Document text
5,265 lords
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EDITORIAL FIELD CO'Y
by 232
wit. Florence Angermiller, P.W.
Range Toles and
Cowboy Experienses UVNLDE COUNTY, DISTRICT ii10
WILLIAM RILzY ANGERMILLR
Marra, Texas.
William Riley Angermiller, whose grandfather and grandmother same
to Texas from Germany about 1858, is a native of Bee County, Texas. He
was born September 10, 1875, and while not of the age of our pioneer
c,nsuLtants heretc:ore, is a cowboy of the old days and, worked many yenrs
under one of the ablest and oldest cattlemen in West Texas. He owes
mush of his knowledge to his assosistion with thpt veteran of the plains,
the late J. W. Henderson of Ozone. Having handled many round -ups and
driven many herds to the shipping points, he is well versed in range lore
pnd saw hardships and routine work through the eyes of a humorist.
Uvalde has been his home for about eiOlteen years though he is
tiallAU 6
a rnach at present southwest of Mart a, Texas, olose to Ruidoso.
At a resent interview, he resounted the following incidents of his
sowboy days:
"I was brought up to handle stock from the time I ',Quid walk. I
even learned to plow by the time I was ten years old and thought I was
grown then. We were living in Bee County then having moved from Karnes
County, on the San Antonio River where i was born. Jut the first outside
1 ever undertook sway from hoLle was an the Fred Cockrell ranch near
Anson on the Clear York of the Brazos. Me and another •oy left home
down in Bee County and started out to find a job u a at Colorado City and
'make a fortune.' e ere broke by the time we got to voRkum so we cpue7ht
fk•
o7, 2
262
fr and 1-,e c.Jr a ion,. onya out we didn't min !laW t r;.tie c
fr 1 ht f!.xse -t to e-wr, fr a the ;14e. A. IlirrO!,1#1 onue Fkl4nr, vld told 4.9
tmrr r Vie trin cnd t off The woy I wPs with says,
e'e ean't nrf with tun trai-. running like it Is, out 1r yAeli ston,
we'll rot:. )11a. er,A.e t raw und said we were ,inr t; 'et off a(4-
ey. hAqan tun 4oy's hands wt.ere be was ho11n ti the roll
lid tt ej .ehlW;ed for hin gun vAth Ate 11hd and fen frai the trun.
The rakie :itarted for
;,4e then ou t lulled -y r;nn
and fired it 1n.
,keout
thut.t1:1;e Itel train ioet,f,an sluiwia6 tp: ann when it eate te I -4t
Jrr #.1itrtIsue to wnern I thJu ht Jim o. He or,et such a fall, 1
snre he Willi killed. i hadn't '!one very ter when Ant a- -4in
r/W't 11 t ritilYovd troak.
"to didn't knw what they AlpTit du to us, so we laid ..a.xt pround there
44 a VirfA, d-ys pkA ne5riy storved td der t. Yinally, we %ade It to
a little ;e#,!ry utre sad re deter -land to have noNethnt! to eat n4
matter '1Jiti we had to f!et It. M walked Into the utore ond erPn 4rderinw,
vverytninr, un op ted t at. e it and ate and had the fellow 4')enInr.
it*Axi uaG ein,7 universe till we illdn't !:a1d any ,nre, ne tn awhile,
t e utoeeer would olipm, 4y .1(1 oak us haw we re eettlni7 along.
id see we were starved. All, you never snw sash u 'leas Rs
we had her al tam% eunter. e had. hoie what we were !ow.
awaut for the stuff, 4tit we dn't ears rim!ht then.
"fu•ter u little, wo-e re austomer .htX'f! 1.1d that
rCIlOwkt wuuy th tne$1 9nd t4e. tJ. tnd ut tue ,s?7 r. e WerA
w li,cSf i full an tisk*. e tn,met e irht try to overt,
*ht we .,ever did her anytlill of it uad -t
'e circled :TrJuhd pad it tne etvio! 1*-1.1rood at-re3n end antwht nutner
fr 1 -tpA tlAo ue didn't ret claugt Out roue on in to 'olor!7do
Cowaey Tales W. R. Angermiller
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My friend had gems relatives there and we went to see them but we soon
saw they didn't have any work for um and I decided I might as well hunt a
jet. We had some awful ex:per/eases before we found work but I went to
work en the Ooskrell ranch for fifteen dollars a month. I had skipped my
saddle up there when I left Boo County. so I didn't have to by a saddle.
