum’s Buffalo, Pierre, S.D.”  It provides a window into the feats of a South Dakota saloonkeeper in training buffalo — the American bison — to pull a wagon or sleigh, be mounted and raced, and, most famously of all, engage in bullfighting in Mexico.  In his early  years, Yokum is said to have engaged in “the old ranching and cowboy life of the American West,” eventually becoming a United States marshal and later opening a saloon in Pierre.

Obsessed with training buffalo, Yokum after considerable effort taught them to draw a carriage.  Yokum’s next feat was training his buffalo being to be ridden.  The animals were said to “loathe” the saddling process and upon being mounted for the first time were known to buck fiercely trying to throw the rider.  With patience, the saloonkeeper was able to accustomed the shaggy beasts to a passenger, as shown above.  In addition, he was able to race them, both against other bison and against horses.  They were faster than the horses.

Yokum’s singular feat was introducing a bison into a Mexican bullring.  The idea was hatched during the winter of 1906-1907 to see which was the more dominant animal — a fighting bull (toro) or the American buffalo.   Loading one eight-year old male buffalo and one four-year old in a boxcar a group of South Dakota men that included Yokum headed to Mexico.  Yokum made sure there was plenty of alcohol in the baggage to make the trip a more pleasant experience.

After a seven day trip the group arrived in Juarez just in time for the afternoon show of four regular bullfights and as the finale the American buffalo vs. Mexican bull.  According to one account, the older buffalo, named Pierre, was released into the ring where it walked calmly to the middle:  “When the attendants released a red Mexican bull into the ring, he immediately spied the buffalo and charged. The bull aimed for the buffalo’s flank; but at the last second, the buffalo pivoted and the bull hit him head on…and was knocked back on his haunches.”  A second and third charge yielded the same result.  “On the fourth attempt, the bull again hit the buffalo head, was stunned and fell to the ground.  Then the bull rose up, fled from the buffalo and tried to climb out of the ring.” 

Reveling in victory, Yokum, shown here, went back to his buffalo farm and to operating saloons in both Pierre and Ft. Pierre.  When the latter town under “local option” went dry about 1910, he reluctantly was forced to shut down one establishment.  The Pierre saloon was closed in 1917 when South Dakota voted in prohibition.

Note:  Longer vignettes on each of these cowboy whiskey men may be found on this website.  “Devil Dan” Roberts, April 18, 2012;  Tom Dunn/Ed Starr, March 5, 2020; and Bob Yokum, November 9, 2018.

Whiskey Men with Unusual Pets

 Foreword: Men making a livelihood by selling whiskey often by their turn of mind or an accident of circumstances followed a course of action that others might find eccentric but that they could justify as assisting their liquor business.  In certain instances this involved keeping an animal on the premises that few would consider as a “pet.”  Here are brief stories of whiskey men who fancied, respectively, buffaloes, moose, and bears.

The glass paperweight at left bears the photograph of a man riding a buffalo and bears the legend:  “Bob Yokum’s Buffalo, Pierre, S.D.”  It provides a window into the feats of a South Dakota saloonkeeper in training buffalo — the American bison — to pull a wagon or sleigh, be mounted and raced, and, most famous of all, engage in Mexican bullfighting.

The American buffalo for years was considered untamable and many biologists considered it as one of the stupidest animals in existence.  That did not deter Yokum, drawing on his experience with horses and mules, from experimenting on his ranch to see what they could be taught to do.  “His troubles and trials with the unwieldy bison were innumerable,” noted one writer.

Eventually, however, Yokum succeeded in breaking the animals to a harness and driving them as a team.  As the fame of his accomplishment spread, Yokum was invited to participate in the annual Calgary Stampede, a showcase of Western motifs.  For the occasion in Alberta, Canada, Yokum hitched his team to a fancy chariot.  A postcard shows Bob in the role of Ben Hur.

Yokum next trained his buffalo being to be ridden.  They were said to “loathe” the saddling process and upon being mounted for the first time were known to buck fiercely trying to throw the rider.  With patience, the saloonkeeper was able to accustomed the shaggy beasts to a rider. In addition, he was able to race them, both against other bison and against horses.  They are alleged to having been faster than the horses.

Yokum’s singular feat was introducing a bison into a Mexican bullring.  The idea was hatched in Pierre during the winter of 1906-1907 to see which was the more dominant animal — a fighting bull (toro) or the American buffalo.  Loading one eight-year old bull named “Pierre” and one four-year old in a boxcar a group of South Dakota men that included Yokum headed to Mexico.  According to one account, “Bob made sure there was plenty of alcohol in the baggage to make the trip a more pleasant experience.”

