Document text
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OeuthieroSheidon F.
Reno:lore.
Torrent Cooluist,,Y7
James M.Mooney,69,11Ving et 962 wePesdh
StePort Worth,Terrent C11003121110,9 born et
AbbevilegLef*yetto ComMisseMer 7,19494 His
fether,A,W.Mocoey,served in the Confederete
Army during the Civil 1,4sr. Hs moved to Telmon
in 1969 end skttled on piece of lend neer
Fort LoorthoTerrent Covolls formed for e short
time end then moved to Scurry Co,_Texessoin
1870 Where he eetehlished e oettle renob on
1,44,p Creek.
James MoMooney was reora' I the saddle,
Le beam to work as e regular hand at the stp,
of 13 era continued in the oettle business
during all of his votive life.
ills story of renge life follows:
PO
PC
"My rater storted to rerr his femily in Abbeville,
Lei:mutt. Co,Missorior to the Civil "Pr. He served in the
Confederate 4rmy enc. after the close of the war he moved
tc Texas. The family wa3 moved to port ,vrthsTrrrent Co.
I'vas born the previous yeer on Met 7.
"My frther settled on a piece of lendodjacent ot
Port,Worthohen be come here end tried farming for eb,-ut
one yeer. Then in 1870,he moved to Scurry Co„Texas„ end
sterted e cattle winch located on ileop Creek. In e few
7ieers hapoilso„ had herds renging in the ued River section,
maw Clarksville, end inAlierton Co, near aertinville.
*My qirest brother J.4.-ooneyth d 'e of the
fled Ativer rnnoh rnd f'ther's o)Iflin Jack 9ney .'s in charge
o' :he Denton 00, outfit. The tot 'l mxnbor ,f critters ranging
ra
on4cr our br-nd nz. pne tite, s 30,.000 *heed.
"Father bouT.::Ir; condiernble cettlefrom Deist and 3outh
ex 8. Those critters he r nged on .hc ed niver 'rd Aanton co,
Cauthler.heldom F.
enugelore.
'-rr nt
T)age
‘"C 240
lenges. hen th ae. herds numbered over 3,000 he would drive of
bunoh on the ani.,18 to the :lain ranch in Scurry Co.
"When the fnmily first lit in the Scurry Caseation
of rexas,there wrIn no orgenized county. 4e lived in e dugout
as bunch of prnirie dogs do. We crawled in vnd out of, our
hole and felt rieht oroud of our home.
lftgalt
s "Finally, fter a few yenrs,lumber wee heulediby ***Oen
and ox teamout of 7aet Telrs, to our ranch out of which tether
huilded a r-noh house and ranch homes then we crawled out of
our ole and started to live above ground.
"71 the time we had the lumber home completed,fether
hed the two other r nohes going '.nd-we rT:de a number of dreg*
to and fro.
"on one of those dr-ze he drove a teem and 'LI* mother
.8nd me with him. I was just a kid,aboet eteht 2/4,rs ad, end wee
hewing a heap big time. Father was takieg plenty of ti-Aetwanting
to eye the country aq we passed throughtand we camped along the
way while father would ride out skirting the surrounding country.
"I, esa kid will daohesed here and there out from
the CaMp looking into t,ings. One day while- oampine in Jack Co,
on Squaw Jreek,end father was on one of his *ides,I wea fooling
around off a -iece from the camps A perty of Indians came peek
where I wee tnd picked me up. rhey tied me on n grey hoes and
te* me with them.
"Then I f-iled to show ue ,A the oalp,ey folks begnn to
search for me. They e)om snied the hoof tracks of the bosses
and000niuted that I lied been.caltured by the Indians.
Orlithier.Sheldon F.
Rengelore.
tam nt ‘;c6,14ist,..?
?age 3
pC 240
"Yet'.er rode to te first ranch an notified the folks
about lint had happened. 411ey,in turnoset, to spreading the news
and it w -s not long until a. fair size crowd had gathered for the
purpose or trailing the Indians and recapturing me.
