Tim McCoy       

Tim McCoy's story should have been made into a movie. He was a working cowboy, a cattle rancher, U. S. Cavalry officer, adjutant general of Wyoming, a performer with the Ringling Brothers' Circus, star of his own traveling wild west show, author of three books, movie star, and hero to millions of kids. Dad wanted him to become a priest, but Owen Wister's
novel "The Virginian" inspired dreams of going west. Off he went, first
to Chicago, then Omaha, then Wyoming where he came to know his boyhood hero, William Frederick "Buffalo Bill" Cody. Close ties with the Arapaho Indians was his ticket to Hollywood and starring roles in 93 pictures.

Hollywood saw more cowboys than wild west towns like Deadwood or Dodge, McCoy later wrote. When the bottom fell out of the cattle market,
cowboys came to Hollywood to work in western movies, some of them just
one jump ahead of a sheriff. McCoy's own stunt double was wanted for a
killing.

In '42, feeling restless and in need of a change, McCoy bowed out of the
popular Rough Rider series after nine pictures, said adios to
show business and re-enlisted in the Army. There was a world war going on and he didn't want to miss it.

Clear the trail, you short-horn pilgrims, hunt your hole or climb a tree
Else I'll ride ya down and stomp ya in the earth
I'm a ring-tailed he-gorilla on a hell-bent jamboree
And I've rid to town to celebrate my birth.

I was born way over yonder on the head of Bitter Creek
Where a self-respectin' cactus couldn't dwell
Where the gentle soothin' zehyrs that caress your cheek
Feel like a hot-box on the very hubs of hell.

I'm a reptile from the desert with dead things all around
And the poison 'round my teeth is just a purlin
I'm a regular hydrophobia skunk, my tail drags on the ground
And I'm lookin' fer some cuss to try and curl it.

I'm a demon from the ranges, where all livin' things is dead
With the wolf-pack in at night, I love to prowl
I am mean plum to the marrer, I'm a holy howlin' terror
I'm a he-wolf and it's my night to howl.

--- Tim McCoy