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La's. ada Davis, P.a.
McLennan County, Texas.
District No. B.
No. of words 950
File No. 240
Page No. 1.
REFERENCE
Interview with Tom Barker, Taco, telennan County, Texas.
Thomas J. Barker of Waco belongs to the Old West. Alert to both
present and the past at'ciahty-three, his bast possession is a baclz-
ground full of da)ring aeeds as cowboy, renger, Indian fighter, farmer
of means.
Larker was barn in Bell County of a pioneer family. In early
boyhood he became acquainted with the saddle end the gun. His uncle,
Jessie Mumford, was a close freind of Buffalo Bill with whom he scouted
and hunted, and after Jessie Mumford moved to Bell County, Barker heard
many tales about the famous scout. In '75 Cody left his home in North
Dakota to spend three weeks with Mumford. During his visit Tom Barker
"dogged his heels as steadily as ever did a St. Barnard his Master".
Barker found Buffalo Bill "Approachable and pleasant and easy to talk to
as a neighbor."
Cody's long hair and beard attracted little attention at that time
since most of the men had shaggy feces, except on Sunday when "the family
scissors were sparingly used". He was very fond of his gun, a 44. Win
chaster which he kept always near him and with which he practiced shoot-
ing daily.
The second time Tom Barker met Buffalo Bill was at Temple, years
later, when the scout's show came there. Cody greatly astonished Barker
when after a brief moment he recognized him as the boy whom he had seen
at Jess Mumford's. Cody spent two nights with Barker.
In '79 Barker's family made their home in Tom Green County where
they ranched considerably. Their gerds, sometimes as many as 5,000
heads, were driven to Kansas City by the Old Fort Phantom Hill route and
it usually took three months to make a drive. Tom Barker rode on the
pumas
Mrs, Ada Davis IP. W.
McLennan County, Texas
District No. 8.
File No. 240
Page No. 2.
drives for four successive years, 74 to '17. "Those drives he says,
nould be grim and dangerous; they were not the jolly affairs of the
MOTtiss• a would lose boys now and then from scOidents on the trail or
gun fights in the towns. Stampedes were not unusual, and there were
long thirsty days exhausting to both men and beasts. But all in all,
those were great days and 1V -was a great life."
During his lifetime "neoktie parties" were frequent. When only a
boy Tom Barker saw seven men hanging to a post oak tree one morning
near Rockdale and Freezout in Milan County, Texas. Their crime -was
stealing horses, which was a frequent offence among outlaw& in those days.
Once a really good man, Wash Herburt, who had leave of absence from the
Confederate Army, was hanged by a mob of "Tay.Hawkers" at old Curry Spring
in Milan County.
An event well remembered by oldtimers was the time when nine horse
thieves were killed one night in Bell County jail in the middle '70's.
Barker has good reason to ba able to tell this story.
lor weeks a party of thieves had been working in their neighborhood.
They took refuge along tha river and raved over the country in search of
good horses. The thing that incensed Tom Barker was the feat that the
outlaws would strip and go swImiing in front of his aunt's house. The
reVadd for their capture was l50., and so Barker made a deal with the
sheriff, despite his warning of danger. While riding towards the woods
with a good horse in tow, Barker was chased and shot at by Sheriff
Walker and his deputies,. Taking refuge in the brush, there he spent three
days, knowing well enough that the band of thieves were watching him
closely, but never actually seeing them. On the fourth day he was hailed
by them und soon gained their confidence. He offered to get them some grub
through his aunt who lived nearby. Finding 'out their anxiety to do another
FOLKLORE
Lass, 4..da Davis,
lacLenaan Coynty, Texas
Distzict No. 8.
File No., 240
Page No. 3.
"horse sally", he told them about Old.11an Embrey's fine pair of horses no
nerth of town that were usually staked out at night. They eagerly accept-
ed the suggestion und immedictely formed plans to obtain the horses that
night, while Barker went to hustle some food.
Through his relatives Barker sent word to the sheriff and the thieves
were cau6ht in the net of stealing the Embry horses. The thieves suspect
ad Barker and threatened to kill him "when they got free". But that night
a group of citizens broke into the jail and shot the nine prisoners. The
identities of the mob and the thieves were never known. Barker says,
"Those thieves were though birds, heavily bearded and pepped up on liquor'.
Parson Ferguson and his sons, one of whom became the stormy "Farmer
Jim', Governor of Texas and the center of Texas political life for twenty
years, were friends of Tom Barker. Once Barifty took of the birth of a
child who in later years was well known in the United States as Mirian
(PMA") Ferguson, the wife of Farmer nis and the Governor of Texas twice
herself.
Barker spent four years and eight months as a ranger in the late '70's
end early CO's. They had perieds of dull mpmotony in camp and then weeks
of fast exciting action. Their chief work was against the Indians, but
they had encounters with cattle rustlers.
Barker killed an Indian chief of some conseauence at Big Devil's
River north of the Iron Mountains in '78. Captain Head was their
leader and they had,had many brushes with a pack of Indians a number of
times. .Their ()holt owned a fine horse to which Captain Head took a fancy.
He offered to give 4100. to the man who would get the paint horse for him.
Not long after that the red men attacked them about four o'clock one
morning and attemplidd to stampede the rangers' horses. The rangers
FOLKLORE
kro. Ada Javis,
LeLennen County, Texas
lAstrict No.
File No. 240
Page No. 4.
followed them and caught up with them about ten o'clock. Tom Barker,
on a big by, saw that the chief was starting his retreat when the fight
became hot, and headed straight for the chief. Avoiding his tomahawk, he
finally shot him, and after chasing the paint horse for a mile, he roped
him.
He collected the reward from the captain, whom he met years later in
Waco and riho told him that he kept that Indian horse untill he died of old
&Le about twenty years after -his capture. The .41 single-action Colt
with which Tom Barker shot this chief was carried by him for 45 years
before he sold it to a man at Camp eArthur. hany-timos Barker has
regretted this salo end wished for the gun.
Eeturning to bell. County, barker acquired considerable property in
the following the break-up of the Old 4est. His fame as a horticulturist
spread throughout Central Texas.
John Aes/ey Hardin, notorious Texas outlaw, who had more notches on
his gun than billy the Kid, was a personal friend of Tom Barker.
Although a pleasant LIJI1 of a gaod ftmily, Hardin brought disaster to
hineelf and sevorsl members of his family because. of the career on whieh
he started when he killed his first man at Belton. Of one instance of
its effect on Hardin's family, Barker says, "Billy Hardin was walking
between me and Ike Donnelly in Belton when he wrs shot down by Marshall
Lyons. You know, it had become rather popular to skill a Hardin' and
much injustice was done".