- Biography & Autobiography
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Patience Worth
Patience Worth is an examination of the communications between a seventeenth century woman and a certain Mrs. Curran of St. Louis, in 1913. Contact with the spirit world or parlor trick? If the latter, it was well done: the quick-witted repartee appeared unrehearsed, the language was authentic, the references to English nature and life accurate, although Mrs. Curran had never visited England. Mrs. Curran, herself, was a smart, quick-witted socialite of good repute, unlikely to have been a fraudster. She did not 'perform' publicly, only in front of friends and invited guests, and never for money. She was a musician by training, not a writer or poet, yet many of the communications took the form of blank verse and were of a poetical nature. Since its publication, the phenomenon has been much studied and general view is that Patience Worth was the invention of Pearl Curran's imagination. In this volume, we are presented with the evidence and left to decide for ourselves. -
Memoirs of the Court of Queen Elizabeth, Volumes I and II
Memoirs of Queen Elizabeth from a variety of sources within the monarch's court, compiled and interpreted by Lucy Aikin. -
Life and Times of Kateri Tekakwitha, The Lily of the Mohawks
Saint Kateri Tekakwitha's lifespan of only about 24 years was spent in utter humility and penitence. In spite of her natural diffidence, she summoned the strength to assert her desire to become a Christian and to consecrate herself as a virgin, and even had the courage to take part in a dangerous escape from her tyrannical uncle. This biography of her life fills in many details of the history, geography, and important persons and events of Kateri's time and setting in New York and Canada from 1656 to 1680. Interestingly, these same years were a turning point for the Jesuit missionaries in New France, as their relations with the Indians underwent a change from suffering fearful persecution to achieving widespread conversion, thanks in at least a small part to the influence of the humble Kateri. The book's many first hand accounts by eye witnesses are a highlight. Readers may also appreciate the author's personal research and descriptions of the locations where all the events of Kateri's life took place. The author's greatest achievement in this book is that she helps the reader to understand and love Saint Kateri. ( Carol Pelster) -
Jeanne D'Arc: Her Life And Death
The story of Jeanne d'Arc, or Joan of Arc , has passed into folklore and has been retold by many. The young teenager was sent by an as-yet uncrowned Charles VII of France to relieve Orleans from siege during the 100 Years' War with England, following visions she claimed to have received. After just nine days, she led the French army to victory and was subsequently burned at the stake for heresy. Later cleared of all charges, she was canonized in 1920. -
Life of Thomas, Lord Cochrane, Tenth Earl of Dundonald, Vol 1
Lord Cochrane was a Napoleonic-era sea captain, whose adventures were the source material for many popular series of naval fiction. He started to write a biography but passed away after completing only two volumes. This work, co-authored by a naval historian and Cocharne's son, completes his "Autobiography of a Seaman". In this volume, Cochrane helps the Chilean navy defeat the Pacific navy of Spain, and then takes command of the navy of Brazil. It ends with him sailing to Greece, to aid them in rebellion against their Ottoman overlords -
Chronicles of Canada Volume 29 - The Day of Sir John Macdonald: A Chronicle of the First Prime Minister of the Dominion
A biography of Sir John A. Macdonald, the first Prime Minister of Canada. It was written by the man who served as Macdonald's private secretary from 1882 to 1891. -
Little Journeys to the Homes of Great Scientists
Elbert Hubbard describes the homes of authors, poets, social reformers and other prestigious people, reflecting on how their surroundings may have influenced them. These short essays are part biography and part pontification of Hubbard's opinion of the subject and their oeuvre.
