TX BIOS:  J. H. Bennet
   Selected and converted.American Memory, Library of Congress.
   
   Washington, 1994.
   
   Preceding element provides place and date of transcription only.
   
   This transcription intended to be 99.95% accurate.
   
   For more information about this text and this American Memory
   collection, refer to accompanying matter.
   
   U.S. Work Projects Administration, Federal Writers' Project (Folklore
   Project, Life Histories, 1936-39); Manuscript Division, Library of
   Congress.Copyright status not determined.
   
   0001
   
   [Folk Stuff - Rangelore?]
   
   This story was told to me by a Mr. J. H. Bennet, 74 years old, and a
   life long resident of west Texas. Mr. [Bennet?] has been in ranching
   business for himself, and is still interested in ranching.
   
   About the year 1890 there was a stir in the ranching business caused
   by Englishmen who came over here to make a lot of money out of cattle.
   Almost every cowboy was trying to get some easy money, mostly trying
   to get the job of managing a ranch for a Johnny Bull, and lots of men
   who owned large spreads were trying to sell out for a big profit.
   Despite the tales told about them, the English were pretty shrewd
   traders, and most of the fleecing was done after they had returned to
   England, and was done by dishonest foremen and managers.
   
   There was one spread up in Fisher County that was for sale at the
   time, and there had been several parties looking at it, but they had
   never been able to come to terms with the owner. An Englishman came to
   look it over, andI don't guess that he was so dumb since he seemed to
   know cattle, and seemed to realize that water was pretty important in
   this part of the country.
   
   Naturally his [DEL: [?] :DEL] clothes were different to [what?] we had
   been used to, and were pretty funny to some of the boys, and created a
   lot of laughter and fun making. However after the Englisher heard a
   couple of the boys making fun of his costume, and he liked to knocked
   their heads off with his fists, the fun sort of died out, and most of
   the fellows got to liking him. He would try anything, and when he made
   a poor hand at a job, would laugh just as hard as the rest and try
   again.
   
   He tried to talk terms with the owner, and was just like all the rest,
   couldn't seem to come to terms. Now the owner wasn't above taking
   [DEL: [?] :DEL] advantage of a sucker, and he had this man marked down
   as a chump, so he tried every way from scratch to bait him into a
   sucker deal but couldn't make a hand at it. Then one day he made a
   proposition to the Englisher.
   
   It was that he, the owner, for a standing sum of money, would deed
   over to the Englishman all the land that he (the Englishman) [DEL: [?]
   :DEL] could cover in one day, from sun up to sun down. Now it was
   specified that the buyer couldn't use a
   
     NOTE: C 12 - 2/11/41 [Texas?]
     
   0002horse buggy, but had to complete the coverage under his own power.
   
   Most of us fellows had seen the Englisher walk, and since he was long
   legged, and pretty active, we figured that the deal was fair enough
   but most of us sort of figured that there must be a nigger in the wood
   pile somewhere. The word spread around about the strange deal, and
   nearly every person who could make it was there to see the business
   transacted.
   
   The ground coverage was to take place on a Sunday, and that morning I
   don't guess any body complained about getting up early. We went in to
   see the Englishman sign the check for the amount they [DEL: [?] :DEL]
   had agreeed upon, and the Englishman said something about having to
   date the check as of Mondays as it wouldn't be legal ifit was dated on
   a Sunday. After the check and papers were signed, every body went out
   to where they had decided to start.
   
   Just as the sun came up over the hill the Englishman started out in a
   tall walk, with most of us yelling encouragements but the owner called
   him back and said, that he wasn't covering the ground, he was just
   covering little spots of it where his feet touched, and that if he
   really wanted to cover it he would have to get down and roll.
   
   The Englishman just looked at the man and turned to the house, most of
   us were [mad?] and I quit my job right then and there, but the owner
   wouldn't change, and the tough luck seemed to be with the Johnny Bull.
   Afterwards though we found out that the Englishman went to Abilene,
   and sent word to stop payment on the check. Some of the folks thought
   that this wasn't sporting, but I never could blame the Englishman, and
   most of the neighbors lost what respect they had for the chinchy
   owner, and he really sold out the first chance he got after that.

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