"'Shen pnrty of Indians kidnaped.e white child,it
A.7.nys caused the white folks to get righty hat um;er the collar.
Some or them folks, .who g-thered at the, camp wera set on hitting
the twitll and to shot the redskins down where and when they were
found,but father took e different str,nd from the others. He
re-soned the;,if I was still alivethe did not went to do any-
thing which wo ld cause the Indians to kill me. i/lherefore. he
stv7gested.thet the a-rty quietly trail the Indians and attempt
to snenk upon their camp end recapture me.
"The Indians belonged to the iAlt,n6. Parker tribe. ohat
they intended to do with 7-1e,I do not know. I reekon th-t they
invended to hold me for rename.
ofhey used me kindly end -out themselves out to rake
me comfortable. Two of then could talir 7nglish well enough for
mo to easily understand them. I was pro7-Ased everything under
the sum,the best pony nnd saddle, the best gun,the best hunting
and beautiful clothes.
"In tho:e days Indian depiedationswere often sooken of
and I had'.heerd the older folks disouss the many cruel vets done
by te Indians. nitt those discussions in mind, at first I was
scwred stiff,but the kind treatnent end promises that i was
receiving caused me to thaw out. It rvs not long until i was
chummy with them. Kid like, I was hankering for the big time ahead.
Gauthier.Sheldon i.
Pengelore.
T-rrlInt
Page #4
n 240
"The first day we treveled f,st and far into the night
before we camped. I reoell. th.t I" became so sleeny it wee in
plesible for me to keen my peepers opens If I had not been tied
on the hoes .1 woule have fallen off. .After we stopped to alarm
for :,he night, en.: ate.soele jerk beef, t7,ey rolled me into a kismet
blenket and 1 fcll'to sleeping pronto. I wee awaked at the
break of y nd we ntrted at once,eatine some more ..lerir beef as
we rode. ,ee did not travel a fast the second deyon we did
,he first, I was in the lead with two 7ndians end about 10
st%yed far to the rear. Agein thet day we treveled far into the
night before we carped. he third dry, t mid -day, we ranched
the Indiadgeemp. I we turned loose and the Indian children
re.re soon playine with me.
"A ira_ber of e Inu:4ans kics and I were ralping,off
e shxt piece from a row o- teepees,just f1*ter sun est end
Cvre I ens .ecaptured. 3uddenly several men ran 11 to where
we kids were and one of the: erebbed meeit was my fetkeir. He
ran with iw while the other (1.n backed sway with leveled euns.
tether neon frrived where there wer- !bout P.5 cowbends,,11 well
ermed, vetting on their hosses. So es the, other menothose that
ran in to !let ee with fther, reached ,their eounts,the perty
r)de away with not :inc hot being fired. go doubt -we wave
hittine the trail at top speed by the time the Indians eot wise
to wh,t had t -ken nllese
"lather often telked !A)::ut recepturing me during the
later yeers. exr;leined how they trued the indienstkeeeing
at
far anJugn it the recut o keep their presence from being known
Gauthier.heldon
Regelore.
Tarrant Co,Dist.,19
?age d 5
FC 240
Ale Indians the nurpose 7fAs to throw the Indians of their
gunrd and in that father's method was sucoessfultwhich was
showed by the Indian's action after they reached their capil,
-When father -spied the c=mpowithbhis spy glass, he
moved un slowly to where se children aould be seen. 7e then
Salted for his ejance to run in a grab me.
"I grew up in th saddle frid at the age of 13 was
helping on the r.,nge. 3y the time I h:,e1 reached the age of 15
years," was t•king my regular turn at ell Vle, different jobs.
pulled a job at tile ag of 13 tIrt i must c'r.in about.
