Lucretia Borgia

This rifle turned William Cody into Buffalo Bill.

- BY JIM DICKSON

A 50-70 Model 1866 trapdoor Springfield, or needle gun, as they were known on the frontier because of their long firing pin, quickly became William F. Cody's all-time favorite rifle. He named it Lucretia Borgia after the infamous Italian poisoner because she was pure poison on the buffalo. Together they carved out a name for William Cody. In 1867 Cody had a job killing buffalo to feed the workers building a railroad through Kansas. He and Lucretia killed 4280 buffalo that year, and over 18 months, the number raised to 4862. In the course of his career as a professional buffalo hunter they killed over 40,000 buffalo plus assorted other plains game. She helped him earn the nickname Buffalo Bill when he entered into a buffalo-shooting contest with fellow buffalo hunter William Comstock. The man with the highest bag at the end of the day won the right to the name of Buffalo Bill. With Lucretia in his arms, Cody decisively won with 68 buffalo to Comstock’s 48.