Tarrant County, Texas - Bios: Avery N. Barrow
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	TX BIOS:  Avery N. Barrow, Fort Worth 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 Gauthier. Sheldon F      
Rangelore. Tarrant Co., Dist,. #7 29> Page 1   FC 240
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Avery. N Barrow, 77, living at 3011 E, Runnels St. Fort Worth, Texas,
was born Mar 1st, 1860, in Jasper Co. Texas.

His parents moved to Beaumont, Texas, while Avery was an infant and
there his was reared. His father operated a ferryboat, running out of
Beaumont on the Sabine River. The son, during his childhood, come in
contact with cattlemen who patronized his father's ferry and he
developed a desire to engage in work that was connected with
horsemenship.

He enjoyed riding horses and at the age of 16 was a good rider. He
secured work with the "Tonk" Baker horse ranch which was located in
McLennan Co, where he remained for five years. After leaving the Baker
ranch he went to Shakelford Co. and worked on the Hardy Roberts horse
ranch. After two years on the Robersts ranch he retunred to McLennan
Co. and worked for the McDermott cattle ranch where he spent one year
and then worked for the [?] horse ranch at which place he ended his
ranch career.

His story of range life follows:

"I reckon that I am an old timer, I was born in Jasper Co, Texas, on
the 1st day of Mar, 1965. I have lived in Texas all my life and the
early part of it, after I was 16 years old, I earned my chuck and bunk
on the range.

"The year following my birth, my folks moved to Beaumont, Texas, my
father operated a ferryboat on the Sabine River. There were a lot of
cow and hoss outfits in that country then and I naturally seen lots of
the critters and cowhands. The work appeale to ne end I would go
without a meal rather then miss a chance to straddle a hoss.

"When I reached the age of 16, I calculated that I had all the
schooling I could ever use and pestered my folks into allowing me to
quit school and become a cowhand and they finally told me to go end
get my fill of the life.

00022

"I was a good rider then, because I had tackled everything I could get
a chance at. Handling hosses came natural to me and a hoss ranch was
the kind of a outfit I hankerd for. I hit out for what use to be
calculated as the biggest hoss ranch in the country them days. It was
the "Tonk" Baker outfit, I dont know what his proper first name was,
but everybody called the ramrod "Tonk". The range was an open range
and located in McLennan Co. The number of hosses that he had running
on that range has slipped my mind, but it was over 1000. There were 15
hands employed all the year roud and sometimes extra hands was hired.
The brand was the shape of a jewsharp, branded on the critter's jaw.

I landed at the outfit a real greener, as far as the work is
concerned, in 1876 and hit "Tonk" up for a job. He eyed me up one side
and down the tudder and sez:

"Have you worked on a hoss ranch?"

"No", sez I." But can ride 'em"

"We need hoss handlers on this outfit, son, I am sorry I can't use
You".

"Well, that took my feathers down and I sez to him:

"I have dragged clear from Beaumont way, to join your hoss outfit. Let
me nest here I don't care what you pay me".

"Kid, you must hanker after hosses", he sez. "I hate to disappoint a
kid so bent on being with the critters, so I'll see what you can do".

"I stayed on the outfit for five years and when I quit there I could
ride a hoss with the best among the rawhides.

00033

"There were about 15 hands, all old rawhides, with the outfit and they
took charge of me. They saw that I was shaped up a bunk and got me all
set for work on a hoss ranch.

"I could not get to sleep that night for thinking about the morning
when I would start out as a sure enough hossman. Morining come and we
had chuck, as the boys sez, put the feed bag on. After chuck the
top-screw showed me my string of five hosses that I would work with
along with my own hoss that I had rode to the outfit. Blacky Smith, he
was the top-screw, sez kid, "let your hoss rest and mount that black
critter for today". I could tell by the glent in his eye that they
were reckoning on some op'ra fun watching me ride that hoss. I felt
sure of myself and was anxious to get straddle of the critter.

"We snubbed the hoss and I lit in the tree. Now, the saddles those
days were not like the kind used now. They were not a great deal
better than the bare back. Just as soon [?] hit that tree that hoss
evelated high. It hawgrowed and sunperched for about a quarter mile,
with me a-fanning its ears with my sombrero. When it settled down I
jiggled back where the crew were watching me put on my act. I sez,
"Blacky, I am ready to get going tell me what to do:. The ramrod was
a-standing there too and him a busting a gut laughing at the top*screw
and the others, because they got fooled on the greener kid's riding
ability.

"The ramrod sez, "Kid you rode on of the pitchingest hosses that we
are working in my [?]. You sure enough have a nest with my outfit.
We'll make a real hoss wrangler out of you, and they did. 00044All
them hossy-stinks took pain, from that morning on, to show me all the
tricks they knew and in a month's time I was wrangling with the best
of the outfit.

