BUFFALO BILL IN THE PARK
The day a US legend brought his Wild West extravaganza to town
WILLIAM Frederick Cody was renowned first across America – and then the world – by his better known name . . . Buffalo Bill.
The legendary US soldier, bison hunter and showman created his spectacular travelling Wild West Show in 1883.
His extravaganza toured the world, taking in the greatest cities, with Liverpool among them.
Cody first brought the show to the city for 12 days in the summer of 1891, were they performed twice a day in Newsham Park.
On an otherwise sleepy Sunday in early July, 200 performers – including cowboys, rough-riders and Native Americans, 200 horses, dozens of covered pioneer wagons, and a herd of buffalo disembarked from a 72-carriage train at Knotty Ash station.
They made their way through the suburbs of Liverpool to the park, attracting vast crowds of astonished onlookers en route.
Thousands came from across Merseyside every day, paying a shilling a time to see the show. In the huge outdoor arena, they witnessed the roping and branding of cattle, the horsemanship skills of the rough-riders, and the recreation of a Sioux attack on a wagon train featuring the real-life chiefs, Short Bull, Kicking Bear, and Long Wolf.
Locals had never seen anything like it before and gasped in awe at the authentic sights, sounds, and smells of the men and animals, of the gunshots, and of the flame and smoke. They cheered as the US Cavalry rode to the rescue of pioneers in the nick of time, in true Western movie fashion.
Extra ferries had been laid on to carry spectators across the river, and extra trams and omnibuses brought people from across the city, and beyond, to shout in thrilled excitement as the actual Deadwood Stagecoach was attacked by bandits.
Adults and children alike were amazed to see the world-famous sharpshooter, Annie Oakley (1860-1926), known as “Little Sure Shot”, shoot the pip out of an Ace of Spades from 100 yards away!
Here was Buffalo Bill in person, just as they had seen him in photographs in the newspapers, and in sketches in the “penny-dreadful” comics, with his long, flowing white hair, curling moustache, and neatly-trimmed goatee beard.
In his white buckskins, fabulous boots with engraved buffalo figures, and sporting his silver six-guns with their pearl handles, Buffalo Bill brought the Wild West to life.
At the end of the two-week run, 250,000 people had seen the show and £20,000 had been taken – worth £2m in today’s money.
Cody was so happy with his profits that, in May 1903, he returned to Liverpool for three weeks – and with three trains and over 500 horses!
The venue this time was in a purposebuilt event arena on Edge Lane Drive, where the Corporation bus sheds used to stand.