yes, this trial was extremely expensive, and the government as far as i know has not released the amount -- it's in very expensive. on the other hand, some of the reporters covering this case particularly for the arabic tv press through the bbc was saying to me that he was amazed at the fairness of this trial. ..

>> thank you so much. it's growth to be with you. it's wonderful to come into a city where there's rain. [laughter] i live in, my wife suzanne who is with me and you'll meet her later, we have live some years in tulsa, oklahoma where there's plenty of water and wood, it's a green place, but like the rest of this nation, it's been stricken and temperatures in tip l digit -- triple digits for many, many days. that's how it has been most of the summer. we're now in the last leg of the national book tour, and we've been all over the country, deep

into the eastern united states on the other side of the mississippi where i sometimes go, and all over the southwest and the west where i prefer to be. being a native of massachusetts, -- missouri, i always looked west, down the trails, down my rote 66, the mother road. this is the part of country i like the best. when i declared my major, if you will, as a writer, it was about the american west, not just cowboys and indians, not just the west that many people think about or conjure up when they hear that word, but the contemporary west as well, the pop culture west, the contemporary west, so tonight

i'm delighted to be here as always. i've always had a great experience at tattered cover. this location or the other, and i was just saying to someone before the event started on this particular tour, we've had 40-some odd book signings and events, and only one of them has been in a chain bookstore, and i'm very happy about that, very happy. [applause] chains are important to me, but independent bookstores are more important to me. the independent bookstores are like my route 66. the chain bookstores are like though turnpikes and interstate highways. i have to take them, but i prefer to be on the old road,

the genuine, the authentic, the personal. so tonight, i'm in this unusual position of really presenting three books, two of them brand new books -- not just crockett but also the wild west 365, another brand new book, and then the reissue. my rascal son right in the center, pretty boy, charles author floyd, the pretty boy book is not brand new, it was published years ago, but it's been out of print until now. "until now" meaning the original editor, robert lyle, probably the best nonfirst editor in the country, moved from st. martins, my old house, to norton, a great house by the way, and he brought

pretty boy back. it's important to me because it's a pulitzer prize nomination, a book that needs to be in print, and it has been optioned for major motion picture as has my more recent biography of billy the kid, the endless riot, another nor ton title, so i'd be remiss if i wouldn't share with you at least a spoonful from this rascal son, from charlie floyd who hated to be called "pretty boy." this is really a social history. where this bookends, steinbeck's immortal grapes of wrath begins. you go from fiction to non-fiction. if you read "the grapes of wrath" and plan to reread, you

know they talk about charlie floyd in the book because they came from little dixie and oklahoma where floyd resided. they also, of course, charlie, was also a subject of a wonderful song, the "ballot of pretty boy floyd" written by a native of oklahoma, which all of you will probably remember from his great songs, and i'm talking about woody guthrie. he gave his songs to bob dylan. there's a great line that fits this book from the ballot of pretty boy floyd. some men will rob you with a six gun, and some with a fountain pen. now, floyd liked to focus on

those fountain pen thieves, the bankers forclosing on the people and others. i came to surprise and to my glee, he was a sage brush robin hood. very interesting young man. let me give you a spoonful if i can from "pretty boy, the life and times of charles author floyd," and it's the prologue to the book. it's short and a little bittersweet. the farm near clarkson, ohio, october 22. awe longside every outlaw who survives beyond brief days utter this region that the law does not know or may not touch. they call him their protective angels if you like. that is a quote from "when the

daltons rode". he ran for the trees and the freedom that lay beyond. if he could just get across the field of corn stubble to the tree line, he'd be safe. the weeds, the vines, the brambles would grant him yet another reprieve. he would race into the woods and down the slopes, up the steep hills and across the masonry of abandoned canals filled with water from the recent autumn rain. he was known as some as the sage brush robin hood, to others as the phantom terror, but he was called pretty boy floyd, public enemy number one. he was invincible and always got away. this weather was warm on this october afternoon. his shirt and under wear was soiled and sweaty.

he needed a bath. his suit was stained with needles that ran the length of his sleeves and trousers. he was a country boy dressed in a city slickers' clothes. a farmer's wife gave him apple that morning, and he stuffed them in his suit coat pockets. he grasped the .45 pistol in one hand and the other was tucked in the top of his trouser. just moments before, the farm couple had kindly agreed to give him a lift up the road aways in their automobile away from the farm owned by dykes sister. they passed an hour and she fed him a hot meal. inside the farmhouse, she still held the $bill the stranger incested she take for the plate of spare ribs.

