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"Jauthier, ziheldon F. Page 1
Rangelore FEC
Tarrabt Co., Jist. 7.
Jim Kirk, 8b, living at Old Folks Home, Tarrant
Co., born abre-8,16,62,_44, Covington, Ky. The family
move°. to 'taco, Tex. In 1863 on land aojacent to
the tOut our englired in trading horses and moles.
firk started to wranglii horses for his father at
15 am. at 16 joined Gypsy Tee SlomAy's bead which
traveled from town to town trading horses. After
two years he started trading for himself and dein
in the wild bronco which he broke for the saddle.
"4 name is Jim Kirk, the son of Tom Kirk who lived at Ake°,
Tex. I was torn Aarch 8, 1652 at Covington, Ky. from where my father
hauled his family in a covered wagon behind a team of =lee to 4sco
in 1863. I was just a year old when the trip was made and of course
don't have much recollection of the event but Accordine to mother's
tale I didn't enjoy it any too well. 4e were weeks on the way and
trawled over trails and at times through t;ud, forded streams, and
traveltfo. through unsettled country where we did not see another
11,Li.i6an for gogals of ttv and three days.
ie landed at 4aco where dad aettled on at piece of land near
the town. Be did a little faring, enouch to feed the family, and
dealt in hossea aad mules. He handled saddle and work stock. The
saddle stock were the wild broncos that he got off the renege which
be would bust and sell.
mvihen I became big enough to ride I was put to work helping to
handle the hoses. ;hat was when I was i years of age and 4 the
time I was 15 I was wra:'rling wild flosses. oiost oi our broncos were
gotten south of 4aco below the section where the town of cGregor is
now loc,Aed. In those aye the wild bronco could be found in herds
nutaberin. tC to hih as 5,0 without a brand. They belon6 to no
Ciauthier, aheldon F. iaac
Rangelore FEC
Tarrant Co., Dist. 7.
one and aay person thatakneW how. to catch the critters had the riht
to take those salmis. A party of about six•waddies would go after
a bunch of the animals and it was no picnic to catch them but exciting.
For me, a. young ladvit- was top fun chasing those speedy little anima s.
"Those wild broacoe were ahy of a waddy on a hoss and it was
hard to get within ropin, distance of the critter. It was necessary
to crowd the broncos into a draw or gully where they could not 'urn
around but would have to pass the roper. 4hen no natural trap was at
hand into which we could rive the critters we ',A)uld have to run them
until they were tuckered out so we c uld get within roping diataace.
"The way we run the broncos until they were tired nai earie was
by the waddies working in relays. Two waddies would keep the anmals
on the run for a -spell, then two others on fresh mounts would take up
the chase. As a rule by the -end of a day we could get .close enouah to
smear the critters. •ie would rope and snub the aroncos until we had
the amoant wanted- then we would trail the herd home-. ,e roped the an-
imals together in bunches of five to ten, =Gone waddle would lead,
haviaa his rope tied to one and another rider would drive at the rear.
ala waddles could bring in ts many as 30 animals.
"The•sellina price for a bustc.i bronco was on the average 26.
A well iAisted animal %bat was a top critter some times would sell for
A goo cl number of the broncos were xsoken to work in harness by
the buyers. The small farmers East of us uoughL, a good number for
farm work. They were too light for farm wor;,, but the aystea uaea wn.s
to work three broncos to do the work Et one mule team. They aere woraea
in rotation allowing one bronco to rest after workil a 7:ew ours.
"A good mule -•team sold for around $350. and three bvorcos could
be bought for 275. so it was the price that caused many small farmers
to use the broncos. There were a fea heavy work horses in that section
Gauthier, -heluon r. Page 3
Rangelore FEC
Tarrant Co., Dist. 7.
and their price was just about $60. under the:ule's price*
"I* always bad a demand for the extra fine bronco saddle hose
and always tried to catch the beat of the critters but they were the
hardest to get unless they were put into a trap. The hardest chase 1
had was after a beautiful young stallion that I hankered far. IL took
us two days to run him to the point be was wearied down and we could
smear him. I was as pretty as any picture ever painted of a hoes. He
had the stayinc ability and prdwed to be as good as he looked. I was
offered $60. for the 1:eas many times, $60 several times but turned down
all the offers and rinally sold the critter for $100. up in Mo. while
an a trip up that way.
