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Renge r:ore
owboy Reiniscences
Jefore rAd after 1875 UAPLDE C,UNTY DISTRICT 10
EDITuIiIAL kIELD (.1CY
by
Mrs. Florence Angermiller,P.W.
!TR 25 1938
S. LLOCK
se, Texas.
'7PM ow,ton Blalock belbrws to the veeueros ofthe noulftellie
in thst he was coweuncher in the eerly days when our fatiern
were first settling this country. He followed herds before thion
were fences or many settlers. Indiana had to he wntohed, 4114
animals end wild cettle were numerous and the cow outfits WarbOt
large territories often using the rivers as boundaries no selSs, plow
ninny miles it covered.
is days in the saddle Etve him the endurance end the Isorir son-
stitution so common to the frontiersmen. His spoech is delfts/00 and
has changed very little from the cowboy vernacular of early .4471,0
The account which follows is in his own words but one missal 10,
expression in his voice and amused chuckles throughout:
"I will be 30 years, the 10th day of July. I was born kg gestron
-half mile east of Lockhart on my father's renc4. I
worked on his ranch till I went to Frio County in 1875. TIlist tem
down there is called Frio Town. I cane there in NovertberAllgtead
went to work for m man named i'am Hutchison, the next dr,y OUP t got
there.
"I don't recollect how old I was when I began workinc:
or how old was the firot nair of boot 4 GAined, but t4111( Iins
6 or 7 yanrs old nnd I believe my boots treat )ob Little's 4 AIWA.
Mine were brass -toed and had red tons. By George, they we'll Ow Stuff.
!lenge Lore S. H. Blalesk
Page X
X52
"The first saddle ever hed,l woos ab.Jut 10 yeAre old. It was
just coiriton, h-af-rie 'noddle. You never seen no feney smddles them
dmys smite% ones the 7lexicene brought over canalizes.
"I worked for Hutchison till '78 nnd worked with omttle the
whole time. in fact, I never worked with anything else in my life,
or nel naything else. I taken wire of Vie pasture of (settle end
hor$06.
1,own there la where I saw my first mustmng.
"how those nustrngs rPn in bunches nnd every stallion 'el his
like
own bend of mmrse nnd he herded Nom just/you would herd oettle. He
made them go just where he wanted them to go end I've seen 'em drive
their herd Just like cowboys driving cattle. Just let,ona get con-
trary or leg behind, he soon mit them where he %vented them. I have
seen them Int different ones out of the herd, generelly their own
colts nbout two yeers old. Those colts would go to the other bunohem,
of course, n4 sooner or liter have Umds of their own.
"I °Aught m fei horses while L wns working there, 1)1:07; )ur
or five titer on, down there about where Wore's station is. Bob Little,
Nd end Garret Wilson end me were running. Bob we obout gl years old
then. -Before this, Z. X. Berry hnd roped a mdetnng in it ban with
some of his horse* end that mmateng jumped the fence with Berry's
ras.hide lnriet on him. He had got with a bunch of gentle horses
and we saw him. I told the boys that if theictrun that bunch of horses
under lituvt tree, I would °etch him. -ell, I got up there nnd they
brought 'en under and I snared 'in. He nenrly out re out of that
tree. I thought he wee going to shake the tree down. a throwed
him down nnd put a heekinore on him nn4 I told them to tairal 'iii down
to the horse camp And turn him over to John ':itindler. Re wee taking
care of the horses. floindler 1,,opt him tied r steked out several day..
Rana, Lore S.H. BlaloOk
Page 5
2511
till I got back and then I rode tim and gentled in. He wasn't
very hard to break. He sure was a pretty horse and when I left there
took him with no.
"I sure wanted that lariat and had it on my saddle till one day
Jim Berry saw it ana asked me if I got it off a mustang, and I told
him I did. He told me all about catching this horse and roping him
so of course, I gave him the lariat but sure hated to.
"The prettiest mustang I ever saw was a dappled -gray stallion.
