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diff --git a/old/56016-0.txt b/old/56016-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 894fac8..0000000 --- a/old/56016-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,4671 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Memories of Old Montana, by Con Price - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - - - -Title: Memories of Old Montana - -Author: Con Price - -Release Date: November 20, 2017 [EBook #56016] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MEMORIES OF OLD MONTANA *** - - - - -Produced by Roger Frank - - - - - - - - -MEMORIES OF OLD MONTANA - -By - -Con Price - -(Masachele Opa Barusha) - -THE HIGHLAND PRESS - -Highland at Hawthorne - -HOLLYWOOD 28, CALIFORNIA - - - - -Copyright, 1945 - -By Con Price - -All Rights Reserved - -FIRST EDITION - -After Deluxe edition of 125 copies, numbered and signed by the author. - - - - -DEDICATION - -To all the old-time cowboys and cowmen whose hearts were as big as the -range they rode. - - - - -CONTENTS - - I. Earliest Memories (1869 to 1878) - II. Black Hills of South Dakota (1878 to 1885) - III. I Start to Punch Cows - IV. With the RL Outfit - V. With the TL Outfit in the Bear Paws - VI. Line Riding With the Mounted Police - VII. In the Judith Basin Country of Montana - VIII. With the DHS Outfit - IX. Jim Spurgeon - X. Tom Daly - XI. Kid Curry - XII. Fred Reid - XIII. Indians - XIV. Open Range Days - XV. The Johnson County War - XVI. Broncos - XVII. My Marriage - XVIII. The Lazy KY - XIX. Memories of Charlie Russell - XX. Cowboy Philosophy - - - - -PREFACE - -Some years ago, through my interest in the life and work of Charles M. -Russell, I met Con Price. No one could go far into the subject of -Montana’s Cowboy Artist without cutting Con Price’s trail. - -These two men were more than cowpuncher friends and associates in a -ranch partnership. Charlie regarded Con as one of the greatest bronco -riders of his time, and Con considers Charlie the finest kind of friend -a man could have had. - -It was a long time before Con would talk much about his close friendship -with Charlie Russell—a friendship that started on the range before -either was married, and lasted until Charlie crossed the Big Divide in -1926. After some urging Con has, over a period of years, written -something of his early days in Old Montana, with a few, too few, -references to his friend Russell. - -My own knowledge of Russell has been immeasurably enriched through -knowing Con Price, but more important is our own friendship, which I -treasure even more. - - H. E. BRITZMAN - July 23, 1945 - Trail’s End, Michillinda, - Pasadena, California. - -[Illustration: The Lazy KY] - - - - -CHAPTER I - -EARLIEST MEMORIES (1869 to 1878) - - -I was born in the year 1869 in Manchester, Iowa. My father served in the -Civil War and during that service contracted consumption and was -discharged from the army and came home a very sick man, without any -provisions being made to take care of him—only through the efforts of my -mother, who didn’t have a dollar, only what she made working for wages -which was very small at that time. - -There was four children—the oldest eight, the youngest two. So with my -father’s sickness and us hungry kids to feed, she must have had hard -going. I think my father was home about a year when he died. How she -provided for the burial, I do not know, as there was no charitable -organizations or county help those days. - -I remember after the funeral my mother called in a Catholic priest to -consult him about what to do with us kids. They finally decided that the -priest would find homes for us by having some wealthy families adopt us, -which he did. - -I was placed with a family by name of Calligan, near a town named -Manson, Iowa. As I remember the contract, those people were to give me -an education and when I was twenty-one years old, they were to give me a -horse and saddle and $500.00. - -But after a few years my mother married again and she and her husband -decided they wanted us children back. All the parties that had the other -children gave them up, but the people I was with contested my mother’s -rights, and they had a law suit about who would have possession of me. -My mother won out, which broke my heart, as I was very much attached to -my adopted parents. And another thing, as I see the picture now, my -stepfather didn’t have intelligence enough to raise a pig, let alone a -child, and I didn’t like him. - -So there was a mutual dislike between him and me right from the time -they got me home. The first thing he put me doing was herding cattle out -on the prairie. And almost every night I got a whipping or a scolding -and I was always thinking about my adopted home. I think I was about -nine years old at that time and he gave me a pretty good horse to ride -to herd those cattle. So one day I conceived the idea of stealing this -horse and run away and go back to my other home, which was about 100 -miles. Of course, when I came up missing they didn’t know what happened -and they went to all the neighbors looking for me before they got the -idea that I had run away, which gave me quite a start. - -It took me about three days to make the trip. I stayed over night with -ranchers and I remember they asked me, what I thought at that time, some -queer questions—where I came from and where I was going, and so forth. -But I mixed up a story that I was going on a visit, which I guess seemed -strange to them—a boy about nine years old going that far with a good -horse but no saddle. I was riding bareback. Anyway I made the trip. But -about three miles from my adopted home, I turned the horse loose and -walked—and as there was no fences to stop him, in the course of a few -days he drifted back home. - -My adopted father and mother were tickled to death to see me. They were -an old couple and had become very fond of me. So they cached me around -in different places for several days until they decided my stepfather -was not going to bother about me—and I thought I was settled down in my -old home again. And they used to send me after the milk cows in the -evening when I came home from school. - -They gave me a little mare to ride. She must have been a race horse, for -she could sure run. I rode her without a saddle and I was still on the -look-out for someone to come after me. - -Now my stepfather had a mare that was very fast, but he sometimes worked -her in harness. Well, one evening I went after the cows—I think about -two miles—and had just started towards home, when I saw a team and wagon -coming pretty fast towards me right across the country and not on a -road. I soon recognized my stepfather and my mother in the wagon. They -were between me and my home, and I had a rather narrow place to go by -them—(a fence on one side and a creek on the other ... I think about -fifty yards space) and it looked like I was in a tough spot, as I had to -go right past them. I had to go about a quarter of a mile to be opposite -them. When I started towards them, my stepfather sensed what I was going -to do. He jumped out of the wagon and started to unharness his fast -horse. He was pretty quick and about the time I got to where he was, he -had mounted and hollered at me to stop—but I was in high and I fairly -flew past him. I looked back at him once and he was whipping that old -horse and getting all the speed he could. But he might as well be -standing still as far as his chances were of catching me. I had to go -through some timber before I got to the house, so he couldn’t see which -way I went. - -I give the alarm and the old lady told me to run into the corn field and -hide. My stepfather came to the house and made all kinds of threats but -he didn’t find me. My folks went back home and everything seemed all -right again for about two weeks. I thought they were going to let me -stay where I was. - -But one morning I was taking the cattle out to graze and had got off of -my horse and was trying to drive a cow out of the brush. When I looked -around there were two men close to me in a buggy. I didn’t wait a second -but started to run. One of them jumped out of the buggy. I thought he -was the largest man I ever saw—must have weighed 250 pounds. He hollered -at me to stop, which only scared me worse and away I went and that big -fellow after me. - -The country around there was very brushy and rough. I tore into that -brush like a rabbit and run until I fell down and I just laid still, -hoping he wouldn’t find me. I heard him go by me. I think he missed me -about three feet and went on by. He must have been gone about an hour—I -heard him coming back and he walked right up to where I was lying. He -said, “I am the sheriff. Get up. I want you.” Boy, was I scared! He put -one handcuff on my wrist and led me back to the buggy. My stepfather had -sent him after me. - -I have never had any handcuffs on since but I sure suffered agony that -day. They had to drive about 15 miles to the railroad to get a train to -take me back home and I begged the sheriff to take the handcuffs off, as -the thoughts of them scared me to death. The sheriff was a kindly man -and I know he felt sorry for me and was going to take them off—but I -heard the driver tell him, “That kid is going to give you the slip if -you turn him loose and we never will catch him again, and he sure can -run like hell.” It was a livery stable team and driver that the sheriff -had hired to go after me, and I guess they didn’t want to waste anymore -time chasing me. But the sheriff did take the cuffs off when we got to -town and took me to dinner and treated me fine, but told me if I tried -to run away he would put me in jail. That cooked me ... I stayed close -to him all day so he wouldn’t think I was trying to get away. - -When I landed back home I had quite a score to settle with my folks for -running away. They kept me under pretty close guard for awhile but -finally put me back to herding cattle—but they did not give me a horse -to ride anymore. I had to walk, as my stepfather knew there was less -chance of me running away if I had to walk. - -My mother tried to make peace between the old man and myself but never -made much headway, as we both hated each other. He was a comical-looking -little Irishman—I was quite a mimic and was always making fun of him -behind his back to the other kids. One day he caught me at it and it -sure made him mad and he gave me a good beating, which didn’t help my -feelings towards him. So I used to job him every chance I got and I -guess I made life about as miserable for him as he did for me. - - - - -CHAPTER II - -BLACK HILLS OF SOUTH DAKOTA (1878 to 1885) - - -In 1879 my folks came across the plains from Fort Pierre to the Black -Hills and the first town we came to, of any size, was Scooptown and from -there to Deadwood was mostly mountains and several toll gates. It cost a -dollar to go through those places—that meant the people that kept those -gates kept the road repaired so it would be passable—but those roads -were sure tough. I remember when we drove our team up the street of -Deadwood the mud was about two feet deep and we could hardly get -through, as Deadwood was one street about a mile long in a deep canyon. -It was laid out in three sections: first Elizabeth Town, Chinatown and -then Deadwood proper. We camped in Elizabeth Town for several -weeks—lived in a tent. - -It was a great sight at that time around the old Gem Theatre, which was -a big dance hall and gambling house. There was no law prohibiting minors -from going into those places and I sure got an eyeful! The first unusual -sight I remember was seeing a woman with a black and swollen eye. And in -most of those