Document text
,holdon i.
aancsllre
Terrallt Co,,Diat. 7
Pa703.
4:4W
John 3. Baker,70„ livik; at :arrant Coo01C folks
Homo, born April 21, 1039„ mar 3elton, Aral Co.,:ex.
Son of a- echool teaohor..stockman clho diod in tho 4ar
ho rac orplianed at t3e •nEw of 9 and made his hano
tith unolo H.B.Baker in Qollad 00.,n4 Wan
ht a range career on to Baker ranob at 13 and after
tvo years quit to work for various other outfits:
Bill McGinty's bores rancho Daimon and Trent, J (Ono
Ara) Reed and San Easley, all operating in Toxls.
Baker left Ur. ea amber or a trail herd (pine
to the Meek Mlle in S. Bak. for Iko T. l'ilver and
the followlw yeerimorked on tho N-41 ranch of tiontenal
later 6c-tarcmAn ba tho Low% ranch in JOhnson Co.,
Lyo., from ubioh he was diooharged for rofueinc to take
part in a raid on an allogod organized rustling gang;
be 'Parked -Go the W.L. nanoh and t00% part in trio Cora -nee
or the alloced gl.ng of rustlers.
Baker returned to Tex. in '04 on tho L.C.Boville
ranch nor Clarendon for tvo years after thich ho
cams a carpenter for the balanco of his active life.
"About the thole of my firat al years of life was spont on
oattle outfit of sono in aad tho later part..that is 24 year„, of it
I 'marked ao a cond. I VS3 born near Belton, Ball Co.,Tox.,Apr. 21,
ION. I az now 90 ytarc old. 4 fqt!Icr vtia a school teziMicr and onod
,11 a tOlerable,lot of land. Be and my graldfather Tom Baker controlcd con.
ciderable ,Icreapa sad cave not of thoir timo to raisial eattlo. Bur.
lag tho early period of my life the tootion Texas,bhore I lived lias
many Stook country. So I came into life hearil the critters on3rtinE7.
*WW1 the Civil Voir atartod nr flt!-Ior cnlicted in the Confoders.
ate Army and was sorvinE in Arkaasat when ho 41od rith cholera. 1 vas
about Seven years OA then and tno yelra ltor my mathor dled* IV Uncle
Baker t)ok mc to hie ranch in Goliad Co., Tex. uherc he run about'Si/
6,000 bead end woo conaidored a mall outfit in those days.
"I started my ran7c earcor ol hia place ,3fla junt notarnlly drifted
thiar, asides F. Page 2
Mangelere FTC
Inman%o., Ast. 7.
bite the work, sort of absorbed the knowledge as I grew. when 1 was
lalrears old I could ride and rope Womb* well because 1 wasp,*
ea a hoes When 1 was old enough to has* onto one and I can't remember
tar ellingh back to recollect when 2 couldn't sit an a hoes. my uncle
worked only five or six hands, it was sort of a homey outfit. It washbt
mach of a Job to handle the herd and we were in most of the time. At
roundup times we would live behind ,the cfsMik wagon. We had nigger Tom
to do chuck:Mane" then and when we were at the home diggings all the
weddiss ale in the home dining room and nigger Tom's wire did the cook.
She was the family cook. When -we dragged off to hunt strays or
other work that took a distance off we would carry a immakk or bread and
Jerk. Jerk is the well known dried beef that was a hard as a pine knot
and to sat it one had to Oar It as a dog does on a bone or whittle it
off with a knife. However it had a good taste and would satisfy the worm
tolerably well.
"I quit Uncle in 1876 at 16 and went to work tr Bill tAlinties.
hoes outfit. His brand was NaG ana waa refered as the ,c0 outfit; he
run about 1,000 head of bosses. while there I learned to wrvngle hosims
for sure. 40 did a lot of wrangling, busting bosses for sale as scddle
animal. I stayed there about a year and went back to the cow outLita.
lrnext move was nowting ,Ath Dawson and. Trent, their ::;mni:1 eiLs A and
were lesated at Pecan t‘irove in Taylor Co. At that i.slace they hanaled
critters for Jim ((*e Arm) Heed of it. o th and run around 6,00C head.
Head had a big ranch in Comanche Co. running better than 20,000 head.
I .did not stay with the DT long Jot then driftcd.back to Goliad Co. and
.went to work with the imookings outfit.
"The lArookings were accused of !,,eing rustlers and brand artists._
In fact they were'aCcused of being tie leaders by the crowd that called
Vlenifilves Puri* *ad Brookings was reckoned as the leader mad :.,ircting
N
the 3Le.an.
Jee thier t ehe 'Won F. Page 3
eareelove eSe
Tarrant 'eo., 7.
he of the rustling gang. A1.1. and "orace Aches were won; the crowd
that thc ,oe held ac top rustlers and they run a small outfit in
()lied eo.
"So that you eay.have some idea of the conditons and the causes
that lee up to the cattle war that went on in Goeiad os le. '7A
you some feets which I gathered from both sides of the fence while
livizg an wo-eleiee in the County and working for outfits on both sides
of the areument.
"The erouele started back in the days when mavericks ehowed up
in ierc,e ;elelear.L;. ,.e.aring the Civil ear and for a spell after the cattle
outfit wore evt ale to keep ue with the We:ex/Leg. A custom of brand..
ing all mavericks with the brand of the range where they were found was
adoeted an folio- ed. There were some eeople who were unable to tell
when they t;ot on the other fellows range. Folks began to accuse e• ch
other or braleAnes their critters kesewingly• There eee no ay to prove
at the beanded maverick die not belong to the trarld it carrieee o a
iarj cownen calculated that the only way to stay even was to brute
a :averic:e ..'here they found it. The trending Earae was folloeed by about
every one ane if a party didn't do as his ne eors die he soon woule
ahce.e. on hie coent of ceitters. Ale condition gave an epeeire: for
..leige that did not have any critters teed if any to build a tolere
the
able rood sire her providing he bete the :etrts to make erandlec mavericks
businces elne hrie were plenty of that kind of folks.