He was the prettiest thing I ever saw before or sines. Nobody never
could catch him either. A fellow killed his after that, booause
he couldn't catch him. He was too smart. Several of.us tried to get
him but we never could catch him no kind of way. You could get his
whole bunch that vas with him and run them in a herd of other horses
and get them in a pen. He mould run in thirty feet of the herd and
wouldn't go in. He would never run any closer than that. We could
catch his 'whole hunch but he seemed to know that it was a trap to catch
him and he just woultatt go in. We Gould* 't snare hit or pea him.
"There were lots of polomillos running with theammatangs. They
wore dun colored and had white manes and tails. There were a good
many paints too sad I always saw those red paints up to a few years
ago. Now, nearly all the paints you see in the country, expeeially
at the rodeos, are black and white paints. The black paints aro real-
ly the best horses.
"On the ?Ds, they had five wild, mean horses and nobody oould
catch them two -year -olds. I finally snared two of them. You see, they
kept collecting one or two other gentka horses and I took a bunch of
cow horses and turned tea loose end had John Johnson, one of ay hands,
find those wild horses so we turned the gentle ones with then. Mimi
They did try to get out of there. I olumb up on tree and told tea
to herd lea under there and I snared the wildest one, a big, gray
xeeo L tn. fillod'et
Page 4
2b2
st ilion, oue;ht to ktsve seen that tree shake; He sure was a
)retty tl'zing but After we caug}it him, a Mexioan wes leading him and
one wan drivinn him and he run over the rope and it throwed him, It
br,e'r,e hie le. tarned hie loose in the eesture but his leg grew
bno7.: orG 7ed and we had to kil later. Thera vas a brown horse
wit this gray that we csught and he had already been broke. ,e
eedeled him up right there and rode him orf. He hmd been a good sad-
dle Ynias but mpg runnine wild now.
tell you how we roped those mean steers. vie hnd a-oouple of
neo!..Tine steers or oxen. i4) would rope them old steera and tie them u
up te 9 tree pretty sort where they oould lo round end round the tree,
end re would leave them bout two days or three and then take the
oxen rd neck 'en together. Ae would take them right back to the
pen end we would leave them there and feed and wntor them. They
would neke the best oaletle in the world to handle. Them old eteers
WEIV, business. I hrve seen them old necking -steers that you could take
out and neck to a wild steer and every time, he would bring that
steer to thnt camp. He mifdit be a day or two bringing him in but
he rould brine gm.
nbout are in this oountry theta', They were all over it. I
tell you whet I knomed two fellows just before Christmas to do. They
lould go out and kill deer to ship east and one day one of them killed
sixteen and one killed seventeen. They were in bunches you could kil
all them things you vented. fter that,1'ee! went out one night to kill
turkey for Christmas and they killed 101 and ahipned them. Why, a daub
't think much of them ,es meet, for we preferred fat beef and had
*Range Lore S.H. Blalock
Page 4--
23 2
plenty of the. You could kill them deer with six-shooters; yes,
that closes
"1 was at the Hutchison ranch house one morning and I heard a bunch
of turkeys coming. You could hear them coming a mile yelping. I look-
ed out and the wir7.1.e creek bottom was black with them. My, when we
mere out cow hunting, we always had all the turkey eggs we could eat.
"In them days, it used to be worlds of wild hogs. They wasn't
level/nag they was plain old American hogs. They would get fat
them days. We could take some good dogs and a gun and kill enough
to load the wagon down.
"There WAS lots of lobo wolves and panthers then too. Once I
vas riding along and heard a calf bawl and I rode out there and there
was two of them had the calf caught and when they saw me, they turned
the calf loose and run off. Man: They was mire bad to kill calves.
And panthers: They are sure bed after colts. Down in Mexico you can't
raise a colt hardly; they'll kill every one of them.
"You have no idea the changes since that day. There was no rail-
road west of San Antonio. Now, I am going to tell you how they fenced.
This man dad started fencing and he put up what was called the 'cross
fence.' He paid Mexicans from Mexico to clomp with ox carts and build
the fames at $160 a mile. He only had about six saotions and I think t
there was about six or seven miles of fence. He was building that
fence when I went to work for him. He had a herd of cattle about
300 head and I herded them cattle, ma end another, all winter till he
got this fence done. Then he turned them cattle loose in there.
