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Article Title: The Variegated Life of Norfolk’s Diamond Dick
Full Citation: L Boyd Finch, “The Variegated Life of Norfolk’s Diamond Dick,” Nebraska History 84 (2003): 181- 193
URL of article: http://www.nebraskahistory.org/publish/publicat/history/full-text/NH2003DiamondDick.pdf Date: 9/12/2012
Article Summary: Richard Tanner (1869-1943) travelled with a circus as a crack shot when he was a young man. Later he had a medical career in Norfolk and then recreated himself as “Diamond Dick,” a medicine show practitioner who claimed to have known all the famous characters of the Wild West.
Cataloging Information:
Names: Richard Jerome “Diamond Dick” Tanner, Nellie Snyder Yost, Buffalo Bill Cody, George G McClellan, W B Lawson, Wild Bill Hickok, Richard “Deadwood Dick” Clarke, Calamity Jane, William F “Doc” Carver
Nebraska Place Names: Norfolk
Keywords: Richard Jerome “Diamond Dick” Tanner, Leman Brothers Circus (later the Great Pan-American Circus), Buffalo Bill Cody, George G McClellan, Pioneer Days Celebration (Norfolk), Wild Bill Hickok, Richard “Deadwood Dick” Clarke, Calamity Jane, William F “Doc” Carver
Photographs / Images: Dr Richard J Tanner; Tanner and “Gyp” (New York World cartoon, June 20, 1893); “Diamond Dick” Tanner; handbill for Tanner’s Sitting Bull postcard; handbill for a medical “chalk talk” by Dr Tanner; a Diamond Dick novel from Tanner’s collection; advertisement for “Diamond Dick’s Indianola Herb Tablets”; handbill for Diamond Dick’s “Sanitary Soap Cloths”; advertisement for “Watonka,” a Tanner remedy; the “Plainsmen” of Norfolk, June 16, 1927: Major Gordon W “Pawnee Bill” Lillie, Captain Luther H “Lute” North, Richard W “Deadwood Dick” Clarke, William F “Doc” Carver, Colonel B R “Idaho Bill” Pearson, and Dr Richard J “Diamond Dick” Tanner
o D By L. Boyd Finch
he events of August 28, 1925, would appear at the celebration. J found in Berlin's musical, Annie Get were like a rebirth for fifty-five The great day arrived. Dr. Tanner Your Gun, other workers "get paid for Tyear-old Dr. Richard Jerome appeared in the buckskin of a frontier what they do, but no applause. "Twenty Tanner of Norfolk, Nebraska. Once showman, riding a calico pony in the years after Dr. Tanner began his medical again he became "Diamond Dick ... parade, and showing that he still was an career, he still missed the applause. the man who thrilled millions of specta excellent marksman with a rifle. "Mouths Eventually he found a way to it.s tors with his marvelous skill as a crack gaped in astonishment," a national Tanner's life encompa'>sed a note shot ... [and] the world's greatest cross magazine reported, "for the Diamond worthy long-distance horseback country rider." Advance pUblicity for Dick of their dreams was their family circus stardom as a crack shot, Norfolk's Pioneer Days Celebration that physician, Dr. Richard 1. Tanner." The pearance from the show circuit to enter August teased the town, revealing only "Diamond Dick of their dreams" may medical college and open in that Diamond Dick was a "prominent have been the young "Col. Dick Tanner" Norfolk, lectures and promotion of Norfolkan ... who has concealed his of tum-of-the-century circus fame. For "natural" medicines, reappearance as identity for years." The "Mystery Man" others he was the Wild West fictional "the original Diamond Dick," national adventurer of several hundred dime news coverage as one of the last fron L. Boyd Finch is a retired administrator novels during that earlier era. Or, he tiersmen, controversy over his claim to with the National Park In retirement could have been one of two other be the original Diamond Dick, and the he has pursued an interest in Western histOJY. Diamond Dicks in the Missouri Valley spinning of tales that depicted him as an Recently he found Ihat his paternal grandmother played in a "Ladies Silver Comet Band" that from a generation earlier.2 intimate of many Wild West figures. He accompanied a "Dr. Diamond Dick" and his Long before Irving Berlin put the was more than a simple "country doctor;" show through Iowa, Nebraska, and Kansas in words "There's No Business Like Show he was truly a show-man, a master of 1888. Research disclosed that Richard Business" to music, Richard Tanner self-publicity. "Diamond Dick" Tanner was not that man, but his stOlY seemed too to abandon without joined a circus, succumbing to the Richard Jerome Tanner was born sharing it. allure of the big top. As Annie Oakley near Stonington, Christian County,
181 Nebraska History - Winter 2003
Illinois, on November 27, 1869, to popular in the late nineteenth and early Richard R. and Harriet Tanner. His twentieth centuries. Pitchmen had father died, and in 1878 the boy and touted toni~<; and elixirs in Europe for his mother emigrated to Nebraska to centuries. In America, pitchmen added live with an uncle in Clay County-one vaudeville acts, musical groups, and hundred yards from the Oregon Trail, he Indians to attract buyers. For rural said later. He practiced firearms marks residents the traveling medicine show manship and herded cattle. Although its offered entertainment for the price of a Tanner Collection fills seven and one bottle of tonic or liniment. Scores of the half linear feet of document boxes, the shows were on the road in the 1890s; Nebraska State Historical Society finds it the Kickapoo Indian Medicine "difficult to say just where he was and Company alone sponsored as many as what he was doing" as a youth. He seventy-five units. Some practitioners claimed he began as a Wild West worked alone; other shows grew to rival performer when he was "a youth of 16." a circus. The products varied from He became sixteen on November 27, potions mixed in a hotel bathtub to the 1885. 