Document text
Auth$er.
Aan:7elore. "C 240
-"arrant lo,.'Ast,. 7
nave -Lluras,80,liviJ,..; it 0808 ace It,
Tort -'orth.Texas, was born 'ray 7th.1857,at
-enock(now arts) Texas,amar lounty. Ie was
reared on a plantation and learned to ride a
horse at an early age.
'e left home at the age of 13 an' t came
to -ort Thrth,anl ther'l met Joel Collins,by whom
he hired to work on the Collins ranch boost-
ed inT4Stilh County. the range
lur,s oo,itinued to follow/until 18101.at
which time he joined the Texas 7arv7ers andserv-
ed under Captain pioNilly and took -Tart la the
capture of Itm lass, July 19th,1878, 7e resign-
ed from the ringer force in 1880, and tharaftor
engaged in farming and cattle buying.
Texas
Hi* ralge story follows:
I am now 80, yews old, I was born in 'Ammar County,
May fth, 1857, on a plantation,whieh my father owned,
near a plalp called 13enock. It since has been changed to the
name of 'aris.
My father owned several good saddle hosses, which
were used for traveling and ridiig over the fields, looking
after the nigger slaves. I learned to ride when t was six
years old mini when T reached the ag of 13, was 'a good rider
and hossman.
Plantation life did nut sit well with me and. after
My 13th birth day Ikhankered for a change and wanted to 4'et
into some other lino. 70 like, t decided to hunt a job and
at the same time see some of the world.** left home without
the consentor knowledge, of my parents.
't made it to Fbrt Worth,that was in 1870, and there
was not much to the city at the time.but was a big cow center.
T was hanging around the wagon yard the after t arrived ant a
man cams no to me,he began to chin. After getting me to tell
Cauthier,Sheldon F
Bangalore,
Tarrant 0o,,nistea?
who T was an where from ,he ass:
asked me,
"Are you looking for work?"
ad
Reek n so",I
'sage 172
va 240
"Well, how would you like to work on a ranoh he
e",sez I, and r can ride a hoes,
That man was Soel Collins, he owned 0 ranch in
rath, CouSty and there is werp we jiggled to, That was in
the month of neeember and t went to work hunting strays as
my first job, That gave me time tip graduate from a soissor-
bill to a rawhide and by spring I was handy with the reata and
could throw a mean loop. T also, was handling the hosses like
an old timer,
When elrin,- arrtved Joel began to lut out a herd
t) drive up Kansas way. T worked in the out out and shaped
up so well that Joel gave me ridding orders to go on the drive,
had been hankering ft such and of course was tickled pink.
We started to drift u2 the trait in the latpr part
of May and had good 1.ok, It was my first show on a drive and
T was soaking in everything and the first to Jump at any job
that cams up and took my turn at night riding, after the critt-
ers were bedded down at night, we had about 2AO head and did.*
lose any, loilins gave a few,sore footel,aainals to4tndtane
that oalIed on us for "wohaw", which is the Indian word for
beef, I had it put into my conk on thlt trip, that it was
better to gAre the radian wohaw, than to have them get it by
Geuthier,lheldon F
Rangelore.
Tarrant Co,,nist,
Page M 3
PO 240
stampeding the herd. During the drift we hit up with just one
bad storm and the herd got the jitters,but we worked fast and
we put them to milling without any of the oritters 3etting
away, but they kept us dragging all night.
We arrived at camp !Supply and there Joel met up with
Sam rim, The second day at Imp Supply, Joel oalled me and
ass to ins," I have a good deal in the making and yonr are just
the knid of a buskaroo T want to take in with me So we
sauntered over to where Sam lass and several other were, Th.
layout offered to me was for me to join up with the gang and
go to making/big money/ as they put it, doing anything from
rustling cattle to bank robbery. They had an oath that they
read to me and r was to swear to it befor I wouLd be aooepted.
The oath read that a person must accept the c),rders of the ()holt,
never tell anyone about plans, never admit doing a job, or tell
whom the other members were, ntath was the penalty for break-
ing the oath, I refused to become a mamber and Joel argued with
me for two days trying to get the idea into my oonk,but it was
a hopeless job,which he ft ally alreed to and he sez to me "Lad
your missing the ohanoe of a life time to make biy; jack and be
able to take it easy". lut I could not see it the that way and
told him so I sez to Aimpsestr." Joel I am looking for hard
work",
After hi, seen that I would not join the gang et and
four others were started back to the ranch with 400 houses that
he had traded for.
