Old Sarge is shooting one of my "pretty" pistols. This stage had 3 pistols - 2 were provided for the shoot and staged. You had to start out with a bullwhip on the mule (to break a balloon or at least knock the balloon off the mule), shoot pistols on the plate rack plus some other targets 15 rounds out of those 3 pistols and then load 5 more rounds. The stage was based on an interesting bit of Kansas history -
On a November day in 1864, near Camp Dunlap near Walnut Creek, a light wagon carrying two army officers rattled over the log bridge that spanned Walnut Creek and hit the Santa Fe Trail toward the southwest. Captain Henry Booth of the Eleventh Kansas Cavalry, one of the men in the wagon, was under orders to inspect the military posts along the Santa Fe Trail. The wagon had traveled about five miles from Fort Zarah when Booth, looking south toward the Arkansas River, noticed something that appeared to be a flock of turkeys. As the wagon moved closer, however, it became evident that it was a body of Indians. The officers had 3 pistols with them. Booth and Hallowell used the bullwhip and all three pistols to fend off the Indians while trying to make it back to Fort Zarah. Booth had to remove arrows from Hallowell on more than one occasion. When all pistols were empty with Indians attacking too fast to reload, Booth had to get creative. At one point he stuck an empty pistol out of the wagon and yelled BANG. The Indian fell back in surprise. Booth commenced to throw the empty pistols, sabers and saber covers at the Indians. The last thing in the wagon was a gripsack containing clothing. Booth threw the sack, which opened when it hit the ground, spilling the contents. The Indians stopped to inspect the items while Booth and Hallowell made it back to the Fort. A surgeon treated their wounds. To Booth’s surprise, the doctor found an arrowhead in his shoulder. Booth, in the excitement, hadn’t realized he’d been hit. Twenty-two arrows were pulled from the wagon bed. Booth and Hallowell recovered. What eventually happened to Hallowell is unknown. As for Booth, he was mustered out of the army late in 1865 at Fort Leavenworth and moved to Manhattan. There he went into the hardware and implement business. Later Booth became recorder at the United States Land Office at Larned where he built the first house in that community. Booth served in the Kansas Legislature and was speaker of the Kansas House from 1889 to 1890.
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