Document text
•}'13.11on
ran7elor e
'arrant
-"ale -1
11,
1harles '.Holden, 72, livin7 at 404
w.--olorenos 9t., 'Port 7orth, Tex., was
born on his father's farm in Murray 00•,
kpril 3,1865. Frio father, James
.7.1loldan,with his family, migrated to Texas
with an emigrant train of 20 oovered wagons
in 1869, settling in Lamar oo. Il'our years
later, 1893, the golden family moved to Um__
c. and there establitled a farm. lharles
Hold en seoured work on the 0oogin's oat t le
ranch when he was 11 years old. tte later
worked on the Ieoggine, lannial, and other
ranches. Tie terminated his range ogress'
to engage in famine, which he followed lbr
a living thereafter. His stow of range
life follows:
/The place of my birth is Murray co. '!e, near Yashville.
The event took place ril 3,1865, on a farm w tich my fathv
owned and operated.
"'lien I WI S four years old, which was in 1893, my father
moved with his family from TO1111081100 to Texas. le looated in
',araar county, near tile to of Paris number of folks in
and round rurrayoou.nty, Tenn., organized an emigrant train
arj 1rove tii to Texa together. There were 20 oov ere I
wagons, pulled by hose and mule teams, all around 1.30 peo?te
in the party that came Virou.;:':h on that trip,and all settled in
:Azar oo u.nty. 'the heads of the its mil tea all to ok up land an
started farming.
e/on't recall etails of the trip oomino to Texas, but
have a general recollection of some hittt spots of it. 'loads
were nothing more than trails, with plenty of bog holes.Th.ere
were very few bridges °roaming streams of water, so we forded
eldo n
Rangel or e
Tarrant 1o.,list.
Page ;7.2
most the creeks and rivers; or had a ferry, which oper-
ated in a few spots, haul the outfit across.
"it one time the train was in the lowland of a river
bottom, just following a wet spell. The land was black gumbo
and it balled up on the wagon wheels, the critters/ feet; also,
on the feet of the folks, with every step taken. That day, the
men worked all day making five miles. Two and three teams
were necessary to pull tie wagons through the mud; so part of
the train was pulled th.rbugh, while the rest waited fbr the
teamsters to double book after the wagons. One spot in that
bottom was so boggy that men were compelled to walk on each
side of thew appn, using poles for a brace, keeping the wagons
from tipping, over.
At another time the train came to a river,that had to be
forded,at a time of hiji water which would hold up travel, for
a week or ten dars,if we waited for the water to go down. In
order to P.91t across the river, the men out logs and made rafts
whic:h were leashed to the wagons and by that means the rigs
were floated across. Three rafts were used, floating three
wagons at a time to the opposite bank. -,fter mak Lig the land-
ing, the rafts were floated back after tree more wagons, and
on,
so until the whole train was put across. el colaree there were
plenty of men to do the work, but it was a right pert job.
fter the train left Tennessee, the crowd started to
keep their eyes peeled for rndiani. .kt all times, there were
two men at a distance of two miles in the lead and at the
rear, watt) ing for raiders..
ilauthier. Taeld on
-tangelore
Tarrant lo••1103t,
Page 3
"A night the wagons were plaoed end to end in a circle.
The folks cooked and slept inside of to circle, and at all
times the people had the ir clue at their side; also, two men
kept riding ->n Vie oateide of the circle, all night, ready to
,e,ive an alarm if any raiders appeared.
"The train came through without any trouble from ra iders.
le saw Lad tans rl any times, but were never molested until we
were about at the end of our trip. A party of rndians acne up
to the train while it was starting to ford the Reel River.
They begged for a hoes, 51!) rue food and ammunition, in fact any-
thing they Gould pet.
"Aft.era atly of four years in -.mar county, my folks
again Joined a train party of 14 families which drove thro'ift
to Brow* county. I was eight years old at that time and able
to reanember details.
mon 7 the families that male that trip wire those of my
father's three brothers and has father, John Cooper, Jim
Cooper, Jack :lochell, Tom Brown, all of whom were in the 'arty
that came from Tennessee to Texas. The other five families'
names have slipped ray mind, except some of their last names.
There were the Jaokson, Thomas and -letters crowd.
"Our worst stream crossing was the 7rinity River, which
we fnrded at llas. coming out of tie river, we had a steep
bask tc here w.s a spell of rain the day before we made
that ford,so, besides the incline, Vlore was plenty of mad.
