Document text
?hip's, •ioody
linngelore
Tarrant co" Dist. .!7
Victor 11. Scoville, 48, was born on his
father's ranch, The Cloverleaf, which was
''looted in three adjoining counties, the
headquarters being about 54 !-1.. s. of San'
intonio,•"'ex. Sooville's abbition as a
child, was to emulate the various cowboys-
_ on the ranch in ridinr, and roping; Since
his father eneouraged4him in this ambition,
he was able to.ride a horse at the age of
four, and at eight, he was able to perform
anything on a horse that didn't reqltire a
men's strengtha ;3 a large part of a cow-
-boy's work depends on the horse's knowledge
and_strengthi Slcoville was able to perform
the regular duties of a cowboy. Scoville
left the range when he was 18, to work in
the various oil booms thlt occured,in :ex.
Whenever possible, he entered various
rodeos and won many contests, being a
proficient .rider. Me was mustered out of _
the -World tiar, a cripple, and now tours
the country with a trained mule. He ,recieves
his mail at 700 N. Main St., Ft. Worth, .7ex.
His story.
Page
141C
"1 was a cowboy book in the days when they didn't have no
fences everywhere you looked. In fact, when I was a kid they didn't
have a fano() nowhere near my dad's place. That was"'way back in the
1890's, though. To begin with, I was born on my dad's ranch, on
Dec. the the_17th 1889 ranch, was known as the Clpverlecr 0114
was located in Frio, Zavalla, and LaSalle Counties. 'Uendquarters
was in Frio county, about 54 miles South of San istonip. Dp'd htls,
over750,000 headAn the. VA,
iron wasn'treelIY 4_61!)verlef design7but kinds) looked likt.one.-
Ji,was,mate with two S'si-One:ofthem being e straight Si _with the
and 101overle,f'irons. The last
other made in a horizontal way without leaving an onening.in the
-first 3.
"I con remember now how—anxieus I was to be n cow puncher,
and how I'd ride everything I could get on I wns able to ride
anything that run on for feet, and I could cet to n snUbUing post.
oody
Penelore
ftr,ant 0., Ast. '7
-age "2
TrC
I rode yearlings 't1.1 I rode 'em down, Ynd 7 rode every horse 7
could saddle 'til I really did- get good et it for sure. -y dad
wnnte_ -le to be Y good rider, so he helped e 1):- giving me
a hose now and then, and nointing out my faults. hen I wcs fur
years old, 7 could ride reel good. A* course, I couldn't ride no
weld hoses but T had several sail7e.from broncs on frosty mornini:s
whet they Kinds wanted to stretch out. vou take any bronc, and
he'll do it in saite'of anything you can do. I've seen whipned
I t
the blo4d run, but they'd buck again as if they'd never been
illoed for it. regular cow puncher takes that in a day's work
and never gets m'ci about it because he knows the bronc wants to
lit'er up.
"Noq, I don't mean to breg when I tell you about ridine
wild hos,.,es, but some people are born with the knack of handling.
sowe thine's good, and others not a -tall. T. reckon if you wes to
esk 77.1e to lush a tyaewriter, T couldn't get to first base in ten
years. n the other band, if you was of'ered a job wrangling
hoses, you 'night do the same as would in nushing e typewriter.
mf course, you can't never tell about those things but 1. do know
tb-t few people crn handle hos!7;es as wel7 es -some can.
"7:Tow, about wild hosses, why, I was ridin7 'ern when I wes
eichtyears old, and riy dad would bet 'aoney th t I could ride any
ho!..f.0 anywherer cli you another thing.
T was
never th'ored after
I was eiht yers old. rode in rodeos, tco. ',ode man killers
th t had already hi ed several men. Pne -of 'em I rode was named
7orth Hlue 7e killed six or seven men -before I got the
chenee to ride hi- et the Ako Nev de "-odeo, in 1915. rode thyt
hoss and :ofl the ooliteLt. U thc.- ;pers told bout the men he'd
Thin -)s, :opdy
e.ea,eloae
tr-ant ;3., aist. -7
aege 3
'try
killed and said th t I wes th- only aen that ever rode him. T knew
he wes bad hose beceuse a couple of cow punchers told me about
whet the hosd had done before. I didn't afire much, but I was extra
careful.