"Joe street was interested in some critters withf!,Aher
1
for short spell. Ile had son that was about 14 years old
at the tine I at going to tell about. The Street boy and
were sent to the Denton Co, range for some 500 critters *blob
were wanted to make un a herd for n drive to market. Father
Instructed me to nick un all the fit critters and to hire
two waddles as heln with the drive baok.
"Instead of nicking up 500 we found 1000 fit critters.
I ws able t ck un only one lit -rid to help us make the drive
b cksit ,4n3 ay ung 1,d ab-ut my !geond we three boys atrrted
hand
out with the herd. I ex acted to pick up another/along the way
before we tmd one far. Alt drifted tht 1000 herd ,cross,A.se,
Parker and Ilalo Pinto Uounties,wit%out hitting un with cnybohe
wanting a SO). Parker and !.)alo !Iinto aunties, in those days,
were our worst spots. There were cattle and hosts rustlers in
there r.nd a mighty °lose wateh had to be kept over the herd.
4e three boys .yok th herd chrJuph the two do untie without
eauLhier.heluen
Tiengelore.
ierrent
"age 06
70 240
losing any critters. After getting through not rough snot I
didn't try te hire any help and the three of us drove those orittes
throlgh to this home r-nge with, only five criters short when
we rrived.
All our chuck and blanket o were carried on prok
hoeses which we drirted along behind the cattleo.thet job the
enak Losses hnd done many times before ved theew_witters
'Knew whet to do. eo the pnok- hosses gave us no trouble. I noted
as trail boss,of oourse, I knew the trail well ,b cause I had
been over it nany ties before with fpther and other.
"Our greatest treuble was doing the nigli riding job,
which eoAd not be let up on. L'o meet that lob with ttree men,
tow of us rode while the other fellow slept, ?very three hours
one would cteeige shift. Then during the day,if in Cgood drifting
section end the enther was feir,one would (stitch a little shut-
-eye et the siee of the trail. tter cettine through with the sh t
eye besiness,tne sleeper woule ride fast for niece o catch
up with the herd. Tt would never be over thtees or four mile ahead.
"Then driving herd the critters are allowed to late
their Limelm re or less and around seven miles is the dist-noe
the herd would trevel in one day. Under the cenditions thnt we
three boys were working, we allowed the herd to take :ore ti e
then usuel end we were a month loneeromakine th1-7. drive, then
it 7enernlly,tlok.
"le hfld- )ne little stsepede which ended in'!,beut an
hour and I geese tlet we when we lost the five th,:. got away,
which were short at the end of the drive. All we 41d with that
stempede nes to keep the Ortttersfrom scattering until the
Gauthier.Sheldon F.
Rangelore.
TervAat/Oo,71ist,.#7
Page 7
n 240
v,niNals quit running.
"When we three lids rrived at the hoe ranch' with that
bunch (1. critzers,father was plumb sarprise. and rattled that
we were the top trail drivers of that country. I made many
drives nfter thnt.
"Father wo;.ked 8 crew of 12 hands PO regular workers and
employed more durirw the busy season. During the roundup we
used as high as 20 waddles.
"Among the steady Ivinda were FA !oGinnes,wno trec our
top hand -nd was called led,' because he wore a long beard..
There were Ossie Smith,Jim .4•een,Pack Wolf nd TomJ.Mooney Mt
of whom styed with our outffirfq, a long tide.
"Pack 7;o1flin later yaws's, beaeme litreml of Snyder,
Texas. Tom J.Mooney is cousin of _111(1,1f.ter becar2m a lrlY.Ir
organizer. Hewes nocused of placing a bomb on the street in
San .Francisco daring the preparedness day parade in 117. He
in prison
was convicted and ha zi been/since that time.
"I hf.vf, often though bout them old waddieso bunch
of squire fellows,th- never looked for trouble,but let erly
person step' on their toes until they were riled and then they
were a bunch.of,wild oats. Ai lived n tough life,but e healty
one. ':43 were in the open most of the time. The ,auniry was
wild and full of wild geme,such as buffaloontalope,wild turkey
rat there were ,Ilenty pf wolves and oatr,mounts.
