Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1883-05-04
THE COWBOY.
One of the TerrOrs of the Prairie Inter
viewed by Correspondent.


Correspondence Chicago Inter ocean.
At Fort Dodge, the great cattle market
of Kansas, ''the end of the drive" where
the herds leave the trail and the gramma
| grass and take the cars for the packing
| houses of Chicago, [ had an interview
with the festive cowboy. He has a
jaunty air and wears his broad gray
sombrero with its cord of gold around the
crown with as much grace as the belle of
Michigan avenue bears her new spring
| bonnet. He was just in from the range and
the way in which he answered my ques-
tions proved that he can talk as we'll as he
can ride and shoot.
/ asked him about the spring ground
up'' and he said it would take place as
soon as the convention ofranchmen which
meets at Fort Dodge on the 11th, 18th and
18th was over.
"Will the spring drive be large this
year,
YES" he replied, "a right smart bunch
o. cattle will be drove in.''
chow many will come here 2"
''Ihree or four hundred thousand herd. :"
he replied, and then he went on to explain
that it would be the last great drive and
'round up" in that section. The introduce
tiOn of wire fences by the ranchmen TO
protect their ranches from scattering and
homeless herds prevented the cattle from
did, and the extension of the railroads
made it unnecessary. The winter losses
among the cattle had been very small un-
usually so, he said. Although the cold
was severe there had been little snow,
and the grass had been good and accessi-
bic all winter.
''How about the cowboys striker I
asked.
THAT'S pretty well settled" he respond
ed, land the boys have compromised on
$3.50 a month. We were getting $50 a
month, and struck for SOC, but we only want
ed fair show, and were willing to split
the difference"
/ asked him about the moral condition
of Fort Dodge, which has the reputation of
being ''the hardest town on the line" and
he said it was getting better. There were
a few decent women there now. he said,
and three or four children.
told him some of the stories that were
printed in the Eastern papers last winter
about the cowboys, and he said they were
the inventions of newspaper 'rustlers,"
who were hard up for something to write
about. The duel between twelve COWBOYS
reported to have taken place here last
winter, in wh'ch eight of the participants
died with their boots on, was a pleasant
little fiction; and he sententiously re-
marked that the cowboys were not such
blank fools.
"But didn't they murder the city Mar
shal of Fort DOdge?' l asked.
"Waal, yes" he replied, with a smile.
"The Marshal OF Fort Dodge did go to
glory last winter"
Glow did that happen?"
"Waal, you see," he said, ''the Marshal
was, a rustler, and he played his game on
the wrong party. He used to catch ten
der foot with rocks now and then, lock
him up in the cooler, pinch mis- boodle (rob
him OF his money! and then order him to
leave town. That would do as long as he
played it on tender feet, but a cowboy
went East for spell, and when he came
back here with a lOng-horned collar and
bald-faced shirt the Marshal tried the
game on him, and that was the end Of it,
"What did you dOP'
1--WE only plugged him.
''Was he killed?v
THAT'S what the Coroner said"
''Then you do shoot sometimes :"
''Yes, there's considerable shooting 90
ing on now and then. When man comes
out here and punches cows for three or
four years it won't do to play no games on
him."