The spirit of democracy. [volume] (Woodsfield, Ohio) 1844-1994, 1884-02-26
sorIiK FCoW-BoYs.
The Sort Of Life the "wifd Herders
.roILead on Their OwnIPraries.i eli

IH0 SOrC Oh L1IG Jn0 W1I0 H0rOcrS
roILead on Their OwnIPraries.i eli
6fw e7afm3m lsy---l--a AID ei ells1 hEA
sqrI was Cowboy myself for five
years, and / know them and, like, them.
The cow-hpy's dress is usually shirt, a.
pair Of Mexican cloth pants, with q belt
around the waist. in which they carry "a
couple Of pistols, generally improved
Smith q Wesson's,sa broad, white SOM
brero, pair Of ,beayy-iop boots, into
which his pants are stuffed, and q rifle
over his back. They are Id the sadlle
fifteen hours out of thet~enty-fonr, and
are the finest horsemen rim Abe world.
The stories told Of their ,marksmanshiIl
are not exaggerated have seen them
snuff a candle at seventy five wards v b
tassiae and think nothing OF il. The
quickness with which they draw ana Gre
is something wonderful. l saw. Black
John Adams. a notorious character, who
roams about the western part of the
State, shoot man FIVE times before his
victim fell. When they examined him
they found chat the five shots bad enter
ed his breast in a space hardly larger
than, dollar, and all the five bullets had
passed through his heart. The man
bad thrown 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 in Q
row. A man who gets whipped is held
in about the same light as man would
be held who would default with his en-
ployer's money. ! saw one of them with
"a uotched kui There were fifteen
notches, and each notch represented q
dead man. He was but twenty-eght
years 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 mon
ey. When they come to town they usu
ally come in crowds, andywit plenty Of
money. Then woe to the man that in
suits or cheats them. They usually get
drunk on such occasions, and; among
their other methods of amusing them
selves, they have way OF shooting the
corks off bottles and other little eccen-
tricities of that kind.
"Llke all Americans on the border Of
civilization they have strong sense Of
humor and OF sentiment. No matter
how drunk cowboy Is, he is alwaya
ready to appreciate joke; and woman
never has to appeal to him in vain for
protection. 1t Is true, il he fancies her
particularly, he nay express his devo-
tion in an uncouth way but / have seen
some exhibitions of rare delicacy among
them. knew one Of these men who
gave almost years salary to help
poor Massachusetts, girl who had strand
ed in frontier town, without friends or
money, to get back to her frien1s. OF
course, these men have their leaders, their
heroes. These are the men who. can
drink more whiskey, shoot faster and
surer, risk their lives more recklessly,
be first in at dance and at death, be
more chiyalrous, mere 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.
81 remember one instance that may
give you some conception of the queer
characters you meet among these penple,
Fifteen years ago.I was working for a
big rancher, forty miles west Of Fort
Worth, named Jonathan Andrews He
had about 10000 acres of land well
stocked There were about seventy
FIVE of us herdipg the cattle. None of
these men were particularly noticeable,
except one. He vent by the name of
Gentlemen .Joe.' He was q tail, lank
black-haired fellow, with pale iace and
as wild pair OF black eyes as. ] ever
saw. II ever there was undying, fierce,
burning passion in mans eyes it was
in his. never looked at him without
shuddering. He cared absolutely moth
ing whatever for money. and gave it
away, or threw it away as fast as be got
it. He drank deeply at times, but never
was 'quarrelsome. All the men liked
him and feared him, and though he was
never known to shoot man, he was of
that peculiar class that you knew BY in-
tuition it would no. do to, meddle with
He talked we'll when be did talk, which
was rare, and never swore. 1t was to
this and the fact that be was anvaryingly
polite in all his intercourse with the rest
of the boys that he owed bis nickname.
l. found him one day with a worn old
book in bis hand, and looking over his
shoulder I saw it was king Lear He
and ] 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
colege-bred and used to good society
and better days. 'A'
"One night party was made up to
eo into Fort Worth. Twas forced into
the crowd, much against my will for !
knew that it would end in wild drunk
Gentleman joe went with as. We rode
into town, some twenty-five of us, and
the first place we ran into was asaloon
All the party we're soon hilarious, ex.
eept sGentIeman Joe and myself he
drank deeply, but it didn't appear to- af
feet him. He aud / were standing at
one end OF the bar talking when little
mite OF girl came in, and after looking
up timidly ian up to 81 big staggering
man named Red Mcclure, q noted gam
bier and desperate in that section, and
said something to him in low voice.
Mcclure answered with an oath and
went on drinking A iounger near by
whispered that Reds woman was after
him again. The little child was per-
sistent and pulled at McGaire's coat
tails. He turned about at last and struck
the child in the face. The blow sent the
little enc reeling acros the room Her
head hit the wall, and she fell senseless
to the foor. A dozen of hands were
laid onrtheir pistols, bit Joe was quicker
than the rest. He gave one spring, laid
his haud heavily oas McGuire's shoulder,
and stool over him for an instant with q
bloodless face, and his hig, will, eyes
almost starting from their sockets. Then
he said, rather quietly, thought, What
did YOU strike that girl for? Mcclure
shook Joe's hand off his big shoulder,
and starting TO his fee. stared insole tly