dives there were women dealing faro bank and poker—and I -was fascinated with the names they went by. There was Big Gussie, who -was Bed Rock Tom’s common-law wife. She was considered a very capable -gambler and would take and pay all bets as cool and calm as a bank -teller—and just as accurate. - -I used to admire those old characters. There was Colorado Johnny, Tom -Allen, Deaf Jimmie and several others ... I have forgotten their names. -Those men were all faro dealers—and wore long whiskers ... and the -barbers sure got well paid to keep those whiskers in perfect style—and -the fine clothes and jewelry they wore must have cost a small fortune. - -As I remember there was 28 legitimate faro banks in town about that -time, besides several questionable ones. Those games had a limit in the -amount you could bet on the turn of a card, which was usually $12.50 and -$25.00, but one or two houses had $125.00 and $250.00 limit—that means -you can only bet the low limit where there is only one card left in the -deck to act. You can bet it to win or lose. Most everybody played faro -them days—but I believe the Chinaman was the greatest gambler of them -all. About 11 o’clock at night was their favorite time to start out to -gamble. They would put on their best clothes—which was the very finest -of goods them days—white socks, silk top shoes, and they would leave -Chinatown for the white man’s game. I have seen 25 of them, dressed this -way, one behind the other heading for the faro game—and they sounded -like a bunch of geese honking to each other in their talk. They liked to -all get around one gambling table and if one of them seemed to be lucky, -the rest of them would follow him with their bets. In fact, it seemed to -be a kind of a system they had—and often they would win several thousand -dollars in a night. - -While we were living in Deadwood, there was an old man kept a little -grocery store close to where we were camped, and an old Irish woman kept -a boarding house nearby. It was hard to get white sugar most of the -time, and the people had to use brown sugar, which came in barrels, and -when the weather was damp and rainy that sugar seemed to draw moisture -and got quite heavy. And each time the old lady got sugar she accused -the old man of putting water in it to make it weigh more. One morning he -saw her coming. He got a bucket of water and was standing by the barrel -when she walked in. She ran up to him and stuck her first in his face -and said, “I caught you at last—I always knew you were watering that -sugar!” She didn’t make much fuss about it afterwards. She seemed -pleased to know she had caught him and that her suspicions had proved to -be right. - -After a few months in Deadwood my folks moved to the little town of -Galena, where Colonel Davey owned the Sitting Bull mine, and my folks -started a store and boarding house and I went to school for a short -time. There was two Irishmen run a store there by the name of McQuillian -and Finnegan. They also had a cow ranch about 75 miles east of Galena. -Finnegan run the ranch, McQuillian run the store. Finnegan used to come -to Galena sometimes on horseback. His saddle, chaps and outfit was -something wonderful to me—and his stories of the range made me feel I -wanted to be a cowboy. I asked him for a job and he laughed at me, told -me I was too young. Also my folks wanted me to go to school. - -But the spirit of the wild country had got in my blood and one day I run -away from school and started for the Finnegan Ranch, caught a ride when -I could and walked part of the way, but finally got there, and told -Finnegan I was going to stay. So he gave me a job close herding some -cows for breeding purposes. The first thing he learned me was to read -his brand which was “F M.” There was thousands of brands on the range -those days, and I was supposed to keep all other brands of cattle out of -his bunch. - -The old man had several cowboys working for him, but he was chief cook, -bottle washer and boss. He used to tell me he was the best cowboy of -them all. But the fact of the matter was he couldn’t do much of anything -in the way of a cowboy, and the men used to make fun of him behind his -back. But I learned pretty quick that he liked to be swelled about what -he could do and I sure poured it to him, and he liked me fine. He used -to tell me what a fine cook he was—his cooking was rotten and consisted -of bacon and beans and sourdough bread. I remember he had an old knotty -pine log in front of the cabin, and I don’t think he ever started to -cook a meal that he didn’t grab the axe and hit that old knotty pine log -a few licks. He never got any wood off of it, but would try it every -time, then throw the axe away, and hunt up some chips, or anything else -he could find to start a fire. When he made bread, he had flour from his -eyebrows to his toes. - -In 1879 the country was sure wild. Deer, antelope, buffalo and bear were -very plentiful; very few white people, but lots of Indians and some of -them were still on the warpath in them days; also quite a sprinkling of -road agents. I remember one old road agent named Laughing Sam. He was -very polite in his holdups. He held up a freighter one time and all he -had that Sam wanted was chewing tobacco. The freighter begged Sam to not -take all his tobacco, as he could not get any more until he got to -Sidney, Nebraska, which was about 200 miles, but Sam said he was sorry -on account of the law he could not go to Sidney, so took all of the -tobacco. - -In those days everything was freighted from Fort Pierre, South Dakota, -and Sidney, Nebraska, to the Black Hills by ox teams and mule teams. I -have seen 27 ten-yoke teams of oxen all in one outfit. At the head of -this caravan rode the wagon boss. He was quite a dandy in those -days—fancy saddle, boots and pearl handle six-shooter. It was a great -sight to see an outfit like that moving across the country; with those -men shouting at their teams, whips popping and wagons rattling. It -sounded like a young army in action. - -The town of Deadwood was the terminal of all freight and stage outfits, -and as there was very little law and order those days, it was sure a -wild town. There was another town about 20 miles before you got to -Deadwood. It was called Scooptown those days, but afterwards was changed -to the more dignified name of Sturgis, which it still has today. I have -seen that town at night full of bull whackers, mule skinners, cowboys -and soldiers, and the dance halls going full blast—when I think back at -it today, it seems like a dream. - -I knew an old-time bull whacker. He went by the name of Baltimore Bill. -He got into a gun fight one night in one of those dance halls. He got -three fingers shot off, but killed the other fellow. He was arrested for -murder and laid in jail for about a year pending his trial. He was -finally acquitted on the grounds of self-defense. I worked with Bill -afterwards and was well acquainted with him. He said he had a very -narrow escape from hanging. He said when the “prosecutin’” attorney got -through making his plea to the jury, he felt he (Bill) was the lowest -human alive and deserved hanging, “but, oh boy, when my attorney got -through with my defense, I was a damn good man!” - -Fort Meade was located three miles from Scooptown and was occupied by -colored soldiers, and a very noted nigger ran a dance hall and gambling -house in Scooptown. - -One night some of those negro soldiers were drinking in this house and -got into a row with the proprietor, whose name was Abe Hill, and he hit -one of them on the head with a bottle. A few nights after this, these -soldiers stole some guns and ammunition out of the Fort and came in to -shoot Abe Hill’s place up. There were about twenty of them, and they -raided that old dance hall and in fact nearly all the town. There was a -cowboy in Abe’s place that night. His name was Bob Bell and he didn’t -know what all the noise was about. He stepped from the gambling part -into the dance hall, thinking it was a little celebration and was shot -four or five times. Poor Bob never knew what hit him. - -I was in town that night, and when the shooting began I ran back off the -main street, but bullets seemed to be hitting all around me. The first -thing I came to that looked like protection was a wagon with a mule tied -to it. I ducked under the wagon—but between the bullets hitting the -wagon and that old mule bucking on the end of the halter, I put in a -quarter of an hour very uncomfortable. But the mule and myself escaped -unhurt. - -Part of that regiment of negro soldiers were afterwards transferred to -Wyoming to stop a war that broke out between the stock men and cattle -rustlers, and they pulled off another job about like they did in -Scooptown. - -There was a little town established at the end of the Burlington -Railroad on Powder River. It was named Sugs. The town consisted mostly -of saloons and the sporting element. Those negro soldiers got into some -difficulty with some of the citizens of the town and decided to have -revenge. They were camped a little ways outside of Sugs in tents. So one -night they stole some ammunition and guns like they had done before at -Scooptown, and started in to town to shoot it up. - -It was quite a dark night and the only lights the town had was coal oil -lamps. The town had about 500 population and one street. Those soldiers -lined up at the end of the street and started shooting at every -building, tent, or any form they saw, and everybody that could run for -cover—in half finished cellars, out houses or any hole they could get -into. - -There was an old man there—(he was a Jew)—who had started a little -hardware store, and had a few dish pans hung on the wall of his tent -store, and about the first bullet that hit anything of consequence was -those dish pans. They were hung one on top of another, and the bullet -went through all of them. And while everyone was running for cover the -Jew saw his pans wrecked. He stopped right there and said, “Oh my God, -look at what they have done to my hardware.” - -Now there was two cattle rustlers came to town that night, making their -get-away, headed north, and had put their horses away, and got a room in -the only hotel in town, which was at the opposite end from where the -soldiers entered. Those men had gone to bed and when they heard the -shooting they thought it was a posse after them, and as they didn’t have -time to get to their horses, they decided to put up a fight. They both -had Winchesters. They put all their bullets in their hats, came out of -the hotel, and laid down in the middle of the street, and when they saw -this body of soldiers moving their way shooting everywhere, they opened -fire on them. I believe they killed three of those negro soldiers and -wounded several more. It became so hot for the soldiers they broke and -run. Meantime the officer at the Post had heard of the trouble, ordered -out his whole force, and came riding into town and demanded law and -order. It was quite a while before the officer could be made to -understand his own men had caused all the excitement, as he did not know -they had stolen away. - - - - -CHAPTER III - -I START TO PUNCH COWS - - -In the year of 1885 I got my first job as a real cowboy. I went to work -for the “7D” outfit on the Belle Fouche River in the Black Hills night -herding horses on the roundup. There was twenty outfits working together -and there was about 300 riders—that was more cowboys than I ever saw hi -one bunch before, or since. Also there was more grass and water that -spring than I ever saw since that time and the range was open for a -thousand miles in every direction and the country was just