I worked about four months and had about forty-eight dollars saved up
when I quit. Then I bought now trunk and didn't have anything to nut in
it but my saddle. VS never let go erour saddles or guns. I kit the
train for hems after I bought that trunk.
"I left hens several time like that and hod ell kinds of iXperionses
before I went to work on the YN ranch west of Ozona. I was about twenty-
one years old then. M7 brother and I started in grubbing a ten-asre field.
we sure Allayed those little mosquitos too. At the end of the month, the
boss moms down to our 'amp and told ma he would give me twenty-five dollars
a'nenth to work on the ranch greasing windmills. That sure suited as. I
got to riding then, going to the windnills. I knew how to work stook all
the tine, but they didn't know it, so when they would work stook I would
help them. Next thing 1 knew they put as in the outfit. Freak that on,
I got up to handling the herds. The lost fear years I was there, I
didn't do anything but just ride around and see after things.
"I have t -ken many a herd aggress country to the shipping points
a-
maybe ninety ormhundred mile drive. We generally took two herds of settle
to San Angelo to ship. The first was a herd of steers and next 'mad he
territory settle. They were galled territory settle as they were old
bulls and sows they would buy to take up to the territory (Oklahoma) to
fstten. We would take 1,500 or 2,000 Mood up every spring and about that
many steers. We never had loss than 1,500 in any herd that went up.
"We had plenty of stampedes on those drives. Nearly anything would
Cowluy Tales W. B. Angermiller
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stampede a herd especially striking matahes to &Aoki!". A horse shaking his
saddle or any sudden noise wiuld stampede them. The cattle are still and
go to sleep when they have stampedes. But those runs son 4e avoided if the
right kind of guards are with them. You don't went to get quiet. I never
did have %put one stampede when I was on guard. That was s striking a
natsh. He gOt run over too. They run over his horse and knocked hlm down,
He was right in the way they were coming and when his horse fell, it turned
the herd but several tramPled his horses and him too. It mahhed him up
pretty 4fld. I know he :lust have leen stopped that time. You are never
supposed to stop Out just keel) riding all the time. Whenever the cattle
were quiet and didn't run, there would le a regular trail'leat out around
thst herd next morning where the horses had traveled round the herd meeting
the other riders. And it was alwnys the steers that stampeded. We had
three -year -olds up and they were tig steers. Those sows never did stampede.
"There would ee from twelve to fifteen men, sometimes twenty. sometimes
there would le one wagon and sometimes two. When we took the steers up,
we had one wagon, out generally two wagons when we took the territory cattle.
One of the wagons was a toolf-wsgon.1 The sows would lring salves in the
spring and we had to haul the new-owrn salves. 1 sure didn't like that nor.
cow 'titaness. I loved to drive steers; they would get up and walk like
horses. You Gould string 'ea out two or three wiles long and it was as
pretty a sight as I ever want to see. When they are dry for water and you
get close to where they can smell it, that is when they are hell to hold.
But they drive letter when they are dry. I always worked in the lead and
when you et up on high places and look lack and see them coming far miles,
it loots like a snake crawling. All of them so ing the same way and taking
the same step just :Ake soldiers.
The wagon always went in and struck sump for th+oss always told
Cowlsoy Tales R. Angermiller
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232
the stook where to otrikesemp and he went aheed. And when we cone to stomp,
a
there wos always/night guard detailed to watch the cattle. The rest of
us kept a horse reedy at can in aose of a run, no matter what tine we were
supposed tu go on ouard. Some of the boys would keep a half -smoke horse un
for that work out i never did. I always kept the very Oeot horse I had, s
saddled and randy, for it was the most dancerous part of the work. I wanted
a gentle horoe and a fast one. ,Thooe horses knew what to do and always knew
Oy the tine you got t's them whish way the hard had come and they would Ise gone
after them like a flash. The men who kept their no-assount horses up never
would be in toe run at all. Mayiee their horses would creak loose and go to
pitching and it would twice them rn hour tn et on.
"The IN Ransil was the je W. Henderson ranch west of Ozone and 1 nearly
always stood guard with Johnny Henderaon (his son) or the old men)himselfo
Johnny was a sleepy -head and I would always have a time getting him out 'IS
wed when it same our time to stand guard.
