The Monmouth inquirer., 1926-09-23

made, as Emerson Hough acknowledged and
demonstrated in his North Of &c. Yet these vol
umes are more than mere source books. They are
a remarkable social document, A hundred years
hence people will read them for picture of the
men and times they record as we now read the
diary of Samuel Pepys for its reflection not only
of Pepys but of the age of the Restoration
"This is high praise; it is meant for SUCH Take
these sketches from The Trail Drivers of Texas
take Andy Adams THE Outlet take North Of
&c. and if nothing else had been written the
subject if nothing else were ever written, yet
we should have full and just picture of the
most picturesque and probably the most epic
movement of in the Western hemisphere
the movement of 9800,O00 cattle and 100000
horses by $4,000 men in % years time OBSTINATE
given by Saunders) over NEEDLESS and beeless
and uncharted land stretching from the Gulf
of Mexico-nay, in some instances from far into
Mexico-clear to the Dominion Of Canada"
This book, collection of true stories of the
actual experiences of these old-time cowmen is
proof again that truth is stranger than fiction"
Do you remember when Emerson Houghs North
of 36" appeared some three years ago and an
Eastern critic took him to task for historical
inaccuracy" and kindred sins? Perhaps you re-
member too, the furore that was raised by this
critics words A great chorus of protest against
the critics aspersionS went up. Such noted
writers as Andy Adams Charles Siringo Eugene
Manlove Rhodes William Mcleod Raine, J.
FRANK DAVIS, IL. II. Hartman and Hugh Pendex-
ter, Charles NJ Russell. the noted cowboy painter
President Saunders of the Old Trail Drivers asso-
citation and other members of that association, as
well as dozens of Old-timers in every part of the
country who had ridden the cattle trails rallied
to Houghs defense and had a hand in taking
several yards of skim off of that particular critic
before they were through with him. The fact
was that Hough had obtained much of his data
for his novel from 1.-THE Trail Drivers" book
Some of his Fiction" which seemed improbable
or untrue was based on solid fact as told by the
old-timers whose narratives appear in this book
and In some cases he actually toned down fact
because it would have seemed too improbabIe
In fact 'The Trail Drivers of Texas is full Of
material which a writer of fiction might hesitate
to use lest his tale be considered improbable In
it are hundreds of stories of human endurance
tested to the limit of countless perils along the
trail from stampedes from thirst from hunger
from hostile Indians and even more desperate
white men, of heroic deeds by men of whom
President Saunders has well said, II fear there
of character Andy Adams LOG of a Cowboy
has well been called the "epic of the cattle trade
In this compilation of the experiences of hundreds
Of other oldtimers there is material for dozen
epics of the cattle trade even though to ANDY
Adams must go the credit for having written the
first one
The conditions which produced these men now
seem very remote and it is difficult to realize
that it all began only sixty years ago. well within
memory of many men now living. Consider first
the cause and then the result will be more easily
understood. At the close of the Civil war Texans
who had served in the Confederate armies came
home to find their state in depIorable condition.
1t was virtually bankrupt. Texas possessed great
wealth. but 1t was wealth which could not be