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GautalaI.le don
amore,
Tarr:int3o,Ast
Page
PC 240
7
01:1 i:41.ne,75,11ving.atAGraA Ave,eort
orth,Texas,was born in T4ogan co,Ky,Mar 24,11153.
His fatherdack W.,iaines,immiprated to Texas,in
1875 and located in Tarr nt co,near Port Votth,
en land that is now a residential section of
the city. Jach .Haines .ngaged'in farming for
a livelihood.
John's gainets first job was running e..raniS
for lar.:43y 4:ucker,who oprated a gin,farm and real..
estate business. His next work was working as
waterboy carrying water for the laborers construete.
ing the Texas Id 2ncific railroad entering the
city of Fort Worth during the year 1875.411e next
worked as a teamster hauUng rook for the paveemnt
on Aiin and Houston 3treeis in the city of Port
orth. His next job was working as a cowboy for
6teve
He quit the range to go farming which
vocatio:, he followed for a livelihood there-
after.
is story of rang life follows:
"I gm a Zentuckian by uirth and a '4:exan by adortion.
My father,Jack ftines,was a farmer and cultivated land in
4,Logancloo, where I was born. The date of my birth ges nar,
24,1863. My father immipr,ted to Texas,in 1875 andaloested
in Tarrant co, He setteled on land S.of Port Worth,and farmed
for a number of years at that location.
"All of tort Wort'n,was then loo,Aed .of what is now
Lancaster Ave. Al:lost the entire business was located around
the present cite of the -'.unty ,;ourt House. thy inter'r farm
house faced what is now Hattie t„which is n -w densely with
residences.
"While a young lad hunted game all over the section
that is now refered to as S.Fort Worth.and wi,_d game was plenti-
ful.
"Like all other lnds,during those early days, the first
thing I learn** to do as to ride and handle a hoes. That was
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necessary,because hoes back wa the way we traveled,and in order
de go places one had to ride or hoof it.
,t4 first joilkinasiiiii.876 working as errand boy for Barney
Tucker* Tucker °guard a great many tracts of land and was a
realeatnte dealer. ILetaleo,operated a farm and cotton gin* I
rode a h as going. from one oetsbliakment to another and did odd
jobs*
The Texas and lacifio railroad builde into Fort V;orth
and I qit my job with Tucker,at his request,in 1876* I took
the job as waterbdp,carryinf water to the workeOps Mike and
3ack Hurley were the contract-ra under whom I worked and they
paid me a O.. a day,,:..hich was very good wave for a boy those.
days*
"I started to carry water when the construction crew was
about throe Wise li.of the city and I remained with the job till
the road was lowed aram4 five miles ts of town*
"The work was do.:e rapidly* Just so soon as the grade
was completed the ties and steel were Wed. The steel gang
stayed right on the heels of the grtliing crew and the foremens
were driving each crew every numite of the time.
"The contractors were working againsttime due to some
legislative conditionewhich required that the construction of
the road be completed into Port 4sorth at a specified time or
lose some concessions v,hen I startd as a water boy tl-le matter
of time wns urgent* he legislature was in session and there
was some skullduttokesrheine used to ?7ive the road builders
time to complete to job,but the ratter as like a bubble and
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folifilowere afraid that the bubble would burst with each new day,
"The citizens were interested greatly,because success
of the intorprise ment a railroad f r Fort Worth„which Dallas
then had, and everyone wer,? anxious 9/ have a railroad and
lit on an equal with iJallaa, Under the sitntation,tallas would
have received the cow businees,if sort Worth failed to get the
road,
"tany men werer released by their employers,as I '.ere ,to
augment the construction crews,
"The men poured in on shovels,picks and mule teams build-
ing the grade, It sounded like bedlam,but the road was crawling
into Fort iiorth each minute of the day,
"mule skinners would be he-rd'yelling at their teams and
the elm* of the blacksnake 1011.p sounded above th- din,as the
sweating animals were hurried with elide loads of dirt, The
high places were disappearing and the low el-lAs were filing up
making a way for the tier and steel,
"It was warm summer weether,which made men and beast appear
like all .ere dragged out of the water,but in face of the heat
everyone hustled against time. I,with the other waterboys,
csrried enougkwater to float a shipotrying to satisfy the thiret
of thi sveating men.