"The lart3e outata such as Buck Pettis, Fent, Aage;lings and the
caiycettfit that, controlled the .ally Fend eectioiel and Joss eeevee
ut_ it, xe;..pt his soli Jim who refused to fijI-It thc, fc1.4..aia; and
went ovce Lo tie r defense. Also there wee the eeneereoe. outfit where the
f they ith the outfits an the eon .cnt o'ter t the de. Emile of
,,,eevez are ereeereon boys ar warc.s left the country
Gauthier, WIeldon
Kangelere
Tarrant Co., 4st* 7.
Page 4
FIC
driving a hard of cattle for quit Carter Cattle Co. to "Octane. These
paiu their wadoies a bonus of 400 for each maverick found and branded.
The 500 ..onus caused maw a g4d waddle to have eye trouble and they
could not see the brand on the critters that the mavericks were running
with or ki.o.‘-) the range they %vete on.
"The ramrods of the largt outfits, publicly stated they ui net
approve ol branding the other tellews mavericks. But never heard of
a wa.dy receivini, op4ers to
off the outfit Or refused his 500 when
a critter was branded on some their fellow rams*
"The matter of Wending lieveridul went from bad to Worst and to a
point where ,Asis people want igto the business of working brands over.
There were some that were ertiro at working a Umna. I will cite a
fm, cases. ,e will suppose that the letter Li vac used as 'a brand. That
letter could Le changed to an by placing two parallel lines, one at
the center and one at the top,* the upright line of the Lo The letter
X can be easi4 changed to a star by placing a star across the center
part of the X and the result 4II& The low 0 which was used by the
riscole outfit of Wooing was changed by running a slanting line from
the top of the 0 downward on
each line of the long 0 app.*
There vitts the pipe brand that
attacheu to a teal by throwing
....ft or by placing a bar bey
many other methods that the
I easily was made into a 7, 6
10, 1(0 and 1L1. The star is
around the star thues I.
NI don't mean to so*y
eh side than placing two half circles on
d tins and was called the BnB Urando
ooked thaall..2maide with the letter U
a loop over the to: of the U it looked*
the bowl %hues, 0 There were
artist used. Of course the figure
9 or by using noughts caul& be made into
ally made into a wheel by placing a circle
big outfits were wilfully brandimig
uthler,ihe
Hengelo! e
Tarrant Co.,
mavericks the
that had an el
prsctice. The
"I shall
be,ween the t
°roar:Union
list w s una
that the blew
that took d
to the big ou
"The me
while. The 11
knew that the
the big fell
lot of their
brand.
business and
rustii4g. The
the big fel
said it was a
with cleaning
"Than c
deal with the
thin6a began
away would re
readings "For
some o tiler se
"Dad ar
F. Psgs
7.
below to the other fellow or knowitiglY buying critters
ist's brand nor did all the little fellows follow the
were puree and rustlers on each side.
Lion another thing that helped to crests hard feelleg
out,its end the small NOMA The bi, outrIts through their
opt&.; t blacklist.eystem and any waddle placed on the
to nest with any of the ble fellows. Due to the retells*
1st caused,amone wa dies there were plenty of wad,:les
:bt in placing z: Lranding iron on a critter that beloneed
its, it always put a.little silver lining in their cloud.
ter run along for a spell of years getting wore. all the
tle fellows, rease pots as the big ?nos called them,
bonus caused a lot ol their critters to be .irended for
The big fellows killer:, that grease pots were getLiLig a
vericks and also branded critter% by workinE over the
the Lig outfits organized to put the grease pots out of
unced. here Lind younuer that they were ogn6 to stop
.le fellows organized to stay k& business claiming that
a wanted the whole range to themeelves. The grease pots
ight to stop rustling but the big fellows should start
at ilemealves.
the day when the big outfits organized oommittees to
age pots. When the vigilante committees got started
jag. A fellow that the committee decided to be put
Ave a notice through the mail or tacked upon is cow
the -*.enefit of your health you had better vamoose to
tion or the country."
kings was considered the leader of the defense ageinst
Also Broughton and the Hughes boys were stem* supporters
MAW)*kitlien F.
Rani. lore
Tarrant Co. s Dist. 7.
Page G
?EC
of the grease tots. Many :!,an were SOund shot or han04, to a tree
and they were Sot all from the same side in that war.
*After the gligilantes got started good and things were hot I went to
werk for Sam /Wily. He was qv uncle through marriages Healy as far as I
know did not mike a practice of ,working a loos branding iron ,ut he was
in sympathy iwbh the imall fellow because he felt that the big fellows
were 0,itLin 11 over ,on the small outfits. He like many others felt that
the big ones were tryine to drive \the little fellow oft the range under
the pretense of chasing the rustlers out.
"Final4 notices hit around our section. AvAag whom notices were
sent durini:, the period of a month were Jim Simplon, Adira giller, both
young lads that had worked for Brookings outfit, Hemp Davis, who had
worked for the Huches outfits Jebn Killerbrew, a half breed Indian and
MYeelfs'Simpsoa and tiler received notice through the au Unix*:
them to be across the an Antonio 'Aver in two days. The boys decided
to stay in tlic1r own couw.ry and the thrid day after receivie the
notices were csucht. Upson then agreed to drift out of the country
and dragged to hew iexioe. I saw him afterwards and he was runninc a
saloon in Carlabad. ill.r refused to chttni-o his inc. and he was found
a few days later in the river with a stone tied to his neck. I helped
fish him out. Me was full of ballet holes and it looked as though the
vigilantes wanted to hide their job. Hemp. Davis had just got married
and was goinc on his honeymoon. He and his Lricc were in a.Luwx driving
to Basil'''s plaie far a short stop and were catk;h1, about four miles away.
