Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1885-02-09

from one part OF the country 10 an
other at comparatively small cost
u there Is any romance connected
with the life OF the COW boy on the
trail, II Must be at night around the
campfire, where btgrimed with dust
and beemeared with grease, he sits
cross.legged like II tailor
and sips his black coffee
There is nothing ia the dull routine OF
his everyday duties calculated 10
arouse within him sense OF the
grandeur and sublimity Of nature.
THE HARD CASES
Among the great number Of men EN-
plDyed 20 drive cattle up the trail were
a few hardened wretches. capable Of
committing any act In the catalogue Of
crime. They were generally men flee
Ing from the strong arm Of the law,
who adopted the honest calling OF a
cowboy TO escape detection. One pc
culiar feature connected with this wild
and unprincipled class was q ruling
pas ION 10 take tho townsn along the
trail, which translated means to yet
drunk and shoot EN- up good lot
! shall never forget my frat intrOduc.
tiOn 10 one of these bogus cowboys,
/ WAS one Of those bright days In the
spinR Of 1877 / WAS standing upon
the wooden platform In front Of the
large supply store Of Conrad d Rath,
la the town OF Fort Griffin, watching
the motley thTong OF cowboys and buf.
falO-hunters as they went In aud out 10
procure their supplies
"Iim a bad man from Bitter creell
The higher up you 20, the worse they
grow, and Pm or the head!' Bang I!
went q siX.sbooler 'purn your
wolf loose" Bang, bang, bang! Then
series Of yells and shri' ks fol-
lowed that 'made each particular hair
on my head to stand on end.p AZ
soon as | could recover from the men.
tai agitation into which this sudden
explosion placed me, took in the
situation" az IL were, and calculated
my chances OF escape from this wild
man Of the woods
Standing IN the middle Of the street,
or rather staggering, was this
TERROR or THE WEST,
q thick-set, bOW-legged specimen Of
humanity, with all the brute nature
predOminating in his features that
characterizes the "buliyh In every
community His broad. 6rImmed hat
rested on the back part Of his head, re-
vealing his vicious feature over which
locks Of his unkempt half struggled
adding confusion 10 the discOrd that
psrvaded his person.
His costume would have satisfied the
most enthusiastic manufactures Of
.iyellOw-bnck lltelalure.n 30 grotesqne
and untidy did IL appear. a rusty,
faded Jacket of somedark color, thrOwn
/ loosely over u red flannel shirt covered
With dust aud grease spota; o pair VI
I leather legging6 drawn over pair
/ OF greasy OyerallB; q pair
OF boots with still-llke heels
/ that requires practice TO enable the
wearer 10 walk steady oven when duly
sober; q pair Of Mexican spurs with
rowels three inches In diameter that
rolled along the ground when the
wearer walked. making a sound NOT
1 unlike the clanking nf chains; q deep
/ red. Mexican scarf around his waist
over which was buckled belt Of
I cartridges. 10 which WAS attached q
six-shOOter aud long hunting knife
and over an plentiful supply Of 70.
bacco Juice, that kept up a continued
eruption from his mouth and mingled
with the profanity that came from
THE SAME CRATER
No wonder then thai 10 my inexpe
rlenced vision, an embodiment OF an
that goes 10 make up the desperate
characters that figure so largely "
fiction, presented itself In the indi
sidual before me. 1 could hardly
realize that 81 much unadulteratet
cussednese could be compressed int
30 small a body. / shuddered as
contemplated the destruction Of ~
and property that would follow
Ia the wake Of this human
tornado began to look aroun;
f5r place Of safety, when a frien'