The men were compelled to hitch two and three teams to one
wagon in makin tit :7rade. The grade became so badly out -11r1
Gauthier, -"heldon
Rawelore
Tarrant
?age 14
rutted when the last waon was being hauled through, it bced
so bad that the tongue of the wagon was pulled out of it's
hitch by the strain placed on it. On the trail were the usual
bog holes, which at times caused the men folks to get their
praying and cussing mimed; but we lit in Brown county, all to-.
ether
"It only one point did we get a soare; that is, especial-
ly the women folks did. 'le had forded the ''ecan %you, alit:
the west bank two of the party's dogs attracted our attention
to something that they were gnawing on. Upon looking, we saw
two dead Tidiano that someone had made good re tans out of, lay-
inr, on the ?round, and tie bodies had not be there long.
t at created excitement among the men folks and a part
scare to the women. e had heard a lot about the rnd tan raids
and depredations, therefore feared that our train would run
into a party of raiding' rnd Lane. '.11 of t -e men and a few of
the women folks rot taeir shooting irons ready for prompt action.
7Ty mother fainted from the sight of the dead ratd tans, an I
several of the women became hysterical; but we soon ,!ot avery-
thing strai!-thtened out and started on, headed by a bunch of
determined, fast and true shooting men.
"Then my mother came out of the faint, she insisted on
having a piece of artillery. he was provided with a rifle and
rode in the rear ,f the wagon. The determined look on her face
and with a rifle placed across her lap will never leave my mind.
-'he sure was set to protect her chicks.
/lad raises', the Indians by a few hours, because a
riauthier,
'iangelore
Tarrant 7
nage 7 5
in
company of rangers had jumped them and the two dead Indians
failed t• make their get -a -way.
""'s were just a short distance from our destination, which
was Vie 'eoan ayou TatLey,, two miles east of Irownwool,. -e
all camped to.79ther on a mesquite flat. The waTons were arran7,ett
in a circle; aid each family had a tent, which was pitched in-
side of tie oircle. That was done so tht the pa•ty would be
in a bunch in the event of an Indian attack, whichwere t king
plaoe here and flere in that section.
"?ach of t`te fuiliee had leased 320 acres of land tram
'lam and Moody loor!ins, two brothers who were large cattlemen
and controll(r4 thoasands of acres in tat country.The entire
tract of 4,480 acres was fenced with a split rail fence, which
waa for tie purDose of keepitv, cattle off of tie tract. The
whole section of the country was an open range and this tract
was to be farmed, aid was about the firpt farming venture in
that section.
"7he fir -t t'link7, the settlers did was to break laid for
crops. It was the latter part of January when we lit on the
land; earl by aroh all of the families had a rood piece of land
reedy for planting.. The major part of the lertd was planted
in corn. The rest waP planted in wheat, for flour purposes,
and araceag veg-Aables for family use.
-The ("rope were planted and there was an excellent stand
of everything. ‘vn..ybody was feeling in fine spirits abolt the
future. Then, ne day, a stramg north wind started to blow ,and
with it came Kamaas grasshoppers, not only one million, aut a
Gauthier, Theldon
:1 angelore
Tarrant Cio ""Ast 7
?age 6
million or more. 1:t was about mid -flay wlen they came in and
they blotted out the sun as a dark cloud would. -"ell sir,
those hopders Landed in the fields, and six hours after they
atarted work not a bit of corn was left, or grass; or anything
else that was green.
"'ts you may know, a rcrasshopper will emit a fluid.
to Ibaccy juice in appearanoe, when they lit on you and are
disturbed. leveral of the folks had not seen the Al:rase:hopper
before at close quarters. The inseet not only covered the
vegetation, but were all OlIn` humans, anl we had to brush Viem
off and wipe away the juice. Tom Brown was brushing off hop-
pers and juice, are thinking deeply without saying a wo rd,
while others were discussing what move to make. "inally, some-
one asked 3rown what he thought of the hopper, and he answered:
I -9-A, the insect is the most impolite thing that I have ev3r
met up with. They not only eat all of our crops, but then sptt
fbaooy juice in our faoes.
"That orowd was as haupy as oysters out of their shells.