ellen watched him wolf down the din dinner. he sat on a rocking chair on the porch eating is silence. after wards, he passed around waiting for them to finish with their corn husking. he fingered keys in the car's ignition, deciding not to steal the machine. he waited for the farmer to come along. just before the dykes walked out of the corn fields, charlie pulled out his pocket watch. it was almost four o'clock in the afternoon. sun set was an hour and a half away. he stared at the 50 cent piece attached to the watch. ellen recalled that he smiled when he rubbed dirt off the cameo ring he wore. nobody knows, but maybe he thought about ruby or dempsey or the cotton fields in oklahoma or

the times before he went on the scout. an airplane droned overhead, an unusual sight. charlie turned his face to the cloudy skies. the rains had disappeared. it was deep autumn, but there was smell of new life where the maples showed their colors. killing frost would give way to snow that would enrich the land. ellen watched as the stranger climbed into the backseat. the sister-in-law got in front as her brother started the automobile. they waved good-bye, and she went back to the chores. she heard machines drive ling up to her house and the sounds of car doors slamming shut. when she looked out the window again, she saw a band of men in suits carrying guns. they began fanning out over her property. the stranger jumped from her

brother's car, behind the corn crib, and began his run towards the field and the trees. the run lasted just a few seconds. it must have seemed forever to charlie. maybe it was like one of those dreams filled with monsters that seem to last forever in slow motion. many years later, a federal agent remembered that charlie ran like than athlete, he cut and dodged in a broken field sprint. apples fell from his pockets. they yelled for him to halt, and then gunfire erupted and the bullets pumped up dusts by his feet. he gulped in mouthfuls of freedom as he ran. chester smith, a sharp shooter who had fought in france and belgium, knew the man running

away was charlie. there was no doubt in his mind. it was now 10 minutes past four. he shouldered his 3220 winchester rifle, took aim at the man running in zigzags across the field. when he had him in the sights, smith wrapped his finger around the trigger, took a breath, and held it. he slowly squeezed. mr. floyd. [applause] this, my friends, is my latest son, also a bit of a rascal, although he did not meet his end in an iowa corn field as you all know. this crockett biography, i must say, is off to a great start.

we have incredibly good reviews from the "wall street journal" to "texas monthly". texas completely endorsed the books, the bright ones, the critics, the scholars, because i'm hard on texas in this book as i should be, and am, but their reviews that my late mother could have written, and i'm pleased with that. [laughter] now, my first exposure to mr. crockett, this inevitable american icon, came, and i, for one, and i bet some of you looking around this room are in the same boat, can vividly recall perhaps the exact date. it was a frosty night for me, december the 15th, 1954, in my hometown of st. louis. an abc television had just aired

davey crockett, indian fighter. the first of three episodes produced by wallet disney -- walt disney for the studio series that premiered two months earlier. it was called simply disneyland like the park that would soon appear in anaheim, and it was called that for quite a while, this series, but there were a variety of other names including the one that you probably most remember commonly, the wonderful world of disney which would become one of the longest showing prime time programs on american television history. that evening i was 9 years old, but i could have predicted the show's success. i was hooked myself only moments after hearing the theme music,

and if you want to hum along, you can. "when you wish upon a star" sung by cricket from the sound track of the movie, "pinnochio". dick wesson introduced host disney and with assistants from tinker bell, uncle walt unleashed this frontier character, david crockett. i was sitting indian style in the living room, my parents behind me, and all of the sudden as if like a run away train, crockett came crashing out of that 12 inch screen tv of our 1950 table model rca victor set, and as they say, i was a goner. with only moments after this

larger than life crockett appeared in buckskin and wearing, of course, that coon skin cap, i had been won over, and my fickle 9-year-old heart pounded. now, i must tell you, that was an incredible year. that past summer, just months before, on two separate occasions down at famous and barr, at the mother's store, famous and barr, now long defunct department store in st. louis, my mother brought me down there to meet some people, down in that big parking lot, and there i was at ten o'clock on a saturday morning, there's william boyd, hop-a-long cassidy standing there with hop pinnochio. i really thought he was top

