Document text
Phipps, 'Ioody
RengeIarn
7nr:ant co., Dist. 1
71bert-,3roslin, 51, born on his father's
stock farm in Lrmar co., "ex. lroslin was
taught to ride a horse at an early aRe but
was never employed on a ranch. Instead, he
was a nester and a rodeo performer, and met
several famous rodeo performers. Ms rodeo
career ended in 11,10, and he now resides in
the 5tratford 7otel, Houston Tex. His story:
"age .)1
"4e11, I've been about everything else in my life but a
pow poke. I rode freight trine into New Mexico'when that was still
a pretty wild place, met Billy the Kid, outrode most of the cow pokes
I ever rode with in the rodeos I rode in, settled a claim and proved
it up, run drug stores and sold loonshine. I•could tell you a wilder
tale about running tot -gut liquor than,' could about riding hosses
and wet -nursing cows but that's what you went so here goes nothing.
"First, was born on my da4taLsvock farm in Lamar *aunty,
Texas, on June the 21st, 1085. If dy'd rushed the stork up
about three days, all the niggers ,01 over the country could celebrate
on my birthday. ffell, about -the fa pad didn't have but a few
head of cows and a couple of bosses. :ust enough to get under the
rope as a stook farm.
"While I wasn't clang something on dad's place 'I was riding
anything that'd hold me up from a hose to the old billy 'goat we had,
r.would.have rode the torn oat but he couldn't bold me up. never
gat a whipping in my life that wasn't for riding one of dad's
yearlings. I mightn't have ben so hot for riding them but all the
A
_)sids around about\rode them and we had riding.matches to see. which
,.ino:was the best rider. Now, yDU can well believe that we had aline
ng around there. Sonetimes mat4 find and extra tough yearling,
owner wouldn't let us ride him.so we'd do it at night when.
Phinns, -:oody
langelore
Tarrant 3o., Dist. I7
Page
they were asleep. Old Hugo AIread still oarries some bird shot in
his setter where one of them got wise and opened up on us. HuN
.lives in Bonham, Texas, now. He always got the worst of anything.
If we were caught swiping a few watermel,ms, he'd get caught. He wa3
just that kind of a guy.
"I sp)ke of rodeos awhile ago. re didn't have rodeos when I
was a kid. Nearly all the riding was done at the county fairs,
pidnics, and First Mondays. First Monday is the first Monday in a
month and was a tradesday at Bonham. People would oome _from all over
to sell or trade anything they thought they could make a little on.
Some people made it living going from one town to another and trading
on the day _set aside for tradesday. It wasn't nothing unusual for
small carnival to be there 'and have crooked games for suckers. You
could ,elways see gamblers at them. The gamblers actually lived off
of the suckers :they'd meet on these days. Nearly every tradesday,
some fellow would have a mule or a hose be didn't believe anybody
could ride end he'd charge you so much to ride it. If you made the
ride, you won the prize he offered. If you lost, you lost the
money you put up. Then, sometimes a fellow would show .up with a
mule or ,a hose to sell, and for excitement, the bystanders would
make up a.purse .for some fellow if -be rode the oritter.:,,Thenothe
y'tthiy,d lake 'their money back would to bet on the outcome of the
.ride.\
"My first Money made for riding a'boss was at a
-Monday in ,Bonham., ity.dad had ,brought me in with him, then, left me
watch the team and wagon. I happened to be standing close to
where some men wanted to make up a purse and have some one ride a
-'hose. One of them said to me, 18o,Iny, can you rider.
Phipps; loady
Rangelore
rarrent-Co., Dist. 17
page a3
:PC
"I answered, 'I can ride anything I've seen yet'.
"I must have rung the bell for them because that.suited them
to a T. They made up a purse of 125.00, then showed it to me. Some
way or other, one of the fellows says, 'Kid, that boss is a cinch
for a cigar:store Indian, let alone a good rider. You wont have to
worry. Just pile in the saddle 'til we tell you to get off and you've
made the easiest money you'll probably ever make'.
