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DEADWOOD DICK - WESTERN HERO, REAL PHOTO POSTCARD c1928
Old real photo post card (RPPC) of DEADWOOD DICK dressed in
buckskins and with hid hand resting on his holstered pistol.
This is a photograph of Richard Clark, the last and probably
most famous of several men known as “Deadwood Dick,” a name best known from a
western dime-novel character created by Ned Buntline. Buntline’s fictional
character appeared in more than a hundred stories and became so famous that
several men who actually lived in Deadwood, South Dakota claimed the name.
Among those adopting the nickname at various times were a
black cowboy, Nat Love; an actor Dick Brown; stagecoach drivers Richard Cole
and Dick Bullock, and the man who maintained the epithet until his death in
1930, Richard Clark.
Many historians say Richard Clark took on the title in 1924,
when asked to play the role in the Days of ’76 parade, but articles in the
Deadwood Pioneer Times referred to him as Deadwood Dick as early as July of
1898. In 1924, Clark emerged from
retirement (the press stated), as a grizzled oldster with long hair and drooping
moustache, who could wear buckskins like an old scout. He became the headline
character for the Days of 76 from then on. The public accepted Deadwood Dick as
he filled their expectations of what a hero making the comeback trail should
look like.
In the next few years Clark traveled over the United States
as the original Deadwood Dick who had been rediscovered in a cabin in the Black
Hills. Clark, who was photographed often and interviewed in press and radio
programs, brought a million dollars worth of publicity to the Days of 76 at
Deadwood.
Richard Clark was an early settler who arrived in the Black
Hills in 1876 with the Ward party from Bismarck. He was in the party that went
out to bring in the body of Preacher Smith after he was killed by Indians, and
there is reference to him being in the posse that went after the Indians that
killed Ike Brown, one of Deadwood's law and order champions of 1876.
“Deadwood Dick Clark died in St. Joseph's hospital,
Deadwood, on May 5, 1930, at the age of 85. He requested to be buried on
Sunrise Mountain above his cabin site in Pine Crest Park and there on May 11,
20 years ago, the last of the Deadwood Dicks was laid to rest with ceremonials
that befitted a great personality.”
This postcard has a brownish stain in the lower right corner
and on the reverse (see scan), but is otherwise in good condition. Scan shows front, reverse, & enlarged
detail.
Price= $95.00
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