The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-08-23
UNIQUE TEXAS REUNION.
A COWBOY MEETING IN THE SMALL
TOWN OF SEYMOUR.

Their MettIe-Grand Closing BAN.
Ladies We're Few and Each Had
Choice of Thirty Partners.
From the Galveston CTex) News.
! Seymour has had its first COWBOYS re-
union, and. as is claimed by the orisinat-
/ ors. the first ever held I'm the United
States, which practically means the first
/ ever held at all.
The project was started at Seymour.
/ which is a town that has all the push
and rustic for which the west is famed
| It is the terminus Of the Wichita Valley
railway, a spur ifty-one miles long from
/ the Fort Worth and Denver. This makes
! Seymour the nearest railroad town TO all
/ the great stock-raising country on the
/ headwaters of the Brazos 1t is reached
| by a rolling, jerky train that is described
/ in the railroad advertising folder as
mixed" Nothing strikes the traveller
more forcibly than the brutal accuracy
of this statement Sometimes it is nearly
| all freight ears. and sometimes cattle
cars. and sometimes it is nearly all pass
| enger coaches, but it is always mixed"
When this train pulls out Of Wichita
Falls and heads away toward the south
west up the Wichita valley one feels that
he is getting into the heart of the cow
boy country. The prairie dogs gaze sol
EMMY at the train as il clatters along.
and they have so far accepted this me-
cessity of civilization that they calmly
continue to endeavor to maintain the
parity between dogs and dog hoes with
int
in their deliberations.
Seymour, like other towns in the west,
once enjoyed a big boom, which provided
it with buildings that would be an orna-
ment to many towns ten times its size.
A huge three-story stone building with
about eighty feet front stands with sash
less windows and doorless DOORS a grim
skeletonlike monument over the grave of
somebody's investment. Not far from Sc
is a two-story stone opera house with
rooms for business houses on the ground
floor. 1t has never had an occupant eX-
cept bats.
But as the man who is intoxicated feels
sad and repentant the next day and be
gins to feel better on the third day, Sey-
mour has reached her third day after her
intoxication, or perhaps her fourth; any
way she is feeling all right again, as Is
demonstrated by her people being willing
TO subscribe upward of $1,000 TO entertain
the cowboys. When the project was first
started $3.50 was subscribed in half an hour.
The idea of the reunion was taken up in
April last, and men from there went out
through the ranches of the Panhandle tell
ing what sort OF an entertainment il was
to be. The Seymour people expected that
there would be 1000 or 2,50) persons in at
tendance, and were gratihed to find that
there were fully that number in town on
the morning Of July p, the first day Of
the meeting, when the Texas Cowboys
Association was organized.
All day Wednesday the people kept com
ing in. Cowboys on horseback, with their
camp outfits, and prairie schooners with
sun-beached canvas c0vefs came drifting
over the ridges, from the long iron bridge
over the salty turbid Brazos from the
east and south. Wednesday night the
town was crowded and Alex Benge, who
was looking after the barbecue pits, was
heard to observe that nobody had expect
ed such a crowd. Campers were supplied
with meat free of charge by the citizens
Of Seymour. All the wells, public and pri-
vate, were also placed at their disposal
for stock water. Wednesday night the
biggest crowd of the reunion was In town
Fireworks were set off and the air was
laden with the shrill cowboy yells. How
ever everything was remarkably orderly.
Not an arrest was made or disturbance
reported.
The scene Thursday morning at the rop-
ing and riding contests was inspiringy
grand.
The spot selected for the contests was
in a gentle depression west of the doggy
| stock pens. Doggy is the cowboy term
for East Texas cattle, and these pens are
where the East Texas cattle are kept in
quarantine when they arrive.
South of the pens grand stand seating
| about 1,50O persons had been erected. An
| hour before the roping contest was to be-
| gin this stand was jammed with people,
| and the fences Of the neighboring stock
pens and the box cars on the sidings were
! covered with men and boys as thick as
beads on string.
! The crowd on horseback and in prairie
| schooners was ranged around the roping
| ground in a circle about a half a mile in
| diameter. Marshal 10 A. p. Dickson and
his aids were kept flying back and forth
on their horses to keep the crowd in order
and far enough back to give plenty OF
room for the wild and woolly "bronks
and the equally wild and woolly "bronk
busters"
This circle seen from the crest of the
hill half mile back Of the grand stand
! presented such a scene as could only be
produced in this part OF the world, and
such as none of the oldest cattlemen had
ever seen before.
The line of schooners with their white
canvas covers extended nearly all the way
round, and the remaining arc Of the cir
| Gle was filled in by horsemen standing -four
or five deep in places. Up and down and
! back and forth were galloping singly and
! in squads the best and toughest riders OF
| the west From every part of the vast
crowd came continually the shrill whoor
Of the cowboys. As much a part of his
| stock in trade as his saddle or his spurs
| is this whoop. There is no way to put il
| in print that will give even a remote idea
! of it's peculiar sound as 1t rings out on
! the cloudless western air with its accom-
| panying roll of horses hoofs on the turf
To see squad of these cowboys SWEEP
| by at full speed with their broad hats
| Tapping. their spurs jingling and their
| whoop ringing out and mingling with the
| indescribable rushing sound OF hoofs or
the grass puts a thrill in the slowest blood
and creates a wild desire TO mount a bron-
| co, swing your hat and join them
| The "bronks" provided for riding con-
! tests were, as a cowboy expressed it, "the
worst kind" They were. in ranch vernac-
ular, outlaws" That is, horses that
couldn't be broken. and the horse that
can't be broken by Pan Handle cowboy
is surely a tough customer. They have
| been ridden enough to know ALI the trick :