In this volume he reflects on the lives of well known scientists. Included are Sir Isaac Newton, Galileo Galilei, Nicolaus Copernicus, Alexander von Humboldt, William Herschel, Charles Darwin, Ernst Haeckel, Carl Linnaeus, Thomas H. Huxley, John Tyndall, Alfred R. Wallace, and John Fiske. -
Makers of Canada: Champlain, The
A biography of Samuel de Champlain, French explorer, founder of Quebec, and father of New France. -
Great Men and Famous Women, Vol. 1
Great Men and Famous Women is an 8-volume work by various authors containing “A series of pen and pencil sketches of the lives of more than 200 of the most prominent personages in History.” The set is edited by Charles F. Horne, a prolific American author who wrote mainly history. The focus of Volume 1 is “Soldiers and Sailors”. -
Martyrs of Science, or, the Lives of Galileo, Tycho Brahe, and Kepler
“The martyrs of Science” gives a brief biography of Galileo, Brahe and Kepler. These three men played a pivotal role in the scientific revolution during the early modern period. This book throws light upon their lives, their scientific achievements, adversities which they faced for their work and how they transformed the lives of the future generations forever. It also provides evidence which establishes that the work carried out by them are original irrespective of the claims by other men who tried in vain to rob them of their honor. The author highlights some of their fallacies which hindered their progress. -
Book About Myself
A book written by Theodore Dreiser detailing a history of his life and how he became a writer. -
Captain Bill McDonald, Texas Ranger: A Story of Frontier Reform
"William Jesse "Bill" McDonald (1852 - 1918) in the 1880s served as a deputy sheriff in Wood County. After moving to Hardeman County, he served as deputy sheriff, special Ranger, and U. S. Deputy Marshal of the Northern District of Texas and the Southern District of Kansas.. . . .In 1891 McDonald was selected to replace S. A. McMurry as Captain of Company B, Frontier Battalion. He served as a Ranger captain until 1907. Capt. McDonald and his company took part in a number of celebrated cases including the Fitzsimmons-Maher prize fight, the Wichita Falls bank robbery, the Reese-Townsend feud, and the Brownsville Raid of 1906. His handling of the troops of the 25th U.S. Infantry during this last incident made him known as "a man who would charge hell with a bucket of water." He had a reputation as a gunman that rested upon his his marksmanship, and his ability to use his weapons to intimidate his opponents. … In 1905, McDonald served as bodyguard to President Theodore Roosevelt. In 1907, Governor Campbell made him a state revenue agent. He again fulfilled the role of bodyguard in 1912 for a visit by Woodrow Wilson. Later Wilson appointed him U. S. Marshal for the Northern District of Texas." -- from Chapter 1
Note: This book racially offensive words which were part of the vocabulary of the time. It is LibriVox policy to read texts as written. -
Andreas Vesalius, The Reformer of Anatomy
Vesalius (born in Brussels, 1514-1564) is one of the foundation stones of modern medicine. Forsaking the study of anatomy by reading the ancients, he instead dissected bodies and drew detailed illustrations of his observations. He was enormously influential in the development of modern medicine. This 1910 biography opens up his life admirably. The printed book contains many illustrations taken from his works. The listener will want to be aware that modern historians of medicine are much more positive about the contributions of medieval Arabic medical teachers than the author of this book. -
Empresses of Rome
The story of Imperial Rome has been told frequently and impressively in our literature, and few chapters in the long chronicle of man’s deeds and failures have a more dramatic quality. The fresh aspect of this familiar story which I propose to consider is the study of the women who moulded or marred the succeeding Emperors. Woman had her part in the making, as well as the unmaking, of Rome. Long before the commencement of our era, the thought and the power of the Roman woman went out into the larger world of public life; and when the Empire is founded, when the control of the State’s mighty resources is entrusted to the hands of a single ruler, the wife of the monarch may share his power, and assuredly shares his interest for us. Roman women were not content to be secluded from the new culture, and could not escape the stimulation of their new world. An inscription found at Lanuvium, where the Empress Livia had a villa, shows that the little provincial town had a curia mulierum, a women’s debating club. The walls of Pompeii, when the shroud of lava had been removed from its scorched face, bore election-addresses signed by women. As single figures and types rising to the luminous height of the throne out of the dark and indistinguishable crowd, they deserve to be passed in review. (Summary taken from the author's introduction) -
Minor Works of Josephus
There are 3 parts to this collection.
(1) Against Apion is a two-volume defence of Judaism as classical religion and philosophy, stressing its antiquity, as opposed to what Josephus claimed was the relatively more recent tradition of the Greeks. Some anti-Judean allegations ascribed by Josephus to the Greek writer Apion, and myths accredited to Manetho are also addressed.
(2) Discourse To The Greeks Concerning Hades describes the author's views on the afterlife against the prevailing view of the "Greeks" (i.e., the Greco-Romans) of his day. Although generally still reprinted in editions of Whiston's Josephus, later scholars have realized that this attribution is incorrect. This brief discourse, at least in its original form, is now attributed to the church father Hippolytus.
