Gordon W. Lillie ...Pawnee Bill was born in Illinois in 1860 and became interested in the west as a child.
He came to Indian Territory in 1875 and was appointed teacher for the Pawnee Indians in 1879. In 1883, Gordon W. Lillie joined the newly formed "Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show" as an interpreter and performer.
He married May Manning in 1886, she was 15 year old and from Philadelphia. Gordon met her while traveling with the show.
Pawnee Bill formed his own "Wild West Show" in 1888, he merged his Show with Buffalo Bill Wild West Show in 1908. The combined show was billed as the entertainment triumph of the ages and traveled all over the world entertaining audiences with both realistic and fantasy views of the Old West.
The show closed in Denver, Colorado, in 1913 after
touring for five seasons as "Buffalo Bill's Wild
West and Pawnee Bill's Great Far East Show."
