Document text
OVEA7--/IA4 14- r1Q.-
Phipps, oody
liangelore
-nr-I-Rnt Co., 1st. ;7
7.J.(Sam) -7-ten, 73, born June 17, 1854,
on his father's farm in adison Co., -7ex.,
learned to ride a horse as saAl as he was
strong enough to sit on one alone. !!is father
established a ranch in Llano Co., Tex., in
Alter 1iquidting.this ranch, he estab-
lished another, on the Yason and Llano Co., lines.
Pankruptcy forced him but of the cattle busineas
in 1902, and he went to Llriao City to live. ,3am
went to '!exico in 1887. 70 established a ranch
located 150 7i. 3._of Gallegos, Chihuahua, Max.,
in 1900. Me now owns 1500 head of cattle and
resides on this ranch. story:
"I .was born on my father's farm in Madison County, Texas,
on June 17, 1'364. ouldn't it lave been swell if had lie n born
two days later. :hen all the negroes would celebrate my birthday.
.ell, anyway, this farm 1 was raised on irs kind of an unusual
farm because my father was so interested in cattle that he dabbled
in stock more than he messed with farming. :!e left the farming
more to the fellows that worked. I don't remember the acrePge
because dad established a ranch when I was only 10 years old, or
in 1874. I was a pretty good hand by that time, halving rode a
hoss since I was big enough to sit one. I expeot I could ride as
wall as the average cowman when 1 was 10. I was an expert cowboy
at 15, and at 171 I won all the roping laurels in my county.
This ranch Dad established was in Llano County, pretty
close to Llano. 7e st rted out with a small herd and had ups and
downs that were something to think about. 7e run about 10,000
head ut one time, and had two brands. one of them was the IW,
anu the other was the -;;O. Tie sold 3,500 steers to Dill Goode at
one time.
Nov, I don't remember whether Dill oocie had a ranch,
or owned a brand. 1 don't remember whether he road branded these
.toady
7angelore
7ar-ant to., Dist. J7
?ege 42
FC
•steers or not, either. A road brand was usually:a figure added to.
the originel brand. It could be any figure, such -s a 8, or an 8.
T do remember th-t T joine the herd after it luTs started on the
drive to 4oneywell, Kanins, where 11l Goode had sold them. Some
of the cowboys that worked for dad were in the drive too. That
drive -was an interesting thing.
-Of course, the old timers h-d eduaated the Indians to
the fact that it wasn't worthwhile to raid the drives, so we didn't
thet to bother with. -e had stampedes to contend with. You
had that in any bunch. It sort of de ended on the weather. If
you had bad weather, stormy, or hail, you could .depend on a stampede.
stampede is a thing you don't have rules to go by. It is more of
a sDontrneous thing. lie steers decide to run, and you get out and
do your dead level best to get them to ston by trying to turn the
leaders and getting the herd to milling. -lhere would be some of
the boy flanking the herd to kefT them from scatterin that way
too. 'flother thing about stam,edes is that just anybAy couldn't
turn a herd. You had to be a top notch ouncher.*04 riding en Lee
hoes to be able to get out in front of a herd that is doing it's
best to go somenlde in the least time possible.
Now, I would like to describe just how it is to be out
in front of a thundering herd that wouldn't think a thing Ebout
running over you and smashing you beyond recognition, describing
the dread you had of hving your hose step in a gopher hole and
fPlling down on your leg, holding you 'til the herd aluld run over
you, !qui rh. about it but I couldn't tell it if you hPd a gun on
me. s I said before, they started to run!-1ing, %ad you did the
_A k
_Phipps, ':ioody
Pangelore
.h.rrant Co., Dist. 17
beat yell could, and in the end, so much had happened that you oouldn't
remember it all. Besides, you were so tired that you didn't orave to
chin about it. You ,:now, I have reed tales and descriptions of
stampedes but L oouldn'.t for the life of me, tell you about those I
w -e in.
-Now, the tales I mentioned, that's a thing there was plenty
of around c QM/ camp. If some of the boys that were best at telling
them, had to live es lone a life a O the tales would indicate, they
would be rs old re old 77.ethusalah. 1,7y mother -1.weys wanted me to
sleep in the big house but the older I got, the more I worked the
oettle in the company of other punchers, .nd they would tell me about
the Feed times they had in the bunk house, the more I wanted to bunk
with the cow hands.
