Tx Bios: Booger Red  (Samuel Thomas Privett) San Angelo, TX

   Selected and converted.American Memory, Library of Congress.
   
   Washington, 1994.
   
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   This transcription intended to be 99.95% accurate.
   
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   U.S. Work Projects Administration, Federal Writers' Project (Folklore
   Project, Life Histories, 1936-39); Manuscript Division, Library of
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   00011
   
   C12 - 2/11/41 -Texas Folk stuff - Range Lore
   
   Range-lore
   
   Elizabeth Doyle
   
   San Angelo, Texas.
   
   RANGE-LORE "It is admitted by all that the movies have produced some
   wonderful horsemen but the master of them all was never filmed," so
   says the old timer in any crowd of rodeo fans. They hold one name over
   all others as the greatest bronc rider that America Has ever produced.
   Few people ever knew his real name which was Samuel Thomas Privett,
   but his nickname, "Booger Red" was famous and for a quarter of a
   century he was known to thousands as the greatest master of outlaw
   horses in America. He was born on a ranch near Dublin, Erath County,
   Texas, December 29, 1864 and as a youth seemed to possess all the vim,
   vigor, and vitality that makes the red-head outstanding. At the age of
   10 he began riding wild calves on his father's ranch and by the time
   he was 12 years of age he was widely known as the Red-Headed Kid Bronc
   Rider and was already on the road to fame. He was the youngest of a
   large family and was always trying to imitate some stunt of his older
   brothers. In attempting to make his own fireworks on his 13th
   Christmas as he had seen others do, he and a pal crammed a lot of
   00022gun powder into a hole bored into an old tree stump and when it
   exploded it killed his friend and blew him about twenty feet. His face
   was hopelessly burned and for six months he did not see daylight. His
   eyes were cut open three times and his mouth and nose twice. As he was
   being carried to the hospital in a farm wagon, a small boy friend
   hopped on the side of the wagon, looked over at Red and thoughtlessly
   remarked, 'Gee, but Red is sure a booger now, ain't he?' Thus, the
   famous "Booger Red" nickname which went with him to his grave. His
   parents died when he was 15 years old and he started out in the world
   to make his own way at the job which he loved most, that of breaking
   wild horses. None were too bad for him to tackle and he made a name
   for himself in a country where there were plenty of bronc scratchers.
   By the time he was grown he had saved enough to buy and stock a small
   ranch near Sabinal, Texas, but he soon sold that and purchased the
   wagon yard in San Angelo, Texas. He married Mollie Webb at the little
   west Texas town of Bronte, in 1895. She and their six children who
   became famous in show life were great assets to the show business
   which he established later. He died of Bright's disease at Miami,
   Oklahoma, in 1924. His widow Mrs. Mollie Webb Privett who lives with
   her aged mother in San Angelo, Texas, relates the following:
   
   "While we were running the wagon yard in San Angelo, people from all
   over the southwest would bring wild horses to Mr. Privett to ride. e
   had never been thrown and of course there were those who were envious
   and wanted to see his laurels hauled down. One man even brought along
   a camera with his outlaw horse, so sure was he that no one could ride
   him; he was going to take a picture of Booger Red as he was thrown.
   The picture was not taken and during 00033the ride the man himself
   became so excited that he threw away his camera and joined in the
   applause. Booger Red had the utmost confidence in his ability to ride
   and he wasn't afraid to back it up with cash. One year during a San
   Angelo Fair a man imported an famous young horse from Montana and bet
   his whole bank roll that Booger Red could not ride him. Other bets
   were piled up and excitement ran high. he horse was a dun color with a
   black stripe right down his back and the same black stripes encircled
   his legs. He was sixteen hands high and altogether a magnificent
   looking creature. As Booger Red mounted him he was very cautious not
   to excite him and the horse actually stood dead still for a moment,
   then Booger Red yelled to the crowd, 'Folks, he's coma all the way
   down here from Montana to get a booger on his back and here we go.'
   With that he thumbed him in the neck and the battle was on. So was
   Booger at the end of the ride but I'll have to admit that there were
   times I believe that I had as much confidence in his ability to ride
   as he did himself but this was the toughest number I had ever seen him
   tackle. The money won was used to buy the horse and we called him
   Montana Gyp. This was only one of the many battles between Booger Red
   and Montana Gyp, as each ride was only a temporary conquering and the
   spirit of Montana Gyp was never conquered. For twenty-three years
   almost daily, some times ten or fifteen times 00044daily this battle
   was renewed. Old Montana never threw Booger Red but he tried, just as
   hard the last time as he did the first. I often think of when he rode
   him here once at a San Angelo Fair. He bucked all over the grounds
   then broke through the fence and out through a bunch of horses which
   were tied on the outside. One horse became so frightened that he
   reared up and fell on his head and broke his neck. Booger was with him
   when he stopped, though, and rode him back on the tracks. As he rode
   by the grandstand he said, 'Ladies and Gentlemen, I knew I was ugly
   but I never knew before that I was ugly enough to scare a horse to
   death.' They tried to pay the man for his horse but he wanted an
   exorbitant price and refused any reasonable offer, saying that he had
   rather have nothing at all than less than he asked.
   
