The Washington herald., 1910-06-26
By JAMES D. MORROW.


flowers
Imagery first sees lean Indians hunt
ing buTaIoes on horseback; then a tiger
ish dash of armed white men into the
free lands OF a rich country juggIed
from savage owners. and now a miracle
of an empire. wrought out of chaos.
seemingly snatched from the four winds
OF heaven. hurriedly finishing itself into
Opulence and serenity.
In the matter OF human experience.
unique and Enthusiastically national,
Oklahoma, in q Congressional sense, is
the most picturesque State in Washing
ton. Gore. one OF the Senators. eloquent.
intelligent, and adroit, is blind. but only
in his eyes. Robert L. Owen, master of
arts and doctor of law and literature,
the other Senator. is part Indian. Carter.
of Ardmore, member Of the Lower House
says, autobiographically. that he is sew
en-sixteenths Chicasaw and Cherokee and
nine-sixteenths Scotch-Irish; also that he
was once ''cow-puncher and bronco
buster"
Dean OF the delegation. a Territorial
delegate before he was a Representative,
a venerable pioneer OF the Southwest.
although he is only forty-five, Mcguire
could be novelized into a slashing from
tier romance. With Ieggings. a wooden
shirt. brace of pistols and a horse
he might easily scare timid community:
he has the gray eye for IL, the jaw for
1t, and the size. physically.
Actor In Border Drama.
AS an actor in a border drama he
could terrorize all the women by soowl
n W.T. Nv
part Still. he is a low-voiced man,
emerging in modesty but quiet energy
from the rough life that is past. He has
followed the herds, hunted for thieves.
and, I dare say, has prosecuted more
cattle rustlers and assassins than any
other lawyer in the United States BY
and by, when Oklahoma has a Repub-
lican legislature Bird Mcclure will be a
Senator, in all reasonable probability
You were sixteen years old" said
10 him. being curious 10 know how he be-
came cowboy. when you left your
home in Kansas and went 10 Indian Ter
ritory. Why did you go?"
We had lived in Missouri good re-
gion. OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES J. fortunately.
came under the instruction and influence
OF capable school teacher. He encour-
aged me 20 get an education, and I in
stinctively thought of the legal profess
sion. However. we moved 10 Kansas,
almost TO the dividing lines between In
dian Territory and Oklahoma, where my
father kept a small store. We had no
schools. except OF an inferior kind, and
my parents could not AFFORD 10 send me
away from home.
Becomes Cattle Buyer.
AT that time the quickest way 10 get
L.. A.
out to bring cattle up from Louisiana.
Mississippi, and Lower Texas. We would
drive them TO Caldwell or some other
railroad town in Kansas. whence they
would be shipped TO market Usually we
made but one trip during a season My
first employment took me TO Louisiana.
where the cattle were small but cheap
in price"
You were rather young for such
work. I said.
II was the youngest cowboy in the
3 southwest. It was ragged life and full
of temptations, but l was after money
with which TO get an education, and IN
derstood that If began drinking I would
turn out like the rest I was a cowboy
for three years. at one Of the formative
periods of my life. but I never tasted a
drop OF liquor. nor did I use tobacco or
generation has passed. 1 look back 10
those rough days with some feeling Of
personal satisfaction. Anyway I had a
theory and stuck TO all of my intentions
My associates We're rarely known by
their own names. and doubtless many OF
them were fugitiyes from justice. Most
OF them got drunk when whisky was OBJ
tainable. and whether in liquor or sober,
were more or less dangerous in an argu-
ment We thought we were in town If
within forty miles Of little railway sta
tion-we could gallop there in four hours
and be back before sunset. remember
that four cowboys were playing poker on |
the ground. A drunken fellow. returning
with bottle OF whisky from a settle |
ment thirty miles distant, called one OF |
the poker players a vile name. Nothing |
was said at the time The cowboy who |
had been called the name got up and |
walked away.
The Matter Is Settled.
THE next morning, in the sight and /
hearing of us all, he said, addressing him |
self 10 the intoxicated man Of the even
ing before:
Do you remember the language you
used to me yesterday
Yes. was the brief reply.
Do you want to take 1t back?'
a. No. came the surly answer.
- Then pull your gun
They We're six feet apart and began 1
working their weapons simultaneously. A |
half dozen shots were fired and each idiot |
was dead upon the grass with three bull |
let's in his body. The world wasn't any /
worse for the tragedy. but it was a fool |
performance, repeated pretty often In /
the Western country"
Driving cattle" I said, ''must have re-
quired a good deal OF SKILL with Incl |
dental dangers, personality"
cit did" Mr.. Mcclure replied. I'VE /
would go South in the winter and, after /
the company for which we worked had /
bought a drove Of cattle, we rode for a |
month or two In and out of the feeding |
herds that they might get accustomed |
to cur presence. Brush cattle from Tex
as, or the mountain cattle of Louisiana |
or Mississippi, were about as wild as buff
faloes They had never seen men on
foot, and so we had to keep in our sad
dies, at first. for fear of stampeding
them. Along In February. the cattle be-
ing thin as wolves. we would start for
the North by slow stages.
Fallen on the way.
II was In one drove that contained
1900 steers. but It was broken up into
herds. which were separated ten miles or
so. With each small drove there would
DO i've or six cowboys. a mess wagon.
and number Of extra ponies. The cat
tie being driven from four TO six miles
q day. they would fatten. you see. while
on the way 70 market If we drove ten
miles for any reason. we would stop
FOR a day or two and let the cattle rest 4
and feed Some time in June, We would
get within thirty miles of a railway. !
where We would halt and a couple q
cowboys would gallop to the station asd
engage stock cars.
During the drive we would sleep on
the ground at night some distance from
the herd. Every cowboy LEARNED 70 niIInw