Bill Vanero (Paul Venerez) [Laws B6]

DESCRIPTION: Bill/Paul hears that a band of Indians is coming, and rides to tell his love Bessie Lee and her fellow ranchers. Fatally wounded, he writes a warning in his own blood. The letter is carried by his horse, and the ranch is saved
AUTHOR: Eben E. Rexford (as "The Ride of Paul Venerez")
EARLIEST DATE: 1881 ("Youth's Companion")
KEYWORDS: death Indians(Am.) horse warning
FOUND IN: US(MW,So)
REFERENCES (11 citations):
Laws B6, "Bill Vanero (Paul Venerez)"
Larkin-SingingCowboy, pp. 40-45, "Billy Venero" (1 text, 1 tune)
Logsdon-WhorehouseBellsWereRinging 4, pp. 42-47, "Billie Vanero" (1 text, 1 tune)
Randolph 199, "Bill Vanero" (3 texts, 1 tune)
Randolph/Cohen-OzarkFolksongs-Abridged, pp. 184-186, "Bill Vanero" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 199A)
Peters-FolkSongsOutOfWisconsin, p. 210, "Billy Vanero" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fife/Fife-CowboyAndWesternSongs 46, "Billy Veniro" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ohrlin-HellBoundTrain 99, "Billy Venero" (1 text, 1 tune)
Tinsley-HeWasSinginThisSong, pp. 68-71, "Billy Venero" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lingenfelter/Dwyer/Cohen-SongsOfAmericanWest, pp. 262-263, "The Ride of Paul Venarez" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT 374, BVANERO* BVANERO2*
Roud #632
RECORDINGS:
Billie Maxwell, "Billy Venero" (Parts 1&2) (Victor V-40148, 1929; on WhenIWas2)
Harry "Mac" McClintock, "Billy Venero" (Victor 21487, 1928)
Glenn Ohrlin, "Billy Venero" (on Ohrlin01)
Luther Royce, "Billy Vanero" (AFS, 1941; on LC55)
Art Thieme, "Billy Venero" (on Thieme01)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Billy Vanero
NOTES [97 words]: Logsdon-WhorehouseBellsWereRinging notes a complicated story here. He states that Eben E. Rexford published "The Ride of Paul Venerez" in 1881. But it was in 1882 (July 17) that the White Mountain Apaches broke out of their reservation. Riders did bring warning of the outbreak, which allowed the settlers to protect the Burch Ranch near Payson, Arizona.
Rexford's one big hit was "Silver Threads Among the Gold."
There is no documentation of a rider named Billy Vanero, so while the Rexford poem was probably adopted to the Arizona situation, the details are anything but clear. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.6
File: LB06

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