Davis was take* out of his buggy and hanged to a limb than shot fUll of
holes. Xillerbtew was found hawing to alimb. The committee would ley
for a fellow aad catch the party alone so any one marked ti,;: them had to
watch his step I finally recolved ny notice based an the fact that I
Gauthier, Sheldon F Page 7
Range lore fee
Tarrant Co., Am.* 7*
had worked on the Brookiags outfit* I had never placed an iron on a
maverick off the range or worked an a brand but L was marked. refused
to leave uut was mighty cEreful not to be caught alone. Sam 4184 tol:.;
me to stand my ground and he ould,etand by me. I had all the confience
in the worlc:1 in ,oar.; because I knew that he had plenty of guts and was a
fighter for his rilits. NOwlier my uncle Bob Baker go wind of the gaintA
on nd came after me. He took me out of Gonad Co. and I haw never been
back in the,. section aNnes.
"I stayed with Bob Baker only a she t spell* 4 next move was to
the mock Ranch located at Double Mountain 'in Litonewell Co. Jim (One Arm
Reed of it. Worth had ha herd of critters out there. That was my /*rot
real big outfit to work for. That ranch was run in the style that big
outfits were in t ose days. The smallest number he run on that ranch
was 34000 head. JANNIurrell was top.screw and reckoned among the best
in the business. Hs and his wife were killed a few years later down near
the border by some Aexicans.
"The Rock lianch feed god clunk concocted by a good belly.cheater
called Pete. Inikididet bars any fancy finings but Pots )re, how to broil
steak over a camp fire endue had plenty. of plain food well cooked. The
steak lipoid a OW up done medium, well, or rare* That meat was more
tasty than any that I,have ate off the range* It was always from the
choice yearlings, the best that could be found regardless of the brand*
..leet and whistle.berries formed the main item of our chuck* Next was the
sourdough bread and some .egetables out of a can. Black coffee was fur.
nished in the amount we called for. In the winter months when a cold
spell of weather was on a tin of black coffee was mighty satisfying
after several hours riding, expecially night riding*
"Night riding -auring a spell of bard weather was no pink tea
Gauthier, .Aheldon F. Page 8
liangelore PSC
Tarrant co., 4.st. 7.
party. ;hen the weather was st its worst such es n norther with sleet
faliin timn the czAtters neede,:„ the closest watching. The herds get
the jitters Nat rxe -reL4 for a stomp with the first tolerable excuse
to co. ;landlink; a simppede at night during a cold winter storm is a
job that calls for action that can olny be given by a good hoes and
a nen that won' think of himself. The waddle uat co to the head of
the herd and ''Alere -ork knowine, that if the hose goes dom the eternal
brand woulu be lik ly be r laced animidi For that renson'we always used
the v:loet sure footed hoss for night riding. Thet job was workea in shifts.
t..ne from d.-Isk to U. o'clock, then to 4 and the last to dayliht.
"The ''Joriv vtampece 1 ever worked in took place on the oc;:. .staclb
in a Tit t durIn a storm. bev just one off the first abiet and had
ate a smack washcu dovin with couple tins of hot coffee and rolled in
4w nevao blnnkt.t an slicker. I was just getting warn and comfortaUe
and feclirk; A.ne ier z little shut -eye when I heard shots callinL riders
and Au -von cvlle.. out the whole Lrew. lwan e boys in car aip re,-obed the
herd it .';a oii at top speed. The noise of the clvel-14 orn an tii
stxmpintr. coul=_ Ue heard for two or three miles.
:-fter the critters had run for about 3C A.nutes they Jere :tti,
warm to run and there wkAs no ch..nee to to; the herd.
Tize.rnd a?)141.1 a naLr of us riders would bunch anfl try to crowd the
leiers into urn. WC could force the lea(f1ing animals
into turn, :ALL _ht tic they were plua loco an woulc.1 not crowd.
Inset they ymul.rod us out of the way. Jur hosses sensed he crit,kr's
an.. knew th!it the nmimals would ran into then so they would
shuffle away from the lon,.14.: ,-rittera inate C. of into the
herd. It wt.e, one oi hoiac times when the herd gets so loco that they
will 2:9:1 Alamazlh into aayt;r1n6 that gets in front of it. If a stone
Gentiles'', Sheldon F.
Aangelart
Tarrant Co., Diet. 7.
Page 9,
TLC
wall came in front of the animals they wouk not stop.
'The to, finally gave out riding orders to fo:vet about
trying to turn that herd and just do the beat we could at keepilv: it
_unched. :is ie was to stop as many stray as we could end let the
critters run themselves down. ,e clid that by' ridine at the bide of the
her.. Them were u felk, gullic,s in that section and in those we fund a
number of critters that went down hale erossiag are:. pilled up until
those cominc behitac had a lxid, e to cross on. It was live hours before
we got the critters under control and by that time there were about
200 aitorTed to detth in the gullies and some of thc weaker ones that
went down duria,;, the run.
"MV next move after gating the Hock Manch was to leave loxes with
an outfit that were ,rifting a herd of Pryor's cattle to the Black
Hills country of So. Usk. U. C. Cato was trail boss and we had a,out
310Ct head in the herd. eryor had three different herds drifting at
that time all numbering at:oat 3,000 critters as that wrz the number
that could be properly handle'j, on a drive. Jim lingsLerry followe2 us
as trail boss and one o the T)riscol boys was trail boas of the third
herd.
"That was in 1686 when we drifted and I steye- in the Black Hill
until the .1pring of the Collowinr year. i then went to 1 antana
Wooing and nezted with the N.17 outfit forth of' the Johnson County
line between i'ontana and Wyo-ings It was only a few months until I
was offered the tob as top.screw on the W L Ranch in Johnson Co., 4o.