"The nearest ranch wa the 'VHS' owned by cott,whioh
was 15 miles away-. The next nearest liu,s the'XII",which was
owned by Aastern neo7)14 named Earrel. Te had a 50 mile dreg
.;authier•Sheldon e. Page#8
Tiaggelore. FC 240
Tarrnt Co,Dist,47
to olorade Cityour tradim7 point,do we did not see many people
except during the roundups then we,of courseiwould meet un with
waddles from he other outfits,
"Our chuck was the- usual kin e fed waddles those days.
Reef,ber,ns,cened vegetables and sourdough bread. When we hanker-
ed for wild gr,me,which we did often, some one or us would put in
a short spell of hunting. 7
"Durin7, he late 70's and early 80's things were
7ilighty-tough in our sePtion. le had to_keen our eye neelea
nigh and dayeto heed off the rustlers and brand burners.
8
The rustlers would lay for strays and at night thgy
w-)uld out a so re into the herd for the purpose of getting a
chance at the strays thatomore or less,could always be.found
foll ,w1n a stomp.
'Brand burners gave about as much trouble as the
rustlers. Our brand v,s the °XIX' and that brpnd Ts -s changed
into many different marks. I hive seen the bra d show up with
thc 'X' ernged to ster,thusW, and to a wheel Ithus,',P,also,
nr,de the brand readotbus,'XTX'.
"Thrre were many different methods used by the brand
rttist. Most of them used a a wagon rod bent a little on the
end. The rod when heated would be used af3 one w:)uld use a paint
brush to peiOt a mark..A good -Istist, -nd there were many of them,
could do a job that h -rd to tell th-t the trend hrd been
worked overofter the burn healed. Another method was to pick
out the heir with a knit blade. he plokin job w -s slower than
Gautier.Sheldon 2.
angelore.
Trrant ColDist,.47
!lage J!9
7C 240
the wagon rod method,but wide a nenter job one that would
he quicker. 6till enother method was using the br.•nd weed
amp. I don't know the correet nene for the weed,but it hes a
milk like sap. -liereever the sop of that.weed wns niece on the
hir of a critterothe hair wold come out and the hide wolld
Aitcome raw. Then the sore healed it looked like the seer of
n branding iron. Father spent his tin- rising the range looking,
4ith r spy Cass, flr rustlers and br-nd artist.
"All our critters were sold in the Northern market.
After I became 19 yerrs old I wrs the tril boss for our out-
fit and I M de fanny drives over the Chisholm trnil.
"The route called the Chisholm trrql wr,s a general
course from Texas nrough the country up into Kansas. Ile left
2exas at whit vies called Donne Crossing of the Red Hiver,located
tit the Northern line of ;ialberger Co. A mnn named Den ran a
store at the point end the crossing .nt) named after him* l'her
were two points wher crossing was nedeoalleNd the upper end
lower crossing. From Doane crossing,the tr51.1 w a in e generl
North,by ciest, direction I reckon there was a v ,nation in
the course fallowed,covering a strip 30 miles wide. After
croasinr the rAnadien River, the route wes bbout streight North
into Dodge City. The thing th-_t gowerened our route wes the
gr-zirv: conditions. we picked the way with the best grass,which
also lvd water.
"The critters wHuld be allowed to grazettaking Tlenty
of time to -got all the grass they needed.'7he critters were kept
ended in the direct 42 -e were going and just drifted forw-rd.
Gmuthier.64heldon F.
Rab_lolore.
Anrrant
Page h 10
FC 240
Jo would tf,vel round seven miles a day on the average.
"At one time I took 10.000 through. rle divided the
eritters into three herds and worked 12 waddles with each handh.
Each crew had a cook,hoss wrangler,who looked titter the hoeees,
tall boss ,who Ticked the route and the rest were pointers.
