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HANG'S LOFE
"1 am a Tom Green county Cowboy," mays 3en 'ayes, one
or :'an Angelo's old timers, "and I rode the range for 24
le
"I left home in 1879 a boy of only sixteen. y first
Job was to go off on a hog drive with a Methodist preacher.
A boy friend and myself were to help him drive the hogs to
the Conch° River to f,-tten, on tie shares. When we got here
-Se put us to picking up pecans to pay the grocry bill. Te
4idn't IL.ve :luch clothing to start with :.nd by this time it
litas pretty well gone. The preacher caught us playinl cards
41ne night just for pastime and told us we would have to go,
tLat no card players could roost around him. Ze asked him
that about that $15.00 per month, he had rromised to pay us.
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he says,'Ybu know I aint got no money.' Pe wouldn' even let
us have any of the grub we had paid for pickin' up pecans.
Vie pulled out for home and finally made our way back but we
were so anxious to be real cowboys we soon started out again
in the wild and wooly west, lookint for ranch work. ry first
job was on the Martin ranch at 410.00 per month and board.
Twenty dollars was tops and branded a fellow as a first class
cowboy, which was a high honor in those days. I herded four
hundred head of cattle for three months there and Martin sold
out. I got another job near by on the Brooks ranch at 415.00
•per month. The 45.00 raise made me feel lots more like a real
cowboy. This lasted only one month but by this time I had got-
ten t.o1d of enough money for a first class cowboy outfit. As
far as my rig was concerned you would have thought I was one
of Santa Anna's men with my fine silver mounted Mexican saddle
with big long toe fenders on the stirrups, a pair of leather
leggin's, six shooter and big dirk knife, a belt full of car-
tridges and a big Mexican hat. I hadn't had the experience
though w a fellow must have to be a cowboy. I started out
for Fort Chadbourne LAnd I thought if the world was as big the
other way as it was the way I'd come it was a whopper. I
soon realized that to be a real cowboy there was lots to learn.
A fellow had to know how to cut a cow out of the herd without
roping her or running the herd off either and it wasn't no lit-
tle job learning to ride them broncos either. When they would
get their heads down between their fore legs and bawl like a
wild bull I would claw leather pretty darn fast and I got lots
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of hard falls before I learned, but I got so I would try any
of them, mustangs and all. They were the hardest, as they.
would get up in the air with a hump in their back like a mad
cat.
"Well the next job I got was on the T. A. Lambert ranch
at 420.00 per month. I was a real cowboy now and he turned
the whole works over to me as he was to be gone about four
months. Be says, 'Now,Ben, I'm fixin' things for you at Swartz
in San Angelo, sols you can get what you want.' Well, I went
into town in a few days and when I walked into Swartz's store
he met me a grinnin' and said, 'Well, kid, if you want a thou-
sand dollars just say the word.* You don't know how that would
make a kid feel wno never hd more than 440.00 in his life. 'my
hat got a little small I will admit, but I managed to hold-down
to setting up the drinks u few tines and betting a few quarters
at monte. Before that winter was over though I felt like I was
earni14 all I was getting as the coldest weather was when we
had the hardest work to do. Some of those coldest mornings
made 420.00 per month look pretty small. We had to be out be-
fore day and gone by the time we could see how to saddle our
horses. The big job in the winter was to keep the c ttle
thrown north. They always tried to drift south in the cold-
est tines. They would come by in a trot, bawling, and headed
so th. We w uld chase in after the lead ones and try to bring
them buck but they would come from the Panhandle of Texas and
everywhere north of us and lots of tines tLey would get by us
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and go on to Devil's River Country and we would have to go af-
ter them the next spring. It aould take us two months some-
times to get them back. We would go after them in heela-fly
time, sometimes, and find them jammed in the creek for throe
miles just as thick as could be. We would cut off a bunch a-
bcrt 10:00 o'clock and cut out the !wage cattle and the ones
that belonged there and start our herd back. AS many as twelve
or fifteen men would drive all night and 'til 10:00 o'clock
next day when we would reach Dove Creek with five or six thous-
and head. Sometimes it would take three weeks to get them
thinned down where we could handle them at all.
"Our camping outfit consisted of light bed roll,.frying
pun and tin can for coffee making. Le would make up our bread
in the flour sack and either cook it in the frying pan or wrap
it around a forked stick and hold it over the fire. Of course
we had plenty of wild meat and it was fine, roasted over the
fire.
