Frank S. Giles
Henry Grammer
Mike Seigler
Sam Stigall
Irvin Tantlinger
Buddy Kemp
Buck Jones
Bailey Carson
Retired 101 Ranch Troupers Recall Fondly Days With Show
Ponca City News September 15, 1968
Bailey, who retired eight years ago as postmaster of the community, came to Oklahoma territory near Marland with his parents as an infant in 1892. His family moved to Billings and then back to Marland, then known as Bliss, in 1907 - "the year prohibition went into effect and the year of statehood," Bailey recalls.
Bailey, a nephew of Mollie Miller, George W.'s wife, went to work on the ranch at the age of 14, mostly cowboying. Later, he says he did everything but keep the books.
He says that many of the men who were hired at the ranch were running from the law.
"The sheriff from Perry would ride the train to Bliss, then hire a rig at the livery stable and ride to the ranch in search of men on the run. One time though, I saw the sheriff strapped on his horse and the horse whipped back to Bliss," Bailey recalls.
"One of the outlaws the sheriff was looking for was Henry Starr. Starr was hiding once in the dense brush down by the Salt Fork River. I used to carry him food from the cookhouse, " Bailey said and added "He bought me my first pair of boots."
Bailey remembers Bill Pickett, the Negro bulldogger. "His first job around here was on the Carson ranch picking cotton. Felix Carson told Pickett that the Miller brothers wanted him to bulldog a certain steer in Mexico." Pickett became famous for his bulldogging act whereby he used his teeth instead of his hands to throw the steers.
Bailey later became chief of the cowboys at the 101 Ranch and drove many herds of Texas Longhorns from the stockyards at Bliss to pasture in the Bar L country east of Bliss.
Camaraderie among the cowhands was the best, Bailey recalls, and often he was the brunt of their jokes.
"One night in the bunkhouse, a short distance from Salt Fork River, I noticed I was broke out with the itch. Someone told me to take a bath and rub on Sloan's liniment. That would cure it.
"Well I did and it set me on fire. I grabbed a blanket and ran and jumped in the water. The water boiled up all around me. But it cured the itch," he laughs.
Bailey met his wife Zelda Cane at a dance at Bliss. Her own folks had come to Ponca City shortly after the run and prior to her birth.
Bailey continued to work for the Miller brothers until he volunteered for duty in World War 1. He returned to the ranch after the war and in 1925 he and Zelda helped the ranch organize the new 101 Ranch Wild West and Far East show.
In 1926 the Carson's joined the show. Bailey was in charge of the sleeping cars while Zelda was star trick rider and took part in the stagecoach and covered wagon acts, rode the elephants and ran a sorrel horse called Golden Glo through a Hi-School Act.
The Carson's toured with the shows in 1926, 1927 and 1930.
"We usually left in April and came back in September, "says Zelda.
"The advance trains with the baggage, seats and canvas always arrived in town ahead of us. The performers in the sleeping cars usually arrived about daylight.
"After coffee and rolls in the dining car the troupers dressed for the parade that left at 10 am. We paraded down the streets, everybody on the show was in a uniform of some kind. I ware a satin, sparkly costume and an ostrich plume headdress and rode atop an elephant," laughs Zelda.
After an hour and half of rest, Zelda dressed for the matinee. Her first act was the Hi-School act with Golden Glo, "a beautiful, beautiful sorrel. The Millers owned all the stock. I wore an English costume and boots for the act. "Golden Glo's finale was sort of a "cooch" says Zelda. "He danced on all four feet unlike most horses who use only two feet."
After that act, she dressed in pioneer clothes for the stagecoach act. "We raced around the arenas fast as the horses could pull us. Then the bandits would attack us."
The next act was the covered wagon scene, the big finale of the show. Zelda was one of the women aboard the covered wagon drawn by big white oxen and set afire by attacking Indians bent on massacre.
"Curbstone Willy (Kirby) was the wagon driver, and we were all sitting on the back end of the wagon so when the torches set the canvas afire we could escape fast."
Zelda recalls one of her closest shaves came when there was a "straw house".
A straw house means all the seats in the house have been sold. Hay bales are broken open to spread around to permit the crowd to sit on the ground right up to the mesh net.
"It was one of those nights. A youngster stuck a balloon through the net and it burst just as my horse, "Pardner" passed. My horse jumped and threw me off balance just as I started to do a fender drag." But she managed to stay with her horse and finish the act.
Zelda learned to trick ride on the Salt Fork River. "A friend took me down to the sand bars where the horse couldn't run too fast and I had a good place to land." she laughs.
She remembers Washington D.C. well. "The Japanese cherry trees were always in bloom when we were there. They were just beautiful.
It was also at the nation's capital that she played before presidents. Both President Calvin Coolidge and former President Warren G. Harding had a seat at our shows. Red, white and blue bunting hung down from their boxes. It was a big thrill performing for them."
In Virginia Zelda remembers picking her first wild strawberries. "The place was so hilly the tent sat on a knoll in the bottom and the cook shack up above on another hill. I picked the berries on my way up to breakfast."
The Carson's both remember the tear gas incident. T.L. Manning, treasurer of the 101 Ranch show, carried a bomb on a chain attached to his money sack to alert him to would- be robbers.
"One morning Manning accidentally pulled the chain in his sleeping car. Gas went everywhere, into all the sleepers and people poured out of cars in all kinds of garb. I had on a housecoat. It was quite a while before we could get back into the coaches and the commotion subsided," says Zelda.
The Carson's remember the three years on the show with fondness but no regrets. "When we decided to retire and settle down with our two children, that was that," says Zelda."
"But the year after we retired was the hardest."
"I thought I was going to be very brave, but when that last coach went by I was crying my eyes out. George Miller was standing on the back end of the private car, the last coach on the train, and hollered at my husband "Bailey, you better put her on."