"One night, one of the guards rode in to wake us upffor our turn end
t uo nnd got oy coffee, I couldn't rise Johnny so I decided to get in
up un- way or en'ther. I went to his aed where he and the old own were
sleepino ond I raised uo the foot of the euver and got the old man cy the
foot thinkino it was Johnny, pnd nulled hi aleor out of the ised on the
fruoty vround before I discovered that it Was Old an Henderson instead of
Johnny. ile oskod ,m whet the hell I wonted and I told him I wfooted him to
get uo. He sold, 'Aworight.' ohen I sow it woo the old man, I said, 'dell,
oeu esn go -ek to bed; I gut the wrong fellow.' Johnoroot up sisout then and
wanted to kmAti what the row vos about ad the old man said he oloOt us well
get un too. Joonny :;ot his coffee and us rude on out to the herd and stood
guerd.
"1 witnes-ed one of the 4itg,,evt outtle slayings on la oig renoh that
Gowbozi Tales H. Angermiller
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ever took hIoue wetween two ranaten in mexas, I .?iless. The n I
34/4r; Ilat:irKITW: r!:)1' 7iwned lots of laad rhd irVe r'le:11 to t".17e 1.1!)
nround t'aare Pad sell it to .la after they hod established VIA" olni A.
(Aloft he ,:ot o fellow to trke up about four seutions right in the A.ddle o
of hie ranch./ It hod fine z!.;ross und n 4 tank of water on it. lien the
settler proved u p his slaial, he auld it to a nei haor instead of the old
ru4, the old T-Lson OPS plenty sore. He ere in one dry and -sked nlet
If I tpke aovle poison down to the salt troughs. 4e sold he wae
0:01nri to 'olean that outfit up.' I refuued to tuke it down there but i
told ICA'a I would keep it ouict if he wanted to t.co ahead. he hnd vire dy
had the -hoiaon fixed up and so he took it on down to the salt tnouff,hs. The
sattle wanthd salt anyway and next you ouuld see cattle lying all
over tt pi_sae. It was the nioue that the settler had sold to the neighbor.
you see, ano tho itry land tho old uan had leen ut:inc; for yerrs. ',Alen the
settler sold the land, the etcher outfit took oussesolun and out sattle there.
qe got t,ut two -hundred hehd that title when he oitt Vie poison out In the
salt trouOls. That started a u.r nelghlor outfit Pud of all the
eattle k1,11114; and roa6ing tilrt took hlnae 4,tween two outfits,
it did then. i'hese iwyil in the ne1014or outfit wernen't letting the old men
pet the beat uf them They rolled his auttle, broke their neuks, shot
the -gip ironded the (salves and drove the off till it w,,s eAtting so kd,
mmebody hro to oe riding all the tie. It soon beaahae neueesary for s_me-
ome to e rittione0 down In .the lower 't of the viAure itext to the
divIdin fehae. I agreed to down to the rtuuoe on toot side and stay
therm. iell, I knew it -was aIng to end in lurder if it wasn't ato;Ped
so I ot in t,aioh with the outfit ond told 'ea thpt there was (;in to
-re and ore trouble if it went on and if they would agree to quit that e
'battle slowIltering right now, I'd see to it that our outfit quit riTht now.
Covq()Y Tales
N. Angermiller
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They wanted to know if I knew what I mks talkinG e4out vnd if I eould
gnerAntee thnt our outfit would quit for good if they did. I told 'em that
it wms tho only wey to _ton and I'd f7,uarantee that there would ae no ore from
tort time on. They finally oe:reed it so I went aeok and told the old
Amn Witt I'd done and I got them all to Agree to it And there wasn't ever
any 'lore treu,)1e. I got to know those neigh*or Joys awful well frun that
tiraft orid nevnr hpd Setter friende in ny life. They hmie stuck *y me for
yenrs and elwnym been ry. friend.
"tene of the *ost lorries I ever owned was a rown horse !-Mout fourteen
2nd a lalf hands hi.01 that I Galled Culisersn. he was extra Flwod for eVnryw
thing thn-:, o horse auuld oe uL.41d l'or. He WPB gentle and t aould shoot
gun on him and I null& .eull off the saddle end turn 115.7A wild -lease and he
wouldn't lepve thPt saddle.
He wou'A ,.;rPze all around it Out weuldn't gtt
out of it. I uould go er;teh h1.i.at nie!ht or Gall 141a and he would
a me. And t o-uld roee nnythin in Vie world on him. I roend rustnng
horoe un him enae. There was lots or 1uatflgs down in Live CoAt County then.