"The women of the town entered into the rce by organiz-
ing squads which went among the men with hot cofie,snadwiches
and rther chuck, :2heir chack,smiles and cheering words helped
to Imp up the men's stronght and willingness tnd went a long
way tourds petting the 1,A) done.
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"The work took on a carnival spirit among the motley craw
of workers and everyone entered the work as though is was a race,
in which each individual had a personal prize at stake.
"The day finally arrived,=;uly 19, it was, when an engine
pUltangoasso rolled into town with its whistle blowing steadily,
which announced that the race had been won'and fort Worth had
a railroad, Tkkt was -a day of eelstimaltimn and relaxation for
the citizens.
"I stayed with the Hurley's for throe months and a good
spell of the tim was spent in building the railreld yards,
"When I quit oarrying water I took a job working for
V.R.Alurley. He put me to teaming hauling rock used for pnveing
Lain and Houston streets. I hauled rocks from .of town,which
stone were used for the gutters and curbs. The street rocks
were shippcd in from Dublin and ,,randbury.
"Before the streets were paved,one d11 bet-er riding
hoes -back instead of in a vehicle over tho streets. I have
often seen rigs bogged down durng a wet spell and (luring the
dry spells the streets sere a continuous mess,of holes„ruts
and bumps.
"For monthe,befo,e the city officals m de final aranpe-
ments to have the streets paved,there sere argaements concerning
the matter and there was considerable punning back and fotth
among the citizens.
Therevissamthole in frnt ,f a business
house run by one of the officals,who's name I can't recall now,
and he was the butt of a goviock over the muddy streets. One
morning when he came to open his place of business,there was
11
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the tail of a hos-Wicking out of the mud hole. On the tail
was a writen note which read as follows; II tried to carry my
owner up to yot,r store to do some trading,but I drownded in
your-poadI. :he tail had been out off of some dead hoes and
fastened to a stake which was driven into the ground.
"Luring those days 'ort lorth was a :'eal cowtown. here
I came from,the only critters I ever saw was the few cattle the
farmers raised for their own use. The first herd of critters
that I sow drifting into Fort north had me flabgasted. It
happened to be one that was over four miles long and better
than a mile in width. the trail it followed entered town about
where the 6t Joseph hospital is now located and run to or near
Wre Taylor 6t, in located. he herd were tu-ned at the lower
end of Taylor MOW_ drifted ,to cattle pens that were 1.cated
in the neighborhood of the intersection of Lancaster and Boaz
Streets.
"I watched the waddles wor the herd into the pens,watched
the chuck wagon pull up and the bely.cheater -repare supper.
watched the sedates line their flues and t watched a waddy
mount his hose and it pitched with him. All this,that I saw,
created in me a hankering for cow work that t could not over.
come. I kept pestering. my parents to get their consent for me
to join up with some colmettilt.bul they would not apree to my
request. I wonttnied to work for 'a.ii.Aurley hauling material
to his construction jobs until i vas a'aout 17 years old and
then quitebecause I tad a ch-_nce to go on a r nch.
"I landed a place with 8t.eve "uacellIe outfit —4.is camp
%THU li.of Fort Worth and the cattle ranged over an open range.
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Tarrant C0.44stoot7
Russell run around 2000 heed of the 'exas longhorn criters.
"Russiaj did not allow his enters to drift where they
pleased and that required line riding night and day. he night
ridiing was done by two men working a four shift,after which
they were relesved by two others. During the day four men
rode the line hclding the herd on the grt-7,in;. gruunds
"here were 10 men in the crew including the belly
cheater and the hoes wrangler and Vim Thompson was the top -screw.
Then a storm was drifting in on us ,the whole crez staryed with
the citters and sometimes the cooky and he warngler we -e callied
on to help out.
