Buffalo Bill Rides in… and Bows Out

On 17 August 1891, former hunter and US army scout turned impresario, William Cody, better known as Buffalo Bill, opened his ‘Wild West Show’ for the first of six days of performances in the Potteries. The show was making a tour of Britain and had arrived from Sheffield several days earlier in three trains comprising 76 carriages, bearing 250 performers, several hundred horses and dozens of bison. Cody and his company also brought enough scaffolding with them to build a pavilion that could seat 15,000 spectators, which was quickly constructed not far from the train station in Stoke by local workers. A Red Indian village was also built nearby for the many native American performers and their families, which became a great attraction during their stay. In the main pavilion there were two shows a day at 3pm and 6pm and though it rained on the first day the weather improved as the week went on. Sure enough, as elsewhere, thousands of local people turned up to watch the shows, one of which a reporter for the Sentinel described briefly for their readers:

‘Notwithstanding a persistent downpour, an audience assembled in numbers large enough to crowd the popular parts of the stands, and though with more favourable weather a better display might have been expected, the full programme was given and all seemed intensely delighted. The shooting feats of Miss Annie Oakley, Mr. C. L. Daley, Johnnie Baker, and General Cody [sic] himself, created a great deal of enthusiasm, whilst the antics of the bucking horses, and the agility of the cowboys, caused considerable interest, as well as amusement. The attack on the Deadwood coach was performed in a manner quite realistic, and the concluding tableau, an attack by Indians on a frontier man’s cabin, gave all present a very true idea of what a pioneer’s life was like a few years ago on the Far West. During the afternoon the Indian encampment was visited by thousands of interested spectators.

For the evening performance the ground was lit up by Wells’ patent lights. Unfortunately, the wet and boisterous weather prevented the public from gaining an accurate idea as to the capabilities, and must have rendered the performance, especially the shooting, a matter of some considerable difficulty. Nevertheless, there was a large attendance of spectators, and the programme was gone through without a hitch. General Cody was loudly cheered when he made his parting bow.’

Thirteen years later on 21 October 1904, the people of the Potteries witnessed the last ever performance by ‘Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show’ to be held in Britain. The season had started here earlier that year on 25 April, most of the animals and some of the cowboys and stable hands having overwintered at Etruria, while the bulk of the company had gone home. Now after their last tour of the country, the show made a final return to the area prior to departing for the Continent. They signed off with two final performances held on this day at the Agricultural Show Fields at Birches Head. The evening performance attracted a crowd of 12,500 people and at the end of the show the performers were bid goodbye by the audience spontaneously singing Auld Lang Syne.  

Reference: Staffordshire Sentinel, 22 August 1891, p.3; 25 April 1904; 22 October 1904.