"One of the other fellows says, 'Better be careful, kid.
He might be telling you this to make you too sure of yourself. 9est
thing to do is get in the sad=ile prepared for some pure dynamite:
Then, if be takes you to town, you'll be prepared and if he _don't,
,you_ wont be tumbled.' Way I'figure it now is that the first fellow
had some money on me to lose end the last had some to win I'knew
I'd better win it I'Tinted that money and wanted it. Why, I was
just a kid and $25.00 was important dough in those days. acad.
buy a good suit at the store then for 45.00, and a week's supply of
candy for a dime so you see how I vented the motility.
"I'll never torget that ride as long aff.I'llia because I was
soLanxious to ride, and it was my first.- The hose's name wan, Old
Blue'. A couple of the fellows got ma 'a good saddle, the rest of
the 'stuff was on the hoes. They then helped me to get on him good,
than when they turned me loose one of them said, 'Kid you're onf
'your own'.
was in the saddle a full ten minutes. It you know any—
thing,atall about time in a saddle, that's as long as two months in
any man's life. That boss took me every direction you can look,
_then threw in a-oouple for good measure. What a ridet He even
pitched out toward a ditch and fell in itl Imes on my P's and Os
Phipps, %)pdy
Mangalore
rnrraat so., Dis. $7
:Inge
and saw the ditch thing might happen si I was prepared to.quit the
saddle Eit the right time. If the hose had caught one of my foot'
under him, I'd have been crippled for life and I knew that. It so
happened that.he fell in a way that I could ease my right foot out
of the stirrup at the right moment, stand over him while he fought
to get up in the ditch, then when he did make it,LI was in the saddle
le he eame up., "rot only in :he saddle but fanning the hoss with my
big hat like a real rodeo performer. Mull Man& That was the stuff.
"That ride made me ar„)und Bonham. I could have any gal that
I oared for; and I was going with them then even if I was kind of
rushing my time up a little. That 0,2-5.b0 prize 'till makes me feel
good when I think about it. I didn't have a cent of it a week later
but"'I• had a good time for sure. .1 bought ass suit; a new stetson
hat; riding boots, and a big yeller handkerchief. 'Mani Mani 'ias I
:the -cock of the. walk. .I always was kind of a ,band to brag on anything
-and this ,gave me something to brag about. Of 03 urea; it was a.good
ride end the men bragged on me too. This cost me man)' a fall after
that. because they'd bring some real, bronoit in, knowing 'they'd get
some money bet when the regulars around there found out was going
_
o:ride.
•,r:c took so many _fails that my pride .quite a bit.
Xt.'hurt me so bad that, I didn't .even• want to ,stay around'fso,'_I caught
some .freight trains and went to New Mexico. While .1 was in Po;teles;
:was- interested in 'a poker genie.. -.1 was what you. call, ;*Sweating .the
ame".. This is. a'. practice, all. gamblers :_disapprove of strongly.
_
had been raised in that country; I'd have been leery of the game,-
-in the first pla9e because each -player had a six shooter on the ,table
n front of him. This first took my eye; 'then the high stakes they
Philps, 'oody
Bengelore
Tarrant Co., Dist. 27
7r.ge -5
were playing for and the gold coins stacked in front of each player
kind of run my eyes out on e stem. I'd seen money like that in
banks before but not out in public,. I was thinking to mysilf that
they'd .ought to be soared of a holdup even if they did have a gun
on the table inffront of them.
"I happened to know a little ebout !gang poker nnd the man
I was sweating made a play that I thought was very foolish. I. felt
so kennly that I made my presence known by grunting. He jumped around
so quick that I never realized he was moving 'til he was facing me,
and, Lawdl Lewdly -he had his six shooter pointed at my biscuits. He
sew that I wan just a kid and picked me up, carried me to the door,
and threw me out on the board walk without ever -saying a word.. Then,
he turned around and the swinging doors shut him off from my sight.'
walked around town, end the more I thought.ahout:the.
matter,Ahe more .I .got madder. I thought.i was some pumpkins end
I also thought ,that since they didn't know me, I, could get away with
tough stuff and they'd just think wee sure enough tough. Peet of
the matter is;Jreally did thinkl was tough/. and I actually packed
smell caliber pistol. I wasn't fool enough to peek it around with
me butA;ept it up in my hotel room. -Welli.I finally made up my mind
o get that pistol end go kill the men.
lay the time I'd gone,tO:my roam; got the pistol and come:
down to the hotel lobby, word had gotten around town 'what had happened
end the hotel man came to tell me that ltd better get out of -town.
