Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1904-09-23
KING OF THE RANGE.
Made a Fortune and Left it to His
Cowboys.

Made Fortune and Left It to HIS
Cowboys.
"Jim Bridges, the cowboys friend"
is the inscription on a granite monolith
which marks a grave in the Texas
Panhandle, not far from the Oklahoma
border. 1t Is fully 25 miles to the
nearest human habitation, and even
then 1t isn't much Of place, yet the
grave is we'll kept and each year the
iron picket fence which surrounds the
grave is given new coat OF black
paint. The grave Is in a slight de-
preston like the arena in an amphi-
theater and the loving hands Of rough
men" have planted there a small gro
We Of hardy trees which, despite all the
rules of forestry, have flourished and
today these trees furnish shade and
shelter for a chance wayfarer in that
lonely region.
The story of Jim Bridges and his
solitary grave is a bright spot In the
history of a locality where monotony
Is king. In the first place Bridges was
not his name. but it was all the name
the boys" of the Cow country" knew
when he came among them in the ear
ly seventies. He had money, a good
physique and could both shoot and
drink: these were his passports. 1t
wasn't considered polite in that coun-
H., RI for
more than a mans present we'll being.
That the man they knew as Bridges
came of a good family back East" and
had but short time before graduated
from college the fellows found out, and
and to a close acquaintance Bridges
once remarked that he and his family
couldn't agree.
The Texas Panhandle is still consid-
cred somewhat crude, but it is a val
liable cradle of refinement now COM
pared to what 1t was then. Men drank
deep. shot straight and died young. 1t
was into such a goddess society that
Bridges was cast, and, while evident
ly man of some culture, he became at
once one of the boys" The night
was never too dark nor the way too
long for Bridges to 30 if friend was
in trouble CIR need.
In short time he gathered a good
sized bunch Of cattle and as he paid
riders" good wages and fed them
we'll, they swore by him to man. AS
result. his herds prospered and he
grew wealthy. until at last he became
known as Bridges, King Of the
Range" Riches did not change him
one whit. however and he was still
the hail fellow we'll met he had been
when a tenderfoot. Unlike other men
of his stamp Bridges never cared to go
back East and see the folks" He
seldom even visited the larger towns
his "punchers'' went with him-"for
company" Whether all this was be-
cause of a sinister motive. none knew.
One time. it is related, he accompanied
bunch of cattle driven from one of
his ranches to Dodge City, Kansas.
While there a distinguished old gentle
man, wearing a silk hat and snow
white side burns, alighted from train
and with a sweet-faced old lady
marched arm in arm up and down
the platform. One cowboy, a lit
tie drunken than the rest, raised his re-
volver to puncture the "stovepipe,"
when Bridges, with an oath, cover
ed" the facetious comrade, saying:
Put that down , you d-n fool, and re-
member your mother" 1t was notice
able, however, that he kept out Of sight
of the couple until they climbed back
| into the train, and he never could be
persuaded to go to Dodge City again.
All the ranchers in those days expe-
rienced considerable trouble with cat
tie thieves. known as "rustlers." and
Bridges was no exception. But he
waged a relentless war against them
with considerable success. At one
time, after a chase of several hundred
miles, a band of these desperadoes
was cornered and forced to surrender.
The ethics Of the country demanded
that they be hanged at once to the
nearest tree. Captors and captives