"The range was an open one and it was a prarie country, except for
brush along the creeks. We had to keep riding the line fairly well to
keep the criters from roming off too far. There was night riding to
do, but it was not like riding with a bunch of cows. With hosses the
stampeds is something waddies do not have to fret about. The animals
will not stampede, except in extreme cases, such as a prairie fire or
the likes.

"Hosses have the habit of grazing far into the night and dont bed down
like cows. Long after mid-night they will lie down for a spell.
Because of the nature of the hoss, it was not hard to keep the animals
[?] at night. Two hands would work together and the night was split
into two shifts.

"On the hoss ranch we hossy-stinks hit the bunks most every night,
except at times when we went a distance hunting strays. Our hardest
work was when we [?] to cut out a bunch, these wild critters could run
and would give us a chase at times and some of them a hell of a chase.
We would have to work in relays and wear them down to catch some of
the stallions."

"I enjoyed the work and was [?] a great crew. All the hands were
sociable fellows and made life interesting for each other.

"At night, sitting around the camp, there always was some one pulling
something for amusement. The night of my 00055first day at the camp I
was arrested. The hands had what they called a paririe-dog court.
There was a sheriff, judge and the court's mouth-piece. There were a
set of rules which they read to me all concerning the conduct around
the camp and how we waddies should treat each other. There were fines
for breaking the rules. I was charged with deciving the stinks,
because I did not act like a greener and take a spill off the black
hoss. I had a right to select someone to defend me. I selected Murray,
because his name caused me to reckon that he would be able to talk and
do a fair job of chinning in at my behalf. Those mouth-pieces, as they
were called, stayed at it an hour arguing the case and hearing the
evidence. To hear them waddies one would think that I had committed an
awful crime. Of course I was found guilty and fined a round of drinks,
to be paid the first time we dragged to town.

"Story telling and agitating the cat gut, also a little singing was
other means of passing the time. Murry was one of the best story
tellers in the bunch. He use to tell one that I have never forgot
because it stuck me so funny. I will try and tell it as he did:

"'I was working down near the Mexican border, for a cattle outfit
several years ago. In that country there were a lot of javeline you
could see them everwhere. They are liking unto our Texas wild hawg,
but not worth a hoot for chuck, because their meat is as tough as a
piece of rawhide. You can tell a javeline from a wild hawg by the fact
that a javeline does not have a tail.

"'One day a tenderfoot, from the East, dropped in with 00066lots of
jack that he wanted to invest and hankered to put into critters.

"The tenderfoot and out [?], whose name was Murphy, agreed on a price
for the critters and closed a deal and the tenderfoot was taking
charge of the outfit and he noticed the large number of javeline
nosing around. The animals were so plentyful that they were a
nuisance. The tenderfoot sez to Murphy:

"'Whom do all these hawgs belong to?'"

"'The belong on this ranch, but I plumb forgot to prattle about the
critters so I supose that I will have to move the herd"', Murphy sez
to him.

"'How many [ofethose?] critters are there on the place?'"

"'I reckon about 300. I do not bother about branding the critters with
an iron, but just cut their tails off, that is my mark"'

"'What will you take for the herd,"' the greener asked.

"'I don't know just what to ask. They are worth, perhaps, around $2.
What will you offer?"'

"'I'll give you $1 a head and accept your word as to the number."'

"'Call it 200 and the deal is closed"', the ramrod came back at the
tenderfoots.

'"Well, sir, he paid off and was happy over getting over 200 hawgs for
$200.

"'We waddies were present while the deal was made, but kept our trap
closed, because it was too good to bust and did not 00077want to take
the silver lining out of his cloud.

"'A day or two after the deal was closed the new ramrod took a jiggle
over the range to see what he had bought and when he returned he sez
to us waddies:

"'I surely made a good deal for those hawgs. I am sure I saw around
500 of the critters"'

"'Yes"', we said, "'Murphy never paid much attention to those
animals"'. We waddies were hard put to keep our face from slipping,
but stayed put on the matter.

"'The greener was a sociable fellow and about a week later took a
jiggle over to Mason's Ranch to get acquainted and do some chinning.
At Mason's place he sees a lot of javeline and sez:

"'I see a lot of my hawgs on your range"'.

"'What hawgs are you refering to?"' asked Mason.

"'Those with the tails off. These are mine, that is my hawg mark. I
bought it from Murphy"'.

"'Oh, I see, I have been wondering where them critters belong. I would
be quite pleased to have you take the critters. I sure don't want
your, stock".

