The Western news. [volume] (Libby, Mont.) 1933-current, 1933-09-28
=. A. Maverick

ness hit upon the unique Idea OF .brandingr
new half million-dollar classroom building at Its
state university with the symbols OF Its greatest
industry. Accordingly Garrison hall at the Uni
versty OF Texas now bears ON It's walls 81 cat
tie brands which helped make Texas history. AS
preliminary to this idea e. w Wnkler uni
versity librarian, examined more than 10000 cat
tie brands which were used at one time or an
other In that state and from this number selected
the 81 which were to be engraved on the white
stone walls OF the new classroom building as
representative of some step In the progress Of
Texas history
There Is good story connected with every
one OF them but outstanding among them are:
the Austin Spanish" brand of Stephen IT. Aus
tin, the Father Of Texas. the Four Skies of
3. b. Burnett which resulted from his winning
large ranch In poker game In which he held
-four OF kind; the D brand OF A. Fl. (shang-
hail Pierce, who drove cattle from MataQora
county on the gulf and whose steers were known
from the Rio Grande to the Canadian line as
Shanghai Pierce's sea lions the KIT brand,
generally known as Ten In Texas OF the Capt.
toll Land Syndicate whose holdings covered ten
counties and included three million acres, given
In payment for the state capitol building at Aus
tin the Lazy S OF G. G. Slaughter which adorned
than IL 600 cattle year In the trail-drtvinp
period after the Civil war; the IA brand OF
Charles Goodnight owner of the famous Good.
night ranch. home of the Goodnight herd OF buff
fao, and e1perimenter In crossing cattle and
buffalo to produce the 'catalo" and last but NOT
least the NIX brand OF s. A. Maverick the cattle
man who paradoxlcay became famous not be-
cause OF brand but because OF lack OF. one and
whose name became common noun In the Amer
lean language. For maverick" is word found
In all dictionaries. defined by the eminent Die
tonaire Webster as IAN unbranded animal. esp
a motherless calf formerly customarlly claimed
by the first one branding It." and "mavericking'
Is recognized legal term for illegal appropria
ton Of unbranded cattle.
Samuel A. Maverick graduate OF Yale col
lege In the class of 1926, was one OF the foun
ders OF Texas independence and a member Of
the congress OF the Republic of Texas In 1845
Inc exact details OF how his name came TO be
perpetuafed In common Western word are
somewhat disputed. One account states that a
neighbor who owed Maverick debt OF $500 paid
1t off by giving him 200 head of longhorn cat
tie whereupon Maverick turned them over to a
family OF negro slaves with the understanding
they have the natural increase of the herd
But these negroes were shiftess set and
allowed the cattle that thus came to them TO roam
at Will In the long grass along Matagorda bay. |
In few years there were hundreds OF these
unbranded cattle AID people often asked Whose
cattle are theseT to which the usual reply was /
They're Mavericks" AS time went on the term
mavericks came to be applied to all unbranded
cattle-they were not Samuel A. Mavericks cat |
lie. they were just mavericks, nobody's cattle
Another account says that during the Civil
war nearly all OF Colonel Mavericks EMPLOYEES
entered the Confederate army so that his cat
tie ran Wild and remained unbrapded So they
were Mavericks cattle until some one else
clapped his brand on them to make them his
own and gradually all stray cattle became "mav-
ericks.' Whatever the true story may have been
the fact remains that among all cattemen who
might be famous because thousands Of cattle
bore their brands, the most enduring fame came
TO one whose cattle went unbranded
20 BY We&tsrn Newspaper unon,) +