'11 that 10,000 head were critters tirt bel-mr!ed to other ranchers.
Nearly every herd I dmove,were critters that belonged to other
folks. Is was a custom those days for the small rrlicher to have
his market critters dr.-ven to the market with other herds and
the all fellow would pay a proportion of the expense.
"1 hnve left the market and started for home with
thousands of dollars stuffed in my saddle begstand netarthink
of being robbed. Wbbn we oamned at—n_ght I w)u/',.; t -0:e the
aa.dlr f of ny hoss and toss it —on the groundlt the side of
the chuck wegam,where.it would ley until the next morning. I
never worried about my waddles bothering the money. I hPd a
dependable crew and always got alom7 r -s a bunch-pof kittens,
with on, exception.
we employed a few Indians on the range. One of the
reasons for working Indians,rve thrt they were mighty handy
on the drive,becnuse they knew the e untry like a book and
they made fair cowhands. A sh xt spell before one of the drives
I came upon Indian John sound asleep while on a night riding
3hift. ahem I saw th.t Indian sleeping and thowijit what would
happen to the herd if they strted on a runsit made me so Rind
th t whipped him with my rope. Ivdid wrong,what I shbuld have
G”uthier•Sheldon F.
Aangelore.
2nrrant "Jotjist,47
Page fll
In 240
done was to shoot himoor make him drag off the range. That Indian
decided to get even with te and cwme nea nutting me int, trouble,
"we were on a drive and just before we reached roan's
Orossing 'Dad Mcciinnes gives me the infer' th t he hPd caught the
drift of a talk thet the In lAis had,hc said:
"Jim, your due to be bra'Aed when we reach the -i'erritory9
"'How cone?' salted him.-
I bard the 4neAans rattlin.Pnd Indian John said
he wet* eoing to kill yousfter we reohed the Derrftery Pnd
then hit out for the Indian Nation".
"M4 k.iinnes could savy the Indian lingo and I•knew he would
n)t give me the wrong tip. I decided to settle the Ater then r.nd
there. I want to John vnd saic to him:' John, know what you
calculated on deinc, to me when we re,-ch the Territorylbut we'll
:Attie the m tter here and now. fight you with fistoknifa
or gun. You name the weepon°. He never said a wordebut gave
his hoes the 4Nt hooks and hit for tht,. Territory. Thrt wre the
last I heard of John 1!!nd the only trouble I had with a ',eddy.
"I elwayo treated them es I would went to be treeted,
and fed the boys the best of chuck th- t we oould get and use
unsler the conditions we har;'. to work end live,
"I sort of took pride of 717 ability to get along with
peonle,white and Indians. The'drivers hrd moor leas trouble
with .the Indians while goinr through the Territory. On all my
drives throui:th that country all the trouble I had was to satisfy
their demnnd for wohaw,which it whft the Indian' called beef.
never denied them wohaw.. I always lied some critters thPt became
Gnuthier.Sheldon F. _
Bangalore..
TPrrent Copist,.#7
P,40 #712
FO 240
weak,end some beoame foot -sore. These I would have to drop end
I saved those fr the Indians. I knew thet If T. turned them down,
the devils would stampede the herd,if'neoessary, to F,et %Wham.
"!any drivers felled to reckon how the Indian was
educf-ted in his mtive sokt0e: ..he Indian reasoned that the
'rest Sirit put the aniMals end all things here for use of all
the neople. It we a herd thing for he to ;est through his conk,
that he wee not entitled to what he needed for foA The cattle
driver that refused the 4.ndians some beef had to meet stampede,'
caused by the Indains so strays oould be picked up.
"I had the usual stampcd troubles every one hnd with
the wild critters. They were always ready to runtespecially the
first couple week out. After a week or so the animals became
accustomed to the dri:t and were not so skiddiSh.
