i Some of the events that occurred as a result of a proposal by the United States Cavalry to employ muck ponies in snow during winter campaigns against the Indians on the Western frontier, but not the experiments themselves, are recorded in THE BULL WHIP BREED.
ii Descriptions of some of the breeds of dogs used for hunting raccoon and various animals, including some qualifying as big game, are given in HOUND DOG MAN.
iii The reason for the unconventional education received by Belle Boyd is explained in the Appendix.
iv Sir Reginald Front de Boeuf, master of Torquilstoen Castle in medieval England, was an early example of more unsavory members of the family. See IVANHOE by Sir Walter Scott. Two descendants of Sir Reginald who inherited his worst traits were Jessica and her only son, Trudeau Front de Boeuf. To antagonize the rest of the family, she always used the surname instead of that of the man she married. Incidents involving their criminal activities are recorded in CUT ONE, THEY ALL BLEED; Part Three, “Responsibility to Kinfolks,” OLE DEVIL’S HANDS AND FEET; and Part Four, ‘The Penalty of False Arrest’ MARK COUNTER’S KIN.
v Mark Counter inherited the physique but not the objectionable traits from the maternal side of his bloodline. Information regarding his family background and special qualifications is given in the Floating Outfit series.
vi Although Winston Front de Boeuf was a successful rancher, he did not remain based in Texas; see THE CODE OF DUSTY FOG.
vii Information about some incidents in the career of professional gambler Joseph “Joe” Brambile is given in DOC LEROY, M.D.; THE HIDE AND HORN SALOON; and Part Two, ‘Jordan’s Try,’ THE TOWN TAMERS.
viii How the participants in the so-called “apartment-house wrestling” by a later generation carried out a similar judicious faking is told in THE TEAM, the latest volume to be added to the Rockabye County series.
ix The occasions when Belle Boyd was required to indulge in less-than-serious barehanded combat with another woman are described in THE BAD BUNCH and THE WHIP AND THE WAR LANCE.
x Information about the later careers of Colonel Myles Raines and his daughter, Louise, can be found in WAGONS TO BACKSIGHT and RETURN TO BACKSIGHT; also by inference with regard to the Colonel in ARIZONA RANGE WAR.
Having given a phonetic simulation of the way in which Alfred Higgins spoke throughout this chapter, for the rest of the narrative we will employ normal terms except where the specialized jargon used by the British criminal classes of the period is concerned.
xii The code that was currently in use was based on the song most used by the Union as a comic counter to the South’s “Dixie.”
Yankee doodle came to town riding on a pony, He stuck a feather in his cap and called it macaroni
YANKEDOLCMTWR I GPHSUFB J QVXZ
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26
ABCDEFGHI J KLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
9 6 5 20 15 17 14 22 4 8 10 3 7 16 23 13 18 11 18 11 19 24 12 25 1 26
There was no punctuation and the recipient had to use judgment in forming the words of the actual message. Nevertheless, we are informed that there were very few errors on this account.
The very patriotic and rousing words put to Daniel D. Emmett’s minstrel song, “Dixie” by General Albert Pike, C.S.A., are recorded in TO ARMS! TO ARMS! IN DIXIE!
xiii An admittedly brief description of how the game of faro was played is given in RANGELAND HERCULES.
xiv Information regarding the Williams rapid-fire gun is given in THE REBEL SPY.
xv The use to which one Agar Coffee Mill gun was to be put is told in THE DEVIL GUN.
xvi How Belle Boyd was later brought into contact with a Vandenburg Volley Gun is told in THE COLT AND THE SABRE.
xvii What the scheme was and how it came to be implemented is told in THE DEVIL GUN.
xviii According to the world’s foremost fictionist genealogist, Philip Jose Farmer—author of, among numerous other works, TARZAN ALIVE, the Definitive Biography of Lord Greystoke, and DOC SAVAGE, His Apocalyptic Life—with whom we have consulted, Belle Boyd was the grand-aunt of Jane, Lady Greystoke, nee Porter, whose biography is recorded in the TARZAN OF THE APES series by Edgar Rice Burroughs.
xix An epee de combat is used mainly for thrusting and the saber was originally intended chiefly for slashing from the back of a horse.
xx One incident in Rose Greenhow’s career is recorded in: KILL DUSTY FOG!
xxi Told in THE COLT AND THE SABRE and THE REBEL SPY.
xxii Told in THE BLOODY BORDER. Details of Captain Dustine Edward Marsden “Dusty” Fog’s and the Ysabel Kid’s careers are given in the Civil War and Floating Outfit series.
xxiii Told in BACK TO THE BLOODY BORDER.
xxiv Told in THE HOODED RIDERS.