"'I'll see about getting the animals tomorrow"', he promised.

"'When the new ramrod returns to the ranch he told the top-screw to
give us riding orders ordering those critters fitched from Mason's
place over to his range.

"'That was below the dignity of a cowhand so we all quit. I never did
hear how the tenderfoot come out with the javeline. 00088"One other
pleasant thing about the jewsharp outfit was the camp cook. We had a
good one, "Dutch" Meyers took pride in his work. To get him doing
extra touches all we had to do was swell him on his meals. He would
raise like a boil and take extra pains fixing the chuck. Murry use to
say, 'the belly-cheater became very arduous if you give him [?] [?]
chinning.

"Dutch made some of [DEL: th :DEL] the best sour-dough bread I have
ever ate. Bread, beans, stewed dried fruit, was what we lived on. The
cooky would fix the beans different ways. He could fix a Boston baked
dish of beans that was fitting to eat, also, fried pies out of the
stewed fruit. When it comes to broiling steaks, "Dutch" had the nack
down pat. He would get his camp fire hot slap the steaks into it for a
minute, which seared them on the outside. Then he would pull the meat
away and let it cook slowly. Of course the beef was off of a fat
yearling a good meat to start off with.

"Some times when talking about the good beef we waddies had on a hoss
range, people will ask me where we got the beef. The facts are, for
the most part it was slowelk. The hoss men found beef on their range
and cowmen found hosses on their range, so 'twas tit for tat.

"When we needed a yearling and saw one that looked like the kind we
wanted, it would have been too much trouble to drag all over the range
country hunting for the man that owner the brand. [?] way we hossy
stinks had beef.

"After the first six months I did nothing but wrangle hosses. "Tonk"
sold hosses all over the country. We would bust 00099a bunch than the
crew would drift the herd to places where an order was to be filled.

"On the jewsharp range there was a mixture of hosses, saddle, work
hosses and also jacks were breed.

"I wrangled many hosses in my day and never failed to bust one if it
was not loco. I got a hold of a few loco animals and those animals
would pitch until they were pitched down. When they gathered a little
substance, away they would go again. If a wrangler stays with one of
those critters long enough the animal would stay pitching until it was
seloned and worthless. When we looped one of those critters and it
threw its ears back, also turned its eyes inward until you could see
nothing but the whites, then look out. As a rule it is a waste of time
and the critter would brand you if it had a chance. If such critter
puts you into a spill, you want to draw a gun the first thing, because
9 chances out of 10 it will coming a you and paw you to death.

"The regular Texas cow pony was bread from the original Spanish hoss
and mixed. That critter could never be stopped from bucking at times.
That critter could be genteled to where it would come to its rider
when called, eat out of the riders hand, in fact, be a regular pet but
had to pitch at times just to be pitching.

"My way of wrangling was the short route. After the hoss was roped and
saddled I would mount in and start fanning its ears with the first
jump. If a wrangler keeps a-fanning a critter it will get discouraged
a quit pitching sooner than if you lay off of its ears. 001010"I rode
any of the piching animals and had the reputation for being the top
rider of that section. What [?] my reputation was because I rode a
hoss one day in McGregor that had a notch in its tail. In the forenoon
of the day the hoss had pitched a nigger, Tom was his name, and Tom
was a top rider. He went into a spill and the fall killed him, because
he fill so hard he had his neck broke. I saw the hoss pitching and I
reckoned that I could ride the animal. I told the crowd that the hoss
could be busted and they dared me to ride it.

"As a rule a hoss will be more stubborn after it has put out a rider
on the ground. So I expected some real pitching and got it. That
animal rocked and jared my fins a-plenty. I mounted and at once began
to fan the critters ears with my sombrero. If one knows how to handle
a sombrero you can sting the ears a-plenty. That hoss pitched with me
until we were a mile from where we started. He had real hump and I
could not see head or tail, but I was reaching its ears with my
sombrero every landing. The critter finally decided that it was
fighting a lost cause and settled down. That act gave me a top
standing in that section.

"After a spell of five years on the jewsharp outfit I quit and dragged
out to Shakelford Co, and joined up with Hardy Roberst's hoss outfit.
His brand was the letter R. I nested there there for two years. I
don't know how many hosses he had. They were all over that section and
when we wanted any we just cut the number out of the herd.

"I wrangled there and the work was about the same as on the jewsharp.
About the only differences was we had to watch our 001111gentled stock
close against Indian rustlers. The would rustle hosses if they had a
change, but we never lost any that we knew of.