—lie reason I was able to nut on such a good show for them
in the rodeos was beceuse I was always nicking out bed actors on the
hoe rdhch. I hed hosses to fall on me, roped critters from green
hosFes and had 'em jere:116 out from under me, and roped cri-tters too
bie: for my hos to hold. -ipe'kiraT of roping biF dritters; I roped
a 1,00 no -And -steer in a rodeo at 7alfurias, .exas, in 15 seconds
flat. :hat was in 1'1)04.
"hot same year, two famous hose riders- out up e bet that
each one could best the other. It was '7:lay cOonlgal, and ddie
—clerrol. 'hey put.un 5,0(43.CO, with the winner to take the entire
ante too. It come oCf et the "all i,ark in Sam ntnIo. .Dad took
me with him into Jan Thtonio, and let me stay to see the whole thin.
7 o last four days, and plenty people come out to see it.
The first day, :lay's roping hoss bucked, and 1T)st tLet
day 14or The seon dey the same, so T went to im and ased
hia to usb hoss. had a pod one. :)ne thrt Td treined.myself.
•e told le to hrina him out :or trial, ao the next morning,
brlyht,nd early, I 70'13 there. I Was, :;i•y, let me show you
what he ja do without the bridle on m.
"7'e says, ::3trut your stuff I took ,the bridle off,
pointed the cvitter out to the host and we had it roped in short
order. ell, flay decided to use the toss, and he won the contest.
fter the doings vas over, „:lly o:fered me ':).00 for the boss but
i wouldn't.take that. It wasn't 1 lig ,fter that, that some other
hi s, o)dy
neelore
ereant o., eist.
e
kids !end yself wee out a -hunting.' 'ee'd tied my hogs up et the
ann was off in Lieber. hen we come back to the cemP,-
my 0
w's do.n with bullet in his shoulder. T welked ena run
all the way b ak to .1rn eitonio, 14 miles, for a veterinarian.
e come back with me in his bu ey, and Whieeed the teem all the.
wee but we was too lete. 'Te out a 22 bullet out of the boss's
shoulder.
nother thing about the ranches, they elweys cent two or
three selilt hosees on hnnd to try out new hnnds. You'd et on 'em
like yoe would e el)w hoes, and no 7elline when he'd come unbuckled.
hat wes lets Of fun. eometimes, e fe low'd get hurt a little, but
we 7e 'e sleelys on bend to help hie out of tieht snot.
re -eeber one green horn thet come out to the ni-ce
1,)kine for n '1,3 foot boss theted been geeriteeled. all, you weulen't
se7. bet er set-up for some fun then that. e led out nn old,
brok down To )king hose for hie to try, and he.el ost turned the
hose down on acceInt of it's lo)es. e told hi- to try it, so we'd
t en idea what he -e,nt by a --;enteeled boss ell, he eot
0
on, 'nd e'ns th'owed off in les.: .17qt thfj1 it tekee to tel it.
le never ode Oy another hos ender no_cireuesteneee, no metter hew
elich we t-.1kedl. hut it ees worth it. elle cow nencilers was :it to
ee tied, and they wesn't no work that day. hey kidded the green
horn 'til he loft the lee. -lhe mein give-away was when he asked
for a 15 feet high boss. he should have said a 1.i hands high
and thet's big nose.
'lie wee we eot our bosses for the cow work, was to catch
wild ones out on the range. e had native !Ilstengs, end we'd turn
young Cleveland Bey, or e entucky Blackhawk stud out with 'em.
ehieee, oody
eneelore
r'ereen:,• .ist. ,r7
"age '5
-e'd have to hunt out the old studs first, though, or they'd -kill
the young ones because they u be on the you'll: ones before they'd
knew nnyteine Lb dut eMat "s going on.
dlie way we cetched 'em up, was to let Bleekie Fdwerds, a
cr'ck shot, creese tem. The way Vert was done, we'd rnise the herd
end chese 'em for a day, sometimes two or three days, secording to
-the seirit the stud had. You see, the stud alw-ys led the mares to
the water holes, or everywhere the herd went, end if he had lots of
spirit, or was extra cagy, we'd have to chase 'ee 'til they wes,plem
run down. After we'd run tem 'til they was too tiresel to be cagy,
we'd run 'o- pest eleceie, and he'd shot the ones we wanted, right
irthe eldscle over the neck. 'The one on top. hrt'd numb 'em, and
drnp live thee was deed. It wouldn't last but' bout five
eire:tes, eut thrt eas just lene eneleh 'or one an to hawg tie
cud we'dmo on 't,1 we eot ell the hosees we wanted.