"Ed Rutledge joined him and built another fence there and they
MR8 the only fences in there. One of them was on one side of the Seco
and the other was on the other side.
Range Lol'e Llulook
Pnre
9100
4. Ws".
wps in th.t the Iadianz cone in there Ind killed
a lejro fur 4n. It
tz).a wLdle I 4P*3 workinz for Sam itutchison. Up
hia .1‘anch ai Ailes on the ,zeco Creek Ohere he lived, he got three
40Ar.a0S
)ild a pen. e laere going to catch wild cattle and we
above
aelded Vle pen. They were bAlding the len doln an a1it1e reek
celled .1D1 Rid back in the other direction wee a little hill. Jne of
the Necrocs, 2on kloretil h,d -2air of mules hitched to R virxon and
hi) votc, lo9ding zescluite ,00las to take back up there to build this pen
ulth. '4.e -id ".1.0 hccanne up oni t'nls hill 1A4 s9,17 -4.!n ride up on it
rmo.Li t himself '!j.h' i.it be ind19:4110 ne
V. x7 tia4ru th,lt bidldln the (.3r. 1.!9rif this Indian
,weJe4 1n lijO Ilm but never did se.. riln. 2a e,t,id the
.ong h. ir n muwAn ,,a4 a lon n durk :nito
ti t: Ira clgro VP'e tlfl *Zarti-,er 1406i, of the r)en ottin
tiaber.4b neav 1,; tne td.iii coul6n't notify the otre
out Ur, the. nttention•of the :_ndian to LimscAf. ae ;.lev,thr :;uow the
indinn tho clv.Veixo Ikto diwing tho holEr41, but ,.her vie
cl,) _ore rftor he t 1;o the rn.ch to tell %het *Id heppened,
k“JU tkwt the old iellov didn't seo-iti to 41ko atiy resistence.
2F1.vo boba trlen nati.::.ely by t:iurprie.'e or it loakod like the
..dtaq Lan. .31m1) fInd vim right up to him Nad t;ie old UO4ro
just :1r7TG u7). Ae 12!2t t -east ne-rly aoAn snn,1 everything
jaal; 11:te la L7id it doc to sarkr off. Tha tIrst. 'fagra'a trr!cks
L. k& tl)otat ten 1%,_,A n.)er wen he left thr o 1.ve the alArm.
third Negro z.x.id he wm t1cre iorking bit I t4Jught It wee
Ildnf fur he 7111t, fit:ht close by RS
off, Thi,e3 1.1. rri-
-r sy0 never frAy.nd
Peg.:
Range Lore S. H. Blalock
the old fellow till the next Friday evening. They killed him the
,7ot.h.i.m. We went on end finished the and went to
wAharin ttle. achen we found him, he was swelled up big es a
horse and we ,couldn't move 11;.m or bury him either. ,We just had to
troi or lFnkcets over him And some dirt. He had two bullet holes
in him an his left hnnd was Anaed to his breast with an Arrow.
"It 1mi 15 years after that that we had gone up to Devil's River
and this oVvir Negro wrs wIth us that olaimed he wee working up west
of where the old. Negro was taken. I asked him about it then and
he said he'we%i going to tell ma just how it was, he said he got to
thinking acout it en Indian would slip up and kill him awl his knee*
kot eo wealt he couldn't otand up, he had to lie daan. I always thought
he -oaf. asleep and I am sure now that us was.
"The Indians veren't afraid of a Negro at all. They were
afrrid of white men but they seemed to hate e Negro end would kill
him every chance they got.
"These [lame Indians went on down to mother creek where there
was a LLttle settlement or people. Shackelford hed a cow camp on this
creek eitme to the settlement 'and he )1401 e calf tied out not for from till
camp to kill the next morninG. .These Indians slinpod up there that
night -nd ta,Jk the rape ofl: of the Galt and turned it lows but didn't
get any of the horeeo. Ant they went down to Old Man verry Wilson's.
tie had a h,orse :oasture fenced ontlrely with brush every bit of it.