On top of tbe .0.rasehopper show, Jim rjooper and my father i,ot
into a reeular bearfight because of the insects. looper tried
a fool trick which could not be no more successful, than if he
tried to put on his boot wrong end to. He and anot)or man took
a 100 root rope are each holdin an end, mounted hosses and
started. to sweep acroes looper is corn field. Thera two fellows
were attempting to chase the -insects out of the field. Ls fait
as they chased hoppers out,others would hep in. That he did
chase out was towards my father's field. -tither commanded
Oauthier, Theldon
Bangalore
Tarrant lo.,nist.
Page PT
'4"1"el
cooper to stop *hunting hoppers towards his field, and cooper
refUsed to cease. That started a fight, pronto. latch of them
did a pert job fighting, which was enjoyed by all, except
a few of the women fA.ks. The next day each admitted that they
were dam fools 3111 continued to be good friends. The insects
left the country soon as they had ("leaned up the vegetation,
and it was early enoa.gh to still plant late darn, which was
done, and a fair late crop was raised.
Iffone of to fanilies had any milk cows and-'7am loogins
told tae folks Vley could pick out any of the fresh cows, which
roamed the range by the hundreds, that suited them fr milking
purposes, and turn the critters back into the herd when they
went dry. ftther's experience with the range cow* was only
looking at taa critters. 3ack in Tennessee, all the cows were
take animals. lie picked out an old mother cow with a week-old
calf ae a milker for his family, calculating that the old mossy
horn critter would be easier to milk than a younp,. heifer. He
and another Tan drove the calf into a pea, which had been built
for the purpose, and of course the cow followed her oalf in.
rather enjoyed drinking milk, but hated to do milking, so
that was mother's job. The next morning, after the critter was
penned, lad went with mother to watch her milk t e cow. !!ot-ler
started to enter the pelt and noticed t'-1, old arm shake har head
ay 1 give her a side glance, which mother tool( to mean, 'don't
dome near me'. I don't suppose that critter ever saw a human
wearing Skirts before. d4tor sizing up the situation, mother
said:
fleuthi er, -lie 1 do n
,c7e.1 or
a rra 7
?age -8
1710
`11.71.m, t don't reckon r have any hankering to milk
that (low'.
"I"ihy, you scare oat, that's an old critter, said father,
'I picked her because of the age so you would not have to break
her to milking. C;o in and milk her,' father urged.
"Bit mother could not be urged, and told father that she
wanted a demonstration of how the cow would milk before she
tried it. They argu.--d their difference of opinion for a spe1.1,
then father said: 'Oh heck: give me that pail'; and he went
into the pen. The cow made for him sit father hit for the feriae,
but she got to him before he could top the rails. 'It was a
frosty morning and he had on an overcoat, and that critter
hooked one of her mossy horns under the belt of the coat.
•?ather came out of the coat pronto, leaving the coat hanging
on the critter's horns. T'other didn't help father's feel-
ings any by saying, 'Jim, it may be hard on your mat, hut
it's great bin for the cow. fio in and get your coat; show me
how gentle and kind that milk cow is'.
"To hell, with the ooat and milk,too. Open that gate
and chase that !matt oat', father -rdered.
"'Open it yourself and do y-ur own chasing. I don't want
it said that I chased your milk cow off', mother answered.
"By that time, several o, the tent dwellers had come up
to see the show, and one of them opened the gate. They first
ordered everyone into the wagons, because that old critter
had gone, maybe, 13 years without bein(:: milked and was on her
hipthoss about folks wanting her to change bar way* of
living. 'he was busy tossing and rearing, trying to get loolle
lauth ter 'aeldon
iangelore
Tarrant Co.,nist.
Page #9
lovr,
from the coat, which she finally acoomplished. Then she
looked around, snorting and blowing, then made for the gate,
1711ather was told to pick a critter with it's first calf,
which ie did, and in a week's time had it broke to milking.
''Inkong the troubles that the settlers had to contend
with was the Indian hose thieves. About two weeks after we
arrived, some Indians sneaked up and stole two of John looper's
home.. Then they tethered all the hosses with a rope, near
the camp, but one night the Indians again sneaked in, cut the
ropes and stole two houses from Brown. Then the man bought
chains and psolonIcad a loop around the anima's seek mad the
other end around a tree, which stopped the hoes stealing.
he settle lent was never raided and the only one t
at
had any trouble with Indians, while living at the settlement,
was my father. -qe had made a trip to Round Mountain after a
critter for beef. Three Indians took after him and run him
to w thin 200 yards of" the op. It haveneet at the time he
was r Wing a fast hoes, inste0 of a mule, and that saved his
scalp from dangling at an Indian's belt,
''The Indians ,.?;ot Tom ft -own /8 family, but not at the
settlement. ie moved to some school land which he took up,
five miles west :).r irownwood. 111 the settlers advised him
not to lake t e move and live off there alone, but he did.
