Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1884-01-03
COWBOYS.

/
on the southern side of the Rio Grandc.
but are of n milder and more original
type. In the great herding districts,
where the cattle are fattencd in great
part upon the public domain, and roam,
winter and summer, over vast areas
without fences, without roads, and with
only scattered and irregular places for
water and shelter, the herdsmen play
an important industrial role. 1t is their
business to keep the cattle rs nearly
together as possible; to guide them to
the springs and wooded hollows, to
separate them when they get mixed up
with those of other droves, to brand
them at the proper seasons, and to
drive them to the nearest market at
others. Often their regular occupation
is attended with good deal of danger.
In Montana and in some parts of Colo
RADIO and Dakota the Indians, turned
loose to hunt buffalo near their reserva-
tions, fall upon the cattle and run them
off, and against these raids the "cow-
boys" go always armed, and not unfre-
quently have TO undertake exploits
which, were they United States cavalry
men, would be reported to the War De-
partment as battles" At other times
the men in the employ of rival and
jealous owners become involved in
quarrels which end in q more or less
free fight. Again, when the season is
severe and snow falls among the lower
slopes of the mountains, the care of the
herds becomes hazardous task. Still
again the half-tamed cattle ''stam-
pede," and it becomes matter of no
small amount of courage, skill and adj
dress to keep them or get them to-
gether. On such occasions the "cow-
boys" are obliged to hang on the TANKS
of the plunging herd and keep them,
rs far as they can, headed in the same
direction, until the cattle from sheer
WEAKNESS lapse into some sort of quiet
and orderliness. The tendency to
break is mystery even TO the most
experienced herders. 1t usually shows
itself toward night, and there are I'M
mistakable signs of its approach, but
no general theory of its origin has been
| reached.
| The outfit of the cowboy is horse,
usually one of the ''ponies" of the re-
gion-swift, tough, ugly in look and
temper, but capable of good service
when once traned; Mexican or ''ar-
my saddle. such rs are shipped in
| great quantities from New York, q
| blanket, or, with the best herdsmen, a
pair, one being of rubber; one or more
| pistols, sometimes q rifle, and with
great uniformity, liberal flask of
whisky. Among those who seek this
wild life on the very frontiers of civil
ization, or beyond them, there are
naturally many untamed and lawless
| spirits, and these have given 20 the
name of cowboy a character hardly de-
served by the class For the most part
they are laborious, faithful and as
| sober rs their fellow-men in the same
| region. But constant exposure, a
| monotonous life varied only by danger
| or eXertion of extraordinary character,
| and exclusion from the usual social re-
| lations, inevitably tend to make the
more disorderly among them reckless
and cruel. Gambling and drinking
are about the only diversions accessi-
BILE, and both are INDUCED in with
zest quite unknown 10 the quieter cir
| Giles of civilized parts of the country.
| Even among the worst COWBOYS"
thieving is rare, and the outrages with
which they are charged in this line are
| usually committed by men who re-
semblc them only in being mounted
and armed. There attaches to the name
| an unconscious association with the
cowboys of the Revolution, whose only
calling was TO steal cattle and every
thing else they could and run of from
either side along the 'debatable
ground between the British and Con-
| tinental camps. The cowboys of the
west have, on the contrary, II regular
| business, which the greater number of
| them follow with quite rs much fidelity
| as the average farm hand or ''drover"
of the east.
Ii r"' 10 be denied, however, that
| the 60 ms to this rule are suff-
GENTLY striking to attract the attention
| of the lovers of the picturesque in cur
rent Neutrality-suspicious. or other
| Occasionally band of the cowboys
will take it into their heads, in an in
terval of leisure, to .clean out" a
| neighboring town. For one of these
excursions they "load up" with whis-
| ky, gallop at nightfall into the streets,
and race down them, firing right and
left at any one whose appearance indi-
Gates degree of luxury which, in the
interest of their ideal democracy,
should be suppressed. Then they visit
the liquor saloons or gambling hells,
which are only too frequent, consume
what they like, and drive out the occu-
pants. A few weeks ago a squad of
five rode into Ute Creek, Colorado, and
| perceiving Mexican trader with the
high-sounding name of Don Macedio
Arragon, made some impudent demand
of him. He refused it, snatched his
shotgun and retreated down the road.
When the cowboys followed and fired
on him he returned the fire, killed two
of them and wounded third, and then
fell, shot in four places. He fingered
twelve hours and died, and the muir
derers escaped. AT Deadwood band
| recently undertook TO ''clean out q
Mexican gambling saloon, but two of
them were killed. and the others fled.
On lone :, ranch in Colorado a little
company = them quarreled over their
cards. la 10 first moment the oil
lamp was thrown down, and q despe-
rate fight with knives and pistols went
on in the darkness, until four men were
left lifeless on the floor, slippery with
blood, and only one escaped, badly
gashed and shot, 10 tell the awful tale.
Terrible as such occurrences are, they
are the incidents of mode of life
which necessarily draws many of the
more wayward and violent of the from
tier population, and though they stand
out in holder relief they are not proofs
of greater brutality or lower type
II r L Al a. IL.