(3) The Life of Josephus is an autobiographical text written by Josephus in approximately 94-99 CE – possibly as an appendix to his Antiquities of the Jews – where the author for the most part re-visits the events of the War, apparently in response to allegations made against him by Justus of Tiberias. -
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Mozart’s earthly career was so poignantly short yet so filled with incalculable achievement that the author of this booklet finds himself confronted with an impossible task. He has, consequently, preferred to outline as best he could in the space at his disposal a few successive details of a life that was amazingly crowded with incident, early triumphs, and subsequent crushing tragedies, rather than to consider (let alone evaluate) the staggering creative abundances the master bequeathed mankind. -
My Airships: The Story of My Life
The delightful tale of "le petit Santos" as he dances through the sky above the City of Light at the dawn of the aerial age.
A note to the listener: Throughout this story the author makes several references to helpful figures and illustrations. -
Hypatia
Hypatia is John Toland's biography of the one he calls "a most beautiful, most vertuous, most learned, and every way accomplish’d lady, who was torn to pieces by the clergy of Alexandria, to gratify the pride, emulation, and cruelty of their Archbishop, commonly but undeservedly stiled St. Cyril." -
Little Journeys to the Homes of Great Lovers
Elbert Hubbard describes the homes of authors, poets, social reformers and other prestigious people, reflecting on how their surroundings may have influenced them. These short essays are part biography and part pontification of Hubbard's opinion of the subject and their oeuvre. -
Trail of the Tramp
This book, written by the famous hobo and author, Leon Ray Livingston aka A-No. 1, is built on his own experiences on the road. The first chapter of the book sets up a framing narrative, where Canada Joe promises to tell a story which is not "the same, old, time-worn tales of how slick hoboes beat trains, nor fabled romance concerning harmless wanderlusters, nor jokes at the expense of the poor but honest man in search of legitimate employment, but I shall relate to you a rarely strange story that will stir your hearts to their innermost depths and will cause you to shudder at the villainy of certain human beings, who, like vultures seeking carrion, hunt for other people's sons with the intention of turning them into tramps, beggars, drunkards and criminals--into despised outcasts." Come listen to his story! -
Autobiography of a Clown
This "as told to" autobiography of Jules Turnour is based on a popular article that appeared in the Saturday Evening Post in 1909. Turnour relates through Marcosson his personal history and that of the circus, both in Europe and the United States. By recounting touching, amusing, and heartbreaking events that he experienced or witnessed, he demonstrates his love of circus life and his craft. "As soon as I hear the music of the band...and the indescribable movement of the crowd toward the big tent...I am stirred to action, the weariness falls away like magic, and I am young again." -
Life of Samuel Johnson, Vol. II (version 2)
This is the second of four volumes of a what was a new, intimate, type of biography when it was first published in 1791 and which has been annotated by numerous editors . This edition with footnotes is by George Birbeck Hill. Boswell took many notes of Johnson's conversations during the time when he knew one of England's most influential men of letters and he also gives us frequent glimpses of other famous personalities who were part of Johnson's circle in eighteenth century London. -
John James Audubon
Audubon's life naturally divides itself into three periods: his youth, which was on the whole a gay and happy one, and which lasted till the time of his marriage at the age of twenty-eight; his business career which followed, lasting ten or more years, and consisting mainly in getting rid of the fortune his father had left him; and his career as an ornithologist which, though attended with great hardships and privations, brought him much happiness and, long before the end, substantial pecuniary rewards. -
Life of Samuel Johnson, Vol. II
Boswell's famous work on the life of his admired friend Johnson, the formidable poet, essayist, moralist, literary critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer, is a milestone in the development of biographical writing, a treasure-house of Johnson's witticisms and opinions, and a window on his social circle that is packed with incidental detail of 18th-century life and concerns.
This second of four volumes covers the years 1764-1776. -
John Stuart Mill; His Life and Works
This biography is actually a series of essays by prominent personalities of the time that shed light on John Stuart Mill's life and areas of endeavor. Those areas include his experiences in India House, his moral character, certain botanical explorations, how effective he was as a critic, studies in morals and the law, and discoveries concerning political economy. They also explore ideas concerning his influence on institutions of higher learning, accomplishments as a politician, and fame as a philosopher. -
Little Journeys to the Homes of Famous Women
Elbert Hubbard describes the homes of authors, poets, social reformers and other prestigious people, reflecting on how their surroundings may have influenced them. These short essays are part biography and part pontification of Hubbard's opinion of the subject and their oeuvre.