Gauthisr.lhelden F
Rangeloro.
Tarrant Co"Dist..17
sage 4
70 240
started to drift back to the ranch with the
hoses and made better time,of course, averaging around 15
miles a day, whore with cows they must be allowed to gram,
and drift, so that the average is oily seven miles a day.
The cattle were always allowedmto grass a -plenty. +he idea
was to deliever the critters in good flesh.
'then we arrived at the hoAo range, r prattled to
Joel's wife,17 se s to her:
You'll never see Joel again,he has joined up with
lam 3aes and gang of them are 'oin,.1 to stick up banks, trains,
rustle cattle and anything that comes their way to make big jack".
r calculate on havein, him brought in feet first,
with his boots on,but he is sit on doiag it and has that hanker-
ing and t can't stop him," she sea.
well,he did come home about a month later and had
lam lass,and severelothers, with him. They took the top hossee
of the ranch, left the moron out mounts,and went off twain. That
got my bristles ,because we were left with a hunch of second
grade hoses and had to w rk with that kind or bust others.vhiah
we did. We worked about a month busting and training home
that we took out .'f the herd le had a pert string in the
remuda when Joel,with hLs busksroos, showed up and took the
to'js of the remade klain, That got me olumb riled and t sops
to ,ioel's wife:
rf that ha)pnes again I will tie‹..3 to %he dra
I can't help it "live, she ses,60 t wish you would
GpitAier.lholdon
RinP.elore.
Tarrant loo.'ist..7
Page 16
PO 240
stay. tou are one human that t oan trust.
1o, 'I promised that t wouLd stay. I never had
any more of the top hoses ta'Arn,beoause they never aim.
baok. A donple months after their last visit,"rs Collins
received
a stiok
a) with
loot.
a letter aid it told her that Joel got kllled during
up of th. U P train. A few weeks after a party showed
money for J-el's wife. rt was dokies share of the
I ,iuit the lollkns ranoh a short time after the
word of Joel's death arrived as she was intendin,7 to sell. It
was the first part o eoember and hit the drag for lrownwood.
There I met up with loogins,he run a bank in the town and had
ranoh. 're hal tow partners in the oow business. flu, firm was
looggins,Irouoh and 'Ally and their brand was '3'. logging
OA
took meiandI J-Aned Ms outfit, whicli was 25 miles,1 N, of
lrownwood. ithe raw -h run about 15000 head. There is where I
had my first brtsh with Indians.
lAfellow named Moody was working at the oorral
arid his hoes was off a piece. I happened to step out of the
back door of ti bunk house Ltd I saw about 15 Iadianstmounted
oa hosses, tryirw to out Moody off from th73 hoes. It was the
hose they were after. I pronto step
iivide for my rifle and
stood in the door and threw five shots of lead at the bundk.
They were a little out o: my range,and dulled farther away.
As it ha?pned moody and were the only tvv: that were at the
OaM2 (lust then, so we dare not t!lke after them, The Indians,
no boubt,were not sure of our numbers andtalso, they wee in
Gauthier.Ihel-lon
aangelore.
Tarrant Cos.Distil. II
rage 6
71 240
which was not the )lace for an tadian t-% do any"fitting". An
Ildian always hankers for a place where he can hide and do
the "fitting" from ambush. Te calculated that they w- re a
party of er:outa and that during the night we woe.4.14 be waled
upon. To be safe, we sent a pan to lrownwood to ask for help
and a party or raw:era came out under Captain Robinson. "4
cowhands joined them and trailed the indiansibut fled to
meet to with any of them. if they wire intenlinr to come back
they- got winl of tu rangers and high -tailed it out of the
section.
T next ~IA u; with radians 18 months later, it was
in 1876 I Joined u? with the John nuncan outfitlocated in
741ano County. The ranch was 16 miles ,of 7Alano. Imnoan's
brand was 5' made by using the 5 to make the 1,thus Ie
run sOout 10 thousand head of cattle and 5 thousand head of
hoses*.
it was in the summer of 76,that I was hunting
rays and Sey Johnson was working with me,he had a email
herd running the range le lived in a (lab on the creek
near the Glen Cedar lrea,ce. 3absehis brother lived 150 yards
up the creek and Tra larwell, with tow TandchildrenAived
beyond that. The Glen breaks is about 8 miles out of Llano
and extends 16 miles to lap Sandy.