"We always ealaulated on losing some critters,from
sore -foot nnd sickness of verious kinds.elso,stampldes.,I
reckon thnt my losses on the average were about five percenAct
I had onc stampede th't took considerable silver out of my aloud.
lost -150 out,of a 3,0(r herd: dometling had scared that herd
plumb l000,just before a busting storm hit*
"The herd had bedded for the night,but beceme fretful
and got up. They were .:loving about ,bfcause they senced the on
coming storm. All hands were In the ride try dngt to get the herd's
-And AT of the storm. some of the boys -Tere trying to sing,some w
were whistling,an6 some just talking to the cows: We were hold-
the herd end reckoned thrt we weed:: be able to keep the
bunch from running. Suddenly, we heard e number of the animals
Gauthier.5heidon F. Page #13
Reneelore. F0 240
Zerrant.0o,Dist,4?
snortothet told us that something hed run into the herd and put
the fear of -hell into it. The whole herd eere off at the same
instente I knew thot we were due for a big run that could not
be atoeped in Vie dark and thet ment e lot of stray critters.
I placed all the weddies,but three, on the point to hold the
nnieals fro' in off in bunches. I toek three men and went to
the head of the herd nnd shot down a eood number. Other animals
nilled on ton'" the dead critters and were stomped to-denth,
but that checked the run. Aiet reeie it p esible for us tb put
the others to rlling. O held the herd after thet and did n
hay- nny strays All our loss was these shot end stomped to
.death,whioh numbered 150. I am sure th t If I had tried to
hold th,t herd *with:Alt shooting somoemy loss would heve been
ereater.
"While ohinning about losine crittersolt brings to
me Mind the dry 81311 of,the.middle 'mos It was in 1885.7,
if I mall rieeet. For a two year spell the rniu fall wasn't
enough to wet e bandanna. The eeoend year all the ester holes
dried uptand also the 7rness Zuring that year I wf.tah d
critters milling and bel owing in hunches of hundreds. They
could be heard fer eeveral miles. Thounsands died from strvetion,
until, in plcons one coeld walk for ies stopping fro rn one carcass
to an .ther.
"There vas nothinf.7 tb.t the renahmen soul e about seving
th relimalee whole section vies in t sem fix. Off where
there was ater,it was euar‘ed to -)revent herds from ceaing in.
ehet wee necessary tJ save the water four th settle of the district.
Gnuthier.*"heldon F.
Pangelore.
T-rrant 7.o,r;ist„1.7
:)age 14
FC 240
"Another point worth talking about was the feet that
there was no bnd odor from those thousands of dead animals. he
ntmostihere of Zest texaseis sueh that the onrorsses just dried
without rottening. That isolso, the rePson jerk beef ean be
mrde in that country.
-"When critters begvn to die in large numbbs,skinning
angs went to work peeling the earcasses,but it was nit long until
the •:rice of hides dropped so low that hides were not worth the
trouble if ieelirig end -peeling was not much trouble either.
"Two men with a boss coura :)ctel the hide off of a
.carcass in a jiffy. &Ale one mnn loosened the hide around the
head of the critterethe4 out a slit down the legs and. belly,the
other prty wuld fasten a tieton the loose hide Pt the head,to
Which a boss was hitched. By the tie the knieeman was done
with the slittingich ()wad be done in a few munutes, the tie
w-yuld be ready. Then with one fellow standire7 on the heed of
the carcessIthe hose wou'V be started and the hide would neel
off as a glove comes o f of your hand.
"There wns a drift fence ,which extended from the
1.71einity of ';4c)lorado City, to the Double Lountr-in ,ork of the
orezos Hiverva distance of ar)und 50 miles. One of the purpose
for whioh the drift fence was builded,'xas_to hold the herds from
drifting into territory beyond thc fence. est of that fence
wes a rough brush section en; when cattle got int it was a
pert job to get th0--eritters out. The drift fence saveliwork and
-riders. We could always tellotwo and three days ahead, when a
norther was going to hitebeeaus, the °little began to drift for
Grutl.ier.3heldon
Rengelere.