There woo eaout twonty or twenty -f ire heed in the herd arid nokeu we out
Otte; a ywur).(:,..*, r! e
me MB
and tty lortie jtv‘t
outrun him. I run on to hLi,
aountry where there W9S opt-olaw, I-esquite,
ujilla,5md everythlng that hed P thorn an it. I gst him in a lit le
onenin end threw my r ,pc on him and /,f9t hi* right around the nook. I had
to ohoke hi ri down end haskimern htl., then I took him in neeked right up
to the !lora of the saddle. It don't tPke long to get onm all riL:ht
when ,rou out hiN off from t!te ounah thvt way.
holeA5, Culaerson, liked to work oettie. He Ives tood pt wlything
yeu out hiN at, e rpst runner and mood swimmer. A horse has to ae fast to
seteh one M: those wila wistangs.. it fillre took a good one. Culptera 41 never
was e i:lern-netured ;parse, out I damn sure reiaemier one thet woe. He WILI the
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Neanest I ever rode.
"I struck '.1111 down in Cemeanehe County. de Wil:; a lag, erawn *illy
horse, ar quarter -hare. ;ifs didn!t have he name, he WP8 just an outlaw
thvt ae.,)dy cwuld ride and he had even kilied one mon, a Negro. I didn't
know that at the tiute. They already had him rentle and had uo feeding
eta all ointer and you eould module hioi up as easy as you leaae.
'1 ?4as ,reckinA horses V:46 a dollyr a year. That meant their uges.
If they as ;five yearm ald, rt five dalla.rs. !,t that tie, I was up
in that eounty arsaking hree all around there and they heard of me down
oelow Vleral and some dawn to dee if I ould wreak this .lorse. They offered
AO ten d4llars and they told 40 that several fellows had tried to ride film
out riIL,cj.
went dawn there. They had hi in a len and he was the
'Irettlet JrHo I hearly ever saw. first 4!:ot on dm there in the pen
out e never did a thing. I told the to wlen the .--ate and Nnen i;hey did,
de Syr it. The ipoy that ems rldihg with vie widldn't st,.,y anywhere
neur iU. ;le run till 1 thaup;ht he would run eleer off the earth. he
was auk'in rie:A f r a fenee.and
kue' ri WI Killine; ri4p., into it.
(iidn't kn.,w !,ow to z,te) ii except t )Ur him in the shJader, so fulled
He
)1.
jet t
out or $.!.e btirra and a.,urred lim tute, W;auluer. )#4 d erealaus:
tlqt ertht He )1tched nreVy geed f.:1 a little while, out net ;vrd,
knew when Emw fifteen or twenty fellows collected un at the
aorrola wad uittine .on the neve t e day 1 gut there te ride him, that
aethinr unusual was uh. md I *Quid see when I rode .:114 from the pen
that he Wca a dahr,erous horEle. -ell, after he Quit pitehing that snail,
rude ain esak into the pen. Then, I had this ether flouy that we riding
another 44rue, lead liiai morose a lane t* an ooen pasture where he souldn't
we runnini In a fenees. ,hen we mot hiu throtwh that gtite into the or'en
Cowb47 Tales W. R. Angermiller Page 9
232
pasture, I get on him. These men all left the corrals and came down there
ta see the fun and that horse didn't disappoint 'ea. He pitehed for a half-
4Nurs I know, the hardest and highest pitching any horse could do. He
never oawled ones but did everything in the world to get me off. I began
to loader which of us Mould last the longest for I knew I was hurt already,
out 1 rode him till he quit. When I got off, I was pale and my nose was
bleeding and one of my hips was sort of out of place.
"That horse broke every string in my saddle and finally broke the
right stirrup loose. I stare had a geed saddle tut he tore it all to pima.
The saddle nookets were tern loose from the saddle where. they were sewed.
I thought lets of these saddle pockets and I had them sewed bask, but he
pits4ed that sixty -dollar saddle all to pieces.
"When that right stirruo broke, I knew it did something to my trek
and Ilia. The dotter said that it was the strain and it hurt my hip some-
way and I never did get over it. y right leg ha always teen a fraction
shorter than the other and there was a joint in my tsektone thrown out of
niece. -ell, I got off and got the saddle off and rested while the other
by wrked Jt the saddle and got it rigged ua tocsin. Then I 1it it back
on him nnd he strrted again. He souldn't pitch like he did at first and
loured it on him every juAlp. 7.e, had ten miles tit go to 15f solo that
evening t)nd every three or four-hundped yards he would down his heed and
try it a.ain. 7,Then we gt to caw, he couldn't jump over a fauvt off of
the grL,und. He would do his oet for a few jumps and then quit. All the
-ray down there he wAild run into brush and under limbs trying to get me aft.