"On cold nights two boys would take turns sleeping and
keeping fires. The one who wa.5 sleeping would have to turn
over pretty often to,warm the other side.
"This outfit grew until they claimed 50,000 head of
cattle and 150 saddle horses. In the year 1882 we brand
and talli ut 0,000 °laves. In two years I had gone from
“0.00 per month to 435.00. I was now a real cowboy.
"Many an old boy lost his job because tie couldn't top
the outlaw horses. Plenty of them gave me something to do
to keep my seat but 1 learned to ride them all. A fellow had
to ride 'em or quit. The worst one I over tried was an old
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outlaw horse that had caused many a poor boy to.lose his job.
Be wasn't fit for a thing in the world but to pitch and when
he bucked himself down you just iS well to have had a stick
horse as for the good he was to anyone. The old fool would
just thut his old wall eyes and buck right into gades if he
could have gotten there. The boss says, 'Ben, you try him
a round.' I suyso'you fellows see that he doesn't
go over into the river.' he were camped right on the bank
and Lhere were some holes there without any bottom. 'I'll try
Lim a fall or to,' I says, as I hit the saddle; the old devil
just stuck his head between his fore -legs and got his back near-
ly up to the moon and nude right at the deepest hole of water.
The boys wee laughing so they didn't do a thing, so off into
thht water we both went. The boys said they could just see my
bed a floatin' *round on top of the water after we cane up. I
whs trained to stick and I stuck and when I came to my senses
enough to think of anything besides drowning I slid off and
swam to the b.nk and the old horse did too, and when I was out
one boy says, 'Ben, we're sorry we didn't cut him off but I
was a waitins for John ,ind John said the same thing.' I said,
'Yes you nearly got me drowned, standing there a laughin't one
whitin' for the Other, you bloomin' idiots.' I started throw-
in', rch:ks at then and they ran as fast as they could, to be so
limber from laughin*.
'One boy tried to ride the old horse ‘,Joid he went knockin'
pots and pans right an' left, and carryin' part of the tent
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with him.
"I had a lot of tough times with bad cattle. Many times
we would have to ride out and doctor the cattle for screw worms.
One day I had the devil with everything I roped. We'd just
have days like that. One little old three year old bull in my
herd would fight his shadow. When I roped him and got him
stopped he made fight at me. He would take after me and run
me 'til I could gain enough on him to turn and throw my rope
on him and just bust the ground with him. He'd get up and
come right back at me but I kept out of his way. After I had
thrown him a half a dozen times I jumped down to get on him
and he got a. loose and made for me again. I ran for my horse
but he was so close on my heels 1 couldn't mount, so as he ran
into my horse and horned him a little ',gained enough on him
to go up a small mesquite three, but I could only get lust
high enough to keep him from horning me. He would stick his
foaming nose against me and bawl and bellow like any wild beast.
After he pawed and bellowed around there awhile he walked off
far enough for me to get down and get on my horse again. I
tried him once more and this time he broke my rope. I was so
mad by this time I just says, 'Go to the devil, I hope the
screw worms eat you up.' That was one time I was up a tree
and thought I was lucky to be. That was something we hardly
ever did though let one go. If I could ever get one roped
and go to the ground with him by the foot I could handle the
worst of them.
"I had a good friend from England here trying to learn
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to be a cowboy. He was among the noblemen there and of course
was having a hard time trying to learn our cowboy wiffs or as
we saw it, mixing his curious ways with ours. Everytime he
would try to help me rope a big bull he would say, 'Ben, I bet-
ter quit this business before I get killed.' If d encourage him
though and he'd keep trying. I had a little old pony I called
Mexican. he was quick as lightin'. The Englishman wanted to
ride him to a round -up. I said, Earnest, he's pretty quick,'
but he wanted to try him to see how ridin' cow -horses went, so
when we got all the cattle rounded up by the fence a little old
yearling taken out down the fence and Mex, true to his training,
right after him. The yearling whirled all of a sudden and so
did Mex,and Earnest went right on over his head, grabbing at
anything he could catch. he was hangin° 'round Mexican's neck
when I stopped him. 'You're right,' says he, 'he's just a lit-
tle too quick for me.'