These „Adiaud want in that pasture that night and ,;;ot every one of his
horses. Avann‘- these horses vas a big, gray horse and they killed him
ate him. They left a great big chunk of that horse meet aticking on e
atick Tonere they had broiled it.
7ilson
"Tv° uf the boy -et irohnlend Bob Roland, got on their pet horses
Range Lore -e 8. R. elalook eageg:'
next morning to ride out and get the horses and found them all gone.
One of them Indians inw them nild mede m run nt them mad the boys
knee it wns Indians. They turnod roil* nnd if they didn't 1Gty It on
them eoniee going brok to the honest
IFThe Indians hed roped n helfewild horse, on that mid, thnt bee
longed to vile Daily. The horse eot away from them. nnd hnd a rawhide,
leriet on him forty feet lone. The rawhide hadn't been dreseed so
well; there was hrtr still on it. re found the horse with the rope
wound ur around a log 'Ind if we hadn't found him when we did, he would
have starved to deeth.
eThey came in there egain in '7, to a sheep veep snd killed
man thet Was Mang to din his sheer. The herder sew the Indians kill
him but had to stry hid. The Indians went down aneeluirrel Creek
into Jeff Johnson's pasture and want in and out of n gete end got
e bunch of his horses. There as en old !!exican rif,med' :esus ennohes
that said he seoke to then but they didn't answer when they eame-by his
house. Fe lived close to the gPte they went out .of and he. knew they
eel's Tndiens then 'a.. he got his gun and shot et them. They rru off.
They were treveline seed then. Some of them turned seuth toward the
Frio Hiver end fin Berry wee down there gathering wild cattle with a
bunch of eericen hands, He hed e bunch of slow -herd cettle end he
found where some wild cattle had crossed the trail end he ens trPillege
them when one of the rfexicans in the rear hollered, lindianst' He
looked end sew an Indian sitting on a white horse, This Indian took'
otter them end he bort the Indian to the river. The Mexicen jumped
off the b-ne of the river and got 'Ivey. They went on down and orossed
tt revel. 'bout three nilee below town and they cell it 'Indian
Crow:31W yet. They. turned up the river west to s geese onnp where
'aanee Lore S.R. Blalock
Page
232
they mere dipAlig or shearing sheep. There were four or five Mexicans
tAere nal they killed every one of them. When help got there, one
et 101a Iexlcan, wesn't quite dead and he told them that there was a
white men with those Indians and described him. Jim Berry knew who it
was as soon as the Mexican tol and said the fellow had been staying
right there in !ill) Town. then those Indians left there with those
horses, ehey made clean got -away and never wee heard of or seen and
none. of tho lorsee ever een.
tIlink !Along about then ties the first time I ever saw Uvalde. It
6idn't Aneo any of then alazae then. It was just a wide place in the
rand. It res lere than tough too, I want to tell you. I have heard
of eeny e thing that happened there and saw quite a few little things
weal!.q litLle later en, though I never did stay around town very long
at n tlAce Tat Jvalde was Just a little settlemnat in the breoh.
"I hpvl heard people say that they knew this country when vou
ceuldn't get a riding switeh, but I have enewed it slnce 179 and it was
alaay, bruohy. It eae brushy, it wao bed and where it was men, it
wee open. :-Etat of. Uvalde was aeon mostly then.
areund Pearsall, that old sage grass was we
lou could uee it asving like the waves
when, the eind blew. It vas eay for all kinds of wild
IL the and eina%-.06 tcm. .And of oourse, turkeys had a paradise as well
ac coyoi s. You can imagine that country being all open and them
muetaage running in there far miles and miles. They would go twenty-
five er thleaty miles to water for there wasn't no fences to hinder 'en
The and cattle ranged the same way, though they didn't go so far to
neter, but them old steers and bulls was wild as deer. During them
big roundups, all the outfits worked and I remember all them old ranch
men around there for we had soma good neighbors on the Seco,
rij,)uon
to your saddle
on the Gulf
unimfilu to llide
Range Lore S.H. Blalock
Page
252
"Old Man Rol Miller lived up there an the Seco and him and
Hutchison were good friends. I remember Old Man Miller had some
bees at his house and they were so mean he hadn't been able to rob
them or to get anybody else to. There were about eight stands, I
think. Tle had gone there to buy some cattle and were gathering them
then. He liked me and asked me if I could rob bees. I told him yes
and he got me to stay there that day and help him. eli, we robbed
them bees and got two big wash tubs full of comb honey. He couldn't
Ilve robbed them himself.
