Black Cowboy Bill Pickett
Gained Fame Throughout West

By Tom Bean

Bill Pickett was born December 5, 1870, in Travis County, Texas, about 30 miles northwest of Austin. He was the son of Tom and Mary Pickett, former slaves who had been brought to Texas by their owners, the Barton family of South Carolina. They came to Texas in the 1850’s. Bill’s mother had Cherokee, white and Negro blood.

The fifth grade in one of the little country schools in Travis County was as far as Bill got in the way of an education. He was a bright, energetic youngster who was always ready to run an errand for a few pennies or a nickel. Being raised on a farm where there were livestock, Bill grew up without fear of horses or cattle. When he saw a forty-pound bulldog holding a cow by sinking his teeth in her upper lip, Bill decided that he could also do that.

He was about 15 years old when he came by where some white cowboys were having a hard time holding some calves during a branding. Bill told one of the cowboys that he could hold a calf by himself. The cowboys didn't believe it. They planned to have some fun out of Bill. One of them roped a calf, threw him, and told Bill to tie on to him. Bill caught the calf’s upper lip with his teeth as he had seen the bulldog do. The calf didn't bawl or move while the cowboys applied the hot iron and completed their work on the calf.

Up to that time, the term "bull-dogging" referred to getting cattle out of the brush by the use of dogs. Two dogs were usually used, one a heel-dog to nip at the cow’s heels while the other one caught and held her by the lip until a cowboy could come with a rope and tie the cow to the nearest tree. When Bill held that first calf for the white cowboys to brand, that was not only the beginning of bulldogging as we know it today, it was also the only one of the several rodeo events that can be attributed to one person, Bill Pickett.

And it was the beginning of the spectacular career of one of the most popular and long-lasting rodeo performers in the history of that sport.

Bill liked to work around stock. After he held that calf like a bulldog, he became a much talked-about youngster around the Austin cowpens. He and his four brothers rode their milkpen calves and tried to get them to pitch, and roped them like all farm boys did. This had to be done while "the old man" wasn’t looking. The Pickett boys all dreamed of being cowboys and rodeo performers.

By the time he was sixteen, Bill began to put bulldogging to work by helping get wild cattle out of the

brush on the ranches around Austin. He developed the art of bulldogging from a horse, just as you see this act performed in rodeos today.

Bill and four of his brothers rode broncs on Sunday afternoons anywhere they could get a crowd together, and picked up a little pocket change by "passing the hat." Bill’s first performance as a professional bulldogger was in a wild west show in Nashville, Tennessee, before a reunion of Confederate veterans. The old warriors were amazed when they saw Bill catch a steer and bulldog him, using his teeth to hold the steer.

December 2, 1890, Bill Pickett and Maggie Turner were married in Taylor, Texas, by a Baptist minister. Bill and Maggie became the parents of nine children, two boys who died in infancy, and seven girls who all lived to maturity .

In the 1890's, Bill and four of his brothers, Ben, J.J., C.H. and B.F. Pickett, organized "Pickett Brothers Bronc Busters and Rough Riders Association." They advertised: "We break all wild horses with much care. Good treatment to all animals. Perfect satisfaction guaranteed. Catching and training wild cattle a specialty."

Bill had a dusky, copper-colored complexion. When he

reached manhood he weighed 145 pounds, was all muscle, stood five feet seven inches tall, with thin legs, broad shoulders and strong arms.

Florence Reynolds, a cowgirl bronc rider, said of Bill: "He was a great bulldogger and pickup man. I wouldn’t have anyone else pick me off a bronc. He was a good, kind person. I visited with him several times. Everybody liked Bill. He didn’t talk much."

Bill worked for a rancher named Lee Moore at Round Rock, Texas. Moore was so impressed with Bill's way of bulldogging that he became Bill's show manager, and entered him in shows in such cowtowns in Texas as Fort Worth, Houston and San Antonio. Moore showed Bill in Arizona and Colorado, also.

Dave McClure, a well known figure in rodeos, and himself a performer, managed Bill in 1903 and 1904. He billed him as "the most daring cowboy alive". A Denver Post article on Cheyenne Frontier Days, said of Bill Pickett and Ira Wines, "For bronc busting and steer throwing unequaled, they will give an exhibition at Cheyenne. They are the best in the world at their specialties."

