Document text
1-"
Trio
ke
0 Worths
From f. C. by
Mrs. Gussie Hele, P.W.
Pioneer hxneriences and
Cowboy Tnless of
harly Deys.
MDIT(A AL FILD Cw Y
by
Mrs. Florence Angermiller,
RLAL CWUNTY,_ Oic'1410T
GRIGSBY
Donkey, TAMS.
Page 1
232
mAR 21 1938
ni w!li born in Tyler, TOXPH, kugust 26, 1854, co in to this
country in Noveber, 1870. 1 yes about sixteen yenrs old 'Alen I °ems
here. 1 wns rniaed en orphan. I don't ever remember seeing my mother,
end oy frtter died when I WPS Six or seven yenrs old. After thnt
lived first one niece end _another till Iclams out here.
"1 st'ixted work on ft rench when I first got to this country,
wor;cin for ill iruitt. 1 just lived in the woods, for there were
very few eo 1e rant thnt time. I worked for r. Pruitt about six
yerxs, just working for my board end oloti7es, nnd it wnsn't meny clothes
either.
"1 went nert of the wny un the treil to Oklahoma, twice with stun
for All Pruitt. But he would always turn me beck at Red River. He
knew thnt 1 hnd P half brother living on up in Oklehamn nnd I always
thAight tv. did this so I wouldn't find my brother and stay with him,
for he wnnted me to work for him. I would come all the way back from
Hed River alone. 6ometimes I would /noel up with herds on the way mnd
sometimes i would ride nil the viey bask withou2 seeing anyone.
"1 hnve had ell kinds of uns nnd downs 'in the onttle buisness.
Ono ia tcc* bunch of cattle to the old Woodhull rnnch out south
of offord. ''FIrt of the herd belonged to rx. Furness. He had 040110
Cowboy Tales --Z. R. Grigsby
:lag* 2
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uh here rind bought them up, end we got twenty—five cents a head for
ell we delivered, end furnished ourselves. But we had to pay for all
we lost. One night we had camped about where Cline is now end had pU2%the
-1;rd. in a corner of a oasture for the night.
but along_ in the night something scared them
of those wire fences. As we would turn them
into pnothar.
got eway, it
inter, Millard
the one that
Ao were herding them too,
and they run through all three
from one string they would go
i-sit um only lost two. One broke it's shoulder and one
was a steer that belonged to old Man Vogel and three years
erkerson caught him and sold him for Old Man Vogel. But
cot it's shoulder broke didn't cost us anything for it
belonged to .TAle of the boys in the bunch.
"Our boss wanted to et -there with the cattle looking good. SO
after we crossed Ittrkey Creek, we heard the train coming and he asked
us to take the cattle al mile or so away from the track so the train
wouldn't stemeede 'em. we all had cattle in the outfit and we
made it up to hold them right to the track. So we took our slickers
from behind our seddles and whipped the herd right uT) to the track. WI
had to do some riding for about two miles, for those cattle really did
run. But we stayed with tem. The boss sure got red but it didn't do
him any good.
"The next day we gut to the ranch and was going down on a creek
to cemp, and one of the boys roAKI the pack horse aria be went to hitehing
and scettered skillets, frying prns, coffee hots end all our climb every-
where. But we got everythill heck but our grub. So we went uo to
the house end. told Mr. Furness what had hnspened. Ue told us to etimo
on up to the house and stay. 7,c) we helped him brand out his onttle, and
he give us enough grub to get back home.
"Yes, we always used a seek horse to carry our grub for we worked
Cowboy Tales J. B. Grigsby
22
In this rough country and there were no roads, so we had no use for a
a chuck wagon. liAcept one time when we ride a trip up on the divide
above Leakey. .Well, there was no road and the wagon broke down. le
had gotten ahead with the herd, so some of the boys went back to see
it was wrong and to get some corn from the wagon to feed the horses.