The first he swot me was mhen7j aameriromtthe stafr-rell with the-.
pistol in my hand. His face got white as paper, then when I got to
Alimihelsnatched the pistol out of my hand and said, *Kid„-, you wouldn't
Auswe's ehanoe with(that manl 164; he's Billy the Kid! -One of the
Phis, ,00dy
Pangelore
Tarrant Co., 'jot. 19
?age f/t5
best and fastest pistol toters the world he ever seen'. I finally
ended up by catching the first freight out of town and back toward
home without my pistol.
"After I got beck home, I had quite a few tales to tell
about the cow punchers and did I tell about Billy the Kid. Of course,
it goes without saying that I never told what really happened between
him and me. The tale I told had a different ending. In fact, I told
it so many times that I got it a little twisted up and the old timers
got to where they didn't even believe thet I ever got out there. I
didn't core because I had the young ones all bulled up, end that was
what .I really wanted to do.
"I finally ran out of something to tell the folks about and
decided to go back. and settle on a piece ,of property. I told every
body good bye for a few months, then lit out again. ,I .landed in
Portales in Yebruary, 1908. After I prospected around a little, I
got an asthmatic old fellow to go out with no and survey me quarter
section of land. The piece I decided on was about 40 miles South of
,-Portales, at Tivan, which was about lialfeay-between Portales and
Roswell, New Mexioo: it's been sarong -ago that I don't recall just
-what all I had to do_to hold the land but I didn't do any more than
-had to do.; I think you had to sleep -so Many molths on •the place,
'plow up so much, and build so much. JUst as soon as I proved rty place
up, I lit out for beak home.
"Oh yes. .Let me tell, you about the way the surveyor. Laid
;the place off. He went to what he .figured was the 'corner of the place;
sighted a place off a ways, -then drugs 'sled in of` straight line toward
the place he had sighted. That way, you had a_ property line end a
',road' too. Lots cheaper than the roads they ,build today.
Phiaoss -o)dy
Rangelore
?arrant Co., Dist. :7
Page 17
"I didn't take a tlain back the way I did before. I had a
chance to go as far as Stinking Springs with a trail herd so I took
it up for another chance to see Billy the Kid again. Stinking
Springs was his hangout. was disapnointed though, because a fellow
by the nane of Pat Garrett had already killed him somewhere. I think
that's the way it was. i.nyway, I never saw him. I went back to
Portales and caught me a train back to Bonham, Texas! Of course, I
had to change trains but I was used to it by this time.
"This time when I got back, I saw a chance to get s me money
to help me fix my place, up out in New !.texico. One of the gals I'd
been bulling along had lost her mother and she' stood to get some
money out of the estate. Don't make no mistake now: I liked her
well enough to want to marry her without the money but the money
'didn't hurt none. She was seventeen years old when she got her pile,
and went down to the bank and drew it out. \8540.00S Most money
I'd ever had.
7' "Well, we hung around and made a few meals off the folks
'Til two months to the day atter le !serried on October the ,7th, 1907,
we went to LlaAlester, Oklahoma. While in ronester, I saw Belle
Starr* the woman outlaw, come riding through town with her gang.,%
All of them had plenty of hard ware 'on them, and were riding the
finest hose flesh I'd ever seen. They were really fixed up to do
business.