He hal two chiLdren around five and six years old an' an
infant about three months old, at the time.
-`Brown went to 3rownwood one day and when he returned
home he found his wife, dead and scalped, in the cowpen. The
"authier, iheldon
•iangelore
Tarrant CO.. ni st. 7
Page 110
milk pail was on the ground, which indialated tt she had
.one there to milk. 7he lafant was found dead in it's cradle.
'The child had been !melded with hot water from a kettle which
was on the stave heating. rown told how his wife always heat.id
a kettle of water before etartjni! to do the milking, which she
used to scald the milk pail. The kettle was found settim:7 an the
floor; and the mulls *loth, also the was soaking wot.
lhe two older ahildran were gote and were never heard from aft-
waVs, so far as r have ever learned.
"'There was a hunting party, made up of cowhands from the
various ranges, but the boys had to give up tie hunt when t:ley
completely lost t e trail after two days of trailing.
"ta faoe of the Wien. grasshopper and ot'aer troubles,
we fared well. lo far as chuck wee conoerned, we couldn't be
starved. leaf, of course, was plentiful. "'e could pick up strays
anytime we wanted a yearling. leeides beef, we hal all tie wild
F,arae we hankered for. There were thousands of wild turkeys,
antelope, deer, and some buffalo, in tt section.
''In the mo th of 'lehruary, the folks would go buffalo
hunting; and tie meat WEIR out into chunks and hung up to dry.
There was no salt, or anything else, used to afire the meat; but
it cured and stayed in excellent condition. T'le meat would form
a oruat around the outside and when we were ready to cook it we
w)uld out the *rust away. Under that crust was VI, most tasty
and tender meat I have ever lined my flue with.
Ild honey was had for the gathering. 7o, with raisinc
some cora, wheat and vegetables, all that the folks had to buy
Gauthier, "helfion
Ran ,Telore
Tarrant Co. ,Tvis t 7
Page .11
P•11
was some knick-knaeks.
'Then we lit in Irownwood, there were only two places of
basiness there: a general store, run by Mollen,and a saloon run
by Tom takers. latch of the business houses were busy places,
an the only ki-id of folks one could see was eowhands. There
were sev,ra 1 big ces outfits, in that section, and a lot of
small grease -pots. The Coogins, the leotssins and the ktniell
outfits were alion- the lergest ranges. *".1.1onnell was in 1.9ta*
years coanected with the banking business in rort 7orth.
"My :not her was '_-4n excellent seamstress and could make
men's clothing aecorling to measure as well as any tailor, and
she -ot started ia rnalr.ing clothes by allowing -7.7.1onnell to
coax tier into making him a suit. Mother was the first person
who could do that kind of work there, and after she got started
Viey kept her busy. The suit she made for Connell was a gray
jean cloth, and that suit was most always one thing talked
about by him and I, in later years, when I visited him at his
bank.
"Molten prevailed on mother to make suits, he sold in
his store. '`ith the money she earned makin suits, father 1).-.1.2.7,ht
out a sehool claim from a fellow and moved onto his own land.
was 11 years old, r was given a job by the loogins
cow outfit. The camp was at Brownwood and there is where we
bunked and lined our flues, when not behind the chuck wagon
workin.cr. the range,unl that we were a great part of the time.
"'alter 7aber, Henry "uke, :sortie rt.een and myself were the
Gauthier, Iheldon
Rangelore
Tarrant lo.,ntat.
Page 7!712
steady had at the arownwood camp. ",alter Maber is c)ne of
the big cattleman of that section now.
old .7.7onnell rave.
"In addition to cattle, Coogins run 1,200 head of hosses
and around 24000 head of hogs.
Jim red lreak and the eritters
creek bottoms of that section.
fat from feeding on the pecans
Tie operates on the
The hogs were ranged on the
found their own living on the
The hogs were always rolling
and a eorns that grew in abun-
dance in those bottoms. I have seen pecans so thiek on the
ground t at one could rake the nuts,with a rake,by the bushels.
