Pistol Pete Lawman to Mascot Tales Of the Wild West #smalltownamerica

Pistol Pete Lawman to Mascot Tales Of the Wild West #smalltownamerica

Francis Boardman Eaton was born on October 26, 1860, in Hartford, Connecticut. In 1868, the Eaton family joined the rush to Kansas homesteading eight miles west of Carbondale, in Osage county. The Eatons built their home on the sight of an old hotel along the trail left by Quantrill’s raiders on their retreat to Lawrence. It was there the eight year old Frank saw his father gunned down in the moonlight by a lawless gang of Southerners who called themselves the Regulators. Mose Beaman, his father’s friend and neighbor, told young Frank, “My boy, may an old man’s curse rest upon you, if you do not try to avenge your father.”
Eaton always wore his cowboy hat, vest, blue jeans or frontier pants. Many times he would be bare footed rather than in his boots. His large mustache and long braided hair were an ever present trademark. Asked about his long hair, Eaton replied, “If the girls are going to cut theirs off, I’ll let mine grow.” Youngsters loved to go to his house on Saturdays to listen to his yarns about the old days and to witness his lightening quick draw. Eaton always shot from the hip. In 1923, students at Oklahoma A & M College, now Oklahoma State University, asked Eaton to pose as the school’s mascot after seeing him in an Armistice Day parade. Eaton agreed and became the “original cowboy” and living symbol of Oklahoma State University until his death. His likeness was also adopted as the mascot of the University of Wyoming and New Mexico State University.
Small Town America Tales of The Wild West coming soon
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