Document text
44uthier, shrAdon 2. 11':ge !2
Tiengelore
2arrant Co., ist. 7 FF0
by doing work during school vacations and after school hours.
"I reckon that I could have caught on with some outfit
close to home but the reports of the Indian raids 'and the rustler's
doings corrAng from the Skillet 3ection ha a me feeling like it ras
the spot for me to li- .t.
I rode my ”ustang out of town he!-ded -.7estward and lit
rig!lt where I wanted to. I. was taken on there by the 80 outfit.
It wys among the eig outfits of the day. I worked for that outfit
for five .years, then jlined up with the JA, and stayed,with it for
four years. 'From the Si', I drageel to Perker County and joined
up- with the Farmer Outfit. After two years there, I got the idea
I wrnted to travel double, and the women insisted that I anchor at
some spot close to her so the could get a peep at me when she was
so inclined. Beonuse of. the lay of the land, I quit the range and
ceme to Fort .A)rth, and I've squatted here ever since. I took to
carpentering and that has been my line of work since I 'quit the cows.
•"When I hit the BO outfit, I thought I wes a regular. Of
course, I could throw a lop some and ride fairly well but I was
nothing; more than a scissor bill. John -Petrie was the top screw
at the time, and it was him I hit up for e nestimz elnoe. It was
lets of day 'and he said, 'Arens rid, cool your saddle and put your
nose in the chuck trough. fter you have attended to those duties,
we'll gal, a spell 'bout the matter'. It wrs not long 'til the
belly -cheater yelled,'Come a -running you snakes, rnd get it'.
"Met call -had a plensent sound because I hfld nothing but
a Spanish meA. sines morning -nd wes-gaunt. he cooky gave us
broiled steak, baked beans, soda sinkers, stewed prines, end all
-Shelebn F. Gnuthier,
Rangelore
Tarrant Jo., Dist. .r7
page 73
?EC
the Texas butter, sop, and black coffee we desired. Lfter had
packed the chuck 'til my VAN, worm quit yelling, the top screw
says to me, /Let's adjo-.irn to the dog house where we can chew the
rag a spell'.
"Al mosied over to the bunk house and sat down while he
began to get my history. f'ter he found out I had never been shot
or hung f,r rustling ()tittle, he says to me, 'Kid, you are a
tender foot, I take it'.
"'No', says I, 'I worked around cattle. Thpt is all T ever
1
done'.
"'I reckon a man of your age, pttifli in all your time on
a.hoss, handling cattle, he n lot of cow -knowledge. '?749 can use a
hand but the pay right now is a wee bit below standard. The price
of cattle is shot full of holes and the ran rod will only pay you
710.00 a month as the matter stands right now. If that bell rings
to your .satisfaction, I'll put you to work in the morning,the says.
''It sounC!s alright to me'? I shot back at him, and I wns
shooting straight. That $10.00 had a pure ring to me.
'I reckon you can stay with the oily broncos bat we hnve
a remuda with only sally-hooten critters in it, which I'll start
lv-yu out with and after you get your seat warmed, I'll start you
out wit the snakes', he prattles to me.
"'Suit yourself', I says.
"T am glad to her that, kid. -'here is your lluse nest',
he says while pointing to a bunk. The gang went to chinning about
great ropers, riders, and telling of the jams that they had been in
id range work in general. that I heard that night, filled wit my
:Gauthier, Sheldon
Rangelore
s7arrant lo., 'Ast.
page 4
FTC
conk with n hankering to see some of the stuff.
-1'ter having the chuck the following morning, the top.
screw dragaed me to the corral end pointed out a Aistang that had
the tree on it ¶nd ready to go. The screw says, 'There is the
critAm you'll use this morning. I had one of the boys shape it
up for you. He is easy and be e little careful with him because
I don't went the animal sollowed. I was rearing to go so pronto,
I straddled the bronc.
"I had no more than it the tree until that 7ailtang started
for the moon. 70 wf,s a fence rower and caught me off base. I went'
up so high that the Blue birds had time to build in my pocket
before I had time t:.) hit this bell of mud and when I hit, I. lost
the two previous c"ews of 'baocy I had taken. That boss
was a
ner full blood Spanish and owned by one of the *eddies. The owner
ocaAil ride him.but with a stranger, that oss sure put on the
wia les._
"The boys were ell sitting on the op're house, getting their
eyes full end busting their innards laughing at me. They were all
ea happy as a orercher in a saloon away from home, and when my
riding Opility was shown, they shaped me .11D with, a gentled 1-,oas
that worked for me. It )1.tohe a little to get the kinks out of
it's fins.
"I nested there for five years end did everything a wad4
is called on to do. I vvis not ion: getting.out of the soissor bill
cl'ss and before I quit the renae, I was one of the top loopers
and riders.