"::other finally geve in, end T went on down end slept in
the crum incubators with the other ferl)ws. Je al‘eays sat up late
so the fellows that could tell the tall ones coule see which one
could best the other. I heard some miAhty intersating things but
the ones that interested me the most were about Old Mexioo. 7e
fellows never sew but just a few women on the range, and it is
natural for a young fellow to be interested in them. These fell) s
knew this so they just filled me un with tales of be,utiful
senoritas in Old Yexico.
"One old fellow by the mine of Slim :31okings told one
that T liked to day dream about. Tt was mighty romancing. 7e says
that he was riding through the country with his season's wages in
a special money belt thet fitted up under his left shoulder, and
under a eistol holster that he had and oerried over his shirt.
7e had enough money to keep him and wasn't especially loeeing forT
Phioss, body Page 14
Rangelore
Terrent Co., Dist, 7
a berth but was just taking in the scenery.- He found a dead Yes'
kid ebout 15 miles from Ruiz, and picked him up to take him into
town so he could be identified. On his waS? in, he met an old
peon that recognized the kid and took it for grented that 311m had
killed him end was takinp him some place to hide him. 'his old
peon was riding s donkey snd he took out towrd town is herd es he
could whip it. sell, Slim was riding good hogs flesh end it wasn't
e hill to overtske the old peon so he just did it. "e finally got
it over to the old peon thst he didn't kill the kid but was just
tsking hir, to town so someone could•take-Sim home.
"This old neon takes Slim to the kid's homes Thc kid
didn't have f-ny psrents, but he wss supportins s sister. No*, this
sister w.: -s an eye full, and here she was, nobody to t-ke care of
her. Nobosy to out the wood, nosody to bring the grub home, nobody
to help her in aily way. he wes in a tight place, snd there slim
stood. 7fe says it was sll his just for the taking. A good plaos
with eb, ut 35 head of cows, plenty of wood, end opportunities for
increasing the herd.
"About the time the senorita begins to let up on the
crying jeg, in walks en old 'Sex' women with about 10 kids trailing.
:his old Sex' wee big, fat, sloppy, and barefooted. Te could just
see himself tied down there,for life with about the same thing so
he fsded out.
"How, this business of the woman getting fat didn't fade
me. I figured there must be plenty of good looking senoritas with-
out msrrying one of them so I got a oravins to do rexico. The more
tsles I herd about it, the more determined I was that my star shone
Phipps, 'o)dy
Rangelore
Tarr -lit tat. 7
page 45
TPC
in that land of golden opportunity. 'nother tale a fellow by the
name of nob !Tinkle told, was about finding old Aztec Indian treasure
chats. 7e said that parts of yexico was once well peopled with
ealthy Tndins that had big cities and lots Df gold ornaments.
"Bob srys that while riding through the country in search
of a place to light, he run aoroas an old 'Tex' in a cave, high up
in some hills. This old ex, MAI dteing, rnd because Bob tried to
help him, the old fellow startet to babbling about gold bars in a
cave near this plaoe. Bob pays no attention to the babbline in
ordei.tto revive the old man enough to tell a straight story and give
a good description. The :ex' never' comes to enough to tell it good
but Bob thinks it we close to where he and the old fellow was.
T7e says that he buried the old men,
and then starte into searching
but since he was short rationeei, he couldn't sty long enough to
find it end left. Be never did get ahead enough to go tack and the
.gold is bound to still be there.
"ell, this just added more fuel to the craving 7 already
had so 7 was hard to hold on the place. Seemed like nothing ever
heppened on the place. hen we were down on the farm, I.often
heard about rustlers and outlaws in the cow country but T never
saw one. 7111 tell you another thing. You never sew nor net a
rn old timer thpt would voluntarily tell about killing a ;an or
haning a rAstler. I pumped asmany r one but I never got results.
"One morning after we had been„ziissing a few cows, the
sheriff showed up fAid ,-sked my Tother *here Dsd was last night,
or if he had been home, T 6on't recall just how it was worded but
I do remerlber my :other's reply. ;he says, 'Huh I've got too
Phipps, :Gody
'angelore
Trrrnt 7
Alge •les
PC
much to do to ride herd on that maverick. If you want him wet nursed,
do it yourself1'
"-This thing happened a couple of months after the boys got
back from the trail drive to Honeywell and it was almost winter.
You 1,,non, ranchers don't do much work in the winter. Just as lit -le
as they have to but dad tells the sheriff he and some of the boys
were out hunting strays in the brush and never got home 'til late.