The outfit run 30,000 head and I was hankerin6 ror such a joL anu took
the nest. o were located next to the Lanch Creek ranch and the 101.
The Lanch reek's brand was C A and was called CA ranch. The three
rpches were large _outfits and the owners Lived in Cheyenne ea= Laramie.
Geuthier, Sheldon F. Page 10
Henolore
Tarrant Co., mist. 7.
"The work on the range in that country was about the saes as in
Texas except during the winter months. Then the ceAtle were drifted
into the Mass where the wind kept the .now blown off the tIwound to
great extent. That made. it possilae for ..he critters to get at the grass.
In the valleys the snow would drift in so deep at times thet.the animas'
couldnt paw tothe LTaas. While 1 was there we had no Spring but hunde
reds of critters were found frown and those were skinned after the thaw.
I have seen cAtters standing on their feet from: deed. ahen they thawed
in the Spring they would fall over.
"It was qf luck to land in Johnson Co. during the time a .war bete
ween eattlemen was at its high point. It brought to qy mIn4 Goliad Co.,
Tex. and made ma feel at home. The cause of the Johnson Co. trouble was
aloft: the same lines as the Joliad'fi:i,ht. It was the tie out its aeainst
the little fellows.'oat of the Johnson o. outA.ts were the greaseepot
kind. Johnson Co. was supposed to be under control of the greaseppoes,
moat o the ig melts were loced in the Adjacent counties.
"The ramroda of the Lig outfits claimed that the gresse-pots were
rustli- their mavericks an6 arndieg by ble artist methoa. There is there
I saw the long 0 brimd changed to BAB. The gree pots Claimed that the
big fellows were tx&nding maverieko that uid not '...eione to ehem auu the
big outfits eere telyine to drive the little fellows off the range so that
it woul. all be open to. the big outfits.
"There tJs consIde ate, killing. on both sidea that run over a er..
ioe of several year.;. Then in 1900 the ramrods of the large outfits throucl'i
thAr w.gneizalloe hired nuciber of Texans that were supposed to le
waddies but were 010ZieV4 They had lived and existed Aiet et the kecos ande
were ,the kind that livee fvoa their gun. A tame TOX8S Wait will shoot
to eack up his rights but Wi6 a squarw man that would not hire out to
Gruthiers
Haugelore
Tarrant Co.
kill folks
wadies and
IAA
$U. to z3C
for each e
in. They
off of a
the scalps
"There
Big arY
wolves for
during the
of the catt
attack on t
$460. bonne
"The
killers we
belonged to
follow had
a stranger.
tending to
so it was
"The
they were
lar,e sc
above boar
fellow out
"In t
F.
Amite?.
Page 11
FTC
so much per head. 1 met some of those so called r.:exas
'11 adz,it they were from Tex44 but 4- could tell they were
Those hired killers were paid M. a month which was from
more than the regular wages, they also paid $60. bonus
se -pots scalps rustlers as they termed its that they bna vbt
•d in a good many and whether or not all the scalps were
outfit member will never us known. However 4 number of
off of men that were classed as grease -pots members.
one slaughter of nine old rawhides that were camped on
near the Carter Cattle Co's outfit. The men were trapping
hide and bounty as a great many of the old waddles did
ter. Thky were not rustling cattle and in fact were out
business. A bunch of rustler hunters made a surprise
camp andkilled the nine trappers. They received the
or the slaughter and that was what they were after.
11 fellows wire fighting back and some of the imported
killed which were replaced by others and others that
he Lig fellow's gang. It was so inthat section that a
shoot first and ask questions afterwards when mooting
hired killers were kept under cover and all were prom*
k for some outfit. All their attacks were supprise moves
d to place the man for sure.
avers of the grease -pots were giving about as much is
and in addition for revenge went to rastling an a
The conflict had reached a point where it was carried on
vi,h calculation by each side trying to put t,e other
business.
forepart of the 4pring of 1902 W. P. Clark who wee foreman
Gauthier, Sheldon F. page 12
Range lore SSC
Tarrant Co., Dist. 70
for the 1C1 and a Texas lad came to me and told that the ramrods were
organising a big crowd for thepurposo of oltAning Johnson Co. and saids
'Maker I.amilaing to join the crowd and Oat, your boss, wants you to
go A.th the crowd.'
"'No Clerk', I said, 'I'm not taking any sides in this fight
,There is lot to be said on both sides. I am tending to .my job as topmecrew u
an not mixing in any fight except to take care of his critter's.'
"You can't stay out of it", he answered, 'You are tither .;L'or or
against the grease.pots. There is about 150 .of them that is going to.
be put out of the country dead or alive. I expect that here are about
EC that will not have the chance to leave the country. If you .refuse•
to join in with the crowd you will be classed with the 6,rease.pots.
?act is I an sent here to get your slant. That are you going. to dolt'
"Just as I told you. I am Wang no sides I answered him angain.
"Alright with oe, but your stay on this outfit is short if you
don't change your minds".
"He left me with those words ,Adch I thought .Nero a bluff but
inside of ten days a fellow showed up with papers from HOlt, whollivod
in Cheyenne, giving the strange my to miscrew job and I got orders to
drag off the outfit. It was 1. long after I lcet my job until it was
generally }mown that a gang was coming from Cheyenne to clean out
Johnson o. accordin to the idea of what a cleailin was held by the
big 11,11mm. The greas.pots decided to meet the gang. After losing
ly job I went over to the AC outfit and nested there.
tre were working a Spring roundup one day and word cams that an
emppi was about to hit the country. It sort or surprised us becmse we
calculated that we would get word when the gang left Cheyenne but the
arxl kept its movements secret and left the city at night by train.
,Ieuthier, SheIdoe Page 2.
Eangelore
Thrrant Co., aist* 7.
They went to Capper and from there they had better than 100 miles to
travel overlte4d. They made that 100 miles in wagons and on hoes tack
anq cerieci all Mule of anunition, provisions und_camping outfits.
