Document text
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eDiTeelee eieLD Ceee
by
Mrs Florence 6ngerelller, P
From e. G. by
Ars. Gussie Hale, P.,„
Berly Day Cowboy Taloa
and Experiences UVALD COUNTY, DISTRICT AO
ED Bell,
enbinal, Texas.
eege 1
ee2
ei was born in Redrook, enstrop County, Texas January 5, 1857.
ey fnther gas n termer and renchmen. I have been working stock
since I could eat on a horse. eam Blalock is my first cousin end be
bought oar first prir of boots together. They were little, short boots
eith brass toee and red tops. ee were sure eroud of those boots, and
I believe we geve about teree do11nr. a peir for them.
"I ens born, in a little two -room, log eouse with e hnll between.
And I heve ben riding regulnr after onttle since I VMS seven. ehen
nine yeers old, i. vs out heleing my fether eith the cettle
end we had a stempede. They run right by our koise and elnoet scered
ey !Anther to depth. I euese there WP$ about a thousand heed.
fether finally eot hold of e red flag ene run in shoed of thee and. eot
tot checked. However there eere sevornl hnnd killed.
"I went 40 he trell when I ees 18 yenra old Ath a herd of eat le
for Jim Allison. ee had a pretty nice trip this time. It took us
ebeut four and a -half eonths to make the trip. ee h'd a foe little
runs but our trip wee a pleneent one. en the wey b-oe I had ridden
one horse all the efey from Kenems and when e :ot. to Anatin, I he' rd
-there as going to be a dence in eedreck thet night. It as about
thirty eilee from Austin to Redrook, eut i rode en in end it as s
fine eence. 4y beSt eirl as there. Her name as iiss hettle Sorrell.
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--e sore hnd a grnnd time.
"My -i'-th.er :qoved his cattle to Llano County and I stayed there
with thei about eighteen enths or till they were sold.
there lived. alone Dart of the time in a little log cabin and Aoat all
the me -t I had as venison. Uowever, the last six Aonths I was there
nriLy by the nnme of Dixon lived with me and when my father sold the
cattle, they went back home 1.41.th tie to RedroCk.
"Two years later, 1 roved with my father and the rest of the
family to Meson County. I ranched in Mason County for one year. After
that year, 1 came to the herd of the Frio Canyon and brought our herd of
cattle. I had about 2,000 heed altogether. And that's when 1 first met
John Thompson. Ay cattle were the first cattle to be ranched on the hend
of the Frio. There wasn't may roads there then.
stopped on the Frio in October. There were twelve cowboys in,he
outfit rind there wasn't a one of us SAV a woman we knew until the
following Christmas. well, three of us left the ranch and went to
Lenkey on Christmas Eve and, of course, we wanted to meet some girls.
on the way to Leakey we saw some 7irls at the LOP ey place. At Old
4an Le -,keys. But we went on down town and fooled around all d -y nnd
uent back up there to spend the night. Lerkey told us she was
boarding a bunch of school gill and couldn't keep us. She said her
son-in-law, J. B. Johnson, wh:: lived three miles un the river had
plenty room and would keeo us over aight. eli, we hadn't Ben any
,4rls there at J. B'n 'out we had se,n a girl about a Tale up the oreok
at the Ruffmon place. o to the Buffman olace to vent and stayed all
night. 3ut we never did get to se the irl; she stayed hid.
"The next night we vault to Lenkey to a dance and et all the girls
and danced with them all. There win the Leskey girls, Bowles girls
rrly Dry Coelboy Trlee 4d Bell
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end the mrditt eeirls. They ell danced mad T 0pnce0 eith every elri
wi there. I denoed eIth two girls thnt nieht teet emu their first tie
to d nue. They mere eleudie Aouee nnd. leteie Barditt ,nd ten letter
eeeeina Ay eife aevern1 yesra leter.
'?elrea elm) in l8a7 up here el the uuldeluee, re eerie on a generel
roundee en re vere oeieled in a drew on n divide et Jr. errellcs
renoh end it creme s big rnin teet night sad. weshed one-helf of the
eons thpt ee had the oettle in, Remy nnd nil ouv bedding. -even the
beds ;re eerie eleeeIne;u nshed nrn.y• A. Pnd Bud .ueee never eot our
pod lu the oPeen
MOOD
it eftened nway ofore re got it In there. Of course,
eere veiy eat. ee veat uo to errell's renoh house next eiorniu nnd
oera etendine nreund wniting for seieething to eet reed I seri to Mid,
'hlhet du you reckon ley girl doqn st heekey eould tin k it she 000ld
eke ee eow?' Pnu nfter f ioft, Mrs. urinal geld she eenderee if
thoucht enIbody woulu hnve 010. IMOB ell mudoy end eet nnd beerd on
my fecal eo I guese e looked pretey tough. But who eierried;rs.
ervell ens nt the eeddine, end I told hor ebout it right before the
girl i
nlu tha eerly '8us %hen ee eent out to hunt r deer, we didn't
kill the riret thine; Vili csv. rode out and hunted the fPtteet one.