drawer. he never last that hat in a fight. i liked him very much. there was a one-two punch because the next saturday i go back down again with my mother and there's duncan renaldo standing there with diablo, the tact and the great smile, the sisco kid. i didn't wash my hands for two weeks. [laughter] now, on december 9th, both of those men were instantly demoted to lower rungs on my list of heros. i'm here to admit, and i am st. louis all the way. i bleed st. louis cardinal red to this moment -- [laughter] but even swinging stan the man, the legendary cardinal outfielder whose name was literally etched in granite at the top of that heros list, even

the man was in jeopardy of being toppled. by the time that first episode ended, this image of crockett as portrayed by that gangly farmer from texas, that 29-year-old, was firmly in my mind. i didn't consider staying up for strike it rich or i got a secret. i forgot about the promise of fresh snow and good sledding to follow. instead, i beelined back to my room pouring over the world book entry for crockett, and i dreamed of this swash buckley behavior and as a red blooded american kid, i found it to be a most commendable quality. as i would later learn that next morning, out in the snow when i

ran into the spinks brothers, i was not alone. they had seen it too. all of you had. more than 40 million people tuned into disneyland that tuesday night, and by the second episode, crockett goes to congress airing on december 16th followed by on february 3rd, at the alamo, i and the nation and the growing ranks of the boomer generation was swept up in the crockett frenzy and we wanted more and more, and it came big time in the form of really an unprecedented merchandising world wind in which he was commercialized in ways that's unthinkable to the man himself. although, he would have liked it very much. [laughter] every kid, of course, had to have a coon skin cap like

davey's, and almost overnight the wholesale prices of raccoon pelts soared from 25 cents a pound to $6 a pound resulting in the sale of furry caps and causing eisenhower to nearly put those little beasts on the endangered species list. [laughter] within a few months of that premier, more than $100 million, and that's $100 million in 1955 dollars was shelled out not just for coon skin caps, but for more than 3,000 different crockett items. if some of you would step up, i'm sure you'd admit you still have some of these items tucked away because they include pajamas, lunchboxes, and i know someone back there has crockett underpants, comics, moccasins,

toothbrushes, clothing, toy rifles, sleds, curtains -- it goes on and on, and then there's the song, the catchy theme song. , the ballot much david crockett selling more than 50 million copies, was on the top ten for weeks, and that spring of 1955, there i was back on the floor and out comes on the screen gezelle singing the top tune of the week on hit parade, and like every one of my pals, i knew, by god, those words were all true, and, of course, they weren't. [laughter] we sang the ballot at the top of our lungs as we built forts from old christmas trees and card board boxes and transformed the school ground into our own version of crockett country.

crockett became our obsession. now, i realize it's hard for anyone, say born after 1958, to recall this crockett frenzy that swept america in the 1950s. so profound was the innone dation that no baby boomer can fail to recall this american hero's name. this recognition to my way of thinking is a good thing, but the veritable flood of misinformation about crockett's life that resulted, something i became very much aware of later in my life and certainly proved up while researching this book that in part motivated me to write this book, has created a crockett me tholing that continues to this day. so, my friends, this is not just another straightforward chronological book of crockett,

cradle to grave, nor does it focus on the one slice of the crockett pie at the alamo. there's more to crockett than the last few weeks of his life. it's not a rejournallation of the many, many myths and total lies perpetuated by crockett over the years. this is a book for people interested in learning the truth, or at least as much as can be uncovered about both the historical and the fictional crockett, and how the two often became one. hopefully, readers will gain some new historical insights into the actual man and how he captured the imagination of his generation and later one's as well. so, now, a few spoonfuls from crockett, the lion of the west.

the first is just a graph or two from my preface. the awe ten tick david crockett was first and foremost a three dimensional human being, a person with somewhat exaggerated hopes and well checked fears, a man who had, as we all do, both good points and bad points. he was somewhat idiosyncratic, possessed of unusual views, prejudices, and opinions that governed how he chose to live his life. he could be calculating, but also as valiant and as resourceful as anyone who roamed the frontier. as a man, he was authentic and contrived, wise in the ways of the wilderness and most comfortable when deep in the woods on a hunt, yes -- yet, he held his own in congress, a fact that

