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Phipps, oody
Bangalore
Tarrant ,Jo., fist. P7
'page 42
had to render our's in a big kettle (en the fire —place. We had better
meet, alright, than the store meet, because when we needed beef, we
killed one. Thet is, the boys would kill it. e grew our own hogs
for our hams and bacons, and that was tar better than the kind you
buy now too. Alile it was better, we were always working and never
had a mo7lmit's time we could call our own. ro radios, light plants,
automobiles, nor any other convenience possible nowadays.- It's hard
for a girl now to see just whet a hard time we did have. But of course,
we didn't re!--lize that we were having a hard time. e just went ahead
end worked, end that was all there was to it.
I always envied my brothers because they got to ride horses
end ride around outside. Why, they'd ride them before they were five
years old, and made pretty good cowboys by the time they were seven and
eight.
There were still a few Indians around when I was just a small
tot, and we'd see them sometimes after dark, snooping around over the
place, looking for something to steal. They were bad to steal horses,
and caused my brothers no end of trouble about them. They'd hide the
horses in different places, and when the Indians found them, why, they
wouldn't leave a horse for my brothers to ride. ?hen they'd have to
walk over to the Blum ranch, Wthere my dad would give them four or five
more, bawl them out for not taking care of them,. then tell them to
hide the horses better. I don't know whether dad had to pay for them
or not, but T don't believe he did because the Blum people had a big
wild horse herd on their property, which the cowboys kept pretty well
broke up as they needed more..
From time to time, the boys had a little trouble with
rustlers running off a few head and they had several stampedes too,
Phipps, .00dy
Rai galore
Tarrant Jo., 'list.
17
nage ,3
iIc
but I couldn't give you a description of it now because I wasn't on
the spot and it's becn so lone ago.'
We moved off the old ranch when I was around 12 years old,
nnd went to San :3aba cpunty to live with my grand parents. "hey
operated a small ranch, but it was one of the best grassed and watered
places around that pert of the country. That made it valuable, and
several ranchers were always deviling grandfather to sell out. He
wouldn't do it because that was his home, and if he sold it, he
wouldn't have a home.
That was one of the reasons a bunch of men bunched up and
tried to run other ranchers out of the oounty. They called that gang
1he It was always hard for me to understand just why they'd
do the things they did. AThy, they killed Shorty Brown, my grandmother's
brother, after they'd told him to leave and he wouldn't. he whole
county turned oat to hunt him when he oome .4) missing, and they found
him hung to a tree in his pasture by the creek.
His son inherited the ranch, and they sent him notices to
leave, but he wouldn't lerve either. I saw these men ride by lots of
times. You know, I'd be down on the creek, and they'd ride by on the
other side of some timber. a long as nobody was lookim: at them,
they didn't wear a mask, and I recognized several men, that were big
ranchers, prominent men in the county. That was why I never could
understand, because the men would be so prominent, and yet be so mean.
May, two different sheriffs, one by the name of Hawkins, and the
other Atkinson, were the lefders of the'Mob.'
:hey sent my grandfather notice after netioe, but he
wouldn't bluff. I saw several of the notices, and they'd have a
crude scaffold drawn on them.
7hipps, oody
Rangel >re
rlarrant Jo., Ast. 17
11
Alge 14
hey ',ailed old Hartman's son over some lifts something or
other, and buried him in the sand. 'he flartmans lived about three
fourths of a mile from us, and we'd go down there real often to see
how they were getting along. I t. we went at night, they'd never have
a liAit because they were afraid some of the gang would sneak up and
shoot one of them throuh the window.
One day, when all of the family was going home from church,
and had just gotten out, a shot just missed Shorty Brown's son. That
was how bold they were, and once when my dad was in a hospital at
Brownwood, two men came in and abated with dad. After they left, he
motioned me to him, and told me that they were members of the Mob.'
*Their names were 3am Sparks at flgerida, and e man by the name of
Hudson who lived near dad. He promised me that some day he'd tell
me the whole story about the Mob,' but he died before he got to it.
While T was in 7iroAlwood with dad, I met a cowboy and married
him. His name was Pobert Lindsey. ":(9've lived together ever since, but
we haven't stayed for very long on a ranch since we married. 7e tried
to run e stook farm neer Irownwood not 1 ng ago, but it didn't pay, so
we one to -7ort '7orth and are now run:An- the Donna 7otel here.