The Skillet Section of rexas,was no Sunday meeting damp
GeathIar, 311eldon
.71angelJre
-arrant o., st. 7
Page 15
17,vn
in.the 70's. Mere was the rustlers and. the Indian reids that we
had to meet up'with, en u we waddles hnd the fighting to do as well
as wattle the cows. -2here• was always the night riding to do watching
the herd. The riders would circle. the herd, going in opposite.
directions and in that way, they could post thrir.pals on the shape
of thins.
-On top of the night riding in those days, it was often
necessary to have ben out watching for raids by aband of Indians,
brand blotters ad rustlers in general. I have out in many nights
with my loss tied to my leg so it would wake me if I went to sleep,
layin out with my guns ready, expecting fly moment that the need
for action would come, and several times, it come. There was the
ornery thillef, and there was the Indian after me -t that we had to
watch. n a cold wet night, that job was not putting silver
linings in your oloud.
"One time I had to fire my six gun so fast, it got so hot
I could hardly handle it. It was a full moon night with drifting
,clouds so it chanced from bright to dark and our lamps could not
keep glue, to objeots. That night, A spied what I reckoned was a
stranger at a point where strangers had no pud-ling. I fired two
shots in th directions 7lict was a high sign for the others,
both the night riders and the waLohers to show up. tll the watchers
come a -running to where I was, --and as many of the night riders rs
could be spPred, and scattered out around me. By the time we all
got set for notion, we heard a shot 3ver on our right. At then
got into our ookns what had happened and what was up. The vermin
had nosied over 'after they saw the waddles Lunching. ,e had out a
Gauthier, Aleldon Fe
ngelore
Tarrant :;o., Dist. 47
7age =h5
rn
gut by our move and pl.r.ye into the skunk's handsolo we dragged
over towards the direction of the shot.
'Ye did not have long to wait for action. A Shower of lead
greeted us and for about 30 minutes, there was lots of action. he
vermin would not come close enough for us to get a sure hit but
would drive in, shoot,then drive back out of range. le could not
follow far beoeuse of the herd. Ahat them skunks were ,fter was
to get a chance to break through and stampede the critters.
"At first, the boys thought that it was Billy the Kid, who
was then still circulating, because the gang wPs showing so nuch
guts. I calculated it was Indians on the jump beonuse they were
trying to pull us away from the herd. Would drive in, first
from one direction and then from the other,. and wham away at us.
'7e would then wham away et them. There must have been about ::30 of
them end they worried us 'til rurally, the boss of the night crew,
got plum riled and sid, 'Hell, boys, let's go get them skunks.
,e'1 take a chance on the critters', so we lit in after them,
shooting as fast as we could in the general direction of the gang
'es Vurohy htd directed, and traveling lined up a-breset. I
calculated we never would get them and we didn't. Hell, we sew
Indians in every direction, circling, and lead was coming from
every which -away for a few minuAm. :he way we were shooting, the
vermin thought that help had arrived because they got out of
range pronto. Alen westoped shooting, my gun was so hot T had to
1Py it on the 'round to cool.
7e never fo nd out if we made any hits but they never
came close to us waddles. !hey nicked the stub of ny saddle Ald
out a litle flesh on !!rurphy's hone. The boss blamed the raid on
Gauthier,. heldon 1.
nangelore
72'.rrant ";o., Dist. 17
.1.1anah Parker's tribe but I learned that it was not his people.
I rande a cell on them afterwards and -,.uonah told me none of his
people were mixed in the der'.
"Fighting and trolling rustlers woe part of the waddy's
work. 'hen they were ought alive, they were generally naturalized
pronto. 3ometines, they were turne- over to the law. I am not
going to chow about being at any naturalizing ceremony but I will
sayathat I was present ,,nd helped to out claim thrre men thnt were
hpn7in$7; fro m cottonwood trerN. No one ever knew who attended the
naturalizing ceremony. You see, it was twisting the. law code a
little and men never talked about such matters, or asked any
questions„e wf3ddies that out the vertin down that time, had a
suspicion they were there, and it we not beoeuse bu7zords were
circling the spot.
The cowmen used the naturalizing system because the court
trials we e uncertain. It was herd to get a jury that did not
hove rustler friend. There were men in with the ruetlers on the
T.
4fter I r.uit the BO outfit, 3ohn Petrie was banished from the
country in 1884, on the charge of working with the rustlers while
he was the top screw of the BO outfit.
"I guess you have heard about what honnened est of the Pecos.
he rangers correled 111 the bed men, and there were not enough uure me
men left to fill F. jury.