Torrent Co,,eist,..0
'age 15
n 240
shelter end by the ti- e the storm hit the her. woulJt be drifting
a -plenty. Before the days of tie arift fence,holdine the herd
before 6 ()mine norther wee like trying to ston a preacher tram
'coeptine donations.
"Along tht drift fence, durine that dry sell I
se °Recesses laying one ea,in-t t'ee other. The critters drifted
to the fence and therc died.
The drift fenee were out u n many seetions of the
range- country. The renehmen rangine cettle in P section would
jointly pry the cost end the exeense of keeping the fence up.
Air each 25 miles of fence a rider was used' who did nithing
but ride the fence line and fix breaks. Pe carried a hammer nliers,
stfi)les in the. seddle beg is hia tools for the job.
"The cattle rustler,for e snero ti -e, caused eore
breaks in the drift fence than ehe cattle did. The drift fence
s custard pie for the rustler, just before nnd during a storm.
tiring such weather critters coul_; be depended 'aeon to be crowd-
tne the fence. The rustler would cut a gap in the fence through
which th critters would drift and stray to hades. rhe rusAer
woel0 watch th, critters drift thr theft** and then help
theanimals on their eay.
"Our outfit alwuys out on extre fence riders ellen a
no+er wes headed our way. As spon es tlx. cattle started erifting
t extra riders woeld -o on end stay untillthe storm wee over.
"Two different times ray riders caueht rustlers in the
et of cutting the fence. But, for each time we *caught thesel
Akere were a hundred tei e we did not. We could always tell when
Gauthier.Jheldoit
liangelore.
Tarrant Co„Disto.'1
?age rid
PC 240
the rustler got away with some of our crittersobecause the rider
fitoOd the fence down.
"With the c,,,tchin:7 of then two bunche:,7 of rustlers,
we hed this satisfvction thrt they did not out any -..ore fences,
unless they dicl it in hell.
"Now, to tell who T think vire the best riderthest
roper, best shot' an the to hand. The best ell. ,'round -hand was
'Dad' :7c-,;innes. 7e we toPs no metter where we nut him,a.naturrA
cowhand. :Then shootim: is bein7 considered I put mg father
and :1,ok togel•ter. -Chey could Uit the mnrk moving -or still.
have seen thom hit n tree limb riding at to seed .1ff 25 nnces
and they did pot tnrce e-je aim. they lust thr-r the gun down and
pulled he t:rier.•T h,ve seen them men shootini7 at 50 paces
and puL. six shots into a tree mark the size of n cil.lar circle.
Either man c-Ould do so es .east as their left hand cold fah the
harrier.
"het I mean by f7-nninct t7le hsr. er is air: Them fellows
would hold their gun in their right hand and hol,-; the trigger
back saattx steadilyl_ ith the fleshy ')r-rt or the left hand
cock the hal.'er by friinging their hand a ainst the hammer. Is
the hemer came into firinF positiontit would fire and as
kfe-st as it fired the hammer would go bok.
"I was conceded to be the best ri:'er In olr outfit and
es good —s any in thfr.t range section. All our hoses were- tcken
out of the wild herds th-t roamed that section Vest of us. 1 did
mOst of the wranling.
"The trick of wrenI1 in 1s to learn to tell the horses
next move before it makes the move. Also,lern to the more.
.Qauthier.Jheldon F.
Vange1,3ree
Tr:xv-int L:o.Diett.!7
-agc 17
Al 210
"I slay fniled to bust two hoses and those orit ers I
stoyed with until they ruined themselves.
"Irellow.wns a Not is this, oowhrnd had to be good
flot,roped and rider to stsy on an noutfitomme were better than
others thnt was the differonoe.
"I stayed In the Cow business ell my life. I went through
Ile dry spnllolow prioes and all.untill 1930 then went down. I
then hnd small Stook fnrm in Denton Co.