Guy Weadick, a Canadian cowboy and rodeo performer, teamed up with Bill in 1905, as Bill's traveling companion and manager. Zack Miller, one of the three famous Miller Brothers (Joe, Zack and George) of the 101 Ranch and 101 Rodeo show, saw Bill and Weadick perform at the Fort Worth Fat Stock and Rodeo in the spring of 1905.

Zack told his brothers about Bill and Weadick, and the Miller Brothers booked Bill for "The Greatest Wild West Show Ever," to take place in Guthrie, Indian Territory (now Oklahoma), June 7, 8 and 9 of that year. This was the beginning of Bill's long association with the Miller Brothers 101 Wild West Show and the 101 ranch. Bill worked on the ranch as a cowboy when he was not traveling with the show.

Bill's wife, Maggie, and their seven daughters lived on the 101 Ranch part of the time, and part of the time they lived in Ponca City, so that the girls could attend school. The Miller Brothers Wild West Show was a big success, and Bill's bulldogging was one of the main attractions. When the show appeared in Chicago in May 1907, there were 90 cowboys and cowgirls, 70 Indians, 300 head of horses, cattle, and buffalo, and a number of covered wagons and stagecoaches. After showing throughout the United States that year, the 101 Wild West Show went to Mexico for the winter.

Joe Miller bet one of the Mexican promoters that Bill could stay in the ring with one of their fighting bulls for 15 minutes. Bill stayed 30 minutes, risking his life time and time again, but for the first time, he failed to bulldog his bull. That was not part of the bet. The bull's neck was so thick that Bill couldn't get his arms around it.

Bill went with the 101 Wild West Show to tour South America, showing in Argentina and Brazil. The show then went to Europe, and was showing in England when World War I broke out in August 1914. Under the British War Act, the 101 livestock and any other thing that belonged to the show that could be used in the British war effort was sequestered and paid for. The show performers were left to get back home the best way they could. The German submarines made ocean voyages extremely dangerous.

In August 1916, Guy Weadick produced the New York Stampede at Sheepshead Bay Speedway in Brooklyn. It ran for 12 days. Bill's bulldogging was the main attraction. Other great rodeo performers such as Hoot Gibson, Leonard Stroud, Chester Byers, Mike Hastings, Cowgirls Lucille Mullhall, Fox Hastings, Florence La Due (Weadick's wife), and Frances Irwin were there.

Will Rogers was performing at Ziegfield’s Follies at the time. Will managed to see the daytime show of The Stampede, and to visit a lot of his friends. Bill Pickett and Will Rogers had been friends for a long time. They were both part Cherokee Indian, and proud of it. Ex-President Theodore Roosevelt, a lover of western sports, attended some of the performances.

The Miller Brothers re-activated the 101 Wild West Show and opened in Oklahoma City April 21, 1925. It took 30 railroad cars to haul the performers, livestock, employees and equipment. There were several other shows and circuses on the road, and the 101 Wild West Show, for the first time, began to lose money.

Joe Miller died, mysteriously, in 1927. George Miller was killed in a car wreck in 1929. The bottom fell out of everything that year. In August 1931 the 101 Wild West Show concluded its last performance. It closed down in Washington, D.C. Somehow, they raked up enough money to ship everything back to the 101 Ranch. On December 16, 1931, Fred C. Clark was appointed receiver for the bankrupt 101 Ranch and its properties.

On March 19, 1932, Bill Pickett was still employed on the 101 Ranch, and was helping shape up a bunch of broncs for a liquidation sale. There were about 150 broncs in the corral. Bill roped one of them, and somehow got jerked up in the air and fell at the heels of one of the broncs. The horse kicked Bill in the head. He was rushed to the hospital in Ponca City. He never regained consciousness, but lingered 14 days, and died April 2, 1932.

Clark, the bankruptcy receiver, paid for all of Bill's funeral expenses. He said that Bill had worked for the 101 Ranch for most of his adult life, so he thought it was a proper expense of the ranch.

Will Rogers had a national radio program at the time, and he announced over the radio that Bill was to be buried on the 101 Ranch. Rogers also announced that he and Bill were close friends, and that he had visited Bill and his wife, Maggie, in their home many times.

Bill Pickett was the only black cowboy to ever be elected to The Cherokee Strip Cowpunchers Association. In 1971, Bill was elected to The National Rodeo Cowboy Hall of Fame which is affiliated with the National Cowboy Hall of Fame in Oklahoma City, an honor which he so rightly deserved.