"I left Hutchison in about three years and I had three good
saddle horses and fifty-five head of cattle. I only made twelve
dollars a month, so you see I didn't make all them cattle working. No
fo.li71 I was a pretty good rustler.
"dim Shakelford, Telt Roland, Bob Roland and myself went over to
Loma Vista on a creek called Tortum Creek and made a camp there. ie
roped wild cattle all winter. The cattle belonged to everybody. There
were Nunn, Daughtery, Blackally, Lawhorn, Adams and others. That was in
'78 and some of them old steers ras branded right afterthe war. I
know some of them old steers was 25 years old. I seen two steers that
was thirty years old and another one that was twenty-eight years old.
Baylor bought a bunch of old steers to ship and I had put 'em over
there in a pen and a Mexican said that one was thirty years old and the
other wns twenty-eight because he raised 'em. I saw a little old red
steer once from Arkansas that was thirty years old.
"I've seen horses live thirty years too. I gave Lew Blackally a
horse named Redbird that he roped on all the time and he kept him till
he was twenty-six years ol.
"We roped those mild steers and we would find a man who was eine
to take a herd to iCansas aud we would sell them far four dollars a steer
Raw;e= Lore S.U. Blalock
Page
232
and about two -fifty e cow. we kept the yearlings ourselves end sure
had 7orett little bunch. Iva stole all the rest we could, of murse.
'e) caught about a hundred head that winter. We made a little money,
not muoh. Nothing else to do them days. tre had our own camp and our
own grub which was black ooffee, cornbread and beef. We had that all
the time and I have lived on that moat of my life. That was the health-
iest living on earth. Vhen we ate up one beef, we went and got
another; didn't make any difference whose it was, just so it was fat.
to Frio County and I went to work for Old Man
Perry Yoilson in '79. I married one of his daughters, in '82. Her name
was Alice. She was dark, and had dark eyes. She was a. small woman,
about 105 pounds, and a good ranch hand. We had four children: Etta
(Who died), Myrtle, Alvin and Ora.
“Perry Wilson moved his cattle to Devil's River in '86 and I also
went up there and stayed three years, on the headwaters of Devil's River
I taken my cattle along. My wife went along on that trip and after
we got there we had to live in a tent for about three months, in feat,
all winter. I brought her beck down home for it sure gets cold up
there.
'Then we was moving those cattle to Devil's River, it was out here
about Brackett that we hod such an awful stampede. There was about
1,200 head that trip and we lost them all. We were two days gathering
them. We got nearly all of them maybe twelve head short. I was
on herd when the stampede come off and it was a piumb good one. I
never did know whet scared them. It was a moonshine night and bright
ns it could be. And we never could stop them cattle —just had to let
tam go. They run right through camp and this fellow, Swindler, was in
bed. A little old yearling run right over him, That tickled ma worse
than anything that hapnened. Golly, he sure squalled.
Ranp.e Lore 9.H. Kaleck
Pegs /2,
232
Lep(' wore sore of tie b.1.1--est catfish in '›evil's River in the
world. flfs bDr cauOit one thnt 14eighed 140 pounds. No, I never caught
a big fish hooause I nsvor liked to fish. Once, Tom Wilson caught a
oatfieh ozit of there that veiehed sixty-five uounda, he had a sheep clamp
up eu the river there and oaugPt this fish and he had it tied to the horn
of qs snddle and the tell dru the ground.
*tad out
ByleArn lnd when
cattle, in about three years, to a i'ellow named
T left there, I went beak down to the old Wilson ranch
and Old 171n Perry went to Lower Oelifornia. Ue and Xohn Alson built
up our herd to nbout seven -hundred head.
3ight there ia where I struck the meanest horse I ever got hold of.