distinguished him from so many other frontiersmen. he enjoyed fraternizing men of power and in the parlors of philadelphia and new york. crockett was like none other, a 19th century enigma. he fought under andrew jackson in the indian wars only later to be jackson's bitter foe on the issue of removal of indian tribes from their homelands. crockett's contradictions extended beyond politics. he had just a few months of formal education, but yet he read. he was neither a baa foon or a great intellect, but always evolving on the stage of a nation in adolescence, a pioneer who reflected a restless nation with a gaze pointed towards the west. perhaps more than anyone of his

time, david crockett was the first celebrity hero inspiring people of his own time as well the 20th century generation. the man, david crockett, may have per riched in 1936 on the final acult in the alamo, but the mythical crockett, a part on the american psyche, more than any other frontiersmen lives powerfully on. in this way, his story, then, becomes far more than a one note walt disney legend as his life continues to shed light on the means of america's national character. spoonful from a chapter entitled "kilt him abar." [laughter] david crockett believed in the wind and in the stars.

this son of tennessee could read the sun, the shadows, and the wild clouds full of thunder. he was comfortable amid the thickets, kane breaks, and the mountain balds. he hunted the hickory forest that never felt an ax blade. he was familiar with all of the smells, the odor of decaying animal flesh, the aroma of the air after a rain and the pungent smell of the forest. he knew the rivers lined with poplar that breached the motes in steep sided gorges with strange sounding names with indian influences like the teleco, the pigeon, the cussa, the wolf, the elk, and the obyon. he sought the dimensions of lakes and streams studded with ancient cyprus and learned that

dog days arrived not with the heat of august, but in early july when the dog star rises and sets with the sun. he carried his compass and maps in his head. he traversed the land when it was lush in the warm times, and when it was covered with the frost that the cherokees describeed as clouds frozen on the trees. the wilderness was, indeed, crockett's cay cathedral. now i'm going to jump way ahead, sort of towards the end. crockett lived to be 49 years old, and this is early in the last year of his life. he did become total lagger heads with jackson, old hickory, who the creeks and cherokees knew as

sharp knife. crockett fought under jackson in the ruinous creek wars, and he didn't like what he experienced, the atrocities, killings, and mayhem. he vowed not to do it again, but he did kill 105 bears in one season. he was a professional hunter of bears, but not of men, and when jackson, who had no use for any native american came up with the indian removal law to take the five tribes on the various trails of tears from their homelands in the south eastern united states to what is now oklahoma, indian territory, crockett stood up against it. the only member of the tennessee delegation to vote against it, and it cost him his job. jackson and the others found a candidate to run against him, and they took his seat.

as crockett explained, he was beat by a one-legged man, but he also came up with his famous quote which he said many, many times, "y'all can go to hell, and i'm going to texas." [laughter] now, he department go to -- didn't go to texas out of a fit of patriotic honor or something for those rascals down there. anglos were coming into the republic of texas and settling with permission from the government for years, starting with moses austin. they kept coming, and they didn't always abide by the laws, the laws means to speak the language, spanish, to join the mother church, and eventually not bring slaves. slavery was abolished in moment koa long -- mexico long before we got around to that, but these gentlemen and ladies, largely southerners, a lot of land speculators and

slave traders, two of the largest slave traders in the country, kept bringing their slaves in, and this is what crockett faced when he went down there. crockett had owned a few slaves, but he was not a big land owner, and slavery was not a big part of his life or issue. he wanted to rebuild his life. he was gypsy footed. he liked to hunt. he thought he could get back into politics. he went down there, found land he liked, took his sweet time, took him a long time to get down to texas, and he was not there very long. in fact, a lot of people thought he had been killed. there were newspaper stories. where is the great crockett? what happened to him? was he killed? well, he was chasing bison on the red river, talking with friends, telling stories. he loved to tell stories. he was having a few whiskies.