The man sAw a light out across the country and came beck and told us
it was Indians. So we. had to get out and round up the horses. 'A,
built a brush pen to put them in .1.1a ::',.mrded them all night. The next
morning we had gotten breakfast and started to eat. But it was always
the custom then, when the eowboys were eating, for someone to keA) watah
for Indians. Well, one of the boys got up to look and saw a big botch
of man coming. lie says, 'Boys, here they comell But it turned out to
be soldiers and they had seen us and tlought we were Indians. So the
boss got up and hollered at them to wait and the officer in charge cools
on up to the cnmo. )1e had killed a beef the evening before, so we gelre
them pert of that end they gave us about twenty-five pounds of coffee.
none time Joe an otat came to work with our outfit down here abOut
Rio *Frio. ell, we always turned all the horses loose at night except
one or two w; kept to ride after the others next morning. :le never eared
what we kept up to ride
01i AO
just anything, no matter how rn they were.
The buys always took it turn about going after the horses in the morning,
so it came Joe's time to get the horses. It was a cold, frosty morning
and he amid he didn't want to gat on the horse. But I told him yen, he
must go. so he got on the horse and he began pitching and finally turned
a somersault with him. He got ui) and said he couldn't ride the horse
again. But I told him we had those hornet... there to ride and if he didn't
ride him I couldn't keep him for I couldn't afford to keep a hand that
could not ride the horses. 3o he got on him again and that time he
afro elesereeredr,"'
Cowboy Tales j. H. Grigsby
rode him.
"Joe rolling used to come out in this country nnd buy fnt cattle
end teke them to hew Orleens end ship them from there. I he's seem him
rids into cow wimp with n morral (nose beg) full or gold OM mn4 go off
end leave it there mmybe nil night end no ono ever bothered it. I usee
if someone tied taken it he would hove ,lust been killed pnd thnt would ba
been all there would have been to it. There wesn't Pny court. Mold*
wee the -nearest post -office.
"AA1 Ain !chwerts used to came to the cow errans with his heck neddliAlk
drygoods end lot_ A' times he would stry eV night. le alwPys went nreper04
to or, for Ulm drys you couldn't nlwrys miOce it to n house for the niette-
Art he would always sell somethin7 to the cowboys, nunh es gloves nud it
tne7y didn't Iles's the roney they got them lust the *pm rnd I don't billOVO-
those cowboys ever bent him out of a unrter. 5 wes sure ft fine old malls
I taoueht m lot of him.
"'hen i ftrut commenced work 1-11$ yself I had some awful myna horse..
I trPded for the meanest ones I could get, so the boys wohldn't rite 'os
when I wen gone. I had one i only rode every three day.. Well, he vas
so menn would have to tie him to n tree and best him lin t,etor. A could
get bridle on him, for he sure 'imuld fight.
"I broke ft horse down here once for Vert Pruitt. Al finnlly traded
him to alvin iowles. The horse wee getting tender-f(x)ted so I met Nairi4
one ch,l, end told him his horse needed 'shoeing. Ifel sale yes, hut he wee
too nean to shoe. ut the old blecksmith in 1.eekey come out and said be
could handle him. -gal, they brought the horse down i'md the old blooksimillk
fooled ar!zild L. a ittle while end finally drompled the rope. I said,
07)on't do that; nen run off.. told me to just let him Alone he would
handle him. o he went in end wt his nails end hemmer end horseshoes mid
Cowboy Tales J. R. Grigsby
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and put the shoes on him and the horse never moved. I don't know what
he did to the horse for niter that he was just as mean to kick anyone
else as ne ever was.
Ye times are quite different now to what they used to be. I
remember when Old Men Hanson come in here snd taken UP a preemption of
hundred and sixty acres. Hntten Elm* cote along and wanted to trade
him out of it. Elm, aske Lii 1hrt he would take for it end he said,
'Two cows and calves,' which meant about eight dollars for a cow and calf.
8011, they traded for about e week, and then ame backed out. so you
can imagine about what land was worth then.
'Once the Indians come into the country and was stealing horses.