"The best rider that I have ever watched on a hoss was a negro named
Bob Sanders. A hoss just coundn't put that nigger off the leather and
Bob could play while the hoss was doing its best. There is where Bob
had the best of me. I had to tend to my knetting while he could do
funny work. However, I saw him leave the leather one time. It was
after a heavy rain and the creek was up. Bob was busting a wild
critter near a sheer bank and that critter was acting loco. It was
evelating plenty high and sunperching. The animal went up one [?] and
when it came down it was over the edge of the bank and landed in the
water, Bob quit the critter pronto and swam for shore.

"After I quit the Robert's outfit I dragged back to the McLennan Co.
section and joined up with the McDermott cattle outfit, whos brand was
MD. The outfit was a good size ranch and we lived with the chuck wagon
most of the time. We were supplied with the same kind of chuck as was
furnished on the hoss outfits.

"There was a good crew of boys with the outfit. John Goodie, Bob Smith
my brother Bob and others I can't think of the names. We drove a lot
of cattle to Young Co, where the same outfit had another range.

"While on one of the drives I saw and worked one of the worst stampeds
that I ever witnessed. We were about 20 miles away from our home range
the first night. We had drifted and critters hard as usual the first
day to get the animals a good 001212distance from the home range. The
weather was quiet with lots of stars in the sky and we could see quite
pert. The critters were bedded down and all looking peaceful. I was on
the first night riding shift and was feeling real sociable about how
pretty everything was shaped up.

"Suddingly I heard a critter snort and sez, 'trouble is sure
a-coming'. I had no idea that it was going to be like it was. As a
rule on a clear quiet night it is easy to get the animals put into
milling and than stop moving. With that snort 500 critters jumped to
there feet and were off like a bunch of race hosses. Those animals
acted plumb loco. I saw critters run into trees and be knocked down
and be stomped to death. They were running [DEL: so :DEL] fast and
would not stop for anything. It was either them or the object. If a
rider went down he sure [?] would be buzzard food.

"When it was over with we had lost so many, some being stomped and
others strayed, that a party of waddies had to go back to the range
and get some more critters.

"The snort of that one cow put the scare into those critters. What it
said with that snort is hard to tell, but it must have been plenty.
Now it may have been scared by some varmine. There was lots of wolves
in that country then and it may have been a wolf that run into the
herd. Anyway all that we know about what started the herd was the
snort of that old cow.

"Hunting wolves was one of our pass-times. The ramrod 001313had wolf
hounds and some of the waddies also owned hounds. When we had time we
would hunt wolves and bet on each others hound. Those hounds knew
their wolf business and I have seen some pert fights. No one hound
would be able to best a lobo, but two or more would team up on one.
While one dog was after the wolf from one side a hound would come in
from the opositte side and in that method would slash the wolf until
it was down. Quite often we would shoot the wolf before the fight was
over to save the dogs, but not until after wolf was about in. We
wanted to see all the scrapping we could.

"After about 18 months with the outfit I quit and went to my old love
the hoss ranch. I joined the Bonham outfit owned by [?]. It was like
the other hoss outfits and nothing unsual happened there.

"It was not a large outfit and the hands consisted of June, Bud, Bob
and Frank Mason, sons of the ramrod. Then there was Jim Patterson and
myself as steady hands. After a year or so with the Mason outfit I
quit so that I could get married.

"Among all the waddies I worked with and seen do their stuff, the best
rider was nigger Bob Sanders. Booger Red was the best roper with Sandy
Smith, on the Roberts outfit, right next to him. I never saw him miss,
or a critter hornswoggle him. Now in the shooting line there were so
many good shots I can't say which was the best.

"Just one more story about roping that Sandy Smith told us waddies
while sitting around the camp one night and 001414that will end my
chatter. He sez:

"'While rattling about roping one night sitting in the bunkhouse of an
outfit up in Colo, I was telling the waddies that I could rope any
animal that walk on two or four feet. Now, as you know roping a
critter means to a cowhand that you not only loop it but control the
animal

"'One of the crew spoke up and sez, 'Smith I'll put up some jack that
you can't rope a grizzle bear'".

"'I thought for a moment and then sez: 'How much jack do you want to
put up to sez that I can't?'"

"'He came back at me and sez,' 25 bucks of Uncle Sam's money'".

"'I took the bet and had it rit out on paper, that Smith bets $25 that
he can put the loop on a grizzle bear and control it'"

"'Now, as all persons know that has any acquaintance with the grizzle
no human side of hell can rope and take control of a grizzle beer. Tis
said that for or five waddies can do the job. So the boys thought that
I had gone loco and they were thinking rig t, except for one part of
the bet.

"'In the mountain section of that country ggrizzle bear were not hard
to fine. After the bet had been set on paper we all, started out to
find the bear and that did not take us long and I went in to do my
stuff.