4 mass product of firms such as the Yet, according to his half-centUly-old Kickapoo company.7 memory, Fred V. Matthews of Laramie, Author Wilson Messer claimed he Wyoming, recalled seeing Tanner was writing about Tanner in a 1926 True perform in Portland, Maine, in the Western Stolies magazine: "When the summer of 1885, advertising himself as most romantic mail service in history Diamond Dick. Matthews remembered was organized [, 1Diamond Dick joined Tanner as "a tall, erect, young man with the ranks of the pony-express riders. long curls on his shoulders, with a His run was through the. worst Indian rifle, who shot blocks of wood Dr. Richard J. Tanner, as most residents of infested district in the trans-Missouri Norfolk knew him in the period from 1910 from the head of a youth." In later years, to 1925. RG1345:PH:13 country, stretching from Sidney, Matthews said, he looked in vain for Nebraska, to Deadwood, South Dakota. Diamond Dick at Buffalo Bill's Wild mutilated duck, but on the contrary, I At this time, Red Cloud, the famous WestShow.5 found two shot through the head .... He Sioux was on the warpath, and James Earle Fraser, sculptor of the the ducks into his saddlebags, said, Diamond Dick fought redskins all the " and held out his hand to shake American Indian statue, The End ofthe mine. I felt something in my hand as he way from the Platte to the Belle Trail, and designer of the Buffalo Nickel, turned, and I let it drop. "Pick it up," he Fourche." Tanner, however, had not described another encounter with a "and now you can say that you been born when the famed Pony Diamond Dick in 1885. At age nine, the hand of Diamond Dick." He Express operated in 1860-61. And living on a farm south of Mitchell, South on his horse and galloped away Tanner was yet a boy in the 1870s when I could return coin. It turned Dakota, Fraser was roaming the prairie out to be a ten-dollar piece. Dia Red Cloud "had enough of fighting."8 when a young man came galloping mond Dick was picturesque; he The late Nebraska author, Nellie toward him and "he actually glittered as became a famous wild west showman.6 Snyder Yost, included a puzzling refer he rode." Gold and silver flashed from ence to Tanner in her 1980 biography the saddle and bridle, and the rider's Fraser's Diamond Dick may have of Buffalo Bill Cody, when Tanner's black velvet clothing was decorated in been Doc Percy Hudson, whose photo persona as Diamond Dick was well gold. "The bright sunlight ... made him graph from a Madison, South Dakota, established in Nebraska. She quoted a more dazzling than any person I had studio illustrated a 1929 Saturday November 24, 1888, North Platte news ever seen." The rider carried a beautiful Evening Post article about medicine paper about a reception in Cody's rifle, and asked Fraser to hold his horse shows. Hudson appeared to be a young honor at Wallace, attended by Cody while he shot at ducks nearby. Fraser man, with a wispy mustache, goatee, "and a large party of friends" that said he did not think the rifle would be and shoulder-length hair; he wore a included Diamond Dick. Yost wrote that good for that. "Oh yes, it will-if I can cowboy hat, slim bow tie and wing the paper reported there was singing, see it, I'll only knock its head off." After collar, and a dark jacket adorned with speech-making, and "Diamond Dick firing, he as~ed Fraser to wade in and braid. The story told nothing more gave a rousing discourse on 'Prohibition get the duck: about Hudson, but did tell about medi in the South Sea islands.' Diamond [I] waded in, CA.'''''-''''", to see a badly cine shows that, like dime novels, were Dick (Dr. Richard Tanner) was a noted
182 Diamond Dick character of the plains. A sometimes national weekly of show business and height, with clear blue eyes, a round preacher, doctor and man of many sports news. He planned to circle the frank-looking face and a very small callings, he was an old friend of Buffalo globe by sailing east from New York, mustache." The paper announced that Bill's and had acquired his nickname he said, but fears of cholera induced he would start on his globe-circling because of the many diamonds he him to ride west, instead. "He carries journey from the World building at 10 habitually wore."9 an American flag of silk, which was a.m. the next day. "The real, live, cow The November 24 newspaper is not presented to him by the Grand Army boy" was taking a "kodak" (sic), a on microfilm, thus it cannot be deter boys [Grand Army of the Republic, rubber coat and a revolver in his pack mined whether the parenthetical Union veterans of the Civil War] and and planned to write a book about his identification of Diamond Dick the Women's Relief Society [GAR. trip. In the next morning's paper, a appeared in the original article or was inserted by Yost. That a youth of eigh teen could be "a sometimes preacher, doctor and man of many callings ... an old friend of Buffalo Bill's" stretches belief, not to mention the idea of his giving a lecture on prohibition in the South Seas! Doubt about Yost's identification of Tanner is heightened by the author's family history. His grandmother from Aledo, Illinois, Lenore Boyd, played in Kate Baker's Ladies' Silver Cornet Band that accompanied Dr. Diamond Dick (George B. McClellan) with a medicine show in Kansas, Nebraska, and Iowa in 1888. Although their entire itinerary is unknown, Dr. Diamond Dick and the band were in Wayne, Nebraska, on October 11, 1888, when Lenore wrote to her future husband, a letter in the author's files. She returned home in mid-November when the show season ended. Since McClellan had been in Nebraska a few weeks earlier, he could Tanner and "Gyp" were portrayed in this New York World cartoon, June 20, 1893. have been the Diamond Dick reported MS1345 with Cody in late November. lO Tanner's life comes into focus on auxiliary] of Guthrie Center, Ia." The sketch of Tanner and his pony accom March 15, 1893, in Lincoln, when he cowboy also carried Mary Jane, a doll panied a story about "Cowboy Tanner." saddled his bronco, Gyp, for what he with a china head and cloth body, given Half an hour before his scheduled later called the longest ride made by him when he was one year old. (The departure, onlookers packed Park Row one rider on one horse-S,SOO miles. well-traveled Mary Jane and the flag rest in front of the newspaper building. Tanner said he paused in Chicago to now in the museum collection of the When Tanner appeared, "a thousand visit Buffalo Bill at the World's Fair. Nebraska State Historical Society.) The hands" stretched out to shake his hand. When he passed Valparaiso, Indiana, newspaper reported, "Mr. Tanner, who With difficulty he pushed through the a reporter described "R. 1. Tanner" as is only twenty-three years of age, has friendly crowd to Gyp, "swung himself a young man with "clear-cut features been a cattle herder in Wyoming and into the saddle and rode through the bronzed by exposure to sun and storm Colorado since his eighth year."12 gap that seemed voluntarily to open." ... attired in a suit of corduroy, flannel The editors of Joseph Pulitzer's New The crowd cheered as he headed for shirt, cartridge belt, [and] broad York World arranged for Tanner to write the Cortlandt Street ferry and was on his brimmed sombrero."ll a weekly letter for the paper. The World way west. The paper observed, "the In New York City Tanner visited of June 19, 1893, depicted him as "a cowboy from the plains learned what a the office of the New York Clipper, a modest-appearing fellow of medium wonderful thing fame is." Tanner saved