Hogs
feeling on pecan nuts made the finest of tasting meat/
"The hogs were sold in the lobrt larth
market and the first
driving of critters that r did was helping to drive 600 hoRg
x-ro irownwood to tFirt orth.
herded out 650 critters o the
to Irownwood. "here we
7e went into the bottome and
proper size and grave the animals
stayed two days while 51 of the critters
were butchered, wflch were used by the loo7ins' femily end the
cowcamps. fter the butchering was done, we started for Fliort
p,rth.
"7-renry nuke, 7,onie Green and I were the drivers. It inter-
vals, loogins wouA drop in on us to see if we were hogging
along alright. Cur chuck, bedding and camp supplies were carried
on pack hoses. -onie Green was the cooky; besides, he helped
with the driving, which did not call for muoh work.
Irt took us close to 30 lays to make the distance of,
aproximately, 1.25 miles. "e never pushed the animals, but
Just let the critters take their own time. Two of us walked at
Gauthier, hellos. T.
Rying010140
Tarrant 00••Inet.i,
Page fil3
the front, on either side of the herd, to keep it pointed in
the proper dirsetios, and the other fellow stayed in the rear
to poke a hog that became tired mei tried to lie down. At times,
a lot of the °sitters would get tired and lie flown, then we would
wait untiltthey had their rest out, before going on. Tim die
tense sovered in a day was from 'three to five miles. When we hit
a pecan, or actors grovetwe would let the hags feed their fill.
"'riving hogs is sot so hard as some folks ream. The
animals can't be rashed, but will move forward taking their own
time. kt night, hogs will bed down and give no trouble. Tf some-
thing seares a hog or a number of the animals, just those soared
will get *stated, but soon will settle does.
'nuriag the night one of us stayed on watt*, changing shifts
each fear hours. `"e had no trouble, night or day, during the
shole trip.
lOoogins made yearly drives of hogs to the librt worth market.
On the trip I made* we drove bac& 20 nurhan bulls, whieh he bought
and were ready for &slivery to him when we arrived with the hags.
Those bulls were the first nurhai breeding stook brought into
that estion ant were bred to the longhorn cattle.
"On the range there woo so sight riding during my period of
nesting there. Tho critters 's?* allowed to go where they pleased.
except during the roundup, then the critter* were bunched and held
until the branding was done After the branding* the critters
were turned loose to roan. Cattle in that section run the range
in bandies and a half dozen or more brands were mixed. At the
roundup, all the different outfits would Join together, working
one section after another, branding ealves* Ihe cal". wars
Gauthier, Iha
Page 114
Rangelore
Tarrant
branded with the brand that it's mother had. non a calf was
roped, the proper motbsr would come running to it, when the self
let out it bawls; therefore, the mother was always easily lo-
cated.
"At all times, riders were oonstantly riding the range, keep-
ing watch over the herds, looking after eripples, sick, and
bogged critters; aloo, watching to keep the eritters fromdritting
too far, .Cooasionally, we would have to drive a bun* beak towards
the home range grounds.
"mien a herd was wanted for the market, riders would ride
ov.r the range, pioking out the number and kind of critters wanted.
"The cattle rustlers gave us a heap of trouble, and many
-lea were hang up to dry duo to this trouble. Frau/101y, r would
meet up with S fellow that was looking up, with a rope tied
around his nook, hanging from a limb, and the veriliet always was:
'arty came to his death by the hinds of a party or parties un-
known', and that would end the matter, with all halide satisfied*
/The vorat deal with rustlers r ever saw was the Green
which took plea° near Broanwood.• There were three brothers of
the Ores' boys, and they were knows through toe emotions* top
rustlers. They were arrested several times, ekarked with rust-
ling cattle and hoes, but they were never convicted. It sealed
impossible to get evidence against them which they eould not
meet by producing evidenee that the deal was a fair sale or trade*
"In addition to beiag rustlers, them fellows ware tough.
They had notehes on %Atir guise and no one dared to go near the
boys to settle a cattle deal, unless they wore ready to sheet it
eut.rrom that prattle about the boys,one may retaken the kisd
r;authier, -Sheldon 17.
Rangelore
?errant Co. ,i)ist •17
Page Ala
="irri
of buekaroos them fellows were.
"i want to relate what them boys did to an old fellow
from Arkansas that Game dragging into the emotion velth a yoke
of fine steers hitdhed to a oovered wagon, in whieh he and his
wife had their personal goods. Those boys held the old (maple
up, took the yoke of well broke steers and put in their pliese
t -o unbroken wild steers, ties turned the outfit loose. Of
*curse, those wild steers went to running, rearing and buoking
aoross the prairie, until they were tuokered out. Then the old
fellow had to unyoke the steers to save what was left of his
outfit.