He didn't throw me but it we bad enouh. I or)nid ride any of them than
and it didn't hurt me but I wouldn't like to do it agaih. It wee there
on thie ranch end the home *le a range horse and -Loned to Will Craig.
He eaid nobody else eould ride ;Aim nnd he not MG to tnke him ,lith me
and ride him. It took me about a week to at Aim to where I could ride
him with him 4tching. He wes the meanest hlrse I ever saw in my life.
He horse brown all over nnd he wns a small horse too.
He Jqst. Itched qnd I kept him in a pen n meek before I could ever ;;.et him
broke. Ile didn't go off, he just ,litched
himselV down mid me too.
"In '92, I loft the ilson ranch and went up to the 7De. There
was e fellow named Bill Henson had this Job before I did and he got sick
on thet !eearsell ranch of the ?De and had to go to San Antonio, so they
got me to take his plasm till he got back. Put he died, so I stayed on.
Old -In :rob), Oliver wn3 running Vlis ranch alone to Le Pryor and Old N.T.
Wilenn want4 Tee to oome out there end take Uiver's -olace. I told him
end balked. 4;141 would pitch
I didn't uont to do thet. They weregivIng me $65 a month but they told
lane Lore S. Blalock
Page 15
062
me they enuld give see n hundred dollars if I would oome out thees.
eold 'hoz! were going to let Oliver go, anyway. rell, I took
Vie ,e13 nn a utayod there in yeers.
"Speaking or good cowhands, I had a Negro hand by the name of
Jun :Lehman and I know thst lee oowhand ever bent Jobe, I knew Alf
Tollett he ens :ohn's stepfather and he sure we a. hand but I donti
f 7V1.3 a bit better than Wehn. joila worked for me the whole
tiele I wee eheee. Cal Seler and halter hinter worked for me too. 1
thin thee.o e about three the Mexicans alive out of the via that
earked •4121 AO at that tine. i 7cnow reesovia liertinesand 4artin
ara etill alive, and lel oald he iiv ol1 Irelorio leet year and
1J head '.1a0 ',Ate au aQton. Le and Cal have been teinleing about
gettiag all Viet eli bunoh together that we used to work with and null
eft a raWr chuek easen barbecee mad oelebration. ee want to have
jaat regular cov caap with a chuck-wagen there, and inlrite etrerybody.
I :511Q7e all our old buneh would be there that's livine.
'11 k that one outfit mad worked that whole country end that
ealee button etapei eith lee aiva yeare. eut we sure did work. We had
the worat oaeele in the world to handle. There were old bulls ten and
Le•iw"6 .iars old that never iled been branded and old steers twelve
or thirteen years old. There wee lets of animalrl there. with no
brand on 'am at all. Darndest en a 1 ever saue 'es roped, necked
aid ereught 'en. into a trap and. afterwerds, we rounded ue these steers
and taken them to the Pearsall ranch which had about 59,000 rores in
it. 1;e caught 2,400 big steers et o W time and shied them:to
Deenieon and they were wild °nee toe.
'ee would teke a bunch of our ranee cattle out and run these wild
oettle into ',am end then ge b there and take 'em on to the pasture.
Range Lore
F.4.
alock Page 14
,eacch 'liver eea there, I tekee 'elm about how meny steer !c taeu4ht
ens tit reno4 end he 3aid about 1,400. I ought 2,600. VO roped
seere out of those pautures five years. ee would
we had them ell and next winter ve would find nem
Thnt'a where John Ioanson come in. He could
rope till ,e theueht
!ewe.
trail llee a dog.
He the best ayes I ever saw in a human's head.
brute ell day long till he cot him. de was simply the
I ever rorked with in my life. He is about as good as
would trail a
best cowman
ever now,
guess, though he is about my ege. I an pretty sure he still has good
eyes, but my eyes went back on no is why I had to quit the ranch. John
is working down on the Plovers ranch now and I don't know whet Flowers
veuld ?ieve done without him. I haven't seen him in twenty years and
I sure would love to see old John again.
''Thet 37,000-aore pasture was at Pearsall and there was another
nestere on the Leona that had the same amount in it. The 'Ames ranoh
or the Pryor reach had 92,000 acres in it and the Frio ranch had 15,000.
