With the long-legged strut of a Shanghai rooster, he stepped onto the pier at the Gulf Coast port of Indianola, Texas. His net worth as a gangling 19-year-old stowaway amounted to 75 cents that summer in 1853. Able Head “Shanghai” Pierce had nothing going for him. He had no wealth, no cattle, and worst of all he hailed from the punniest state in Yankeedom.
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