The Opelousas courier., 1884-02-09
COWBOYS.
HE Ort OF Life the VIM Heraer.
Lead i'm Tlaeir Own prairiaa.

Ane s0Fs OF Life IA Wild Herders
lead I'm Their own Prairies.
II was a cowboy myself for five years
before thought a ranch,n said W. q.
Gates, OF Texas, to reporter, "and made
some lucky venture n cattle, and / know
them and like them. The COWBOYS
dress is usually a shirt, a pair of Mexi-
can cloth pants, with a belt around the
waist, In which is carried a couple of
pistols, generally improved Smith &
Wesson's, a broad, white sombrero, a
pair OF heavy top-boots, into which his
pants are stuffed, and a rife swung over
nus back. They are in the saddle fifteen
hours out OF the twenty-four, and are
the finest horsemen in the world. The
stories told of their Workmanship are
not exaggerated. I have seen them snuff
a candle at fifty and seventv-fve yards
with a rife and think nothing Of it. The
%quickness with which they draw and fire
IS something wonderful. I saw Black
John Adams, a notorious character who
roams about the western part of the
State, shoot a man five times before his
victim fell. When they examined him
they found that the five shots had en-
tered his breast in a space hardly larger
than q dollar, and all the five bullets had
passed through his heart. The man hal
thrown a glass of whisky at Adams head.
"These men have a strange kind of
system of ethics among themselves. One
will always take the part of another, ina
row; man who gets whipped is held
in about the same light as a man would
be held who would default with his en-
ployer's money. I saw one of them with
a notched knife. There were fifteen
notches, and each notch represented a
dead man. He was but acknowledgement
old. They are paid about $40 q month,
and as they generally work far from the
haunts of men, they have no opportunity
to spend much of this money. When
they come to town they usually come in
crowds, and with plenty of money. Then
woe to the man that insults or cheats
them. They usually get drunk on such
occasions, and, among their other meth
DDS Of amusing themselves, they have a
way of shooting the corks off bottles
and other little eccentricities of that
kind.
"Like all Americans on the border of
civilization, they have a strong sense of
humor and of sentiment. No matter
how drunk a cowboy is, he is always
ready to appreciate a joke: and a wo-
man never has to appeal to him in vain
for protection. Tt is true, if he fancies
her particularly, he may express his de-
votion in an uncouth way; but | have
seen some exhibitions of rare delicacy
among them. I knew n of these men
who gave almost a years salary to help a
poor Massachusetts girl who had strand
ed in a frontier town, without friends or
clothes or money, to get her back to her
friends. Of course, these men have their
leaders. their heroes. These are the men
who can drink more whisky, shoot faster
and surer, risk their lives more reckless
ly, be first in at a dance and at q death,
be more chivalrous, more generous than
the common herd. But the cowboy Is
fast losing caste. The law is becoming
supreme. The great ranches are being
divided up, towns are becoming more
numerous and the police more efficient.
The cowboy, like the Forty-niner, will
soon be a thing Of the past.
ct remember on instance that may
give you some conception of the queer
| characters you meet among these
people. Fifteen years ago I was work
ing for a big rancher, forty miles west of
Fort Worth, named Jonathan Andrews.
| He had about 90, 900 acres of land well
stocked. There were about seventy-five
of us herding the cattle. None of these
men were particularly noticeable, except
one. He went by the name of Gentle
man Joe.' He was a tall, lank, black
haired fellow, with a pale face and as
wild a pair of black eyes as I ever saw.
If ever there was undying, fierce, burn
ing passion in a mans eyes it was in his.
I never looked at him without shudder-
ings He cared absolutely nothing what
ever for money, and gave it away, or
threw it away as fast as he got it. He
drank deeply at times, but was never
ouarrelsome. ALI the men liked him and
feared him, and though he was never
known to shoot a man, he was Of that
peculiar class that you knew by intuition
It would not do to NEEDLE with. he
talked well when he did talk, which was
rare, and never sWore. 1t was to this
and the fact that he was unvaryingly po-
lite in all his intercourse with the rest OF
the bows that he owed his nickname.
found him one day with a worn oldbook
in his hand, and looking over his
shoulder I saw it was King Lear He
and I became more intimate after that,
and although he told me nothing Of his
past history, / caught from an odd word
that dropped here and there that he was
college-bred, and used to good society
and better days.
Zone night 9 party was made up to &c
into Fort Worth. / was forced into the
crowd, much against my will, for ! knew
that it would end in . wild drunk.
sGentleman joe went with us. We
rode into town, some twenty-five Of US,
and the first place we ran into was q
saloon. All the party were soon Mlari-
d except Gentleman joe and myself.
He drank deeply, but it didn't appear to
affect him. He and T were standing al
one end of the bar talking, when o little
mite of q girl came in, and after looking
about timidly ran up to d big sWagger-
inc man named Red Mcclure, a noted
gambler and desperate in that section,
and said something to him in a low voice.
Mcclure answered with an oath and wen1
on with his drinking. a lounger neal
By whispered that Reds Woman was
after him again. The little child was
persistent and pulled at McGuire's coat
tails. He turned about at last and
struck the child in the face. The blow
sent the little one reeling across tht
room. Her head hit the wall, and sht
fell senseless to the floor. A doze1
hands were laid on their pistols, but Joa