Lot
531 
Great Carver Sensational Show. Large red design on 1911 legal size cover showing Carver on Horse Rifle Shooting, franked with 2¢ Washington-Franklin tied by Monroe, Wis. machine flag cancel, trivial cover nick at bottom right, Very Fine. Estimate $100 - 150.
Will F. Carver, left his home in Illinois in 1857 at the age of 17. His grandfather, Jonathan Carver, had been given a land grant in Minnesota by the Sioux. Carver went to claim the land and live on it. In route, he killed 3 men who were about to rob him. He discovered that the government denied the grant, but the Sioux took him in. He lived three years with the Indians, becoming a medicine man for the Santee Sioux.
He left in 1860 prior to the Minnesota Massacre. He was given the name "Spirit Gun," by the Sioux because he could hit targets with his rifle in the dark by sound. He met "Wild Bill" Hickok in Springfield 3 days after Hickok had his famous shootout with Dave Tutt. They partnered up and traveled earning money in shooting contests, Doc with a rifle, and Hickok with pistols. He started the Wild West Show with Buffalo Bill.
They later split and Carver ran his own show. Carver claims Cody as a fake. He said Cody didn't do all that he claimed to have done, mostly made up from others and Ned Buntline. Carver was champion of the world, as a shooter, touring the U.S. and the world. He was especially good with a rifle. Shooting from the hip was his specialty. As no one would challenge him with rifles, he shot with shotguns, often giving odds. He died in 1927 and is remembered as the Originator of the American Wild West Show.
Realized: $200