A new interest

May 2011



Last month Meghan Sarr Editor-in-Chief from True West Magazine contacted me because she was covering the auction that was held in Ponca City March12th.  I sent her a book in pdf and she used it for some quotes and to get a overview of Bessie. The article appeared in the May issue and she did a great job, here is a little bit of it....
I don't think it would be fair to post the whole article and lose a sale for the magazine.

"Spose Ma will think I am crazy
but this is a circus anyone need
not be ashamed of.

"All nice girls, no swearing or
anything rough, we are not allowed to
monkey with the boys at all. It could
not be stricter."

Bettie Herberg wrote this to her sister
Esther on April 29, 1911, in the same
month she began working for the 101
Ranch Real Wild West Show and two
days after she had written: "I do not
think I will stay as it is too hard for the
money there is in it, but will have to stick
with it for a while to pay back my fare."

Yet stay she did. A century later, almost
to the month, on March 12, "Buckskin
Bessie" spoke through her letters and
photographs to collectors gathered in
Ponca City, Oklahoma to bid on the 101
Ranch collection of Jack Keathly.
Letters written to Bessie from 101
Ranch showman J.C. Miller were
purchased by an International Fast
Draw Champion with the SASS alias
"Buckskin Bessie." Monica James, of
Glendale, Arizona, had rescued other
letters by Bessie before they were
almost carelessly disposed of after an
estate sale; inspired by what she read,
she wrote the historical biography of
the showgirl, Buckskin Bessie: Her
Lost Letters, in 2006.

It is hard to believe it has been six years since I published the book

 (see side bar) and amazing the coincide that the auction was held almost to the day 100 years from when Bessie joined the show. I did indeed purchase 10 letters Joe wrote to Bessie as well as letters that were written to Bessie's family from Marshall Blackwell (with the help of a friend). They did not reveal anything earth shaking but did shed a different light in a few situations. I have not decided yet as how to share this info as I do not intend on rewriting the book. I have had a influx of orders for the book and assume the auction has created a new interest.  I  just wished they would order them from my web site so I could personally sign them but I am glad to continue to share Bessie's story.

Gone but not forgotten