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Range -lore
Elizabeth Doyle
-;an Amgelo, Texas.
fli:14M-LORE
J. H. (Jake) Byler of Mertzon,
Texas, came from 'i.ashington County,
lawkansas, to Collin County, Texa!,
at the age of sixteen. The family
traveled in covered wagons, canped
out at night, cooked on an open
fire, and lay awake nights watching
for Indians.
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first real work," related Mr. Byler, "vas on
the Coughlin Ranch in Collin County. I ran cattle all
over .est. Texas, from Tom Green to the Pecos and from
there to New 1:exico.
"The worst stampede I ever witnessed was near
Buffalo Gap. I was helping john Rybran drive some Half
Circle Six Cattle. The boss was over on first guard
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smoking Bull Durham. in his pipe and rode off behind
some bushes to strike a match and light his pipe.
strong wind was blowing from the south and just as his
horse breasted an old stray yearling to keep him in
the herd, he stopped so suddenly that it jarred the
fire out of his pipe and that south wind whipped the
sparks right over into the herd. They were gone: A
new boy, who was sleeping under the wagon, jumped up,
bumped his head on the wagon and made for a near -by
sapling. Another puncher started up after him and he
yelled. 'Don't come up here, we'll both bend this
little thing down.* The fellow made for the next
neurest bush and we made for the cattle. I tell you
we had to be up and coming to even keep near them.
They certainly were exactly right to be scared to death
by those sparks. They were just old wild longhorns
fresh off the range and we had some time getting them
stopped. Then when we had stopped them once they made
a second break and ran all night long. There wasn't a
dry thread on any of us and our horses were given out
next morning when we ritually got them stopped. I felt
like I never wanted to see another cow so Isturned in
my time and gat. Being young and naturally adventur-
ous I decided to go to New Mexico. When I got there I
joined up with the Case outfit. It was there that my
horse was stolen by the Indians. We had brought all
our horses into an adobe corral and closed the bars.
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Several of the hands were put to sleep near these bars
and well loaded guns lay by their sides. Imagine our
horror next morning to awaken and find our stock gone.
They certainly were quiet and sneaky with their dirty
work. Not a man was roused as they slipped up let
down the bars and stole three horses and three mules.
"All adobe buildings were constructed with fine
pole foundations. Otherwise, the Indians would take
rawhide ropes and quietly saw into them at the corners.
"We started out after our horses on foot and had
gone about three miles when we came upon signs of their
first stop. They had killed a burro and broiled pieces
of him, hide and all, for food. We trailed them on as
long as we could see the tracks and camped. The next
day brought victory. We overtook them and found seven
in the crowd; seven of them and three of us.. We had two
guns each and were ready to let them have it. The boss
said, !Now here's where I get an Indian scalp.' They
saw us about the time we saw them and began to dodge
from one tree to another. We didn't shoot because the
horses were hidden away somewhere and we hoped to find
them more qui&Kly throupt llve Trdlars thn ones.
They made no attempt to fight and appeared to be unarmed.
"One of the boys and I branched off to ourselves
and I struck my horse's trail. I knew it at once be-
cause of a marked hoof. The others joined us and we
trailed the horses up to a big canyon where we saw
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moccasin tracks and .leaped down the canyon a ways before
we saw the horses hobbled with a rawhide rope. A Mexican
was tied to a bush with the end of the same rope. We de-
cided to report to the Government Agency on the Indian
Reservation for the horses. They assured us that they
would be returned, and they were. The soldiers sent the
three horses back to us by the Indians, with a message
that they would try to find and return the mules. After
a few days we received a letter saying that they had the
mules and for us to come and get them. They were putting
forth every effort to civilize those red devils but were
making little head way.
"A dangerous Indian, known as old Victor, broke
out of the reservation. He was an old Apache with the
wildest instincts. He stole several horses and murdered
a poor old freighter as he was pulling a wagon up a
mountain, took his groceries and mules and made his way
to some other Indians. They worked their way into a deep
gorge, where the soldiers had a hard time finding then
but finally got near enough to shoot several Indians and
recover the mules.