In this volume he reflects on the lives of various powerful and influential women. Included are Elizabeth B. Browning, Madame Guyon, Harriet Martineau, Charlotte Bronte, Christina Rossetti, Rosa Bonheur, Madame De Stael, Elizabeth Fry, Mary Lamb, Jane Austen, Empress Josephine and Mary W. Shelley. There is also a short introduction by Hubbard's son, Elbert Hubbard II, written just after his father's death.
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Beethoven, A Character Study
A book of the life of the German Composer, Beethoven. -
Life of Washington, Volume 2
Volume 2 of The Life begins with some early biography, but moves quickly to Washington's military career as a colonel in the battles against the French in Canada until the cessation of his tenure, after which he marries and appears to settle down. But, of course he is called to lead the troops fighting in the revolution against England about which leadership the remaining of Volume 2 is dedicated to the point of the American rejection of England's Plan for Reconciliation. -
Hero Tales from History
This volume celebrates stories of great heroes from the pages of history from Moses and David through Clara Barton and Henry Longfellow. It is divided into nine sections: Mighty Men of Long Ago, Heroes of the Middle Ages, Four Leaders in the Old World, Discoverers and Explorers, Colonists and Pioneers, Patriots of the Revolution, Winners of the West, Famous Inventors, and The Greatest Americans, It is written from a distinct Western and American point of view, but each chapter is a short summary of these people deemed “heroes.” John Burnham was chair of the History and Social Sciences Department at Western State Normal School and Western State Teachers College. He was a nationally known history and social studies educator, and author or co-author of six elementary and secondary U.S. history textbooks that were widely used throughout the United States during the 1920s and 1930 -
Six Years with the Texas Rangers, 1875 to 1881
James Gillet recounts his adventures with the Texas Rangers 1856-1937. In a very entertaining style he recounts personal stories of wars, feuds, battles with the Apache nation and pursuing robbers and murderers. From these stories, and others like them, arose the many legends of courage and daring among the Texas Rangers.“The Texas Rangers, as an organization, dates from the spring of 1836. When the Alamo had fallen before the onslaught of the Mexican troops and the frightful massacre had occurred, General Sam Houston organized among the Texan settlers in the territory a troop of 1600 mounted riflemen. This company, formed for the defense of the Texan borders, was the original Texas Ranger unit. . .” from chapter 2 -
Life and Adventures of Kit Carson
Kit Carson was a famous hunter, trapper, mountain man, guide - an American icon. Stories about him abounded in popular contemporary literature, but most was pure fiction. This work is the authorized biography, much of it in his own words. It was first published right around the time of his death. -
Raleigh
Sir Walter Raleigh's plan in 1584 for colonization in the "Colony and Dominion of Virginia" (which included the present-day states of North Carolina and Virginia) in North America ended in failure at Roanoke Island, but paved the way for subsequent colonies. The state capital of North Carolina was named in 1792 for Sir Walter Raleigh, sponsor of the Colony of Roanoke. Gosse’s biography was the first attempt to portray his personal career apart from the general history of his time. At the time of original publication Edmund Gosse was Clark Lecturer in English Literature at Trinity College, Cambridge. -
Lives of Poor Boys Who Became Famous
These characters have been chosen from various countries and from varied professions, that the youth who read this book may see that poverty is no barrier to success. It usually develops ambition, and nerves people to action. Life at best has much of struggle, and we need to be cheered and stimulated by the careers of those who have overcome obstacles.
If Lincoln and Garfield, both farmer-boys, could come to the Presidency, then there is a chance for other farmer-boys. If Ezra Cornell, a mechanic, could become the president of great telegraph companies, and leave millions to a university, then other mechanics can come to fame. If Sir Titus Salt, working and sorting wool in a factory at nineteen, could build one of the model towns of the world for his thousands of workingmen, then there is encouragement and inspiration for other toilers in factories. These lives show that without WORK and WILL no great things are achieved.
I have selected several characters because they were the centres of important historical epochs. With Garibaldi is necessarily told the story of Italian unity; with Garrison and Greeley, the fall of slavery; and with Lincoln and Sheridan, the battles of our Civil War. -
Life of Samuel Johnson, Vol. III
This is the third volume of the Biography of Samuel Johnson.
Samuel Johnson's Life has been documented in great detail by his friends, this biography being originally published by James Boswell, and then edited several times by other persons, such as John Croker, who have been friends of both Samuel Johnson as well as James Boswell.