"'I rode up to roping distance and the bear was running trying to get
away. I put the loop on it and it then saw that it was cornered, which
caused the bear to change its mind. That 001516critter made for me
quicker than a flash of sky-fire. Of course you boys know that I did
not dare to start the horse because the bear would pull the horse
instead of the pulling the bear down. It had the rope in one paw and
its teeth cleared for action. Again you know what power the bear has
in its front legs. I guess the boys watching were saying there goes
Smith to the eternal range. Well, I just pulled my .44 and put two
shots into the beer's head hitting it between the eyes. I then rode up
to the crowd end sez 'boys there is the bear all roped and under my
control.

"'They all looked sort of cheap and said tht 'hereafter they would get
a lawyer to rit the bet understanding made with me"'. 00161Folk [?] --
Range lore

Gauthier, Sheldon F.

Rangelore

Tarrant Co., Dist. 7.

Page 1

FC 29 Three version

Avery N. Barrow, 77, 3011 E. Runnels St., Ft. Worth, born Mar. 1,
1960, at [?] Co., Tex. From infancy he was reared at Beaumont, Tex.,
where his father operated a ferry-boat on the Sabine River. During
childhood Avery came in contact with cattlemen and developed a desire
for work connected with horsemanship. At 16 he was a good rider and
worked an the Tonk Baker horse ranch in McLennan Co. After 5 years he
went to Hardy Roberts horse ranch in Shackelford Co. for two years and
then a year on the McDermott cattle ranch.

"I have lived In Texas all my life and the early part of it after I
was 16 years old I earned my chuck and bunk on the range. The year
following my birth in Jasper Co., my father moved to Beaumont and
operated a ferry-boat on the Sabin River. There were a lot of cow and
hoss outfits in that country then and I naturally seen lots of the
critters and cowhands. The work appealed to me and I would go without
a meal rather than miss a chance to straddle a hoss.

"When I was 16 I calculated I had all the schooling I could ever use
and pestered my folks into allowing me to quit and become a cowhand
and they finally told me to go and get my fill of the life. I was a
good rider because I had tackled everything I could get a chance at.
Handling hosses came natural to me and a hoss ranch was the kind of a
outfit I hankered for. I hit out for what was the biggest hoss ranch
in the country them days, the "Tonk" Baker outfit. I don't know what
his proper first name was but everybody called the ramrod "Tonk". The
range was an open range and located in McLennan Co., the number of
hosses that he had running on that range has slipped my mind but it
was over a 1000. There were 15 hands employed all year around and
sometimes extra hands were hired. The brand was the 00172shape of a
Jewsharp branded on the critter's jaw.

"I landed at the outfit a real greener as far as the work is concerned
in 1876 and hit "Tonk" up for a job. He eyed me up one side and down
the tudder and sez: "Have you worked on a hoss ranch?" "No", sez I,
"But can ride 'em." "We need hoss handlers on this outfit, son, I'm
sorry I can't use you."

"I have dragged clear from Beaumont way," I sez, "to join you hoss
outfit. Let me nest here I don't care what you pay me."

"Kid you must hanker after hosses, I hate to disappoint a kid so bent
an being with the critters so I'll see what you can do."

"I stayed on the outfit for 5 years and when I quit there I could ride
a hoss with the best among the rawhides. There were about 15 hands
with the outfit and they took charge of me. They saw that I was shaped
up a bunk and got me all set for work on a hoss ranch. I could not get
to sleep that night for thinking about the morning when I would start
out a sure nough hossman. Morning came and we had chuck, as the boys
sez put the feed bag on. After chuck the to-screw sez: "Kid let your
hoss rest and mount that black critter for [screw se ?] today." I
could tell by the glint in his eye that they were reckoning on some
op'ra fun watching me ride that hoss. I felt sure of myself and was
anxious to straddle the critter.

"We snubbed the hoss and I lit in the tree. The saddles those days
were not like the kind used now. They were not a great deal better
than the bare back. Just as soon as I hit that tree that hoss elevated
high. It hawgrowed and sunperched for about a quarter mile with me
fanning its ears with my sombrero. When it settle down I jiggled back
to where the crew were watching me put on my act. I sez, "Blacky I'm
ready to get going, tell me what to do." The ramrod was standing
00183there too and him a busting a gut laughing at the top-screw and
the others because they got fooled an the greener Kid's riding
ability. The ramrod sez: "Kid you rode one of the pitchingest hosses
that we are working in my ranch. You sure enough have a nest with my
outfit. We'll make a real hose wrangler out of you."