'I left the BD outfit and joined up with the 27, outfit in
1880. It was owned by Goodnight and Adair. I nested there for
four years. f',00dnight had some of the best waddles that ever
straddlec hose and threw a loop, working for him. Goodnight
Gauthier, .;heldon
7angelore
'Prrant a
Page J8
would not have a men -that drank or gambled. t wes one re son
hankered to join up with the oUtfit. T 'have never takeh a drink
in my life, -nd give my moth -r credit for the fact. She often
told me that firewter and :ndian blood would not mix.
-Then I joined up with the Ok outfit, there were Johny
Come Lately, the camp cook, JoWl Mann, the wagon boss, Jud Campbell
I've top screw on the trail, and there were -Tim Owen, Jim !!itchell,
Club Foot Jack, Jess Steen, and others that were the best in the
business.
"The year fter 1 joined up with the JA. outfit, I was
ordered out with several others to work c roundup 7rast of us.
worked about four months and had a bunch of JA critters -r-Ainded
up, and was ready to drift them beck to the home range. l.round
nabaetie, there were a tough bunch of buckaroos that lived on
gambling nnd rustling, and had the rep that they would not stop
for fIlything but woulet get what they started for.
-while eutting out there, the boys engaged in P little
hosa rnoinc. Hud noberti and 'Aitchell cleaned n number of the
tough bucks in the racing. Bud had a buckskin pony that to 1,1k
at, you would think he was dead Aid had forgot to turn over but
he was a stre!k of sky fire in the run.
"The poys would rib up a race and the genblers reckoned
the buckskin by his 1.oks and bet egainst it. he 1)ss of thear
money did not set well on their guts. The ni-'ht'before we were
redy to drift back home with the herd, ,:itOhell got wind that we
were in for a fight before we could lea*e.
"ell, sir, that next morning, we were all shaped up to
Geuthier, -heldon
PPngelore
7%rrent Dist. "7
P5,2ge
AT.71,4
V,A4
to strt and a couple of men showed up and claimed some of the
cattle in our herd. Yitchell ±,nd 1 of us were sure the herd
was pure. fact is, the old man would put us on the dreg if we
brought in n unclean herd. Them buckaroos just wanted to strt
fight. ;ie could see that lay of the lend. :They were getting
ready to start cutting into our herd. 7itchell, in IsPoe of their
move, gave us riding orders.
"flub Foot Jack Wall si.tting on his hoes with a muley in
is hand and yelled out, 'The first skunk that starts to out a
critter will get the Fternal Brand sure as hellte You could tell
at the first glance that Club Foot WAS a booger in a scrrp. I
we on my own hose. rile bast hoes that ever foil )wed cow, end
I did not give it any.mind. Pe was doing his part in keeping that
herd a -moving. 1.1. I tv,d to do wee to keep my eye on the skunks
with my six gun ready. That herd drifted out with every critter
in it. Them t ighs decided that Club 7oot was speaking for e.
bunch of waddles that had sand in their gizzards.
"It wee a question of keeping your -7!uerd up those days.
,-very minute while on a -drive, nd be ready for troubltt. I we
with a drive of 1,000 head into New Ilex' one time, end we got
messed up with the worst stampede that ever took place, I reckon.
-7'here igra e wet spell on, and we were fairly frrrzled. The
cp,Atle were beaded down on a flat ne!a• draw. 7very thing was
socifible -nd we were hot expecting any trouble. bout an hour
before day, a party of Indians sneaked up that drew 'lid suddenly
opened fire on us. ilhey pulled a fifth Lice on us. Not being
rerdy for them, we all had too for our guns. As got our hands
r-!uthier, Sheldon F. Page $10,
Rangelore
Tarrant Co., :)ist. 7
on our shooting irons and began to make tor our hosses while shoot
inc. One of the boys were nicked in the neck .but outside of that,
noone was hurt. There were severnl cattle down end the rest of
the herd was stampeding, the hosses included.
-The Tndian custom. was never to leeve their deed so we
did not know if we winged any of them but we saw blood. That
showed we tied nicked some of them. They vamoosed as quick as they
cnme, The stampede wns 'Amt they wanted end they sure got one
that time. :he olouds were hanging low and it was not ;one 'til
a storm broke that produded more skyfire.than I hove ever seen.
•It was so clerk that we could not see where the cattle were. '7e
could tell somF:thing rlyzut their direction from the clashing of
horns !ild the stomping of hoofs, and see when the fire flashed
from the sky. That niht, I SPW the fire jiging off. my hossgs
ears. T would reach down nnd feel of them but could not feel
anything but there it was, every onee*in awhile.
