The “Cole Younger and Frank James’ Historical Wild West Show” is an effort
on the part of two men whose exploits have been more wildly exaggerated,
perhaps, than those of any other men living, to make an honest living and
demonstrate to the people of America that they are not as black as they
have been painted.
There will be nothing in the Wild West show to which any exception can be
taken, and it is my purpose, as a part owner in the show, and I have put
in the contracts with my partners, that no crookedness nor rowdyism will
be permitted by attaches of the I show. We will assist the local
authorities, too, in ridding the show of the sort of camp-followers who
frequently make traveling shows the scapegoat for their misdoings. We
propose to have our show efficiently and honestly policed, to give the
people the worth of their money, and to give an entertainment that will
show the frontiersman of my early manhood as he was.
I had hoped if my pardon had been made unconditional, to earn a livelihood
on the lecture platform. I had prepared a lecture which I do think would
not have harmed any one, while it might have impressed a valuable lesson
on those who took it to heart.