TX BIOS: Bedford Caperton, Coke, Coleman, Concho, Hayes, Runnels Counties, TX 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 Beleifs and Customs - Occupational lore Mrs. Annie McAulay Maverick, Texas Runnels County Page 1. duplicate COWBOY LORE BEDFORD CAPERTON was born in Hayes County, May 31, 1868. [DEL: He was married to Miss Edna Little of Runnels County in 1903. :DEL] He moved [DEL: from Hayes :DEL] to Concho County in 1879 [DEL: . :DEL] , [DEL: He has lived :DEL] living in Concho, Runnels and Coleman Counties since that time. Mr. Caperton says: " I moved with my mother and two older sisters to Concho County in 1879. My father had died before we left Hayes County. We settled on the old Fountain ranch. It was right on the line of Concho, Runnels and Coleman Counties, but our home was in Concho County. My mother taught the first school that was taught in Concho County, there. "I learned to ride quite young, and I got my first job [DEL: [?????] in the early eighties. Bill McAulay ranged his :DEL] on a ranch cattle near the Colorado and Concho rivers below Ballinger. [DEL: He also :DEL] This rancher also had herds in Coke County at that time. I never made a long drive except driving herds from one range ( [DEL: Lapin :DEL] Lipan Flat to the other (Howard Draw). "I remember we were driving 300 [DEL: herd :DEL] head from [DEL: Lapen :DEL] Lipan Flat to Howard Draw once, [DEL: while I was working for Mr. McAulay :DEL] , and we had the worst stampede I ever saw. It was about the third night out. We had camped for the night in an eight - section pasture, and only placed one man to guard them at the time. It happened to be my shift when [DEL: the :DEL] they stampeded. NOTE: C12 Texas 00022Page 2. "It was about dark and we had bedded them down on a rocky sort of hillside. Most of the boys had ridden over to a nearby ranch / house to visit awhile. My horse stubbed his toe, snorted, and made quite a bit or noise, and everything being so quiet, [DEL: that :DEL] it disturbed them, and they began to stir. I tried to quiet them , but the leaders suddenly made a break, and the whole herd left out like a streak of lightning. We were fortunate though-I had often heard old cowmen say that if you could get a herd to circling on rocky ground they'd not try to break out of the circle, that they were on rocky ground. We got them started to milling, and about midnight their feet got tender and they began to slow down. We were plenty tired but mighty glad we'd been able to hold [DEL: [?] :DEL] them together. "I worked [DEL: for the [?] :DEL] a big outfit in Concho County for several years. There were five new hands who started working the first morning I did. They gave us five mounts [DEL: apeice :DEL] apiece with which to do our ridin'; and they were all broncs-young stuff that had never been ridden--well, we had bronco ridin' every morning for quite a spell. Bob Pearce and Will Wyatt, both of whom were with [DEL: [??] :DEL] this outfit , were plenty good at ridin', both bronco and general riding. They rode straight in the saddle and never rode a horse, no matter how mean or [DEL: trcky :DEL] tricky, that they couldn't manage. "Fred Baker was the best roper I ever saw. He could rope 'em runnin ', dodgin ', or anyway as slick as a button. He was with the Mulhall shows at Angelo for sometime. The Mulhall sisters were good riders, too. [DEL: I went to work again in '97 for Bill [????] :DEL] 00033Page 3. They had the biggest round-up in Concho County about that time that I've ever helped with. [DEL: Mr. McAulay was range boss. :DEL] There was an estimate of 10,000 head rounded up. We brought 'em out of the draws and creeks for miles and miles, taking several days to do it. " [DEL: There such men as Grundy Foreman, Fog and John Coffee, Bob [Littlefield?], George Wyatt, George [Criswall?], and many others not living now , in that round up. " :DEL] 0004Folkstuff - Range lore Range-lore Annie McAuley Maverick, Texas RANGE-LORE Bedford Caperton was born in Hayes County, May 31, 1868. He moved to Concho County in 1879, living in Concho, Runnels and Coleman Counties since that time. Mr. Caperton says: "I moved with my mother and two older sisters to Concho County in 1879. My father had died before we left Hayes County. We settled on the old Fountain ranch. It was right on the line of Concho, Runnels and Coleman Counties, but our home was in Concho County. My mother taught the first school that was taught in Concho County, there. "I learned to ride quite young, and I got my first job on a ranch near the Colorado and Concho rivers below Ballinger. This rancher also had herds in Coke County at that time. I never made a long drive except driving herds from one range (Lipan Flat) to the other (Howard Draw). "I remember we were driving 300 herd from Lipan Flat to 00052 Howard Draw once, and we had the worst stampede I ever saw. It was about the third night out. We had camped for the night in an eight-section pasture, and only placed one man to guard them at the time. It happened to be my shift when they stampeded. "It was about dark and we had bedded them down on a rocky sort of hillside. Most of the boys had ridden over to a nearby ranch house to visit awhile. My horse stubbed his toe, snorted, and made quite a bit of noise, and everything being so quiet, it disturbed them, and they began to stir. I tried to quiet them, but the leaders suddenly made a break, and the whole herd left out like a streak of lightning. We were fortunate though- I had often heard old cowmen say that if you could get a herd to circling on rocky ground they'd not try to break out of the circle- that they were on rocky ground. We got them started to milling, and about midnight their feet got tender, and they began to slow down. We were plenty tired but mighty glad we'd been able to hold them together. "I worked for a big outfit in Concho County for several years. There were five new hands who started working the first morning I did. They gave us five mounts apiece with which to do our ridin'; and they were all broncs- young stuff that had never been ridden--well, we had bronco ridin' every morning for quite a spell. Bob Pearce and Will Wyatt, both of whom were with 00063this outfit, were plenty good at ridin', both bronc and general riding. They rode straight in the saddle and never rode a horse, no matter how mean or tricky, that they couldn't manage. "Fred Baker was the best roper I ever saw. He could rope 'em runnin', dodging', or anyway as slick as a button. He was with the Mulhall shows at Angelo for sometime. The Malhall sisters were good riders, too. "They had the biggest round-up in Concho County about that time that I've ever helped with. There was an estimate of 10,000 head rounded up. We brought 'em out of the draws and creeks for miles and miles, taking several days to do it." *********** REFERENCE:- Bedford Caperton, Runnels County. Interviewed July 14, 1938. ************************************************************************ USGENWEB ARCHIVES NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization or persons. 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