You mow, they never did find out who hung them fellows. Couple
of fellows and mysfl.f went out with the sheriff's party to out them
down. t..:ome-way or another, they thought it a good ider to let them
hang all day so some of the other fellows throwing a 1)ose rope
could get en eye full. 7eybe I should say, a healthy eye full.
"In the Fall of ,79 when T was 'bout 15, Dad gets the idea
that if he 1rd more land, he could raise more cattle and make more
7ioney so he leases a place on the 'nson and Llano --_County lines.
Tre couldn't rid himself of the first place 'til after we moved so
don't recall who tought Ule place. TTe makes a big splash in this
new ranch and is going fine allng about the time I decides to light
out for !,exico.
"1 was 23. at the time, and had my own cow pony. hose I
called belle, and she was a good one for sure.. Dad bought me a.
brand new saddle, and paid 435.00 for it. You could buy them more
expensive in those drys but this was above the average price paid
and it wfis F beaut. I hrd a pair of boots about two months old
and they still had the new on thcm. I had a ten gallon sombrero
that I only used for dress purpose, se it was good too. Then, my
two pearl handled, colts 45's were shiny and pretty, rnd the
Phipps, :Jody
'plagelore
'2arrant Co., Dist. j7
?lige /7
.Anchester carbine thFt I oarried in n Saddle scabbard was kept
in ace condition. I forgot to tel about the snakeskin band on
my sombrero. It wes.a beaut and had eight pieces of silver about
the size of a silver dollar on it. Manly I lboked the part of a
big ranoher on dress parade.
"ell, the boys ell thlowed a party to give me a sendoff
tylA, was a honey. After saying goodbye, I starttA out. When
got to Juarez,, Mexico, across from Flpasoi Texas, I rounded out,
or pit a finishing touch on the education I got on the r8nch.
'hen T. got to Juarez, I decided to do the town. Here I was, all
macked out and getting the eye of everybody around so .7 decided
F,ive them all a chance to sec me. I starts out at the Central
afe which, by the way, is now almost a land mark because it has
been there so long.
,'After a few drinks, T meets three fellows on a sight.
seeing tour from 2ort Smith, Arkansas. They seemcd to have plenty
of money but didn't like the taste of liquor very well.. They were
sapling it occasionally to get n little experience. Now, thinks
to myself, here is an opportunity to cud a litAe to the kitty
so I asks them if they can play poker. One of them wasn't very
gabby but the other two said they all played a little back in
_rkansas. ell, now this was right In line for me so I suests
Ie use one of the semi -private booths you can have there in the old,
Central.
"We gets to playing, and wins every pot for the first
hour. an I was going like a house a -fire and stood to clean
'em out like a- prairie fire. About the oftcong hour, I just won
?hinps, ,00t4
Range lore
Tarrant Co., Dist. '7
Page !8
FC
half the pots but I was breaking even end steod to get back into
the winning strePk again. ‘ou know, at the end of about four hours
playing, T had lost every cent I had. lbout 1350.00. The quiet
fellow won everything from all three of us, but he was nice about
it. e gire us e sew buck to get P drink with.
"The other two fellows rnd myself goes rnd drinks this
noney up. :;hile we rre drinking, we decides that we have been took
so we makes an agreement to hunt this fellow up and make him come
across. ePgrees to spread out and the one that finds hi, oome
bac:0( and get the other two so we could all thre- be there and have
e better show. fell, I hunts and hunts and hunts. I never saw
the an we were looking for nor I never saw the other two again.
'lien I look book rt'it ell now, I must hrve been one of the kind
a thing
of fellows that made it life/to be enjoyed by gamblers.
"ell, there I was without a cent to eat on and I didn't
want to wire dad for money because he would laugh at me when he
sent it. ?he first thing T. did was to trade my sombrero to a
fellow for his old hat and a little boot. .Next, went my bear skin
chaps, and so on 'til my hoes was the only original thing I owned.
.decides to light out of town and look for a berth on one of the
elxic,In ranchos.
-These ranchos had !!exioans working mostly and. T stre
didn't like to work with them so I Ornged jobs just about evry
month or two. iomptimes T had to pull my belt up a notch or two
because the well known 3outhern hospitality didn't run on down
Into 'exico. he best people to feed hungry ferow wrs the
peon clss that didn't have enAigh to feed theselves. I was
Phippat ioady
Rengelore
Tarrant Co.7t fist.
Page
used to a country that had the latch string hung on the outside for
folks to oome in and help them selves. -Thy, if a fellow found out
that you had passed by without going in and taking a little coffee
or so-leting to eat, he would be mad and would bawl you out.
