TX BIOS:  Rollie C. Burns
   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.
   
   00011
   
   [??]
   
   [Warren, Ivey G.?]
   
   [November 24, 1936] Interview
   
   [Lubbock County?]
   
   [District 17?]
   
   [Buffalo Tales Of Early Days?]
   
   [Pg. 1?] Tales -Anecdote [ [DEL: ? :DEL] ] [Bibliography?]
   
   Rollie C. Burns
   
   " I killed my first buffalo when I was sixteen years old," said Rollie
   C. Burns as he [sat?] in the Lubbock Courthouse and related
   experiences of early days. "It was in the spring of 1873 [DEL: , :DEL]
   I had just run off from home and joined and expedition to the
   northwest part of the states. This was a company of 110 men under the
   leadership of Elmond J. Davis, who was the only Republican Governor
   that Texas has ever had.
   
   "Well, we had [gotten?] over here in the north part of the county and
   we [began?] to run short of meat [DEL: ? :DEL] One evening and they
   sent four of us [men?] out to hunt some buffalo. They were plentiful
   then and we did not expect any difficulty in finding all that we would
   need, but after we had gone some distance from the camp and had not
   seen any, [?] men decided to [separate?] and [DEL: scater :DEL]
   scatter out. As I was the youngest one in the bunch they left me to
   stand and watch at the point where we [separated?], while they went
   on. In a little while after they left I sighted a buffalo and when it
   got close enough I [?] [?] down with my six-shooter. I got him [ [DEL:
   alright? :DEL] ][ allright? ] and that was the only one that we killed
   that evening, but [it?] furnished us with plenty of meat. We usually
   had very little trouble [DEL: [though?] :DEL] in locating and killing
   buffalo or antelopes [DEL: [?] :DEL] , so we generally had all the
   meat to eat that we wanted. The buffalo used to roam in big herds all
   [?] the plains, but about this time people [DEL: [?] :DEL] began to
   kill them solely for their hides [and?] [?] three years, from 1873 to
   1876 there [were?] [DEL: [?] :DEL] 10,000 buffalo slaughtered.
   
   " I killed a number of buffalo after that", Mr. Burns continued, " I
   have [?] horns now that i got off of buffalo that I killed, but I
   never kept but one hide. I [?] it down the size of my bed and used to
   take it with me when I went on trips over the country. We always took
   a roll of bedding with us then and slept on the ground. After I got my
   buffalo hide I would just take it and my blanket along[ .? [At?] night
   I would spread the hide on the ground, then put the blanket over it,
   [?] in [and roll up?]. It made a good bed, soft and warm too.
   
     NOTE: C12- Texas
     
   00022The buffalo looked black at a short [distance?], but [??] hair
   was examined, it was found that the main color was a beautiful brown
   [DEL: [.?] :DEL] It was only the tip ends of the hair that was black,
   but as I said, this gave the buffalo an appearance of being black. "
   
   " I killed two buffalo out here not far from Lubbock", Mr. Burns went
   on. " I do not recall the [DEL: [?] :DEL] date [DEL: [???] :DEL] , but
   it was sometime in the "80's". I killed one of them down here where
   Slaton is now and I killed the other one over here about Shallowater.
   Of / course there was not [DEL: [?] :DEL] a town at either place then.
   I was out [DEL: ridding :DEL] riding around and came up on them[ [DEL:
   [.?] :DEL] I always carried my six-shooter with me, so I shot them.
   
   " The last buffalo I killed is said to have been the last [DEL: [on?]
   :DEL] one that was killed on the plains." Mr. Burns smiles and his
   eyes twinkle when he tells this. " I took some of the meat home to my
   wife[ [DEL: ? :DEL] ] She never had eaten any buffalo meat and wanted
   to try it, so I [cut?] about 50 pounds off of the hump on the
   buffalo's back and put it on my horse and took it home. That was in
   1885, my wife and I had been married about a year then and we were
   living near Ceder Lake in Gains County, on the Square and Compass
   Ranch where I had a job as manager of the outfit[?].
   