It wee Ault like killinc n beef; you hunted for a fet one. ead we
didn't ueste it than like I hwye se te them enete it. People just eont
out end killed deer for the hideu. They woeld get from thirty -cents
to n. duller eer e hide. end they r uld usually tnee the hnes end elms
them nnu being them in by the engon loed. They mould sell to nbout
twenty-five oeats apiece.
PreeK
1 'teti a
0-6
H71)1.1481 mud took a eentreet ts
mee* rox c• JOAO fur eteee, Ar
There
Lr1yYay Cr,opboy Tnles Ed Bell
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232
flakin't,to be any .A.4 !ore s or *any sAoiled horses in tha non. t.
stoked it 4orses nt n timie and rode thre of theY9. before cilnr rnd
three after. kinally got hold of r horse that wuuldn't ott,,nd on his
foot. time f got on him he *ould re!;r up and. fli over bnckwnrd.
!.;ent to the tiouse and told ;:ars. Boone Ihad n horse that hnrd been
soiled. cwiled her son, Old Thompson', nid asked him about the horse
and 4id told her there hnd been two ten tried to break him and couldn't
du anythin with him. so ris. Boone told 115, i coqid turn him loose or
she dc,uld -lire me double pay to break Aim which lould be six dollars m
6ny. Idecided to try 'Ira. I went out nnd got on 'in ngnin and he fell
bnekp Ibold 'in down and hog-tied 'in for three hours. 1hon i let 'in
up ho come up A.th ma on 'in. lie trotted off and never did fall back
ogrin. Thnt broke him.
'ut toldng noout the orat horse I ever rode, I bought nim from
John Thomson Pt Leakey. I took him with a herd of horses to Kaufman
County nnd. sold him. The next year I one trek in Kaufman County nnd
man kind tuis horde in a livary stoble. He sold the horde had throm
off evry man that .ot on 'im. So they mode up twenty-five dollars to
cot ;Le ride lim. I rode 'in two blocks and whip”ed over 111.Np
mud he itit 4tch1ng o I rot the twenty-five do1014,.
markied to 4iis Bettie Burditt in the spring of '89 at the
old aurditt 4omo on the Vrio. eriti a big &hide at the court houe
thaL 141 :ht nivi danced all night.
"Al', the time :Z was mfIrried, 1 hnd be;_.1n kej)ind, b-tch iaght
above Losp'Acey the 421st trio. A: had a small hedde and had lniti in p
supply of oecnns ond things for my wife to be. I also hnd a erns latch
clo,As by. ell, tter left to L•ot merried, a bunchof boys 'dent
there ond cheed n lot of c ie s it it all over the floor about a
tel-i7 I:ley Cowboy Tale, Jf!d Bell
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ove,11 n1 is ,3ere sll over the 1.1nfi. Oex en
ink nride ul there, you niev r oe riser! thnt w:s in
t4 ,4o :r .1tut e evor ilved tore. qe watt tJ torn thet
ovenLa ,Lrn ihert got Ae to to 1 -;irk Fur in the slarIff's
W!..Cie,5. I lwrkod or his.
rtr,„
"Ater Cult yoer, L boui.it
oleos joining Jock
y enl hunt
itttia la,d1sr hulso on It lived there end, r.)no'h7W for four
yore. sold out there thon .40Ved to .shINAL =nd bw'n here
)-ovt over 'Anse.
vont 119 the tril swAn tn the tervitury in 9 eft,4, J.Tfqi
merried. A.th nn outfit fr Schreiner
about :75,000
of two -rX'
ld o didn't we nny tr:). hie with runs And
trin,i dr end grsss snd :tinter Ins sepree. one time A3 hold
to drive two des elnd nights witnout stpin riithout wnter.