alive with -cattle and it was not unusual to work and handle 5,000 cattle in one -day. - -Each outfit had from 150 to 200 saddle horses and from 15 to 30 cowboys. -Each outfit had a grub-wagon and a bedwagon, four horses to each wagon. -Each outfit had a day horse wrangler and a night wrangler and a cook. -When we moved camp, the night wrangler drove the bedwagon to haul the -cowboys’ beds. We didn’t have any stoves or tents those days. The cook’s -outfit consisted of Dutch ovens, iron pots and coffee pot and boy, what -a meal them old cooks could set up! - -In the spring of 1886 I helped to gather and take a herd of cattle from -the Black Hills to Miles City, Montana. The cattle belonged to a Jew by -the name of Strauss and he owned the “54” Ranch on a creek named -Mizpah—I don’t know where that creek got its name, but it must mean -alkali, for the water there would take the skin off your lips and was -equal to any dose of Epsom salts that anyone ever took. - -Mr. Strauss lived in Milwaukee and had been on the ranch about a week -when we arrived, and the weather was very warm and he drank plenty of -that water. So one day about noon he told his foreman there was -something seriously wrong with him and he had to go to Milwaukee at -once. He had black whiskers and I think that water was so bad it even -had an effect on his whiskers. He looked so bad he scared me. - -So I told the boss I would quit and went with them to the railroad—they -had to go to Miles City for the Jew to get a train to Milwaukee. So I -went with them, which was about 50 miles. We made a night drive in a -buckboard. - -There was a road ranch about half way and the old man kept telling the -foreman when we got there he would be O.K. as the lady who owned the -place served nice cold milk and that was what his stomach was craving. -We got there about midnight and woke the people up to get some milk for -the old man. The lady sent her boy down cellar for the milk. There was a -skunk in the cellar. He killed the skunk and brought the milk up to the -dining room. When that old man took one swallow of that milk he stopped -and his eyes set in his head. I thought he had a stroke. - -He said, “Lady, I believe the animal has been in the milk.” - -We got to Miles City the next day and I never saw the old man again but -hope he found some milk that was not tainted with the perfume of the -skunk. - -I remember my first experience as a bullwhacker—that was what they named -a driver the days when they hauled freight with cattle and mule teams. - -When I quit the “54” outfit and went to Miles City, I proceeded to -counteract that bad water on Mizpah Creek with Miles City whiskey and -the results were so pleasant I stayed until I was broke and sold my -saddle, and when I could not get anymore of Miles City joy juice I got -in a box car one night on a train going West and landed at Ouster -Junction on the Yellowstone River in Montana—that was where freight was -unloaded and hauled to Fort Custer and some parts in Wyoming. - -The first outfit I found was loading for Wyoming and was owned by a man -by the name of Bill Marsh. He had two teams (10-yoke of Texas steers to -the team) and was loaded with whiskey—I have forgotten how many barrels -but they usually hauled 9,000 pounds to the team. I asked Marsh if he -wanted a man. He asked me if I was a bullwhacker. I told him yes, and he -hired me. - -Now I never had put a yoke on a steer in my life, or drove one, but I -wanted a job, so he showed me the right-hand leader, which is the first -steer to be yoked. Now the way to yoke a steer is to put the yoke on -your shoulder and walk up to him. The cattle were used to that way, but -I took the yoke in my arms, and walked up to the steer. He took one look -at me, jumped up in the air, kicked me in the stomach, knocked me down -with the yoke on top of me and run off. The boss was looking at the -performance and said he better help me hitch up. - -We rolled about 10 miles that day and my team just simply followed the -boss’ team and done about as they pleased. They certainly knew I was a -tenderfoot as a bullwhacker. - -That night I was pretty badly discouraged when we camped and I told the -boss the truth that I had never drove oxen before but I was broke and -had to have work. He said I need not tell him anything as he knew when I -tried to yoke that first steer that I was not a bullwhacker. - -It has always been a mystery to me about those steers—how well they knew -me—after about a week on the trail they wouldn’t pull your hat off for -me. I know the boss would have fired me but we were crossing the Crow -Indian Reservation and we didn’t see a white man for a hundred and fifty -miles, so he had to put up with me. At that I don’t think he suffered -anymore than I did, because my team done just about as they pleased most -of the time. - -I recall one day we were pulling what they called the Lodge Grass Hill -on the Little Horn River and it was very steep and scarcely any road at -all. The boss and his team had pulled the hill and got over the top out -of sight of me. My team stopped on the hill and refused to start. I will -never forget my near wheeler—I was whipping and hollering at the rest of -the cattle trying to start the load—I happened to look at him. He had -the yoke up on his horns and his eyes bulged out like he was pulling his -best, but the fact of the matter was he was holding back. It looked like -he was just fooling me. Finally the boss came back to see what was the -matter. I told him I was stuck and the cattle couldn’t pull the load. - -Now Bill was a real bullwhacker and those steers knew it. He give one -yell at those cattle and the three wagons began to move; in fact they -went so fast I could hardly keep up with them and it looked like that -old steer that had been fooling me pulled half the load himself. - -We used whips, with the lash about 20 feet long and the handle about 5 -feet. Those old bullwhackers could pick a fly off any steer anywhere in -the team, and when they hit a steer it sounded like a six-shooter had -went off—that was something I never learned. They could hit a steer with -their whips and make a loud noise and not cut him. Every time I hit one -I cut his hide. The boss used to give me hell about that but I would -have used an axe if I had one when I got stuck. - -When we had been on the road several days we lost a work steer and it -broke up my team. - -While the boss was out on the range looking for the steer, a young buck -Indian came into camp, riding a pretty good-looking horse. He could talk -a little English and I could talk some Indian. I made him understand we -had lost a steer and asked him if he would go and look for it. But he -wanted money and I didn’t have any ... but we had six wagon loads of -whiskey and I knew Indians liked whiskey. They called it fire -water—Minnie Kavea. The people we were hauling it for allowed us to -drink what we wanted, the only proviso was not to put any water in the -barrel after we drew the whiskey out, so I asked the Indian if he would -hunt for the steer if I gave him a drink. His face immediately became -all smiles and he made signs if I would give him a big drink that it -would be a bargain. - -I went to the grub box, got a pint tin cup and filled it for him. He -drank it like water. He made signs that I was his brother and he loved -me and he would find the steer right away. - -I think he was gone about half an hour when he came back. His eyes were -glassy and he was slobbering at the mouth but very happy. He said. “Me -no see cow.” He made me understand the fire water was very fine and -wanted some more. I gave him another cupful. - -He started away singing, to hunt the steer again. He was riding bareback -and was leaning pretty much to one side. He went about 50 yards and fell -off. When he hit the ground, he completely passed out. - -About that time the boss got into camp with the lost steer. When he -found out what I had done he said, “My God, kid, you will have us both -in the pen for giving whiskey to Indians. Yoke up your cattle quick and -we will get out of here.” We left him lay where he was. I’ll bet he was -a sick Indian when he woke up. - -The boss sure was mad about it at the time, but had a big laugh over it -afterwards. - -We were six weeks making that trip, and I was a fairly good freighter by -that time, but it wasn’t a very good job for a cowboy, as I had to walk -too much. - - - - -CHAPTER IV - -WITH THE RL OUTFIT - - -In the spring of 1887 I went to work for the “RL” outfit located on the -Musselshell River in Montana. The outfit belonged to the Ryan Brothers -of Kansas City. They run about 25,000 head of cattle, and run three -wagons and worked about 20 men to each wagon, and had about 500 head of -saddle horses. - -That year they had a contract with the government to supply the Sioux -Indians with 5,000 beef cattle. We gathered the first herd of 2,500 and -trailed them to landing Rock Agency on the Missouri River in North -Dakota. We were about four months on the trail and I don’t remember of -seeing one wire fence or farming ranch on the trip. - -We swam those cattle across the Yellowstone River east of Miles City. We -were four days trying to get those cattle across. It was in the month of -June and at the time of high water—the river was bank full and at least -a quarter of a mile wide. We tried every way anybody had ever heard of -to get those cattle to take that water. We would bring them to the river -every day and fight them all day, but it was no go. We would then drive -them back from the river and night herd them and try again the next day. -Finally we decided to hold them off water for twenty-four hours, and -then drove them all into the river at once. It worked. It was sure some -sight, the 2,500 head all swimming at once. - -We had a wonderful trip after that. We only moved them about eight or -ten miles a day and with plenty grass and water they got very fat. It -was the custom them days to butcher a calf on anybody’s range, so we had -plenty good meat. - -When we arrived at the end of our journey, we had to herd those cattle -for about three months, as we only delivered 250 head a week. We held -them about twenty miles from the Agency, and each week we cut out the -fattest ones and took them to the Agency. After we had been there about -a week all the cowboys quit and went back to Montana, which only left -the boss, the cook and myself with 2,500 cattle to hold, and as there -was no white men in that part of the country, the boss had to hire some -Indians to help hold the cattle. Those Indians could not understand one -word of English and we couldn’t talk much Indian, so we were in a pretty -bad fix. - -Our horses didn’t like the smell of the Indian, and they persisted in -getting on on the right-hand side, and, of course, our horses objected -to that. They all wore moccasins and they would put their foot so far -through the stirrup when a horse got scared when they were getting on -and they would fall down and their foot would hang in the stirrup, so -the boss and myself put in most of our time catching loose horses. - -One day a steamboat came up the Missouri River and it blowed the -whistle. Now those cattle had never heard a steamboat whistle before. -They were scattered over an area of about four miles feeding. It sure -scared them. They first run together all in one bunch, and we might have -checked them but those Indians got excited and scared them worse than -ever. One Indian was running his horse pretty close to the lead of the -cattle and giving war whoops, and his horse fell down and throwed him -right in among the cattle. I sure thought he was killed and hoped he -was, but he never got