Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1874-12-11
THE TEXAN DROVER.
a Type of the Reckless Rufnanisr,
OF the Age.
From the New York Times

We recently had an opportunity
of learning the mischief which few
wild Texan bulls running loose III
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 of the Southwest, are
peaceful and harmless us kittens when
compared with the average Texan
drover. This latter product of the
civilization of the frontier has long
been a terror to all peaceable citizens
of the remote and sparsely settled re-
gions through which he annually
travels. His appearance has invarla-
bly, been the signal for the com
mencement Of campaigns OF blood
she'd which not even the Indians
have ever condesccnded to initiate
A hundred drovcrs, arriving in a
tranquil settlement, first 'corra!' the
cattle which they are driving north
ward to be slaughtered, or expressed
to the East; and next proceed to cor
raj the inhabitants. Each Of the in
teresting crusaders boasts the pos ses-
sion of complete arsenal of weapons,
and as soon as he has ''reinforccd''
his courage with the necessary whis-
XIV, sallies forth to kill few citizens.
The unlucky turn Of criticisms is
enough to awaken the vindictive feel
ings of the drover, and he at once
''turns loose" rs he phrases 1t, and
runs a muck, which sometimes results
in half Il dozen murders.
The drover is usually Il man who
has spent many years Of his life I'M
der the cloudless skies of Western
Texas, rarely sleeping beneath roof,
and for months together 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, men
ial manufacturers and starvcllnS ag-
riculturalists, in the settlements
through which he passes, rs his natu-
raj prey. His idea of heroism is the
man who can shoot first; his test OF
courage is an unblanched face when
a revolver is pointed at it. Whisky
becomes his constant consolation,
and impcls him to dozens Of criminal
eccentricitics, which he could not inn
agine without its aid. Yet this same
man will blush like a child, if Il girls
eyes rest for moment on him, and
will dotf his hat in a lady's presence
with a grace which the fashionable
gentlemen cannot always initiate.
As there are many hundreds of
these drovers. and as Of late years
their unbridled and shocking crimes
have become alalmingly frequent, it
is not astonishing that the citizens OF
KeaImey Junction, in Nebraska, made
a bold stand, the other day, when at
tackled by band of the hcrders.-
Such resistance is, however, with
out precedent in the history of the
West. The drovcr has heretofore
been allowed to wander and to slaugh-
ter at his own sweet will; not even a
doughty frontier sheriff has dared to
say him nay. But we learn that the
Nebraskans, after their town had
been charged several times by a
mounted band of ruflians, who went
carcering through the primitive
streets, and firing bullets into the
windows, suddenly turned loose
themselves, and administered sum
mary correction with their rifles to
the Iawless crew. Those of the dro-
vers who were not killed, retired,
bowling and vowing vengeance.
Back next day came those who had
been wounded, accompanied by 9th
ers. They raced their horses through
crowds of citizens, swung their las
soes and discharged their weapons
with the usual disregard for conse-
quenccs. so the citizens rose once
more and smote them hip and thigh,
and drove them into n river and on
to an island, where, at last accounts,
the herders were bcsieged, the Gov
ernor of the State sending the citi-
zens arms and ammunition with
which to carry on the war.
Time was when the drovcrs were
even much more to be feared than
now; when they had among them the
-scum of Christendom-the nameless
and hideous outlawry which had been
banisned from every other part of the
globe to our remotest frontiers, and
have lived wild lives, stained with
occasional murder, on the immense
plains, where no officer of the law
felt it safe to follow. These outlaws
sometimes went northward, under the
pretext of driving up cattle, and then
murders in the scattered settlements
in the Indian Territory, Kansas and
Nebraska were far more numerous
than births and marriages, and many
/ Il grover DOdSicu llltt HC Wv HUI 81
well-stockcd graveyard, every man in
which had died with his boots ON. .
At Wichita, at Baxter Springs, and
at many another point where drovers
congregated, the trail was reddened
with blood. The spectacle Of a muir
der did not even draw 4 crowd. But
many, perhaps most, of the worst
lass of outlaws became, during the
war, tenants Of extempore cemctarles
prepared by military authority or by
vengeance. Now a new cropis grow
ing up, and, judging from its recent
developments in Kansas and Nebras-
ka, promises to be tlourishing.
1t would be interesting to know
exactly what it is which prompts
these herders from the great silent
plains to the eXcesscs committed by