3oy and I returned from stray h;ultiag,late in the
afternoon, and foul his wife and a month old child gone and
signs showed the work. of Indians. 71e went to hie' brother's
cabin and foul lad' wire and 5 month old child :one, Then
(;aubire,7heldon 7
Rangelore.
-i_rrant loy.Dist..!?
Jags f 7
VC 240
half mile up t oreek we oame to the cabin whare "rs Carwell
lived with hr two Tamrohillren, Kliok and *Tary larwell,
bot olildren w 1 in their tens and the tir,e of them were
-one. All of the 'omen had been ramsaoked and things destroved.
3abs Johnson hirh-taileri it to lotify other oorneny
While loy and I started on thl trail of th, Wainks. It was not
long until we were J,Amed by a good alowdyinoLuding captain
,lobitson and krron "oss.with a bunch of raneers. e trailed
them and got a ,00d number of the bunch befor thy "reached the
'woos and there what was left of them. escaped.
We found loy'e child at the edge of the oedar bratty
laying at the side of a rook with its 'lead 'brushed, rn the
rook was a spatter of bl od.which indicated that they had taken
the child by the heels and swung itsehead against the rockyto
orush the ohildilhead and then threw it down. The child of
lab's was found a short way farther ma with its head out talon,
and his wife was foull at the far end of the beak with an
head
arrow/in her breast. The arrow was broken of which showed that
she had tried to work the arrow out and it brok of from the
twisting she gave it. MWe by Johnirsn was not found,but we
saw small pieces :)f her apron scattered slim. the trailywhioh
showed that she was !7iving us signs of the trail by tearing
of its of her aoron.dro piAg those as she traveed.
If r ever had any sor dies about shooting Indians
they were shot when I was that child laying by that rook with
saw
its head crushed, .0 shoot Indians then would tickle my gizzard
clear through my innards.
CauthierOheldon
tangelore.
Tarrant Cot.Dist„T'7
'ago 10 8
PC 240
It was hai'd to tell how *any radians there were.
They split into several bunches and so did we. It was a
tng fight,the Tadians were trying to ,=:,wt away and it was
necessary to hunt and chase after them At Peek SaAdle
mountain we jumped 16 of themothere were only 8 of us in that
bunoh,but we made short work of them. The whole 16 were good
Indians ,Alen we ft ished our work and it was done without a
man being lost out of our crow*. Ihere were a few *matches
taken b7 a few of us,but we had better guns and were the best
shots. There were mOolit 35 good Indians accounted for by the
various parties of oowha de by the time the skunks hit cross
t'eoos.
V1.11114*
The Flick boy turned up at home a few yearn Later.
X• got the Indiaas oonfilenoe and they made a brave out of
him and at the first chance he high -tailed for hose. Hs came
home riding a yellow hose. !r Carvell was bought from her
oaptives., a few months later by an Indian trader. Ie paid
r out with a red dress and she was returned to her people,
tried to chin about the matter with her after he returned,
but she just did not want to talk about it. he said the sooner
she mould get the matter off of her mind the better she would
like it.
lhortly after the 71en Cedar Lidiaa raid T quit the
nuncan outfit an went to wraagling hoe's.. I traveled over the.
ester n ?art of tAe c3tate busting hosses for tUfferent ranches.
I joined up with the Texas Rangers inSeptember 1877,
under the name of 3111 Green and served under Captain T-otally.
ranthier.Cheldon
aangelore.
rikrraAt Cachet", 7
Page 1 9
PC 240
Our wor was '1.4ntilg outkaws in general„but oattle
r*stlsre were our *Off objeot and we *aught up .with a lot of
them, and also, a good number that we met up with were hanging
from the limbs of trees with a rope tied around their neck.
liaArs and his gang were operating heavy at that
time and we4fter him wanting to get the dead wood on him. Is
were gettilw orders *Very little while dirsoting us to be att-
a certain tarand lay for the ass outfit The riding orders
were sent on tips that the outfit were to rob a bank; Those
tips kept curling in for about six months. Our first tip was
that the outfit woull be at 9an Angelo on a certain day to
stick up the bank. On that day we were planted in Ian Ingela
but the ba,11 at men was busted on that day. The next order
cams **riletig us to be at Irownwood. On that day the bank at
Irownwod, was calculated to be busted,the bank at Coleman was
robbed. The next order was that we ehoAd plant our -elves at
alo and on that day the beak at Terrell reoived the visit.