a scratch. After we got the cattle stopped, he -made signs that he enjoyed it very much, as it reminded him of hunting -buffalo. - -All cattlemen know that cattle do not get over a scare like that very -soon, and those were all longhorned Texas steers and would scare of -their own shadow, and when one jumped they all went. So that night when -we put them on the bed-ground, the boss wouldn’t put the Indians on -night guard as he knew they would scare them for sure. So he put me on -first guard, and he brought his bed and night horse out to the herd so -he would be close if anything happened. He staked his horse and went to -bed. - -I was riding around the herd and they all seemed to be settled down -fine, when all at once, quick as you could snap your finger, they were -all running. It was very dark and it sounded like thunder when that herd -stampeded. I was badly scared and I tried to stay in the lead of them as -much as I could, but they would swing first one way and then another. I -think they run about three miles, when something came out of the herd -right longside of me. I knew it wasn’t a steer. It made a different -noise from anything else that I had heard. I thought it was a ghost, and -I pretty near fainted. It was the boss’ horse dragging the stake rope -and the stirrups and saddle a-popping that scared the cattle and me, -too. The horse had pulled his stake pin and stampeded the herd. After -this ghost had disappeared, I got the cattle stopped but I still didn’t -know what it was. I didn’t know where I was or where camp was, so I -tried to sing and talk to the cattle and wait for help. Some of them -began to bawl and I knew that was a good sign, as cattle will not scare -so bad when some of them are bawling. In about an hour I heard the boss -whistling and coming my way. He had walked to camp and got another -horse, and come hunting me. He stayed the rest of the night with me. -Luckily we had not lost any of them, as they all stayed together, but -there was a lot of broken horns and lame cattle, as they had piled up -several times in the run. - -For several days those cattle were very nervous and we had considerable -trouble watering them. A steer would see a little rock or a piece of -grass that didn’t look just right—he would jump and away they would all -go. - -After about a month the other herd came and we had more cowboys. We were -all right then as we had plenty of help, and began delivering beef to -the Indians. - -I remember one delivery we made, the boss sent me with a pack outfit and -my orders were to camp about halfway of the twenty miles we had to go -and make coffee for the cowboys that were bringing the cattle. It was -raining that day, and as we were on the Indian reservation there was -very little wood to build a fire with, so when I got to the place I was -to camp everything was wet and nothing to make a fire with. I saw a pine -box about two feet long in a cottonwood tree. I got it down and broke it -up and inside of it were a few dried bones and a few pieces of red -flannel. It was an Indian papoose grave—that was the way they buried -their dead. I dumped the bones out and made a fire out of the box. - -Old man Ryan, one of the owners of the cattle, was with us that day, and -came ahead of the cattle to get some coffee. When he seen I had coffee -made, he was very pleased, and told me I was a great boy. But when he -went to pour out his coffee, he spied those bones. He asked me what they -were, and when I told him he nearly fainted, and would not touch the -coffee. But it didn’t affect those hungry cowboys when they got there; -they told me I was wonderful, but the old gentleman said I was simply -terrible. The old man was a very devout Catholic and said I would surely -go to Hell when I died. - -We would put those cattle in the government corral and an army officer -would just look them over and accept them. They didn’t weigh them, but -bought them so much a head. - -After the inspector passed on them, they would call five or six Indians -with their rifles. They would get up on the corral fence and shoot every -one of them before they touched one. Then the army officer would take so -many Indian families to each steer and let them divide it up. There was -three tribes there, with a chief at the head of each tribe. I don’t know -how many Indians was in each tribe but it looked like about 3,000 -Indians—all Siouxs. - -In about two hours there wouldn’t even be a tail of a steer left. Each -family took their portion and went to their different camp grounds. - -Those three chiefs’ names were Sitting Bull, Rain in the Face, and -Gall—the latter two looked like old seasoned warriors, both had been -wounded in battle several times. Sitting Bull was a younger man and -looked like he had some white blood in his veins. - -The old time Indians claimed Sitting Bull was not the great warrior that -he got credit for and that he did not plan the massacre of General -Custer and that Rain in the Face was the great man in that battle. - -Every time those steers were shot down in the corral, before any beef -was divided, Rain in the Face made a speech—I don’t know what it was -about, but the roar of applause was terrific. - -That fall when we got the beef all delivered, we took the saddle horses -to Mandan, North Dakota, on the Northern Pacific Railroad and shipped -them back to Montana. - -The cowboys went by passenger train. Those cowboys had been on the -Indian reservation all summer and could not get any refreshments, and as -they had all their wages they made Mandan a lively town for a Hay and a -night. There was about twenty of them, and it was some job getting them -cowboys loaded on that train, and after we got started it took the train -crew all their time to keep them straight. - -Them days they heated the chair cars with a coal heating stove. One old -cowboy got a raw steak out of the diner, and before the conductor knew -it he was cooking it on top of the stove and the car was full of smoke. -The conductor took it away from him and throwed it out of the car and -gave the old man hell. The old man was very mad and told the conductor -he didn’t know nothing, as that was the proper way to cook a steak. - -Another fellow bought a suit of clothes in Mandan and decided to change -clothes in the parlor car. He got into quite a dispute with the train -crew, but finally got his new suit on. He said they were too damn -particular about riding on trains. - -We were all at the RL ranch one afternoon ready to start on the spring -roundup next morning. We saw a rider coming very fast. When he rode in -we all knew him. His name was George Shepord. His horse was all sweat -and about winded. - -Someone said, “Hello, George. What is the matter?” He set on his horse -and didn’t say anything for about a minute—then he said, “I killed John -Matt about two hours ago.” - -John run a saloon at what was known at that time as Musselshell -Crossing, a stage station. - -George’s story was that him and Matt were playing poker single-handed -that day and got into a dispute over a pot. George said Matt tried to -steal a twenty dollar gold piece out of the pot. They got in an argument -over it. They both had guns (all cowboys wore guns those days)—Matt -reached for his gun but George beat him to it and killed him right there -at the poker table. - -George got on his horse and came to where we were and the boss notified -the Sheriff. The boss knew George very well and liked him very much, so -he took George to a big patch of brush down the river and hid him out -until things got cleared up and the boss detailed one of the cowboys to -carry food to him. - -George was very desperate at first and would not agree to give himself -up—so the sign agreed on between George and the other boy was that the -cowboy was to whistle When he came near the brush patch. This boy told -me afterwards he would begin whistling a mile before he got to the brush -patch, and when he got there he would be so damn nervous he couldn’t -whistle at all. - -Finally the boss got George to give himself up and the fact that no one -saw the shooting and George’s testimony was all there was, he got clear -on the grounds of self-defense. - -It’s a strange coincidence, but I worked with another fellow that killed -a man the year before in Gold Butte, Montana, and he and George worked -together for the RL outfit. His name was Frank McPartland—and they were -both the quietest and mild-mannered men in the outfit. So as the old -saying goes: “You can’t tell how far the frog can jump by looking at -him.” - -Frank and his partner were wintering in a cabin in Gold Butte and got -into a fight over a gallon of whiskey they had—anyway that was what -started the fight. Gold Butte was about two days’ ride to Fort Benton, -which was the county seat and the nearest place to get in touch with an -officer. - -Frank stayed with the corpse and sent a neighbor after the sheriff and -coroner. When they arrived they had to stay all night in the cabin and -when it came time to go to bed there were only two bunks. Frank gave one -to the sheriff and coroner. They asked him where he was going to sleep. -He said with his partner. He said, “I slept with him when he was alive—I -don’t see why I shouldn’t now.” - -Frank was in jail for about a year and as Gold Butte was at that time an -Indian reservation, he had to be tried in the Federal Court which was at -Fort Keogh near Miles City. - -He got free, too, from the fact nobody saw the killing but him. - -When I worked for the RL outfit, we used to work along the Yellowstone -River. There was one place where there was quite a little settlement of -farmers. The place was known as Pease Bottom. We always camped a couple -of days right on the edge of the Bottom. - -My memory of it is the whole female population of the Bottom was two -girls, a widow and a married lady. - -Always the day before we made this camp the cowboys shined their spurs -and bridles and put on clean shirts (if they had one) as they knew all -the lady folks would be at the roundup and boy, what a show those forty -or fifty cowboys would put on for those four or five ladies. If a -cowboy’s horse didn’t buck, he would make him buck. If no cattle broke -out of the roundup, some fellow would cut one out and take it around and -around in front of the ladies. Of course, the ladies applauded us -all—and we didn’t know who was the favorite but, of course, each one -thought in his own mind he was the best. - -Every year when we camped and worked the country close to Pease Bottom -it was understood by everybody that we would have a dance at night in -some one of the farmers’ houses, as the people in this little valley -really enjoyed those events just as much as we did. - -Our cook played the banjo and a mouth harp, both of which he always -carried with him. He had a kind of a frame fixed around his head so he -could play them both at once. He only played two or three tunes, such as -“Turkey-in-the-Straw,” “Hell Among the Yearlings” (which was a cowboy -title) and maybe a waltz or two, but those pieces answered the purpose -for all dances. - -We danced mostly quadrilles, I remember, and one time some stranger -happened to be at one of those dances and he asked the cook to play some -dance tune that he never heard of and it came near to causing a riot, as -that was one thing the cook prided himself on—that he knew and could -play any tune that anyone asked for, regardless of how difficult. So he -played “Buffalo Girls,” or some other old-timer. The fellow said that it -was not the tune he asked for and it started a hot argument right now. -We all said the cook was right and the stranger didn’t know what he was -talking about. Of course, we