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hipps, 4!oody
Rangelore4spenish)
'arrant Co., Dist. 17
!P.C. De La for, 47, residing at u07
Valley St., Ft. Worth, Tex., was born in
'Eagle Pass, Tex. His mother remarried
when he was but eight months, and his step-
father, who was a oowboy, took the Ilemlly
to the Uadero Ranch IniOnahailt_Stater Mex.
De La for was taught to rids and rope at
an early age, and was need Sc a regular
cowboy before he was le. His stepwfather
took the family away from the ranch and
into TOV311 in 1902, but returned 14,12104.
illen he was 244 he left the Madero pleas
to work on the 41111awm raneh near Lansatorri,
in Texas. Two years later, he left the
Alliams ranch and the range, end has never
returned. His story:
page 91
trc
sure, I worked the ramegein both Miss end, Mexico. Did
you ever know how many different ways there are that the Ameriosh
cow poke and the Noxican vacquerro work cattle, and their habits.,
,imericans whirl their ropes to the right, then overhead, then casts.
”exicans Whirl to the left and oest in en unbroken circle. 7hat is,
no whet you cell a flourish.
Mexicans pull a knife to fight, but Americans jerk a gun out to
fight with. I don't mean just to hit with, either. I've seen a
whole 1)t more fights with a knife than I have a gun beaause I was
with the Mexicans more. rhen, Amerioans mount a hose on the right
side while a :.lexioon mounts on the left. lure clauses trouble when
a feller tries to mount one a different warthfln they're used to,
too. 7011, I wouldn't say that on American really mounts a hoes
because they put their hands on the saddle hern, then while holding
to that and pulling up, they lamp up with their feet and light in
the saddle. The !lexican slut so ambish. He just climbs on.
Now to get back to me. I wasn't born right on.a ranch,
but was born in Tegle Pass, Texas, on March 14, 1890. My dad died
some few weeks before I was born, and my mother married s MOxieen
nhipps, -oody
Rangelore
'arrant Co.,. Dist. #7
Page
FC
cow puncher when T wasn't but eight years old. She and my dad were
both Spanish, but he was a Mex,. His name was Campo and he had a
boy two years older than I. His name was Guadalupe, Campo, and a
tougher cow *)uncher than he never lived. He we't' so mean he just
oouldn't get along with Ample, but he was mean to his bosses and
oattle, and tough with men. Why, after he was 18 or 17 yenra old,
the Maderos put him on the payroll as 0 gunman, or, as a watohman.
bat was what they called theirgunviir.
My step -dad had .been used to the range life so ,long that
he *anted Guadalupe and I to grow up, litterelly In the saddle.'
soon's I was old enough, I was taught to sit a hose. Soon's I was
big enough to climb up into the saddle, I was given a.litas old
pony to ride, the same as all the rest of the kids on the ranch.
Al the Memo kids on the Madero were treated like that, and were
punching cows at an age when kids of We-8days would run from a cow,
and be scared to death of a hoes.
The Madero, where my step-dsd took us When he went to
"exioo, ran around 40,000 head in the MVM iron. You make it
like thisAnk It's crazy looking, but you just try and make it
into some other bread. Those Ittideros knew their onions when it cane
to ranching and brands. "mile theirnneighbors were as a rule,
honest, the Madftro-was forced to keep about 10 watchmen to keep
those who weren't honest, hopest where the !Alder() beef was concerned.
2he rustlers from other places were what made it hard.
The Madero was close to Parma, in Coahuila 3t5t5, and
Leonardo Santos ran the big Santos Ranch near Pates, Coahuila.
'I don't know anything else about the ranch, but let me tell you.
One day, along in the evening when the Mx'se liked to take a sort
phinns, 'Yoody
,Aingelore
'errant io., Dist. &7
'age 13
Ic
of a nap, one of the watchmen was taking his in the shade of a treat
where he figured he'd be out of sight if one of the foremen hap-)ened
njong. en, a big roar of Lmving egtLO.re woke him up. 'hen he got
into a ponition where he could see the herd, he saw a bunch of the
•Santos men driving off a herd of !leder() cattle. Mille Santos had
bought 74dero cattle before, and the watehmen knew it, he figured
he'd better get to headquarters and let the boss know ebout it.
I was hanging around the bunk house when he got there,
and his hose was a lather from one end to the other. I,knew some
thing unusual was up, and I knew too that if there was, none of the
kids would get in on it so I just stayed out of sight. Pretty soon,
the foreman come out and hollered the grew up. They all mounted
their hosses, some of them barebaoked. Then they rode off as bird
as they -could.' 7.11, I had my pony with me, and as 1 rig as I could
-keep them in sight, I follered. Pretty soon, they got out of
sight And I had to trail.