"My feet began to itch again and I decided to try
Arizona. I got a recommendation to run a ranch out there
and started but ran upon Coughlin again. He had another
big ranch and the Government Agency to furnish beef for
the Indian Reservation. He got to talkin' to me about
what I would get into out there, outlaws, Indians etc.,
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and asked me to stop and work with him, which I did. He
found out later that he was buying stolen stuff for the
reservation. A new hand knew better than to ask ques-
tions. If he had any sense at all he kept his mouth shut
and stuck to duty. If he didn't, he didn't last long.
"Billy the Kid was doing his part of the stealing
on the Pecos and selling to Coughlin. I've slept many
a night right by Billy and never asked a question, Net
get up next morning and took the cattle he had brought
in, up to the reservation without a word.
"Billy the Kid stood in with most of the stage
drivers. He stole all the horses from the nearest stage
stand, went on out and met the incoming stage, took the
driver's gun and all the money and later divided with
the driver. The stage company employed Sam Perry to
follow them. They furnished him with the best and fast-
est saddle horses that could be bought and told him to
pick his men. san was a crook too, so he came by where
Tress Underwood and I were working and tried to get us to
go with him. He said Billy the Kid's hide-out was on the
border, that he knew where it was and that we could sell
out to him and split, then get us an old pack Jack,
trudge back and tell that the Kid and his gang overpower-
ed us and took everything we had. Tress and I told him
we had a good job and didn't want to take any chances on
losing it. He went on his way but returned some weeks
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later, just as he had planned, leading the old jack and
loaded down with money. He took us into Silver City
and we all got drunk. We were satin' at a hotel and
Sam was settin° aoross the table from a stranger a-
poppinl off and he popped once too many. The stranger,
he ups and biffs him one in the face with a saucer.
Sam's face was out and the saucer demolished, so we
left on that.
"We worked on there awhile and I got another wild
notion to go to Old Mexico. The outlaws were so numerous
along the line that the nearest town was thirty miles
over. I made the town of Chihuahua alright, but my
horses was stolen the first night I was there, so there
I was, a -foot in a strange town with my big dirk knife
in my boot leg and ay 45 in my belt. I knocked around a
few days and one night I decided to go out to a Mexican
dance. I got in O.K., and had a pretty good time but
noticed the Mexicans watching that knife all the time.
I got ready to leave and looked about for a way to slip
away and not be seen. A trail led off from the build-
ing and I decided that would be my best route, so I
started down that dark trail. I hadn't gone fur before
three Mexican men closed in upon me. Two of them grabb-
ed me on either side while the third one stood out in
front of me with an old axe. The handle of my gun was
stickins out an my right side and one of them made a
grab for that. I was fighting right and left and we bad
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it around and around. I knocked them back so fast with
my fist and elbows that the old man with the axe never
did get to me. When I gained sufficient distance to
pull my gun, I whacked the nearest one over the head
and out he went. On came the second one and I let him
have it. The old man with the axe ran, or thought he
did. He didn't run at all, coNpared with my speed. I
tell 'em all yet, that I could have been fined for
speedin' that night and I never stopped to see if my
brakes was a. workin'. I wns just a little quicker
motioned than they were was all that saved is but in
the round they got the knife. Next day I went down
to a saloon to look around a little, thought maybe I'd
find some means of locating my knife. I didn't feel
afraid but I know now that was just plain lack of
sense and because I was such a kid I couldn't realize
the danger I was in. If they had put me in jail there
I never would have gotten out, in that strange country.
"An old Mexican woman came to the door and asked
me to come in. I shook my bead and she said, 'Knife?'
I nodded and said, 'Is my knife here?' Fool Mexicans
drunk last night, took knife, I get it,' she replied in
broken English. She went back and returned with my knife
and I was very pleased to have it back. One big "greaser"
stepped up to me and offered me 5# apiece for my cartridges,
and a horse and saddle for my gun. I was tempted to trade
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felt very lonely and desolate and thought if I ever got
back to civilization I wouldn't want to ever sow any.
more wild outs. I picked out a nice quiet spot in some
high grass, ate some of my food and lay down and slept
a good nap. AA night came on I made ready to take off
again. I didn't do so well that night, as I was tired
and sore and not driven on by fright as I was the night
before. The next day was about the same. I didn't sleep
much but traveled very little and reached a mining camp
about sun -down. Two men were just leaving out for Silver
City in an old rickety buggy. Again I offered to pay for
a ride but was told that the buggy might break down and
again I was left behind. It wasn't so bad this time,
though, as the mining boss told me to stick around and
he would give me all the odd jobs he could. I stayed a-
round and worked four or five days and one day a prospec-
tor came riding into camps on a pretty little pink mare
and leading his pack Jack. HA told me he was going to
Silver City and I hit him up for a ride. He said O.K.
