Page M - 19Stan Paregien, Editor
Candy Moulton
Candy Moulton is a member of Western Writers of America and serves as the editor of their publication, The Roundup. A former weekly newspaper editor, she writes regularly for four newspapers. She is a staff writer for Persimmon Hill, the magazine published by the National Cowboy Hall of Fame, and is a regular contributor to American Cowboy magazine.
Candy Moulton's books include Steamboat: Legendary Bucking Horse, Legacy of the Tetons,Wagon Wheels: A Contemporary Journey on the Oregon Trail,and Roadside History of Wyoming, which was selected by the National Federation of Press Women as the top nonfiction history book of 1995. Wyoming Media Professionals named her as the winner of the 1995 Sweepstakes Award for overall journalism excellence.
Max Evans and Candy Moulton served as editors of Hot Biscuits: Eighteen Stories by Women and Men of the Ranching West (NM: Univ of NM Press, 2002). The book, a long-time dream of Max's, is a collection of stories of working cowboys. The period is in the West after 1920. Each of the contributors has at least five years of experience working in the West, either as paid ranch hands or as women who were raised on ranches or joined their husbands on a double hire-out.
Clarence E. Mulford
Clarence E. Mulford, author, created the famous Hopalong Cassidy character in 1907. He wrote 28 Hoppy novels, starting with Bar 20 in 1907 and ending with Hopalong Cassidy Serves a Writ in 1941.There were 66 "Hoppy" movies made between 1935 and 1948.
REFERENCE:
The Films of Hopalong Cassidy, Francis M. Nevins, Jr. This book tells about the life and world of Western writer Clarence E. Mulford.
Lucille Mulhall
(Deceased)
Lucille Mulhall, cowgirl and champion roper, was born to Zack and Agnes Mulhall on October 21, 1885. Zack Mulhall had settled a homestead near Alfred, in the Oklahoma Territory, during the land rush of 1889. There was already a town named Alfred, so railroad officials asked them to change it. The citizens decided to name it "Mulhall," after then-mayor Zack Mulhall.Zack and Agnes developed their settlement into a 160-acre working cattle ranch, where the Mulhall children learned to ride horses and rope cattle, skills that made them effective ranchhands even before their teens. At round-up time, cowhands from area ranches would stage friendly competitions to see who could be the best "cowboy". That is, to see who could throw the lariat most accurately, and who could rope and brand the most cattle the fastest. With "Wild West Shows" becoming a popular form of entertainment throughout the United States, Zack seized the opportunity to go into show business.
Zack gathered together the best cowboys he could find and formed "The Congress of Rough Riders and Ropers" in 1899. Zack and his talented children were the star attractions of the show, as were a number of undiscovered western performers who were just getting their starts in show business. Both Will Rogers and Tom Mix credited Zack with giving them the opportunity to perform in their early days.
Although there were many female wild west show entertainers like Annie Oakley and May Lillie who performed shooting or rope tricks, Lucille Mulhall was the first woman to compete in riding and roping events right along with cowboys (i.e., men). At the age of 13, she competed in relay horse races and steer roping contests, demonstrated the art of the lasso, and performed tricks with her trained horse named Governor. Because she competed alongside cowboys, Lucille was called the first "cowgirl" when she appeared at Madison Square Garden in New York City for the first time in 1905.
Lucille was surprisingly strong and tough. In 1910, she drew the fury of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) when she accidentally killed a steer during a roping event. The SPCA took the Mulhall show to court, but the judge refused to believe that Lucille could have killed a steer. However, he fined her father and several other male members of the company for breaking a rarely-enforced law against roping cattle.
Throughout her life, Lucille remained captivated by show business and more loyal to her father than to any other man. Her two marriages ended in divorce, and she rarely saw her son, born in 1909, because she was always on tour. Though Lucille was a top draw at wild west shows and had run her own company, "Lucille Mulhall's Round-up," many people considered her an ineffective wife and mother because she had never learned to do "women's work" (i.e., housecleaning and cooking).
Although wild west shows became less popular and less financially viable starting in the mid 1910s, Lucille and her brother Charley continued to perform in them through the 1930s. Show attendance dwindled, as did the number of performers. Despite the lack of publicity being given to wild west shows in the shadow of the polio epidemic, the United States' entry into World War I, and then the Great Depression, Lucille seemed unable to pull herself away from the limelight. She made her last known public appearance in September of 1940.
Lucille Mulhall died less than a mile from the Mulhall Ranch in an automobile accident on December 21, 1940. She was only 55 years old. In December 1975, Lucille Mulhall was inducted into the Rodeo Hall of Fame, a unit of the National Cowboy Hall of Fame. She was also made an Honoree of the National Cowgirl Hall of Fame.
REFERENCES:
America's First Cowgirl: Lucille Mulhall, by Beth Day, Published by Julian Messner, Inc., 1955.Lucille Mulhall: Her Family, Her Life, Her Times. By Kathryn B. Stansbury, Mulhall, OK: Homestead Heirlooms Publishing Co., 1992.
Zack Mulhall
(Deceased)
Zack Mulhall had settled a homestead near Alfred, in the Oklahoma Territory, during the land rush of 1889. There was already a town named Alfred, so railroad officials asked them to change it. The citizens decided to name it "Mulhall," after then-mayor Zack Mulhall.Zack and Agnes developed their settlement into a 160-acre working cattle ranch, where the Mulhall children learned to ride horses and rope cattle, skills that made them effective ranchhands even before their teens. At round-up time, cowhands from area ranches would stage friendly competitions to see who could be the best "cowboy" -- who could throw the lariat most accurately, and who could rope and brand the most cattle the fastest. With "Wild West Shows" becoming a popular form of entertainment throughout the United States, Zack seized the opportunity to go into show business.
Zack gathered the best cowboys he could find and formed The Congress of Rough Riders and Ropers in 1899. Zack and his talented children were the star attractions of the show, as were a number of undiscovered western performers who were just getting their starts in show business. Both Will Rogers and Tom Mix credited Zack with giving them the opportunity to perform in their early days.
Robert N. Mullin
(Deceased)
Robert N. Mullin attend school in El Paso, Texas and lived there for many years. He established the Calumet Oil Company in 1917. He sold out to Continental Oil in 1928. Then he worked for Phillips Petroleum and for Gulf Oil, retiring from Gulf in 1958 as a marketing division general manager in Chicago.
Robert N. Mullin wrote many articles for journals, published a monograph on The Boyhood of Billy the Kid, and edited Maurice Garland Fulton's History of the Lincoln County War.
Robert N. Mullin died on June 27, 1982, at the age of 88.
Jesse Mullins, Jr.
Jesse Mullins, Jr., is the editor of American Cowboy magazine (P.O. Box 6630, Sheridan, WY 82801). The magazine web site iswww.cowboy.com.
Robert L. Munkres
Robert L. Munkres is the author of many articles about the Oregon Trail and of Saleratus and Sagebrush: The Oregon Trail Through Wyoming (1974, 2nd ed., Wyoming State Press).
This listing is far from complete and may contain errors. Therefore, all Western writers and/or their agents are requested to submit recommended changes by contacting Stan Paregien through his e-mail address.
Praise be to the Lord God, the God of Israel,
who alone does marvelous deeds.
Praise be to his glorious name forever;
may the whole earth be filled with his glory.
Amen and amen.
--- Bible: Psalm 72:18-19
© 2003 by Stan Paregien, Sr.