William Frank Carver of the season they parted ways and divided the assets by the flip of a coin. Cody then formed a partnership with the promoter and showman Nate Salsbury, and the show continued as "Buffalo Bill's Wild West". Carver put his own show on tour, also billed as the "Wild West". As the two shows crisscrossed the country for the next few years, Carver and Cody engaged in legal wrangling over various issues. The foremost points of dispute were the use of the name "Wild West" and Carver's assertion that Cody still owed him $27,000, which Carver claimed he had invested
Samuel Franklin Cody 1888, at 21 years of age, Cody started touring the US with Forepaugh's Circus, which at the time had a large Wild West show component. He married Maud Maria Lee in Norristown, Pennsylvania, and the name "Samuel Franklin Cody" appears on the April 1889 marriage certificate. Cody, together with his wife, toured England with a shooting act. Maud used the stage name Lillian Cody, which she kept for the rest of her performing career. In London, they met Mrs Elizabeth Mary King (née Davis), wife of Edward John 'Ted' King, a licensed victualler, and mother of four children, Edward, Leon,