They meent-bueinees-and were provided for a stay. The grease. -pots
di d not calculate that the arce, would arrive uLtil a. dey lat,er than
they did. Ihey mtide Letter time than e_pecte und had etarteu out of
Cheyenee a half day sooner than wee reported.
In the mean time the grease -pots were laying plans* 4hen we
reeeiveo word at the raWadeup that the amq was on the march every
man was called an to declare where he stood. All of the men stood
pt and declare.. them,,eives willin6 to fight the big rustlers as they,
called the 14., fellows* There were several wadaies woritifr in that
round -up th:Jt ha,! worke,L for some of the the Lit' outfits no top.-scres.
They told that to hold their Jobs they were compelle,; to rustle critters
and brand mavericks in order to keep the count up to the satisfuction
of the ramrod. There wat, plenty of talk about what the wed.iies hi..d to
do for the bi__fellous during past der,. All held that the.greasewpots
lost as much to the tig fellows as the little fellows had got back.
:4‘) they ere all re:4y to defend their rights.
"Cur information about the t,ovement of the army came to us from a
small outfit o nar in Cheyenne. hen he got wind of what was going oz,
t-4 hit the trail for Johnson Co. and reported that among the =icy
hers were ebout 30 fexes lade that were being paid $6. a dey. The rest
of the army we:, made up of cowhands off of the various bliehes. There
were a couple 02 members of the „Mate ulgiilature and We or three
Lnglishmen that,3oinecl the perty to cee the fun.
"It was morning when we receiv,L7, the news and yes fixing to meet
the arr4 the Colima:4 day* tiomenr word came that evening late that
Gauthier, .-Jheldon Pat,e 14
Rauvlore FEC
Tarrant k;o., 1st. 7.
the arrly had hit the countri. It was ..eportod that there were betoeen
70 and 100 in tLc antor an6 that va P Clark, top...screw of the 101 out-
fit., wf...61 taleize; a leadiaz part in guiding the invadere to Lhe various
r2nches.
"r';e were told that the -army had stopped at the EC ranch owned 4y
Chazpion and Aay. If I recUl correctly their fu...1 names were ;Ate
Chagion and nici- The amy surrounded the ranch h use early that
:41mime befewe anyone had ;ot out of bed. There i.ere two strafieer:. at
the ranch who were in the freighting business and had stopped there for
thentght. As the two strangers started for the barn they were surprised
and token prisoners. 1:,*htsq,'Ion and Ray like the freighters c,id not know
the houee was surrounded. A short time after Hay stepped to the door
and was shot don. It was said b one at the strangers afterwams that
Hay started to crawl batik into the house and was shot the second time.
P Clark yelled to ChanOon telling him to come out and eive himeclf
up but ::nte yelled beck 'Come in and get me you damn skunks.l.
"Ho refuse6; to come out and all tom brave fellows were afraid to
in after hints :itey knew that it mean branding for several of them if
they tried to rush the cabin because ChaLvion had a reputation at being.
no mean shot and a good ftighter.
"To L;et. him out of the house they pushed a load of hq, that was
standinc in the yard up to the house. and set it on fire. The are and
smoke drove :ate out into the open and he. was shot down the moment he
appeared. The artily men not only shot him down but after he was on the
ground they kept on shooting. There ware 20 bullet holes in 1"'iateea
body. De iLile in the Leuse had rote dowla all that was tai.tirc place
ad tie not was found on him b, friadds that came to take care of the
body. The strangers who were turned loose after the army got Nate and
Nick made u roport of what they saw take place at the KC ranch house.
'4,uthiert tineidea F* Page 16
Aangelore FEC
Tarrant Co., Dist, 7..
"bile the army had the ice ranch aruier•siege to get the two wan
the rarrod of t=he Black Flag outfit, Jack Flagg was driving down the
trail 4th one of his waddles. 'Jib= they reached t:e KC section they
saw what was goinc an and quickly drove the wagon off the trail. They
unhitched the boozes and m;Junted then and draed at top speed to give
the nem3. The wad,y cane to where we were working the roundup- and rlag6
hightailec it to luffaloip All of us worLing at the roundup dropped
ever;0,,thi;k: at once only enou,_h were left to Leep an eye on the critters.
,e hit the trail for thc Amy. Flagg reporteL: to the sheriff of the
county. is name was lAgus and everyLvdy called hi6led ALCUti. lie set
out to iyIther a crowd to go and get the that had invade his count.
17 and Jurd(m7.c two of the citizens.. After the arpy had coaipleted their
work at the KC ranch they started for other laces and were at the AC
ranch when we waddies'from the'roupdpp and aed Angus met.
"-llen the solAers of the cattleman's army went in to the At: ranch
thAr left their wagons on the trail which contained all their supplies.
,e took possesion of the wagons and three men that was left to guard
the outfit. 4e tound that they all had the Leot and oat highipoworod
rifles that could be had those days and they could throw lead a Lille.
were equipped with ordinary guns and al*;cuns and -was Unable to get
within shooting range of the ranch builtlinc;s in which the soldiers were
-stationcd without getting branded plenty from those high-powered rile.
"There was a7-Jy one gun in our whole crowd that could sty at a
safe cAstance am: throw e'Lall into those 'i-uildings. The follow was
ea.e...eeado.414444/aeo an aged r%whide and had an old buffalo gun that was
a near cannon. It was a muzzle loading single shot gun but ecame the
pride of our crcvd. That rawhide was t cool as a steers noise and all
he id was load that buffalo rifle and shoot. while loading the gun he
thiersheldon F. Page 16
itingelore FEC
Tarrant Co., Dist. 7.
wouJA.1 chew steadily on a cud of 'balm. H would pack the powder and
ball keepinc his jaw working in time with the up and down movement
of the_ramrod. When he got her all set and a cap an the firing pit he
would turn his head and let out a squirt of ybeccy juice and then raise
the gun and B00:! it would go and a ball would hit a door or window
every tii-Ae he shot. limilwere two soldiers killed and about 30 bosses
that were ih the pen. It was reckoned that the old rawhide Rot them all.
