Waterbury evening Democrat., 1889-09-18
THE GOOD OLD TIMES.
Slug 7" Relates Some of His
 Texas "Reminiscences
The Festive Cowboy Was Altogether To. Free with His Gun-How tho Ropc's Popularity Destroyed That
 of the Pistol

II reckon Western Texas and New Mex.
 leo in their palny days just handicapped
 any other region in raising Cain and cattle, y
 said Slug the other day, as he deposited a handful of "sorts'' in his nonpareil case and
 turned round on his stool to join little
 group Of printers in "reminiscences of West
 ern life. "1 got tired of type-setting once
 and turned cowboy down there. But soon got enough of 'punchin' cows.' It was too
 blamed wild and woolly for me. But it's l different now. The ginger's all gone out
 of that country. Tho days are past when
 an enterprslng man could go down there with lariat and a branding-iron and start | in the cattle business for himself There ain't no show for fellers to become self
 made men any more ill that business. reckon you couldn't find half a dozen may | crick yearlings now in a roundup of all the | ranges in that region. suppose it's on ac- | count of the railroads and civilization get | ting in there that makes cattlemen moro careful and systematic-lil1e about branding | their stock. But there was a time, and it
 wasn't over awhile ago, that catching up
 unbranded cattle on the ranges and mark ing them with your own brand was a
 mighty good paying business. There wasn't l nothing risky about it, either, for it's law ot the range that any unbranded calf run ming loose after it's weaned is the legiti- | mate property of the first man who gets his mark on it. Of course it was aptto occasion some remarks not exactly complimentary and such remarks generally led up to row knew 1t to happen that way once and it wound up in a regular free -for-all feud and things got so hot in the shooting line that the vigilantes finally clipped in and put the finishing touches on to make tho thing right and regular.
 Ut happened in this way: Bill Baker and man named Houser had ranges adjoining each other. Both had big bands of cattle and both were as onery cusses as could be found in Texas. Each had gang of about fifteen men riding for him, mostly his own relatives, who would go mile out of their way for quarrel. No one seemed to know where either Baker or Houser came from nor how they got their start and no one cared. Tho trouble began by Houser's vaqueros rounding up a bunch of Bakers cattle ono day and putting their brand on about a dozen of his calves. This meant war and nothing else, and when Baker and his men found it out they were, mad enough to bite themselves. It wasn't long after this that several of Bakers cat tie were found dead on the range. They had been shot Of course no one knew to dead certainty who laid tho steers out, but Baker concluded pretty correctly that Houser and his men had done the job. Then one of Houser's men came into camp ono day with bullet in his leg, deposited there by the Baker gang for approaching too close to their camp. But he had returned tho fro and the result was that Bakers men were engagedfor an hour and a-half the next forenoon in doing the last rites for one of their number who had passed over the range.'
 "After that things went on pretty quiet o, 1t1ynr Con two til one night the two ranchers, with several of their men, met in the 'Nightcap' saloon at Liberty camp. Hopser was in game of poker when the Baker crowd came In and walked up to the bar.
 "'All you galoots walk up here and nomi- nate your coffin varnish,' said Baker, who hadn't noticed that Houser and his men Were in the room.
 "I.want to inform you, Bill Baker, said Houser, If you meant to include us in yer call, that we ain't accepting any favors at your hands nor loWerin' our dignity by drinkin' with cattle thieves
 "'Oh, you ain't,' replied Baker, who had turned around. Well, there ain't no ac- countin' for the strange tastes of some peo- pie. Perhaps hoss-thieves arc more in your ine,' he said, remembering that Houser was once suspected of taking hand in deal of that kind. When I invited the boys Op,' ne continued, I dldn't notice that the company was so mixed. Now, I'm little particular myself. draw the line ct hoss- thieves
 By this time the outsiders had quietly sneaked out and the bar-keeper sauntered over toward the back door whistling The Texas Ranger as he went
 i ''The two factions were in good trim for row. They had sampled all the different brands of spale-ju juice in Liberty camp that ,evepfng, and nothing could have been more in their hands than to meet and have good excuse to settle their accounts.
 ;; "Wen, don't draw tho ttns,' said Hous, 'er, 'hnt draws Something jest as gooa,'