"We lost over f'00 heA 1):: the time that stampede wee over
with, ricl there must; have been nearly e 100 head that fell from
exhaut;ti,Dn. I never seen animals travel so feat. e worked the
-herd for 15 hours before we got it under control. .They would go
from one run to nnother. Ithn stampede, the wPddies must ride
until the critters are stopped or drop when they run themselves
out. e co.Ild not stop for chuck. hen worm yelled, we
just took a 3panish sUp7er. That is, pull your belt up a notch.
"71th all the tough going, I did not 1 -se my leaf lard
but stayed in good shap,- and could fight e bear with a switch.
Of course, we hnd spells when we could Agese up -nd.play. On the
qeilthler, ,heldob
dangelore
Tarrant Co., Dist. ,:f7
Page /11
*TA, where the rule wes against gambling end drinking, the boys
would get up matches in shooting, roping, and riding. ;be best
shot I ever sew was on the JA. Club Foot Jack could draw end hit
the mark quicker than any of the boys. I don't think there wee
any one that could best him. ntohell was fast, and I was no
snail climbing a slick log at it, either.
"7,1y trick was roping. I could swell up like a carbuncle
over my roping nnd not be whiffy. The fastest man I ever met
handling e rope was :oop7er 7qui. He was on the BO with,us foe. a
time, and while he wr,s there, we fought it out many times. ?hen
Aiter -I came to the armer outfit, down in :4!:''rker County, Booger
and I contested in a rodeo that the waddles held, here in ?Port
'orth. It was on the grounds where the North ;:lde High School
now stands, that we gathered. There was no charge. lie people
just bunched around -nnd got their eyes full. That was before
the days of organized rodeos. 2erheps our contest grve the ides
for the start of the -organized rodeos. -5011, Booger Red bested
me. T. looped Pnd tied a ate' r, hog fashion, in 1 and 2/3 seconds,
and he did the trick in 1 and 1/3 seconds.
"The boys on the 30 and the JA 7old sometimes go to
dances. I have seJ:n them start on k 60 mile jiagle to the hoe-
down. I never went to n hoe-down but I did go to the indin
a trigs once in awhile, and I woul- go to visit ,uanah Parker's
family. 'oth of the ranches had a couple of boys that owned
ficdles end could agitate the oat gut. Mat would silver line
our cloud oonsiderable.
"!,fter I quit the outfit, I worked for the Airmer out-
Geuthiere 3heldon
neelore
rarrent Jo., 'eiste I/
eege 12
fit for a ppell and there T found it -different. The boys would
co to town- arch pay day and shoot the works. T often °BMA in
with them but laid off the drinks. 'ehile t.hey eould be drinl-Ang,
weuld be sally-hootin.
-I recall one tine when fbout 10 of us were passing where
the court house how stendse There were seven street lights in
sieht, and we shot out the seven. 7e were -dragging for the ranch
end did it for fun. The idea of hurtine somebody was not in our
mInd. It just tickled our innards to see somebody hightail it.
here WPS a eolicemen on the street at the tine but with the first
shot, he vemooeed. T. did not cere for that kind of nun but Ielas
with the toys end I would clay the game while with them. eeceuse
did not ore for thet kind of nun was ehy I did not go to danoes
with them but visited with the Indians Instead.
"I quit the ranch 'life in 1995 end took to carpentering.
eve followed tbet eork since. T got married in 1992, to Tiertha
Reylie, end we reared 15 children. 12 of them.ere still living
and are here in r.rt
"I was no different tom the rest of the waAies about my
conk eover, boots, hoes and gun. 7e wanted the best in that rieeing.
I wore a -20.00 rear of spurs, 11,5.00 hat, and a 10.00 pair of boots.
"The best hose I ever rode was my hoes that I rode out of
Fort ';iorth- to the skillet. After P. counle or month's work emong the
cattle, the -t boss ceeld eork eloee except to know what animal to
cut out or the herd. It would work a critter out of the herd end
there yes no fooline. That toss would .cork on the critter's tail
huep and would soon have the critter in the notion of woine where
the hoss wanted him to go. ehen roping, I never had to talk to
beldon
i,•t)
,o. 5ist. 7
Page P1.4
'o 1d-3ork on the outside of the cattle and you could Ivar his
voice to those critters. 77e mPybe cued, or was pleading.
tever it was, he w—uld talk to the bunch. the boys were
singing or hooting, which ever they we e beat Pt, Old Tlue-was
throwinc in vAth them with his -voiae.
'or pay, Blue received the respects of 'ii the lir,d6iss
2•1(; extra feed. :Te was a regular seller ft the chuck wagon nnd
the belly cheater always had some sinkers or gun waddinK for him,
and he sure liked the stuff but pie was hi lon. suit. The.
cheater claimed that he would 11711 when pie was Oxen'to him.