'The &been boys olaimed that they made a fair trade and gave
the old fellow boot in the trade. There was no dhaaoe to oonvict
the boys of wrong doing. That *et splayed on the old fellow, pat
a finite* on what the folks in the motion oould stand, and they
organised a visiting party that oalled on the Green boys. The
party consisted of mix men, who rode up to the lreen's bomeand
called for the boys to oome out. instead f coming out, then
fellows answered 'to heal with your whole gang take this as a
start, there' and let loose a hail of lead. To be polite, we
visitors did the same thing, waiting to treat them as veil, or a
little better, Vim they were treat tag us.
'We visitors were at a disadvantage, being that the boys
WITO barrioaded in the house, but we kept pouring lead into the
windows and closed doors, from every angle. 've took protection
of whet wirer we Gould find, but several of us got stoked by
bullets.and a fellow named Iiiskols was killed, nasally, one of
Gauthier, /heldon 76
Itangelore
Tarrant ao.,,Ist #7
Page 116
rttl
our party crawled on his belly up to and under the hones and set
the house on fire.
"It wasn't long after the fire got to going until the folks
appeared coming oOt of the house. Two of the boys were married,
and their mother lived there with them. /hen the boys ease out,
theywere behind the women folks, which they were using for a
shield. That complicated natters, because we didn't want to
shoot the women.anl had to be careful with itur fire. Ie begun
to move about,oaatiously, to get a lies shot, This We did in a
elort spell and got all the boys without hurting the women, except
their feelings.
'I didn't attend the inquest held in the ease of the Green
boys, but Inas told the verdiet was, 'That they ones to their
death from gun wounds fired by parties unknown.'
/After the shooting, there were around 50 people who ewe to
the Orson plaee end identified bosses as their property.
'I stayed with the aongins outfit four years, then went to
work for the Sooggins outfit and nested thaw(' four years, and
them nested with the loosen outfit for a spell.
'Ths best job of brand burning t ever saw was done on some
of the loogies critters. ?lair brand wasISCI and MO', which
represented the names of the two brothers. Jaime critters were
diseovered with the 'SO' changed to reed '80t, called the light
Naught brand.
"A person nay wonder if there was anything in our lives but
fighting Indians, rustlers, herding cattle and hogs. we didn't
have shows anti night clubs to go at for amusement. let, as T
Gauthier, lheldon
Rangelore
Tarrant 7
Page #I7
look beak aid recall our ploy tines, and watch the folks t31E17,
It an oerta in vs folks in those early days got more satisfaetion
oat of our play than the folks do today.
"Oooasionally, there would be a dance; and when a 'bails',
as they aalled a dame*, was announced, that was a general in-
vitation to all who wished to attend. To ride 50 miles was not
considered to far for the boys to go to attend a bails.
"There always was plenty of ohu.ok fixed to feed the yelliag
worms of theta which came. when flue lining was over with, a room
would be stripped of all fixings and the IteketIOW would start.
"One, and sometimeatao fiddlers, would agitate the catgut.
The main tunes played were 'Nell among the Yearlings',
Ocoassi, )ream', and ',tarnish had a Tooden Leg'.
"Generally, every one came dressed in their eow outfit,
except perhaps to change the bandana to a 'lap silk handkerehief,
and to leave off their guns. The guns would be him* on the
saddle horns. The Gastonia considered it a sign of friendship
when a fellow took off his gun before entering a house.
"As a ram, there were far mare stags than doss. To give
all a Ghana* at dancing, some of the stags would take the part
of does, which caused a heap of tin ladles were the big af-
fairs, and wb.en one was announeed it would be the subject of
co nver s at ion for days, befo re and aft'.
"Ifirxt to the dames, the cowboys took in the saloon on pay
days. They would take on enough pisen to get to feeling real
pert, then do the first darn fool thing that came into their
mind. Tom Aakers, the sakoon keeper, kept an extra supaly of
Gauthier, Ihsidon
Rangelore
Tarrant Co.,'tist.,f7
Page fle
171:0
glaRses and other fixture, se that there wo aid be no delay
in roplaoing fixtures after it was shot up. Ctf eon.rse, the
damage was always settled for after the show was over with.
"lfter putting in about 11 years on the range, I deeided
to establish a home for myself and went to farming*