   Mr. Burns is now 79 years old. He is well, known in Lubbock and over
   the surrounding country. He served as County Tax Collector for 14
   years and was County commissioner for Precinct No. 3 for 8 years.
   beginning his first term as Commissioner when Mr. [Wheellock's?] term
   in that office expired. 00031[???]
   
   [?], Mrs. [Wyndham?]
   
   December 9th, 1936
   
   Lubbock County
   
   District 17
   
   Pg.1
   
   BIBLIOGRAPHY: Personal Interview R.C. Burns "Rollie Burns" by Dr.
   W.C.Holden "[REMINISCINGS OF A CATTLEMAN?]"
   
   This is a story, which involves life and death among the wild animals
   on the South Plains, one which [indicator?], that after all animals do
   not differ very much from people, both having one and the same
   incentive, that of self-preservation
   
   It was in the summer of 1884, if I recall correctly, while riding the
   range I saw an antelope being run down by three coyotes.
   
   Antelopes as a rule always run in a / straight line unless they are
   being pursued, in [?] case they will eventually move in a wide circle,
   like wild horses do.
   
   As I came upon the ridge I saw the antelope running in a circle with
   one coyote in pursuit. Stopping to watch the procedure, I noticed the
   coyote that was doing the running, drop out, and [DEL: [the?] :DEL] an
   other one [DEL: [taking?] :DEL] took up the chase. This coyote made
   several circles and then he too dropped out and the third one followed
   circling process. It is beyond a doubt that these coyotes were using
   the same tactics [DEL: [which?] :DEL] that men use when running down
   wild horses. The longer the chase lasted, the smaller the circle got
   to be and the more distance the coyote could cut and thus exhaust his
   prey. Watching this scene for several hours mind you. I did not
   [interfere?] for I secretly admired the strategy and cunning which
   these animals displayed, and I felt that therefore they were entitled
   to their prey.
   
   Talk about wild horses, mustangs, I guess they were about as plentiful
   as rabbits, and they were beauties too. A friend of mine had been
   wanting me to go with him to gather some horses that had gotten mixed
   up with mustangs for some time. [Seems?] that a pal of his had taken
   about [DEL: [sixty?] :DEL] 60 cow ponies to New Mexico for him to
   sell[ [DEL: [?] :DEL] ] The horses had stampeded / and since he was
   unable to round them up, they became mixed with the [?] and had been
   running with them all this time. Well, we located them [?]
   
   [
   
     NOTE: ???
     
   ] 00042at a lake near Estacado, and we ran them down, [DEL: [?] :DEL]
   We finally got them so [??], we could drive then wherever we wanted
   them to go. In this bunch of branded horses and mustangs was a blood
   bay stallion, a beautiful animal and he was the leader. He tried his
   best to persuade the hrrd to cut loose, arching his neck, dashing by
   us, biting and kicking the other horses, trying to [scare?] them away
   from us. Well, I hate to say it, but I had to shoot him, in order for
   us to be able to manage the herd, and we didnot have [no?] more
   trouble getting the rest of the horses in the corrals. [DEL: [A
   Buzzards Roost?] :DEL]
   
   " This ain't so [?] a story, but its [true?]," One day I [saw?] a
   buzzard light on the edge of the Cap Rock and then it disappeared.
   That got my [?] [?] good and proper and I figured it had to be his
   nest. I had always wanted to see what one looked like, so I tied my
   horse/ and up I climbed. When I got to the [top?] I found a cave and
   in it a nest with a mother [buzzard?] and two young'ns. The minute she
   saw me she began flopping her flippers and to [vomit?]. I ducked just
   in time to avoid being hit and when I went closer again, she again
   began to [vomit?] at me. It was the [worst?] smelling scent I ever
   came in contact with, and I allowed that if that was her way of
   defending her [brood?], I would be the last man to [shoot?] her. I
   don't believe that anything on earth would eat a buzzard, though I am
   not so certain about coyotes.

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