That trailing business was the money because the Madero
gang ran into a trap and Jose Torres got killed. You see, the
Santos men had a beck watch, and when the Maderos ran into it, they
had a devil of a time. "he Santos men were no match for the Maderos,
though, and they soon had to run for it. I was just a kid, env
never knew how many of the Santos men bit the dust, but I imagine
several must have. Nothing was ever done to santos in the courts
around Parra'. Might have been at. Pato., but Inever/heard of it.
I said before that all the kids were put to work. xell,
when corn planting time came, I planted corn. Had a sack slung over
my shoulder, filled with corn, and I kept my left hand spilling it
in the row while my right reached into the sack for more corn.
Phipps, !oody Page 44
Rangelore
?arrant Co., Dist, 47 PC
rhile I wasn4i.planfang stimething, I was hunting lost °elves. !,.ly
job Weis to bring them in on my little old pony, and put them into
the feeder lot. "Zhere wawa regular men to handle the calves. He
was an old hose buster that had ruined himself on wild bosses.
"That was a dangerous business,. That, busting wild !losses.
And yet, I wanted to do that worse tivn anything else under the
sun, and sines my step-ded was all for it, he helped trlin meit I.
first trained oxen to the plow. You ivuldn't think that was very
dangerous, but it was. The main reason was because.you couldn't
tell when one of them might get mad and try to kill you.
Next thing, I set about training mules. The mules the
Madero* hadoust have been the stubbornest in the world beocuseI
sure had a herd time with them. By the time I was 11, though,J
-was ready for. the homiest. I'd already had a little experienoe
with pitching, beosuse my step...dad changed my little old pony for
one of the 3panish hose** when I went to handling the mules so's
T dould outrun them when they took a mind to run. 'his spaniel
hos!, would pitoh.s little every morning, end I got used to that.
Spanish bosses were about all there was in that part of
Mexico°, and the only kind there was on the !Rader° 'loss ranch. I
24 hose ranch because thee was what Wires called, but it was a
part of the main Madero itself. The men on the hose ranch just
worked around when the hoopoe liked to run wild, round the hills.
The man that t)ok ms over to teach, ibile on the hose ranch, was
Juan De Le Torre. Just about the time he'd taught me pretty good,
he had a little trouble. He was pretty mean to them, and one day
while riding one, it reared way up high. Jnen,pulled hard on the
Phipps, -oody
Rangelore
*errant Co., Dist. 17
Page 5
FC
reigns, and the hoes fell over backwards. Fed taught so how to
leave the saddle,' and always keep myself in e position where I
could leave, but he never left, and was crushed to death when the
hoes fell on him* That was one of the best lessons T ever had
because I saw what could happen when a men was too mace to his
boss. I nsver did like to mistreat themsend never liked to see
others, *lut you had to keen your lip around the cowpunch re, or
they'd give you a ledl:on in keeping quiet.
"While on the hoss ranch, I saw Greelrio Segovia hot a
wild hose, that turned out to be a race hose. Fe was named
Alazan rooted*** The tlazan wee. his name, and the 7ostado meant
A little dark,* in Mexieen. Alazen won a lot of money for
Oregorio. .I didn't see many of his races because we moved to
Taxes pretty son after, but I did see Cregorio do a lot of riding.
He was about the best rider on the place, and I've seen him rope
many a coyote or deer.
You know, a deer can outruns hose if you give him room,
but if Oregorio could get close to him before he knew anybody was
around, Gregorio could catch him end rope him. The Spenidh hoes
is noted for his first burst of speed, end can outrun many breeds
in the dhort run.
taken I was about 12, my step.ded decided to go to 71 Paso
td give ruadalut,e and myself a little schooling. *Te got a job in
an 71 peso slaughter house, moving cattle into the killing f1:11r end
knocking them out. went to soho)1, alright, but Guadalupe run off
and went back to the ranch. That seemed to be alright with my step.
dad, because he stayed on and didn't send for Guadalupe. I went on
to school *til be decided to go beak in 1v05.
Phipps, "i'oody 'age 6
Rangelore
farrant Co., Dist. /7 PC
This time, when I got to the adero, I wee hired as a
brow buster, and put on the hose ranoh to stay. Of course, I
didn't bust bosses all the time, because the Madero* only broke
enough to keep the riders in riding stook. hey figured when
each man had eight in his string, he had enough. Men too, some
of them broke their own mounts. They liked to do that, figurtng
their bosses would do better if they only had one rider to get
used to.
I stayed on the hose ranch 'til I was 23, but the rest
of it was all the same. .Then I wasn't busting houses, I was
in the shade of some tree. A men could sure get lazy in that part
of the country. One day, after we'd rounded up a sizable herd,
and had it in some brand now corrals that we'd just built, I
leld down and was pounding my off -ear When I heard a roar and felt
the ground shaking. _I was over a small rise from the corrals ho
get away from the smell and raoket, and when I heard this roar, I
knew a stop was coning right at me. I knew it, but there should
of been one on that day because it was one of the prettiest
days a man could want. Not even a cloud moving anywhere, and the
sun just pouring down.