"The country was more or less level prairie where-' we ranged
ifilecaseaed the berdebat to the ?Land W,o1- our location was a
rolling brushy section. 2hose criters would always, indicate
when a Art strom was headed our way by becoming rectless,two
or three days before a storm hit. .he animals wou d hanker to
drift towards the hills Find brush..hen the critters took it
in their heads to drift,IVAodcall hands to hold it back.
"Only one time did we fail to hold the herd. It was
early spring and the day we balmy when the animals ecame
fretful and wanted to drift west. A held the herd tiat day
and night,but th ntire crew had ridiag orders and had to stay
with the herd. the critters never beddeci down th-t night and
contimed to mill on into t'fle following day. :iuddenly,about
:aid -day the temperature began to drop nnd went fr-m warm to
freezing in an hr7,ur's time. LI. sleet strom came in with the cold
which wan driven by a strong wint,
Qauthi,at,Sheldon P.
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!then ihe blest began to hit,the herd lit oat .on a run
and got away from us waddles. We rode for an hour befo!-e we
could get the herd to milling,but withln an h urgitime the
herd got away again.. te again put the animals into a turn,but
it was not long till they were off again. ;hey went on one run
after another until they had us fighting for control in the
rolling and brush country near 6pringtown.
"We waddles stayed in our saddles three days and two nights
and the first day and might we rode against flying and c.utting
sleet. Ou* faces were raw from the hundrels of slight cuts the
ice made. Our tape —worms ere yelling for chuck,our peepers
felt like lead from the lack of eleep,but never for one minute did
WI
/let up on our work trying to hold that herd.
"4tty Burk followed us with the chuck wagon and when the.
storm Subsided so one or two of us drop out for a short spell,
;atty was there with warm coffee and chuck. ;hat black coffee
and chuck tasted better than any food I have even eaten. I was
so famished that 1 could have oaten a skunk and drank its 'iffy
juicesand enjoyed the feast.
"There were about 300 strays Vnen we get the herd settled
down. Two waddles wore left to h. n! the animals hile the rest
la drifted the herd back to their home range. The tiys hinting
straysflocated prectic,Jly all ',he animals and d:ifted in with
those three days later.
"We had numerous rune,ut nc7,thing like this one i just
related. It was the wore 1-_ spell of weather i ever faced while
on the range. While I was hankering to work on a rAlch I did
not -riekon on fighting a stamnode for thr e days in a sTeet
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kangelore.
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"When we retuned to the camp I calculated on q
but after I became rested t changed my mind,because OS old
rawhides said the storm was the worst they had over seen in
the part of the country. Outside of the sleet storm,i enjoyed
my work and our living was of the best so far as the food was
concerned. Ratty Burk s a top
of sour —dough bread thnt I ever
orders to the cooky was to the
dragging orders,if he fell down
chuck fixer and made the best
have nut me teeth into.
effect that he would be given
on keeping the nose bag well
filled with good chuck. i-:ussell left it up to the cooky to
order what supplies he needed.
"lay wages were $25, each month flue 'inning included,
so I had 415. each month for Tbaccy and 1.othes and amusement
"I'or amuseent we always rode into iort Worth and those
(ays there were :0.enty o: varit:; IL intertainment. Anything one
looked for was there and one could *hoot the v.orks.
"Often,I have seen a bunch of cowhqnds drive everybody to
cover shooting things up. Th w-adies did the shooting for the
fun of seeing folks duck for cover. One night I was with a party
of about 15 cowhands and we were having a rood time. fe hfAkat
visited a lot of places in the J-.12sh bt,district(now .:ommerce).
4411 were at the oint when our hats fit better at the rear of
our he ds than
could xpected
alway refered
on the top,whicth wtl, a sign tivit most anything
to start popping. We lit into a place which we
to as 14 ush.. A ber,dance hall,gambling and
queans was its combination business.
