Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1883-08-30
THE GENUINE COWBOY.
A Woman Details His Good Traits
Life on the Prairie.
Full of Courage and Genuine
POIiteness-s-Hls Spreea and
Pistol Practice.
New York Sun.

very interesting and tribe amusing.
| have lived on a ranch for six years.
| am the wife of cowboy. see
hundreds of cowboys yearly. l talk
with them, observe their ways aud
know their habits, their modes of
dress and their style of speech. Cow
boys are universally proclaimed to be
all that is bad and cruel. | say it is
not SO. Your correspondent asks: Is
it a matter of surprise that cowboys
are cruel, are brutal He includes
all cowboys. II any one should say
that all negroes are villains because
one of that race assaulted Miss Slocum
near Salem, N. Y, a short time ago,
his communication would be consids
cred utterly devoid of sense. Why
not say that all divines are unworthy
to be called divines because q few Of
them fall from grace? Would ii not
be as just and right to say that ell our
Presidents are cheats because one man
occupied the Presidential chair by
fraud, or that all editors are liars be-
cause some have been found guilty Of
libel? | say no. tsstt.s
HIS INNOCENT SPORTS.
A cowboy goes into a tswn. He
becomes intoxicated on bad whisky
and grows merry and jolly and fires
his pistol into the air for fun.
Perhaps he grows vicious and brutal
and fires his pistol promiscuously at
chimneys and lamp posts, or anything
else he sees. A Sheriff's posse SUR
rounds him. The air is thick With
bullets and buckshot Cowboy re.
turns the fire He breaks a leg or an
arm, or perhaps he kills the Sheriff.
Sometimes he is riddled with bullets
Sometimes he is captured, given q
fair trial aud hanged. Well and good.
We say that he gets his just deserts
and there we hope it will rest; but it
does not. His whole outfit lin COW
boy language, all the boys who worked
with him, including the inoffensiVe
cook are branded as villains of as
deep dye as the murderous offender
himself.
A short time ago an ARRAY occurred
in Ogalalla, Neb. A cowboy became
senseless from drink. He fred his
pistol right and left and frightened
the town out of its wits. At the out
set he intended 10 do damage to no.
body. The Sheriff and his posse
opened fire on him. He returned it
and shot the Sheriff in the leg. Then
he fed, followed by a number of
armed men. They followed him to
his smp,where he was captured while
trying to catch fresh horse on which
to fee. But before he was taken the
Sheriff S posse fred volley after volley
into the camp, which was manned by
a smooth.faced boyish cook alone,
whose only weapon was disheloth,
and whose only crime against mankind
lay in dealing out indigestible biscuits
and badly cooked meat and beans to
the boys. He escaped harm, but had
be been slain the brave posse would
have carried back the news to the
town that two villains had been cap.
tured, one dead and the other alive.
WHERE THE BLAME BELONGS.
What your correspondent said about
the cattle owners is true. They
turn cattle loose on the prairies, know.
ing we'll that some of them will sue
cumb to starvation or die OF thirst
before the spring opens. They know,
too, that it is cheaper to lose some
than to feed them all. Of the horror
and shame Of it enough cannot be said:
but | say let the blame rest where il
belongs-on the Eastern owners, not
on the men who are hired to do their
work as they are told to do it. Frank
Wilkeson speaks Of "the brutes who
live 10 log cabins" Now the real
brutes live back in our Eastern cities
in fine mansions, drinking wines.
while the cattle dependent upon
them are thirsting and dying
Will l be forgiven il say, IN
charity, that their neglect is more
the outgrowth of csrelessness than
"callousness of heart" as your CORE
spondent calls III The owners are
seldom present when their cattle are
dying, so 1t is strange that, not seeing
their suffering, they are not impressed
by it.
As for the wolves killing poor COWS,
we think Mr.. Wilkeson is mistaken
about the poor cow" In our expert
ence, it is oftener the fat calf or
yearliDg, or even fat COW, that is over
powered BY the wolves. We have
never heard of poor" COW being
killed while there was q fat one on
the range. Wolves know which makes
the best meat as we'll as their biped
superiOrs.
| know Of cowboys who have saved
up their earnings and are now small
cattle owners themselves, and [ know
not Of one who has turned his cattle
out to live if they can, die if they
must, 10 the bitter winters Of this alti.
,ude. In summer their cattle are
kept in close herds and hay is secured
and sheds built for their comfort In
winter. My husband, who is a thor
ough cowboy, asserts, and proves his
assertions BY his actions, that he
would rather sell some Of his cattle
every autumn and buy corn for The
rest With the money than to let the
same number die Of starvation,
am writing Of Nebraska and Kan
sas cowboys as | have found them.
However, they are pretty much the
same all over the West. Here thew
make their beds as the one Mr. Wiki.
son described, with the addition Of a
pillow. Most Of the COWBOYS Of NV
acquaintance have pillows. some ot
which are made Of prairie featbsrsn
grass. My husbands is ofthe latter
sort and mad I ca, 49, - 'SVVOA