   "Another time at the Fair here he rode a big old white steer that was
   said to be ride proof. Many bronc busters had tried him but had been
   thrown. e was so wild that the rider had to climb up on the gate and
   drop on his as he came through. Booger Red hit on him backwards, so he
   grabbed him by the tail and pulled it up over his shoulder with one
   hand and used the other to fan himself with his big white hat, as he
   came by the grandstand. He really got a hand on that ride.
   
   "I used to have to exercise the show horses around the tracks when we
   were not showing. Ella and Roy were 00055little shavers then but I
   usually left Roy at the grandstand with Ella but not without a squall.
   He would cry to ride in the little two-wheeled carriage i drove.
   'Stick him down in the foot of that thing and let the horses out,' his
   daddy said to me one morning, 'one time will do him.' I stuck his feet
   through the slats in the bottom of the thing and put the horses out at
   their best. When we got back to the grandstand you couldn't tell what
   that kid was. His eyes, nose, and mouth were filled with dirt and as
   his daddy predicted he was cured of wanting to ride.
   
   "The children were already a s fond of horses as their father was. We
   got them a little paint horse when he was 2 years old and kept him
   until he was 25. All six of the children learned to ride on little
   Prince. He was the smartest horse I ever saw. One of his many
   intelligent acts was to stop at a railroad crossing if he heard a
   train blow, and no amount of whipping could force him to cross until
   he saw the train go by. The children could ride just as long as one
   could stick on anywhere. We kept him twenty-three years and when he
   died at Miami, Oklahoma, we buried him with much grief and ceremony.
   
   "After we bought old Gyp and he and Mr. Privett became the attraction
   at every show, the idea of a Wild West Show of our own was born in our
   minds, so we got our small possessions together and started out with
   two bucking 00066horses, a covered wagon, and two buggies. The teams
   and little Prince were just family equipment.
   
   "Mr. Privett originated the act of riding with his thumbs in his
   suspenders and looking back at the crowd. It had always been the
   custom up to then for the bronc rider to keep his eye directly on the
   mount in an effort to anticipate his next movement but Booger Red
   would tuck his thumbs in his suspenders and look all about, talking to
   his audience as he rode.
   
   "We started off showing in ball parks with a 25¢ admission charge and
   did well from the beginning. Our success always out-balanced the usual
   knocks and bumps encountered.
   
   "Booger was a proud, clean fellow, always so jovial and witty that he
   made every one,including himself, either forget his misfortune or
   regard it only as an asset to his business. His announcements were
   always wound up with, 'Come and see him ride, the ugliest man dead or
   alive, Booger Red.'
   
   "We had lots of fun and many good times. We put on a show once at a
   church in Midlothian, Texas. The "old man" (Booger Red) was always
   donating our exhibitions to some charitable cause and on this
   particular occasion a woman rider was needed and I could not fill the
   place, so Booger put on my skirt and hat and a good wig and would have
   fooled every one, I believe, if he had not failed to 00077fasten them
   on rights; but when the horse made two or three rounds, off came his
   entire disguise. The crowd went wild when they saw that it was Booger
   Red himself.
   
   "Our camp life was our most fun while we traveled in wagons, camping
   on streams and in the most beautiful places we could find. We always
   had a general clean-up, even to washing the harness at such times.
   
   "Each Saturday night we would have Kangaroo Court. There were regular
   rules to be obeyed and when they were broken the victim was put on
   trial in regular cowboy style. On one occasion the "old man" (Booger
   Red) was the offender. He had gotten about half sore one morning when
   the boys were late to breakfast and had rung a third bell after the
   first for rising, and the second for breakfast had been rung. He was
   tried, found guilty and sentenced to ten licks with the chaps as he
   was bent over a wagon tongue. He was a good sport and started off
   taking his medicine like a man, when Jack Lewis who loved him like a
   daddy ran into the guy, caught his arm and stopped the punishment.
   This created the great excitement and Jack was then tried for contempt
   of court and sentenced to double punishment. The usual punishment was
   to have to buy candy for the ladies or cigars for the men.
   
