A Texas Cow Boy - free ebook by Charles A. Siringo

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Fifteen Years on the Hurricane Deck of a Spanish Pony....

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Chas. A. Siringo.

AN OLD STOVE UP COW PUNCHER WHO HAS SPENT NEARLY A LIFE TIME ON THE GREAT WESTERN CATTLE RANGES. GLOBE LITHOGRAPHING &amp; PRINTING CO. CHICAGO REPRESENTATION OF LIFE IN A COW CAMP. THE AUTHOR, In Cow Boy Uniform. BY...

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CHAS. A. SIRINGO,

AN OLD STOVE UP "COW PUNCHER," WHO HAS SPENT NEARLY TWENTY YEARS ON THE GREAT WESTERN CATTLE RANGES. M. UMBDENSTOCK &amp; CO., Publishers, Chicago, Illinois. 1885. THE AUTHOR after he became stove-up—financially, as well as otherwise. Copyrighted by Chas. A. Siringo , Caldwell, Kans. All rights reserved....

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PREFACE.

My excuse for writing this book is money—and lots of it. I suppose the above would suffice, but as time is not very precious I will continue and tell how the idea of writing a book first got into my head: While ranching on the Indian Territory line, close to Caldwell, Kansas, in the winter of '82 and '83, we boys—there being nine of us—made an iron-clad rule that whoever was heard swearing or caught picking grey backs off and throwing them on the floor without first killing them, should pay a fi

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Chapter I.

MY BOYHOOD DAYS. It was a bright morning, on the 7th day of February 1856, as near as I can remember, that your humble Servant came prancing into this wide and wicked world. By glancing over the map you will find his birthplace, at the extreme southern part of the Lone Star State, on the Peninsula of Matagorda, a narrow strip of land bordered by the Gulf of Mexico on the south and Matagorda Bay on the north. This Peninsula is from one to two miles wide and seventy five miles long. It connects th

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Chapter II.

MY INTRODUCTION TO THE LATE WAR. It was Monday morning—a day that I despised. Need you wonder, for it was mother's wash day and I had to carry wood from the Gulf beach to keep the "pot boiling." I tried to play off sick that morning but it would not work, for mother had noticed that I got away with two plates of mush besides three hard boiled eggs for breakfast. Before starting out after my first load of wood, I hid the big old strap which hung by the door, for I felt it in my bones there was wa

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Chapter III.

MY FIRST LESSON IN COW PUNCHING. The next day after arriving in town, Mr. Faldien sent me out to his ranch, twenty miles, on Big Boggy. I rode out on the "grub" wagon with the colored cook. That night, after arriving at the ranch, there being several men already there, we went out wild boar hunting. We got back about midnight very tired and almost used up. Such a hunt was very different from the coon hunts Billy and I used to have at the "Settlement." Our dogs were badly gashed up by the boars,

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Chapter IV.

MY SECOND EXPERIENCE IN ST. LOUIS. Bright and early next morning I gave my dime to the ferryman and pulled out for the bustling city, where I was soon lost in the large crowd which thronged the levee. I left my satchel in a saloon and struck out to find Mr. Socks, hoping he could give me some information as to mother and sister's whereabouts, but I was sadly disappointed, he had left that part of the city in which he lived when I knew him. I put in the rest of the day gazing through the show win

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Chapter V.

A NEW EXPERIENCE. The next day about noon I came to my senses. I found myself all alone in a nice little room on a soft bed. I tried to get up but it was useless; my back felt as if it was broken. I couldn't think what had happened to me. But finally the door opened and in stepped a doctor, who explained the whole matter. He said the captain, just as the boat was fixing to pull out, was walking through the passage way when he heard my groans down in the hold and getting a lantern, ladder and hel

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Chapter VI.