"Let me tell how come that I made that trip into I was 16
and one day Gypsy Tom Stftnly came to aco. He was a travelix4; hoss
trader. That man knew all the tricks about trading and hoe *0 fix up
an old plug to look like one of U.. King's cavalry bosses. I wanted
to get next to all the Ina and outs of the trading game so I tackled
him about letting me Join his outfit and he took me in. I was with
him for two years and learned the boss trading business and some other
things too.
"He had a wife and daughter so when .ioined the out:it that made
a compahy of four. pie cauped out all the time. The family lived in a
tent anu I used the covered wagon for sleeping quarters. 4a traveled
from town to town an, stayed in one place about a week, some two weeks.
The two women told fortunes w011e he and I looked after the nos6es.
One thing that I learned was that the -ore folks hear about your trad-
ing ability the ore they want to sway hosses with you. ,.hen we lit
into a town within an hour fellows Would begin to show up dickering
for a swap*
ilauthier, .Aleldon F. Page 4
Rangelore FIX
Tarrant Co., Dist. 7.
Gypsy t-itanly was known far and wide as a keen boss trader that never
lost a trade but them fellows seemed to think that they were the best
swapers in the world and cane to show Stagily up. I never saw him beat
in a trade. 4ien he swaped he always made money and he made plenty. The
women folks didn't do bad either. It was not lime ater we hit a town
and male camp at the edge of the town until women and some men too
started to call wanting their future told. In the cow towns the cowhands
were ijood customers for the women as well as swapine bosses. The cowhand
for the most part had their fortune told out of Oevilments
',what I saw take place through the tradir- was amusing at times
and some of the incidents were not so funny. Generally at the end of a
week the squawkers interferred with business to such extent that it
paid up to move. In those days the law covering hoss tradinL was not
much ano all tra,As were made at arm's length. I have seen women come
to Starkly after their husbams had made a swap anu cry about Low they
were beat and went Stanly to trade back. He would always do so provid-
ing they made it worthwhile, say a. matter of $5. or $1C. To him a hose
was a hoss and he could trade one as well ac another.
,ot hold of a work hoes at Belton. It was a fine looking critter
but the anitials shoulders showed it was not much of a puller. '4tanly
swapt6 a wind -broken animal for it an received 45.L; in toot. e tried
the critter on our drive out of Belton. The hoss was alri011. on down
hill and did fairly well on level ground 1;ut when we hit deep sand
or a hill to pull that animal wouldn't pull a lick under any condition.
At Temple a fellow called with a hose to swap. he said his hose was a
good worker but a lit le Ugh for the hauling he had to do.
"The balky hoes took the fellows eye but tanl.y pretended he Uidi-
n't want to swap the critter. ie kept sw,,esting other animals. That is
one of the tricks of the games pretena you do not want to part with an
Sauthier, i-oeluon F. Page 6
Range lore FEC
Tarrant Co., Diet. 7.
animal. ,arad the party will sure hanker for the critter. They finally
got to sdickering for the balky critter. the fellow asked: 'Is he a
good worker?' 'I don't knew how well he can standup under heavy work
because I never put .the critter to a test but I can say that if you
get in a pinch with a load you'll be delighted to see it p_11.'
"Tbey made the swap and :,1--snly got $26. boot. The next day the
fellow came back and was ot under the collar: 'Damn it you told me
thati,oss was a good puller and it is as balky as hell. It won't take
the slack out of the. tugs.' 'NO, I didn't,' Stanly; I didat say any.
thing about the hose being a good puller. What I said was that if you
got in a inch with a load you would be delighted to see the boss pull.
