The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1891-08-19
lifetime. They might start in with that
then popular melody:
The yellow star of Texas
Beats the Bellies of Tennessee.


Oh. Ella Rec, so kind and true.
In the little church-y yard lies;
Her grave Is bright with drops OF dew.
But brighter were her eyes.
Then carry me back to Tennessee
There's where love 10 be-
Among the fields of yellow corn
Way down in Tennessee.
But when popular melodies had beeu
tried and negro songs proved tame their
hearts went back to the boyhood DAYS.
They picked up once more the hymns
they learned around their mothers knee
and sang them with all the lusty vigor of
their manhood. 1t was proverbial among
the cowboys that no one in their profess
sion could get along without swearing, and
most of them practieed what they
preached regularly and vigorously. Yet
with lips hardly dry from the tempestuous
oaths they would take up the old camp.
meeting hymns, and roll them out with an
much earnestness as they were ever
breathed about the anxious seat" back in
the groves of the East But last of all
there never failed TO come the one song
that appealed most strongly TO their
hearts. 1t was the song that drove away
the present and carried each wide-hatted
and bespurred rider back to boyhood
home, now perhaps broken and awaiting
them no longer. When all others had
been tried, when perhaps there was no
more need of effort, this song would come
One strong-lunged leader would start it,
and one after another of his comrades
would take up the melody until, for a mile
or more, through the night would be going
up from the circle of herders:
Home home, sweet, sweet home,
There's no place like home; there's no place
like home.
Arrived at the shipping station and paid
of for his work the cowboy enters upon
the one gala time of the year. For a
couple of weeks he patronizes saloons,
dance halls and gambling houses to his
hearts content. As there are a good
many OF him in town at the same time it
Is easy to see how they can make consider
able noise and disturbance. Killings were
frequent in the old days, and the marshals
OF the towns held their lives in their hands.
Wild Bill, as w. h. Hickok was known,
was the only marshal Abilene ever had in
those days who could control the COWBOYS.
1t is related that upon his taking the Office
ne was determined TO awe the unruly eie-
ment into subsection. Walking down the
street the first night ne saw row going
on in a saloon. Stepping in he drew his
revolver and put ball through the ring
leader. The disturbance ceased, but the
man friends were angry. The next morn
ing Hickok came down town. and upon
entering store he saw two men across
the street who he knew intended to shoot
him. Quick as lightning he turned. and,
with revolver in each hand. fired two
almost simultaneous shots, killing them
both. His ISecedence was established
and he ruled the town with an iron hand
for two years thereafter.
The cowboy was a gallant ii his way.
During his stay in town he expended a
large proportion OF his wages on the demi-
monde of the place and carried back with
him to his lonely ranch life memories of
FOSTERING times that he had with the girls.
TO be sure there were many so-called cow
boys who were educated cultured young fell
lows trying to get start in the world, and
their conduct Was different; but the ma
jority of the men were of the toughest
class, many being Of Mexican blood.
The love affairs of the cowboys would
make many interesting chapters. One
that is particularly gruesome is told of
cowboy named Flint. While north ne had
met and fallen in love with pretty wait
ress at the hotel, and before he returned TO
the ranch had won from her promise to
marry him on his next trip. He went
back to the ranch, bidding her a fond good
bye, and through the next ten months
saved and dreamed, anxious for the meet
ing between himself and his sweetheart
He could hardly wait for the slow progress
of the herd over the prairies, and kept
always near the leaders in order to get to
the town early. In the meanwhile another
lover had won his mistress favor, and
had, too, been adopted. One al
ternoon in the early fall the
two went riding in carriage
out south of the city. They were along
the trail, when, as they came over bluff.
they found themselves near the head of a
large herd of cattle. Lover No was be-
fore them, and his quick and longing ewes
grasped the situation in an instant. I'm
loosing the long rawhide lariat which hung
on his saddle horn, he dashed the spurs
into his pony and rode for the carriage.
no Of ri al Sh zad
and the new lover dashed his team to es-
cape. But to no purpose. The curling
line of rope went reaching out certainly
and with almost lifelike intelligence. 1t
settled around the neck of the driver, and
as the first lover had turned his pony in
another direction the man shot out of the
carriage and was dragged over the sod
helplessly and roughly. On and on the
avenger spurred his horse, the body bob
bling over the sod at the end of the lariat
behind. Soon they were out of sight be-
hind knoll, and the rider was never seen
again by his companions. The new lovers
body was found a mile away dead, broken
lariat still attached to its neck. The MUIR
derer was atterward heard of In the mines
of Colorado, where he was known az the
most reckless and hardened character that
had been seen for many a day. His exper.
fence had calloused his heart
But the typical cowboy is seen no more
and his place is taken by barb-wire
fences and railroads. The towns where he
once roamed during his outings have set
tied back into quiet cities, noted not for
their disregard for law, but for their love
OF it. Here and there yet remains an old
tumble-down frame building, which the
old-simers will tell you was the headquars
tiers of the FL Reno or Paso Del Mar saloon.
The number of murders committed in itS
rooms will be related, and perhaps some
stained boards or walls can be shown to
tell of the bloody deeds there committed.
The men who took advantage of the cow.
boys spendthrift ways have become rs
tired capitalists or have joined the dead
owboys themselves in another world.
Year by year "the drive" has grown less
Up to last season few hundred stragglers
were brought up through the territory in
preference to shipping from Texas points.
But there was no profit in IL, and the
probabilities are that the last herd has
''dragged its slow length along over the
cattle famous trails OF the West The
imaginative youth who longs for a cow
boys lite will find that avenue TO a stir
ring and adventurous existence closed to
him in this country.
Hannah More's Confession.