Omaha daily bee., 1885-05-18
AMONG THE COWBOYS.
The Life and characteristics Of This
Glass indigenous to The
Great West,
The Most Marvellous Borsemen in
the World-Marvelous Feats
with the Uariat, Etc.

Fort Keogh (MOnt) Correspondence Cleve
and Leader.
The cattle industry Of the northwes
has developed a new race of cresture
that are called by some cowboys, By
Others cow.punchers. These individuals
indigenous to the country, are totally
different from their brethren a few mlleI
further south, for there Is as much differ
ence between the cowboys of MontanI
and the cowboys of Texas as there is be-
tween our New England Yankees and
our New Orleans Creoles. In abort there
has grown up with the marvellous Increase
of the cattle industry another set Of
beings that are very much unlike the
herders of a few years ago. A decade or
80 back, COW herders on the plains were
regarded as the very worst class Of men
In our country; a class who were always
ready to make a gun fight, had marked
to each ones credit the "killing Of his
man" and who invariably died with his
boots on. In the vernacular of the from.
tier, he was a bad man altogether, and
n cutter and shooter from away back.
They looked upon a tenderfoot with be-
coming scorn, bore the appearance of
continually thirsting for gore, and had no
hopes of heaven or fear of he'll, The
typical cowboy of by-gone days
should wear a large white SOM
brero, bound with a fashy gold
cord and tassel, high top boots, leather
pants, frlnged buckskin shirt, no vest,
and q pair of Mexican spurs as big as
saucers. DE should also be- armed
to the teeth, be ell mounted on a fiery
buckiog broncho, have a long slnewy
lariat trailing behind his steed, Indian
fashion, and habttuslly BIO half full of
his fsyorite beverage. Now as a matter
of fact
II REAL COWBOY OF THE NORTHWEST.
is q very different person from what he
Is supposed to be. Many of them are
college graduates who stood high with the
faculty of eastern universities, and not a
few are able to solve q mathematical
problem or parse a Latin sentence with
as much ease as they can throw a steer or
punch q brand.
l have observed In Miles City, one of
the headquarters of cattlemen in the
northwest, all classes Of individuals, from
the beardless youth to the gray haired
man, dressed In the style Of and engaged
In the occupation of cowboys.
Many undertake the business fer want
of something to do In tho way of earning
q living, but the majority accept their
lives from choice. A better lace of fell
lows than the true, genuine cowboy of
the northwest does not exist on the
North American continent.
The average wages for a cowboy Is not
very good-$40 PER month and findings
but The lie is exciting, and the free,
open exercise assures excellent health
and perfect digestion, which Is better
than all the wages they could get. Lac
s%ompanied q roundup party last fall that
coured the ranges north of Miles City,
and on that trip learned many new points
regarding their lifs, habits, and manner
of living, heretofore unknown to me. l
found they endured hardships that would
have cost many men their lives, and
therefore became, by continual exposure,
perfect types of physical manhood.
They are uuquestionable the finest
horsemen in the world, and are on
stantly practiclrg with rifles or revolvers
In their endssvers to become dead shots,
and they generally succeed. Living In
the saddle, they worship their horses,
and are perfectly happy when on the
plains. During the herding season, sixty
or seventy miles Is an ordinary days
ride. They are brave, will share their
last ration with a stranger, nsver lie nor
cheat, and hate a horse thief like they do
the devil himself. 1t Is a mistake to ion.
agine that cowboys are q dangerous set.
Any one is as safe with them as with any
people In the world. unless he steals a
horte or Is hunting for a fight. In their
eyes, death Is mild punishment for a
horse s%tealer. Indeed, 1t is the highest
crime known to the unwritten law of
rsnching. Nearly every horse thief
strung up last season in Montana, (and
there we're ffty-nlne casualties of that
sort from April to October) was sent to
his lsst journey by cowboys. The nu-
merous vigilance committees were com
posed almost exclusively of cattle her6ers
who weged q never. ending war of exter-
mination against horse-thieving ~rascals,
until ell the bands were either broken up
or driven out of the territory. Their life,
habits, education, and necessities breed
this feeling In them, and they delight
In appearing rougher than they
actually are. To a tenderfoot (sll east
ern men or new arrivals are called tender
feet) they love to tell blood curdling
stories aud impreas him with the dangers
of the frontier. But no man need quar-
rel with them unless he seeks it, and
then he will find the cowboy is always
prepared to shoot quicker than chain
lightning. They also have a slang pc
culiar to the range, and 1t Is astonishing
how quickly eastern bred and educated
people will drop Into using it.
COW BOYS OFTEN HAVE IN TIL
HERDS
they are watching, and very trsquentl!
become owners OF ranches. 1t Is the am
bition of their lives to become herd
owners themselves, and employ on
large scale as possible other cowboys tt
watch their cattle. Unless you want t.
insult him never offer a cowboy pay To-
any kindness he has done or for q share
of his rude meat, They pride themselve
on their hospitality, and are exceedingly
touchy on all matters relating to II. Th'
rougher element of the class have been II
the west nearly all their lives and man!
of them are married to or cohabit will
Indian squsws. Lots of these fellow
who began life without q cent and livet
In Indian tepees for many years, wander
Ing back and forth over The plains witt
the various nomadic tribes, are now roll
ing In wealth and control large cattle In
s,aIs "a tha porthwaat know of on