trytag to catch the gang in the mot and get
them in a bunch. 70 woAld be planted at different spots around
the bank of a town and the roads leading into it;
The tips were coming in from sole member of the
%tee gang and rnon4 likely 414as murphy. 12ptain '%1Nally never
admiJtel such but -did not/den& that it was murphy and lila
threatened to kill "urphy ünoe olaimirw he was doilv thl tipp-
ing
itm :Bass was wise to the fact that some one was
tiopiig of his Jiang and lel was orossing the law ,wAoh was
yauthier•Iheldon7
74Age1ore,
Torrent
Iwo 10
PO 240
shown by him always ;ullth a Job at so -le Joint different
from that which we oaloulated,but on the are day,
rine ly w were ,i.clered to be a kaouad Hock, July
*0th, that wa in1878. The order waf, oa a tip that the lass
gang would bust the bank tbore that day, I do not believe
'.10und 400k was the town picked by the'rang *because only three
of the gang made a show. The three were lam Tlass, 3i11(Jim)
4,qskson and ,Tim lurns, lurns was a oousin of nine and his father
was a preacher. Jim Joined the gang at Terrell and lead not
been with th an long.
My oomeany of ,ligers were at listin when the ordIar
was reoeived, left kustion at 2 A.". and arrived at lound4
(1107 around B At.Pi The Oe)ta,in planted me at the N.T, corner
of the square, next to a saloon and on the street leading to
nortin. '!.7 orders were to watoh for any of the 3ass gang and
report their movements and there was to be n shooting until
ordered. TYONally wanted to get them ia a bunch and take them
all.
The sun was just rising when I spied three men o
kosses riding into town. They reached the square and tied
their bosses aoross from where 7 was Jlanted. I reoonized at
once who the inn were. lam lass t met him the first tiAs in
lam) Atpply, Jim bras, of sourse was my oousin, tU aekson
was a stranger to me.
They came across the street towards the saloon,next
to which I was stealing. As they came up to me, lase and lime
reconlzed me and they stopped. 710 and lurasseaoh sez,"hello
Oeuthier.Theldon
lia3gelore.
arraat Ice.nist,.!
'age IA
1510 240
ive', and we went to shinning. t sem tonthem:
You boys know ml and what T an going now.
"lure,io ,Dave",lam neWoome in and 'hav a•drink'.
an't lo it fellows,its against the orders",sez r,
"What are yoa f,llowP doia7 here".
Just jiggliw- through",sez 3aras.
"411, you had better clack". T sez to them. They tuina44
to go into the saloon aad qam,looking back over his shoulder,
laughed at me and sea,' lorry old top your mutton wont eilow
you to take a drin'- with a friend.
They went into the saloon and they no more than had
entered when a deputy sheriff came up to me and Baked;
'Who were h men that talked to you plashing all
that artillery?'
ItLet
go in and )et them' sea he.
No",sez T, yb orders are to remain here and watch
till I get further orders'.
Tell T am going in", sea he.
r do n t reoall the name of that deputy,it has plumb
spilled my mind.
7e entered the saloon and it a Affy I heard one
shot fired and the thud of a body hitting the floor. I became
anxious to see th7, laptain and get aotion orders. It passed
through conk that hell was a-goingto pop. I looked across
t- street,to the 7est, and there I saw Wally coming a -running
lice a streak carrying his hat in his hand. 'lammed if lIdNally
didn't run rint )as$ me with out a word and there t stood with
Gauthier.Iheldon
angtolore.
T rraut
Page f 12
71 240
action already started. That deputy had jumped the game ahead
of time and all we riegers were soattered.
ror a minute,or two, there was pUnty of aritlery
action. 7he shootiat spddenly ceased and t saw lam and his
eals baoking out of the sal ,as with their guns levelled,holding
the orowd inside. They bwk loross th: street towards Vteir
hosses. T could see tiat an was in bad shape and when they
reaohed their hosses lurna had to help earn to mount. T Gould
hav* pumped all of them full of lead,but 7 was still waiting
forforders,not wanting to against the rule.