"I never had been very sore from riding trones but the net ,larning,
;au's was sore. I dreaded that horse more than any I hod ever r4de, out
knew wouldn't let him the test of me then, I It.Aild hale to ride
C -way Tales 4. R. Angermill.,r osge 10
232
hi*. saddled hiq up and :rat an hi repared for a real *tittle. Ile
never offered to Atoll *nether lump. He wos so gentle, I mould ride hln
the next d -y. la was suoh retty norve I tr ed to uy hto off
of thon felleTu, 'lilt they were se tiakied t t it,a ,ru0 they wouldn't
oa-t wlth A* Pt all.
"It fwed to ie rel re,)lne in dry* when they Toed thoe oig uteere.
It took a :Iire-loough Aiark end a eeod horse to ron
oe aig old steere in
rining oont sto. I Vlink Casy nnd Jelin url were the Oast ropers
ever new. It ure-tok ronine, to rope and tle then Ind tn JO Jb
alwnyo to It the ,on4y. They -Nere 4ound to pa the lieut.
"Till, %tiled two thre. lern 419 nt different %Luta to unve my
7alet1.-es Jou hrme t4 'Ilia 91.0 he Is tied tA 9 lt,rset after you
im t t ro*. im. li'cu ern' t throw one, hyrdly at ell. They are
uo ha iy rrd. A, y -u evn't use en crelmery roue on 'em, you heve to have
a bid r0,01. Ttly YA,1 sure hreek m'le for you.
"one A* the (Irrnde:A jobs I ever ot into 'PP rO`bilte. bulls. They were
all the time and ruttine ono another Pnd fad an endersou desided
bo ce-lzrn ev7,ry hull on the reneh. Te'd get P !len full of Oulla pt
tiat nnd two of ue w;uld T;et in there wtth e rope end the rest of the
wLIddieu would try ta -et 'em down. :..ne of us would ror htft by the herd nnd
me by thn foot. I Net broke e-hundrod ropes. 'Ai would teal down and
svwthIr Lorns ofi rirt next to the heed, end fight: They would ileht
a eirele-saw. There was about e-thonsend big, old hulls on Viet rfInah. WO
hri ebout thirty -thousand heed of nettle there. There mey have been two-
tIlousend herd .A* ulls, I cit.30t 1.7now, 1:ut I 'rues. there euntine the
yfmng stIA all. Ile waon't )RyirvT. texeh an %ore than ..en-thousond settle.
iie rPlued Vte Levi). stb,:) t them essayine that many once end wild he didn't
have tht many outtle. The eommisoLmers sold 'All r:.t, X. Henderson,
Cowboy Tales W. R. Angermiller
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232
we'll just round 'en up and count 'em.' He said, 'By God, you wont, eit'ser.
There was ebeut three -hundred sestione uf land and nothing on it but settle.
'Oe worked thrt woole sountry when we set in de -horning tbooe bulls. That
was 'bout tho swfullest job I ever got into.
"But, right there on thet rench I sew the biggest round -up I ever sew
throwed together. There was about eight -thousand heed of settle. There wns
three -hundred U otors got in his ossture and he wanted to oet then out and
wanted to round up its steers too. I never saw as many cattle throwed up
on the Lida of a tlountein in mo, life. oe hed a tenderfoot working on the
rensh we celled Pennsylvania. 'e eut settle ond sut settle till -my horse
pleyed out. Yinelly, there wasn't enybody left in the herd cutting but the
old an end I rode over to Pennsylvania and desided to have soae fun. All
the otiA(Ir boys' horses hnd olayed out rind ay horse got to where he would
nitch every time I rode 'ola beck into the herd so I had to null out toe. Se
the old man had it all to himself end I told Pennsylvrnia the old tan said
to ;et in that hard and help out those cattle. He said that would just suit
him fine so he busted into that herd and slashed 'es right and left, He
didn't know what to do when he got into a hard but he knew the boys were in
there doing something. a. got in there and if he didn't make cattle osettert
couldn't even hold the herd together. The old man never noticed him for
long ttoe and Pennsylvania was having the time of his life. -,et were ell
siAting on our hersee out to the side laughing our herds off for we knew
the old man was already mad, anyway. Well, when he finally looked up and
sew Pennsylvania making those wild breaks through that herd, the old man
gave a boiler and onde a run at poor old Pennsylvania and yelled at him to
get to hell out of there. Pennsylvania didn't know whet had soe over the
old man but he didn't stop to find out. He fairly laid the quirt on that
old pony and some out of there, his jacket flying straight out in the bask
Cowboy Tales W. R. Angermiller
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232
end the old pony's ears laid down ant. The old Ism was so outdonc, he
give uo outting:that big herd nnd turned all the watle loose and quit.