   "Many people try to say that show people are no good, etc., but I've
   seen more honesty and true principle shown by show people than many
   so-called higher-ups. I was just talking the other day about a boy we
   had with us 00088down in East Texas. We called him Texas Kid and loved
   him like one of the family. He took sick down there and Mr. Privett
   sent him to the hospital in Little Rock, Arkansas. We continued with
   our shows but one night when we had a nice crowd, we all kept feeling
   so depressed that we couldn't seem to get going. Even the band
   couldn't play right and just before we were to start everything
   the"old man" received a telegram stating that Texas id was dead. We
   all just went to pieces and Mr. Privett went out and read the message
   to the crowd, offering them a free pass the next night if they would
   excuse us and come back. They removed their hats and filed out of the
   tent in respectful order. He next night the crowd was almost double
   and not one would accept the free pass. 'Use the extra money to defray
   funeral expenses,' they would say, and that was what what was done.
   
   "Many were the kind deeds I have seen the "old man" perform. He was a
   fun loving,witty man and carried on a lot in a joking way but when it
   came right down to principle and honesty he couldn't be beat. I have
   seen him go out to a little bunch of ragged children and say, 'Boys,
   aren't you coming in the show?' 'We'd sure love to, Mr. Red,' they
   would reply,'but we ain't got no money.' 'Come on in,' he would say,
   'and bring me some money next year when I come back here.' It was
   surprising how many little shavers would walk up to him at different
   00099towns and offer him money, long after he had forgotten all about
   them. He always gave the money back to them but that was his lesson in
   honesty for them. The same was true of old or trampy people who could
   not pay their way into the show and many times I have seen him call
   back the customers for change, which in their excitement they would
   leave at the ticket window.
   
   "Booger Red was not a drinking man but he was broadminded and lenient
   with his boys. On Christmas eve, one year, he told all the boys that
   if they would perform good that night they could have four days for
   celebration, with the lid off. That was the funniest four days I ever
   spent. The "old man" (Booger Red) set a keg of beer on the Christmas
   table and every fellow had his own cup. It seemed each one had an
   extra stunt all his own to pull off.
   
   "The boys all called me Mother and they took a notion for hot biscuits
   one day. I cooked their biscuits in a dutch oven aver an open camp
   fire. 'Why, I can't cook biscuits today, boys.' I said, 'it is raining
   and will put out the fire.' 'Make 'em, Mother, make 'em,'they all
   shouted, 'we will get out there and hold our slickers over you and the
   fire while you cook them.' That was too much and I made up the dough
   while they built the fire under the canopy of slickers and we cooked
   and ate biscuits like that until every one was filled. 001010"At one
   time we were at Mill Creek, Oklahoma, during a big picnic and the
   crowd insisted that we put on a morning as well as an afternoon show.
   We tried it but somehow the usual time of day for the performances
   threw us off balance and every thing went wrong. Several riders were
   thrown and the whole thing was a flop. We felt sure that we would have
   no audience that afternoon but I guess our reputation was bigger than
   our blunders for the crowd very soon out-grew the tent and Mr. Privett
   raised the side walls and told them to stack up, all out-siders free.
   Pretty soon all the trees around the tent were filled and I believe we
   put on one of the best shows we ever produced.
   
   "Booger Red always advertised ahead of his appearances for people to
   bring in anything they could lead, drive, drag, or ship, and he would
   ride it or pay the standing forfeit of$100.00. He never had to pay off
   and there were plenty of bad horses brought in. He won twenty-three
   first prizes in all and rode at the World's Fair at T. Louis forty
   years ago when Will Rogers and Tom Mix made their first public
   appearance.
   
   "His bronc riding saddle was merely a frame or tree, certainly no
   fancy affair but almost as famous as the "old man" himself.
   
   "In a rodeo contest in Fort Worth once he won $500.00 and a fine
   saddle. When he went to the hotel 001111with the rest of the crowd he
   took both his old and new saddle with him and hastily checked the new
   saddle as his buddies were rushing him to come on and eat. He pitched
   the old one in as he rushed after the boys. 'Come back,' yelled the
   clerk, 'you haven't checked your other saddle.' 'That's all right,'
   Booger shouted back, 'if any one uglier than I comes along just give
   it to him.'
   