"I bought me a brand spang new Stud ebaker wagon with iron
axles, red end yellow wheels, brakes, and all the trimmings had
canvas
to buy me- enough/to make a covered wagon out of it but that was what
we needed so we did it. When we came back through Bonham and
our folks, we picked up all the stuff we could get that ic uld
63
us'
Phip7is, 7oody
Rongelore
:torrent 13., Dist. 17
Page 18
Pe
any good, then lit ottlike the old pioneers did. To show you how we
fixed ourselvns up, we even to.* six hens along that some unt of my
wife's gave us. 'le5 had a wood stove, boxes of rations, and all.
"Until we got to ltus, oklahoma, we had the worst matched
/team I've ever seen. A little old mule- teamed up with a big fine
boss. The big hose was always pulling the load, and the mule was
L
almost excess if it wasn't for the fact we needed two flosses anyway.
'While we were in the wagon yard at Altus, a hose trader came up with
a small hoes and said, 'Bud, let me put this hose in here just to
show you how fine he'll 1 ok with your mule. He's more the mule's
size and wont •cost you a penny because I'll trade even.'
"He began to undoing the harness on the hose and fixing to
put the little hoes in. I immediately saw what he meant to do. If
he'd ever got the big hoes out and the little one in, he'd claim I'd
traded already. Ho figured to put the Indian sign on me and bluff
me right on out. AU I could see was that long trip ahead of me so
I.hollered out, 'Get away from that hose, misterS' lie kept on and
didn't pay no'attent ionite me so I jumped up into the wagon, got my
'45 out, pointed it right at him, then said, 'Now, you'll put that
hops right back like you found him or I'll blow a hole in you big
enoUgh to walk him through you'. pidently he understood what
meant because he did as I told him and got away fram there. then
looked around and bought me a hose that fitted id with the big one.
'They had wagon yards -out on the plains and in the mountains'
in those days like they have tourist .camps these days. One of the
-busiest wagon yards without a town to support it was.Luoki *wings,.
loSoad on the Prairie Dog fork of the Bed River, and in Uall' county.
4splace-was'just like I've seen in several picture shows. They
Phipps, ':oody
Rangelore
T.orrant Co., Dist. :7
Page 40
PC
Palo Duro canyon. I guess I saw the most cattle on the loose right
there that I've ever seen in my life. All the, critters carried the
old a ranch brand. I never saw the headquarters buildings for the
reason that I was in a hurry to get to our place as soon as I muld
and was going as fats: as I could. I did see some of the cow pokes
and one of them stopced me to buy some smoking from me. He told me
,that all the boys had orders to stay with the herdt.,til they got
further orders because so ne fancy free boys were wet roping every
,thing in sight. !!e said that it must have benn wrong, dope because
nobody had sighted anybody in the wrong. Zust travelers like our-
selves going through the 6ountry.
"As we went along In theloalo Euró,I kept,the wife'worried.
:all the time about the dangers' of land slides burying us alive. Wei
:came out at Canyon City, _then headeliBeUthwestto'Portales., .After a
long string of wagon yards were passed, we filially arrived at our
1'
home and abode. What an abodes There were cracks in it at places
'that you could throw a oat through. Tlylre were so many _things to do
to the place and all, that it was a month before it was livable. It
was a regular log cabin with adobe for the chink filler,, and an adobe-
chimney. To make adobe, you mix clay and straw together, then steak
it like kids making a mud pies or an artist -making a *lay doll..
"I had arranged credit for seed and all at Portales.so áfl
'I had to was work the land. I set in and worked for awhile, then had
to go to fencing the place on account of the critters from the B Bar
ranch to the North of me coming in and stomping down my work. I sure
bed lots of trouble with those ordetters,because it was a penetentiery
Offense to kill one.
"One night while we were asleep, I heard some of the critters
?hipps9 aoody
Rnngelore
Tarrant Co. Asti. 17
:,e 11
FC
in my garden plot by the house. I •jumped out of bed, grabbed my gun
nd shot out toward the garden to scare them off. I heard wife
scream out that she'd heard one of then fall. I didn't believe it
but I went out to see so that she wouldn't be worried about it, and
sure enough, I'd shot one in the head better than I could have done
it on purpose.
