St. Paul daily globe., 1892-06-07
COWBOY SPORTS.
Contests Of Skill That Are Held by
Champions of Rival Ranches.

Contests Of Skill That Are Held by
Champions of Rival Ranches.
Even the festive cowboy has his hours
Of relaxation. although perchance his
more civilized fellows of 1.-THE States"
would pronounce the same fraught with
danger and replete with malicious
J intention to do ''great bodily harm"
to the participant. But among the
legitimate sports in which the
cowboys are prone to indulge, aside
from the not infrequent intervals when
they reach town and ride around yell
ing like Comanehes and chasing all law
abiding citizens into their subcellars
during their visitatiohs. may be men-
toned their occasional contests of skill
at riding, shooting and roping steers,
got up between the ranchmen OF rival
camps, says the St. Louis Republic.
A certain curly haired, specialized
yonng LAWYER. of staiu demeanor, yes
terday described such scene, in which
he had participated i'll a certain sense.
under conditions that the local scribe
was not to mention his name.
lit was about FIVE years ago." he be-
gan, 'when l was roughing it on Nor
gan Hill's ranch-a little patch of some
10000 acres-about sixteen miles out
from San Jose. Mine hosts outfit of
ranchers were exclusively Mexican. and
an intense. albeit friendly rivalry, for
a wonder, existed between them and
the American cowboys of neighboring
ranch. One Sunday morning our boys
and their neighbors of the States met
at saloon at Madrone station, and, as
usual, loud boastingS were heard on
each side as to their superiority in all
~ al
riding, shooting and deXterity in WELD
ing the laSSo.
"a match was finally agreed upon be-
tween one Lucas PadrOne, of our camp,
and a picked man from the American
camp for contest of skill ON the points
of riding and shooting. Our MeXlcanS
put up as wagers everything they had
except their prospective chances of es-
Gaping purgatory- that is to say, their
loose coin, blankets, lariatS, bridals,
saddles. real. genuine Mexican plugs
as Mark Twain would style them, and
all. The American boys saw the ante.
and cheerfully raised them to the extent
of all their worldly possessions. One
Mexican put up his silyer-meunted re-
YOlver and favorite bridal with ME for
enough coin of the realm to stake all On
Padrone.
"Of course | was glad to see the con-
test, and also am reduced to say that
the champion from our ranch came out
victorious. The first test was to ride
around a post about SXS inches on the
circumference of forty-foot circle,
and to girdle the aforesaid post with
balls from revolver. Padrone won
both the toss and the match. averaging
at least twenty balls out of the fifty
shots allowed. He won the second
contest. also, in fancy riding, but this
was due in the main to the superior
training and intelligence of his
pony, little bay and white bronco,
which appeared as meek as Moses. but
which had the temper of the devil when
aroused by Its master. 1t really came
up to the ideal of the cowboys pony,'
and was able to wheel on quarter
This contest embraced seemingly mar
velous feats of horsemanship, such as
the picking up of handkerchiefS or
small coins while galloping at full
speed, the vaulting in and out of the
saddle and many other maneuvers--
common enough in the West, but which
would be worth small fortune to per-
former in a ci1cus doing the 'effete
EaSt'O