I jImped up and grabbw my hose, just as the herd mounted
the rise. I managed to get out of the way alright, and knowing
that I had to have some help to stop the sto-lp, I rode for the
bunk house where most of the men were supposed to be at that time.
2hey were there, and at my yell, they clams out like bees out of a
hives Gregorio in front. I yelled what the herd was doing, then
turned around andbeat it book. Just to show you what Oregano
Phipps, "'oody
Rengelore
Tarrant CO., Dist. 41
page
;pc
ootAld do when he had to, and what a good hose he always kept, he
beat me to that herd. "'here were a number of small hills in thet
country, and we could hear the herd as it ran. This time, the
herd had turned a couple of times to keep from running through some
brush, and we were able to vetch it by cutting across the country.
Gregor1gu passed me as I reached the tail end of the herd, and by
the time I got to the flanks, he had got out in front and turned
the leaders into a mill. It takes a little time to do that, of
course, because you have to get to the leaders and keep showing
Mem 'til they start turning. fter the mill gets going good,
though, a cow puncher's worries are over because than the herd
Will run 'til it gets tired, then stop and lay down.
cie had a lot of other stampedes, but none so bed as
that one. It tlok uti 14 hours of herd riding to get it beck
together &rain. -regorio made us stay right at it, because he
hed a contract to have so many hePd at the border on a certain
day, and if he didn't have it, he'd lose money,. It was a 350 mile
drive to the border to start with, and the men were just resting
before gettin started. heard some of the older heeds say that
they'd round mountain lion tracks aroxind the corral, and that was
what etcrted.it. nother thing that made it so tlugh we, when
it stampeded, it was inside the •orrals, and had to tear them down
to get out. That's the way a stampeding herd Is. It will tear
down anything it can't go around. Many a man has lost his life
because he hapnene to got in front of the herd -nd his hose lost,
it's footing.
Then I got to be 23, 1 quit tht Madero and went to Texas.
:'hip's, -oody
u.angelore
Tarrant Co., Dist. 47
-age /8
i'here were several reasons. One WV8 that I stir; I never would get
anywhere on the Madero, and another was that rrencisoo Madero,
who bad been president, had been shot. 1,8 long as he was President,
tli$Maderos fared right well, but after those 'Norte guards shot
(That's a quarter)
him, I wouldn't have given a doodly-bob/for the ranoh so I left.
7
Pad, sure enough, .he leder° Ilsnoh is now a bunch of homesteads.
I crossed the border at Langtry, Texas, and hired to
A,P williams as a cow puncher. He ran around 1,000 head near Del
Pio, and told me he had to have straight shooters who didn't run
every time somebody said 'boo' at him. loll, I was never too
brave, but I had to have a job, and I knew it wasn't so bad as all
that on a ranch.
rfter T got to the outfit I found out why he wanted
gunmen. Pis place was right on the border, and the nwlean rustlers
ran herds c:cross his place into Mexico. 'Thile running them across,
they'd tske a head or so of Nilliam's beef. lilliams didn't like
that, so he was trying to keep about six men with him who'd battle
when the time came to battle.
TTe never did have any trouble, though, but one time.
herd came through one night, when we had gathered a few head on
our first day of the Spring roundup. It was along in May, la4t,
-I, figured they seen the small bunch, but never figured why they,
left it. le went ahead,. and about four days later, when we bed
a little over 200 hevd gathered, a couple of them came over and drove
it off. 7hat haplened in the night, and the next morning, we came
out to the herd, and it was gonet 1011, since we were prepared for
Pmv kind of trouble, we just trailed the here. ge oame on it ner
nangtry, where the men were just fixing to dAve it across.
foody
Rengelore
:'errant 30., Dist. 17
7,age d9
4e never did see the men, and figured they must have left
the herd when they seen us coming. '.1(1 tracks., them down to the
water. of the Rio Grande, and saw where they'd -come out on the other
side. After we .run the tary. i1liams said there were 14 heed
missing, but thnt me were lucky to got any of it hack so just forget
it.
R.nching on the Jilliams niece was just like ranching on
the If=dero, excepting that Williams had all 1/lerican caw punchers
except me. hat was the only difference besides the number of cattle
handled. ',*le had stamps, •hosses to break, fences to mend, calves to
reed, cattle to brand, and everything else was just the same. :fter
two years on the ',7illiams plaoè, T left tho range.
I'm staying with my oldest boy here in rort Worth now, at
907 Valley Street. If I have time, I might yet enter the hees
busting contests in the rodeo because I figure I'm still as good as
SI
I ever. was, while I might nee( a little brushing up. I don't know
what I'll do yet, end you can't tell either, because I chr:nge my
mind with the wind. Once. I set my mind on something to. do,;thoug4
T stay in the saddle Itil-I've rode my hose.. Busting hosses tought
me that.