The Lee County journal. (Leesburg, Ga.) 1904-19??, 1909-11-26

Loved of all the nation as an in
stitution particularly American and
worshiped by the small boy, the day
OF the cowboy is passing.
The dashing swashbuckler, with his
leggings, his staggering sombrero,
his belt, reviewers and Iariat will
soon be no more: he is vanishing
from the plains, victim of tnefcom-
Ing Of more modern way OF doing
things.
The knell of the cowboys passing
existence is sounded in the decision to
abandon the reunion Of cowpunchers,
for many years an annual event in
Texas.
This used to be held at Seymour,
Texas. 1t was an event to which the
whole Southwest looked forward, and
cowboys from half a dozen States
made long trips in the saddle in or
der to be on hand for this reunion.
It had been planned to hold it as
usual this spring, but those who had
it in charge found so little interest
that they started an investigation to
find on what had become Of all the
cowboys.
Their discoveries were depressing
from the standpoint of the small boy
who in dime novels and pictures has
worshiped the deeds of the sharp
shooting, bronco-busting, fearless
men of the plains.
So widely has the Convoy been
scattered by changed conditions that,
like Othello, he could truthfully say
that his occupation is gone. No more
than few hundred cowboys could
by any possibility have been brought
to Seymour, and as this would have
been as far short Of a true reunion as
swallow is from composing sum-
mer it was reluctantly decided to
have no conclave, and this means,
likely, that the old picturesque insti-
tuition has passed for all time
Yet it has not been so long since
that reunion was held that was a
remarkable success.
Seymour, now the centre of a cul--
tivated and agricultural section, was
dozen years ago given over to graz
ing. In 1897 it was the scene of the
largest gathering of cowboys ever
seen in this country.
The men from ranches in Texas,
Indian Territory and Oklahoma rode
to the gathering, and more than co.
600 cowboys and 500 Indians rallied
to the. camp and pitched their tents
in Seymour.
The influx Of the settlers Of the PAN
handle and the ranch territory of
western Texas had at that time just
begun, and the advance of the farmer
who was destined to take the soil
from the cattle grazer was yet in the.
future
One man bore the assignment Of
keeping the army Of visitors in order
Capt. w. J. L. Sullivan, recently
elected doorkeeper of the Texas
House of Representatives. His prov
en- courage and knowledge of the men
of the plains had led him to be picked
as the man who could best be relied
on to keep them in check, and he did
not shirk the responsibilities of being
named as grand marshal.
Sullivan was the only peace officer
in Seymour, and everything was up
to him. But so skilfully did he dis
charge his duties that during the four
days that the conclave lasted he found
it necessary to make only two ar
rests, and these were for minor Of
lenses, which shows that the cowboy
was never needlessly quick on the
trigger as the Eastern public had
been led to believe.
But Mr.. Sullivan was a diplomat.
He wouldn't take any chances on a
clash between the Indians and the
cowboys. He put the Comanches on
one side of the town, while the cow
boys had their camp in another di-
rection.