Tin Jesus on Horseback: Buffalo Bill’s Bitter Business and Personal Feuds
Buffalo Bill Cody was a legend, but legends are not built alone. His rise to fame depended on key business partnerships, yet those partnerships were often fraught with conflict. Cody’s inability to manage money, his loyalty to problematic associates, and his drinking habits created tensions that led to dramatic fallouts with some of his closest allies. Nowhere was this more evident than in his feuds with two of his most notable partners—Nate Salsbury and Dr. William “Doc” Carver.
Nate Salsbury was the driving business force behind Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show, handling logistics, finances, and promotion. Without Salsbury, the show might not have achieved its enormous success, but the partnership was strained. Salsbury grew frustrated with Cody’s reckless spending and poor financial decisions, particularly when Buffalo Bill invested heavily in the irrigation project that founded the town of Cody, Wyoming. Their relationship was further tested by Cody’s drinking and his tendency to surround himself with friends who drained money from the operation. Before his death in 1902, Salsbury documented his grievances in a memoir he never published, referring to his years working with Buffalo Bill as “Sixteen Years in Hell.” He derisively described Cody as a “Tin Jesus on Horseback,” a man with a grand vision but little control over his affairs.
Salsbury’s unpublished manuscript was filled with venom. “Buffalo Bill makes a virtue of keeping sober most of the time during the summer season, and when he does so for an entire season, he looks on himself as a paragon of virtue,” he wrote. “But when the fever gets into his brain, he forgets honor, reputation, friend, and obligation in his mad eagerness to fill his hide with rotgut of any kind.” He went on to accuse Cody of breaking promises, saying, “He becomes so utterly lost to all sense of decency and shame that he will break his plighted word and sully his most solemn obligation.” Even in death, Salsbury’s words remained a testament to the bitter dissolution of their once-lucrative partnership.
As Salsbury’s health failed, he became increasingly paranoid that Buffalo Bill would find a way to cut his family out of the profits of the Wild West show. “All the brutal things that Cody is capable of are well known to me,” he wrote. “I want this record to stand so that when he starts in to malign me, as he will do, my friends will have my answer.” The mistrust between them had become irreparable, yet Salsbury remained with the Wild West show until his dying day, unwilling—or perhaps unable—to sever ties completely. His family, however, did not share his attachment. When he passed in 1902, his heirs moved quickly to protect what was left of his legacy, selling off his interests in the show and ensuring that Buffalo Bill would no longer have control over Salsbury’s share of the profits.
Another significant rift occurred between Cody and Doc Carver, a sharpshooter and showman who initially partnered with him to launch the Wild West spectacle. Carver’s ego matched Cody’s, and their differing visions for the show led to an early split. While Carver saw himself as an equal partner, Cody ultimately sought a larger spotlight. Carver, embittered, went on to create his own show, claiming that he was the true mastermind behind the Wild West performance. The rivalry between the two became personal, with Carver challenging Cody’s version of events and attempting to outdo him in the show circuit. Carver’s bitterness persisted long after their partnership dissolved, and he spent years trying to compete with the Wild West’s enduring popularity.
Despite these conflicts, Buffalo Bill’s charisma kept his name at the forefront of entertainment. However, his poor business sense and fractured relationships left him vulnerable. After Salsbury’s death, Cody’s financial troubles worsened, forcing him into questionable business deals that led to the eventual loss of control over his own show. He had once been the undisputed star of a global phenomenon, but by the twilight of his career, he was a performer in another man’s circus, haunted by the ghosts of his past feuds and failures.
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