I laughed when I saw this ....
"Bill probably went to the Indian reservations himself to sign up the Indians for his show that year. That these "sign up" days were great occasions in the lives of the Indians is evident from a description attributed to Death Valley Scotty:
The ceremony of selecting the Indians for the show became an annual spring affair, and when he could Cody selected the lucky individuals himself. The Indians, five or six hundred of them, would come to Rushville (a Nebraska town near the South Dakota border) where the selections were made, and they came in their finest buckskins, feathers, and beads. They were quite a sight in their grand finery. Only a small part of that number could be used, and the ones not chosen felt pretty bad about it. The government required the Colonel, or his representative, to post bonds that the Indians would be well fed while away and that they would be returned to the reservation in good health and a new suit of clothes.16"
"C.D. O'Kieffe, who lived in the area in the eighties, said, "I'll never forget seeing Buffalo Bill come each spring to get his braves. They left in paint and feathers and returned, after a year, in Prince Albert coats, Stetsons, patent leather shoes and long, well-groomed glossy hair."17" [Yost. Buffalo Bill, Chicago, p. 143]