"Now, I'd done it Committed a penetentiary °Masa. I
-didn't have a pick or anything but I knew that I'd better .get thnt
'oritter out of eight so I buried it with a grubbing hoe. I just
finished covering her when dawn came the next morning. 7a worried
all that day, figuring that za Hall, who owned, the B Bar, would find
out the first thing. Nothing happened that day' but the wolves
scented the critter and _tried —to dig her up. They did that for a
long time 'til the ground sunk in enough to keep them from'soenting
her. I'd have to go out there every day and recover the place
where they'd dug the night before.
"It that same thing were t) happen to me now, 1*d Just out
her up and bury her remains after I'd taken all the meat I wanted
but ire were young then, and in a strange country. Things hapPened
every day to scare us. For instance; 8 mule backed up .to the house
and scratched his back while we Were asleep; and knocked all the
'pretties off the wife's aresser., that 1*d made for her. That scared
-..usa _Then, one _night, we heard a scratching on the roof on one windy
night. 1t seemed like the scratching would begin at the tep, then
go down to the ,eaves, then return and begin 'again` at :the top. Now,
t would you have done? We just covered our heads up and hoped
_
that what ever it was, sauld go away. Next morning, 1,found out
that the hens had been blown off their roosts and were trying to
?hipps, c4ody.
Rangelore
arrant Co., Dist.
Page
roost on top of the house.
"Well, the farming proposition turned out not to be so hot.
We spent all the wife's money in trying to keep on, the trail drives
going North would cross our property and tear down what ever happened
to be in their way. Som:times a herd mould be half a day in passing.
that could I do? I couldn't go out there and st7, 'Now don't you
cross my place'. ',11 the cow pokes were bigger than me, could shoot
faster and straighter than I could, and I knew it. Besides that, I
could just happen around when a trail drive was ordssing'my place and
one of them would take a pot shot at some thing close b‘) me. They
never missedaanything they shot at, and sometimes it came so olose
that I almost had to feel to see if. it wasn't ma that was shot and
didn't realize it. I rem out of grub, then learned to patch' rabbits
without shooting them. took ,a wire, beat the end in a kind of a
crook, then put the wire down in a hole where I lame a rabbit was.
If 1 felt him; he wouldn't make any racket but I learned to know
when it was a rabbit. If it was,, -I turned the wire ail it woulil
catch in his akin, I'd draw it toward ale after he squealed becauae'
when it was in him tight enough to make him squeal you stood for a
,Inelal because be couldn't get away from you.
"We left there like the other nesters left When they
came in, they all left a string of tin cans at each oanp fire,
when they left; they left a string of rabbit hides around their
camp fires. On our way back, we went in more of a straight lin
than when we went out. We passed over one spot that is today,
Lubbock, Texas. When we got along about to Quitaque, I board of
a rodeo that would beheld at cuanah,:Texes. Well, skinny rations
had been the style for quite a while now, so we sure' headed for
?tippet -oody
Rengelore
7Prrant Co., ist. !7
.-uanah.
Page -113
1.-‘`C
"When we got there, I entered into the hose riding contest
part of the rodeo. Among the riders there was a fellow I'd never
heard of before. His name was Booger Red. The hoss I was billed
to ride was named for the famous an Outlaw, 'Belle Starr'. :•-ed
wasn't even billed to ride any certain thing. I sort of wondered
about that but cane to find out later thnt he always rode the worst
critters at any rodeo and nobody could always tell just what would
turn out to be the roughest.