"All them hossy-stinks took pains from that morning on to show me all
the tricks they knew and in a month's time I was wrangling with the
best of the outfit. The range was an open one and it was a prairie
country except for brush along the creeks. We had to keep riding the
line fairly well to keep the critters from roaming off too far. There
was night riding to do but it was not like riding with a bunch of
cows. With hosses the stampede is something waddies do not have to
fret about. The animals will not stampede except in extreme cases such
as a prairie fire or the likes.

"Hosses have the habit of grazing far into the night and don't bed
down like cows. Long after mid-night they will lie down for a spell.
Because of the nature of the hoss it was not hard to keep the animals
bunched at night. Two hands would work together and the night was
split into two shifts. On the hoss ranch we hossy-stinks hit the bunks
most every night except at times when we went a distance hunting
strays. Our hardest work was when we wanted to cut out a bunch. Those
wild critters would run and would give us a chase at times and some of
them a hell of a chase. We would have to work in relays and wear down
the stallions to catch them. I enjoyed the work and was among a great
crew. All the hands were sociable fellows and made life interesting
for each other. At night sitting around the camp there always was some
one pulling something for amusement. The night of my first day at the
camp I was arrested. The [?] had what they called a Prairie dog Court.
00194There was the sheriff, judge and the court's mouth-piece. There
were a set of rules which they read to me all concernin the conduct
around the camp and how we waddies should treat each other. There were
fines for breaking the rules. I was charged with deceving the stinks
because I did not act like a greener and take a spill off the black
hoss. I had a right to select someone to defend me. I selected Murray
because his name caused me to reckon that he should be able to talk
and do a fair job of chinning in my behalf. Those mouth-pieces as they
were called stayed at it an hour arguing the case and hearing the
evidence. The hear them waddies one would think that I was guilty of
an awful crim. I was fined a round of drinks to be paid the first time
we dragged to town. Story telling and agitating the cat gut also a
little singing was other means of passing the time. Murray was one of
the best story tellers in the bunch. He used to tell one that I have
never forgot because it struck me so funny. I will try and tell it as
he did."

"(I was working down near the Mexican border for a cattle outfit
several years back. In that country there were a lot of javelin you
could see them everywhere. They are like our Texas wild hogs but not
worth a hoot for chuck because their meat is as tough as a piece of
rawhide. You can tell a javelin from a wild hog by the fact that it
does not have a tail.

"'One day a tenderfoot from the East dropped in with lots of jack that
he wanted to invest and hankered to put into critters. The tenderfoot
and our ramrod agreed on a price for the critters and closed a deal
and the tenderfoot was taking charge of the outfit and he noticed the
large number of javelin nosing around. The animals were so plentiful
that they were a nusiance. The tenderfoot 00205sez to Murphy: "Whom do
all these things belong to?"

"'They belong on this ranch but I plumb forgot to prattle about the
critters so I supose that I will have to move the herd,"' Murphy sez
to him.

"'How many of those critters are there on the place?'

"'I reckon about 300. I do not bother about branding the critters with
an iron but just cut their tails off that is my mark.'

"'What will you take for the herd?, the greener asked.

"'I don't know just what to ask. They are worth perhaps around $2.
What will you offer?'

"'I'll give you a $1 a head and accept your word as to the number.'

"'Call it 200 and the deal is closed.", the ramrod came back at the
tenderfoot.

"'Well, sir, he paid off and was happy over getting over 200 hawgs for
$200. We waddies were present while the deal was made but kept our
trap closed because It was too good to bust and we did not want to
take the silver lining out of his cloud. A day or two after the deal
was closed the new ramrod took a jiggle over the range to see what he
had bought and when he returned he sez to us waddies, 'I surely made a
good deal for those hawgs. I am sure I saw around 500 of the
critters.'

"We said, 'Yes, Murphy never paid much attention to those animals.'
The greener was a sociable fellow and about a week later took a jiggle
over to Mason's ranch to get acquainted and do some chinning. At
Mason's place he seen a lot of javelin and sez: 'I see a lot of my
hawgs on your range.'

"'What hawgs are you refering to?' asked Mason.

"'Those with the tails off. Those are mine, that is my hawg mark. I
bought it off Murphy.' 00216"'I see, I've been wandering where them
critters belong. I would be quite pleased to have you take the
critters. I sure don't want your stock.'

"'I'll see about getting the animals tomorrow', he promised.

"When the new ramrod returns to the ranch he told the top-screw to
give us riding orders on those critters fetched from Mason's place
over to his range. That was below the dignity of a cowhand so we all
quit. I never did hear how the tenderfoot came out with the javelin.