Nell, we heard of them end the settlers got together and took their trail
down here about Rio Frio. We followed them on across the Seoo to the
abinel Canyon and on to Frio Town, down by Old Man Westfell's ranch, *telt
was a big cow ranch. And when we crossed the Frio near where Loma Vista is
now, we had run out of food and were sure hungry. We hadn't had anything
to eat for several days but a little coffee. There didn't seem to be any
stook in that country then. But we finally met a :Aexionn sheep herder with
a herd of sheep and asked him for one. He said we would have to go see the
boss. 7xe didn't have time to fool around hunting the boss. so doe Vow
'legit jumped off his horse and Shot at a big old mutton and killed two. WI
took them on down to a. little creek and cooked them and the eighteen of
us ate every bit of those two sheep.
"The Indians killed nineteen 7eople before they remohed the Rio
Grude. ',Veil, we w*nt on for a day or two without overtaking them and
some of the men got discoureged and keot dropning out till there was
only five of us left. 'No had appointed Henry Pntterson as daptnin. So
he decided it was best to go brok to Uvalde and wire Lieutenant Bullis
Cowboy Pelee Z. R. Grigsby
Page 6
$132
for help so ha met us here with his Seminole Indian soldiers and we
took up the tr-il egain and followed it on to the Hio f„,r-nde. But they
had already gone acrois. we could see men riding back P d forth and
we were saticfied it was these Indians, but we were not allowed to go
after them. They killed one men by the name of Byrd end ebout five of
his men who was herding sheep for him. M. Byrd was in his buggy when
the Indians overtaken Ai,. sa‘;, sftur they killed him, they taken everything
he had in the buggy and his buggy harness. They out the leather harness
up in little pieces and scattered it along the way. Of course it was of
no value to them, But we found it as we followed the trail. They had also
gone by the Uount loodward raneh and killed two or three men there. We
didn't see anyone as we passed the ranch. No wasn't bothered about hissing
people we was just following that Indian trail.
"Another time we followed a bunch of Indians over on Dry Frio. They
had killed a man b the name of Terry and captured his two children e litt14
by end a little girl. The girl's name wee gattie and the boy's name
was Joe. But 4"os hed fought them so hard they knocked him in the heed and
left him for dead, right before his little sister's eyes. But he didn't
die. 'veal, we rode all night that night till daylight. t daylight we
took UD the trail again and overtnken them just before noon. They didn't
offer to fight for it was reining and their bow strings were wet. They
couldn't shoot and that gave us the best of them. One old Indian wag off
ahead of the others and they were crossing e creek when we begin to shoot
at them. e followed them on into a shin -oak thicket. After awhile we
come into a little opening end just as we got to this opening we saw
the little girl. It looked like she had just been kicked off of the
horse by the old Indian she was riding behind. She had an Indian blanket
wrapped around her and when she saw us she started to run. But we told
Cowboy Tales Z. Re Grigsby
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her to wait, we wouldn't hurt her, so she sat down on the blanket and
waited. -e went on after the Indians, still shooting et them every
chance we got. Finally we got so close to the old Indian thpt had
deopeld the little eirl tent ee could see him kick his horse every jump
trying to make him go fnelters enywpy, he hr,J1 n bed tick nround him and
and we found thst full of bullet holes and bloody. I don't know if we
killeu any or not but there wes plenty of blood along the trail. He
ran on till he got to a ridge and when he went over this ridge and into
another thicket, we wee close enough to see he e long lance in his hand.
eone of us wented him bed enough to go in there after him, for you know
they arm throw those old lences through you.
"We got the little girl and started back home. en the way back vs
found a it of stuff the Indians had lost, such as goat hides and one
buffelo robe. It wee cold end everything was wet. eo we eicked then
up and took them to comp and used them for bedding. Just before night
someone said, 'Do you sueeose thee* things heve lice?' But we slept
on them 'just the gitt.A0* Yes, we got plenty lice. Then we ,got back to
eld Men 3hores'where we were in cow epee, e- took P big wash pot, got
off don on the river and cleened up. We boiled all our clothes and
tied the buffelo robe in the rIver for about three days. Jim eeent
took the little girl on to his home, but he had to etpy in camp with
the rest till he got rid of thoee lice. Mrs. event took the little
girl end combed end washed the lice out of her hair, and welshed the
paint off of her fecal that the Indians had eut on It. end she nut
clean clothe on her.
