The record-union., 1896-11-08
BUCK ST0DBINS YARN
How He Trained Two AlligatorS to Do
His Flowing.
Told by an Artistic, R0ugh-and-
Tumble Liar of Gigantic
Proportions.


st. Louis Times Democrat" has had
in many day. and that is saying a
good deal. 1t is printed under Cald-
well, Tex, date line.
Every old settler in Eastern Texas
knows old Buck Stobbins. Stobbins
came to the Lone Star wilderness when
the republic was in it's infancy. He set
tide in the Big Thicket not far from
Houston. and during his long career he
has hunted bear, only varying the mo-
notony of the sport by occasionally get
ting drunk and spending a few days in
getting sober and resting the dogs. The
old man is an ironSide, hardShel Bap-
tist and liar-not a mere novice in
feeble and unpublished mendacfty, but
Wholesale, artistic, outh-and-tumble
liar of gigantic proportions. His word
is pretty good on all ordinary subjects,
but when it comes to bear, the aged
veteran varies, twists, diStOrts and piles
bear and hounds and gunshots and
butcher knives all together, and makes
story worth listening to. Every hunter
goes to see him, and all leave his cabin
pleased with his extraordinary hospi-
tality and feeling that if there were a
few more Buck Stobbinses in the world
the human race would laugh more and
life would be worth living after all.
He has been making war on the black
bear of Texas for more than half cen
tury, and killed every year, according
to his own statement, bear enough to
feed an army, and yet he can put you on
stand where you can get shot at a
big, rollicking bruin any fine morning.
Very recently he has figured as the most
conspicuous character in an adventure
that is without parallel in the history of
the world. The old fire-eater had one
son, and when this heir apparent to
the Stobbins claim and cabin in the will
derness was about ten years of age he
captured pair of young alligators two
or three feet in length. Now young
StobbinS did not have any calves to fool
with, and so he chained the young alli-
gators together and hitched them to
small slide He put small rings in the
nose of each gator, and then, by the
dexterous use of a pitchfork, managed
to extract a good deal of deviltry and
fun out Of his wonderful team.
The boy was fast growing to man.
hood, and the a1ligators-well, they
were fast growing to 'gatorhood They
promising youth took the swamp fever
and died. Old Stobbins was devotedly
attached to his SON. He expected to
make famous bear hunter out of the
boy. His grief was not of the common
kind. He tried to burn it out of his
''irards' with moonshine whisky, and
possibly would have succeeded, but the
capacity of the stiflhouse was a grade
less than the old warriors endurance
and metal When the still went dry he
tried coal oil. and he soon drank the
country into darkness. The neighbors
lad to hide their oil cans or transact
all their business between the rising
ard the setting of the sum- One day
he concluded to sober up and raise
crop, but upon discussing the subject
with Miss Nancy-fa pet name for his
Wife-he learned that during his long
period of mourning he had exchanged
Buck and Ball. his oxen, for mountain
dew. His first impulse was to go over
ard shoot the stillhouse man who had
taken advantage of his weakness and
round up his oxen and hitch them to
the plow, but while he was loading his
gun the gators crawled out of the
tank in the lot and began to snort and
below like bulls
An idea" exclaimed the thoughtful
Mr.. Stobbns. Get the pitchfork. Miss
Nancy" he shouted and let us see if
we can't make them air varmints use
full"
In telling the story a few DAYS ago to
party of hunters Mr. Stobbins said:
1T jest beat anything you ever saw.
II ho cd 8
derstood the situation, and when I
drove them out into the field and
htched them to the plow / never
popped whip over or stuck a pitch
fork into. a better team. They knew
whoa and gee just as well as any
pair of oxen ever yoked together in all
this here broad domain of the land Of
liberty called Texas. l put my crop
IN the ground in a hurry-got away
ahead of all my neighbors. They were
the best plow team that ever straddled
row OF cotton. / made two bales and
had ii ginned before the swallows and
bluebirds got ready to ay away to
Mexico. Said 1 to Miss Nancy. This
here is fun. but it is only the be-
ginnin'. | have sold the cotton at the
gin, and l have got the yaller boys in
my pocket. Let US hitch up the gators
ana go down to Houston and lay in a
few things ready for bear huntin'.
Done. dad" said Miss Nancy. and
TO sooner said than done. She hitched
the gators to the cart and away we
went, bound for Housting with a pocket
full OF rocks. No need to ask people to
give the road. Most peoples horses
and mules and oxen took to the woods
as soon as they got a smell of us. We
lattied into the city, and you never seen
no sich excitement People quit sellin'
things and utterly neglected business
to run after us. 1 was kinder dry, and
| stopped at a saloon and got a Jug
Filed. When / came out people were
starin their eyes out, and a hollerin'
aid jest raisin thunder They were
a-raisin' questions at Miss Nancy, and
the varmints. bein' unused to sich sights
and so much fuss We're cavortin' around
and snappin their jaws, wantin' to eat
somebody or go. There was a band
wagon comm down the street with lot
of cussed fools in it BLOWN brass horns.
Then forty other wagons, all painted
! with yamints sich as lions and tigers
and beasts of the forests. was a-follow-
in, and mixed up with them was a lot
of loose elephants and camels and fools
| draped UP in pritty clothes. a-ridin'
white horses. A circus, by thunder,
Miss Nancy said l. Jest then the
ho.ses that were hitched to the band
wagon began to cavoft, and they wheel