Part or the ,oys would slee o n litIe in the u-lon 144.11 the others
'ere drifting wtth the herd. ,efole of tile esttle dis0 for the yinnt
of inter. ,'Ihan re resehed Pemse Aivek le ).ost quite n foti th
quickonnd. 3ut re diein't lose pw: mAny the teraii akx)-d of U8. Ale
van lut t'Are-hundrod ned one )lee. He sent rord -1-et to us
lot the fonee down nnd go on the it or oide of th.3ickend. ell,
the ovular of this pasture cnuet us pretty quick ftor qe lient over
this face into his ossture. Thst men some ,ted TOlen As ceught
us in: nis oesture with those 'settle. He threstened to he us arrected.
hile tewno rrvin- end
so msd ithen ha rozind. 40 .14 AJI •qtotore)
lid:pri ten iskor fano *nv vlith our outfit watitec:i tc lot kill
the JsAn o b and throu him in that .nicks==nd.
hc tlie rover %;:icit dovn hc:re nnd he o1duove Inds it )re
t timeoTs
rd on
Zarly Day Cowboy Tales ld Bell
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US if he hid wanted to.
Ne got the cattle to waterlie turned them 444•641. I guess
it 'dats our old Irish oaok that saved the M4. He was cooking for
the outfit and he kept telling Irish stories till he got the old man
in a good humor and finally he got down off his horse end ate a little:
I was foreman of the outfit and after he quieted down end got in a
good humor X asked him how much we owed him. He said about fifty dollars
so I wrote him out a cheek for seventy-five dollars and we parted good
friends'.
"I remember on that trip we found statism/talons growing right out on
the sand hills in the pasture, in the woods. We ate all we wanted and
so did the cattle.
"In 1906, I went to Marathon in Marge of Combs' and Kinoald's
outfit. Nis lind branded 6,600 calves on this ranch and had sold 2,500
had
steer yearlings in on. straight mark and brand. taw:thered the 2,-800
steers when the buyer got there with his crew: Got about half of them
branded out. One day we had the brr,nded lattle in the een nnd were
herding the other half out on the rnnge. It oeme un a little rain
storm that night and when it would lighten, I could see the men and
cattle all mixed up together. L went to the wagon and got my lantern
and waved the hands all in end just let the cattle drift one way.
tiee up our horees with the sedeles on. Next morning, we had about
all the chttle gflhered when Billie Kincaid came after the herd end
asked me if i erheeted to turn the eattleerlaase ever time it rained.
I told him I expected to do Just se I had always done and ir he thought
someone else could handle it better than I to go shoed and get 'em.
Billie eald, hold your terAper now.' He said he told 4rs. Bell
oefore he left the house he afraid I hadn't turned them cattle a-1,*se.
early Pay cowboy Tnlee 4N• Ed .ell
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23
ee eed tan leen no tho 'an uno eels bueiae hed lie ssid
weep thee cettle was turned over to him, he wee going to hold tem,
eo• e Mashed breading the cettle that day and turned teem over to the
ouyer.That g-ve hie nineteen men with the onttle thateaieet. So we
hnd enether wind end rein that eight and we tried to eold the settle
end eot the. to running, A. yemr leter there eels still some of those
onttle in thnt pasture, for they had scattered so In thnt run we
never got ell qg them beck*
"1 stnyed at Marethon two years and on beok to sebinal and
went into the renehing business. I ranched over here ,ebeut a year
or two end then went to ranehing on the NU0006. miring the time I
vas on this vench I bought R bleak horse from Aoxicloi One of the
Kirchner boys deelded he. wented titio horse* 1 wouldn't trade hie the
horse until he talked it over with hie fnther firat. He laughed and
said he thought he surely could rids anything I could ride. He thought
I was old end couldn't rids nnymore. So finally his tether onus over
with him and they bought the horse. In about three daye after that the
horse (wee beek to ear reach with the sndele oe. He hed thrown the
noy nad eeme beck home. The boy (wee and eot lira but I dealt know
whether h ever rode 'is sny 'ore or not.
eI remember when I was on thrt ranch oomething funny- happened.
I had been hunting with John Arnold up there semetimetixure t"t
and John ernold had gene be in e cave and killed a eeer with nothing
eut r pine terch for a Licht, end that is one thin tever would do,
eve te go b ck in a caVe after a bear. enyrey, one day *a were riding
in the eeetere together end I asked temeld if we could ro br4k to that
°eve vbere he killed the benr. He said he thought we could, that it
Early Day Cowboy Tales Ed Bell
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eme.olose by. hell, -ea wont on up there and found the bear's ekull
in the ()eve end ey by he that skull tedey..
e)n my lest beer hunt, my brother had a fine beer dog waled
skinner. He lived on the heed of the West Frio. I went up there for
a beer hurt with him. so we got out before daylight and old Skinner
took R beer trntl. VO run the be -r ellen% three hours ond the dog stopped
him. My orother shot him and killed Am. About the time we got the
beer deeseed, old skinner rot reetless. Fe) my brother aeid 'It's
another he -r, let's go.' The oountry wen so roughJ had hed enough. I
told him no thnt I was going to Sebinal. He went on, and told me
later thet he rot the other beer.