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"We stood at the bar uaffing pisen and then a shot put
out a light suddenly. 5414, first shot was followed by others
ulekly,and all the lights were out before a person had time
to fieuro .hat ws tain 1.ace. -oon as the first shot was
..ired,folks began to rim for cover as a bunch of rats scamper
for their hole. In the flight,seme stumbled over chairs,some
over *Miss and some over one another.
'We rtepped ontside,when all the lichts wererout on the
iaside,and some of us ehol oet he street lights which were
in the district while others shot in the air. The 1-0Iks on
the street dteked for cover pronto.including two laws. hen
all the street liehts were out,in the square and we coelen
see any hun ns,we mounted u hoeeee and said g odnight to the
ton.
"2he next daj was payofl time for the dameee we did,s0
before the bojs parted a jackeot was made up,which was turned
over th 2hompson and he returned the next day to make pay.
ment for the lirhte ee destroyed.
"I was with e cousin of mine one night and we want down
to visit a honky-tonk le.t on its seowd, es usual in these days,
there were a good eany waddles in he place. A nerro named Sam
oueton:reseed one of the waddles and th- eaddpithtethdown on
barn. he negro was breaded for the et•rnal renpe pronto.
"hen the first shot wes fired,Isete
d that 7e had
Jetter leave the neighborhood,eut cousin ireisted that we stiCk
around to see what eould happen. '-ehe eb otinr didn't step :ith
killinp of the colored fellow. Anumber of the Eowhends shot out
the lights of the pia others enptied thole guns in the
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air,as a signal to all interested persons that interfrence
would not be -.tolerated. Vihon the shooting on the inside slowed
downeue heard. shooting on the outside. "e stepped out t- see
who was being shot and we saw two laws, 73111 and Jim iiushing,
standing at the side of 8 polo shooting in the air. 4.hey too,
were giving the warning signal for folks to not interfer with
the show on the inside.
"I never heard about anything being done to the cowboy
who shot the colored flunky. :he talk vs that the flunky pot
into the way of a stray bu'let while the cowh,nds were warming
up thier six-guns.
"hose days.lort V4orth was surrounded by cow ontfitsolith
a few farms scattered here and there. Aiy day of he week,and
especially Saturdays, the streets were dotted w'th waddles
swaggering vith their e.tier of chaps,guns and J.B.Stetson hat.
Without those -a_rte of the cowhands outfit he was undressed.
liost all of the ja ddies were looking for some fun ad generally
found it any form they desired.
"while at camp the bo.:e spent their off hours in various
ways,but cards held the first place as a method of entertain 011t4.
'here were some mighty good gamblers among the cowhands.
"Our cooky was the best poker pia er in our outfit. When
he cam; into town f. r a spell ot recreation a porker game was
what he hw,ted for. I know of arra u -Inning of 0000 he pulled
down one 6aturday night. However, he never held onto his win-
_
nings,because he couldn't resist the roulette wheel. kt the
roulete wheel he coldn't out plums the wheel and little ball
Gsuthier.oheldep
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e
240
as he could a an h011ing a poker hand.
"Fatty thought he had solved the mystery of the whell
one time,but it proved to be a fluk. came into town one
pay day and went straight to a roulette game. It was about
mid -day when he sit down to nlay. the next day at noon. he
was playing still and sitting on he same stool he started on.
he had never stopped long onoegh for his meals those were brought
to him and he ate while :laying.
"I had left Fatty playing that pay day and when he failed
to drag into camp by the following morning -ite feared tht our
chu_k fixed had gotten into trouble. It drkened our cloud
to hav our swill belly-chester gone and it cause one of the
cowhands to do the coo:ing. o I drmgged into town to see what
was the trouble. Well, there I found him shoving in chips and
hauling some back occasionally. At that time it was estimated
that he had close to 4000 stacked arr.tund him. He then was so
sleepy th-t he was taking a drink of liquor about every thirty
minutes to keep himself going
"I tried to have F:Tttty cash in nrid come home with me,but
I failed to re- him in that mood.
going to sit there tinyou'r broke
just grunted and kept on plying.
dollars
wageseexcept a few/he may have sont for clothes.
