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COL. ZACK MULHALL NOTED PLAINSMAN, DIED EARLY TODAY
COLORFUL CAREER OKLAHOMAN PLAINSMAN CAME TO END ON HIS RANCH

The Corsicana Semi-Weekly Light, 22 Sep 1931


MULHALL, Okla., Sept. 18.-(AP)-
Colonel Zack Mulhall, colorful Oklahoma plainsman, died at his ranch home here early today.

Funeral services will be held at the ranch home Sunday afternoon at 2:30 o'clock, with burial in the family plot. Mrs. Mulhall died only a few months ago and the aged pioneers health had been failing since that time.

At the ranch where he settled 43 years ago, the pioneer ranchman, one of the last of Oklahoma's picturesque frontiersmen, died at 5:05 o'clock this morning.

His daughter, Lucille, who was the colonel's partner in his wild west show enterprise; a grandson, Billy Mulhall, and Mr. sna dMrs. Tom Ralston, of Mulhall, his close friends, were at the bedside.

Funeral services will be conducted by Father Van Mena, of Guthrie, his friend and spiritual adviser.

Fascination for the hardy life of the pioneer cattleman took Zack Mulhall from the Mississippi livestock ferries in St. Louis to a homestead near where an Oklahoma town which now bears his name and into a prominent part of the history of the territory and state.

He became Col. Zack Mulhall, influential Oklahoma rancher, cattleman and wild west showman, and object of presidential attention.


Orphaned at Early Age
Born in 1847, Mulhall was orphaned at an early age, attended parochial schools and for a time Notre Dame University and obtained his first jobs working on ferry boats on the St. Louis water front. He learned the ways of the then thriving Livestock industry while ferrying cattle shipments across the Mississippi and came to old Oklahoma territory in 1889 opening to find the cow ranch he'd dreamed of near the present site of Mulhall. The ranch became his lifelong home, and he made it famous to the southwest.

He became livestock commissioner for the 'Frisco railroad through the offices of the late Benjamin F. Yoakum, one-time 'Frisco presient, his friend. Later, during the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis, he entered the wild west show field. His daughter, Lucille, trouped with him and his show appeared at Madison Square Garden in New York several years. There he took Will Rogers, later to become famous as Oklahoma's cowboy humorist. Rogers' technique immediately attracted the attention of vaudeville managers and launched his career.


Friend of Roosevelt
A democrat, Col. Mulhall attracted the interest of Col. Theodore Roosevelt and when Roosevelt became president Mulhall's name was mentioned as a possible appointee of governor of Oklahoma territory. However, this did not materialize.

Mulhall had much to do with the entertainment provided for Roosevelt at the first annual Rough Riders' Reunion in Oklahoma City in 1900. He staged a wild west show in which Lucille, then 16, amazed spectators with roping and riding feats. Later the daugter became an outstanding rodeo star. Even before the Oklahoma City convention, she had roped a lobo wolf at the Mulhall gate. Mulhall sent the hide to Roosevelt.

As railroad livestock commissioner, Mulhall had much influence. He was on the staffs of many territorial and state governors of Oklahoma but when J. C. (Jack) Walton was elevated to the state's highest office a decade ago he became a member of the inner circle and was one of the governor's bodyguard and escort.

The pioneer also was credited with making the arrangement whereby Tom Mix, now a film star, and the Oklahoma territory cowboy band led the inaugural parade of President McKinley. Miux was drum major.

A son, Charles Mulhall, living in California and another daughter, Mrs. Mildred Carmichael of Florida, and a grandson, Billy Mulhall, survive. Mrs. Mulhall died in 1930.






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