I rd a very fine horse here °noes I called him Teak. And I
was roping wild *tittle out on the Woodley ranch. Vial, shop Oorzine
and John Yenley twee to us one day *bent the time we started a bunch
of wild cattle, with a telegrem for ma, I was trying to beet the
cattle to the top of the mountein for there was only a little crooked
trail going up the mountain and I didn't take time to read the telegram.
As I went up the trail, I pushed two coma out of the trail and reached
the to of the mountein by tho time the lend wittily got there. I roped
end tied throe wild steers on that one run. They were bed enes too.
And if I hed been on mfty other horse 1 couldn't have done it.
"During thir earns time, I roped e two-yeareold meveriek heifer
but oet different horse. Mero f!oodley Orme up to where I had the
heifer rohed, end she was fighting too, believe me. I told Woodley
to throw his rope on her end help me get her tied to s tree. He said,
"701I think you can make it all right. When I started she mrde a run
at me end my horse run t-1 nnd the heifer got caught in the rote and
broke her nook. He said, 'Oh, that's all right; we need the beef
garly jay Cowboy Tales Ed Bell
wtoor.
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cvu;dt all the ostIle uu, f thet p*wture except ono out -law
IirAL killed twe iwrves nnd Albert Futt vent after Aim later
rid he didn't tRke eny chances on him so he just '.hot aud killed him.
feAking of my good home, jack, Randolph Lyeil roped a big steer
once v1oh we tore than he oould handle. And if I hadn't been riding
one uf the be ,A horses in the county, Randolph might have been killed.
The steer Tilts trying to hook hiK off the horse und 141s liftinc up the
saddle skirts every jump. I rushed in on Jack end roped the steer nnd
jerked him'bl,ck. That saved his,11te, and i knovi we both uwe'that to
Jack for if it 4nó been any other hors on the ranch, he wouldn't have
been aL fest es Jack was.
"I roped on this horse all over the ;o4,alitry i,nd finally sold him
to said Blalock. Ile told w.e one dr4 he would give k,-, one -hundred -and-
fifty aolirs for that horse. We vent on and finished ellthering cattle
nd be asked .iae again wir,t 1 would take for 1Am Rad i told him two
hundred dollars. Be talc As Ile would give me one.:1=dred and seventy..
five. 1 said, 'You can have him.'
a:i'31alock said *'611ei got tro to Kane*, ad :t to outAh'eRttle
on tl.m that t!ae horse mew so much wore tilan Lige Flowrse that he
just timed him loose nad 4eld to the saddle horn. !7;am sold him to
an outfit there in Luisa*. They afated him jwit for a outtinthorse.
Yes, have seen ned coyotes. When a coyote Ja de ha has a
4-ptose- look out of the eye like a mmd dog. I have ce n lots of thee.
They walk along and snap at everything th t =vets, brush (:r anything
else. huçy ril. lay down in the shade ond rout awftilo raid when they get
uT? rind •-,tort off, they will snap At everything thnt moves. And of course
they always slob,er at the mouth like a dog. Odorphobia is the worst
"htarly Day Coe/boy Tales Ed 111
Paii.o 10
2:32
thinf!, over vnu n men hnve. it Yimst heve been about 1910 or 1912
thnt hnc, over in Uvnldo in jell with hyd..00lobie. He
wc:uldn't lot cnybody in there uch to doctor him far Vol,r te would
hurt then. Ue enrail to town and ;asked to be emt In thor',3 nfter this
mnd coyote bit He ma in cams above Uvalde end X J.T11.eW lots of
people there remember it. v$-41 didn't 'Imre the Psateur trentent then.
"Ha would just be sitting there quiet es could W) ehen one of
those cpolls come on hiit. no would get up and try to tenr tho Jail down.
That foam or slobber would string elesr down to the loor the
awfullost thing you ever OPIle tie finally died.
'LTvilfe nestled away in 1907. 1..'4 had seven children, one boy
and six girls* They are all mnrried cow and helm hoe of their own.
They nra Jessie, laizabeth, .able, ?renege Rod prod, pill of sabinel.
Mary, of Roukscringa and Myra, or Detroit aichignn. Ayre. Is my by
girl'S e comes to sot: me every summer and ve hove soma qrest times when el
she is here."