he finally got there. this is from "time of a comet". finally the three companions reigned up their horses in the oldest town in texas. he was reluctant to leave good hunting grounds, but he also heard stories about the successes of sam houston, his old tennessee friend, steven austin, another land agent or others who established land agencies and were on their way to becoming wealthy men. crockett believed that at last he could gain his own fortune and in a place where he can hunt about every day of the year. as one often noted, crockett was in a state of euphoria. throughout crockett's long ride from tennessee to texas, haley's comb, the most -- comet, the most famous, was

clearly visible as it is every 76 years or so. people were in awe when they spied the object slowly making its way through the night sky. for centuries, people believed a comet believes as a sign of chaos and disaster. comets were to be feared. one medieval pope excommunicated the comet declaring it an instrument of the devil. the appearance of haley's comet in 1835 was blamed for catastrophes around the world including the horrific fire in new york city that raged for several days and nights, the massacre of 280 people in africa by zulu warriers and wars across latin america. the seminal indians in florida saw it as a sign of a tragedy that descended on them as they lost their homes and were exiled

to indian territory. among many americans, especially anglo-texasians, the comet was a portent of the mexican army's defeat. hale lee's comment was rediscovered in august, 1835, about the defeat for another term in congress. it was visible for an extended period and could still be seen long enough for enterprising promoters to issue the comet almanac for 1836. it sold well, but not nearly as well as the davey crockett almanac of that year with an illustration of him wading in the mississippi river on a pair of stilts. stories made the rounds and newspapers and future almanacs claiming that crockett and his nemesis, jackson, forged a truce

and old hickory commissioned crockett to scale the alaganes and to ring the tail off the comet before it could char the earth. by the time the comet vanished in may 1936, not to be seen -- 1836, not to be seen until 1910, the battles of his life were long cold and scattered. finally from crockett, a piece from el alamo. to those who claim god made texas, some claim crockett invented texas. his blood and the blood of all who died with him transformed the alamo into an american cultural icon affecting economic and political conditions in texas and beyond. the battle cry, "remember the alamo" employed by sam houston

to inspire the force to defeat the mexican army, still reverberates through history and culture. for many anglo-texas and others, those three words conjure images of pay patriotic heros with a love of liberty. the alamo is the most instantly recognized battle in american history with a possible exception of gettysberg. it is said not since the death of customer, 40 years after the alamo, would the americans have a more glorious event to rally around. texas used the battle to establish a republican, later a state, that they believed unique and more special than any other. in 1845 when the republic of texas gave up its sovereignty to be the biggest state in the

union, it did so with a caff yet, depend -- caveat, depending on whose interpretation of the constitution is followed, it could split any time and split into five entities, thus creating four new states. the strong belief among texas was their independence, their lone star status had been bought and paid for at the alamo. crockett's death sums up the sing the most important aspect of his brief stay in texas. his contribution to the state noted not so much from how he lived, but how he died. his impact on texas derives precisely from his death in the tattered spoonish mission. in death, he was a more marketable commodity than ever in life, and it became the biggest tourist attraction and the most historic site in the

nation. crockett's death fueled the flames of rebellion against mexico and made him a celebrated martyr for the cause. this contributed to the creation of the prideful, sometimes bellicose stereotypical image of swaggering texas bursting with pride when describing the land they love. his demise turned the alamo into the cradle of texas liberty and a monument to westward expansion that became known as manifest destiny. there was the david crockett historical fact, and there is the davey crockett of our collective imagination. the first was a man who led a most interesting and colorful life, the other, is the american myth featuring crockett as a symbolic figure with super human powers. in this version, crockett is used by others to promote their own interests.

both crockett and the alamo remain ensnared in shrouds of myth. in the end, crockett was uniquely american character, and a formidable hero in his own right. he should not be judged by his death, but rather by his life includinged good, the bad, and the shades of gray. consider him a legend and a hero, but always bear in mind that he was a man willing to take a risk. that was what he symbolized, and that is how he should be remembered. mr. crockett. [applause] last but not least, this other new book. this book is filled with all kinds of rascal sons and daughters. there were no white hats. there were no black hats.

they were all gray hats as you'll come to find out. i co-awe -- co-authored this with my great wife, and we got the services from our good pal down in the hills of santa fe that has hi favorite research library, 12,000 books on the american library, old books, one of a kind books, it's intoxicating to go into that library, and hundreds and hundreds of thousands of images, arguably the biggest private collection of photography anywhere. he supplied all the photos for my billy the kid book and 700 of his images grace these pages, many never seen before by all kinds of people. it's about the size of an adobe brick, a little smaller, and if you don't like it, i can't imagine way, you can always use it as a doorstop.

