For 28 years Montana's candidate for the U.S. Capitol's Statuary Hall has been its late, beloved cowboy artist, Charles M. Russell, famed for his bucking broncs, whooping Indians, buffalo hunts and roundup scenes, which recorded the disappearing Wild West with vigor and validity. But it seemed that Charlie would never get to Washington; somebody always cut him off at the pass.
The first attempt to honor the cowboy painter came a cropper in 1931 when his widow telegraphed Montana's governor that the winning model of the seven submitted in a competition for a statue was "unlike the real Charlie Russell." World War...
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