Already famous during his life time, Samuel Johnson's biography attracted considerable attention when it was published after Johnson's death, and continues to be read until today. -
Great Men and Famous Women, Vol. 4
A Series of Pen and Pencil Sketches of the lives of more than 200 of the most prominent personages in history.
Volume 4: John Adams, Louis Agassiz, Prince von Bismarck, Simon Bolivar, Edmund Burke, Jean François Champollion, Grover Cleveland, Georges Cuvier, Charles Darwin, Benjamin Disraeli, Benjamin Franklin, Léon Gambetta, William Ewart Gladstone, Horace Greeley, Alexander Hamilton, patrick Henry, Alexander von Humboldt, Andrew Jackson, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, William McKinley, Maria Theresa, Count de Mirabeau, Isaac Newton, Daniel O'Connell, Charles Stewart Parnell, Jean Henri Pestalozzi, Peter the Great, Maximilien Robespierre, William Henry Seward, Louis Adolphe Thiers, George Washington, Daniel Webster, William III. of England. -
Twelve Good Musicians: From John Bull to Henry Purcell
Brief sketches of the lives and music of 12 well-known musicians. -
Life of Washington, Volume 1
If it be true that it takes a great man to interpret the life of a great man then Bushrod Washington made no mistake in the selection of a biographer. For Marshall, under the influence of Washington, came to be nearly as great a man as the character whose life and achievement held his deepest thought for nearly a quarter of a century. . . . Marshall's sympathetic understanding of his subject, his firsthand knowledge of events with his remarkable powers of expression qualified him to produce the masterpiece that has come down to us. -
Chronicles of America Volume 15 - Jefferson and his Colleagues
In this volume, we have the Virginia Dynasty of presidents: Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe. America at this time was involved in expansion with the Louisiana Purchase and the annexation of the Floridas. Then too we were involved in international affairs especially with Tripoli, England (the War of 1812), and Spain. And all this led to the establishment of what has become known as the Monroe Doctrine. At the end of it all, America has become more thoroughly American. Of course, on the horizon as a consequence of The Missouri Compromise looms the controversy surrounding slavery. This is Volume 15 of the Chronicles of America Series. -
Adventures of Buffalo Bill, The
Buffalo Bill was arguably, the most recognized man in the world when he penned this book. The first four stories are of some of his adventures and the remaining 6 are autobiographical. All of them have been proved to be historically accurate in all important aspects. From his service as chief scout for the 3rd Cavalry during the plains wars, to his pony express service and finally the story of how he got his nickname "Buffalo Bill", everything is larger than life. Killing 4,280 buffalo in 18 months for the railroad workers was an amazing feat. Follow along as he tells of his Indian campaigns and then his world famous "Wild West Show" later in life. The foreword gives a brief summary of this man's amazing life. He respected the Indians and urged equal rights for women, something amazing in itself for his time. -
English Girl's First Impressions of Burmah
An English Girl's First Impressions of Burmah, by Beth Ellis, is a well-edited, turn-of-the-century journal documenting a young woman’s visit to Burma. The account documents her ocean voyage to Rangoon, and her stay in a small, jungle-embedded, European community in Remyo. The author, who travelled to Asia alone to visit her brother, is quick to laugh at her own exaggerated fears. She gives us a glimpse into the less-than-glamorous lives to Myanmar’s British occupiers. The book was published in 1899, just thirteen years after the conclusion of the third Anglo-Burmese war, when Britain took formal control of Myanmar and made it a province of India. -
George Frideric Handel
Handel’s long career resembles a gigantic tapestry, so bewilderingly crowded with detail, so filled with turmoil and vicissitude, with vast achievements, extremes of good and ill fortune, and unending comings and goings that any attempt to force even a small part of it into the frame of a tiny, unpretentious booklet of the present sort is as hopeless as it is presumptuous.... Handel was time and again a composer of exquisitely delicate colorations, and sensuous style, not to say a largely unsuspected master of many subtle intricacies of rhythm. The present pamphlet, wholly without originality or novelty of approach, may, perchance, induce the casual reader to renew his interest in Handel’s prodigious treasury, so much of it neglected, not to say actually undiscovered by multitudes of music lovers. -
Giacomo Puccini
