Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1874-10-25
THE TEXAN DROyER.
A Type Of the Reckless Ruftisnism Of
the Age.
Na.- Vorl~ Tfrr,a1

New York Times.
We recently had an opportunity OF learn
ing the mischief which a few wild Texan
bulls running loose in crowded streets can
accomplish. But the people of the border
towns of Kansas and Nebraska assert that
a hundred enraged bulls, fresh from the
prairies ofthe Southwest, are peaceful and
harmless as kittens when compared with
the average Texan drover. This latter
product of the civilization of the frontier
has long been terror to all peaceable citi-
zens OF the remote and sparsely settled re-
| giOnS through which he annually travels.
His appearance has invariably been the
| signal for the commencement ofa campaign
Of blOodshed, which not even the Indians
have ever cOndescended to initiate. A hum
dred droyers, arriving in tranquil settle
| ment, first ''corral" the cattle which they
are driving northward 10 be slaughtered, or
expressed to the East; and next proceed TO
corral the inhabitants. Each of the inter-
esting crusaders boasts the possession of
complete arsenal of weapons, and soon as
he has reinforced" his courage with the
necessary whisky, sallies forth TO kill few
citizens. The unlucky turn Of criticisms,
is enough to awaken the vindictive feelings
OF the droyer, and he at once "turns loose"
as he phrases it, and runs a muck, which
sometimes results in half dozen murders.
The drover is usually a man who has
spent many years of his life under the
cloudleSs skies Of Western Texas, rarely
sleeping beneath roof, and for months to-
gether seeing no human face. At home,
he is an easy-going, temperate, decently-
hammered individual, fond of his cattle
and the rude labor of caring for them.
But when he drives his cattle northward,
he appears TO change his disposition wholly;
his honor is sensitive to that extent that
one may hardly address him, for fear of
provocation; and he looks upon all vulgar
tradesmen, mental manufacturers, and
starveling agriculturists, in the settlements
through which he passes, as his natural
prey. His ideal of heroism is the man who
can shoot first; his test of courage is an I'M
blanched face, when revolver is pointed
at it. Whisky becomes his constant con-
ISOLATION, and impels him to dozens of
criminal eccentricities, which he could not
imagine without its aid. Yet this same
man will blush like a child, if girls eyes
rest for a moment upon him, and will dOff
his hat in lady's presence, with a grace
which the fashionable gentlemen cannot
always initiate.
vers, and as Of late years their unbridled
and shocking crimes have become alarm
ingly frequent, it is not astonishing that the
citizens of Kearney Junction, in Nebras-
ka, made bold stand, the other day, when |
attacked by band of the herders. Such a |
resistance is, however, without precedent |
in the history of the West. The droyer has |
heretofore been allowed TO wander and to \
~ IN.
doughty frontier sheriff has dared to say /
him nay. But we learn that the Nebras-
kans, after their town had been charged |
several times by mounted band of ruff
fans, who went careering through the /
primitive Streets. and firing bullets
into the windows, suddenly eturned
loose" themselves, and administered sum-
mary Correction with their rifles to the
lawless crew. Those of the drovers who
were not killed retired, bowling and VOW
ing vengeance. Back next day came those
who had been wounded, accompanied by
others. They raced their horses through
crowds of citizens, swung their lassOes,
and discharged their weapons, with the
usual disregard for consequences. So the
citizens rose once more, and smote them
hip and thigh, and drove them into river
and on to an island, where, at last &C.
counts, the herderS were beseiged, the Gov
srnor of the State sending the citizens
arms and ammunition with which to carry
On the war.
Time was when the drovers were even
much more to be feared than now; when
hey had among them the scum of Christ
nameless and hideous outlaw
v which had been banlshed from every
Jther part of the globe to our remotest from
iers, and had lived wild lives, stained with
occasional murder, on the immense plains,
where no officer of the law felt it safe to |
ollOw. These outlaws sometimes went
under the pretext of driv-
ne up cattle, and then murders on the
catered settlements in the Indian Terri
DRY, Kansas and Nebraska were far more |
than births or marriages, and
many drOver boasted that he owned "a
ye'l-stOcked graveyard, every man in which
lad died with his boots on" At Wichita. :
1 Baxter Springs, and at many another
'Oint where drovers congregated, the trail /
Tas Redeemed with blood. The spectacle
4 murder did not even draw a crowd.
But many, perhaps most, Of the worst class
f outlaws became, during the war, ten ]
nts of extempOre cemeteries prepared by
Military authority or by vengeance. Now
new crop is springing up, and judging
rom its recent developments in Kansas and i
Nebraska, promises to be flourishine. {
1t would be interesting to know exactly }
What tits which prompts these herders from
he great silent plains to the excuses COM
nitted by them in their yearly Journeys.
lany Of them were innocent of any crime
ntil they began their northward pilgrim
ges. Perhaps the sight of civilization /;
makes them wild, and they have kind of l
innate impulse to destroy it. Perhaps their .
MADNESS is now and then caused by whisky,
ut that is not always the case. The dro-
er is a psychological puzzle. Why he
hOuld suddenly relapse from the calm level d
his peaceful pursuits to the grade of a {
savage it is difficult to discover. O