[laughter] don't be intimidated by it. there's old gym -- jim buoy himself. open it anywhere. what we do, by every date, every day of the year, is something that actually happened on that date, but these entries, the map entries in the photos and illustrations just move chronologically in the century i chose, 1830 to 1930. it begins with crockett and it ends with pretty boy, through that 100 years. i think it would be good to give you a few spoonfuls from this book, but i would be remiss if i wouldn't summon up to the podium my partner in life and literature, suzanne fitzgerald wallis, to talk about two of the

remarkable women we give in this tone. [applause] >> lola montez. just after the california gold rush peaked, the exotic beauty, no doubt attracted by the abundance of newfound wealth captivated san fransisco dandies, shot their prim ladies, and endured the taunts of miners. her original name was marie eliza gill bert, but she adopted lola, became a dancer, and had a series of romantic trysts with victor hugo, frederick chopin, and she served as the con my daunt of king ludwig of bull

vary ya. it contributed to his abdication and sent her packing. during the tour of the united states, lola arrived in california in 1853 and stayed for two years. she quickly became known for performing her famously suggestive tear rant la dance. she pretended to be entank led in the spider's web and discovered surprisers hide -- spiders hiding in the ground. as she revealed her petticoats, the audience was spell bound. she threw parties, gave dance lessons to a miner's daughter who was a celebrated star of the american stage, and was seen in the company of her pet cinnamon

bear. she broke into tears as she boarded the ship to australia. one paper praised her as a noble-hearted and generous lady whose many good acts so won the esteem of our citizens. whatever lola wants, lola gets. [laughter] cynthia anne parker. on may 19th, 1836, a band of indians attacks parker's fort on the fringes of the commanche frontier in the newly formed republic of texas. five were killed, five taken captive including 9-year-old cynthia and her younger brother, john. the little girl would be the most renowned indian captives in the american west.

both of the parker children adjusted to the commanche callture. john was a warrior, and cynthia lived as a commanche for 25 years. she wed and bore two sons and a daughter. the first born son was the great last war chief of the commanches. in 1860, texas rangers led my captain sol ross swept down on a village, killing many and taking others captive, including the long lost cynthia anne and her 2-year-old daughter. they were returned to parker family members, but her years with the tribe changed her. she had nothing in common with her white relatives and begged to be returned. her escape attempts failed, and when her daughter died in 1864, she lost all hope.

broken in spirit and bitter at captivity, she starved herself to death. 46 years later, he was able to bring the remains of his mother and baby sister to oklahoma. he dedicated a great feast to honor his mother and sister who lived and died as a great commanche. [applause] >> lola did inspire that land from damn yankees by the way. i thought you might een joy this entry -- enjoy this entry because there's cowboy and cowgirl in all of us. it's called "cowboys" and there's two great portraits of these gents right off the trail, probably in aboleen, texas

cowboys who have been well scrubbed, maybe a little pommade on them, got their favorite dish they longed for on the trail which is chopped suey or eggs and they had a tumble in the hay and good hard whiskey. this is "cowboys". some claim the word "cowboy" was first used in medieval ireland to describe boys who tended cattle. others say it was bantied about when youngsters like daniel boone and crockett herded cows. even so, only after the civil war, did the term "cowboy" come into common use. the hay day was cowboys was brief. it began in 1865 when texasians returned home after serving the

confederacy, poor in cash, but rich in range lands with long horns. those who trailed cattle were known as drovers. in the early 1860s, teaks ranchers used the word "cowboy" as they gathered unbranded wild long horns in the first called cow hunts. by 1870, ranchers hired youngsters who they generally referred to as cowboys to herd cattle up the trails to northern rail heads and markets. some of them were only 12-16 years old, and barely big enough to climb into a saddle. no everyone approved of such work. parents, do not allow your boys to load themselves down with mexican spurs, six-shooters, and pipes warned a reporter. keep them off the prairies as professional cow hunters.

they may forget there's a distinction between mine and thine. send them to school, teach them a trade, or keep them at home. that was written a long time before willie nelson. [laughter] i think just one more spoonful from very near the end of that century that we chronical. it's called simply, "adios s wyatt" he and a girl from san fransisco lived as husband and wife for nearly 50 years. the couple was a classic case of opposite temperaments complements each other. earp was quiet and reserved, his wife firey. still, they remained devoted to each other until the end. for earp, that end came in los

angeles, a few minutes past 8 in the morning on january 13th, 1929. the old lawman died quietly. as josey wrote in her published recollections, my darling had breathed his last dying peacefully without a struggle like a baby going to sleep. i don't know how long i continued to hold him in my arms. i wouldn't let him go. they finally had to drag me away. i had gone with him on every trail heeds taken -- he'd taken since the days the tombstone so long ago. including among his pallbearerrings were william s. hart and tom mix. wyatt's ashes were buried south of san fransisco and when josey died in 1944, she was laid to rest with her husband. cowboys pay their respects.