Did you get in a pinch? Illy God I sure did and that critter wouldn't
pull the slack out of the tugs. All right I'll leave it to you
wouldn't you have been delighted to see that t:oss pull'' yes',
admitted the fellow. They traded back even an 6tanly made
*:Stanly had another trick that made urn money. He had a mule about
10 hands high and thataule was trained to make a certain pull. That was
to pull a slide loaded with something heavy such as sand or stone at
the end of a ao'n" rope. The trick in that sort of a pull Its to ease
the slack out of the rope until it is taut and then put the pull on. If
the pall is made by diving into $t the slack will kill the power before
it reeches the slide. Stanly would start a conversation about good
pulliag Seams. There always were some good pulling teams in a town.
which everybody knew about. The boys would get to chinning about this
and that team pulling and Stauly would come back at them saying; 'If
that is all those teams can pull I'have me mule that can out pull any
of the teams.' That would start talk about bets. When they got all bet
up., tanly woulAd propoeitjon them that he would a slide and put his
mule on the end of a 6C, ft. rope and bet the alule could. overa load
•.Gauthier, oheldon F. Page 6
Hangelore F&C-
Tarrant Co. 9 Dist. 7.
that nO team could equal. I.have seen him win all the way from $50.
to 000. With that mule. The $6,:_0. was won in a lo. town. When those
teams reached the i.;oint when the rope was taut they were leaning into
the collar and had no leverage to move forward They would try several
times ind get to 8.e -sawing.
Dvie pulled out of Texas about a year after I joined and traveled
through the states of Ark., Mb., Iowa, Ann', and into N. Dak. I left
1-itanly at Fargo and returned to Texas. In those days Ilearned how to
swap }losses and how to judge a hoss. Stanly showed me how to judge a
hose by its eyes. You can tell more abut the stayinc qualities and
health of a hose through the eye then any other way. If you learn the
eye you can't. be fooled. A wind".broken critter, a cribber awl all such
blase ailments can ue handled so that it can't Ue detected by the ord-
inary boesman. Of .course the next day it is all back.
came back to '4aco and went into the boss trading Anil followed
it the whole of my life until seven years ago. The last 40 years I
dealt here in t. o th. Alen 1 returned to "Aco I hired 4ild Hose
Jerry to take charge .ofiicking up wild broncos and to do most of my
wrangling. He and I together did all the wrangling. Aid Boss .;erry
was the best wrangler that I ever saw. .He ijot the name he had because
he was the master of the wild bronco. I was no mean wrangler, I never
failed unless the hoes waa loco but Jerry could do all that any man
could do and do it quicker and better. lie had a way of handlisv, crit-
ters that caused the Apir,lels to learn right pronto that they were
wasting time trying to go against his wishes.
"I stayed in Awl) until the wild broncos move. farther -est.
The section where they roamed started to be settled and with the
coming of uMans the wild hoes departed for the unsettled west. The
Wild hOss kept hunting for unsettled country as the counLry.was
Gauthier, ...)helaon F. Page 7
Rangelore FEC
Tarrant Co., Dist. 7.
beint settled and finally the wild hose was crowded out of existence
as far as I know except for a few in some remote see Lion. After the
wild hose departed from the section South of aaco I decided to come
to Ft. ,orth. I came to tilt city at:out 1897, at that time I did a
tolerable lot of dealing in sadale hosses. I traded and sold those
to cowhands that came to t. 4Gath in large numbers in those days.
"Like the wild hoss the cowhand began to disappear. he became
as scarse around it. ,erth as the salllulum bird. Of course there
are a lot of cow folks around Ft. .o tr. now out they are not cowhands.
Ihem folks are ranch-hancs. I stayed at the trading after the demand
for the cow pony went out and dealt in work animals trading with the
farmers. I guess I was about the last of the real traders in these
parts. There are hoss and mule dealers but I mean the old time hose
trader. I had to quit on account of my age seven years ago.