didn’t know anything about music, but we -did know we had to stand by the cook, as he was the only musician we -had. He wouldn’t stand for any criticism of his music and would quit -playing and break up the dance. - -In those days the foreman of an outfit wore better clothes and rode a -better rig than the average cowboy and really was in a class by himself, -so when we went to those dances he was usually more popular than the -regular cowboy, and was often shown favors among the girls. In fact, we -would have to take another fellow for a partner instead of a girl -sometimes—the ladies was so scarce. - -I recall what seems to me to be very amusing now. There was a school -teacher at one of those Pease Bottom dances and she was a great favorite -with everybody and every cowboy tried to pick her for a partner, if -possible. The floor manager had called a dance with “Ladies’ Choice.” I -heard that call and figured I was out for that dance—and took a big chew -of tobacco—when to my surprise this little lady stepped up to me and -asked me for that dance. Now I had no chance to get rid of that chew and -rather than let this little queen know I chewed tobacco or lose that -dance, I swallowed the whole works, tobacco juice and all. - -It is hard to imagine the high regard and respect we had for those good -women of that day, as we saw so few of them—and as I know good women -appreciate those things, I believe they liked us and valued our -friendship. Why I have known some old hard-faced cowpuncher that had a -grouch about something and when one of those women would give him some -little attention his face would soften up until you couldn’t tell it -from the face of the Virgin Mary. - - - - -CHAPTER V - -WITH THE TL OUTFIT IN THE BEAR PAWS - - -For a good many years there was a section of the country along the -Canadian border and the Milk River that the cattlemen thought was no -good for cattle—but in the late eighties and early nineties they -discovered that it was a much better cattle country than the Missouri -and Yellowstone country as it produced a buffalo-grass that I think had -no equal for fattening cattle. It was a short grass, but had plenty of -fattening qualities, especially in the Sweet Grass Hills area. I have -seen steers so fat we could hardly drive them into the roundups. - -So nearly all the Judith Basin and Moccasin outfits moved into that -country. They had to swim all their herds across the Missouri River and -it was between a quarter and a half mile wide and swimming water from -bank to bank. - -Most of the herds were crossed at a place called Judith Landing, an old -steamboat landing in the early days. It was afterwards named Claggot. - -There was a man by the name of Bill Norris who had a store and saloon -there, and for a few years, while these herds were crossing, he reaped a -rich harvest off the cowboys. Charlie Russell helped swim some of those -herds and he told me he believed Bill made his own whiskey and must have -made it especially for swimming cattle, as when a cowboy got about three -drinks of that whiskey the Missouri River looked like a very small -creek. It made him plenty brave. There must have been some truth in what -Charlie said, as I cannot recall where one cowboy was drowned. - -I went over to that country about the spring of 1890 and went to work -for the TL outfit, which belonged to McNamar and Broadwater. They had a -ranch in the Bear Paw Mountains. - -When I went to the ranch and asked for work, the boss said it was too -early in the spring to hire any men as the roundup wouldn’t start for a -long time, but would hire a bronc rider if he could get a good one. Now -I had rode broncs and rough strings (which is spoiled horses) for -several years and had no fear of any horse and had a good opinion of -myself. So I told him I was sure a bronc rider. Now I had wintered -pretty hard that winter as I had lived in town and had sold everything I -had in the way of a good rig and looked pretty seedy. They had four or -five steady men on the ranch. I didn’t know any of them, and as I didn’t -have any boots, only a cheap pair of shoes, one spur and an old -rattle-trap saddle, they didn’t think I looked like a bronc fighter. -Anyway the boss took a chance and hired me. - -The next day he had the men run in the saddle bunch to pick out some -horses to ride to gather those colts I was to break that ranged down in -the Badlands. He looked the bunch over quite a while, as he said he -wanted to find a good strong horse for me. He finally found him. I -remember his name yet—it was “Humpy,” a very pretty horse. He said, -“This fellow might hump up a little but that is all. He is a good -horse.” - -I told him I didn’t mind that; in fact I was in hopes he would do -something, as I had an idea they didn’t rate me very high. Anyway I -mounted Humpy—and about that time they turned the loose horses out of -the corral. Humpy wanted to go with them. I gave him a pull and down -went his head. I hit him with my hat and took a rake at him with that -one spur. The next thing I knew I was on the ground about ten feet in -front of him, but I held to my hackamore rope. He didn’t get away from -me. - -When I got up and looked around everything was as silent as a graveyard. -Those men and the boss were sitting on their horses looking at each -other with a grin on their faces, that I couldn’t tell whether it was -pity or disgust and, of course, I had no alibi. I got back on Humpy and -took another rake at him and he galloped off as nice as you please. - -We had about two miles to ride to the house. Nobody said anything, only -the boss. He said he was afraid some of them colts would buck harder -than Humpy did. I didn’t answer him. - -But before we got ready to gather those colts, somebody brought a horse -to the ranch that the outfit had sold to a livery stable in Big Sandy -for a buggy horse. I found out afterwards that the reason was nobody -could ride him. He had a wide reputation and was known as S.Y. (from his -brand) all over the country. The weather being bad when they sold him on -trial to the livery stable they didn’t hitch him up for about a month -and had fed him grain all that time. So when they did try him out he -kicked the buggy all to pieces and ran away. So they sent him home, as -they didn’t want him. He was a beautiful horse, weighed about 1150 and -built like a greyhound, and I was itching to tie into S.Y., as I knew my -standing was bad, and I asked the boss to let me try him out. He told me -it would be useless, as one of the best riders in the state had given -that horse up as a bad job. Then I kidded him and told him I didn’t -think the horse could buck at all, was just a plow horse. Anyway I rode -S.Y. and as I knew I had to make good, I scratched him everywhere I -could reach him and, of course, I was made from then on. I never rode -him again and I know I was lucky that day, as that horse had throwed -better riders than I ever was. - -I broke about thirty head of colts for the outfit before I quit the job. - -When I was young I never stayed anywhere very long. If I didn’t get -fired, I would quit and in the winter time I liked to live in town, so -when spring came and time to go to work, I was always broke. No saddle, -no boots, no nothing. If possible I would hunt Charlie Russell up for -help. I used to think up a pretty good hard luck tale to tell him. But -before I got started he would laugh and say, “What do you need now?” -Charlie didn’t always have money either, but had good credit and could -always get anything he wanted. Indians, cowboys, gamblers, everybody -borrowed off Charlie and I don’t know if they all paid him back or -not—if they didn’t Charlie would never tell it to anyone. - -I have often wondered if horses go crazy like humans. The reason I say -this is that while I was breaking horses for the TL outfit, they had a -fine imported stallion—paid three thousand dollars for him. They had an -old man taking care of him. His name was Cayouse George. He knew -stallions thoroughly, had done that kind of work for several years. This -horse had always been gentle as a lamb. He had him in a box stall loose. -He used to go in there and feed and curry him and lead him to water. One -day two men were stacking hay outside the barn, when they heard a -terrible racket inside. They ran in there and the horse had George by -the side with his teeth and was throwing him up and down, trying to get -him under his feet. One of the boys hit him on the head with a club and -they dragged George outside. Meantime that horse roared like a lion. - -They sent George to town to be doctored. - -The next morning the boss told me to water the stallion. He said, “Just -take his bridle to the box stall. Hold it up. He will take the bit and -lead him to water.” I did as he told me, but I had a forty-five Colt in -my bed. I went and got that first, filled it full of bullets and cocked -it. I held the bridle up for the stallion to take with one hand and held -the gun with the other, and kept that position until he was watered and -back in the stall. - -A few mornings later the boss came out when I was watering him. He -looked me and the stud over and told me I needn’t water him anymore, -which pleased me very much. I believe if he had even winked at me I -would have killed him, as I was deathly afraid of him. They carried -water to him for a while, then hitched him in a four horse team and -started to town. He died on the way—being soft, they overworked him. - - - - -CHAPTER VI - -LINE RIDING WITH THE MOUNTED POLICE - - -A few years after the big outfits moved their herds to the Milk River -country, cattle got very thick along the Canadian line and as there was -no fences anywhere the cattle would naturally drift into Canada and they -could go hundreds of miles without anything to stop them on the finest -kind of grass, which was fine for the Montana cattlemen. - -But there were some Canadian cow ranches started (mostly Americans) and -a contention started about so many American cattle coming into Canada -without duty being paid on them. So there was a kind of a gentleman’s -agreement made between the Montana cattlemen and the police captain of -the Alberta Division that the cattlemen would put line riders at all the -police camps, which was twenty to forty miles apart, and keep all cattle -out of Canada which, of course, was just a joke, as I was one of those -line riders for two years. - -My orders were to kill all the good beef the Mounties could eat and have -them write a report that read something like the following: “American -cowboy rode 15 miles in Western direction. No American cattle seen. -Policeman Smith rode 15 miles in Eastern direction. No American cattle -in sight.” Those reports went to Ottawa, Canadian headquarters twice a -week. - -I was always under the impression the Captain of the Alberta Division -was getting his right hand greased by the cattlemen. - -I recall an amusing thing that happened. A report leaked through to -Ottawa that those reports were not all true, so the Canadian government -sent a special army officer out there to investigate. - -I was at Police Camp named Writing on Stone the evening he arrived with -an escort on horseback. They had rode the trail from the railroad -station and it being a cool evening and the cattle out grazing, he saw -thousands of American cattle on his way. - -The next day the old boy got all his regimental regalia with his escort -and a tally man together and started out to make a tally and a report on -those cattle. Now it turned out to be a very hot day and when he got on -the ground, there wasn’t a cow to be seen, as the cattle had all drifted -back into the big bend of the Milk River to