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“My
name is and always was Kit Carson, Jr. I am the grandson of Kit Carson the
frontiersman, and have abundance of proof in St. Fe, N.M. Have met seven
presidents, King Edward, Queen Victoria, and have wined and dined with
nobility. Now the point: Unscrupulous degenerates have introduced themselves as
“Kit Carson, Jr.” If you ever meet them, put up 20 to 1 (make it 1000 to 1)
that you can find Kit Carson, Jr. Just keep this letter as a reference.
Kit
Carson, Jr.
Flat Rock Ind.
P.S.:
Have never killed anyone; been a preacher in Oklahoma, not a bad man.
The actor “Kit Carson Jr.” had
replaced “Texas Jack” in the Buffalo Bill Combination in 1875 and failed in a
short-lived attempt to tour in his own melodrama in 1876. In 1877 Frank Starr
published Samuel Stone Hall’s dime novel Kit
Carson, Jr., the Crack Shot of the West. A Wild Life Romance by “Buckskin Sam.” The cover featured a striking image of the
stage “Kit Carson Jr.,” an actor whose real identity has been a source of
puzzlement to writers ever since. E. M. Sanchez-Saavedra unearthed the name of
the actor in a scrapbook at the Smithsonian (see HERE) which held an annotated
photograph which was the obvious source for the dime novel cover. The
annotation read:
“Jim Spleen, alias Kit Carson,
Jr. of Baxter Springs, [Kansas]. Genl. Sherman told me he posed as the son of
Kit Carson and tried to enter West Point through that deception – but could not
pass examination – in grammar & figures.”
 |
| Buckskin Sam (he weighed 125 pounds) |
Since Buckskin Sam had been
employed as a Texas Ranger J. C. Dykes, author of an article titled Buckskin Sam, Ranger and Writer,
searched the Texas Archives for the background to Kit Carson, Jr, the Crack Shot of the West.
“The
Texas Archives reveal that Sam was a member of Captain Edward Burleson’s
company of mounted rangers in 1860. Joseph Carson, age 26, was the Second
Lieutenant of Burleson’s company, and while Sam makes “Kit Carson, Jr.”
somewhat younger in the novel, it seems likely that Lt. Carson was the model
for Sam’s hero.”
It seems that Jim Spleen’s
image was attached to the novel Kit
Carson Jr. because of his fame (he received good reviews for his portrayal)
in the Buffalo Bill stage plays. But why would Frank Starr wait two years, long
after Kit Jr. had left Buffalo Bill and failed on his own, to publish the dime
novel?
Kit
Carson Jr. was Buckskin Sam’s first novel and was described
in his obituary in the Omaha Daily Bee
19 Feb 1886.
“…
eventually Col. Prentiss Ingraham and Buffalo Bill befriended him, discovered
that he had unusual facility for description, and advised him to write fiction
based on his own personal experiences. So Sam turned in to a cheap publishing
firm a story called “Kit Carson, Jr.” The manuscript was so crude that they
could not use it as it was, but they discerned merit in it, and advised him to
have it edited for them to read. He then bargained with a professional writer,
an Oxford graduate, to lick the narrative into readable shape. This partnership
lasted until Sam’s death.”
Jim Spleen, aka “Kit Carson Jr.,”
a man born with the gift of gab, “whose eloquence charmed a crowd,” had his own
story to tell (Batavia News 21 Nov
1878) during a visit to Paterson, New Jersey:
“At the
depot he went into the baggage room, took off his broad brimmed hat, his
buckskinned suit and his long haired wig, revealing under the masquerade a
bright looking young man of the world, a shrewd canvasser. “You boys are
fools,” he said to the depot folks, “to be slaving out your lives here for $40
or $60 a month. I tell you the people like to be humbugged. -- Nobody could
sell this book till I took hold of it and passed myself off as “Kit Carson,
Jr.,” and now I’m coining money. Last night I cleared $50 in Middletown, and
tonight $35 in Paterson. I’m making big pay. Boys, there’s nothing like it. The
people will pay well for being humbugged. Give up your railroad job and buy a
wig, a broad brimmed hat and buckskin suit, and then take the agency for a
frontier story book. You’ll get rich. Come, let’s have a drink!”
It's seems very likely that Junior's stage-show agents commissioned Frank Starr to supply a dime novel for their short-lived venture and Junior lived off the avails for the rest of his life. Soon after another article THE
NEW HUMBUG, repeated the above story of the “dapper youth, who had taken this
unique method of selling an unsalable work,” and ended: “The humbug referred to
in the above was at the Potsdam fair and tried to lasso the flying machine.” On
1 October Junior was in Geneva where he lassoed delighted street Arabs and
harangued a large crowd in front of his hotel, holding them “spellbound for
three mortal hours” with topics ranging from scout life to the merits of the
“greenback.”
“…
taking his statements as true, he is the greatest traveler now living, although
but 26 years of age. He scored without mercy the administrations of Grant and
Hayes for mismanagement of Indian affairs, which has resulted in the loss of so
many lives and so much treasure. This “scout” is a model temperance man, if we
may believe him -- asserting that he never tasted strong drink, beer, wine,
cider, tea or coffee -- never smoked tobacco in any form, nor ever played a
game of cards, nor indulged in gambling of any kind. He denounced Mormonism,
but held it to be respectable as compared with the practices of the Oneida
community. The scout sold quite a large number of books containing an account
of his romantic life and adventures.”
When Kit Carson Jr. appeared in
Oswego with Dr. Redwing, a heavily muscled patent medicine salesman, he added
to his ‘biography’ thus:
“Kit
was born in Texas… was with Buffalo Bill for several years on the plains and in
show business; was with General Custer in several fights… is a crack shot and
last year went to Russia and took part with her sharpshooters in the Balkans…
temperate, never drank a “taste” in all his life… He is a good talker and
during his stay here will deliver lectures on the streets and sell books.”
On 22 Sept 1879 the Evening Auburnian reported that “the
scout of the plains, who sometime since delivered street lectures in this city,
was assaulted on a rail road train near Canajoharie. The Utica Herald said Carson and his wife Caroline W. Carson were on
their way from Syracuse to Amsterdam, for sporting purposes:
“At
Fort Plain three tramps boarded the train. One of them quite drunk came into
the car and without provocation or cause, according to the affidavit of Kit Jr.
walked up to him and struck him in the face twice, inflicting ugly wounds.
While Kit was getting his revolver from his satchel the tramp struck Kit’s
wife, Caroline W. Carson, in the face, fearfully bruising her. The fight at
this time was quite exciting, the passengers all endeavoring to get a crack at
the tramp. At this station the tramp and the Carson’s got off -- the former
being placed in the hands of Officer Barrett. The tramp, who gave his name as Charles
Phelps of Albany, was arraigned before Justice Charles W. wheeler on two
charges of assault and battery. Mrs. Carson’s clothes were considerably torn
and her face was very much bruised.”
Kit Carson Jr.’s last
appearance was addressing a temperance meeting on 5 Jan 1880 at Talmadge Hall
in New York City. Kit Carson Jr. “formerly attached to the Buffalo Bill
combination,” died 5 March 1881, with his wife at his bedside. While staying at
the Reed House in Chattanooga he was taken sick with smallpox and removed to
the pest house. His age was given as thirty-five. Most newspaper accounts gave
his birthplace as Texas, but none ever gave his true name, Jim Spleen, and what
name, I wonder, was engraved on the flim-flam man’s tombstone in 1881?
