Heroes, Hustlers and Horsemen
Heroes, Hustlers and Horsemen CBC Radio 2017 Heroes, Hustlers and Horsemen is a five-part series from CBC Calgary about real people who lived in southern Alberta around the time of confederation and a few decades beyond. The stories aren't of the Heritage Minute variety. These are the whisky-soaked, down and dusty, gun-slinging kinds of stories they leave out in school. We'll meet rogues and rebels, bold visionaries with big blind spots, the notorious and the opportunistic, the people who gave rein to their ambitions and passions and those who chose to buck the herd. 1 Deerfoot, the human thunderbolt The story of a Blackfoot runner once considered the 'fastest in the West.’ His name was Api-kai-ees. On a fall afternoon in 1886, the small prairie settlement of Calgary is buzzing as people flock to a newly built track. Among the crowd is a reporter for New York Sporting World and members of The Syndicate, a local gambling ring. They've come to see a top-ranked British runner take on the local favourite, a young Blackfoot man the newspapers call "the human thunderbolt." Robbed of his greatest victory, Deerfoot's career brought out the best and worst of early Calgary. 2 Diamond Dolly, 'Queen of Calgary's Fleshpots' The story of a 'notorious' madam who ran brothels in early Calgary, when the prostitution business was booming. Around town, she was known as Diamond Dolly. At a time when strict Victorian morals were the norm, when women had few rights under the law, Dolly ignored the social rules & made her own way. She had built a booming business but, one July night in 1910, the Mounties set out to shut her down. At least, that was their plan. 3 Meet Jerry Potts: The warrior, tracker, trader, hunter and horseman (also known as Ky-yo-kosi, meaning Bear Child) He could speak many languages, including three Indigenous dialects, but he was a man of few words. The story of a sharp-shooting scout with Blackfoot and Scottish heritage, who came to the aid of the North West Mounted Police when they first arrived in southern Alberta. A diplomat and a warrior, Potts bridged two cultures. He was a deadly foe on the battlefield, but also a diplomat behind the front lines. 4 John Ware, from the life of a slave to a living legend Growing up, the life of a slave was all John Ware knew. But his world changed in 1865, when slavery was abolished, and he was freed from a cotton plantation in South Carolina at age 20. Ware headed west, in search of a new life — one he built, against all odds, in Alberta. And he never looked back. 5 D.W. Davis, soldier, whisky trader, politician The story of an American Civil War soldier born in Vermont a whisky trader who became Alberta's first member of parliament. Davis was a master of reinvention. To the Blackfoot people of the area, he was known as Spit-ayna or Tall Man. He could be ruthless.
This recording is part of the Old Time Radio collection.