Yokum’s buffalo proved up to the challenge.  When a Mexican bull was released into the ring, it spied Pierre and charged.  The buffalo pivoted and met the bull head-on knocking him back on his haunches.  After each of four charges ended in the same result, the bull fled and tried to climb out of the ring. Sequentially, attendants released four more bulls, each time to the same result.  The buffalo defeated them all, chasing the bulls around the ring. Yoakum returned to his saloon to loud applause from townsfolk.

A veteran North Country saloon owner, Bill McPhee, shown here, was known for his geniality and off-beat personality.   Born in Eastern Canada in 1841 of Scottish ancestry, he came to the United States in 1870 and eventually became a citizen, although equally at home in Canada.  McFee had owned several drinking establishments in the Canadian Yukon but when the gold strikes ran out he joined the stampede of prospectors in 1904 to Fairbanks, Alaska.  

There he established the Washington Saloon at the corner of First and Lacy Streets, an establishment the locals called “McPhee’s Place.”  The proprietor’s reputation as an “old pioneer,” combined with his generosity toward his customers made the Washington Saloon one of the most popular in Fairbanks. Among its attractions was his moose. 

Moose are found throughout most of Alaska except on the Aleutian Islands, but they are most commonly inhabit south central and the interior of the state. Moose abundance in the wild can range as high as five or more moose per one square mile.  The average weigh for a male is 1,000 pounds; females average 800 pounds.

Where and how McPhee obtained his moose or tamed it has gone unrecorded.  The animal became a frequent resident of the Washington Saloon and never failed to draw a crowd when it appeared.  The proprietor was known to feed it potatoes and stale bread and at times chase the food down with beer.  It took little alcohol to render the moose drunk and in that condition to reek havoc all over Fairbanks.

According to the local press: “Since the mayor’s repeated demands to remove the moose from the saloon were refused, he drew up an ordinance prohibiting moose on the city sidewalks—so that the large ungulate couldn’t lawfully enter the bar.”   With that mandate, McPhee capitulated.  Giving his reluctant permission, the moose was shot, butchered and handed to his cook.  His saloon patrons ate it.

Capt. Charles M. Crow, was busy operating his wholesale wine and liquor dealership in Syracuse, New York, when a letter from the Canadian North Woods arrived in August of 1879.  A friend wrote that he had shipped him a “beautiful black bear” that had been captured just fifteen days earlier.  Deciding it was no joke, Crow entrained to a station west of Syracuse to intercept the animal.

According to the New York Times, he found the train and shouted up to the American Express agent: “Have you got a bear in that car?” The agent replied: “I should think I had, and if he belongs to you, you better come in here and take care of him.  He has tired us all out and we have got enough of him.” Crow mounted into the car to find in one corner a large iron-bound cage made of oak planks.  In it was chained a huge bear, growling loudly and thrashing up and down the enclosure.

Undaunted by the scene, Crow told the agent:  “I’ll fix him.  Wait till I get him home, and if I don’t tame him in 24 hours you may have my store.” Arriving in Syracuse, the cage with Crow sitting on top was transferred to his establishment.  There ensued a struggle between the liquor store owner and the bruin while a phonograph played music in the background.  Spectators, including a New York Times reporter, jammed into the liquor store to watch.

The bear continued to roar and several times the crowd ran out of the store thinking the bear had escaped.  In the end Crow’s strength in pulling a chain around the bear’s neck prevailed. According to the Times reporter:  “…The bear gave up conquered and lay down peacefully in the bottom of his cage.  Capt. Crow eyed him in triumph and proudly said, ‘There you beast, I told you I’d fetch you.’ The Captain says that in less than 10 day he will lead the bear around the streets like a dog.  Of course he will have him muzzled.”

Addendum:  While today Crowe's treatment of an animal would be subject to criminal charges, years ago in Wisconsin I can recall more than one local venue where a tamed bear was on display.  Although further press accounts of Crow’s animal are lacking, it must be assumed that he kept the bear as an attraction to his liquor house.

Note:  More complete posts can be found on this blog for Bob Yokum, November 9, 2018, and Bill McPhee, March 29, 2019. 

Bob Yokum Rode a Buffalo to South Dakota Fame

The glass paperweight at left bears the photograph of a man riding a buffalo and bears the legend:  “Bob Yokum’s Buffalo, Pierre, S.D.”  It provides a window into the feats of a South Dakota saloonkeeper in training buffalo — the American bison — to pull a wagon or sleigh, be mounted and raced, and, most famously of all, engage in bullfighting in Mexico.

Details of the saloonkeeper’s life before settling in the Dakota Territory are sketchy.  According to 1870 census records, Robert Lee Yokum, shown here in maturity, was born in California in 1866.  His father, Dennis, was a carpenter.  After his wife died the father initially was dependent on an older daughter to keep house and care for younger siblings.  After a move to Archer, Texas, where he was recorded working as a blacksmith,  Dennis Yokum married a woman almost half his age and started a new family.  Bob was recorded as still at home in 1880, working as a laborer, but soon left for other adventures.