"One other pleasant thing about the Jewsharp outfit was the camp cook.
We had a good one Dutch [?] took pride in his work. To get him doing
extra touches all we had to do was swell him on his meals. He would
raise like a boil and take extra pains fixing the chuck. Murray used
to say, "The belly-cheater became very arduous if you give him fair
chinning." Dutch made some of the best sour-dough bread I have ever
ate. Bread, beans, stewed dried fruit, was what we lived on. The cooky
would fix the beans different ways. He could fix a Boston baked dish
of beans that was fitting to eat, also fried pies out of stewed fruit.
When it comes to [?] steaks Dutch had the knack of it. He would get
his camp fire hot and slap the steaks into it for a minute which
seared them on the outside. Then he would pull the meat away and let
it soak slowly. Of course the beef was off a fat yearling and good
meat to start with.

"Sometimes when talking about the good beef we waddies had on a hoss
range people will ask me where we got the beef. The facts are for the
most part it was slowelk. The hoss men found beef an their range and
cowmen found hosses on their range so 'twas tit for tat. When we
needed a yearling and saw one that looked like the kind we wanted it
would have been too much trouble to drag all over the range country
hunting for the man that owned the brand. Anyway we hossy stinks had
00227"After the first six months I did nothing but wrangle hosses.
Tonk sold hosses all over the country. We would bust a bunch then the
crew would drift the herd to places where an order was to be filled.
On the Jewsharp range there was a mixture of hosses, saddle, work and
also jacks were bred. I wrangled many hosses in my day and never
failed to bust one if it was not loco. I got hold of a few loco
animals and those would pitch until they were pitched down. When they
gathered a little substance away they would pitch again. If a wrangler
stays with one of those critters long enough it would stay pitching
until it was saloned and worthless. When we looped one of those
critters and it threw its ears back also turned its eyes inward until
you could see nothing but the whites then look out. As a rule it was a
waste of time and the critter would brand you if it got the chance. If
such critter puts you into a spill you want to drag a gun the first
thing because 9 chances to 10 it will be coming at you and paw you to
death.

"The regular Texas cowpony was breed from the original Spanish hoss
and mixed. That critter could never be stopped from bucking at times.
It could be gentled to where it would come to its rider when called,
eat out of the hand, in fact, be a regular pet but had to pitch at
times just to be pitching.

"My way of wrangling was the short route. After the hoss was roped and
saddled I would mount it and start fanning its ears with the first
jump. If a wrangler keeps fanning a critter it will get discouraged
and quit pitching sooner than if you lay off of its ears.

"I rode any of the pitching animals and had the reputation of being
the top rider in that section. What cinched my rep was because I rode
a hoss one day in McGregor that had a nigger named Tom down and Tom
was a top rider. He went into a spill and the fall killed him because
he fell so hard he had his neck broke. I saw the hoss pitching
00238and I reckoned that I could ride the animal. I told the crowd
that the hoss could be busted and they dared me to ride it.

"As a rule a hoss will be more stubborn after it has put a rider on
the ground. So I expected some real pitching and got it. That animal
rocked and jared my fins plenty. I mounted and at ounce began to fan
the critter's ears with my sombrero. If one knows how to handle a
sombrero you can sting the ears plenty. That hose pitched with me
until we were a mile from where we've started. He had a real hump and
I could not see the head or tail, but I was reaching its ears with my
sombrero every landing. The critter finally decided that it was
fighting a lost cause and settled down. That act gave me a top
standing in that section.

"After a spell of 5 years an the Jewsharp outfit I quit and dragged
out to Shackleford Co. and joined up with Hardy Robert's hoss outfit.
His brand was the letter R. I nested there for two years. I don't know
how many hosses he had, they were all over that section and when we
wanted any we just cut the number out of the herd. I wrangled there
and the work as about the same as on the Jewsharp. About the only
difference was we had to watch out gentled stock against Indian
rustlers. They would rustle hosses if they had a chance but we never
lost any that we knew of.

"The best rider that I ever watched on a hoss was a negro named Boby
Sanders. A hoss just couldn't put that nigger off the leather and Bob
could play while the hoss was doing it best. There is where Bob had me
bested. I had to tend to my knitting while he could do funny work.
However I saw him leave the leather one time. It was after a heavy
rain and the creek was up. Bob was busting a wold critter near a sheer
bank and that critter was acting loco. It was elevating plenty high
and sunperching. The animal went up one time and when it came down
00249it was over the edge of the bank and landed in the water. Bob
quit the critter pronto and swam for shore.