I could ride 'til the Jack gave out and then walk awhile.
This was what I did and it beat walkin' all the way, too
bad. I had 0.00 when we got to Silver City and my ride
paid for too, and thought I was pretty lucky.
"I got a good job with another outfit and got along
fine from then on.
"When a green horn would come into camps the older
boys had various forma of torment for them. One was to
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"leg 'em" (spunk them with leggings). Others were a dry
shave or head shave just as the offense merited and still
another was to get them to go to sleep under the wagon,
then frighten them so they would jump up and bump their
heads. Getting them on wild horses was also a favorite
joke.
"When we had strangers at the round -ups for chuck
the boss would say, 'Now you gentlemen had better get up
on the wagon and hold, I'm a -gone tarn these S-----Bts
loose on this.' On one occasion a couple of Englishmen'
crept shyly upon the wagon with their eyes 's. stickint
out on stems.
"I came back to Texas and married a cowgirl. She
was as good help with our little herd as any hand I ever
had. She rode a special built sidesaddle which cost
4b0.00. Once when she had tailed down an old yearling
for as to brand, I saw he was about to get up, so I
lumped a -straddle of his beak and happened to land back-
wards, Be lumped up with me and away we went. I made
a grab or two and finally got hold of his tail and rode
home, cowboy. My wife laughed at me ttil I was as mad
as most husbands when their wives laugh at them.
"I was out around Sterling City once with a herd
and a bad storm came up. It was as dark as pitch. The
usual stampede took place. M. B. "Nub" Pulliam was rid-
ing a good horse and an old wild longhorn lunged into his
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horse and knocked him down. "Nub" jumped off and fell
to his knees right in among that raging herd. He was
trying to run on his hands and knees when it lightened
and Wash Tankersley saw him. Wash stuck spurs to his
horse, forged through those maddened cattle and holler-
ed tZump on, Nub.' Nub made a wild grab and scrambled
on behind him. He was so excited and afraid they would
be knocked off again, that he got Wash by the ears and
nearly pulled them off before they reached safety.
"Wash.was the best roper I ever saw and the smooth-
est man in a herd. He could out -run any cow with any
average horse and manage cattle with a skill that was
fascinating.
"1 remember once we bought an old wild longhorn
from Gus Thomas and were going to kill her. She was the
meanest cow I ever saw. We thought we were going to have
to knock her in the head to kill her. We even had to
climb a tree to rope her and then she would buck out of
the loop some how. After several attempts to kill her
were made with a pistol we wrapped a six-shooter ball in
a rag, put it in a shot gun and killed her.
"Some of the cattle bosses were too hard on the
sho6 men. Often we were told to tear up and burn their
camps and whip the herders with our quirts. Some two-bit
punchers did that but no first class cowboys were guilty.
The cow man resented the sheep man more because his buying,
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leasing, and fencing land forced the cowman to do the
galas and consequently broke up his haven of free domain.
"Yes, we sung, whistled, hnd hummed to the cattle
so they would know where we were, also that the other
guards might know our locution. The constant sound pre-
vented fright from any sudden sound, such as a horse
stumbling, etc.
"Well, you know us boys could just go on talking for-
ever about the old days, and we always like to talk to
people wLen they are willing to listen.
"Ms and mama are just eettin' here now. A.11 the
kids are grown and gone. Vs get lonely but we enjoy the
well earned comforts of our good home and are always glad
to have some one to talk to."
Range -lore
Elizabeth Doyle
BIBLIOGRAPHY
J. H. B71er, mertzom, Texas, interviewed, November
17, 1937.