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Range -lore
Nellie B. Cox
San Angelo, Texas.
RANGE -LORE
Page one
",my father and mother, Mr. Mrs. J. D. Sheen,went
to the San Saba etZUrttrywhen they were first married in
1868," says Mrs. J. F. Treadwell. "Indians were every-
where and always on the war path. As there were no
fenced pastures, my father was away from home all the
time riding to look after his cattle. For one whole
summer my mother lived in a one -room house with no door
shutter, just a blanket stretched across the opening.
Her constant fear was that an Indian would poke his head
under that blanket and crawl in. She always wondered if
she could grab her gun in time, how she could escape and all
the other plans she thought of but which she, luckily
never had to put into effect.
Page two
"During the time that mother worried about herself,
she also worried for fear father would meet up with some
Indians who would get his scalp. He did have many narrow
escapes and enjoyed telling of them in later years when he
could laugh heartily at their dangers. He told that one
time he was helping a young man friend "steal" his girl.
The girl's parents objected to the match so the young man
and girl planned to elope. My father and the girl started
off on horseback, met the young man after they were far
enough from home, then headed for the nearest preacher a-
bout forty miles away. I suppose my father then acted as
chaperon. They took all the short cuts. My father told,
'The day was fine. We rode through high grass. Just as
we topped a small, deep ravine, I saw five Indians on horse-
back ahead of us. I know they smelled us for almost as soon
as we saw them they turned and saw us. We turned and rode
down into the ravine, dismounted and awaited the Indians.
They came, riding at breakneck speed down toward us. They
figured we were in the tall grass and thought they would
scare us out, but we laid low and kept quiet. They would
ride back up the hill, wait and watch awhile and then rush
back down almost to where we were. We were armed, but not
heavily, so woited to see how long these tactics would keep
up.Atter three or four hours- these Indians were patient
cusses- they went away. After waiting awhile the young man
rode out to scout around. Seeing no Indians, we all con-
Page three
tinued on our way to the preacher's house. This couple
have lived long and happily but the girl's dad never had
much use for me.'
Treadwell continued, limy father took pert in
many Indian fights. He said that one tribe or another,
they were all the same to him and they would surely get
his scalp if he didn't get them first.
"One day in the spring as my father and two other
men were riding into camp, toward dark, they saw signs of
Indians having recently passed. They had not appeared to
have paid any attention to the cowboys but were headed for
the small home of a settler who had moved in with his wife
and children.
"My father told: 'I knew they were up to some devil-
ment. We headed for the little house and slipped around in
the brush. There were those Indians sure enough waiting un-
til it got a little darker. Two of us stayed to be of what
help we could and the other rode for the camp to bring the
other boys. From our hiding place in a thicket we could
see the Indians leave their horses and slip up to the house.
Everything was quiet in the house but we could see the light
shining -out. We knew the poor fellow in the house had little
chance of defending his home. My companion and I waited as
long as we possibly could for the other boys, then we let
the Indians have it with our rifles. Were those braves sur-
prised? Before they could recover, the boys from the camp
Page four
came riding end those Indians did skedaddle when that bunch
turned loose. The people in the house were almost as sur-
prised as the Indians.'
"Father could tell many stories of his experiences in
going up the trail, of stampedes and of riding mean horses.
He knew all the ways of handling stock. He said that the
later kinds of cattle, Herefords etc., were not hard to
handle like the old Longhorns. They could run like race
horses and did not have a speck of sense. The present day
cowboy does not have to work like the earlier cowhands. If
these now -a -days should happen to go up the trail, they
would expect the trail to be paved, lighted with electric
lights and have an "Inn" every few miles.
"Father and mother ranched for years in San Saba
County, later around Menerd, and their last ranch was near
Christoval, Texas."
Range -lore
Nellie B. Cox
in D4elO, Text,*
BLA.I0GS.FUY
Mrs. gr. Y. Treadvell, Texue, interviewed
January 0, lia8.