hen we had en we needed, we'd eo enak to each one, untie
hie, and one of us would ride Lie 'til he 7/es onrtly broke, then
we'd go on we had 'cm all pert broke, then heed for the reeller
Loss corral, or, reeeds. hey wes-a regular hOss wrangler in charge
or the reeudn, fine his job wns to break the Loses, and tend, to 'en
all the Le. liked thet job ere wen, but liked to get areund
over the ranee Lo een to stay eu :or a erneeler, so i never helt
the .:he very long et a tic.
wns about 10 years old on my first treil drive. Sreee
wouldn't call it euch t il drivle :ecause we didn't run the
herd very far, hut it was done just lie! e Ing treil drive s6
jest call It treil delve. e only had two treil drives, and they
was tote to n 'ntonio, a 54 mile drive.
ihin s, o )dy
eangel)re
:nrr nt ;o., 7
'ege
he rest of the cettle that was took off the place, went
by rail. The reilroed put a sour right up to the ranch headquarters
so it eestn eesy, and stilted el lot of money by ,e)in that fAvey.
hen, tea, they was lots less danger of steeeeedes that away, so it
seed money thet ea:7 tee.because you oen fteure on losing from
dozen to a 100 critters nnytime theys a staenede. either
run over a cliff, canyon, or some of 'em'll fall and the rest of 'em
eill store) 'cm down. hen a staepede gets under way, you'd bet.er
fiyure on ston-ime it, and Stan ing it quick. :he quicker it's
sto-l.ed, the ]ea- beef they run off if some of 'em aint kilt.too.
he way e etc _nede is stoeeed, is to have r rider get in
front and turn the le der. ou sec, the herd follers a leader, and
if he's turned, Vu I.;eep turning hie the herd is m11 line
arJund, an Inc neehere. they 'U soon get tired, and one of 'em
will bewl. abut a nice sound. The first te-wl is certainly
welcome eseceuse thet meens that the herd rill be sto,eld still in
1- then five minutes. 2h,t's kind like e wild htiss. If he
ever barlsuyeu got hie lickee. :)f course, the bawl is dif-erent
fro -e 8 squeal. -hen he squeals, thf,t mer,ns he'e still fighting
d and yeu'e better not eive hie a chrice to stoee you, or you're
a goner.
the fleeces
secoent of I've gat e bad stomach, a left over from
,everseas', I'm ran 11y as old as a O, or a '.A) year old.
get such pains et times'til I'll do anything to anybody if they
croos me. liet's caused me to forget lots of things, and T don't
reeeeber so much because of it. efter,I left the ranch, I was an
oil field boomer, wor"eine in first one field, then another. Ifvery—
tiee chance, thaeeh, I'd enter n contest. Resides riding
Phipos, Joy
Teeugelere
arrant ,3., 7
'age s'?
et 1Io, evede, 1 rode here in Fort eorth for nine straight rodeos.
:hen, I rode at —ineral ells, end "nelines, eyomine. I rode and
roped nt these rodeos, andemede prettygo-A money At it because I
pretty ne rly elw,ys finished le the noney.
-3ince the war,I've worked here and there at different
things, but net for lonf-, et n-tiee because my stemech goes to trin—
.:ee up, end -ien.7 have to quit. e! main way of making a
living pew, is e throrbee fro- my hoes riding days. "y knaek of
handline hesees, heleed ee to,trein a mule to do anything a mule
ueeld be :nut. T work or edvertieine people everywhere with
the ule. eleeue the eein thing we do, is to work for beer ouenenies.
I fix up in clown suit, and elk doWn the etreet with the mule..
boe o one eide, then another, end b, the ttme we real*
beer -joint tlet 'needles the teer ve're edvertisine, 7 holler. '!.TeW
tie hi: and he tures his emr to me-. ten I aot like whiseertng
soeethine into his ear, and I 11 1 _nt toward the joint, 1'4'11
shelce his he,e ue nn e doen, then go inside. This e4. roots
the crowd ineide, and we e,e right up to the her, where I'll order
ottlee of the kind we're edvertisine. :rust set his bottle
on the btr and it-ue in his Teauth, eoldine on to the
neck with his teeth, then e ptiee the totele. 7,ikee it too. T'd
ye o ofly :or 11 be c hole teceuse he len- sift out
to to