'ibe-)1d fellow kept his work u for two and half days. He sent a waddy
to his home with orders to his wife for amunition and for her to get to
laking bullets gni; steridy supply kept copies. he was On the job doink.-
her part too:
0;:ord had cone that the army was expectinc help from c force of
man from up :=Isna wet. 'Ne were anxious to finish the job on hand before
reinforcements came but our suns were too weak to do the job against
their lonc rifles. After the first day the arm du lez its andiut up
breL:stworks. ,4e coulc! not Vigure how we were going to get them out. If
we had the time the old buffalo gun would get the job done in a few
days but we wan ed quicker action.
"Late in the evening of the first day a young felcie:showed cLunted
on a boss colAnc from Lhe artiy with a white flag waving. %',4 calculated
that he wanted to rattle about condition of surrender,' ben he reached
our crowd that fellow suddenl gave his hose the gut hooks and lked to
the side-, the boss leaped down She trail. .e paid him no uind thinking
that it was one s-ldier that made his escape. 4e more than any more of
the outfit that caw') c:ut A,iaving a white flag whould have to go an toot
and rench for the sky. It ms found out later that the youngTelhaw
was carryinc a measage to the U S Amy officers at Ft. McKinney asking
Gauthi
itsnge10
Terrast
to patr
W01-.8
they le
amt we
Ulu pit
old raw
say the
skunks
good es
that car
bed ob.:
Lhe reo
timber
the
the
distanc
them
there w
placed
of the
we Aar
ranch I)
thLt c,
fire. At
.„ibeidon F.
9 Dist. 7.
Pegs 17
the night firing stopped ant- the only think; we did was
tize ouildiecs watchlw for °peepers. Ie had charge their
bout half of their bosses were killed so we kne%, that if
it w)uld have to be on foot. None of them tried to get away
afterwards that they were too well satisfied to stay in
way fro: the buffalo gun.,
seconxi nie,ht we held a talk feast on wive and amitns. Ihe
-e oftemd plat. If gy miW, is work.trw, correct I waould
fclloas name was Boon.
llows in them thar tmgons are some dynamite. I'recken them
culatt. o blowinc, up so ae ranCh with it. This outfit id as
to do the blowinc oad the :time ill fitting. All you wadies
put .11arid on an ax get lold'of one and go .down to the creek
t cutting. Cut. logs about lb feet lon6 and six inches thick.
of you all that are not Imply m unt your OMMAIMPS and drag the
here. 4hat we are aiming to do is put them timbers tied to
end of them wagons and make a moving breastworks,. ;4011 push
backwards towars the buildin6s until we are _in throwing
then throw the dynamite into the pits. That will clean
•U3 out of .thar.
starte(7'. .t once for axes at the various ranches. 4T lAd-nic,ht
cutters working and it wa.i not loos until 111Mber bec,an to be
thL ground. -e tied the logs with our ropee to the eear end
Lnd ijdayAght had Aar avostworks rendy. At daylight
to push the waEons ahc&d of us movinc slowly townrGas the
(1.1.3 a short ..L.V.:7;tr.axi, at r tie. There was only 60 o us
get shelter beSides the, ushers ai.. we kept' up uvedy
us -G6 thc- old Lu:falo gunecr.
Ggiuthi
;Range
Tarran
F.
;iist. 7.
e had arrived ithin f
aktte to the pii. 'ank17;, nto tax
cetion rrtaize any 1
ofitir ±',o into -the tilacr raid
ia'oLve on. -et were islInc fax
tin if an our.
t befal'e wo were vet, to throw dynemity ,e 'received IA
Page le
FC
IL co p oU Cavalry from
.:a1Ainttofldireeilk; them to
Ca: taix showel the orders to
ply wi4 the order allowing
clairixy that :.;he troof)s had no
two kill [Larders- c&thitte.i,
where
.uilty parties ehou
t lookcL. for a f
a 114,;h with thi. int
'Lo -%ke• thc: ,..on of the out.:.
vould turri, over to such
the ;...:aV.; Govergirknt. zak_fus
cro,id t, that all coulta bt;
.returne aesinet them in Johns'
-uni;er
audic
sieE;e•
iLn6 range of our i:une and were ii.utt..ink;
dirt biat they x-iere eU ehind the prot.
l.a.They were ',laying lead over the toi-;
front but ow works were iviri.us
peetct.: to be till ovdinc; 4yriartiite
')-tiCsnney appeared uith or.(',aers frara
charge of the art:1r of cati„latsien• The
Angus the iZeriff and he refused. to _co
to take char of the I nvaders• Mote
tailless to interfere because ,i-iere ',Jove
he outfit in hi county awl there was
be tried.
es as though we were L;o1,4-; to c,et into
the -aptain into allowi-c
t .as prisoners ae-u- in us that they
be a1 Oriiie. a Amid, Le :-.1.1ctek:i
tht the men 1....<3 Ntaareh*N._ lAtacit our
tor the palapose Of havinL, charLcs
County• jo the arm 1;4CIE; marcheia out
pl-oetion of the troftps I passLL Lt eentO rOvigi02. ua
ho taem on tn. h side of .1-‘or:d rAnc, ttr t the
re a :Lot about where the nvzin etxtul.,,_ i.e tried.
The eJ0::' auti..oihttics d p:'isoners tric at ;.ufft_ao
OUt LA- Latter watt placcu.in thphraaf.;a_, of the autLoritica at lzwaLaie and
after transfere, to Clieyer c .1.14! alerk: ;().P quite a
7.6
pails e Weis ao chai-tce to t a jury to :,ry•thk eLloe,,elieryone
Gauthier, ,411eldon F.
