Need help with cabinet card photo

[MissyS]

Welcome to the board Gracie,

Thanks for sharing, she reminds me of Calamity Jane, the way they both wear the gun belt I wonder if she may have worked for a Wild West show?

images.app.goo.gl/YJhPudsUs9XD8mXa9

[gracie]

Jan 27, 2020 18:38:34 GMT -5 MissyS said:

Welcome to the board Gracie,

Thanks for sharing, she reminds me of Calamity Jane, the way they both wear the gun belt I wonder if she may have worked for a Wild West show?

images.app.goo.gl/YJhPudsUs9XD8mXa9

I thought of that too, but all the women I found in those shows usually wore Western garb: The cowboy hats, the fringe, etc. She looks more like someone who would have guarded the subway in NYC!

Today I found out that the prison/jail in Oklahoma was in Guthrie which was 60 miles away. I'm wondering if she could have been attached to that?  I also thought about postmasters (I don't know if they were armed) or perhaps someone with the trains or stagecoaches?  

I keep following all the potential leads, just looking for an elusive female....  It has to be right around 1895 because of the sleeves on her dress which were only in style at that time. In 1890 and 1900 they were different (no muttonchop top).  

[gracie]

She's got something on a long cord that is tucked into her gun belt. Could that be a whistle?

[MissyS]

Gracie
I tried to look up some images of uniformed postmasters or postal carriers particularly to see the caps or hats they wore, I tried to look up the uniforms of 1895, because that's the style year you said the dress was, it was difficult to pull up much on uniform styles of that year, all I can tell is that it seems all of the postal hats worn that I can see a photo of all look to have an emblem on them of an American Eagle, the cap she's wearing is plain with no emblem because of that I doubt she worked for the postal service. Oluckyman's guess is a good one of a female Prison Warden, and since she may be wearing a whistle, and a prison wasn't that far, it seems the best guess. Looking at the images of Wells Fargo and regular stage drivers they look to have worn regular Western style hats not a cap style like hers, there's exceptions surely, so I can't say for sure? Your guess of the trains is also a possibility, I will try to look up what I can about train police or security jobs on trains. I'm wondering if the railroad hired Pinkerton to ride the rails on special occasions?, or if they hired their own security or what? If you find out more about her,  please share with us.

[gracie]

Missy,
Thanks for taking the time to look at this. I spent all day yesterday looking at Oklahoma history around that period of time and found there was a lot happening there. That was the period of time when they opened up the Indian territories for white settlers. I'm not one to give attribution to a photo unless I'm certain it is what I say it is so I keep looking... I've been reading the Ponca newspapers from that era hoping for clues. Even the photographer is hard to find. He apparently didn't run newspaper ads.

I sold a tintype on eBay about 20 years ago. It was a man with a gun in a sealed paper tintype holder from the same county Jesse James was from. It was funny because the gun had slid below the tintype opening and I happened to tilt the photo and suddenly there was a gun in the picture. I paid $4 for that photo so I'm sure the antique dealer I bought it from never saw the gun. LOL Anyway, I never could match it up to Jesse James or any of his gang. I seem to vaguely recall that it looked a little like someone with the last name of "Liddle" but that's about it. I was hoping I would see it again on these boards and that someone might have identified it but no such luck.

[MissyS]

Gracie,
James Andrew "Dick" Liddil may be the man who you recalled that looked like the tintype you sold, what I could find, his name was often misspelled but Liddil is what's on his tombstone, he killed a first cousin of the James's and out of fear of retaliation from Jesse, he turned himself in and testified against Frank James, he was one of the last surviving James gang members, and died of a heart attack while attending a horse race in Latonia Kentucky on July 13,1901 at age 48, he was an interesting character. I hope you can get in touch with the buyer of the tintype and exchange more research on it. Looking up the postal info about your lady tintype helps me learn more about the Old West history, so I was glad to do it.