March 1892 


The end of Glasgow's Wild West trail came for a party of twenty-four Indians, which included Kicking Bear, Short Bull, and Charging Thunder, when they sailed on the 4th of March on board the S. S. Corean. They embarked at the Mavisbank Quay, whose central point is still marked by the Southern Rotunda.

No sooner had the ship berthed at Brooklyn Harbour on the 18th, when a corporal and three troupers marched on board, and arrested the eleven ghost dance prisoners.

They were sent for a further period of imprisonment at Fort Sheridan, while the other thirteen were promptly dispatched back to Pine Ridge reservation. Which of these represented the worse fate is entirely open to debate.

Back in Scotland, one of the strangest concert parties ever seen undertook a brief tour of selected towns in Lanarkshire and Refrewshire. This consisted of the Cowboy Band, which provided the music at the Wild West show, the Alberger Troupe of Tyrolean Vocalists, and about a dozen of the Indians. The last-named performed war dances, and also the strange ghost dance which had brought tragedy to Wounded Knee only the previous winter.
The advert opposite is taken from the
Paisley Daily Express, 5th March 1892.

The venues were:

Greenock 29th February
Coatbridge 2nd March
Hamilton 3rd March
Govan 4th March
Paisley 5th March



Scene of past glories - the former site of the Wild West show, 2000.
The "Wild West" End.

You bet we reckon Colonel Cody
By this time quite a Glasgow body,
His term of fourteen weeks, or so,
In Duke Street he with plucky "go"
Has undergone, and so is free
Straight westward to go to tea.

To keen-eyed shots - no joke if foes! -
Buck-jumpers working hard for "throws,"
Swart Indians, Cowboys, buffaloes,
And "Bill" brave captain of the crew
We raise our hat, and wave "Adieu."

From: The Bailie for Wednesday,
         March 2nd, 1891

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Buffalo Bill's Wild West in Scotland