   "Our show was growing all the time. e now had twenty-two broncos,
   twelve saddle horses and thirty-two wagons and had become known as the
   best Wild West Show on the road. It was then that the circus sought us
   out. e sold everything except our best bucking horses and went with
   the circus. We traveled by rail then and our good old wagon days were
   over. At different times we were with Al G. Barnes, Hagenbeck-Wallace,
   Buffalo Bill,and others.
   
   "I have to laugh every time I think of an incident which took place
   while we were with the Barnes Circus. Booger had twenty-five or thirty
   bucking horses, all good performers and with them and our crew we put
   on the wild west part of the show. He wanted a strong line in the
   parade so we dressed up every thing available and put them on horses.
   Old Frog Horn Clancy was our announcer and when he came out to tell
   them of the fame of Booger Red's wife it was pitiful how he spread it
   on. In 001212truth I was not much of a rider but the way Frog Horn
   Clancy told them of the loving cups and handsome prizes I had won
   would have convinced the most skeptical. His blarney extended into
   "time" and my horse became very restless, so when he finally did close
   his speel with, 'Behold the famous Mrs.Privett in action,' my horse
   lurched forward with an impatient gesture which sent me right off on
   my head. Wonder of wonders that I was not killed but I was hardly
   hurt. Tickled at my plight, but shamed to tears, I gathered myself up
   with all possible haste and ran from the tent as the applause died
   upon the lips of my spectators.
   
   "In show life there is sadness as well as gladness; lots of fun and
   some sorrow, like when we were to show in Wichita Falls once. We were
   approaching the town and were met out on the highway by Pat Flynn's
   brother who knew we were coming in and who had come on out to meet his
   brother in an effort to persuade him to quit the bronco riding
   business. Booger Red had taught little Pat to ride and he was good,
   also crazy about riding, much to the objection of his family. We were
   all crazy about Pat and hated to see him leave us but he had already
   promised his brother that he would go home with him the next day. A
   few hours before the show we all began to feel some of our old signs
   of depressed feelings returning. We couldn't account for 001313this
   but it was so noticeable that we all commented on it. Pat's brother
   begged him not to ride that night. 'Ah, just this last time.'begged
   Pat, 'you know we are going home tomorrow and I want to ride for the
   last time.' 'O.K.,' said his brother, 'if you will let me hold the
   horse.' Mr. Privett knew he did not know how to stub a horse and he
   insisted that he keep out of it. Nothing else would do him however,
   and in getting off to an awkward start the horse became excited and
   broke away in a wild run, tangling himself in the rope and falling.
   his slung little Pat's head against a tent pole and crushed his skull.
   Feeling the sense of depression that I had before the show began, I
   had remained at the wagon. When I noticed the awful stillness, the
   hushed exclamations, and then the agonized groans of the audience, I
   knew the thing had happened but who the victim was I was not to know
   until Thomas, my son, came running out to the wagon and said, 'Oh!
   Mama, little Pat is killed.' He was not really dead right then but he
   never regained consciousness and died about two hours later. Mr.
   Privett rushed to him and held his bleeding head on his lap until the
   inquest was held. No means of cleaning ever removed that dying blood
   from the "old man's" chaps and jacket. The body was sent to the boy's
   home town in Oklahoma and we all felt that we had lost one of our best
   boys. 001414"While we were with the Barnes Circus, Mr. Privett had
   Alexander here in San Angelo make him a fine silver mounted saddle and
   ship it to him. Of course it had "Booger Red" and our address, all
   over the big wooden box. hen it arrived at the station and was being
   unloaded the children all gathered around and began saying to each
   other, 'Booger Red has arrived, he's in that box.' Excitement grew
   until I really believe some of the grown-ups believed it too. Booger
   Red enjoyed the joke so much that he would walk around the box and
   tell the children that they should have Booger Red some thing there to
   eat when he came out, that he would be hungry. By the time the box was
   opened the kids had enough peanuts, candy, milk, and sandwiches there
   to feed several people. When the box was opened and the saddle taken
   out, the look of disappointment on the poor little kiddies' faces was
   pitiful. he "old man" enjoyed the joke so much that her repeated it in
   several towns where he showed.
   