ADOPTED AND SENT TO SCHOOL. Mr. and Mrs. Myers had no children and after I had been with them about a month, they proposed to adopt me, or at least they made me promise to stay with them until I was twenty-one years of age. They were to send me to school until I was seventeen and then start me in business. They also promised to give me everything they had at their death. So they prepared me for school right away. As I was not very far advanced in book learning, having forgotten nearly all that M

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Chapter VII.

BACK AT LAST TO THE LONE STAR STATE. Everything went on lovely until the coming fall, about the latter part of November when I skipped the country for good. I will tell you how it happened. One afternoon a fire broke out close to the school house and as everybody was rushing by, I became excited and wanted to go too, to see the fun. I asked the teacher if I could go, but he refused in a gruff voice. This did not keep me, I made a break for the door and was soon lost among the surging mass of peo

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Chapter VIII.

LEARNING TO ROPE WILD STEERS. Arriving on the Navadad river, we went to work gathering a herd of "trail" beeves and also branding Mavricks at the same time. Some days we would brand as high as three or four hundred Mavricks—none under two years old. After about a month's hard work we had the herd of eleven hundred ready to turn over to Mr. Black who had bought them, delivered to him at the Snodgrass ranch. They were all old mossy horn fellows, from seven to twenty-seven years old. Mr. Black was

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Chapter IX.

OWNING MY FIRST CATTLE. When spring opened, our outfit, under the leadership of Mr. Robert Partin, Mr. Wiley having quit, struck out up the Colorado river in Whorton and Colorado counties to brand Mavricks. About the last of July we went to the "home" ranch, where Mr. Wiley was put in charge of us again. We were sent right out on another trip, west, to Jackson county. It was on this trip that I owned my first cattle. Mr. Wiley concluded it would look more business like if he would brand a few Ma

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Chapter X.

A START UP THE CHISHOLM TRAIL. I put in the following winter branding Mavricks, skinning cattle and making regular trips to Matagorda; I still remained in partnership with Horace Yeamans in the skinning business. I made considerable money that winter as I sold a greater number of Mavricks than ever before. But the money did me no good as I spent it freely. That coming spring, it being 1874, I hired to Leander Ward of Jackson county to help gather a herd of steers for the Muckleroy Bros., who wer

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Chapter XI.

BUYS A BOAT AND BECOMES A SAILOR. A three days' ride brought me to Grimes' ranch where I hoped to strike a job, but the old gent' informed me that he was full handed—had more men than he really needed. But he offered me a job cutting cord wood at a dollar a cord until there should be an opening for me, which he thought would be when the branding outfit arrived from Jackson county where it had gone quite a while before. "Cutting cord wood" sounded tough to me, but I finally agreed to try it a rou

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Chapter XII.

BACK TO MY FAVORITE OCCUPATION, THAT OF A WILD AND WOOLLY COW BOY. When the oyster season began, I abandoned the melon trade in favor of the former. I would load up at one of the many oyster reefs in the Bay and take them either to the factory or Indianola where they sold for one dollar a barrel, in the shell. Along in October sometime, I worked up a scheme by which I thought I could make a stake. My scheme was to get into the Colorado river where there were no boats and speculate among the afri

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Chapter XIII.

MOTHER AND I MEET AT LAST. After spending a week with aunt Mary, I grew restless and pulled for Galveston to visit my uncle "Nick." I went by way of steamboat down Buffalo bayou, leaving my horse and saddle in Houston. I landed in the "Island City" one evening about dark. The first man I met, I inquired of him, if he knew where Mr. Nicholas White lived? "Why of course," was his quick answer, "I have known him for seventeen years." He then gave me the directions how to find him. His wife, whom he

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Chapter XIV.

ON A TARE IN WICHITA, KANSAS. On the fourth day of July, after being on the trail just three months, we landed on the "Ninnasquaw" river, thirty miles west of Wichita, Kansas. Nearly all the boys, the boss included, struck out for Wichita right away to take the train for Houston, Texas, the nearest railroad point to their respective homes. Mr. Grimes paid their railroad fares according to custom in those days. I concluded I would remain until fall. Mr. Grimes had come around by rail, consequentl

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Chapter XV.

