The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1893-02-16
TALE OF AN OLD TEAMSTER

sas revolution. He is, indeed, q vet
eran OF three wars, having fought un-
der Huston at San Jacinto, Taylor at
Buena Vista, and Albert Sidney
johnson at Johnston at Shiloh.
1t is the old mans greatest delight
to recall the memories of his advent
urous past, and he will spin yarns OF
the olden times by the hour to any
sone who will do him the'grace to list
en-. Among the rest he tells of the
early days OF Corpus Christi.
IL was g. tean1ster in them days."
he says, land hauled goods for Col.
III. T.. Kinney. There warn't no
blamed railroads runnin' all over the
country then, and man that owned
a. good wagon and team was sure of a
Twin. Lord! mind we'll how Texas
looked them days! The peraries
sstretchen out on every side as far as
the eye could reach, just covered with
wild flowers of all kinds and color,
snd dotted all over with cattle, and
maybe a. long line of white-topped
wagons movin' along the road.
Some folks think it looks sight
prettier now, all fenced in and planted,
but amt one of 'em.
"'There warn't no way of carryin'
goods then, except haulin' and every
settlement off the coast had to de-
pend on teams Ifor everything in the
way OF dry goods and groceries. And,
4 can tell you, when the teamsters
held the road verybQdy, stage drivers
and all, had to turn ddt" and give 'em
s-oom.
"Well, as I was sayin', teamed for
Col. Kinney, who was the first man
that settled Corpus Christi and held
the place in spite of the Injuns and
Mexicans till sort of a town grew up
round him. He had a lot OF wagons
haulin' goods all through the country,
and | tell you for fact most of the
goods we hauled was smuggled across
The Rio Grande. Lord how them
greasers did cheat their government,
TO be sure! Fine lace mantillys, Mexi-
can blankets, saddles and brides, all
shiny with silver work, besides great
.droves of cattle and mustangs, all
slipped over the river right under the
noses OF the comisiones who, for the
most part, was said not to keep their
eyes s. inned too clean. Then they'd
take back goods for out side, and not
a. cent OF duty paid either way.
"Kinney's Ranch, as Corpus was
called in them days, was the head
quarters OF this trade, and what with
teams haulin' goods from the river
and teams startin' off with goods
through the country, crowds OF
greasers and gringos laughin', talkin'
,drinkin' and shootin'-them was
lively times, tell you, at Kinney's
ranch.
ESPECIALLY when the teams got back
from trip with the goods all safely
delivered and the teamster got paid
off. Dollars was plentiful then, and
the way we made 'em spin was a eau.
ton. Gamblin' was the favorite way
of chuckin' 'em about. The greasers
played monte, ofcourse, but the games
with the gringo's was draw-poker and
Eeven-up.
II wasn't 20 years old then
a. slim young slip of a feller-with nary
O. sign of this here hyar brush Of 6
beard, and skin as fair and smooth
as girls. But soon got tanned in
side and out. I'd have been brown
enough to eat and been eat up alive !
it hadn't been for some fellers from
the states that took to me and sorte1
stood 'twixt me and harm. They was
rolder'n me and knew the ropes sight
'tbetter'n did.
swell, as I was sayin', when w
~warn't teamin' we were gamblin
most OF the time, and rough as thu
crowd Was will say for 'em that ii
general they played on the squar
Fact is, I've noticed when guns ar.
pulled on such short notice folks gen
orally mind their eye and are mighty
cautious how they step. Anyhow
them that lost, lost by a want o
luck or skill, not by cheatin'; and wee
rather, any OF us, been stood up agil
"a tree and riddled with bullets thar
caught in any tricks.
"One night I was havin' a tremun
dous run OF luck and the other Teller
were lookin' sorter blue, but the,
took it quietly, bein' used to ups ant
downs OF that sort. Just as I wa
dom my level best there walked up t.
*our campfire big six-foot Teller iron
Arkinsaw. He ware't a teamste1
but belonged to q company Col. Kin
,ney kept on guard at the ranch. H
was a, quarrelsome bullyin' sorter fe
der and none of us liked him much
That night he was chockful of whisk
and just spilin' for fight.
HE sat down close by and bega
to brag. He could do this and h
could do that. He could back th
buckin'est lbroncho on the ranch; b
could hit the eagles head on a dolla
with a bullet at twenty PAGES:
could carve live meat better'n an
butcher in Texas; he could bluff an
man alive at draw poker; he coul
plank down to So to any oth'
mans 81.
Nobody paid any 'tention to hin
and seeing he couldn't stir up, IL
crowd he jumped on me, partly,
suppose, because [ was young ar
green and he thought I was safe gam
partly because it riled him to see n
>rakin' in the dollars SO fast.