   "Booger had many wonderful horses and riders in his different shows
   but always it took Montana Gyp and Booger Red to produce the star act
   in any show. We kept the old horse over twenty years and when he died
   we had another funeral and the family grief was nor far different from
   our experience when little Prince died.
   
   "Some of our famous horses were: Flaxy, Moon, Texas Boy, Rocky
   Mountain Steve, Black Diamond, Grey 001515Wolf, Hell Set, and old Pay
   Day. Texas Boy was the one that never pitched twice the same way and
   Booger Red maintained a standing offer of $50.00 per minute to any one
   who stayed on him but he was the only one ever to win the money. They
   were all bad horses but none ever equalled old Montana Gyp with the
   "old man". He held one grudge against the horse though, until his
   dying day. In 1915 he won the world's championship at the San
   Francisco World's air and received a $750.00 silver mounted saddle and
   one day after he had ridden his old horse down and thought he was
   conquered for that once, he made an extra lunge just as the "old man"
   was dismounting, causing the rowell of his spur to make an ugly
   scratch across the seat of his beautiful saddle. He often remarked
   that he would never forgive the horse for this one deed.
   
   "Booger Red's last performance was at the Fat Stock Show at Fort Worth
   in 1924 justa short time before he died. He had retired and went to
   Fort Worth just to see the show. To keep from being recognized he wore
   a cap instead of his big white hat, and low quarters instead of boots
   and slipped in on the top seat of the grandstand. He was enjoying the
   performances when trouble arose in the arena with an outlaw horse. The
   rider was thrown and the crowd yelled, 'Give us Booger Red.' He sat as
   still as a mouse until 001616an old lady at his elbow recognized him
   and shrieked, 'Here he is!' The crowd went wild and would not be put
   off. He made his way calmly down through the audience until he reached
   the bottom step where he was hoisted on the shoulders of the cheering
   throng and carried to the arena. He rode the old horse to a finish and
   many said it was the prettiest riding they ever saw. He was at that
   time probably the oldest man on record to make such a ride.
   
   "He had lots of trouble during the last years of his performances with
   Movie Companies trying to steal pictures of him. Many were the times
   he would start into the arena and see a machine set up in some obscure
   place, but they never tricked him. If he had lived until the picture
   business became more prominent he would have been as famous in the
   Movie world as he was in the show life of his day.
   
   "He always thought of his family first and was a kind husband and
   father, doing all the good he could wherever he was.
   
   "He died in March 1924, at Miami, Oklahoma, with these words on his
   lips, 'Boys, I'm leaving it with you. Take good care of mama and
   little Bill. Always be honest, for it pays in the long run. Have all
   the fun you can while you live, for when you are dead you are along
   time dead.' 001717"After his death the children and I went back to the
   Buchanan Shows and tried to carry on but it was never the same any
   more. Ella, the eldest girl who had done a beautiful riding and roping
   act with her father for sometime, rushed from the arena in tears the
   first time she attempted to put on the act without her father.
   
   "All the children were taught the riding and roping acts and were
   called famous by many.
   
   "We are all pretty well scattered now though, Ella married one of her
   father's performers by the name of Linton and they are with the Tom
   Mix Circus in California. Roy never went back to the show after the
   World War. He has a nice family and is in the oil business in Electra,
   Texas. Thomas is with the Ringland Circus in New York. Luther is in
   California. Alta, who suffered a broken leg in the Hagenbeck-Wallace
   Circus, married a Mr. Fuch and lives in San Angelo; and Little Bill as
   we all call the baby who weighs only 115 pounds, trains race stock on
   the Santa Anita track at Arcada, California.
   
   "Thomas and a bunch of boys went to Belgium in 1937 and put on a Wild
   West Show in answer to a request from there and when they were through
   showing they wouldn't pay them. They had to sell all of their saddles
   and equipment to live until relatives could send for them. 001818It
   cost over $100.00 to get Thomas back across the "pond."
   
   "They then attempted to pull the same stunt with Tom Mix but before he
   started he asked them to put up a forfeit. When they refused he broke
   up the plans and never went.
   
   "I've never learned to drive an automobile. I didn't take any hat off
   to any man when it came to handling a team but I tell them when they
   start making cars without fenders so I can see where my wheels are
   going I will learn to drive then."
   
   001919
   
   Range-lore
   
   Elizabeth Doyle
   
   San Angelo, Texas
   
   BIBLIOGRAPHY
   
   Mrs. Mollie Privett, San Angelo, Texas, interviewed, February 8, 1938.

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