183 Nebraska History - Winter 2003
Chicago which occurred in June; Tanner replied that the race had not been set when he left Lincoln in March. From the Black Hills he rode toward Cheyenne. The Hill City editor believed Tanner's "tough looking dun colored pony ... seems fit to travel forever," but it was November and apparently the onset of winter or a worn out Gyp ended the journey in Wyoming or Colorado. There would be no round the-world ride. 14 Those articles reveal two interesting clues. First, because he visited the enter tainment weekly, the New .York Clipper, Tanner knew something of show busi ness culture. And, second, not one of the articles referred to him as Diamond Dick. Tanner did not call himself Diamond Dick until later. He first billed himself as Denver Dick. Advertising bearing his photo and calling him "COL. RICHARD 1. TANNER / (Denver Dick) / Champion Shot of the World" is in the NSHS collection. The donor, Levi H. Bloyd of Fairbury, Nebraska, wrote in 1961, "I copied this from an early day show hand bill. Dr. Tanner was known as 'Denver Dick' in 1894-1895." Also in the NSHS collection is stationery of Diamond Dick: "The Famous Western Character / Diamond Dick / (Col. Dick Tanner) / The World's Greatest Shot," with a photo of Tanner in costume. Both photos are of the same man. Because of the popularity of the Diamond Dick novels, Tanner's use of the name was a show business COUp.IS Billed as Diamond Dick, Tanner performed in circuses from 1895 until 1905, appearing in Mexico City in 1898. He formed his own traveling show. His "Diamond Dick" Tanner, as he appeared during his circus days between 1895 and 1905. shooting act was impressive, but solid RG1345-4A evidence that Tanner performed with Buffalo Bill is missing. when his the clipping; it was a lesson well Deadwood. He remained four days in claim to be Diamond Dick was in ques learned.13 Deadwood, where the Pioneer reported, tion, show business friends and former As Tanner traveled on, reporters "he is stuck on the city, which he says is troupers rallied around. One, Florence interviewed him. He obtained clippings the best country he has yet passed Houston, wrote that she joined him in from the Canton, Illinois, Ledger; Fort through." Another reporter asked why the winter of 1895 as his "object holder Madison, Iowa, Gem City; Hill City, South he had not participated in the horse and assistant in his shooting acts," Dakota, Tin Miner; and the Pioneer in race from Chadron, Nebraska, to remaining with him until his show
184 Diamond Dick closed in Newkirk, Oklahoma, in 1899. She told that Tanner shot off her head and was "the world's greatest shot." Another of his stunts was rapid firing at targets by the hammer of a triggerless revolver with his thumb. George A. Knowles wrote that Tanner HIS I was "one of the world's shots with both rifle and pistol. A. O. Perry stated that he first met Diamond Dick in 1895 at Table Rock, in the far southeastern corner of Nebraska, when Perry's small circus crossed paths with Diamond Dick, who was "running a medicine show." After thirty years, Perry still remembered "Dimond [sic] Dick's long hair, his musstash (sic) and Goat tee (sic) and his fluent language in his lectures left a impression upon me." George B. McClellan, who traveled the Missouri Valley out of Leavenworth and Kansas City as Dr. Diamond Dick, had a medicine show, sported long hair and a goatee, and was a showy marks man. He once was described by a Nebraska newspaper as "a long-haired quack who is a good shot"l? Tanner's skill made him a feature of CHIEF SITTING BULL AND fAMILY the Lemen Brothers Circus. The circus, THE ONLY PICTIJI Tanner promoted the sale of his Silting Bull postcard with this handbill. RG 1345 185 Nebraska History - Winter 2003 "root, herb, and bark medicine." 19 ~'lIIllIIlIIIIIlIIIlIlIlIlIlIlIIUIIIlIIIIIlIIIIIIIIIIIIJJlIIIJlIIIIIIIIIIIIUllllifl1IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIJlllflllIl!llllllllllllllllllllllll!lll!lIl1l1l1l11l1l1/lIl11l1l11l1l11'~ While in college he married Ruth Goodman, and published a postcard of ~ , l! "Chief Sitting Bull and Family, The Only Picture Ever Taken of Them." For store display, a handbill promoted "Great Historical Post Card For Sale Here." He received the M.D. degree in 1909 and ceased using the name Diamond Dick. 20 Tanner looked to Oklahoma as a promising field for his practice, gather ing ten letters of recommendation from Nebraska dignitaries, among them William Jennings Bryan; Gov. Ashton C. Shallenberger; Dean Charles Fordyce of the university; and banker L. J. Dunn, whose endorsement mentioned Muskogee as Tanner's destination. I i Evidence that he moved to Oklahoma has not been found. 21 In 1910 Dr. Tanner opened his prac ) tice in Norfolk as an herb doctor and ( traveled to outlying towns to lecture on § e § § medical subjects and promote his medi = = cations. His illustrated "chalk talks" on e- §= diseases and anatomy were not free; the ~ - =~ Tanner Collection includes adult and ij = ~ children's tickets. A handbill stated on = one side, "A Fact / DOCTOR TANNER / I GREAT i Specialist treats all DISEASES for ONE I i~ DOLLAR A WEEK / And Furnishes All I Rickard Jerome Tallner, M.. D. the Medicine Without Extra Charge. ! WILL D. ~urlieon and Leclllrer I Treatments sent prepaid to all places in i ELlYEK HIS FAMOUS ClULK TLiLK ON I the United States and Canada. Special attention given to treatment of DIS I APPENDI I I EASES OF WOMEN." On the reverse a and demonstrate tlte "SYMPTOM BLANK" listed more than i sixty symptoms that the prospective § SURGICAL OPERATION patient could check. Tanner stated, "If ~JJlIIIIIIIUIIIIJII"IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIlIJlIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII'IIIUI1IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIJllltli 111111 1111 II II III II 1111 II IJllIlIlIllIIllIllIllIlfIllIIIllIflIlIllIlIIllIllIP I believe your case to be incurable your A handbill announcing one of Dr. Tonner's medical "chalk talks." RG1345 money will be refunded by first mail. NO INCURABLE CASES ACCEPTED. " He saved letters, many in his own