Then Im mounted the boys in the saloon Game rushing
!tit, through door an4 windows. 7oVaLly Arne out first and yelled
to t:Ice after them. 7ust as McNally s,oke,lurns, instead of
oraili,g under lam' s hose to his own and stay prolleoted,he start-
"t
t
*diiaroand the rear of lam's hoes. Ag he posed the hose a shot
a
fiLled hill and he iropped between the two hosses. Jin Jaokeon,
on his hoss,was at '%1,1121 a side ;ronto a.J hooked his arm t'irouh
lam's and they were off with Jackson holding lam onto the hose.
WI the moAtnt that they started to mount their hosses til
toy were draggin!.7 down the road,00sumed less time then .it takes
to tell about it. There were shots fired after them,but none
seased to hit.
There were 2i1of us'angers aad we pronto made our
mounts And took after the threl men1 in addition tears were
others,some hankering to help and some wanted to get an eye full.
There were folks in wagons Julled by males and folks on fv.)as
batik all goinc down the rad on a lead run. Te rangers were in
the lead and t looked baok,onoe or twioe, and it ig.Aird.A
"-e took him book to to nut Alt Aim in a room liter
ti6 lied arly the viext nowainag. 4 13
'Pr 240
t 0., n14%)losent lootor reseed tho wounip
ikitall Elia Aid:put.
'fh'en we asl draexed ottt of twos abut a mile and
,Ulf,T saw 'Ism's hoeh ra*tn off n'ar the road. T ses to
tAere ie "am's hose over y ador. T'll q:o over and have
-okNI went over there anl ander a bleak pink tree toyed loaf
with lits conk cover ooverrin-r his foes. T raised Aim lid and he
tumod hls an3 looked at ma and he ses;
rts y u
'Yee lam;it-, -*Woes* T.
e" 1411, they )ave lone all they Gan. Tt w t be Lag
till tin s6z that t was killed" he mi.
r oan't help wh3t has been ione".ses to" hut "11
all thlt 7 033frYOU'D shoull have 11046 when y -u sew
i,yu knew %Cyst van doing. la re is :aokmon.
''ou't w.rry abott :sokson, he has too good a -hone
you Gan' oat him -,4o res.' r toll him to -a on ass he oould
dk, all no
lo took him book to town onl )ut hire in a room :”ter
*tore sal he 1104 arly the next lArning.
r prnt lootor ofsmoi Wiss topso$44
there were 26 h,les in tr 446
ueen-mablew0,01 fro' shook and
flt a vitaL organ
loss of blod.
e tri t ontz hIlt
J
t Just mad e s.anwer. 4 84Z. 070
down oa his n,
m shut up like a
rff
Awl he called 71oVally to him and so*,'
Gauthier. Sheldon 17,
Range lore.
Tarrant lol.Dist,./
Page 1 14
Fe 240
gThere is 000. in my pookrrt take the money and my hoes and
give both to the dejuty's wife. t wont have any further use
for either".
"lam dolt in hoeses,espScially riming stook and rode
good critters. Its ranch was boosted Just about 20 miles north
of Fort lorth,on the nonton Ind arrs.ntJ ountkes line. It was
known as the hiden pasture. The spot where the oorraL stood
still shows sins of the old pen. I saw it a couple years ago.
Now to ii.et back in the cattle business. One time
while t was workin4 for the nunoan outfit,the dask lining was
2ut into my aloud. loss Robinson was making a drive of 4000
head of critters to nemming,New !,lexioo, and nmnoan threw in
wit him. r was sent with 3oss to look after nunoan's part.Te
were about half ill), beyond the 7leeos river and the oattle had
bajded on a flat near .,hat was oalled Mores 7ead Orossing. There
was a mountain just beyond where we were camped and the trail
led over it. After breakfast loss rode aAead to pick the trail
and we were to start the cattle shortly. Alvut half way u? the
molatain Tnlians had made a blind by oattirw green brush. As
30as reached tiv3 s,ot,Tnliens ooncealled in the blind opened
fire on him and he dro2ped off his hose lead. The hose turned
quiakly and came ru,n141 back to camp. s could see the spot
from where we were and watched the radians out loss's leggaidSo
and head off. Then they danced around Aim. Ne waddles were
out numbered ten to one and did not dare to show into the open,
because that ould have been a sure way to get branded for the
eternal range The outting and daaoing sot they put on was done
'-authier.lheldon F age lb
Rangolore. 70 240
Tarrant 00„Distp.7
in the hopes we wold get riled and come out in the open to
fight them.
