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PhiPPR, goody,
*angel ore
torrent Co. t.
Tage
nave May, 63, was born 1°0.4,1974, on
his father's farm, 20 mi.
'3eing taught to ride a bores at a very
tender age, s beam* no interested that
he was doing regular cowboy work by the
time he was eight years old. ..iecolleoti one
of rustler hanging days are still vivid in
his memory. After the death of his father
in 1992, 'lave sold both ranch and cattle
and became engaged as peas* officer,
serving in a number of ?exam cities, until
his rot irameat. IL* now resides at the
lhandler Rote]., l'brt Worth.Tirx. His story:
"I was born and roarod on the rage when there wasn't a
no. in tat) whlle country, except for hospital. staff. T was
born reb.4, 1974, on ray dad's ranch, about 20 miles went of
linos ,!ex.
"I can remember 'ahem I was about eitit years old, dad's
Mord was about 12,000 head, which is ran in the 'n Aar' iron.
couldn't tell you how Luny he run betbre. because I wasn't
interested enough in it. 411. I was interested in, while a kid,
1Sas ridin' bosses and rants' hard.
"I really cam It tell you Just when t started riding, be-
muse it se S like to me that T've bean riding all my life.
Of course, after T entered the peace officer work, I didn't do
Naeh riding; ad, as tine wore one peaoe officers did less and
lots ?Aim. kt the age of eight I was busting bronco not
Sierioatild bosses, bu.t brencs. A brims is a half -busted wild
IMIRIB p Sill. )wens done most of the wild hose bunting; he was a
Olt maker -jack at it.
ve didn't here nothing but good riders and sure shots in
that country 'fail* I was a kid, unless they are won* or kids.
Thipps,
Ringelore
Tarrant Co.Otat. 7
The asn we had Tidily:, for is were 3111 ''ogue. ?spittle Foard,
-ill Simpson, and a number of nigger ex -el ev os dad brouecitt with
him from Tennessee after the war. all or them ware good Tilsit's,
ropers. and sure
"runny thing about those niggers. They would have given
Viol? lives for dad, 3ven though he owned tient as slaves aid th.ff
worked for his for no salary. They got money for oompunahing, but
Sot during slavery days. The thing about it was that they ware
bora on dad's pi4antration and their last wags were May, the sane
as ours, baoause that was the rule in plantation days. These
siggers would go around Just as if they Wire One of the family,
and never stopped (sailing dad 'itarsterl, that is wise they spot*
to his.
The acre work was made tougher beoause there was so much
hose sad emitter thieves' going os. ?here were lots of rustlers
aid, every so often, -ne of them would be naturalised. That is,
he would be mad* a -1.00d citisan by a ocamittaa of any amber.
The pales's. on the what*, was to tie tiliar hands behind
sit his os AlaiLoa's, tie a rape to his as*, mad tie tee other
*led to a handy tree limb, then have somebody slap his hose with
their hats. 'lilt* i'vs seen lyndleings, and so on, I flavor saw
a rustler in the sot of being naturalized.
"whoaI was a little over eight years old, I had an oxpec
lance with thew 'ornery raskals that shore like to put me in my
grave. It was one ("unday writing, and dad and ate was out on lb*
front port*, a -reading the 'Nelms News and the linoinsatti
Inquirer. All of a suddwa, dad says: 11Wies, go get that herd of
ThiPPs. -oody
Rangelore
Tarrant
Page #3
mules down by the Little Bosky (that was a ere* on the place)*
and bring 'ea up here.t want to do sorsethilg with'. To say
that 7 was surprised was putting it mildly, booeuse dad norvoir
worked on "%milky; and he didn't went any of his hands to ID**
"No had a hose oorral near the house, where we kept three or
four waddle hose** for emergency. People, nowadays, would eel
'era a hose lot, but we oallet 'era hose corrals. Toll, t sad-
dled ono up and lit out for the mule herd. On the wey, t wee
doing like any kid t!oes. nes ay hands weren't bumf, I'd day-
dream, and that was what t was doiag; Just riding along with ray
head down an paying no attention to where t was going. I didn't
have to direct Vle hose, because when you'd set *es in a straigit
lin• they'd usually try to keep in that direction without but
little varying. That was a good eow-hoss for you.
"The first time t looked up was whoa the creek soused 1:31
hoes to slightly stumble. I looked up, and there, staring r14.it
into ay too*, was two men thsAt had been hung. Their eras were
all bugged out, and t-leir tougnee were stioking out, all red
and !wallas. It actually soared me so bad that t fell oft the
hose backwards, ri.ht irtto the creek. I didn't 011414 try to mount
again, but figured. I needivl a lotte distances fast, and t felt
like t could outrun that hoes. The hoes saw soared by ay actions
and passed me on the anky to the hoes corral.
"Sy the tirs• I'd run all the way home: t was all tuckered
out and Just toll on Vat front porch. Mother happeaed to see me
coming, and cure got excited, especially when she saw me tall
down on the porch ltite that. She said: 'nave, what in the merit*
rhipps, woody
.an6olore
Tarrant
rage
the matter?'.
"I: couldn't answer, so she said: 'Pa, what's the utter
with navel'.
"He says: IX', he probably fell off of a hoes. Aarny, _he
wasn't killed, so 7 don't see any cattat for such ruction'.4.fter
T ot ray breath so‘e I 000.ld talk, I told 'em what I'd seat. Is'
said:Mall, if that's so, you rid• over to 7.4annihen's platse aid
tell him to come over here'. I saddled me snottily hose, beams*
the hoes I'd rode to the mule herd was pretty well jittered up,
and took out for .annihan's place.
