Kickapoo encampments traveled about the country,
set up to ply their trade, and encouraged public visits. Tents and teepees
offered places for consulting with the public, and there were accommodations
for stage demonstrations or performances--some of these pure vaudeville.
The smallest encampment might be a handfid of participants, supervised
by the official company agent. The biggest was organized in Chicago, composed
of approximately 135 plus two bands of musicians! Posters advertised "Free
To All! Indian Medicine Camps .... A Novel and Interesting Performance
by the Kickapoo, Warm Spring & Pawnee Tribes of Wild Western Indians
.... Full War Costumes .... Representing All Points of Interest in the
Indian Country."
An 1883 playbill from an encampment in Albany
advertised a program featuring "Fancy Rifle Shooting, Holding the Rifle
in twenty different positions by the noted Scout and Indian Fighter, TEXAS
CHARLIE. The Rifle used is from the celebrated Wesson Rifle Co., of Worcester,
Mass." Texas Charlie, one of several known to have laid claim to the title
"champion rifle shot of the world; was also advertised in the 1883 billing
as lecturing on Indian "ways, customs and habits:' Still another show,
also in Albany, presented the fancy rifle shooting of Mr. and Mrs. Charles
Fox.
So popular were the Kickapoo encampments that
for several years perhaps as many as one hundred units of various sizes
were out and about in the United States and Canada, with some in the West
Indies as well. Badgered by competition from cheap imitators of the original
and, like the Wild West shows, confronted with motion pictures as competition
for the public's time and interest, the Kickapoo Indian Medicine Company
ceased doing encampments and traveling shows prior to World War I. Healy
had sold out to Bigelow in the 1890's and moved to Australia. In 1912,
Bigelow moved to England. The last sales of Kickapoo products were through
drug and general stores; the company went out of business in the 1920's.
A substantial collection of Kickapoo memorabilia and records, including
several Winchester lever-action rifles, is in the Peabody Museum of Natural
History at Yale University.
By far the finest Kickapoo rifle ever made--and
the premier slide action built by the Colt company is a .22 caliber that
is associated directly with the Kickapoo encampments. Factory records identify
the rifle, serial number 10570, as engraved and inscribed, finished in
half nickel and gold plating, with an octagon barrel, special sights, special
pistol grip and checkered stocks, and the monogram BFL. The elegant presentation
stock plaque has a eleven-line-long inscription! The Worcester Telegram
told of the presentation in its August 29,1890, issue:
Dr. Longstreet of the Indian camp on Pleasant St. was treated
to an agreeable surprise, last evening, by the presentation of a handsome
rifle to him by his fellow campers. The presentation was a complete surprise
to the Doctor, but he showed his appreciation of the gift in a neat speech
in which he promised to entertain his donors with an exhibition of his
skills as a marksman .... [The rifle] will be placed on exhibition today
in the window of E. S. Knowle's gun store.
The magnificent rifle was equal to any known to have been presented to Buffalo Bill, Annie Oakley, or any of the other exhibition shooters.
References:
Front-page obituary "Houston Chronicle" December 31, 1917 provided
by Dallas Public Library.
"Collecting the West" (pg. 128) by Wm. Ketchtun
"One for a Man, Two for a Horse" (pg.62) by a G. Carson - photocopy
provided by Wm. Ketchurn.
Miscl. Information provided by Connecticut Historical Society, letter
dated 9/8/98.
"Buffalo's Bill's Wild West" by Wilson & Martin, (pg. 230-234).
Color plates of Texas Charlie engraved rifle, advertising and SSA pistol
from (.9) Wilson & Somberland's book on Colt Firearms.
"Sixguns" by Elmer Keith (pg. 148).
''The American West Magazine" 2/1967, Vol 4, No.1) Long article
on Kickapoo Medicine, Healy & Bigelow and Texas Charlie.
Information and pictures supplied by:
David T. Hulse
6992 S. CR 350 W
Clayton, IN 46118
Email: ThePines350@aol.com
back to kickapoo page 2.
back to kickapoo page 3.
bigelow@slic.com
Rod Bigelow at SLIC 