"Earnest said his first introduction to Texas life was
when he stopped at a hotel -nd left his muddy shoes on the out-
side of his door that night expecting to find them cleaned next
morning. He was about half mud us he checked out and asked the
clerk why his shoes were not cleaned. The clerk spit out his
tobacco and scratched his head in amazement and said, 'Brother,
you're shore lucky to have any shoes this morning.' He finally
made a pretty good cow hand and we have had lots of fun since,
talkin' over old times and what tit time he had learnin' our Tex-
as ways.
-ihen a tenderfoot would come into camp we would give him
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the initiation in more ways than one. If he would be tired
and drop off to sleep one of the boys would get a saddle on
his back and come a buckin• through the camp and the new boy
would think a bronco was on him ror sure. Then anyone broke
a rule he got the leggin's or a souse in the river. Cnce we
put the leggin's on a lord from Ireland. He said in the old
country ev-ryone tipped their hats to him three times, so you
may know he hit it hard here, but he was a pretty good sport
and soon found out that lords or dukes or big cow -men all look-
ed alike in a cow camp.
"On big roundups every fellow would pet his cattle to-
gether and there would :;(1 eight or ten wagons from different
outfits with their bosses and men. after the range 'en cut out
all the strays and beeves the brandin' would start. Vie had
plenty of red beans, black coffee and beef. Men a stampede
occurred, which was likely at anytime or for very smell reasons,
the boas would send all inexperienced men to the wagon, as good
judgment had to be used by the most experienced men to keep
the herd from just running wild. Singin° to the cattle at
night, ridin' in turns usually kept then quiet better than any-
thing else. Every boy was called by his given name or the out-
fit he worked for, such as the V. 0. or the aar. L. etc.
"7e had lots of fun at the dunces when we could get
enough girls toi-ether to have one. Our outfits would have dis-
graced us at anybody's buck door now -a -days. Our jeans breeches
care 'bout half way between our feet and knees and our brogan
shoes were mended with rawhide. There were only a few coats
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in the bunch and all the fellers wanted to look good to the
girls, so we would take turns wearint the coats when we danc-
ed. We got to go to one so seldom most of the boys felt out
of place and bashful around the girls. Be would look first at
the ceiling and then at the floor and put his hands behind him
and in front of him and when held finally think of something
to say the girl would look at him like she thought he was out
of his head or something. He would be so plagued, be just
wanted to tell her to go to Helena, Montana. (In other words,
go to hell).
"Sometl: s some of the boys would get a little too much
tanglefoot and sal he was a wolf and it Was his night to howl
tat he was off of Bitter Creek and the further up the creek
you went the tougher they got, and he came off of the head of
it. V4 had an old guy in camps once that we called Old Thing.
Nothing else suited him, and he was never known by any other
name, He was noted for his laziness and everybody had a hard
time tryf_nl to get him to move in any direction. One day my
boas says, 'Ben, take Old Thing out and try to hold that small
herd today, but you will have to watch him or he will go to
sleep on yo.' Sure enough about the time the sun began to
get up good arid warm Cld Thing flopped down asleep, I reckon
to try and drc.;. of something better than herdin° cattle.
When I knew he was good asleep I rounded up a small bunch of
cattle uhd got tLem pretty close to him, then I shook my old
slicker at them and they ran all over him. You ought a seen
Old Ming a comin° up from there. He nevr went to sleep on
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the job with me any more, I told him he snored 'til he stam-
peded the cattle. He sure pulled ft good one on one of the
other fellows. He Wks scheduled to help John, a friend of mine,
hold a herd one cold morning. Tohn woke up and it VbS raining
and sleeting but he went to look for Old Thing and he had MAUI..
aged to get the cook's warm bed, so yhen John woke him he said,
'John, I'm awful sick.' John tried in vain to get him out but
no such luck. Finally john says, 'If you eat a bite of break-
fast, I'm goin' to take you out here and stick your ole bald
liad down into the biggest and muddiest prairie dog hole I can
find.' 6ure enough when Old Thing got to the table he loaded
his plate and si;arted to work. About that time John happened
up and says, 'What did I tell you, Old Thing?' and uld Thing
says, 'how John, I feel a little better now.' But Jo gn yanked
Lim up LInd took him out to a big muddy prairie dog hole and
poked him in. His old bald head looked like an old mulley
cow th t had been a buttin' a muddy bank, when he came out
of there. e nevLx did cure him from bein' lazy, though.
old buys are all pretty well scattered now, but when
only a few of us get together we sure enjoy talkin' over the
old times."