A LONELY TRIP DOWN THE CIMERON. The next morning after the steer racket I pulled out for Kiowa, Kansas. It was then sleeting from the north, consequently I had to face it. About three o'clock in the evening I changed my notion and concluded to head for Texas. So I turned east, down the Eagle Chief, to where it emptied into the Cimeron, and thence down that stream; knowing that I was bound to strike the Chisholm trail—the one I came up on, the spring before. I camped that night at the mouth of Ea

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Chapter XVI.

MY FIRST EXPERIENCE ROPING A BUFFALO. About the sixth day out from Dodge we crossed the Cimeron and that evening I had a little excitement chasing a herd of buffaloes. After crossing the river about noon, we drove out to the divide, five or six miles and made a "dry" camp. It was my evening to lay in camp, or do anything else I wished. Therefore concluded I would saddle my little indian mare—one I had traded for from an indian—and take a hunt. About the time I was nearly ready to go Mr. Bates, s

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Chapter XVII.

AN EXCITING TRIP AFTER THIEVES. After arriving on our newly located ranch we counted the cattle and found the herd three hundred head short. Bill Allen, the boss, struck back to try and find their trail. He found it leading south from the "rifle pits." The cattle had stolen out of the herd without anyone finding it out; and of course finding themselves free, they having come from southern Texas, they headed south across the Plains. Allen came back to camp and taking me and two horses apiece, str

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Chapter XVIII.

SEVEN WEEKS AMONG INDIANS. On our arrival back to the ranch, Moore rigged up a scouting outfit to do nothing but drift over the Plains in search of strayed cattle. The outfit consisted of a well-filled chuck-wagon, a number one good cook, Mr. O. M. Johnson, and three warriors, Jack Ryan, Vanduzen and myself. We had two good horses apiece, that is, all but myself, I had three counting Whisky-peet. About the sixth day out we struck three thousand Comanche Indians and became pretty badly scared up.

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Chapter XIX.

A LONELY RIDE OF ELEVEN HUNDRED MILES. After laying around the ranch a couple of weeks, Mr. Moore put me in charge of a scouting outfit and sent me out on the South Plains to drift about all winter, watching for cattle thieves, etc.; also to turn back any cattle that might slip by the "sign riders" and drift across the Plains. During that winter we, that is my crowd, went to church several times. A little Colony of Christians headed by the Rev. Cahart, had settled on the head of Salt Fork, a tri

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Chapter XX.

ANOTHER START UP THE CHISHOLM TRAIL. I hadn't been at home but a few days when I came very near getting killed by a falling house. Mother had become tired of the neighborhood she lived in and wanted me to move her and her shanty down the creek about a mile, to Mr. Cornelius's. So hiring a yoke of oxen—although a pair of goats would have answered the purpose—I hauled her household goods down to the spot selected. I then went to work tearing the shanty down. In building it I had set eight pine pos

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Chapter XXI.

A TRIP WHICH TERMINATED IN THE CAPTURE OF "BILLY THE KID." We went through San Antonio and lay there long enough to have all of our horses shod, as we were going into a mountainous country where they couldn't stand it without shoes. While there I visited the Almo building where poor Davy Crocket and his brave companions bit the dust. We arrived at our destination, Joe Taylor's ranch, on Paint creek a small tributary to the Llano, at last; and it was one of the roughest, rockiest, God-forsaken co

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Chapter XXII.

BILLY THE KID'S CAPTURE We arrived in the beautifully located town of White Oaks on the 23d day of December, (1880). The town, which consisted of 1000 inhabitants, mostly American miners, was then not quite two years old and pretty lively for its age. It contained eight saloons; and Saturday nights when the boys would come in from the surrounding mountains, to spend the Sabbath, is when the little burg would put on city airs. We rented a large log house in the lower end of town and went to livin

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Chapter XXIII.