"When I came out of the chutes on Belle, I was riding her
for all I was worth becatse it meent bread and butter to me. I_
Anew I had a woman that would like mighty, well to eat again, so I
gpve the very best show I oould possibly put on. Belle put me into
-filrery kind of a place except on the ground. She twisted end cavorted'
f
around, went up and down, sideways and every which -way. I stayed,
-Tight with her though, and slapped her with my stetson to make her
pitch harder. After the time had gone by, the whistle was blown,
and I came ori' that boss like was shot from a pistol. I just
ve in, I guess. Anyway, I won my choice of a fine saddle or a
$100.00 bill.' I took the bill
In order to make a better showing stblisn did, Red roie
e hoes with nothing but i suroingle: That', a leather strap that
es around a oritter's belly. The kind used in a rodeo have an
ron ring at the top, or on the critter's back, so riders could
old on when they rode in that manner. That was certainly one of
the :most outstanding rides I've ever witnessed. I wouldn't have
H
even oared \if they had given him the prize instead of to me but
Iraip7s, body
Tlangelorc,
Tar:ant Co., 71.8t. :7
7age .14
that's where I sli-med up. He did win a better prize than I did
because he took first place and got f'.150.00, with a saddle too.
"One of the fellows that came around and complimented my
ride was '...uanah Parker, the famous Indian chief. 7.ie invited me
out to visit his place the next day. •f3inee we had a couple of days
before an)ther rodeo was scheduled to take place It !_ltus, Oklahoma,
I took hVa. up. 77ife and I went .out to his place, and it 'was on
the, shores of a lake there. I don't recall just how many tents
there were there but yoU can well Lelieve that there was a many_ a one.
We also saw his wives even if he didn't introduce us around to them.
They stayed off to _one adde ,and, one of ,the cow pokes with us knew
them so he told us about them.
*The hoes I was billed to ride" at Altus was named, *Dynamite
Be was named right for sure beeause he was worse than Belle
ever was. Belle though, had given me a little preetioe and I'd
rode a couple of frosty brows between Belle and Dynamite, to I was
In good form. I pt on the same kind of a ride that I did before,
_and what'a more, I won the same kind' of money.
"Red was billed as he was before, .and nobody knew just
-what he'd ride 'til he came.,,out of the ohutee, riding e bull with 'a
suroingle. :tat bull, must have been rode before or something because
he was th ad,lest and most active bull I've ever seen. I imagine
:that bull.must have broken every bone Red had because, he sure did
cavort- around the arena. _The arena had an iron rail fence before
the grandstand so the austomers,00uld Crowd down to -the ringside if
they wanted to, and this bull jumped 'that rail wit'! Red -op him.. He
scattered the customers in short order but be still diet,n14; 4 top and.
7
-o)dy
RanGelore
7arrant 0.,Dist. ,P7
:Prige 115
kept on pitching 'til he reached one of the ends of the grandstand
that was boarded up to keep the paying customers from the outsiders.
Instead of didging the wall, or stopping, that bull just 'lucked
right on through it and kilocked down a section about ten feet 1)ng.
Red stayed with him 'ti]. they got out side, then reech&zi up and caught
onto a two by four plank that was ffxcd onto the wall,and drew him
self up off o; :he bull. Of course, this board wasn't there just
for the riders to \use but was a pert of the building. Red said that
it came in mighty handy because he/didn't want to ride anything out
of sight of the customers as that wouldn't be fair to them.
"That was the last riding lever did. We only had one more
thing to happen to us while we were still in the covered wagon.
Night_ caught us a few miles from Montague, and we decided to make
it on the, spot. During the night, there came isrp such a bad Norther
,and wind storm that- got, afraid that the wagon was going to blow
o'er. I got up', took *are of the stock,. ,dug some holes in front of
each wagon wheel, then dropped the wagon off into them se it wouldn't
blow overf That's_ t.1 mighty handy thing to know to .do because we sure
had "some Wind that'.night, and would have been blown over if it hadn'tØrf
.been for thos whepla.being groundedialka that
"The rest of -mt life has been spent running moonshine d
stores where miauitoMers could buy their -liquor, and driving'
cabs. Of course, '.it goes without saying,- I wish now that I
hadn't misspent my' life like I did but I thought .1- was doing right
will when I was one ,or the king -pin bootleggers in Dellag.
_
a lot of money but it's all gone now, my family 1204,112
confidence in me. -.812d 611 loy olci.frien4s_would have out my throat
at any 7time. I know iii. that now, 4* m Ton the' up end up.