water and as the Captain -would be lost if he got a mile off the trail (and those cattle had went -about 10 miles) he was stuck. On his way back to the railroad, he met my -partner who was staying at another police camp. He said, “I say, Cowboy, -where are all those cattle I saw last evening on this trail?” This -fellow was a Texan and had quite a sense of humor. He said, “Damned if I -know, Captain. I think they saw your hole card and all went back to -Montana.” Of course the Captain didn’t understand that kind of language. -But we didn’t hear anymore from him. I don’t know what report he -made—but the cattle continued to graze on Canadian soil for several -years afterwards. - -It was pretty soft for those cattlemen of those days. Every year two or -three big outfits would pool together and take thirty or forty men, a -big band of saddle horses, chuck and bed wagons, and go to the Port of -Entry on the Canadian line. There they would report that they were going -into Canada to gather and take all American cattle out of Canada which, -of course, sounded good to the Canadian government. - -Now, what they would do was go into Canada and work for several weeks -and roundup all the American cattle they could find and bring them out -to Montana and report the same just like they did when they went in. -They would take them about three or four miles across the line into -Montana—several thousand head—then they would brand the calves, cut out -the beef cattle that was fit to ship—and then turn the main herd loose -right there and, of course, in a couple of days those cattle would all -be back in Canada, and nothing to bother about for another year. - -Of course, it didn’t do any harm to anyone as the grass was going to -waste and somebody should get benefit out of it. The amusing part about -it was that my job was to keep all American cattle from crossing the -line and to have all or as many as possible to drift across. But the -Mounted Police and I got along fine. I butchered the finest beef I could -find and that was all they wanted or cared about and didn’t question how -many American cattle came into Canada. - -I sure had a lot of fun with those policemen. A great many of them came -right out of the city of London, England, and knew nothing about the -West or Western ways. - -While I was there the Mounted Police force bought a bunch of horses from -a big horse outfit for the police to ride to patrol the line. Those -horses had been broke by cowboys that rode and handled horses much -different from the regimental way and the policemen had a great deal of -trouble with some of those horses. There was one horse brought to a -police station on Milk River that they could not ride and in order to -get rid of him there had to be made a very lengthy report. I read that -report and it covered a whole sheet of paper. It went into details as to -his disposition, how he had bucked off several policemen, giving the -name of each man, and pictured the horse as a regular man-eater. At any -rate it took about a month to get this horse condemned. Then they -detailed an army officer and a policeman to go and bring this horse to -army headquarters, which was 100 miles. They stayed over night at -Writing on Stone where I was at that time. I tried to get the officer to -give me five dollars to ride the horse. He said he could not do that but -would like very much to see him rode. So I rode him. He was a very nice -horse and as far as bucking, he didn’t jump two feet off the ground. A -lady could have rode him. - -I joked the officer about the horse and he said the main objection was -no one could mount him in regimental way. My description of the -regimental way of getting on would be to fall on, instead of getting on -and, of course, the horse didn’t savvy that. I tried to buy the horse, -but they couldn’t sell him until he had went through the form of being -condemned, which was surely some red tape. - -Charlie Russell spent one summer in Canada and told me a funny -experience he had. There was an old retired army captain up in northern -Canada who went into the cattle business and had occasion to swim a -bunch of cattle across quite a large river. He tried for several days -and in different ways to make those cattle cross the stream but couldn’t -make it work. - -So he built some blinds made out of green rawhide stretched on frames -and put them on the river bank where the cattle were to cross and put a -man behind each blind. So when the cowboys drove the cattle to the edge -of the river and the captain got his position he gave the command, “Men -behind rawhide—charge!” which they did. Now one can imagine those wild -cattle when a lot of men charged in among them on foot. They stampeded -and went to the hills and the captain had a hard time gathering them and -getting them back to the river, and he immediately removed the blinds, -as the cattle would not work the regimental way. - -That is something I never found out about cattle—you may try for days to -get cattle to take swimming water and use every means that you can think -of and they will not go. Then some other day they will walk right into -the water without any trouble. - -Another thing in the old days a cowman weaned his calves. The range cow -would wean it herself and when I was ranching in a small way I would -wean the calves and keep them away from the cows for months, and some of -them would go back to the mothers and when the cow would have a calf the -next year she would leave the young calf and take up with the yearling. -I have had cows that would nurse a steer sometimes until he was three -years old and bigger than she was. My guess is that nobody knows these -secrets but the cows themselves. - -I believe cows has different ideas just like cowboys have. I worked for -an outfit one time and the boss sent two of us out together to hunt some -saddle horses we had lost on the roundup. We had a pack horse, bedding -and grub. - -I noticed the first day out this fellow was eating some little pills and -he wouldn’t tell me what they were, and thinking of his disposition and -the way he acted, I know now it was morphine. - -Those horses we were hunting were supposed to be ranging on a big flat -down on the Missouri River and we had to take one certain ridge to get -in there. The ridge was about 15 miles long and if at any time we found -out we were on the wrong ridge we had to come back and take another one. -Now we were both uncertain about this ridge and I tried every way I knew -to get his opinion on which ridge to take, as he was in a very bad mood -just at that time. It was getting late in the evening. I was anxious to -get to the river and make camp before dark. Anyway I had to choose the -ridge, which proved to be the wrong one and we had to make camp in a -very disagreeable place—no shelter—and we were pretty cold before -morning. While we were making camp, I made the remark it was tough luck -that we got on the wrong ridge. He said he knew damn well we were taking -the wrong ridge, but it was none of his business, and he wasn’t going to -say anything about it, so one can see he had a very lovable disposition. - -We didn’t hold much conversation while we were getting supper and soon -after I saw he was dividing the bedding, which was a very small amount, -so I decided he did not want to sleep with me. So I took my cut and went -to bed. He set by the fire. We had coffee enough to last about a week, -but he made coffee and drank it all night, so when I got up we didn’t -have any coffee for breakfast. I think those little pills gave out on -him and he used the coffee as a substitute. Anyway he must have got -kindhearted in the night sometime, as when I woke up in the morning he -had throwed his blankets on me. - -In a few days we found the horses we were looking for, and as our horses -were tired, we decided to catch fresh horses out of the bunch we found -to ride. We drove them up against a cut bank and roped two of them. One -was a nice looking little fellow—the other one was a big, sleepy-looking -guy. So I offered him his choice of the two horses. He thought the -little horse looked kind of wild, so took the big fellow. However, when -he went to saddle him he found him pretty bravo. - -Anyway he got on him and the show started. This fellow had the longest -nose I ever saw on a man. Some way in the bucking and mix-up, the saddle -horn hit him on that big nose, but he rode him. I went to stop our loose -horses and waited for him to catch up. When he came to where I was, the -first thing I saw of him was that big nose—all blood and swelled up -twice as big as it was before. I pretended not to see it and looked the -other way, and asked him how he liked his horse. - -He said, “How do I like him? Look at my nose!” and, of course, I had to -look. Well, I nearly fell off my horse laughing, which I was ashamed of, -but I couldn’t help it, as he was sure a funny sight and he being such a -grouch made it more comical. - -I nicknamed him “Curlew,” which is a bird with a long bill. - -When we got back to the ranch the other boys all took up the name and -called him Curlew. This lasted about a week and he was getting pretty -sore. So one day he called us all together and said, “The next man that -calls me ‘Curlew’ can shed his coat and get ready for battle. I am not -going to stand for this name any longer.” - -Now this fellow could sure fight and we all knew it, so he got nothing -but silence—but we still called him Curlew behind his back. - -One day there was a bunch of us riding—most of us was behind him. I -whistled like a curlew. He stopped and turned around and looked us over. -He didn’t know who had whistled, but he looked at me pretty vicious, so -I was careful where I whistled after that. - -When I lived with the Northwest Mounted Police, working for the Montana -cattlemen, I kept three horses furnished me by the cow outfits. I had -very little to do. My horses were fed plenty of grain by the police and -the sergeant detailed a policeman every two weeks on cook duty. Most of -those boys had been raised in the city. Some of them were highly -educated and were remittance men who had come from very wealthy families -in England and were given a small allowance from their families. So they -knew nothing about the West or camp life. The result was we got some -very poor cooking, but they were perfect gentlemen and had the highest -sense of honor I have ever known. - -They had never known mosquitoes before (and we had plenty of them on -Milk River in summertime). They called them “blooming American flies” -and said “they not only bite one through to the pores of the skin but -would bloody well bite through your trousers.” - -In the wintertime we were quite isolated, as the snow usually got very -deep and there wasn’t much travel. We played whist (which I believe is -an old English game) those long winter evenings for 25 cents a game and -would have some hot arguments as to the rules of the game, so that we -all went to bed mad every night—but everybody would be ready for play -again the next night. If someone from the outside had heard us, it would -have been like the man shipwrecked on an island who thought he was in a -country of nothing but wild animals. He finally saw campfire smoke. He -crawled up close to listen and find out what it was, when he heard -someone say, “What the hell did you play that ace for?” He thought for a -moment and said, “Thank God, I am in civilization.” - - - - -CHAPTER VII - -IN THE JUDITH BASIN COUNTRY OF MONTANA - - -When I was a kid, an old Indian told me a story about the badger and -coyote and said they hunted together as partners. I had a very good -chance to test that story when I was living on