A TRIP TO THE RIO GRANDE ON A MULE. About the time we were getting out of patience waiting, the two boys, East and Emory, arrived with the good news that Stuart would be along in a few days, he having to remain over to get their part of the reward, etc. Stuart arrived finally; he came in a buggy with a gentleman from "Vegas." His orders to Roberson and Torry's men were: "Boys, you fellows pull right back to the ranch, as I have got some important business to look after in 'Vegas.' We can come ba

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Chapter XXIV.

WAYLAID BY UNKNOWN PARTIES. After leaving Tulerosa our route lay across a young desert, called the "White Sands," a distance of sixty miles. That night Sam and I camped at a lonely spot called "White Water," where there wasn't a stick of wood in sight. We had to make a fire out of a bush called the "oil weed" to keep warm by. The next night we put up with an old man by the name of Shedd, who kept a ranch on the east side of Osscuro mountains, near San Augustine Pass. On arriving in the Pass next

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Chapter XXV.

LOST ON THE STAKED PLAINS. About a week after my return to White Oaks, I received a letter from Mr. Moore stating that I need not go to Arizona to look after the Slaughter herd as he had hired a United States Deputy Marshal by the name of John W. Poe, now Sheriff of Lincoln County, New Mexico, to go around by rail and tend to the matter. But when Poe arrived there the herd had been sold and driven to Old Mexico, so that we never knew whether there were any Panhandle cattle in it or not, except w

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Chapter XXVI.

A TRIP DOWN THE REO PECOS. On my return I found that the "L. X." ranch had changed bosses. Moore had quit and bought a ranch of his own, while John Hollicott, one of the old hands had been put in his place. Hence in the future I had to be governed by Mr. Hollicott's orders—that is while working around the ranch. One of the firm, Erskine Clement, had charge of outside matters, now, since Moore had left. I put in the summer running a branding outfit, loafing around Tascosa, working up a cattle ste

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Chapter XXVII.

A TRUE SKETCH OF "BILLY THE KID'S" LIFE. The cut on opposite page was taken from a photograph and represents the "Kid" as he appeared before the artist after having just returned from a long, tiresome raid; and the following sketch of his short but eventful life was gleaned from himself, Ash Upson and others. The circumstance connected with his death I got from the lips of John W. Poe, who was with Garrett when he fired the fatal shot. Billy Bonney, alias the "Kid" was born in New York City, Nov

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Chapter XXVIII.

WRESTLING WITH A DOSE OF SMALL POX ON THE LLANO ESTICADO. After leaving Toyah I followed the railroad east cross the Reo Pecos, out onto the Llano Esticado and through the sixty mile stretch of Sand Hills. At Sand Hill Station, about midway through the sand hills, I left the railroad and branched off in a north-easterly direction in search of buffalo-hunter's camps. Knowing buffalo were getting scarce, and having heard of a great many hunters being in the vicinity of Ceader Lake, I thought it a

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Chapter XXIX.

IN LOVE WITH A MEXICAN GIRL. I found El Paso, to be a red-hot town of about three thousand inhabitants. There were also about that number of people in Paso Del Norte, across the river in Old Mexico. I spent several days in each place. I finally, after leaving my ponies in good hands, boarded one of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe trains for Las Cruces, two and a half miles from Mesilla, the county seat. There being better accommodations, in the way of Hotels, in "Cruces," nearly every one who

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Chapter XXX.

A SUDDEN LEAP FROM COW BOY TO MERCHANT. About the first of July, shortly after my return, Hollicott sent me to Kansas with a herd of eight hundred fat steers. My outfit consisted of a cook, chuck wagon, five riders, and six horses to the rider. We arrived in Caldwell, Kansas, near the northern line of the Indian Territory, about September the first. After putting the cattle aboard of the cars, and giving them a send-off towards Chicago, we all proceeded to take in the "Queen City of the Border,"

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