"After I quit the Robert's outfit I dragged back to the McLennan Co.
section and joined up with the McDermott cattle outfit whose brand was
MD. The outfit was a good size ranch and we lived with the chuck wagon
most of the time. We were supplied with the some kind of chuck as was
funrished with the hoss outfits. There was a good crew of boys with
the outfit. John Goodie, my brother Bob and Bob Smith and others I
can't think of right now. We drove a [?] of cattle to Young Co. where
the same outfit hand another range.

"While on one of the drives I saw and worked one of the worst
stampedes that I ever witnessed. We were about 20 miles away from our
home range the first night. We had drifted the critters hard as usual
the first day to get them a good distance from the home range. The
weather was quiet with lots of stars in the sky and we could see quite
part. The critters were bedded down and all looking peaceful. I was on
the first night riding and was feeling real sociable about how pretty
everything was shaped up.

"Suddenly I heard a critter snort and sez trouble is sure coming. I
had no idea that it was going to be like it was. As a rule on a clear
quiet night it is easy to get the animals put into milling and the
stop moving. With that snort [?] critters jumped to their feet and
were off like a bunch of race hosses. Those animals acted plumb loco.
I saw critters run into trees and be knocked down and be stomped to
death. They were running so fast and would not stop for anything. It
was either them or the object. If a rider went down he sure would be
buzzard food. When it was over we had lost so many, some being stomped
and others strayed that a party of waddies had to go back to the range
and get some more critters. 002510"The snort of that one cow put the
scare into those critters. What it said with that snort is hard to
tell but it must have been plenty. Now it may have been scared by some
varmin. There was lots of wolves in that country then and it may have
been wolf that run into the herd. Anyway all that we know about what
started the herd was the snort of that old cow. Hunting wolves was one
of our pastimes. The ramrod had wolf hounds and some of the waddies
also owned hounds. When we had time we would hunt wolves and bet an
each others hounds. Those hounds knew their wolf business and I have
seen some pert fights. No one hound would be able to to beat a lobo
but two or more would team up on one. While one dog was after the wolf
from one side a hound would come in from the opposite side and in that
method would slash the wolf until it was down. Quite often we would
shoot the wolf before the fight was over to save the dogs but not
until after the wolf was about in. We wanted to see all the scrapping
we could.

"After about 18 months with the outfit I quit and went to my old love
the hoss ranch. I joined the [?] outfit owned by Mason. It was like
the other hose outfits and nothing unusual happened there. It was not
a large outfit and the hands consisted of June, Bud, Bob and Frank
Mason, sons of the ramrod, Jim Patterson and myself as steady hands.
After a year or so with the Mason outfit I quit to get married.

"Among all the waddles I worked with and seen do their stuff the best
rider was nigger Bob Sanders. Booger Red was the best roper with Sandy
Smith of the Robert's outfit right next to him. I never saw him, miss
or a critter hornswoggle him. Now in the shooting line there were so
many good shots I cant' say which was the best.

"Just one more story about roping that Sandy Smith told us waddies
while sitting around the camp one night and that will end my chatter.
002611Sez he: "'While rattling about roping one night sitting in the
bunkhouse of an outfit up in Colo. I was telling the waddies that I
could rope any animal that walks an two or four feet. Now as you know
roping a critter means to a cowhand that you not only loop it but
control the animal.

"'One of the crew spoke up and sez: 'Smith I'll put up some jack that
you can't rope a grizzly bear.'

"'I thought for a moment and then sez: 'How much jack do you want to
put up to sez that I can't?'

"He came back at me and sez, 'Twenty-five bucks of Uncle Sam's money.'

"I took the bet and had it rit out on paper that 'Smith bets $25. that
he can put the loop on a grizzly bear and control it.'

Now all persons that has any acquaintance with the grizzly know no
human this side of hell can rope and take control of a grizzly bear.
'Tis said that four or five waddies can do the job. So the boys
thought that I had gone loco and they were thinking right except for
one part of the bet. In the mountain section of that country grizzly
bears were not hard to find. After the bet had been set on paper we
all started out to find the bear and that did not take us long and I
went in to do my stuff. I rode up to roping distance and the bear was
running trying to got away. I put the loop on it and it then saw that
it was cornered which cause the bear to change its mind. That critter
made for me quicker than a flash of sky-fire. Of course you know that
I did not dare to start the horse because the bear would pull the hoss
instead of pulling the bear down. It had the rope in one paw and its
teeth cleared far action. Again you know what power the bear has in
its front legs. I guess the boys watching were saying there goes Smith
to the eternal range. I just pulled out my 44 and put two shot into
002712the bear's head hitting it between the eyes. I then rode up to
the crowd and sez, 'Boys there is the bear all roped and under my
control.'

"They all looked sort of cheap and said that hereafter they would get
a lawyer to rit the bet understanding made with me.
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