Cabinet Card of J.X. Beidler, Wells Fargo's Famed Shot-Gun Messenger

Lot 283

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Bid Increments

Price	Bid Increment
$0	$25
$500	$50
$1,000	$100
$2,000	$250
$5,000	$500
$10,000	$1,000
$20,000	$2,500
$50,000	$5,000
$100,000	$10,000

About Auction

Property of N. Flayderman & Co., Plus Selected Additions by Cowan's Auctions

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Property of N. Flayderman & Co., Plus Selecte...

By Cowan's Auctions

Feb 21, 2017 - Feb 22, 2017

Set Reminder 2017-02-21 10:00:00 2017-02-22 10:00:00 America/New_York Bidsquare Bidsquare : Property of N. Flayderman & Co., Plus Selected Additions https://www.bidsquare.com/auctions/cowans/property-of-n-flayderman-co-plus-selected-additions-2104 Cowan's Auctions dawnie@cowans.com

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Lot Description

Cabinet card by Keller of Helena, MT, showing a half-length pose of the mustachioed messenger giving a confident glare. Printed paper label on verso reads in full:

J.X. BIEDLER [sic],

The Shot-Gun Messenger,

Who never threw up his hands, nor lost an

ounce of Gold Dust for Wells, Fargo & Co.,

nor for Gilmer, Salisbury & Co., while in

the discharge of his duties as a messenger

in charge of TREASURE BOXES.

A penciled note in the recto margin notes that Beidler (as his name is spelled in most sources) died January 22, 1890. In addition to his work for Wells Fargo he served as a US Marshal's deputy in Virginia City, MT, a federal customs agent in the territory, and a lieutenant colonel in the Montana territorial militia. His judge, jury, and executioner reputation was controversial among the miners and other residents of territorial Montana. In 1870, a group of 200 took out an advertisement warning him, "we…will give you no more time to prepare for death than the many men you have murdered…we shall live to see you buried beside the poor Chinamen you have murdered." (See http://stewardmagazine.com/Current_Issue/V.16-1.12.html.)

Provenance: Property of Another Owner
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