Milk River, as the badger -and coyote were very plentiful. I have watched them travel together all -right—but came to the conclusion the coyote forced his company on the -badger. I think the coyote is the smartest animal that stands on four -legs and a natural thief. I have watched them travel together for miles. -The coyote would be about 50 or 60 yards behind. Now the badger is a -natural digger and when he comes to a squirrel hole or prairie dog hole, -he digs him out. I have seen a coyote watching him while he was digging -and as the badger would always bring his game out of the hole to eat it, -the coyote would grab it and run, and the badger being slow on foot and -the coyote very fast, he would always get away with the spoils. I am -sure there is no affection between them—and the coyote would kill and -eat the badger if he could. - -I have seen a coyote watch a band of sheep for hours and shift his -position every few minutes—always watching behind, too, so that nothing -would slip up on him. Then when he thought the time was right, he would -dash through the sheep and pick up a lamb right in sight of the -sheepherder and his dogs. - -The wolf is a better killer than the coyote but not near so smart. - -One morning on a roundup, we left camp just at daylight and we had gone -about four miles and was riding at a gallop when we came over a little -hill. We rode right into a bunch of wolves. They had killed a big fat -cow and was eating on her. They evidently had been eating for some time, -as there wasn’t much of her left. They were so full of meat they -couldn’t hardly run at all. There were about thirty of us and not many -had guns that morning—but everybody had ropes and we sure went to making -loops. Of course, they scattered every direction and every cowboy was -trying to catch a wolf, as the bounty that time was $5.00 a head. It was -sure an exciting morning. Some of those cowboys’ horses wouldn’t go near -a wolf and when they got a smell of them would snort and run the other -way. Sometimes when a cowboy did catch one and took his wraps on the -saddle horn, the horse would stampede, wolf and all. Sometimes when they -would throw at one, he would snap at the loop and if he hit it, would -cut it in two like a razor would. - -It was a strange thing to me—but I was riding a young horse that morning -that had not been broke long, but he cocked his ears forward and took -right after them wolves. I believe he thought he was chasing a colt. I -got two wolves and choked and dragged them until they were dead. One had -been shot through the shoulder by the boss, so he was easy to catch. I -met the boss coming over a little hill. He was sure smoking this one up -with his six-shooter, and as I had killed mine, he hollered, “Get this -one, Con. I saw a black one back here. I want to get him.” (The others -were all gray wolves.) He had lost his hat and he had been chasing those -wolves so hard his pants legs was up to his knees and he sure looked -wild. He didn’t get back to camp until night—but he didn’t get the black -wolf. - -We got nine wolves out of the bunch—I don’t know how many got away—but -we didn’t have any roundup or gather any cattle that day, as the cowboys -kept stringing in all day, one and two at a time. - -I have tried several times since that time to rope a wolf but always -found them too fast for me when they were empty. Those wolves were a -great menace to the stockmen. One couldn’t poison them, as when they got -hungry they killed whatever animal they wanted, and they were sure -plentiful. - -I have seen places on Milk River when it had froze up and fresh snow had -fell on the ice, it looked like a bunch of school boys had been playing -where there had been a bunch of wolves. - -They weighed about one hundred pounds and measured almost seven to eight -feet long. Their first move to make a kill was to ham-string the animal -by grabbing the animal by the fleshy part of the hind leg. That usually -brought the animal to the ground and then, of course, they made short -work of the job. - -I broke a bunch of horses one time for a man by the name of Gordon near -Ubet in the Judith Basin. He told me when I started he would give me -sixty dollars for one month’s work—that was all he would pay out on -them. He didn’t want them roped, but must catch them in a chute. Above -anything else, he didn’t want them to buck, and as there was twelve head -of them, it was impossible to do much of a job on them in that length of -time. - -I got along fairly well with them for awhile. I think I had rode about -five head. I was out on the range riding one of them one day and saw a -big wolf. This colt was pretty fast. So I thought I would give the wolf -a little run. When I got close to him, I seen he was crippled, evidently -had been in a fight with another wolf, so I roped him. Now when I -started dragging that wolf, the horse went plumb crazy. He whistled, -snorted, kicked and bucked and run away, but I still had the wolf and -dragged him to the ranch. Of course, the wolf was dead. When I got -there—well, that horse never got over that scare. He jumped in the -manger, kicked the side out of the barn, and whistled and snorted like a -lion and got worse from day to day. - -The old man wasn’t there the day I brought the wolf in, but did come out -in a few days to see how I was getting along with the horses. When he -went in the barn, this horse started kicking and snorting, bumped his -head against the walls and run the old man out of the barn—and to make -matters worse, he was his favorite colt. He asked me what was the matter -with him. I told him I didn’t know—but I didn’t tell him about the wolf. -Then another day he saw one buck with me—that did settle it. He said I -was spoiling his horses instead of breaking them. Anyway, I stayed the -month out and I think him and I were both glad when it was over and I -was on my way. - -I went from there to the Horse Shoe Bar Ranch on Warm Spring Creek in -the Judith Basin. It was owned at that time by T. C. Powers, who was a -pioneer of the state and quite a politician of his day. - -I remember a rather amusing thing happened to him. He was running for -Senator one year and was having a pretty hard race and it was known he -was spending plenty money to get votes. There was a precinct about fifty -miles from the railroad on the Teton River where there was about fifty -votes—mostly half breed Indians. There was a half breed lived there and -claimed he had great influence among his people. So he looked up T. C. -Powers and told him for one hundred dollars he could swing every vote in -his precinct. Powers gave him the hundred. When the votes were counted -in that precinct, Powers had not got one vote. Some time after he met -this big politician. Powers said, “What was the matter in that precinct -of yours? I didn’t get a vote out there.” The breed said, “I just -couldn’t get them to vote for you, Mr. Powers.” He said, “Why?” and the -names he called him wouldn’t look good in print, “You didn’t vote for me -yourself!” He said, “I dassent, Mr. Powers, they would have kill me out -there if I do.” Evidently Powers wasn’t very popular in that precinct. - -When I got to this ranch I found a man there alone in bed and very sick. -The outfit had left a few days before on the fall roundup, and as he was -not feeling well at the time he figured to stay at the ranch a few days -and when he got better would follow up, but he got worse. I stayed with -him a couple of days and still he got worse. At night the only way he -could rest was to prop him up in bed, then I would put my back against -his and my feet against the wall, and move to any angle that suited him. -I would have to change his position every few minutes and his back was -becoming hot, as he had a high fever and wanted water very often. So he -finally wore me out and I decided to go for a doctor, who was twenty -miles away. At this time it was about nine o’clock at night. There was a -good-looking horse in the barn, so I saddled him and started. It was -very dark and for the first few miles he bucked several times (if anyone -reads this that has rode a bucking horse in the dark he will know what -the sensation is). I didn’t know where I was half the time—whether I was -in the air or in the saddle. But after I got him going, I didn’t give -him any time to buck anymore until I got to the doctor. - -Well, when I found the doctor he would not come to the ranch that night, -as he had been up with a sick woman for a day and a night and was very -tired. After describing the symptoms of my patient, he gave me a bottle -of quinine and a bottle of morphine with directions. I went back to the -ranch. - -This fellow was suffering terrible when I got there. I gave him a shot -of quinine first, which I believe was in powder form and very bitter. -Then shortly after I tried to give him some more quinine but he refused -to take it, so I gave him some more morphine, but didn’t seem to relieve -him. Now I was very tired and he was cussing me all the time, so when he -would get very bad and in pain I would give him some more morphine. -Along about morning he went to sleep and wouldn’t wake up, which was all -right with me as I was getting some sleep myself. - -About noon the doctor came. He tried to wake him up, but he couldn’t. -Then he took his pulse. While doing so, he picked up the morphine bottle -and said to me, “Where is the rest of that morphine?” I was sure scared -then, I knew I had given him too much. I told the doctor I had spilled -some of it. He said, “I guess you did!” He told me to heat a tub of -water at once. We put that fellow into it—and I don’t know what the -doctor done but we finally brought him to—and was I glad! I know now I -gave him an overdose, but I believe I saved his life at that, as he was -suffering terrible. The doctor said he had a bad case of pneumonia and -made arrangements to take him to a hospital and I took his place on the -beef roundup. - -The boss put two of us night herding the cattle. We moved camp every day -and they put new cattle in the herd every day that they gathered and the -nights were long and cold—so we sure had a hard job. - -We had a good cook that year—but like most good cooks he was sure -cranky. He couldn’t drive four horses, so the boss told me to drive the -mess wagon from one camp to the other, and we didn’t get along well at -all. We called him “Big Nose George” and he was so mean I think he hated -himself. I have seen him drop something out of his hands when he was -cooking and would jump on it and stamp it in the ground. - -After we had night herded about a month we had about a thousand head in -the bunch—and the nights got long. We used to get hungry during the -night. One day I asked George for a lunch to take with us. My partner -spoke up and said, “How about a pie, George?” He looked at us like a -grizzly bear and said, “Yes, I will give you fellows pie.” - -That night when we started for the herd, he handed us what looked like a -nice pie. On the way to the herd we talked about it and decided George -wasn’t such a bad fellow after all. That was a tough night and the -cattle drifted about three miles. We couldn’t carry the pie very handy, -so set it down by a cut bank where we thought we could find it if the -cattle settled down, but we didn’t get back to where we left it, which -proved to be a good thing for us. - -When the day-herders came out at daylight, they began kidding us about -the pie. They thought we had tried to eat it. George had told them the -joke he had played on us. So we went back and hunted up the pie to see -what the joke was. We found it was made out of potato skins, onion -peelings and clay, and other filth