TX BIOS:  Mrs. Robt. Lindsey
   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
   
   [Life history?]
   
   Phipps, Woody
   
   Rangelore,
   
   Tarrant Co., Dist. #7 [111?]
   
   Page #1
   
   FC
   
   Mrs. Robt. Lindsey, 59, was born on her father's ranch near Blum,
   Texas. While her father acted as foreman on the Blum Ranch, she and
   her brothers and sisters operated the ranch. The brothers worked with
   the cattle while she and her sisters took care of the ranch house. Her
   father took the family his father's ranch in San Saba, Texas, when she
   was about 12 Yrs. old. While living with her grandfather, a mob of
   ranchers sought to control the Co., and force other ranchers to leave.
   This reign of terror went on for a number of Yrs., and was still
   active after she married Robt. Lindsey, a cowboy, and left the co. to
   live with him. After their marriage, they spent the most of their life
   in various cities and occupations and now operate the Donna Hotel at
   10141/2 Main St., Ft. Worth, Texas. Her story:
   
   "I was born on my father's ranch, on Oct. 20, 1882. His ranch wasn't
   so large, but he was a foreman for the big Blum ranch next to our's.
   Since I saw most of my range life from between pots and pans in the
   kitchen, I can't tell much about riding wild horses, steers, and so
   on. You see, my mother died shortly after my birth, and just as soon
   an I was able to help in the kitchen, that's where I stayed the rest
   of my life.
   
   "From time to time, I've spent a short visit with different relatives
   who still run ranches, and Mrs. Poorman, who owns the old Whittenburg
   Ranch in Edwards Co., has a modern home with tile bath, hot and cold
   running water in the kitchen and bath, Starr gas for heat, a large
   store of canned goods, and every convenience that money can buy.
   
   "My running water, I had to fetch from a running branch near the
   house, and every time I brought water up, I had to carry a few sticks
   of kindling. Instead of opening a neat package of lard, I had to
   render our's in a big kettle on the fire-place.
   
     NOTE: [??????]
     
   00022We had better meat, alright, than the store meat, because when we
   needed beef, we killed one. What is, the boys would kill it. We grew
   our own hogs for our hams and bacons, and that was far better than the
   kind you buy now too. While it was better, we were always working and
   never had a moment's time we could call our own. No radios, light
   plants, automobiles, nor any other convenience possible nowadays. It's
   hard for a girl now to see just what a hard time we did have. But of
   course, we didn't realize that we were having a hard time. We just
   went ahead and worked, and that was all there was to it.
   
   "I always envied my brothers because they got to ride horses and ride
   around outside. Why, they'd ride them before they were five years old,
   and made pretty good cowboys by the time they were seven and eight.
   
   "There were still a few Indians around when I was just a small tot,
   and we'd see them sometimes after dark, snooping around over the
   place, looking for something to steal. They were bad to steal horses,
   and caused my brothers no end of trouble about them. They'd hide the
   horses in different places, and when the Indians found them, why, they
   wouldn't leave a horse for my brothers to ride. Then they'd have to
   walk over to the Blum Ranch, where my dad would give them four or five
   more, bawl them out for not taking care of them, then tell them to
   hide the horses better. I don't know whether dad had to pay for them
   or not, but I don't believe he did because the Blum people had a big
   wild horse herd on their property, which the cowboys kept pretty well
   broke up as they needed more.
   
   "From time to time, the boys had a little trouble with rustlers
   running off a few head, and they had several stampedes too, 00033but I
   couldn't give you a description of it now because I wasn't on the spot
   and it's been so long ago.
   
   We moved off the old ranch when I was around 12 years old, and went to
   San Saba county to live with my grand parents. They operated a small
   ranch, but it was one of the best grassed and watered places around
   that part of the country. That made it valuable, and several ranchers
   were always deviling grandfather to sell out. He wouldn't do it
   because that was his home, and if he sold it, he wouldn't have a home.
   
   "That was one of the reasons a bunch of men bunched up and tried to
   run other ranchers out of the county. They called that gang 'The Mob.'
   It was always hard for me to understand just why they'd do the things
   they did. Why, they killed Shorty Brown, my grandmothers' brother,
   after they'd told him to leave and he wouldn't. The whole county
   turned out to hunt him when he come up missing, and they found him
   hung to a tree in his pasture by the creek.
   
   "His son inherited the ranch, and they sent him notices to leave, but
   he wouldn't leave either. I saw these man ride by lots of times. You
   know, I'd be down on the creek, and they'd ride by on the other side
   of some timber. As long on nobody was looking at them, they didn't
   wear a mask, and I recognized several men, that were big ranchers,
   prominent men in the county. That was why I never could understand,
   because the men would be so prominent, and yet be so mean. Why, two
   different sheriffs, one by the name of Hawkins, and the other
   Atkinson, were the leaders of the 'Mob.'
   
   "They sent my grandfather notice after notice, but he wouldn't bluff.
   I saw several of the notices, and they'd have a crude scaffold drawn
   on them. 00044"They killed old Hartman's son over some little
   something or other, and buried him In the sand. The Hartmans lived
   about three fourths of a mile from us, and we'd go down there real
   often to see how they were getting along. If we went at night, they'd
   never have a light because they were afraid some of the gang would
   sneak up and shoot one of then through the window.
   
   "One day, when all of the family was going home from church, and had
   just gotten out, a shot just missed Shorty Brown's son. That was how
   bold they were, and once when my dad was in a hospital at Brownwood,
   two men came in and chatted with dad. After they left, he motioned me
   to him, and told me that they were members of the ' Mob.' Their names
   were Sam Sparks at Algeria, and a man by the name of Hudson who lived
   near dad. He promised me that some day he'd tell me the whole story
   about the 'Mob,' but he died before he got to it.
   
   "While I was in Brownwood with dad, I met a cowboy and married him.
   His name was Robert Lindsey. We've lived together ever since, but we
   haven't stayed for very long on a ranch since we married. We tried to
   run a stock farm near Brownwood not long ago, but it didn't pay, so we
   came to Fort Worth and are now running the Donna Hotel here.

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