Daily Los Angeles herald., 1881-03-17
YE COW BOY.

Having been regaled on the road,
at Intervals, with stories of The in.
dividual lately coming into mark
Ell prominence as the "cow boy"
and being advised that he was
rampant at Deming, We were on
the lookout for him, and we were
not obliged to look long. He was
decidedly prevalent on every hand.
He was usually about six feet or
six feet and one or two inches
high, and raw boned. He wore,
~ a general thing, butternut
a colored wooden shirt and
a slouch hat. Our own opinion is
that, when he did not draw his
first Ingenious breath in the broad
Of Texas, his tentative in.
spirations were compounded of the
exquisite atmosphere OF Pike
county, Missouri. The fashion Of
coat patronizsd by him IL what
would be called q blouse IL worn by
. Parisian artizan. In every in
stance, sheaths which con-
tanned q formidable looking self.
cooking Colts revolver protruded
from two to three inches below the
tail Of his coat. This was probably
to intimate, in . modest way, that
he was "hsslsd" and ready for ac-
tive duty at . moments notice. On
his native heath, especially II his
countsnancs is feroclous and viii
lainous, he is an awe-inspiring
creature. You feel like giving
him . wide berth-liks walking
round him, as 1t were. We by no
means Wish to insinuate that the
COW boys, as a class, have bad
faces. The contrary is the case.
In many instances they are SIM
ply rakehelly, good humored and
devil-may.care looking fellows,
who have an uncommon fondness
for handling. firearms and a re.
markable skill In their use. None
the less, If . dilettante looking pas
ssnger, wearing \ plug hat, were
to get out of y train for prome-
made about Dsming, he would be
in I'm minsnt danger Of playing son
of William Tell to some enter
prising frontier nrarksman. 1t
was . dawning perception of
this fact that led the saga
cious Major Truman to carefully
put away his stovs.pipe hat and
don . silk skull cap for his Deming
excursions. He had many occa-
sions to bless his stars for his fore.
thought before our trip was over.
RIGHTEOUS INDIGNATION.
A special trsin with, as they sup
posed, passengers of distinction,
having arrived, the COW boys were
sensible that they ought to make
some effort to maintain their ira
ditlonal reputation. A blithe
crowd Of them gathered aronnd the
site of what will in time be union
depot. One agile fellow would
make . bound Of ten or twelve feet
and hold out his hat. Quick 40
thought his chum would haul out
. weapon which looked as il 1t
might weigh ten pounds. more or
less, and bang, bang, bang, and
the hat would be riddled by as
many balls as the pistol had con.
tained. Their aim was In every
case unerring. It was perfectly
gAfe to hold out q hat for one Of
these fellows; and yet, somehow,
We were half glad that we were not
asksd to do 1t. Taxing Deming
and San Simon together, at least q
dozen episodes OF this kind oc.
,uRrsd. Pr
We struck up an acquaintance
With. one Of these insouciant and
'prightly cowboys. He was drunk,
but he showed q rare degree Of
In his drunkenness.
he was not only drunk but indig-
lant. Quoth he: There 10 q
goed deal Of exaggeration about us
We're not near 90 bad
~ we're painted. We like to get
up = little racket now and then,
but it 10 all in play. OF course,
sometimes We fall out amongst our-
selves and then there il q corpse.
But just take Deming - an ex.
ample. I've been here two weeks |
and there are three or four hun.
ired men In the brush about here, |
md nobody has been killed yet. 4
1efy you TO ind q grave here"
Ind the Honorable Bob Campbell,
who had frankly introduced him.
self to Us by that name, and - be-
Ing from the State Of Texas, find.
Ing that his long pistol WAS entan-
gled In the seat. gave the weapon
. violent wrench that disengaged
1t, and swung 1t In dAngerous
proximity 70 o0r person.
"Psrhaps delicate sense Of the
proprietiss restrained you," We
suggested. "as NO graveyard has
yet been laid out In Dsmlng."
Bob passed BY this View Of the