Now, 'rent is that I worked with one outfit. I was the only man that
ever went in there and cleaned it un. When they sold out, we gathered
5,555 steers off of the Maces ranch for Bill Mangum. Bill Jennings
bought 1,500 off of the Leona ranch and we shinped the eersell ranch
cattle, then delivered 1,200 cettle off of the Frio. But I sure had
some r -al nen In that outfit o T tie never could have done it.
wouldn't like to live those days again. W 'vent through too
mudh. f course, we had lots of fan too.
a -time and tkey have nut the legeings oa me too. There 'ire eertain
thinge you done aid you vas always fund geilty. You couldn't beat a
case at all. 7 recolleot one time thet we all wanted to whip ilartin
?adilla so we tried him for vane -thing end put the leggines en him. We
vie hed kenaroo court many
Range Lore R.H. Blalook
Pagel5
252
laid him down and we sure poured it on him. After we got through, he
asked us if he had had his whipping end we were satisfied about it.
1;t4 told him yes end the devil got up and pulled a big old cost out of
his pants thst he had stuffed down there, knowing we were goiag to
whip him. ?'one whippings hurt, I tell you. There's no question about
that but you couldn't do enything about it.
m'hon pent down to the lieriposa ranch in texico during the rev-
olution, me mad Bob no,. miter Scott. Tom Vivian and Ellie ierry rode
in one of the first makes of oars that ever come to this country and it
reminded me of the first osr I ever saw around Uvalde. ,The first one
was an old Brush and then Dave Pryor brought in the next one and it was
the kind we vent down there in to get a herd of cattle. TWsm old horses
that used to be around Uvalde when they saw an automobile, you could
see them old hacks just a-flyin° and the dust a..fogein'. an, them old
horses would go wild end they had some reel run-aways them days.
°nen we brought them cattle back from Vexico that time, ye crossed
the Rio Grande 10 here about eight miles above Eagle Pass and we lost
one of our Vex:loan hands that trip. The river wasn't up bad but it was
swift. Ws got those cattle to the river abut two hours by sun and
we swum 'am actress in little bunehes at a time. re had a Mexiean on the
other side to turn /em up the hill into a pasture. The °attic, could
hardly swim in that swift water.
“John Johnson was with us. The Mftlean on the other side called to
one that was with us, after we finished crossing the cattle, to some
40 to town. The one he called to told him no, but another one said he
would go. John told hi/snot to do that, that if he did, he might not
asks it. Be also told him if he snot se, to pull off his sloth... The
Heade= had told as earlier in the day that he couldn't *win and we
tried to keep him flion going into it. But he rods right into that
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232
water and it carried him, horse and all right on down the river. The
old horo$ wouldn't swim, either, he just sort of floated down and the
Moxicar, sitting on top of him. But the water washed the /*xis= off
the horse, finally, and I heard bin call to the Rex:lean that was riding
down the river tioring to get to him, to hurry for he wee drowning. But
the othor 1elesn couldn't get to him mad he dieftereared. He WRS found
down close to the bridge two or three days afterward. The old horse
sort of floated out back on the same bank he left from.
"Thet old river is sure mean. Old Van lb Blocker hi driven hereto
Tansao and the Black Hills and he said this old Rip Grende wen the worst
stream he ever tackled to swim herds across end the most treacherous.
"In 1922„ I went down into "lexica and went to work fcr the Kin-.
olid.Orothers on the Ls Oaoho ranah. worked dove there till 1946 and
then came beak over here and went over to Carrizo and worked with my
son, Alvin, about seven years. Worked over there till I got to where
I eouldn't see, so I cane back here. I haven't been book to Uvalde sines
1924 but it is the best little town in Texas. have two daughters by
my seeond marriage. Their names are tiaalne and :Aldred. Uy first wife
died a lonAtine ago when I had my radar in Uvalde to send the children
to sehool. I married Josie Reaupois then. I have a daughter here
Ws. Clarence Milani who was Ora, and a daughter in Uvalde, urs. 4theldra
Alex Wyrtlel. Alvin has a ranch over in the Carriso country and he is
a good ranchmen.