writ of Famous Career." The story identified two heroic figures in cheap melodra ing, but ostensibly signed by satisfied George B. McClellan of Kansas as the matic dime novels (many selling for a patients from such points as Valentine, Diamond Dick "of literary fame" who nickel). From the 1880s to 1911 several Hartington, Columbus, and Nickerson. "ran away at age sixteen and later men wrote Diamond Dick novels, using His practice was a form of show busi joined Buffalo Bill's and Pawnee Bill's the pen name W. B. Lawson. The hero ness, but it lacked the excitement of shows."23 rescued damsels and thwarted villains. being a sharp-shooting circus star. That there could be more than one Most tales were set on the frontier, but The Omaha Daily News reported in Diamond Dick should not have been one was "Diamond Dick's Wild West 1911: "Diamond Dick Dies Quietly in surprising. A generation or more of Show." Several others featured circuses, His Bed / No Lightning, No Shooting, Americans knew the fictional Diamond but no medicine shows. Tanner col No Thunder, No Excitement in Close Dick, and his son, Diamond Dick, Jr., as lected a score of the novels.24 186 Diamond Dick Dr. Tanner's ads, headed "SPECIAL Battle Field during June ... and they along the Elkhorn River. ... A flock of 1ST," bore his photo-a clean-shaven, want some outstanding feature, so, if sand hill cranes, flying so high that they looked like mere specks in the sky, passed balding man in a wing collar, wearing you think you want any of that kind of over our heads. I think the third or fourth a small string tie and a dark suit-and work let me know at once." Thirteen shot from Diamond Dick's rifle, brought captioned, "The Eminent Specialist, days later Wiley provided a "To Whom down one of those great birds. The crane RICHARD JEROME TANNER, M.D., It May Concern" endorsement: "I have was so high in the air that when it struck Physician and Surgeon." A larger ad or known the Bearer of this letter Mr. Dick the earth, within a few feet from where we stood, the impact burst the body wide handbill declared, "It is a fact that Dr. Tanner (otherwise known as Diamond open.'8 Tanner cures more people for less Dick) since 1892 when I Tanner's emergence at the celebra money than any other specia~i:s:t~in:...... ~h~'r:st:m:e:t:':::':::'-'-~-~--l America.... No living physician has tion in August of 1925 was not the ever guarded the people's result of a sudden whim, and his health more honestly than show business past may not have has Dr. Tanner. ... Dr. been as much a local mystery as Tanner has made good in publicity suggested. The event plan Norfolk, and his hundreds of ners, among others, knew his cured patients are constantly identity. Well in advance, some sending others." At the bot one arranged for the Winchester tom was a testimonial from arms company's August Winches Mrs. T. R. Leonard of Norfolk: ter Herald magazine to tell of "[A]fter taking a few doses of Diamond Dick's plan to "break his medicine I was relieved of a his twenty-five year retirement." heaping hand full [sic] of gall The piece included a photo stones, and now I am well."25 from Diamond Dick's circus Tanner may have been "mak years but did not name Tan ing good," but in 1921 nostalgia ner. Also, the doctor began to for show business led him to let his hair, mustache, and write Cincinnati showman J. T. goatee grow. By the time of McClellan (presumably not the parade, the stocky Dr. related to George B. McClellan) Tanner looked as much like about organizing a stock company Buffalo Bill as possible, a "after this season" to "put out a big living symbol of the roman show" on the road. McClellan ex tic myth of America's Wild pressed mild interest, but nothing West. 29 developed. Tanner wrote to Bert His appearance at the Chipman, his former boss with the celebration was a public Great Pan-American Circus, that he ity success. The Norfolk was planning a book, Shows and correspondent for the Showmen That I Have Met Up With. Associated Press let the Chipman offered to help with informa .c\{ nove\s Wfi\~~~5 world know that the tion from his scrapbooks. If Tanner \he OiOrnond O\~. \.owson. RG frontier marksman had ~e wrote such a memoir, it is not in the \ed sevefO\ pen norne, W. returned, and the world Society's collection.26 "{onnef. cO\\~~\hOfS undef paid attention. But fame had a draw By January 1925 Dr. Tanner was byvonoUS him in Lincoln back. Dr. Tanner's claim to be Diamond thinking of reviving his career as I consider his Rifle shooting Dick was challenged immediately. The Diamond Dick. He inquired of old to [be] among the best exhibitions of Omaha World-Herald reported, "No friend E. P. Wiley about bookings for a that nature I have ever seen." Sheridan's sooner had the word gone out over the sharp-shooting act. Wiley, operating as leaders made other plans.27 nation's press wires than he was called United Producing & Amusement Co., Lawyer J. C. Cook of Fremont upon to defend his title." A Cleveland, "Producers of Indoor and Outdoor endorsed Tanner as "positively a genius, Ohio, dispatch quoted Mrs. Owen Shows," replied that a committee in either with the rifle or a six shooter:" Sullivan, "who says she is a sister to Sheridan, Wyoming, was considering Diamond Dick and the writer, one bright 'Diamond Dick,' associated with Buffalo "putting on a Rodeo on the old Custer spring day [in 1896], were target shooting Bill many years ago." She declared that 187 Nebraska History - Winter 2003 Diamond Dick was her brother, George Dick's B. McClellan, "who died thirteen years ago in a Kansas City hospital" and was erb Table buried at Ogdensburg, New York. A mild but effective laxative Mrs. Sullivan displayed photographs relief . obstinate of her brother bearing the inscription "Diamond Dick."30 pation.. The World-Herald published Tanner's bark formula. response, telling of his Diamond Dick 2 at Bedtime. background, mentioning his letters from old show business colleagues. With the Postpaid for story were two photos, the one he used in his medical ads and one from his circus days, a dramatic left profile, com HA NN plete with a broad-brimmed hat and 315 South 12th St. Norfolk, Nebraska formal attire, with shoulder-length wavy hair, a goatee, and mustache. "Ever "Diamond Dick's Indianola Herb Tablets." MNH8073-123 since 'Diamond Dick' became a national figure, others have tried to assume the name," he told the paper. MADE IN NORFOLK "Dr. Tanner said that during the many years that he was putting on shooting Diamond Dick's exhibitions ... he never heard the name MEXICAN WONDER of George B. McClellan, and has never known there was such a man." The SANIT Norfolk Daily News reported, however, SOAP CLOTHS that Tanner "concedes others may have used the pseudonym Diamond Dick," HEALING HYGIENIC _ HANDY Jdi!nl (or T A Pnrnnwunt l'rodud Somt>thlng New! not the original Diamond Dick, and that that wlil quh:kly prove Something Nr)Vl.Il! nU eIuiUU! ami asserlion!; he had ended the Lincoln-to-New York made [at' them. nccid{'dly Different! 