Ashtabula weekly telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1880-1886, 1880-11-19
A Tale Told in a Texas Cowboys
Camp.

/ .
Camp.
1T was clear moonlight night when,
after a hard days "drive," and the
herd of wild horses had been penned,
the cowboys stripped their tired ponies
of saddles and brides, and staked them
out to Craze on the thick mesquit grass
which fringed the bank of the San Ber-
nardo.
After this duty had been attended to,
the cooking utensils were brought forth,
and soon the coffee pot was singing a
musical little song, and a leg of fresh
calf ribs spluttering before the fireS
The repast, though rough, was made
enjoyable by an appetite which only vio-
lent exercise and pure air can give, and
after the boys had eaten until it became
necessary TO unbuckle their six-shooter
belts, blankets were spread under the
branches of live oak, which seemed to
stand guard over the broad eXpanse of
prairie, and they settled down for a
quiet smoke.
al tell you what, boys, )" said Ned Cur
tbs, who was one of the hardest riders
and best poker players west of the
Brazos, as he lit cigarette, tive are
going TO handle some pretty rough
mustangs tomorrow, and if any of you
fellows want to show your fancy riding
you had better be fixing your flank girts
and rolls, because there are some I'M
branded four-year olds in that bunch,
who are going TO make you hum like a
churn-dasher, and you'll have to fork
'em deep to stay in the saddle. There
is one in the pen that is perfect picture
of the mustang mare that sent Bill Hall
to the angels
"Wasn't he some galoot from the old
StatesP" inquired one of the boys, turn
ing over on his blanket.
Yes" replied Ned, she was long
tow-headed chap, greener than an Au-
gust persimmon, with legs shaped like
a pair of hames."
"How did he happen to get killed,
NedP Did the mare flirt him little too
strongP"
Yes, that was the way of it. You
see, he had just come from Georgy, and
had never been on the back of wild
horse before in his life, but he was
spunky with all of that, and wasn't
scared of any thing. One day, while
driving out in Nueces County, we made
round up of all the horses in the range,
and after 'cutting out all that were in
the diamond p brand, the boys began
throwing some down and riding 'em,
just to see the wild devils buck
"Well, Bill Hall took darn fool no.
ton to ride one himself, and he picked
out little Roman-nosed mustang mare,
pure Spanish, and wilder than q cayote,
and got some of the boys to help throw
her down, because he didn't know any
more about handling lariat than he
did about running prayer meeting.
"When the saddle had been strapped
on her and Bill forked it, she was turned
aloose, and the crowd stood back to see
the fun. Well, sir, that plug raised her
head, looked back, beloved a couple of
times, and then she lit into the prettiest
bucking ever looked at. Stick to her,
Billl' yelled, but the only thing he
could say was, whoa! Stop her, boys;
darn her old hide
"While he had his knees gripped to
her sides like wise, and his hair stand
ing like a brush heap, the mustang
stretched herself out like step-ladder,
put her head between her front legs,
and then, bringing herself together like
a rat-trap, she slammed Bill Hall against
the ground harder than l ever heard a
fellow hit before. When we picked him
up one ear was jammed around to the
back of his neck, and, from the look on
his face, we knew that he wasn't long
for this world. He fingered for a day
or two, and we did all we could to ease
his pain, but one morning he motioned
for us to come to him, and as 1 knelt be-
side his couch and took his hand in mine
he said: Boys, I'm going to pass in my
checks, but amt going to shiver about
it, even if do die away out on a prai-
rie, with no one but a few friends
around me. I'll have big, broad bed
to rest in, and if some day you ride by
my grave won't you get down and think
of me awhileP'
swell, sir, the boys-the ornary
cusses-were crying like women, and l
felt terribly shaken myself, but we all
promised that we would, and then he
raised himself a little, and in faint
voice said: Ned, want you to write
TO my mother and tell her that wasn't
a very dutiful son, but l loved her Just
the same.'
"'Ned, he muttered so faint I could
hardly hear him, don't tell my folks
when you write that I was slid into
Heaven by cursed mustang and
with that he fell back, his grasp on my
hand relaxed, and Bill Hall was on this
earth no more, and when l thought how
his mother would grieve il made me
feel weak in the knees.
ave buried him, and Jack Jones,
who is something of a scholar because
he had chance to go to school down in
Bay Prairie, wrote on the headboard of
the grave:
WILLIAM HALL
GOT A FALL
Killed as Dead as a Slug
BY Texas Plug
BORN IN GEORGY.
1t always makes me feel bad when I
think of that poor fellow, and how to-
day he sleeps on the banks of
the Santa Gertrudes with nothing but a
big live oak to mark his resting place in
Lhe bosom of the prairie Do anu of