Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-05-24

ands ....... Wheat Ranches
e Trails Concrete Roads
dering Herds. Livestock Trains
ing Bronchos. Farm Tractors
land Mail -. Air Transports
n bad Men" Auto Tourists
BOY Round-ups. Farm Bureau Picnics
q lively young galoot from the Texas PAM
handle shouldn't miss the fun. Out to q tree
they marched the thief and strung him up.
Then back to the range, over the
old trail, to go through the
"a rnonotony again.
w. ~ The rip-roaring West had
49, much of It's genesis in
the trail towns. To
~ this day, in Abilene,
Dodge City or Cal6-
well old timers tell
stories
of showing
!, ~ their partic-
zs ular town had
E zS the deepest in
M crustation of vice.
~ The cowmen were
z " by #%S not all saints dis
trict courts Of that
day prove, but, like
all of this early -day
wickedness, 1t has
grown blacker with age,
and what may have
been cowboys prank
in the early 80s in this
modern day turns out to
be a human behemoth
shooting from both hips,
consuming quarts Of "piZen"
and carrying in manner
that Al Capone'S boy friends can't
duplicate
A tale that never tires with the telling is
Tom Smiths demonstration OF quick-trigger
law when he became the legally constituted
boss in Abilene In cow days q
- town marshal was the chief OF
police, county sheriff, United
81 States marshal and sometimes the stand
ing Army Of the United States. Either
he was q good cajoler or a sharpshooter.
A Texas cowman strolled into the Old Fruit
saloon The bar was along one side OF the
room which was lighted with smoking oil
lamps. Smith was on the Texans trail. Inc
cownan was drinking too copiously for the
sake of the community. Smith stepped In TO
head OF the retreat Of the Texan and his
cronies Smith had reputation for using his
fists as well as his guns, and more than one
Lone star range pride had been hammered
into sleep.
Down the room marched Smith, the crowd
crowded into the rear. Two three shots
were fred but this nothing to get excited
about Smith had been shot at before.
ranger threw lamp at Smith Lamps In
those days sometimes exploded This didn't
While the stampede was on, Smith grabbed
his man. yanked away his guns, threw him
over his shoulder and marched out The
Texans shot in Smiths direction, cursed.
yowled and literally tore up the place. but not
one laid hand Smith until their picked
friend was locked in Jail.
Audacity they called it then. Nowadays the
engaging personalities who psychoanalyze
every one would say Smith used psychology.
That would have been fighting word in those
days, so nerve" must do. Smith never backed
down. He could outsmart the average tough
hombre. What Smith did. every other town
marshal had to if he would save his hide.
Myths developed about these personages.
Some said Smith couldn't be killed by q
bullet because he wore steel shirt. Others
said he had been charmed by Indian
woman.
Broadly speaking, the Chisholm trail was
an outlet for Texas cattle. And. the famous
old trail, with its eastern and western
branches, still is a matter of controversy.
Cowmen with their credentials Of bowed legs.
slouching walk and weather-beaten faces,
boast of their experiences, their weather lore,
their wickedness and their heart smashes with
y the women in the trail towns Argument is
about all that is left, because wheat fields gas
fields railroads and motor highways have
obliterated the cid cattle courses.
The original trail through Indian Territory,
the first wagon trail made by the part Chero-
kee trader Jesse Chisholm, was easily lost
when the thousands of cattle began SPRAYING
toward the new market en- the Missouri River.
The vagueness the oblivion OF the old trail
was never more accentuated than when the
Texas Trail Drivers Association undertook to