Elmo Scott Watson
| Elmo Scott Watson | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1892 Colfax, McLean County Illinois, USA |
| Died | May 6, 1951 (aged 59) |
| Occupation | University professor |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | Northwestern University |
| Period | 1916-1951 |
| Genre | American West |
Elmo Scott Watson (1892–May 6, 1951) was an American journalist and college professor, whose longest educational stint was at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. He was particularly known for his emphasis on the American West, having been a reporter for the Gazette and Telegraph newspaper in Colorado Springs, Colorado, before he entered the field of higher education.
In 1923, while attending the Pikes Peak or Bust Rodeo in Colorado Springs, Watson met the frontier figure Frank H. Maynard (1853–1926), credited with the revised composition of Cowboy's Lament, a western poem and song better known as The Streets of Laredo. When he was "discovered" by Watson, Maynard was working as a nightwatchman to be near the rodeo because he was still attracted to the western life-style of his earlier years. Watson penned a story on Maynard which brought the old-time cowboy into the public spotlight. It may be argued that Maynard did not write the ballad but adapted it from an Irish poem. Watson explains: "The matter of authorship of a ballad is a perplexing one. . . . In a sense the ballad represents the contribution of a succession of bards, rather than the work of a single poet." Yet, it is plausible that Maynard adjusted the poem so that the "ranger," a reference to the cowboy on the prairie, became the central character of the poem.
Watson also helped Maynard publish the old-timer's article on the Battle of Adobe Walls in the Texas Panhandle in 1874. The article required extensive rewriting to make it salable. Just over two years after Watson met Maynard, the cowboy-turned-carpenter was dead.
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