Nangelore
Tarrant Co., Diet. 7.
l'age
on one side or the o ther. Finally all the ten cre allowed to 6o whore
they pleased subject to call for trial at some future time and that was
the last I heard of the affairs When U P Clark was turned.bse he high..
tailed it for Texao and all the other imported men did the same. I heard
that the Lnglishcvn that went along to see the fun were well satisfied
but was not hankeri4g for any more Stgiitd of that nature right -prontoa
After the three days siogo was over we all went back to work. The round-
up took up where yo left off and everybody seemed to have more silver _
lining in their cloud.
"In that country the waddion have a tolerable lot of time on their
hands and had to find SOM41 Vit4 to pass it astay• (Ale ,or the things we did
was to answer ads in the papers just to see what the answers wou.ld be.
There w a, paper called the Ileart and bend Which printed ads of men
and women who were loOklng far a ilete: That paper got a lot of waddle's
time answering the women's adii. And there was some intereatin6 annwering
to our letters. Some %Paddy that wan good at writing love stuff would fix
up the letters and they received *ewe heart breaking replies. :.oat ,of the
.`riter emir was ---froui women that answered the love letters.
and another fellow once chipped in 750 each in_d sent the a, oney
to r: man in A. Pauli who ndvertised that he guaranteed to tell
heit any one ::could- moko Cab to $'.:C a day on receipt of the money for- pay.!
menti of the instructions. 'i•ie receivtd it very nice letter fro::. hira thank..
ing us Or -thci confidence we showed in -him and stated that -if ;•e folloWed
the instructions .,we coUld maks the money he stated 'Pick out one,:er,-,,,two
letalina newspaper and advertise for •Suakers like .1 doi.,Was the instruationc,
The wish .book furnished o lot of satiefuction .wacitdies would pour
2throue-,Th the book wishing for this and that article described id the cati-
*Logue*
"The tales told 1) some of the wrAddies about what they ha,A .alen at
Gauttrier, heldon F. Page 20
Bangalore FEC
Tarrest Dist. 7
vari us pinces they 11E4 worked were corkers. I'll tell one that 1 reuern.
bt--T tol. t..d Jack Ta,y1o$ to 6:ive you an idea of the .teltes- "%hen-I:was a
-stiixi oi a.la(.1 1. lit in the 7utXi.. rm.. by In nnine,. he run a
si7.e outfit and did a lot or twine. ae kept the critteru
of his 'wage -because he made a iiiincee'of drivinc&the cattle to Lew
exico where he hj n market. lost of the time while I Wm with the out..
fit I- 1.4as driftine: crittere. The outfit wasiocated in To xeen .4.1ol, Tex.
and ø htAd to cross the 1-eC013 liver to reach Itoswe11, where be Liel...
iverc.!U the ct.tttle. Itwas in the late 60fs and the coun,.ry West of the
i'ecos w then a Lough section to drift throudh. -,bere won rustlers and
Itid.ians waiting for a chance to rive off critters anc.: thieve Vdere c,en
tart wouid shoot you „just for tie) fun they t:tot ou o. atahirc the (Vint:
kick. All the heard urivcrs those deye figured on losirc a gocKt number
of crittars vihjlegoisc throuiLh that secSion but not ..r.
"The day after I joined up with tlk 1,anal outfit they I:dere rea.,,y
to trt all:tint: a herk't 3,L0C head to i-,,oswell zd ,,e otart,:.0 v-,ith't/w
SW. I tit,ow,ht the crew wat; awful small. There ,Anse just abolitt enowki for
highs. rLin without change of shifts. ..,hen night and the
-,ere bedded down I tiati cxpectine riding ordert buL. none wort. 1
finak4 askee at.:,out th etattev and tlyt wz.--dtdies tolc,. me that hi8ht riding
was not necessary. ti---ouL:rht the lads were puttir.: MC: Oli tAlt thC fact n.
one wat7.,* COlied to and o;,14/ one wa 1_ -tit on watch /v.y.I Luet,;614;.
I -kept. ay-uth slut- and feelind that I would s4ow lf,rt.oravice °pent,
"The ;:o:.4.tith clic:1M after ,:A), iY16 crocaed the .1- ecos after the crittcrc.
had ;,,e...:Ued Joan oz:e tht- waddles repos--..._Al ecei.--47 Indian aleA--is and &lid:
tgloloys some tine Jarine the 1..,.14 -ht we will see a i>ert lot o
still Lo one was called todo riding. The watcher was instructed to call
all if the Indians showed up because an thevia e& didn't t to
,41aulikter
Rangelere
Tarrant Co.
miss tlit, Dma
Indians w
the watcher
"what
the critters
ru* plaid them,
jely. That
-4dies oaide
what he mean
.they are
expect point
to admit the
"There
US.
Which porfo
p.
About an hour before sun which wit tie venal time the'
•stampede the. critters *ether could pick up the Strays,'
lied' sh-av is an boys roll out ityeu. went to sea it.'
place surprised no. When the Indians drove into that herd
way for them and then closed around the redskins,
ked thou off-tbeir bosses, and stomrd ths-outfit to a
my plumb mystified but I said nothing. Finally one ,of the
,isaydiOneyei-tue old mossei horns.' I asked Ahat waddy
said, "TOO,* potioed then two Llg moesey Iorncd SUM*,
ed critters and have cherg. of the boid4 TWA* cmilithig
way .and that is the reason ww.have to do that. I have
hey were the best trained animals I ever put larva ad.
ere stories of great bosses, ropers, shots and riders
d'etunts that were ioadsre of the Talking about-
winters up inIthat country bristga to my Wind good' best. It was the beet
that I have flier Put Mr livever but we only bad it in ths winter amuths.
when the lila
few wise**
would us&. a
frotten a co
get all we
did not ha
"The
and a top
_satisfying
on us waddle
them by extr
the tea
freed* set in 'they always -killed several, en ugh for a
*Utmost would frees* as herd as a roe. TI* cooky
sw hair* to allot off the meat. After that meat hod been
e weeks the -taste ippraved so that we waddles could not
te4'into our flue. The same beef that had not been frozen
sou. teats.
