TX BIOS:  Miss Martha Mather
   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
   
   Folk Stuff Range Lore
   
   Range-lore
   
   Ruby Mosley
   
   San Angelo, Texas
   
   Page one different versions same story.
   
   RANGE-LORE
   
   Living in Williamson County when Texas was hardly more than a
   wilderness, Miss Martha Mather recalls some of the excitement of
   pioneer days:
   
   "My father was a good manager and became very prosperous. He owned and
   operated a grist mill, flour mill, saw mill, blacksmith shop, post
   office, and general store in the village in which we lived.
   
   "When the Civil War broke out he went to enlist but government
   officials realizing that he would be of greater service at home,
   refused to enlist him in the army.
   
   "In those days Texas was somewhat made up of outlaws, evading
   punishment in some other state. Their children would say to other
   children, "What did your father do that he had to come to Texas?"
   
     NOTE: C12 - Texas.
     
   00022Then they would relate criminal stories that had brought their
   fathers to this state.
   
   "In those days, Indians were still pilfering in the wooded sections of
   Texas. I remember one particular tragedy that happened to some of our
   friends in Lampasas County. Marcus Skaggs, Benton Skaggs and a friend
   of theirs put their oxen to the wagon and went to my father's mill to
   have some corn ground into meal. They were young boys, Marcus was 16,
   Benton 12, and their friend was about the same age. On their return
   they were stopped on the way, by some Indians. Having no protection
   except the forest on each side of the road, they ran into the densest
   part of the forest. The Indians emptied the meal out of the sacks and
   killed the oxen but didnot follow the boys into the woods. From their
   hiding place, the boys had watched until the Indians disappeared, then
   went across the road for a better view. They entered the more thinly
   wooded section of the forest and were followed by the Indians and that
   was when the trouble began. The little friend was shot through the
   temple and Marcus was shot in the hip. It was left to Benton the 12
   year old lad to get aid. Night was drawing near, the two boys wounded
   and the oxen dead, and realizing something 00033must be done he
   started home. Choosing the nearest route possible, he ran up the
   river, and came to the dead bodies of two of his neighbors. The
   Indians had killed them and taken their guns. It was these guns which
   had been used in wounding the Skaggs boy and his friend. This
   frightened the boy still more and he ran to the home of one of the
   dead men. Here he stopped long enough to drink a cup of coffee, but
   didnot tell the woman of her husband being dead. He rushed home as
   fast as he could and [DEL: and :DEL] obtained help to go after the
   wounded boys. Marcus recovered but his little friend died. The day
   following the tragedy, the bodies of the dead men were carried to
   their homes for burial.
   
   "Fort Croghan was an Indian trading post; they came to that post from
   all parts of the wilderness to do their trading and begging. They
   would venture down to our tents and each day a different Indian did
   the talking, pretending that the others could not talk. They were very
   fond of my father, mother, and the baby. They would beg mother to let
   the baby go riding with them, but were always refused. They would give
   her anything they possessed, and when she died, at the age of two
   years, she had collected about two yards of Indian beads. Knowing that
   mother liked honey they insisted that she must have some of theirs.
   When she went after it she saw a green bag hanging 00044from a limb of
   a tree, and as she drew nearer she decided that it must be a swarm of
   bees, she could see something flying around, but to her amazement she
   found that it was a bag of honey put up in a deer hide and was covered
   with green flies.
   
   "Father often went hunting with the Indians. He said he wasn't afraid
   of their scalping him, because he was baldheaded. Father had a
   grind-stone which caused much excitement among them. They couldnot
   understand its use. They would watch my father grind his axe, then
   they would turn the stone with their fingers pressed against it until
   they would bleed. Sometimes they ground their fingers to the bone,
   just to see what it was all about.
   
   "Mexicans would often come over and take the Indian squaws into
   Mexico. Then the Indians would go over and get their wives; some were
   Indians and some were Mexicans, and this caused a mixture of the two
   races. There was a big Comanche Chief named Yellow Wolf. They called
   him that because he was half Mexican. Old Yellow Wolf had a big sore
   on the side of his stomach and he would say, 'This side no bueno,
   Mexican---this side mas bueno, Indian.'
   
   "When I was a little girl no woman's dress was complete without hoops,
   and at the age of eight I decided that I, too, must wear them. My
   desire became so strong 00055that I consulted mother and she sent me
   to the store to consult my uncle who was working in the store. I had
   to beg and cry before he would let me have them. I put them on and
   went prancing up the street before my little friends. They were much
   to large and I was teased by the observers, which brought more tears
   to my eyes. Old Granny, our negro nurse, made them over to fit me and
   then I strutted some more. But when I decided to sit down the hoops
   flew up and gave me a lick on the nose that knocked me over. Old
   Granny came to my rescue, as usual, and taught me how to pull the
   hoops up in the back before seating myself.
   
   "When I came to San Angelo, school land could be procured by paying a
   small fee. Guides were located in San Angelo and as new-comers arrived
   these guides would help them get located for $100.00. The confusion
   began when more people came than land was available for. In order to
   get the usual $100.00 for the location, the guides often located
   new-comers on another man's property. Of course this caused much
   trouble and many killings, so I decided to buy my land, and that was
   just what I did."

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