Early Life and Background
Neill hailed from a traditional Southern family Lexington, Missouri. His father had come to Lexington from Lee County, Virginia in the 1830s. Hyman's father practiced law and would have joined the Confederacy when the American Civil War began, however, he decided he could not disavow his oath to support the Constitution and ended up joining the Union. This choice, coupled with his wife's death, caused him to move his family to Warrensburg, Missouri after the war. His date of birth is possibly unknown.
Hoodoo became a printer's devil when he was a teenager, until one day he was asked to retrieve rags needed for printing. Young Neill jumped on a freight train going by the back door of the office, saying he was leaving to "get your durn rags".
He was hunting buffalo and hauling lumber in 1872. At the time, he was known to be a small-time gambler and confidence man. He eventually went to Colorado, working in silver mines with a friend. Hoodoo and his friend ended up in Mexico to form an opera company.
Read more about this topic: Hoodoo Brown
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