'I'ho Snnitury Wayl horseback ride because of his horse's Th~ Sure Way! sore back. To counter the latter charge, Gunran(1cd SuHsfadory The Handy War! ftr your mfiJHI)' cheerfully Tanner showed an 1893 dipping from reful1dttl A New fUYftllJiOU! They 8111,nd Altlnet the New York World reporting his ride from Lincoln to New York City, and tell MEXICAN SOAP PLANT ing of his departure for the return trip.32 SOS]! like the Indhms make in Old !\[exico, ·wher.e in 1898 Dirmtolld Dick learned how to milk!! it. Gontnil11l 11(tx!cnn Soap Root which ,helps it tit produce To the press Tanner talked at length IllI nlTIlLzinlt llRlOLmt of rjeh white luther tltat i~ llopthing, h~a.lil1g atld ele(ulflllljt. Doe.:; nOL contaill nny injul'io\lij chemioals tll1d witt not injure t'ile mo.st ilctkl\t~ about famous Western characters. It was skin. Usc Srmltory Soap Clolofi the sumo 'Way that ymt "muid use a bar o( tDjJtli soap, nnd each Sonp Cloth ~n bo usoo ma))y times, Iudividlml Sonp the beginning of his storytelling in print Cloths protcct you from utiiug 1\ btll' or In:ton which :wm~ dL'Ieaged 'Perl'l(i)r hit!> Iltl€d and left for you to llse, "A Wora -to the wise is l'Iufflclent," Individual S{lnitul'Y Sonp Cloths sot ve the problem fOl' u)\ni~tl> (tIHI and on the radio: the trnyeHng. public, nnd ~lley :Ire ideal fw home ?1" ofIice. Somethlnlt llew, scmetbmg dlff~l'Ot'Jt, hYfflentC, hundy nnd economIC!I!. Gtlll.l'Imteed sntis{.nct01'Y Dr. Tanner likes to recall his days among mO;ley r~t!'UldJ;d. One Dozell {Regular size} 2-5 I'-cn~s, jlOdtp.. ld Unitt:!« Qt' Cnnuda, Invented, Made and Sold by the west's pioneer characters. He recalls many tales of "Colorado Charley," "Wild I HARD NNER, Bill" Hickock [sic], "California Joe," the [DIAMOND DICK] immortal Custer, "Calamity Jane," and Office and lIcdic;tl I;nb"rat()l'y~315 So, 12th St, N()rfolk. Nebr. 1.w~atl;'d tn N»rfulk Twenty_tic-ven Years "Deadwood Dick.... " Recalling "Calamity Jane," Dr. Tanner tells of how she A handbill advertising Diamond Dick's "Sanitary Soap Cloths." RG 1345 frequently dressed as a man. 'The next 188 Diamond Dick day," he said, "she would be seen in Diamond Dick's Mexican Wonder feminine attire."33 SANITARY SOAP CLOTHS," with photos Tanner once again discovered "what of himself in 1898 in Mexico City wearing a wonderful thing fame is." To add more a large sombrero, and a contemporary Wild West luster to his background, he ATONKA portrait in buckskins and western hat, moved to elaborate on his Diamond with mustache, goatee, and shoulder Dick identity. As the Society's biographi length hair. For twenty-five cents post cal summary states, "He set about paid a buyer received one dozen cloths corresponding with a number of other from his "Office and Medical Labora 'frontiersmen,' establishing his name tory-31S So. 12th St. Norfolk, Nebr."36 and discussing events of the past. The belief that American Indians Tanner, rightly or wrongly, assumed the knew effective natural medications character of the 'Diamond Dick' who infused his ads: "Diamond Dick (Dr. had been the hero of ... very popular CHIEF LOIllE STAR Tanner) compounds the major portion 'dime-novels'." Among the luminaries of his medicines from roots, herbs, gums, barks, leaves and berries he wrote were W. F. "Doc" Carver, Many years ago when the varioue champion marksman; Luther "Lute" tribes of Indians spent much of their Nature's own production-God's gift to time hunting, fishing or trapping North, army scout; Richard W. "Dead alo~g the strea;ms of the West, Chief mankind. Many of the roots and herbs wood Dick" Clarke; and Wild West Lone Star told Dr. Richard Tanner used by Dr. Tanner were known to the (Diamond Dick) about a wonderful showman "Pawnee Bill" Lillie. All were herb which he called "WATONKA," Indians." An ad depicting an Indian older than Tanner. Perhaps to make up and he took Dr. Tanner and showed male promoted "Watonka," supposedly him the herb growing on the prairie, for his relative youth, Tanner read and explained to him how the India,," a prairie herb remedy that Tanner widely in histories and fiction of the used WATONKA as a medicine in claimed "Chief Lone Star" had shared their treatment of various diseases. West, and steeped himself in the details. D1·. Tanner never forgot what Chief with him. To what extent Tanner used Lone Star told him, and ever since roots and herbs is not clear. Among his In writing to the older men he could cite he has been in the practice of medi early events and remind them that he cine Dr. Tanner has used Watonka papers are three formulas: "Dr. Tanner's in his herbal remedies for diseases had met them years before. Correct or of the blood, stomach, liver, kidneys, Snow Liniment for Man or Beast," not, his correspondents remembered constipation, indigestion, nervous "Wonder (Indian) Liniment," and 34 prostration, palpitation of the heart, Diamond Dick Tanner. loss of sleep, loss of appetite, loss of "Pulque." The liniment concoctions In 1926 Happy Hours Magazine, memory, that tired feeling, appen used turpentine, vinegar, eggs, and warm dicitis, asthma, rheumatism and gall published for dime novel collectors, stones. water, plus a package of sewing needles printed Tanner's article, "The Death of in the Wonder version. "Pulque," Wild Bill," which he called an imagina MEOIC~L TREATMENT ONLY ONE primarily water and sugar, bore little tive first-hand report of the murder of DOLLAR A WEEK resemblance to the alcoholic Mexican Wild Bill Hickok in a Deadwood saloon pulque, made from agave. 