"I told ,aunihan, and he said to ,TO back and h" brinP. the
ooronor with him when he came over.. "then they gat to our plea*,
everybody went down to the place *ore the men had boas biog. I
never wont. ?he only other time I saw anything of Nia was when
they passed the ranch house in a couple of long wooden boxes.
The ooranter found that they'd died at the hands of unknown. p.Arties.
I don't know whether he really felt that way or not, but I said
to myself, 'Ben ioard, t know who done it, and my led was one of
"Thoso rustlers were hoes thieves, an VaeY hal big herd
of 'ea. "re were two weeks gathering them all up; and people
came from :Watt', Bremond, and all around, to claim hosess.
think Viet we wound up with about 15 that nobody was able to
olaia. Up 'til the time dad died, in 1892„ I asked him every
once-in-aehtle if he wasn't one of the executioners, bat he
always said no.
peak ing big oattle up, we had regular tines to
rhipps, v'oody
langelore
Tarrant 3o.,nist.
Page 05
do this. We had a spring roundup to brand all the mavericks;
and the fall roundup in October aid Tovember, when we ant out
all the fat critters for sale. Times have changed since then.
and *ow most ranches don't have anything but fat cattle. The
times I'm speaking of was when nearly all cattle were longhorns.
lAnyttme you athered up a herd of oattle, you could just
bat on it that you'd have several near -stampedes, or you'd have
the reel article; bemuse a skunk, any kind of a wild animal, or
a storm, would sta.t cm on their way, *specially an electric
storm, wIth plenty of lightning flashing from their horns. tt
seemed like lietning was attraoted to their horns, like iron
to a magnet, and that nearly always put them on the stomp.
'Just one way to quiet 'em, too: and that's to sing and
talk to 'em you wasn't soared of nothing. It'd work about
half the time the other half, wow!
"The country around our place was 2rotty level, and there
weren't many step-offt;. so that saved a lot of beef from de-
struotion by falling over and hove others fell on them and crush
them to pieces. There were always enough stuff ,cunt, though,
to have a hospital place. That was a gully hemmed in on thou
sides by a walk, on the %sky, and the open end stopped with
brush. "fe out hurt staff in this place, and t dootered it myself.
"Once a stomp ntlrted, it was tip to the oowpunchero to stop
it at all oosts, because every mile ran off valuable beef, let
alone that "bef that was damaged. The manner we stopped them wee
for as many as could to get out is front and turn the leader.
which would start them to milling around, and stopping the stomp.
I never heard of mere than one man being able to get out is frost
Phi p a,'"oody
Raneelore
Tarrant Co.,nixt. 7
Page -6
at a tine, Disease the sowpunehers took an mile' risk to get
oat there. Nearly all the stomps hapmened at night, ard tne
owmaaseher wouldn't be able to see a thing. Tho hoes would al-
most have to go entirely by instinct, an4 they'd never know when
they'd step into a godher hole, get spilled, and probably
break tas horns leg, which meant that he'd have to be 'hot. ARY
oowpuacher that got throes stood a ohmic* of breaking hi* sea
if he was usable to light in the eustemary manner, that is, feet
first. Ross busters learnt that early in the game.
"Then, if he lid get off safe, and happened to be out in
front, you can imagine what'd Wiliam to him after 600 to 3,000
critters run over him.The good pert of all the stomps t ever
sem was that nobody got seriously hurt. lometimee, they'd Show
up with a skunt place, but they'd never even meation that.
''Another of the serious problems the raneher had was the
drouth periods. At that time, dad'd have to well off all the
beef, except the select mother cows. Than, we'd have to eat
lows cactus plants and burn the stickers oft to get foci. tis
Via winter time. "'vi out down malty a tree so's the orittera
could eat what few leaves they'd find. A the end of a drouth,
all the stuff would be poor and thin as a rail. some of 'ea
wouldn't live tivrough it, if it was extra tough.
"Oh yes, the thus* wagon; ''"e had one of the best in that
part of the eountry. It was never used except on roundup., but
was extra handy then, because the cowboy's life outside Mr'
raises an appetite It's about the hardest work there is, and the
roughest. It ages men mighty fast, and many's the sowpunchsr
AURA -oody
Ra*Felre
ftrren
Pae 47
tkat's tt for nothing but the chuck wagon, at 50, Busting
mild hoses breaks a man's ribs in, ruptures his insides, and
,14,11 halm in 47eneral, she n the hoes buster makes only one bad
'WPC jualonn, and aels done, unless hen luoky. t goons thet's
Use reason twat? nevr so hot for busting the wild on. I would
mount the tronos, thckigh. T oan recall old cooky, now, all
Vent over, groaning everytime he'd piok up a chip for the
400447, and al/. !one o2 us over knew his story, though, even
tbeugh we did guess a little *bent it, NO Just didn't went aRy
APIMPROW, *ad would bawl you out for even trying to mak* it
easy for him. hs'd say, 'let the hell out ()flaw*: When t .7et
se stove up that I need a flunk'', I wont bother anybody any
/After dad died, in 1892, I got the place, look, stook
and barrel. linos 17'1 always wanted to be a OWN, officer, I
sold it out just 11'.0 r 30t it, and took my first job at "'too.
After that, t worked in a 10°4 many Texan towns, until t ratired
on account of my ago,