The Life of Buffalo Bill · Chapter
X: Questionable Proceedings explained
Cody recounts his return home to Leavenworth amid the outbreak of the Civil War, his involvement in a vigilante company raiding Missouri for horses under the guise of retaliation, and his mother's disapproval leading him to abandon the jayh
What happens
Cody recounts his return home to Leavenworth amid the outbreak of the Civil War, his involvement in a vigilante company raiding Missouri for horses under the guise of retaliation, and his mother's disapproval leading him to abandon the jayhawking. He then details Wild Bill Hickok's legendary exploits: the deadly duel with Dave Tutt over a watch, and the desperate hand-to-hand fight with the Jake McCandless gang at Rock Creek station. The chapter ends with Cody and Hickok losing everything on a horse race in St. Louis.
Themes in this chapter
Violence and Survival
The chapter is dominated by violent encounters: the jayhawking raids, Hickok's duel with Tutt, and his brutal fight with the McCandless gang, all highlighting the lethal nature of frontier life.
Loyalty and Comradeship
Cody's loyalty to Wild Bill is evident as he follows him to St. Louis and shares in his losses; Hickok also looks out for Cody by sending him home after they are broke.
Self-Invention and Celebrity
Wild Bill's exploits are already being spread by newspapers, building his legendary status; Cody's own narrative frames these events as foundational to his own story.
Characters to notice
- Buffalo Bill
Narrator and participant in the jayhawking raids; returns home to visit his mother.
- Wild Bill Hickok
Cody's friend and hero; kills Dave Tutt in a duel and single-handedly defeats the Jake McCandless gang.
- Dave Tutt
Professional gambler killed by Wild Bill in a duel over a watch.
- Elijah Cody
Cody's father (implied by family context); not directly mentioned but referenced through the family's losses.
Key passages
“Before the race it had been “make or break” with us, and we got “broke.” We were “busted” in the largest city we had ever been in, and it is no exaggeration to say that we felt mighty blue.”
Cody and Hickok lost all their money and their horse in a race, leaving them destitute in St. Louis.
Illustrates the financial risks and failures of frontier gambling.
“Bill told him he had won it fairly, and that he proposed to have it; furthermore, he declared his intention of carrying the watch across the street next morning to military headquarters...”
Wild Bill insisted on retrieving a watch he had won from Tutt in a poker game, leading to a fatal confrontation.
Sets up the duel that resulted in Tutt's death.
“This action may look to the reader like horse-stealing, and some people might not hesitate to call it by that name; but Chandler plausibly maintained that we were only getting back our own, or the equivalent, from the Missourians...”
Cody justifies the jayhawking raids as rightful retaliation for earlier losses suffered by his family.
Reveals the moral ambiguity and frontier justice of the border war.