“A riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma, but perhaps there is a key.” So said Winston Churchill in 1939. 

Our story starts at Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show and Congress of Rough Riders of the World. Colonel Bill Cody wanted to be part of the greatest show on Earth and in 1893 that show was in Chicago. The World’s Columbian Exposition also known as The Chicago Worlds Fair would draw people from around the world. Buffalo Bill wanted to be attached to the show but was having a few problems. The exposition had rules that Bill could not live with; exhibitors were required to pay half of their gross income to the fair sponsors, the fair decided how much display space each exhibition could have, and to curry favor with the Protestants the fair agreed to be closed on Sundays. 

To get around these problems Buffalo Bill rented 14 acres of land along Stony Island, which was just outside of the World Exposition property. He constructed an 18,000-seat arena with stages, sheds, and housing for buffalo, horses, and actors.  Next Bill requested and received permission to be open on Sundays.  All obstacles were cleared and the Congress of Rough Riders of the World performed two shows per day for the next eight months. The total take for Buffalo Bill was in excess of $30 million in today’s dollars. 

Fred Langhoff was one of the cowboys in Bill’s show. He rode horses and specialized in “mesmerizing” wild horses.  It was his horse handling ability that caught the attention of a Rochelle horse breeder and stable owner. The breeder had come into possession of an expensive stallion but was having problems training the beast. One trainer had even been killed. Fred was offered the job, and at the end of the show’s run, boarded a train and came to Rochelle to try his hand training the stallion.

In 1874 Fred Langhoff, 37 years old, was a lean cowboy and a bachelor. Fred developed a strong reputation as a horse trainer and became very successful. He lived in and around Rochelle until he finally settled near Chana. Fred married Estelle Babb in 1896 and as a couple they had nine children. Fred became ill and passed away in 1925. The story could have ended there, but there was “a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.” 

It was nearly 20 years later, when Fred’s son went to school at the University of Wisconsin, that the story started to reveal itself. It was discovered that there was a rather large group of folks named Langhoff in the Fort Atkinson area of Wisconsin. So Fred’s son decided to see if they might be related, and boy were they related. 

Ferdinand A. Langholff was born in Jefferson County, Wisconsin on June 14, 1856. As was common in the day Ferdinand Americanized his name to Fred Langhoff. For Fred it was difficult to live under his father’s strict protestant rule so, at the age of 13, he joined a wagon train and headed west to the Dakota Territories. Initially he stayed with his brother Charles but the wanderlust was overpowering. When he was 15 Fred left on his first cattle drive from Texas to Kansas. Fred’s adventures spanned across Texas, Wyoming, Canada, and across the Dakota Territory. When he turned 18 Fred was riding with a mapping and surveying group in Wyoming. He even had a narrow escape during an Indian attack. For 12 years Fred worked cattle and horses, he had grown from a Wisconsin farmer to a true western cowboy. 

December of 1881 saw a new development in Fred’s life, he married Evaline (Eva) Farrell and they settled on 360 acres of land in Wyoming. Fred and Eva grew a successful cattle and horse ranch at the confluence of two forks of the Sybille Creek. Over the years the family was blessed with three children and the ranch prospered. Some believed the ranch prospered a little too well.                  

The Laramie Republican of Aug. 11, 1892 told the story. “Fred A. Langhoff of the Sybille, who is well known in Laramie was brought to Cheyenne yesterday, by Sheriff Kelly from Clintonville, Wisconsin charged with stealing 26 head of horses from his neighbors and selling them in Kentucky.”  Eva and two ranch hands, Tom Boucher and Louis Bath, were also arrested, the hands held in jail and Eva released to care for her three children. 

Had the Langhoffs been stealing horses? The family insisted that they were being framed by large landowners who wanted to take their property. The Cattlemen’s Association had hired a stock detective, James Moore, to keep an eye on the smaller ranches. The question is still unanswered as to whether Mr. Moore was there for the protection of all or to find evidence for the few. The trials were held with varying results. Tom Boucher and Louis Bath were released. The prosecution’s key witness, Detective Moore, had been arrested and sent to jail for stealing a saddle. Eva Langhoff was found not guilty. Fred Langhoff had a split jury, six guilty and six not guilty. 

Fred was out on bail awaiting a new trial, his wife was in Laramie trying to secure money for legal expenses. Eva heard rumor that a band of men from the Cattlemen’s Association was going to go to the Langhoff ranch to dole out their own justice. Eva raced home and told Fred that the lynch mob was close behind her. Fred had no options, he mounted a fresh horse and fled to the railroad at Cheyenne with a posse on his heels. He never returned to the west or his family again. Eventually Eva divorced Fred for desertion.

So what happened after the two families became aware of each other? Amazingly the two families became very close. The wives, Eva and Estelle, became pen pals and wrote each other frequently. The children of both families stayed in contact and periodically gathered in Wisconsin for family reunions. 

There you have it, Fred Langhoff, a cowboy with a secret.

Tom McDermott is a Flagg Township Museum historian and Rochelle city councilman.