xxv Information regarding the career of Martha “Calamity Jane” Canary is to be found in the Calamity Jane series and she makes “guest” appearances in Part One, ‘The Bounty on Belle Starr’s Scalp’; TROUBLED RANGE; its “expansion,” CALAMITY, MARK AND BELLE; Part One, ‘Better Than Calamity,’ THE WILDCATS; THE BAD BUNCH; THE FORTUNE HUNTERS; Part Six, ‘Mrs. Wild Bill,’ J.T.’S LADIES; Part Four, ‘Draw Poker’s Such a Simple Game,’ J. T.’S LADIES RIDE AGAIN (“costarring” with the lady outlaw Belle Starr); Part Seven, ‘Deadwood, August the 2nd, 1876,’ J. T.’S HUNDEDTH; Part Four, ‘A Wife for Dusty Fog,’ THE SMALL TEXAN and GUNS IN THE NIGHT.
xxvi Belle Starr makes “guest” appearances in RANGELAND HERCULES; THE BAD BUNCH; DIAMONDS, EMERALDS, CARDS AND COLTS; THE CODE OF DUSTY FOG; THE GENTLE GIANT; HELL IN THE PALO DURO; GO BACK TO HELL; Part Four, ‘A Lady Known As Belle,’ THE HARD RIDERS; Part Two, ‘We Hang Horse Thieves High,’ J. T.’S HUNDREDTH and Part Six, ‘Mrs. Wild Bill,’ J. T.’S LADIES. The circumstances of her death are told in GUNS IN THE NIGHT.
The lady outlaw “stars,” no pun intended, in WANTED! BELLE STARR.
We are frequently asked why it is the “Belle Starr” we describe is so different from a photograph that appears in various boots. The researches of Philip Jose Farmer, q.v., have established the lady for whom we are biographer is not the same person as another equally famous bearer of the name. However, the Counter family has asked Mr. Farmer and ourselves to keep her true identity a secret and this we intend to do.
xxvii Told in THE BAD BUNCH.
xxviii Told in TO ARMS! TO ARMS! IN DIXIE and THE SOUTH WILL RISE AGAIN.
“Floating outfit”: a group of four to six cowhands employed by a large ranch to work the more distant sections of the property. Taking food in a chuck wagon, or “greasy sack” on the back of a mule, they would be away from the ranch house for long periods and so were selected for their honesty, loyalty, reliability, and capability in all aspects of their work. Because of the owner of the OD Connected ranch, General Jackson Baines “Ole Devil” Hardin’s prominence in the affairs of Texas, members of its floating outfit were frequently sent to assist such of his friends who found themselves in difficulties or endangered.
Details of the career of General Jackson Baines “Ole Devil” Hardin are given in the Ole Devil Hardin, Civil War and Floating Outfit series; also Part Four, ‘Mr. Colt’s Revolving Cylinder Pistol,’ J. T.’S HUNDREDTH. His death is reported in DOC LEROY, M.D.
xxix Told in SET A-FOOT.
xxx Told in THE QUEST FOR BOWIE’S BLADE.
xxxi Told in THE REMITTANCE KID and THE WHIP AND THE WAR LANCE.
The researches of Philip Jose Farmer, q.v., have established that Captain Patrick Reeder (later Major General Sir, K.C.B, VC, D.S.O., MC and Bar) was the uncle of the celebrated British detective, Mr. Jeremiah Golden Reeder, whose biography appears in ROOM 13, THE MIND OF MR. J. G. REEDER, RED ACES, MR. J. G. REEDER RETURNS, THE GUVNOR and TERROR KEEP by Edgar Wallace. Mr. Jeremiah Golden Reeder’s organization plays a prominent part in the events we recorded as “CAP” FOG, TEXAS RANGER, MEET MR. J. G. REEDER; THE RETURN OF RAPIDO CLINT AND MR. J. G. REEDER and RAPIDO CLINT STRIKES BACK.
xxxii Told in Part Five, ‘The Butcher’s Fiery End,’ J. T.’S LADIES.
Some other activities of the very competent British lady criminal Amelia Penelope Diana “Benkers” Benkinsop during her visit to the United States in the mid-1870s are recorded in BEGUINAGE IS DEAD! and Part Three, ‘Birds of a Feather,’ WANTED! BELLE STARR. Information about a descendant of the above “Benkers”—who also followed the family tradition of retaining the full name regardless of who the father might be—Miss Amelia Penelope Diana Benkinsop, G. C, M.A., B.Sc. (Oxon.), owner of Benkinsop’s Academy for the Daughters of Gentlefolk in England, is given in BLONDE GENIUS; Part One, ‘Fifteen The Hard Way,’ J. T.’S LADIES and Part Two, ‘A Case of Blackmail,’ J. T.’S LADIES RIDE AGAIN. BLONDE GENIUS is the rarest of our books.