This biography of Puccini was written while the composer was at the height of his career. Besides the usual biographical information, the author summarizes and discusses Puccini's works to this point, including Le Villi, Edgar, Manon Lescaut, La Boheme, Tosca, and Madama Butterfly (which was in production at the time of this writing). -
Autobiography of Phineas Pett
Phineas Pett was a Master Shipbuilder from one of England's greatest shipbuilding families of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries and kept a journal of his experiences and thoughts at this important and turbulent time in the industry. Although some pages were damaged or lost, the diary was transcribed by Samuel Pepys and preserved in the British Library. It was edited and published in the form of an autobiography by William Gordon Perrin of The Council of the Navy Records Society in 1918. -
Mark Twain
Many writers have penned studies of Mark Twain's life and work through the years. Twain authorized this biography, having met and hosted the writer, Archibald Henderson, on a few occasions. Henderson considered this work to be an homage to one of his biggest idols, who guided him through his youth and adolescence. He writes, "It is an appreciation originating in the heart of one who loved Mark Twain’s works for a generation before he ever met Samuel L. Clemens. It is an interpretation springing from the conviction that Mark Twain was a great American who comprehensively incorporated and realized his own country and his own age as no American has so completely done before him." -
From Sail to Steam: Recollections of Naval Life
Alfred Thayer Mahan, American historian and author, whose The Influence of Sea Power Upon History, 1660–1783 became instrumental in the formation of naval strategy by many nations in the 20th century, here recounts his observations and experiences over forty years of active duty as a naval officer. -
Little Journeys to the Homes of Great Businessmen
Elbert Hubbard describes the homes of authors, poets, social reformers and other prestigious people, reflecting on how their surroundings may have influenced them. These short essays are part biography and part pontification of Hubbard's opinion of the subject and their work.
In this volume he reflects on the lives of great businessmen active chiefly in England and the US. Included are Robert Owen, James Oliver, Stephen Girard, Mayer A. Rothschild, Philip D. Armour, John J. Astor, Peter Cooper, Andrew Carnegie, George Peabody, A. T. Stewart, H. H. Rogers, and James J. Hill. -
Vagabond Adventures
Ralph Keeler failed as a novelist, but this autobiography reflects a life well-lived with humor and adventure. Keeler was in the same literary circle as satirist Bret Harte, novelist Charles Warren Stoddard, editor Thomas Bailey Aldrich, and essayist William Dean Howells. He so impressed Mark Twain that Twain wrote an essay about him called "Ralph Keeler". In 1873, on his way to Cuba, he reportedly was thrown overboard by a Spanish loyalist who objected to his backing of the revolutionary, anti-Spanish movement. -
Great Men and Famous Women, Vol. 2
A collection of writings about a variety of men and women from history who were some of the most prominent people around at the time. Marshal Turenne, Charles XII Of Sweden, John Duke Of Marlborough, Prince Eugene Of Savoy, General James Wolfe and Frederick The Great are just some of the contenders. This is volume two of eight volumes. -
Journal of Impressions in Belgium
In 1914, at the age of 51, the novelist and poet May Sinclair volunteered to leave the comforts of England to go to the Western Front, joining the Munro Ambulance Corps ministering to wounded Belgian soldiers in Flanders. Her experiences in the Great War, brief and traumatizing as they were, permeated the prose and poetry she wrote after this time. Witness of great human pain and tragedy, Sinclair was in serious danger of her life on multiple occasions. This journal makes no attempt to be anything more than a journal: a lucid, simple, heart-breaking account of war at first hand. -
Life and marvelous adventures of Wild Bill, the Scout
BEING A TRUE AND EXACT HISTORY OF ALL THE SANGUINARY COMBATS AND HAIR-BREADTH ESCAPES OF THE MOST FAMOUS SCOUTAND SPY AMERICA EVER PRODUCED. "Wild Bill, as a frontier character of the daring, cunning and honorable class, stands alone, without a prototype; his originality is as conspicuous as his remarkable escapades. He was desperate without being a desperado; a fighter without that disposition which invites danger or craves the excitement of an encounter. He killed many men, but in every instance it was either in self-defense or in the prosecution of a duty which he deemed justifiable. Wild Bill was a necessary character in the Far West during the period which marked his career. He was essentially a civilizer, in the sense of a vigilance posse. The law and order class found in him an effective agent for the correction of the lawless; it was fighting the desperate with one of their kind, and Bill had the cunning to remain on the side of society and to always flank his enemies."