New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1884-01-16
Cowboys.

Oh Cne southern SIDE OF the Mo drande,
but are of a milder and more original
type. In the great herding districts,
where the cattle are fattened 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 as 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 a 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 .scow-
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 a 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 a hazardous task. Still
again the half-tamed cattle s'stam-
pede, and it becomes a 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,
as 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 a mystery even to the most
experienced herders. 1t usually shows
itself toward night, and there are un-
mistakable signs Of its approach, but
no general theory of its origin has been
reached.
The outfit of the cowboy is a horse,
usually one of the ponies of the re-
gion-swift, tough, ugly in look and
temper, but capable of good service
when once trained; a Mexican or "ar-
my saddle, such as are shipped in
great quantities from New York, a
blanket, or, with the best herdsmen. a
pair, one being of rubber; one or more
pistols, sometimes a rifle, and with
great uniformity, a 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 to the
name of cowboy character hardly de-
served by the class For the most part
they are laborious, faithful and as
sober as 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 a
zest quite unknown to the quieter Cir.
cles 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-
semble 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 off from
either side along the 'debatable
ground between the British and Con
tinental camps. The cowboys of the
west have, on the contrary, regular
business, which the greater number Of
them follow with quite as much fidelity
ao the average farm hand or ''drOVer''
of the east.
It is not to be denied, however. that
the exceptions to this rule are suffi.
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 Greek, Colorado, and
perceiving a 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 s.clean OUT q
Mexican gambling saloon, but two of
them were killed, and the others fed.
On lonely ranch in Colorado little
company of them quarreled over their
cards. In the first moment the oil
lamp was thrown down, and 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, to tell the awful tale.
Terrible as such occurrences are, they
are the incidents of a mode of life
which necessarily draws many of the
more hayward and violent of the from
tier population, and though they stand
out in holder relief they are not proofs
Of a greater brutality or lower type
of manhood than the ARRAYS which
frequently take place on the excursion
boats from our own city. Indeed bad
as are the worst of cowboys, the class,
as a whole, are better than the gangs
which infest portions of the river wards
of New York, the neighborhood of the
Thames Embankment in London, or
the quarters 0ccentriques of Paris.
And what ia moro tho xx,crof ~ <ho