they stand on the man cured grass surrounded by tombstones topped with stars of david, a world away from the blood and smoke of the o.k.corral. thank you. [applause] thank you very much, and now we will entertain questions, comments, and/or concerns. [laughter] all we ask for if you have a question, let that boom mike get in place, and i'm anticipating good questions from this bright denver audience. >> good evening. i just wanted to thank you for that wonderful reading, and i hope the publishers will do an audio book select you to read your own work. it's terrific, and i enjoyed hearing you on the radio this morning on peter boyle's show,

and looking forward to it tomorrow. >> well, he convinced me to stay, you know? i really like this champ. he's, i think, a popular talk show fellow here in denver, and i really, i mean, it would be hoof me to stay in the studio. we were very good friends. appreciate that. >> [inaudible] >> yes, we're waiting for the mic. >> hi. june 15th to the packer club, and i was wondering if you can make comments. it's open to the right page, the quote of hinsdale county and all of that. want me to bring it to you? >> sure.

are you familiar with the story? >> no, not at all, but i thought you could help us all. >> this is an een try called the cannibal of the pass, and it's about alfred packer who earned a very sinister place in the folklore of the american west as a result of his acquired taste for human flesh. [laughter] do we have any cannibals in the audience? [laughter] yeah, good. usually there's one or two. [laughter] i will cut to the chase. the illustration for this is a wonderful, kind of down home piece, and it was called the packer club, and there's an image of al packer and it's written in sort of this down home language, and they was seven democrats in the county, but you, you veer rashes man eating son of a bitch, you ate

five of them. [laughter] i agree to elect five new democrats making me a member of the packer club in colorado. there you go. the packer club. [applause] >> hi, coming over here tonight, there was an announcement on the radio about the birth certificate of davey crockett that the court had said the woman who had it had to give it back to the county where he lived. >> oh, well i hant heard that -- hadn't heard that, but there's no birth certificate. it's probably the wedding license, and that's true. >> oh. >> he received a wedding license in dandridgein tennessee, and

unfortunately, many years ago, they pitched it out with a bunch of paper, and this woman who lives in florida got a hold of it. all they had for all of those years is a fax imly of it, and, of course, i talk about that whole marriage license business in the book, but this doesn't surprise me. i know they have been trying to get it back. i'm not sure what kind of legal maneuvering went on to get that because, you know, it's their own fault they threw the thing out; right? i would imagine they played upon her sense of history and whatever, and perhaps there was some money involved, i would think; right? which always helps. yeah. speaking of money, did any of you put a bid in on the billy

the kid picture here in denver? [laughter] it was william coke who won the american cup bought it. a lot of big bidding going on. yes? oh, what? >> one more question. >> let's let this lady come over here. >> sir, you did say something about a thoughtful question. i hope i can ask one. you and i come nearly the same place. i was born in east st. louis about five years before you were. i very much appreciate your presentation. the question-comment conversation, i've been a listen of peter boyles for some time, heard him this morning and heard you as his guest. you seemed to apply your talents to some pretty real people.

you disparage somewhat, i think rightly, the hollywood fictionalizing of some of these people. i'm a person whose very depressed with the way our country is going. i just wonder if you can throw your e view of the country, the economy today, if you would say 100 years from now, how would you reflect on the mess we're in today? [laughter] >> well, it's interesting because some of the reviewers of the crockett book have -- it actually got into some contemporary issues and talked about him and referenced the folks involved in politics today. they even used his name with people like sarah palin and

folks like that, and i can understand that to a certain extent, but not really. it's kind of what i said to him today, and i'm not sure i even understand what i said there because it just came to my head, but he said, what about crockett today, politics and stuff, and i said he would be a liberal tea bagger, which doesn't make sense, i know, but not really. he'd actually would be considered very liberal today, and he became a wig, which was the beginning of the republican party solely not out of any desire to really become a wig, but really because of his problems with jackson who, of course, was a democrat. in