..chaster an the Ikat outfit was a fellow called Preachy
lie woo one of them fellows that took enjoyaeni out of
wadolfs tapeworm* 10Oney *Unisys& pulling some tricks
and we enjoyed his tricks because he alwAys aide up for
efforts in cooking some dishy* hankered for. Ai tiould.
Puddings I ever &thawed into my meuth*rUne 'day at supper
Gouthleri asides F.
Hangelmre
Tarrant Co., Dist. 7.
we were allo,out done eating and Preachy said, $1.1 you damn skunk*
just wait a .7.econd give you some puddings It is a little late
getting dons.' Of course we al, waiteu and he pulled abeauty „,ut of the
oven. '?e. all dived into it and took big gobs into our mouths. ae then
started to aake runny faces. .hat belled done was to use salt lautead
of eager when he made it and thatpudding tasted like hell. *0 all began
to sputter and apit to clean our mouths. He then pulled a gOOQ pudding
on us and it was a peach. we had all foot that the day was April 1.
He would use re.. pepper on mom dishek; we hic.kereu for amo cotton in
biscuit* team knew something extra was owing up to 04131m.
nftenaby was killed in a fight with a waddyemone of the tougLest
fights..andone of the few I saw bottom waddles working on an outfit.
AS a rule the waddles got along like a bomb of pups. There always was
a. lot of horae play but very little fighting. ahem a fight did take place
it generally wta8 a buster,- Frencty-and a fellow named Hintangot into
it over Hinton diD31ng4into the chuck box widish was against Preaches
rule as it was with a' good cooky. They did not want the waddiea measing
up the chuck box. Hinton seemed to get a.kick out of seeing rranchy get
riled and .would 'mess around the c-uck ban. Frencby never refusea to give
anyone r, handout but Hinton insisted upon haling himself.
"The evenini:', that the fleht took place lintonwa.lked peat Frencby
enu oove into the chuck box. Franc/1y went after antcal with a carvingo.
knife and HIJOAN44bNAi his _gun. The cooky kept goin6 into Antall slosh.
ing with his knife and !Anton kept backinc awarshootini: all the while,
trying to get away from the knife but Freschymever*be4Atated ana had
Vinton ruziLirc.bacicaoros.
Frenchy was bit aeveral_times and bintima wds cut in a number cd'places.
4MOU were blee0ing like *tea hugs but 897.d On thdUP test. That'
GAmtillert AIWA= F4'. rage
Ransolore FEC
Tarrant Co*, Distie7.
cook/ kept diving in close and slashiags finally he drove the katfe
lato Untoass breast and they both went to the ground, and uied a few
miautea later* There were a dozen bullets in Frenchy's body an ant=
was cut all over. the upper part of his body..
"I met the best rider an the TOM ranch in ,ontana. The fellow
was called Bed- on Charley. Texas With and 2 took a Job to wranale
hosaea at the N0fl for $40. montley and .60 extra for each hose busted.
The hoasen were eon bred aa6 a little 1.a.rer than the average Texas
Loa. Those ,:rittars would aitch aL;aia as faat as. 1Jh ieas cowhoss
and nost of the arillizis were pigeon wing cutters.
%ellth and I each snubbed a hose and got our bosses resay to unt
at about the saxat time. 4 hose showed re sOme flei tricks that I didn't
have in .1iy book. 2 :rabbea le:,ther tut still .coulda't stay with that
critter and went into a spill. X got up sayiag, "Hell boys here is one
waddy frost Texas that aint a hoes luster.' About that time heard Texas
Limith saying, here is another (Irvin fool ircelTexas who has round
out he cant ride.'
"'!-ed.v-iccon, Charley was titatidikkg'by ana said 'fays i waa rLiaca with
tho kin. Oi cvittera, let ae 64OU you ho a to buat the animals.' Char.
Icy aaunted the OM that busted me and rode it like a rockiia! chair.,ae
was a rlr :di, age forced him to o driving the bad.i;agon. t.:harloy
put ua AAA:, to tricks in meetiac the atyle of thoae Oracon crittere and
ia a ccatple of days we were starirka with the sadfae but had to aTab
leather and at that had a tussle. Aghty fewwaddies could at the kArlim
ion pi eon Amircutter without grabbinc leather.
"When it come to reckoning abeot rood shota it ia hard to decide.
therewere 'lots that eouidill Idea* I guess the cowhands spent more ;aoney
for amunition than any other item. Theyewere always practiciaw'shootiag
le riding. A runalag rabbit was always a target or any other amall
thierb -heldon F.
clam
Tarrant Co., -Jist. 7.
Page 23
animals. liowever I'll have to say that the 'Old Boon with the ,buffalo
gun at the Johnson, Co. stage did the best Shooting Lever saw. At least
we waddles thought. SO.
"The' best roper ,was Dooger .k(-41 that is in the show ring I don't
believe there Were -any better, but on the ran,'ge I, could etiusI, him.
'returned to Texas in 1904 and worked for L'C Bevilles outfit -located
near Clereadon. Boeger worked there' for ,a spell.whjile I was nesting
there. John neville was the top.sCrew for his brother aria he was a top.
roper too. I 11444.11ed and I roped together and Red-adaltted that we could
rope with him on the. range There is a lot or difference looping on the
range and in the show rinà. In the show pen one knows just about what
is goirc, to happen.
"1 *nested with the Biaville outfit for two years and then 'had Some
some eye trouble which ;canied.me to qiiit the range to attend to theta and
I-riever" went' back I:learned the carpenter business and have followed
eftes,