45000 was a good winning.,W not tatty.
"I left him at the roulette
I said to him, 'patty you are
or fall of that seat He
He started with his month's
T calculated
te.ble and told him I would
return in a couple hours. I reckoned that vms about the
of time he could sa
tay awake. Then I retl
ithit
nod he was leaving
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arrant Oe„Dist,047
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the table and the professor was handing Jetty O. to buy 'beecy
or eats before stnrting back to camp. Patty had lost all of
his wi:ninge.
"The next day at camp we waddles were c*seing patty for
not quiting the game while he yrs J)000 to the good. His
answer was,ihell boys I had ;1.00 wotth of fun out of my month's
pay.
"While some of the waddles were strongly bent to gambling,
°there were just as stroiAg for the art of roping,shooting and
riding. There were a grant many of the cowhands that were nearly
perfect ropersosome perfect shots and othre finished riders.
"A waddy named Zones that worked with the ;:ussell outfit
a short time was one waddy that coKld swing a rope where he wanted
it and was always practicing when not busy. i:inny times I have
had him rope mg conk cover off of my hed while hotheof us were
riding at top speed.
t'Ve had no outstading shoit on the -41esell outfit,but we
did have one of the best riders in the conn!ry nnd that was
Wm Thompsonour top —screw. One of Thonpsonts accomplishments
we his ability to get speed out of a hose. and that etused the
whole lot of us to go bro e betting on him in one of his races.
"One day at noon hour an old fellow cane rding into camp
on a pert looking animal and the fellow wve invited to line hie ft
flue which he did. In those days it was the custom to feed a
stranger that called and they were weloone to stay until ready
to leave. During the meal conversation drifted from one subject
another and the visitor inform d us he W911 scuting the country
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Tarrant 0e.Disto.#7
for some moneied folks ho were intendinp to invest in critters.
-ind then the talk drifted around to houses. he visitor claimed
his hoes was the easiest saddle in The country and invited
anyone of us to ride the animal out to see what a fine saddle
it we.
"Thompson accepted the invitation and rode the hose. As
Thompson started the stranger told Thompson to pour the Fut-hooks
to the critter and get the anmalis top speed* then Thompson
returned he proclaimed tho critter a good saddle with fair speed.
The words fair speed caused the visitor to show resentment and
replied:
"'Hell, that critter is the ffistest animal you ever straddI-
eV"
"'I h av, a roan in our remuda that can run rings nround thgt
plug of riurs",Thompsan
"I Alright.' won't go back un on my say-so". I must ride
out a bit this evtac,ing ,but when I return wo will have a little
run and to make it interesting a lit tl bet would be welco
Was the old fellows come Wick at
us*
el*
"he stranger departed a:Ld we calculated thnt would be the
last we wnuld see of him.
"Thompso said the old felow .i;,as jousting us,because the
hoes had just common speed and that he knew when a hose was putting
out its best.
"About a hour before sun -down th.! visitor returned nnd
anevAaced he vno ready for a ittlo run and would take a few bets
if it would accomadete lyeany
were all anxious to sot all
r
.0
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,arrant ao.Dist..#7
our money down wh eh we did and the old fellow covered every
cent we showed:
"Well, the race ran and the roan was nearly blinded
fro,: dirt thrown and kicked into its face. o, the stranger
rode away with arunf 4;200 of good U.S. m ney and we were all
broke.
"Bee, here is the low-down on what w pulled on us. The
old fellow had two hosses.that one could not tell alart unless
the animals stood side by side. -he racer he had hid out and
while he s suppose to be scouting,he wns changing hoes.* and
by that trick took all our change, e learned that the Ad fellow
mea:e cog camps all over the country an ulled simitalirtricks
taA.ng the cowhands money.
"I stayed with the .:ussell outfit till the outfit moved
to Vert 2exas.as many camps were doing durinF. the '80's. ben
I quit the range I went farming ard !hat business I have followed
since.