37 in 1876. The editor called Tanner "the DR. RICHARD TANNER As noteworthy as Dr. Tanner's original Wild West pony express rider "Diamond Dick" "coming out" as Diamond Dick in 1925 and government scout." That article was was, a Norfolk parade in mid-June 1927 followed by "Deadwood Dick on Deck," NORFOl.K, - NEBRASKA was even more memorable. Tanner and wherein Tanner stated that he and Norfolk radio personality Karl Stefan, Deadwood Dick had worked for Wells representing the Chamber of Commerce, Fargo. In another Happy Hours piece, "Watonka," one of Tanner's remedies that created a publicity triumph. After estab he claimed, "were known to the Indians." "Friends of the Old West," the title and RG1345 lishing pen-pal contact with several text suggested that Tanner was writing notable western characters, Tanner about personal acquaintances: "Wild Historical Landmarks Commission enticed them to come to Norfolk for Bill Hickok, as I remember him, was a congratulated Tanner on his "first-hand a sort of "last Roundup." mild-mannered, soft-spoken, unassum statements regarding Wild Bill, Pawnee Stefan persuaded delegates at the ing gentleman." Hickok died on August Bill and Deadwood Dick."35 National Editorial Association conven 2, 1876, when Tanner was age six. Dr. Tanner built on his celebrity to tion in Omaha to stop in Norfolk on the Among other "Friends" in Tanner's promote his cures and lectures. He big day while on a tour to the Black article were Calamity Jane, Sitting Bull, introduced "Diamond Dick's Indianola Hills. National news stories resulted. Deadwood Dick, and Doc Carver. Herb Tablets," thirty for a quarter, and Indicative of the coverage was the St. Chairman A. S. Ellison of the Wyoming "A New Invention Made in Norfolk: Louis Post-Dispatch headline, "Diamond 189 Nebraska History - Winter 2003 Dick Rounds Up His Old Friends."38 Deadwood Dick exploded, "That's a was mistaken in believing that he was Despite a persistent drizzle, crowds damn lie!"40 remembering Tanner. It was McClellan, lined Norfolk's streets to see, as the With that, the evening got under way. as Dr. Diamond Dick, whose show press called them, "a half dozen of the As the smoke thickened, the characters traveled in a luxurious palace car.43 most notable Scouts and Indian fighters out of the past talked until after mid The myth-building continued. The of a half century ago." A suitably im night. A Union Pacific official took Literary Digest called Tanner "A buck pressed editor from the Kansas City shorthand notes, enabling the Kansas skinned centaur of the plains." Writers Sunday Star described the scene: City newspaper to devote thirty-three were drawn to him, and he was willing Here they carne, riding through the rain column inches to the discussion. to talk. "What kind of a story do you on decidedly spirited horses ... Diamond Dick, Idaho Bill, and Pawnee want?" he asked one writer.44 two by two, while brass bands flared Bill did not participate in any significant Tanner continued to contend that he and the crowds cheered anew. Here were way, but Deadwood Dick, Doc Carver, "Pawnee Bill," with his huge sombrero, was "the original Diamond Dick," but in and "Doc" Carver. an imposing figure on and Lute North went at it hot and heavy. 1929 a veteran medicine show operator, a bay charger that was almost covered Of course, none had been at Little Big Dr. N. T. "Nevada Ned" Oliver, the huge buffalo coat that Carver wore horn, but they had some acquaintance co-authored two articles about medicine and which he has possessed for nearly with Custer and they knew the stories as shows for the Saturday Evening Post that sixty years. 'lext were "ldaho Bill" and told by Indians and army men. They "Lute;' North, both riding as if they had named two other Diamond Dicks. been born in the saddle, and closely fol disparaged parts of the Indian remem Tanner was not mentioned. The maga lowed in twain by "Deadwood Dick" and brances of the fight; Carver alone zine included a photo captioned "Dr. "Diamond Dick." What a sight-what a credited the story that Custer killed him George McClelland [sic], Original of thrill-what a picture!'" self. The Kansas City journalist Diamond Dick, With Crazy Elk, Big It was a remarkable assemblage: concluded: Horse and Squaw in 1903." With the Major Gordon W. "Pawnee Bill" Lillie, Finally, when the ends of our cigars had second article was a photo of Doc Percy Oklahoma showman and Buffalo Bill's begun to burn low ... we bid them Hudson, identified as "The First of the last Wild West show partner; "Doc" W. F. goodnight, and good-by, perhaps with just Diamond Dicks." Nevada Ned's designa Carver, Cody's first partner in the arena a little pathos after holding each rough hand, for now there [sic] were separating tions of "The First" (Hudson) and show and once the world's champion the men who had never before met "The Original" (McClellan) were not rifle and pistol shot; CoL B. R. "Idaho together and perhaps never would meet explained in his list of showmen Bill" Pearson, scout and animal trapper; who had "gone to the Happy Hunting Capt. L. H. "Lute" North, organizer with For Doc Carver, the events of the Ground." He wrote, "The latter [Diamond his brother, Frank, of the famous Pawnee day were too much. He returned to his Dick] was the original, I always have Indian Battalion that scouted for the California horne, took to his bed and, understood, of the celebrated nickel army on the Plains; and Richard W. two months later, died on August 31, novel hero of that name. His true name "Deadwood Dick" Clarke, early-day 1927. was George McClelland [sic]." Nevada Deadwood figure who rode alone For Dr. Tanner, the gathering was a Ned was correct that in 1882 a New York through Indian country bringing the heady success, a validation of his iden Dime Library story-"Diamond Dick, mail to the boomtown and whose dime tityas Diamond Dick. Under one of the The Dandy from Denver"-was the novel namesake may have been even group photos, the Union Pacific Maga original dime novel appearance of better known than was Diamond Dick. zine headed the story, "Is There Any of Diamond Dick, who was knowledge At parade's end, eighty-seven-year These Famous Characters You Haven't able about herbal medicine. The author old Doc Carver was "giddy." He and the Heard Of?" It identified Tanner as the noted that he modeled Diamond Dick others retired to their rooms to rest "famous owner of medicine shows." on "George McClellan, a living charac before dining with the visiting editors. Once again the shadow of George B. ter of to-day."45 Nevada Ned revived the Wearing big Western hats, the men "Dr. Diamond Dick" McClellan intruded. controversy over Tanner's Diamond Dick posed for group photos. Afterwards they As Diamond Dick, Tanner had been a claim. After the first article appeared, adjourned to a meeting room where circus star, not a medicine show opera Lute North wrote to Tanner, "What they sat around