"I rode end worked around over a good pert of the Northern
part of Mexico 'til I got a job on the 8-8 in the state of Chihuahua.
The only tang I ever found out about the owners was that a group of
7exas bankers cantroled it and hired American ram rods to run the
spread. he few years I was on the 8-8 were happy ones. I had a
job with a go3d bunch of men thct would share with you and give you
the shirt off their backs if you asked for it. The only folks that
had any trouble was the ram rods. They only held their jobs as long
Ls the rancho showed a profit for the bankers. Sometimes we would
have two or three ram rods in one yer when one of them would get
shot, or the oount didn't measure up, or he would be too bossy and
would have to leave before the boys put him in his three by six.
The last rem rod they had and the one that was running the
spread when I left was straight as a string. The bankers imported
hi 71 froT, somewhere in Texas because he hated rustlers so. 7e never
told it but rumor got around that a wild bunch rustled his pereqlid
herd and Milled them too.
70 was the hardest man on theives I ever
saw. If a men was -just suspicioned to be a loose looper, he just
disappeared some day and nobody ever knew what beoame of him. le
began to connect IT,im with all of these disappef,ranoes but you couldn't
pin anything on him and nobody ;tented to anyway. lhat's another
time it paid to keep a stiff uooer lip 8nd not even talk to yourself.
"This is the kind of a men that began to show up in reale°.
'oody
,a1LI;elore
!.,r7 -..ant Co., 1Ast.
Fege
It seemed like so much stealing on large and small soale had turned
the -exioan people stronger against stealing then they were against
murder, The ram rod's influenoe over ma end the other boys (mused
us to feel that stealing was the worst of the crimes and we spread
the feeling whereever we went.
-The result is the :lexico of today where there is practically'
no stealing whatever. he only steeling going on is the starving
men that takes a calf here and there. far as the tourist trade
is concerned, they can be sure thet they will never be bothered by
thieves. Tourists spend millions of dollars in nexico today, and
the 7.,exioan irovernment wants to keep it.that way so that explains
in part why a person' a property and life is safer in nexlao than
nny where else in the world.
"Ay, you take the United states here. :hings hen
every, day like the thing that happened to my brother in law. Te
was run ing a filling station half way between Fairfax and Ponoa
City, Oklahoma, end a oar stopped there one night after he had
gone to bed. The men argued him into going down and giving them
some gas. 7e went down, end after filling them up with oil and
gas, they shots him and takes what little change he hed in his
pockets.
"Result, a widow with a filling station to run that she
couldn't T)ossibly hope t) run, and three kids, they fellows get
e light sentence for second degree murder. If it had been in
r!exico, they would have been shot on sight for the robbery and
then they would have betn given a 116ht sentenoe for the murder.
You know, if man doesn't stand to gain by a killing, he wont
kill. If he knows he will meet instant death without mercy for
Page 1
iiangelore
Tarrant Co., Diet. ;7
robbery, he aint so fast on the trigger.
-7011, lets get twok to me now. In the days when the oattle-
men were cleaning up Mexico, there was a goqd del of rustling going
on. You didn't know when you went to work for a rustler because it
.ws so comon. You just hired out, and if they told yJU not to be
so careful about the brand but just rind up everything in sight,
you knew you wee working for a rustler but you didn't dare to say
anything. Besides, these -ea paid higher wages than anybody else.
The only thing about it I didn't like wms the way they wpnt out of
business. 'hey got kind of floety, sort of dancing in the air
literally, with a rope around their knock connecteU with e good
stout tree limb. That was one of the re eons I kept changing jobs.
"When I started in with the right crowd, there were some
that were rustlers and just changed sides in order to drive rustling
from -!exioo. They realized there was steady money in ranching, and
not near so hazardous so they pitched and helped clean up. I saved
my punching money for a couple of years and got me a lease 150 miles
State of Chihuahua
south of lallegos,/Yexico, where M started a small spread of my own.
There wasn't any limit to the acreage I could use so I had plenty of
room to grow. Today, I run 1500 head of fat cattle on this place
and 500 that belong to :sq'inuel Garcia. r,rcia is a fellow that
doesn't have much cow sense so he shares with me for me managing
.his herd. That satisfies him and just tickles me plumb pink. !Te
calls his brand the, 'Walking X', or My -brand is the X Bar, or
X.
'rho reason you were able to meet me today is because I
Came in to see :.bout marketing some cattle. -'his is my first trip
to the states in 15 years. II, folks live at fairfax, Oklahoma.