".very :el the whole country wanted the little eirl, but she
didn't want to stmy with any of them. ;he wanted to sty with us men
who had rescued her from the Indians. 'hhen they did take her back to
Cowboy Tales aa S. B. Grigsby
rage 8
232
her mother, she went with a herd of fat oattle that Pruitt was taking
to San Antonio. When they got to San Antonio, ehe wouldn't get on the
stage coach to go home unlesn one of the cowboys went along, so one of then
got on the coach un with the driver and the little girl beck inside
with the mail. There 111111 a little window in the top where she could see
the cowboy sitting up on top. Well, when they got down the road a piece,
so the cowboy
they nioked up another passenger/slipped off and this men -took his plass.
The little girl didn't know the difference. .But I never sew her after
that.
"i knew Billy the Kid. He stayed in camp with us down here about
Haokberry once for about a week. He rode into enmn one day and his horse
was rode down, lie told us his name was Word and he wanted to stay a few
dnya. I told him all right. so he stayed on and helped us round up
cattle till one day he got into a fight with a Negro we had working with
the outfit. Billy out the Negro norm" the side of the fees and down
the beak with a long butcher knife. The Negro finally run. And when
he stoaned, I walked over to where he was and he said, 'Mr. Jack, please
don't let him hurt me any :ore:' About that time Billy wane up and said,
'Oh, shut your damn Louth. I have already done a 111 to you that 1 want
to.' Billy stood there and wined the blood off of the knife with his
hands and looked at the cut,on the Nigger as unooncerned as if he hadn't
done a thing. But he left after that .He was afraid the officers would
her of this and would get him for other things he was wanted for.
"When he left wimp he went on up to Bill Patterson's rnnhh and
k,J44; a job going up the trail to Kansas that spring. They said he stayed
with them part of the way back home, but stopped one day sway out on
the prairie end took his bed but turned his horse aloose. So they left
b1:11 right there without a.horse. They said they guessed he didn't want
lowboy Tales J. R. Grigsby
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to get any closer to Texas.
"I knew several other desperados. Among them wns bill Longley,
George Gladden, JJhn Beard and Lew Sawyers. They all come through this
country
/one winter at different times. They didn't do any kind of work while
they was here but they took in all the dances.
"There was one man, a desperado, come in to this country one time.
I can't remember his name right now. Anyway; he stayed over on the West
Prong a lot. I don't know what he had done, no telling what. Anyway,
while he was staying UD on the West Prong, he shot Mexiean one day
just to try out his gun. The Aexican was about two•hundred and fifty
yards away and as he stooped over to dig s hole this man shot him in the
hip. I met the man about a mile down the road just after it had hapvaned
but he didn't say a word about whet he had done. Well, the rangers sone
in and got J nd caught him away from home without a horse. But
he got sway fror'i them and Old man Lyman smith helped him get out of the
country by exchanging clothes with him no he would be disguised rend
wnildn't get caught. Those fellows were very peaceful and nice unless
trouble come up.
"I waa married to Miss Jennie Horton in January 1888. Tet were
married right up the river here about a half -mile in my wife's pnrent's
horny. walked on down here after the wedding and have been here ever
sines. taut i had to give a dance at Lankily in the court house that night
to keep the boys from shivareeing us. 4e had a big supper and danced till
about four o'clock, then it came up a big,anow storm and we had to go
home to keep from freezing. It was one of the biggest snow storms
ever saw in this country. I guess me getting married amused it.
"This pest year, on January 12, we celebrated our golden wedding
anniversary with a dinner nt our home. Jur son, Gu7, nnd two grand
Cowboy Tales J. H. Grigsby
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daughters, Mrs. Taylor end 7a6s. ams, end a few of our close friends
earn.. oie received many nice end useful gifts.
"1 don't ride Nay more because can't get on my horse. I haven't
rode now in about three yeers. My i7ifm did all the riding un till about a
year ago, then Guy cam* bec17_ iie to live, so he does the riding for us
now."