a large table. Banker C. tor as was McClellan. The article also should you care if these ducks try to E. Burnham took the chair, proposing quoted Doc Carver who said, of make out that there was some other "to set aright some disputed history Diamond Dick: "Forty years ago, he Diamond Dick[,] your friends know concerning what happened at the Battle wore more diamonds than you ever saw what the real Diamond Dick is."46 of the Little Big Hom." A recent maga -thousands all over him, even on his In Nebraska, Tanner's renown as zine had stated that Custer committed hat-and he had the finest palace car in Diamond Dick remained unchanged. suicide at the battle. Upon hearing that, the world." The old showman probably Invitations to events arrived from as far 190 Diamond Dick The "Plainsmen" at Norfolk, June 16, 1927 (left to right): Maj. Gordon W. "Pawnee Bill" Lillie; Capt. luther H. "lute" North; Richard W. "Deadwood Dick" Clarke; William F. "Doc" Carver; Col. B. R. "Idaho Bill" Pearson; and Dr. Richard J. "Diamond Dick" Tanner. RG2320-34 away as Arkansas. Show cards touted Kid, and other westerners of bygone 1903, but he went on to describe how his appearances "in full regalia" as days figured in his writings. A local she "rode into Deadwood [with] Wild Diamond Dick. An old frontier scout, radio station broadcast his stories, Bill, Colorado Charley [and] Bloody "Montana Mac," Major Manis McGurrin, based on "my historical collection," Dick Seymour; she was dressed in male came to Norfolk "for no other purpose which he said he had gathered for forty attire, and was riding a man's saddle." than to visit Dr Richard Tanner," whom years. He wrote his scripts and articles Historian Howard Roberts Lamar states, he said he had known for forty years by hand. In one he wrote, "the greatest "Hickok's biographers have failed to although had never met."47 human enigma that ever came under establish any association whatever" In the 1930s the weekly Madison my personal observation [underlined in between Wild Bill and Calamity Jane.48 (Nebr.) Star-Mail published a twelve the original] was that strange, odd and Sometimes fiction and fact were con week series of Tanner's tales. Sitting remarkable woman, Calamity Jane." He fused. In a published letter about his Bull, Buffalo Bill, Doc Carver, Billy the might have met her, for she lived until boyhood near the Oregon Trail, the 191 Nebraska History - Winter 2003 writer signed as "Richard Tanner, fame that led Dr. Tanner to become a Company, 1992), 138. Author of the 'Diamond Dick' stories."49 willing accomplice to writers who 4 Manuscript Record, biographical note, Tanner In the last decade of Tanner's life, sought to make him a relic of the frontier Collection. he began canceling appearances as west, a "pard" with Cody, Hickok, S Fred V. Matthews, Laramie, Wyo., to editor, Diamond Dick. He had a Calamity Jane-and even Custer. He Denver Rocky Mountain News, July 21, 1943. operation in Milford, Kansas. His health had, indeed, made a newsworthy ride 5 James Earle Fraser, " A Dakota Boyhood," continued to be fragile. On July 2, 1943, in 1893, and he was featured in circuses American Heritage (December 1968): 84-85. a few days after breaking a in a fall until 1905, when he embarked on a 7 Oliver (Nevada Ned), "Alagazam," 26, 173. at home, he died at a Norfolk hospital. medical career and became a medicine Hudson's photo presumably dates from 1889 or He was seventy-three. Ruth survived; show practitioner, but not under the later, after the state of South Dakota was formed they had no children. Burial was in name Diamond Dick until 1925. That from Dakota Territory. Prospect Hill cemetery.50 there had been a medical show propri 8 Wilson Messer, "Diamond Dick Returns," True Obituaries appeared across the etor who called himself Dr. Diamond Western Stories 2 (April 1926): 27, Tanner Collec tion; James C. Olson, Red Cloud and the Sioux nation. The New York Times chronicled Dick-George B. McClellan-from the Problem (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, his life in a story more than thirteen 1880s to 1911 was an uncomfortable 1965),246. inches long, accompanied by his photo fact that Tanner preferred to ignore. Nellie Snyder Yost, Buffalo Bill: His Family in Western attire. A New York Herald In 1999 the Nebraska State Historical Friends, Fame, Failures, and Fortunes (Chicago: Tribune story, also with photo, ran Society mounted an exhibit, Nebraska's Sage Books, Swallow Press, 1980),214-15, quoting nearly as long. One article reported, Wild West, featuring Buffalo Bill Cody, North Platte Lincoln County Tribune, Nov. 24, 188R "He liked to recount, with relish, his D. C. (Omaha Charlie) Bristol, Doc 10 Lenore Boyd, Wayne, Nebr., to Charles Finch, association with 'Wild Bill' Hickok and Carver, and Diamond Dick Tanner, who Oct. 11, 1888, in author's files; Aledo (JIl.) Demo "helped to perpetuate the image of the cmt, Nov, 23, 1388. See L. Boyd Finch, "Doctor other figures of the old West." Another Diamond Dick: Leavenworth's Flamboyant Medi writer acknowledged that Tanner was American West as a place of romance cine Man," Kansas History: A Journal of the Central "too young to take part in the Indian and adventure, history and legend." Plains 26 (Spring 2003): 2-13. wars that opened the west," but perpetu Under a heading, "Which came first, 11 Valparaiso (Ind.) Daily Star, May 12, 1893; ated the tale that he "traveled for years the man or the legend?" the exhibit (Richard J. Tanner) "Adventures of Mary Jane, with Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show." concluded: Diamond Dick's Doll," ms, both in Tanner Collection. His death made news in the west also. The line between fiction and fact is some In Casper, the Wyoming Tribune Herald times hard to see. In the case of Wild West 12 New York Clipper, June 24, 1893; items 85 and headlined '''Diamond Dick' Tanner of personalities it can be nearly impossible. 