Great cabinet photo of wild west cowboy. + mystery solved

[rangerider7]

This is a neat cabinet photo. What do you think about it?

[J Miller]

Well, it looks like the current ammo shortage has gone retroactive, his cartridge belt is all but empty.

He's not started shaving yet.
He's about 16 years old and doesn't have a weathered face.
He probably just ran away from home in Chicago and is celebrating his new found freedom.
And I sure hope he don't slip when he pulls the hog leg out of his belt. It's definitely pointed in a bad place.

J e

[AJMD429]

Why are they called "cabinet" photos...???

[Bill in Oregon]

I wonder if he has ever sat a horse. Whatever the case, he has the full outfit for sure.

[rangerider7]

AJMD429
They called them cabinet photographs because they were usually displayed on cabinets, at least that was the way I understood it. RR7

[Tycer]

Looks like the real deal to my uneducamated eye.. He's relaxed in duds that seem to fit perfectly and his hands are either tough or in his own gloves. I really like that one RR.

[RKrodle]

I don't know about him, but if you find out where he got that fancy hat let me know.

[Chuck 100 yd]

Yea!! That hat is COOL!

[Borregos]

Another neat old picture, thanks rr7

[pokey]

nice tack, nice stuff all around.

the boy? phony like a three dollar bill.

[rangerider7]

Written on the back in pencil is "Texas Jack Jr." HMMMM RR7

[horsesoldier03]

I was gonna say, Looks like the real McCoy to me. The boot heals are worn like they are his regular boots, and to me that does not suggest a photo opportunity. Texas Jack JR makes perfect sense, IMO, he even shows a strong likeness to the Texas Jack pics I have seen before.

[M. M. Wright]

Thanks RR7. I love it! Don't have a clue about what the holster pistol is but the one in the belt sure looks like a SAA and I really like that saddle.

[Sixgun]

Don't know about the dude but I bet that saddle was a $300 saddle, even in the day.----------------6

[JerryB]

Reckon the boots might belong on those feet. Look at the creases in the leather of the left boot, right at the bend of the foot. Great photo, thanks.

[rangerider7]

Here is a cabinet photo of the original "Texas Jack" Omohundro that was with the Buffalo Bill Wild West Show.
I can see a resemblance but sometimes performers in wild west shows just took the name of a famous showman and used it for themselves.

[Griff]

Boots and chaps look like the fit the young man. The holster gun looks like a S&W, not a SAA, but the belt looks like it'd be fallin' off... especially if he was an older version of "cowboy". Most of whom suffer from "noazatall"!!!

The boots look like they belong to him, Love the saddle and other gear.

[rangerider7]

Mystery solved.

Texas Jack Jr., (1860 appr. to 1905), adopted son of Texas Jack Omohundro, is best known for running a Wild West show and circus where he gave Will Rogers his start as an entertainer.[1]

Not long after the American Civil War, Texas Jack Omohundro found a five year old boy, orphaned when his parents were killed by Native Americans. Omohundro cared for him and he took to calling himself Texas Jack Jr., dropping the "Jr." in later years after Omohundro's death in 1880.

Texas Jack became a sharpshooter and rough rider in shows around the world, including South Africa. By 1899 he was in England with a show called "Savage South Africa". The show included a historical re-enactment of the 1893 Shangani Patrol, a last stand of 34 white soldiers against an overwhelming number of Ndebele warriors, with Texas Jack starring as Frederick Russell Burnham, the American Chief of Scouts.[2] Later in 1899, the re-enactment was filmed and released as a war movie entitled Major Wilson's Last Stand.[3] A couple of years later he returned to Africa and started "Texas Jack's Wild West Show & Circus".

In 1902, Will Rogers met Texas Jack, hoping to get some kind of job wrangling the tents or the horses, but when Jack asked him if he could do a rope trick, Rogers obliged and was hired as an entertainer.[4]

Texas Jack died in Kroonstad, South Africa, in 1905.[5] He was survived by his common law wife, Lyle (or Lil) Marr, who was a sharpshooter in his show.

[sore shoulder]

Well that explains the completely theatrical appearance of his outfit, none of which looked like commonly used or worn kit I've seen in period photos, nor does any of it look well used like it would were he an actual working cowboy.

[Booger Bill]

It seems to me I have seen the same hat with the stars in the brim with general custer.

[earlmck]

Wow! That's quite the history lesson you came up with there, RR7. And those were a bunch of sharp observations from the Leverguns crew. Thanks!

[mikld]

Well, he may be young, with a baby face, and he may not own that rig (especially the star studded hat!), but I sure would like to have been around at that time and gotten a post card photo of me...

Got a date for the photo?