His widow, a much respected woman and three sons were left, Lorenzo, Hiram and Bill. James P. "Wild Bill," born and raised at Troy Grove became notorious on the western frontier and won the name of "Wild Bill." A man over six feet tall, lithe and active. He was more than a match for the roughs he met on the debatable ground between civilized and savage life and is said to have often killed his man; at one time he is said to have killed four men in 60 seconds--they were on his track seeking his life. He served with Jim Lane in the Kansas troubles. Was elected constable while a miner in Kansas. Was for two years U. S. Marshall at Abilene, Kansas and was regarded as a very efficient and reliable officer. He was killed at Deadwood, S. D. August 2, 1876 while playing cards. His assailant came silently behind him and shot him in the head. His murderer was tried by a mob jury and acquitted, but later was arrested under forms of law, convicted and hung.

When we first came to Nebraska we were set by difficulties. The country was already inhabited by several billion prairie dogs. The Indians weren't much of an obstacle when you compare them to the prairie dogs who seemed to be everywhere and didn't like the idea of us moving in on their territory. They were so thick, that they were always running in to each other, and looking over the broad prairies all you could see was millions {Begin deleted text} [?] {End deleted text} and millions of the curious yapping creatures, scuttling in and out of their holes.

Every time we would build a fence or plant our crops we would have to first drive these prairie dogs away. They were wise little creatures and let us have a space of ground for our own crops so we wouldn't starve.

In those days mirages on the prairie were frequent. Many an old settler was lost because of a mirage he had seen and had turned out to be a false vision. And the mirage was what saved Nebraska from the prairie dogs.

One day on the prairie there appeared a mirage of a large city. It happened about noon one hot day. I was standing out by my well with about a million prairie dogs around me. Suddenly, there appeared a vision of a large city in the distance. I knew it was a mirage but the prairie dogs didn't.

Now these billions of prairie dogs had been taking care of me seeing that I didn't progress very far on my claim and when they turned and saw that a city had been built (they thought) behind their backs, they just fell over and died with mortification. That is, most {Begin inserted text} {Begin handwritten} /of {End handwritten} {End inserted text} them did.

One time, at Swan City, Nebraska in the early seventies, was a blacksmith named, Jud Smith. Jud was pretty good at telling stories about how great his ancestors were. Jud didn't say anything about their brain power but he did boast plenty about their strength. Jud said his grandfather was so strong that he sued to spike his whiskey in good strong ale and it was nothing for him to have a quart of whiskey as an appetizer for breakfast. When he went on a drunk he always downed at least five gallons of whiskey. He said his granddad was so strong he never used a [hammer?] to drive [nails?] in a horses hoof but always used his bare fist. One time a cyclone hit the town and Jud's grandfather held his house, with one hand, so it wouldn't blow away. If there were any iron bars to bend, Jud's grandpap didn't waste any time heating but bent them over his knee. One had to be careful around Jud's granddad but because if he had to [be and a person?] was caught in the path of his sneeze he was like or not to be blown across the town.

One time they had shot putting contest using cannon balls as the shot. When it came Jud's grandad's turn to cast the iron ball he picked it up and letting out a grunt which scared the horses all over town, he let it loose, the ball disappearing in the clouds. The ball was never found although the people wondered then they read in the papers the next week about a strange ball had been found buried on the Capitol grounds at Washington, D. C.