112, Nebraska State Historical Society Museum, collection # 8073 (hereafter cited as NSHS #8073). Wild West Fame, Dies at 74 [sic]" and Nicknames helped transform ordinary people into larger-than-life characters. Denver's Rocky Mountain News an New York World, June 19 and 20, 1893, Tanner Dime novels, newspaper stories, and their Collection. nounced "Famed Marksman of Roaring own self-promotion glorified the deeds of West Dies." Truly, he was famed, twiceY these men and created imaginary heroes H Canton (III.) Ledger, July 23, 1893; Fort lv!adison aswell.s< (Iowa) Gem City, date unknown; Deadwood Norfolk remembers him even today. Pioneer, date unknown; Hill City (S. Dak.) Tin Visitors learn that Dr. Tanner was "a Miner, Nov. 2, 1893, all Tanner Collection. Notes fearless rider and crack shot with Levi H. Bloyd, Fairbury, Nebr., to Nebraska Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show and that Slate Historical Society, May 24, 1961, inscription I The Covered Wagon, American he got his name because of the many 16, Norfolk, Nebr., n.d., 2, in MS1345, on reverse of advertisement, Tanner Collection. diamonds lW wore as shirt studs, tie pins Tanner Collection, Nebraska State Historical 16 Florence Huston, San Francisco, to Tanner, and every other possible place."52 Society. hereafter cited as Tanner Collection. Nov. 1, 1925; George A. Knowles, Norfolk, Nebr., to Tanner, Nov. 3,1925; W. Howard Forsythe, "A The extreme in myth-making ap 2 "Extry! Diamond Dick is Alive and Litermy Digest, Sept. 10, 1927,36, Tanner Romance of the Old West: The Story of 'Diamond peared in a book by Quentin Reynolds Dick'," Success Magazine (September 1927): 49; about dime novels. After providing tion; Dr. N. T. Oliver (Nevada Ned) as told to Wesley Stout, "Med Show," Saturday Evening Post, Montgomery E. Dean (Mrs. Dean's Big Boy Skip), wiggle room by stating that he was Sept. 14, 1929, 169; Oliver, "Alagazam: The Story of Lincoln, Nebr., to Tanner, December 1925, all "lean [ing] on and newspapers," Pitchmen, High and Low," Saturday Post, Tanner Collection. Reynolds wrote that the Diamond Dick Oct. 19, 1929,26,79. The catalog of the UJlllVeISHV 17 A. O. Perry, Bassett, Nebr., to Tanner, Apr. 10, authors were inspired by "Richard of Minnesota library. which has a substantial 1925, Tanner Collection; Wayne (.lVebr.) Herald, lection of dime and nickel novels, lists 1,266 Oct. 18, 1888. Tanner, an old frontier fighter .... After Diamond Dick tilies, however, many are reprinted his hard-riding, quick-shooting days on editions. 18 Bert Chipman, Los Angeles, to Tanner, Mar. 10, the plains with Custer, Tanner joined a 1924, Tanner Collection; New York Clipper, scat 3 Irving Berlin, "There's No Business Like Show tered issues, 1897-1901; Tom Ogden, Two Wild West show."53 Business," from Annie Get Your Gun, in Irving Hundred Years af the American Circus, from Aba Perhaps it was the temptations of Berlin Fake Book (Milwaukee: Irving Berlin Music [)aba to Zavetta Troupe ( New York: Facts on File, 192 Diamond Dick 1993),231. of Norfolk Shows Letters to Prove Identity as Noted from Denver," New York Dime Librmy, Aug. 26, Deadshot [sic]," Omaha World-Herald, Sept. 9, 1882,2. Nevada Ned's real name was Edward O. 19 Helen K. Yam, McGoogan Library of Medicine, 1925. Tilburn. Prior to Buckskin Sam Hall's 1882 dime University of Nebraska College of Medicine, novel, a Diamond Dick appeared in two 1878 Omaha, to author, July 30, 2001, e-maiL Ms. Yam Omaha World-Herald, Sept. 15, 1925; Norfolk stories published in a story paper, the New York cited the definition of Eclectic medicine in Daily News, Sept. 3, 1925, Tanner Collection. Weekly, according to 1. Edward Leithead, "The Dorland's /IIustrated Medical Dictionmy (1994), Omaha World-Herald, Sept. 9, 1925. Derring-Do of the Diamond Dicks," 25. 525. 34 The letters are in the Tanner Collection. 46 L. H. North, Columbus, to Tanner, Sept. 24, 2C Manuscript Record, biographical note, Tanner 1927, Tanner Collection. Collection; No. 76, NSHS #8073. 35 Happy Hours Magazine 2 (Jan.-Feb. 1926):1; (Sept.-Oct. 1926): 1; 3 (Nov.-Dec. 1927): 26; A. S. 41 Norfolk Daily News, Sept. 23, 1929, Tanner 21 The letters, all written in Lincoln, date from Collection. Jan. 1 to June 2,1909, and are in the Tanner Ellison, Laramie, Wyo., to Tanner, Sept. 2, 1927, all Tanner Collectioll.. Collection. 48 The scripts are in the Tanner Collection; Howard R. Lamar, "Calamity Jane ('vlartha Jane "Tanner Collection; items 121, 122, NSHS 118073. 35 Tanner Collection; Nos. 124, 125, NSHS #8073. Canary)," New Encyclopedia of the American West 31 Tallner Collection. 23 Omaha Daily News, Dec. 16, 1911. (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1995), 38 Kansas City Sunday Star, June 26,1927; St. 150-51. 24 1. Edward Leithead, "The Derring-Do of the Diamond Dicks," Dime Novel Round-Up 16 (April Louis Post-Dispatch, July 10, 1927. Karl Stefan was 49 Placerville (Calif.) Pony Express Courier, Sept. 1948); Several novels are in the Tanner Collection. later elected to Congress from Nebraska. 4, 1934. 25 Tanner Collection. 39 Kansas City Sunday Star, June 26, 1927. 50 Omaha World-Herald, July 3, 1943; Norfolk Daily News, July 3, 1943. 1. T, ~1cClellan, Cincinnati, to Tanner, Feb. 1, {G Ibid.; Raymond W. Thorp, Spirit Gun oftfle 1921, and June 11, 1923; Chipman to Tanner, Mar. West: The Story of Doc w: F Carver (Glendale, 51 New York Times; New York Herald-Tribune; 10, 1924, all Tanner Collection. Calif.: Arthur H. Clark Co., 1957),243. Casper (Wyo.) Tribune-Herald; Denver Rocky Mountain News, all July 4, 1943; AP dispatch in 21 E. P. Wiley, Denver, to Tanner, Jan. 9 and 22, 41 Kansas City Sunday Star, June 26, 1927. unidentified newspaper. 1925, Tanner Collection. 42 Thorp, Spirit Gun, 244. 52 "Norfolk Area Visitors' Guide" (Norfolk: 23 J. C. Cook, Fremont, Nebr., to Tanner, Jan. 17, 43 Union Pacific Magazine (August 1927): 34, Norfolk Area Convention and Visitors' Bureau, 1925, Tanner Collection. Tanner Collection. ~1cClellan's palace car was n.d.), 20; "1999 Northeaste,rn Nebraska Visitors' Frank Warner, Norfolk, to R. L. Stevenson, Jan. described in the Leavenworth (Kan.) Times, July Guide," 17. 7,1931; "Diamond Dick Oils up His Winchester, " 12, \888; Sioux City (Iowa) Journal, Oct. 4, 1888; 53 Quentin Reynolds, The Fiction Factory or from and Davenport (Iowa) Democrat-Gazette, Feb. 4, Winchester Herald (August 1925): 38; Warner to P. Pulp Row to Quality Street: The Story of 100 Years K. Whipple, Jan. 17, 1931, all Tanner Collection. 1889. ofPublishing at Street & Smith (New York: Ran 3ll Omaha World-Herald, Sept. 9, 1925; unidenti 44 Lite/my Digest, Sept. 10, 1927,36. dom House, 1955), 96. Tanner was six years old fied Associated Press clipping dated Sept. 1, 1925, when Custer died. 45 Dr. N. T. Oliver (Nevada Ned), "Med Show," Tanner Collection. 166,169; "Alagazam," 26, 79; "Buckskin Sam" 54 Shirley Ray, Nebraska's Wild West, exhibit at 3! "The Real 'Diamond Dick,' Dr. Richard Tanner (Major Sam S. Hall), "Diamond Dick, The Dandy the Nebraska State Historical Society. 193