don't know what ever beoome of Pennsylvonie, but I think he went
back ft:Ale. We had rore fun out of him than anybody I ever sow. He wasn't
he got shy and
nfraid of these bronss at first but he
quit gem. A fellow like him ve'd always make anything up on him in
kangaroo court Pnd convict hii. He would try to fight 'en sometimes when
they uade up uoLaething th,st ,Iade hill too mad, out it didn't do no good.
"There would be some of the dangest plesding of costae in those kangaroo
sourts you ever hcord in your life. There would be a lawyer.there end a
telloy orossuting the- VISCS. Lough it would tickle a dog. The attorneys
would do some of the dnrndsst arguing you ever herd but they always had.
a judge and had to hurry through tic eases, they had so many to try.
bet I've helned whip a thousand old buys. They made laws that eouldn't be
broke without netting tried and no natter what the complaint was, you were
always eonvisted. You never could prove yourself innocent. There would
be every sort of complaint you could imagine. SOMA of the boys would
oretend to have got a shock while they was out rounding up and saw some
other fellow who didn't know he had been seen and they oould have a doctor
there to examine this 'fellow's heart to see if the shook had hurt him and
of course the doctor always pronounced it bad. Some would slaiA they had
been insulted by one DV the other boys either saying sonethirv7 in his
oresence or not being particular in what he had done and of eourse that was
a bad offense. If it hadn't been for something like this !.,oing on when all
the boys were out for weeks on a drive in all kinds of oestiler Pnd no
amusement of any kind, it"would have been unbearable. They were determined
to have some fun no matter how they had to have it or who it was on.
"1 remember one time there were two old boys some there at the relish
got busted so LIUGA,
Cowboy Tales W. R. Angermiller
venting to work and they took tea in and let 'em try to work
a good friend there on the ranch and we decided to have oome
boys. ye got to where we would always be quarreling when we
Page13
232
some. I had
fun out of the
come in at night
and he woad get theoe old boys off and tell 'es how menn I was. All the
other boys were on to it and would try to separate us if our arguments got
too hot. Those boys would watch me fold would sort of take my friend's part
when we would ?et to quarreling till he had 'con ready to fight for him.
Finally, he cot 'em to agree that they would just whip me and then he and
I :lode it up to pull e good gun fight that night. So we took our cartridges
out of our pistols and took the bullets out se nobody would get hurt and
that nioht we soAmenced quarreling after we started to
bad. Those old boys had got up as they knew they were
oo xi!, kept quarreling till we both pulled our guns
he tell besO7 on his bed like I'd really shot 'im and
Of course I kept shooting but I didn't have anything
these old boys had jumped like deer end were running
oeht to shooting in their direetion and we sew the
bed end we sure got
supposed to heln whin
and I a ot at hiloo
snide 'Helo tilled melt
much to shoot at besause
toward the ranch house.
biggest one of 'em run
into the corner of the house and I never saw a fellow get such a fall or
such n lick EF he got. He jumoed up and I fired again and, they lit out
around the noise. They had intended to run into the house but they didn't
have time. They hid out around there till late that night and slipped around
and stole their horses out and 10ft. 'oe never did see or hear of them any
more. The boso got up reedy to tear the ranch up next horning. e hod
keoot him awake and run his hands off and he wasn't in a very good humor.
"There was always so2ething going on at all those big ranohco. They
kept a good many hands all the time and they sould think of ptanty to do.
As P. generl rule, those ranshmen were as good men ns were ever born. I
-,age 14
232
mover worked where 1 vann't treated well. But after I left the ?Ns,
bought a ranch of my Qin out on the )041(ail riiver, as I had assumulated stook
of sow own and I knew IApould run any kind of a ranch 1 ever saw. Old Man
Bliderson tried to dislaurnge me from the idea at first, but when he sew
diternin414 to go, 10 told me I was doing the right thing and said he
know I would make Epode