Details of his next few years are scant.  Yokum is said to have engaged in “the old ranching and cowboy life of the American West,” eventually becoming a United States marshal and gaining the title “Major.”  This rambling did not deter him from an early marriage.  In 1890, at age 24, in Callahan, Texas, Bob wed Inez Coppins, a Michigan-born girl who was only 15 years old at the time. They had two children. The 1900 Census found the family living in Ft. Pierre, South Dakota, shown below.  Yokum’s occupation was given as “drayman” — the driver of a flatbed wagon, called a “dray,” pulled by horses or mules.

Beer frequently was hauled on drays, a cargo that might have brought Yokum in close contact with the saloons of Ft. Pierre and neighboring Pierre, the state capitol.  Blessed with a good business sense, before long Yokum was reported to have owned at least two such establishments.  Unfortunately I have been unable to discover their names but believe one was the “Buffalo Saloon,” as suggested by the paperweight that opens this vignette.

The American buffalo for years was considered untameable and many biologists considered it as one of the most stupid animals in existence.  That did not deter Bob Yokum, drawing on his experience with horses and mules, from experimenting on his ranch to see what they could be taught to do.  “His troubles and trials with the unwieldy bison were innumerable,” noted one writer.  A photo below of a smashed wagon with onlookers and a pair of buffalo standing by lend credence to that view.

Eventually, however, Yokum succeeded in breaking them to a harness and driving them as a team.  Shown here, Bob’s bison are pulling a sleigh, with the saloonkeeper at the reins.  As the fame of his accomplishment spread, Yokum was invited to participate in the annual Calgary Stampede, a showcase of Western motifs.  For the occasion in Alberta, Canada, Yokum hitched his team to a fancy chariot.  A postcard shows Bob in the role of Ben Hur.

Yokum’s next feat was training his buffalo being to be ridden.  They were said to “loathe” the saddling process and upon being mounted for the first time were known to buck fiercely trying to throw the rider.  With patience, the saloonkeeper was able to accustomed the shaggy beasts to a passenger, as shown on a postcard.  In addition, he was able to race them, both against other bison and against horses.  They defeated the horses.

Yokum’s singular feat was introducing a bison into a Mexican bullring.  The idea was hatched during the winter of 1906-1907 to see which was the more dominant animal — a fighting bull (toro) or the American buffalo.  Loading one eight-year old bull buffalo and one four-year old in a boxcar a group of South Dakota men that included Yokum headed to Mexico.  According to one account, “Bob was a major instigator in arranging the buffalo versus bull fight with friends in El Paso and Juarez.  Bob made sure there was plenty of alcohol in the baggage to make the trip a more pleasant experience….”

After a seven day trip the group arrived in Juarez just in time for the afternoon show of four regular bullfights and as the finale the American buffalo vs. Mexican bull.  According to the account, the older buffalo, named Pierre, was released into the ring where it walked calmly to the middle:  “When the attendants released a red Mexican bull into the ring, he immediately spied the buffalo and charged. The bull aimed for the buffalo’s flank; but at the last second, the buffalo pivoted and the bull hit him head on…and was knocked back on his haunches.”  A second and third charge yielded the same result.  “On the fourth attempt, the bull again hit the buffalo's head, was stunned and fell to the ground.  Then the bull rose up, fled from the buffalo and tried to climb out of the ring.” 

Sequentially, attendants released four more bulls into the ring, each time to the same result.  The buffalo defeated them and ended up chasing them around the ring as the Mexican crowd shouted their approval.  Their point made, the delegation donned matador outfits for a triumphant photograph.  Yokum is front right.  Several days later the delegation entrained back to South Dakota but without the buffalo, claimed by the Mexican promoters for an uncertain fate.

Yokum went back to his buffalo farm and to operating saloons in both Pierre and Ft. Pierre.  When the latter town under “local option” went dry about 1910, Bob clearly was distressed and upon subletting his building included a provision banning anyone else from running a saloon there if the laws changed.  In fighting a court challenge to the provision, his lawyer explained:  “Mr. Yokum had been conducting a saloon in this building and this saloon business always was a touchy affair….He is praying for the time when Ft. Pierre will again become wet and he can again run a saloon there.”  No indication exists of that having happened and by 1917 the entire state of South Dakota had banned alcohol.

The latter years of Bob Yokum’s life, as one author has suggested, “are lost to history.”  He lived until 1937, seeing both the imposition of National Prohibition in 1920 and, at the age of 71, Repeal fourteen years later.  Indications are that Yokum moved to Wyoming at some point, perhaps to be close to relatives.  He lies buried in Riverside Cemetery in Thermopolis, Hot Springs County, Wyoming.  Appropriately, his obituary referred to him as “Buffalo Bob Yokum.”