we stayed hmddled all that dish*nd night, baok of
the ohuok wagon and our hosses waiting for them to make a rush
on us.but they respected our shooting ability and would not some
out in the open. Mar of the boys kept the cattle baok.but were
out of gun grane. Fothing happened and the fa:lowing morning,
we 'caddies appointed :lob Pierce trail boasehe was among the best
trail bossAi that ever went dowa a trail. "fe delieVered the
cattle ii fail numbers as billed.
That r have rattled covers the most important part
of my rallwe life. rn the 60's I decided travel in double lamess
and quit the range for a quiet life of a farmer and cattle buyer.
located in ',alias County, and remained there until 10 yearn
alootIL'n moved to fort Itorth.
To finish the prattle r shall tel.] of the beet rider
T every met. That was John 7isltman,a negro le put all of pis
active life, as far as t know, on thp range. le lived to well past
110 years and died here in TIort ',4orth a flaw years ago. John could
3o anything on a hose that any Wler man could and then so -le more.
klso, ride will steers.
7owever, T saw him go ilto a spell off a steer one-
time. Is was with thp 'aldrope outfit, located in Llano 0ounty,
we were workin a roundJ and one day -ot holl of a steer that
wee fuLl of sna-e blood and Jon eel," teU boys Viet steer
he
witd,I oaa ride it an' hankerie to' to do tt".
Th idea was Just in our mittens. I and a oouple
Gauthior.3heidon
Ran -elore.
T
N arratt 4o,. into.; 7
Page 16
PO 240
of the waddies put a bunch of oritterslalong with the steer,
through the str,te. As the oritters lame through,John toed
the steer and pro.to the animal evelated. Just as the steer went
into the air ene of the cows crowded into VI, steerethat put the
animai off blance,also 7iokman and they went into a soill, lo
fell inatront of thl cow and T am alumb loeopif the cow didn't
hoot"i horn at him and it shot under his '!artridge bolt and
when she raised her conk, there was John a-hangitg from her
horn. he animal slemed slightly agitated about it and began
to swing from side to side, trying to throw John off. Shoseoow
having crooked horns caused that colored r;entelman to stay
with her, There he was swinging out in the air with his arms
and legs working like a swimmer. 7e was oonsiderad a champion
riler.but that ti -le he established himself sr the top yeller.
no sure put out orders t be take,' off that cow's horn, The
matter was shaped up so e what frikeitaing,so we shot the cow.
'hen John got all ;at:lered up ha ass," Lawd mighty,hows we
all get m!ssed up ea?"
Talklav about -%,ckman's pradicament,T recall a
predicament leorge -;rant,-ay cousin, 4ot i.to with a buffalo.
-Te came to larth lounty,to -al me and he wanted the satisfac-
tion of '-ii.tint; a b ffalo. r took him out to find one and was
not long in fildin-7 an 011 low. 7e had a rill," and stated
sA(,oting as soon as flighted the animal,bat his lead was
failin way short. rraloud see the balls hit the ,round way
s -tort of his mark. T sez to him,"work u) on heritill you can
'et a 3ood atlot,th wind is in your favor". ad he lid. I
lauthier.peldoi,
Rawselore.
Tarrant lo..N.st,.7
Page 1/
'PO 240
waited where we were and watohed him work uo towards the sole
sow and he Mally stopped and took a shot. The cow dropped
and he went a-runnitv up th it. r noticed his watking around
t e critter and giving it the eye -ball and then suddenly up
jumpel the critter and was not in good humor' he animal made
a ,ive for -.ore°. "la had dropped his Aillandnd was shooting
at her with his six-gun aiming at the animals head,whioh was
tho only part he could shoot at, The animal kept ooming and
-Gorge side stepped it, l'he animal stopped,turned and came at
him a Asin and leor7e ke2t shooting and siltstapping until he
'43ed up all his cartridges, then he pulled his knife intending
to out the animal's ham strings as it passed him, Of course
when t saw th show t started to George and by thstime the
two preformers r7aor7e *a getting plumb tired,but had ot one
o the animals ham atr1ngs and that had slowed the critter
down, t put a bullet Sok of it's shoulders and it tumbled
over,
if A person cal sho-t at the front art of a buffalo's
head all day with an orinary gun and riot do any moro than raise
the animals dander. They have a tuft of air thare and it -7ets
matted with mud and cuckleburrepthen 1, addition they has a tA. k
sull which, alone,takes a good gun to put 1-uld through it,
sore didn't know thatOut did know about side atopoing and
that saved him.
