William Roderick James - (1892-1942)
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I. Biography On June 6, 1892, Joseph James Nephtali Dufault was born on a small ranch in St. Nazaire de Acton, Quebec. The young boy eventually grew up to be the man known to us
today as William Roderick James. James was born to a hotel-owner father and a very religious mother. He was called "Ernest" by his parents and had one older brother, Phillipe, and a
younger sister, Auguste. The family was strictly Catholic and all three children attended parochial schools. James worked at a hotel as a helper and sketched on the saloon mirrors to earn extra
money. Among several of his sketches, he drew Canadian trappers just by listening to descriptions of them by other trappers. In 1907, James left Quebec seeking the cowboy life
of horses and boots-and-spurs he had heard so much about working in the hotels. James was only fifteen and starting a new life in Western Canada. In James's late teens he was
charged with the murder of a sheepherder (he was known to be against sheepherders) and served time on death row. Supposedly James burned the log jail to escape.
After his escape, James hid in Montana and changed his name first to C.W. Jackson and then later to Will James. Searching for ranch work, he found that nobody would hire him
because they wanted someone with experience. James moved back to Saskatchewan and then was hired to be part of the 76 Cattle Company. Throughout these years James
sketched as well as drifted from Canada, through Montana and parts of Idaho, into Nevada, Utah and New Mexico. His cowboy skills improved greatly through this time and he rode horses frequently.
After James went to Montana and found out he needed experience to work with the Montanan cowboys, he started to make-up stories that represented his background. James
claimed his dad was Texan and his mother was from Southern California and both were of Scottish-Irish descent. He also said that he became an orphan after his mother died when
he was one, and after his father's death when he was four. After this he was adopted by Jean Beupre ("Bopy") and went to live with him in Canada. James then claimed he was
once again parentless after Beupre died when James was thirteen. These falsities later became the basis of James's autobiography, Lone Cowboy. In this best-selling book, James
seemed to be purposely vague on many names, places and events and times. He explained this saying in the preface of Lone Cowboy, "Here's a long story for you with no names of
the creeks and the cow camps you might never heard of . . . and of riders you wouldn't know." To many, it cast a doubt on his autobiography. After the publication of Lone Cowboy
he slumped into a deep withdrawal and started to drink excessively. James decided to take his sketches and drawings more seriously and enrolled in the
California School of Fine Arts in San Francisco around 1919. Soon after his enrollment, he dropped out feeling it was a waste of time. Shortly after James's dropout, he took his sketches to the Sunset
magazine editors. After a second try, he sold two sketches for $25 a piece and not long after heard from C.M. Russell. James was pleased with these successful events and was hoping for a career in art for the future. Among the many books James has written is Smoky, one of his most famous books. This was eventually made into a movie. James also illustrated Smoky, using his great talent for sketching.
Alice Conradt and Will James were married on July 7, 1920, in Reno, Nevada. Once again James tried art school and enrolled at Yale University. But, again, he failed and couldn't
keep up. He began to drink and became a heavy alcoholic. James started getting drunk more often and at one time he held a loaded gun on his wife. He had no idea what he was
doing and when he became sober he broke down crying he couldn't believe what he had done. After James wrote Lone Cowboy, he had agreed to Alice leaving him. Alice and Will were
legally separated, but they never got divorced. After a car wreck caused from his drinking, it was decided that he be put in the state mental hospital in Warm Springs. On September
3, 1942, William Roderick James died in Hollywood, California. On writing his will, James put in his real name and his true background information, solving
the mystery that so many people had wondered about. Alice didn't learn about her husband's true identity until she read his will after he passed away. James's real
background was held secret from everybody until after his death. Everybody can agree on one thing, even in death James wanted to hide his true identity. II. Literary Works Smoky III. James on the Web
Lone Cowboy, My Life Story
Bucking Horses and Bucking Horse Riders
Pinion and the Wild Ones
Bronc Twisters
This essay was submitted by a student of Steve Gardiner, a teacher at Billings Senior High School in Billings, Montana.