I havo seen buffalo hides stacked as high as a holies
and in windrows a blook long. The hunAers would o into a herd
nd sac •1 shoot down about a hundred,then start s':inning,
eluthisr.sheldon F
arrant los.nist.. 7
z
Page18
Al 240
The skinning was done with the help of a hose.
The skinner would out the hide loose arounr tbee head,down
and around the legs and down the belly ani then hitch a hose
te the hide, with a man standing on the buffalo's head, the
hoes was startel and the hide would peel off in one pall.
"he job of skinning was done ia a Jiffy.
In 18745-6, buffalo slaughter was in its Milt
swing. They were killel by the theusanis and ia five yosis
th buffalo heres in Texas were redacted to a few in numbere.
T 'lave seen hers that were 20- !Lee, or more, wide and well
over a 100 miles loag. -2ele buffalo were slaagetered for the
hide and tallow, After the slaughter bone piokers traveled over
the slaughter erounds and gatherel the bones by the wagon loads.
t have seen hunerede at the work.
ff I meet slieht the brand blotter,so will )rattle a
little about them. Thering the time 7 was working on the raage
reetlers rue in )unches eel the oowmmmelhad to "fit" them all
the time. -rangiee teem where they were oaueet with stolen cattle
was common,
whle
place
10 of
or a
"oet of my dealings with tee Irene elotters was
t wee Nita the Itaegers. The worst battle I wee Aø tooe
near lden."hey had a pen in a cedar reak and we jameed
them there an run the boys le miles. aey were eakime
heavy timber and when ?elt saw what they were up to eaetain
Teeeelly sea,' If they maee that tfteer we will lose them".
I cam head them off reekon"sez I to him,"no
y u want r to take tee chenoe?"
("authier. r
Ranohlors.
Tarrant lo,.Dist,.P?
Page 19
To0 240
I tnow that you h'ive a good hoss",ses he, but not
gool enough for tit drag and you'll be brandel sure as hell
if you swing over to head them off".
r'll ta-e th.e ohanoe",lez I end r gave my hoes the
gut hooks and in turn the hosts !7ave rie all the speed it had,
-hen they saw what T was oaleulatini7 on loing, instead of hraid-
ini7 me, they all bunohed and -ot behind their :losses and there
put up a tit.
"r lE minutes there was hell a-)oophng and when
it was over with thre were only five of them left that could
re*v..11 for the sky end top ranrers were dead,
The folowin w-t'c,P0 -Ales fro -r: where we jumW
the 10, we loonted 11 branditfotters hita- from trims at rifle
plaice, that must have been a large naturhtization meeting. ^he
of the parties hnl a not pinned on him ,,AACT. on it was writen,
"pet out me down and a9k no questions".
1 7rom bath lounty,West was plenty tough, lerson
had to keep plenty of 'reivle in his gizzard t- stay with it,
7 am HO" to close tILLS prattLe by telling one
on my self. tt was WIeli I,Twas jumping arouad wrnagling hosses.
T wan near the Pecos river lraggin4 to a raaoh. It was just
getting dark when suddenly there hopped al_olig side of me a
young fellow and mez to le;
"There ptu headed for fellow?"
"Over yonder, about 20 miles," Pee T.
My nese is lorrel",ssz he. and we are looking
kit
for the law to be drag ing this wey pronto, Then they/we are
qauthiers4heldon
arruat
7'age f 20
FO 240
going to load them with lead. I reokon yo, b-tter turn.
Thank you fillow". sez I and turaed my hose
back the way I earns. I rode about two miles and stopied.
Th, e T let my hose grase and waited to see if any tling
would happen. I was t'Aere about 15 minutes when I herd the
six-guns working T ciroled the spot and weat on about my
buziness,beoause I oaloulated that t had no pumpkins to *oil
in that section. 1 heard a report afterwards that indioated
thg? young fellow did me a favor nid knew what he was tanilic
abut.