around the camp, with a cover on it -in a pie tin and nicely baked. - -So we held a council of war to decide what to do about it. My partner -wanted to take it to camp and hit him on the head with it. I suggested -we make him eat it. He said that was a fine idea. Now I told him, “He is -a big guy. Let’s double up on him.” So we planned our attack right -there, and George not expecting it, we had him at a disadvantage. We -unsaddled—walked into the cook tent. - -He said, “How did you like your pie, boys?” We said, “Fine—but brought -part of it to camp so you could enjoy it with us.” I had the pie in my -hand and he knew what was coming. He said, “The hell with you,” and -started for a butcher knife—but my partner met him head on and they -clinched. I nailed him from behind and we brought him to the ground with -both of us on top of him. I got the pie to his mouth but he wouldn’t -open, so I used the pie tin for an opener (not very gently) and got his -teeth apart. I don’t think he swallowed any of it but he at least got a -good taste of it—and any other dirty thing I could reach. When the -pie-eating contest was over and had worked out to the messwagon tongue, -and when we let George up, the first thing his hand found was the -neck-yoke which was about four feet long, and a bad weapon just at that -time, and George was sure going to clean up on us. But my partner had a -forty-five Colts stuck in his chaps that George didn’t see and before he -could get the neck-yoke into action, the gun was right against his -stomach—full cock. He throwed the neck-yoke over his head and both hands -in the air and said, “Don’t kill me.” Then we gave him some not too kind -advice what his actions should be towards us in the future, and I will -say George was a pretty good dog from that time on. - -That is the only time I ever double-teamed on anyone but felt justified -that time under the circumstances. - -When the men came in off that day’s ride, George took his troubles to -the boss, told him how we had doubled up on him and abused him. All he -got was a hearty laugh from the boss (he was a Texas man). He said, “Did -they sho ’nuff really make you eat the pie, George?” - -When we got to the railroad with that herd, there was two other big -outfits shipping beef and we had to wait several days to get cars for -our cattle. Big Sandy was the shipping point. The town had two saloons, -one hotel, one store, stockyards and livery stable, and a jail. We had -plenty of help and we took shifts holding the cattle. Those that wasn’t -on shift spent most of their time in town, and it was sure lively during -shipping time—and looked as good as Chicago to some of them cowboys. - -There was also a lot of half breed Indians gathering buffalo bones and -brought them there to ship. Most of them drank plenty whiskey and with -their families had dances every night. The musician would be some half -breed with moccasins on, and he kept time with both feet while he -played. - -The town had a constable to keep order, and he was quite lame. One night -he arrested two half breeds and was taking them to jail. One got away -from him. He let the other one loose to catch him and he ran away, and -he didn’t catch the first one, so he lost them both. Them breeds with -moccasins on could sure run. - -One night a fist fight started between the cowboys and the breeds. There -was several fights going on at the same time. An old buffalo hunter was -in among them, with his hands in his pockets, looking on. It was dark -and some cowboy thought he was a breed. He took a run at him and hit him -on the side of his head with all his strength and he went down. About -that time he discovered his mistake and went to help him up. He said, -“Fred, I am sure sorry. I didn’t know that was you.” Fred said, “I guess -you are sorry all right—but that don’t help my ear any.” - -There was several commission men in town that night, trying to get -cattle consigned to their different houses in Chicago. One of them had -never been West before. There were some of them playing a social game of -cards in one of the saloons. Every little while some cowboy would shoot -his six-shooter off right in the saloon. This fellow was very nervous -and could not get his attention on the game. Finally he went to light -his cigar. About that time somebody shot a gun off and his match went -out. He jumped up right quick and said, “Quit playing cards. This is -getting too damn close for me!” That tickled Charlie Russell and he told -the fellow he saw the bullet go right by his nose. He said he knew it -did. - -Somebody stole my saddle that night off my horse which was tied to a -hitch rack. So next morning I was in a pretty bad way. We hunted and -searched all the breed camps but didn’t find the saddle. Everybody had -given up when Charlie Russell came in and had found the saddle and the -way he found that saddle shows what a close observer he was. He was -following a dusty trail, looking for tracks, when he saw the print of a -cinch-ring in the dust. He said he knew nothing else would make a mark -like that. He looked around and saw a little box-elder tree about a mile -away. He went to that tree and there was the saddle. That cost me a good -many drinks but it was sure worth it. We joked Charlie and told him it -took one Indian to trail another one. - -There was a man by the name of Marsh kept the hotel in Big Sandy and was -a great friend of the cowboys, as when they were broke they could always -eat and sleep at his hotel until they got a job. I had known Marsh for -some years. - -One day we had got through loading cattle and I was in the hotel and he -told me he had just bought two fine dogs, Canadian stag hounds, and he -was anxious to try them out and see how fast they were, and asked me to -borrow one of the cowboys’ horses for him to ride and we would take a -ride with the dogs and maybe jump a coyote out on the range. Well, we -got the dogs lined up and started. - -He also had a bull dog and a fox terrier. They couldn’t run but just -trailed along. - -We hadn’t went very far until we jumped a jack rabbit and away went the -hounds, the bull dog and the terrier bringing up the rear—all dogs -barking, Marsh hollering and laughing at the bull and terrier. The -hounds were making a pretty run and Marsh was trying to keep in sight of -them and his horse was running his best, when he stepped in a badger -hole ... and down they went. This was an unusually big saddle horse and -Marsh was a very big man, and when they piled up it looked like a box -car had jumped the track. Marsh must have fell on his head, as he had -lost $80.00, his watch, pocket knife, and everything—it was all -scattered around the wreck. He was not hurt bad any one place, but was -jarred all over. While I was picking up his stuff I was so full of laugh -I could hardly hold myself. In the meantime, the bull dog and the -terrier had caught up and was licking his face and he was cussing them. -Then I exploded and laughed ’til I cried—I don’t think he ever quite -forgive me for that but I couldn’t help laughing at the pile-up. - -[Illustration: Con and Claudia Price at the time of their Marriage, -December 26, 1899] - -[Illustration: Roundup Camp—Fall of 1896—DHS and CK Outfits On the Big -Dry near Oswego, Montana] - - - - -CHAPTER VIII - -WITH THE DHS OUTFIT - - -In 1892 I went to Wyoming and broke horses there for a couple of years. -Then I heard of the Cripple Creek gold stampede in Colorado. I sold my -rig and went to Cripple Creek and it looked like everybody in the world -went there. There was two railroads in there and every passenger coach -would be loaded with people. The roads were lined with people of every -description—some walking, some riding donkeys and some with wagons. - -About every other house there was a saloon and gambling house. Of -course, there wasn’t work for everybody and lots of them were broke when -they landed there—that was in the month of November and shortly after -the weather turned bitter cold. I have seen men lay down on the floor to -sleep in those saloons which kept open day and night, and when the house -man started to clean up in the morning he would find dead men under the -tables and on benches. The altitude was very high. Those people had no -place to sleep—and nearly all of them contracted mountain fever and that -went into pneumonia and they would sometimes die in a few hours after -taking sick. - -New Year’s night in 1894 was sure a wild night in Cripple Creek. Every -man that filed on a mining claim prior to that time had to have one -hundred dollars’ worth of work done in order to hold it by law and, of -course, there was the usual contention when people are crazy for gold, -some claiming the required amount of work was not done—and others -claiming they had fulfilled the requirements of the law. The results -were that every man owning a claim was on his ground at midnight with a -gun to protect what he thought was his property. - -I was in a good spot that night to get a view of the Big Mountain around -Cripple Creek, and the lanterns moving around from claim to claim looked -like a bunch of stars. There was reported nine men killed that night -over claims and I didn’t hear of one arrest. - -I had a little money when I landed in Cripple Creek but soon lost it all -gambling and then took down with mountain fever. An old prospector took -me into his cabin and he took sick, too. We were both broke and had -nothing to eat but a half sack of potatoes, but had plenty of wood and -kept warm. We took turns, when one was a little better than the other, -going out and gathering mountain sage and making tea out of it—and I am -sure it saved our lives, as it broke the fever. When I got a little -better I made a little money to buy food, gathering that sage and -selling it to sick people. - -When I got a little stronger I got twenty dollars for digging an -assessment hole on a fellow’s claim, so I got in a poker game with that -and won about a hundred dollars. I will never forget that night. People -were being help up every night—sometimes hit on the head—sometimes -killed, and the amount of money didn’t mean anything, as some of them -birds would hold you up for five dollars. - -This night when I had won that money quite a crowd gathered around me in -the gambling house. I didn’t know any of them but bought a drink for -everybody and thought I would slip away. There was one big tough-looking -guy persisted in shaking hands with me and gave me some kind of a sign -that I did not understand, so I was rather nervous when I got out of -there. - -I had to walk about a mile to my cabin following an old mining ditch. I -had got about half way home when I saw a man’s head raise up out of the -ditch just in front of me. That sure scared me. I turned the other way, -back towards town. The farther I went the more scared I was ... and the -faster I ran. I think even if a jack rabbit had seen me he would have -admired my speed, and I didn’t stop until I got into town where there -was light. I could not get a room in town, so sat in a chair all night -in one of the gambling houses. I kept my hand on that hundred dollars -and sweat with fear. - -A few nights afterwards I was going home late. I had to go by a lot of -wagons—a freighting outfit. Just as I got opposite the wagons I saw a -man in the dark coming towards me. I had a gun that night so I got it in -my hand and backed up against one of the wagons. This fellow came up -about twenty feet from me and stopped—neither of us spoke for several -minutes (but seemed to me to be an hour)—finally he said, “Hey, there.” -I said, “Hello.” He said, “What are you doing here?” I thought quick and -said, “I am working for the man that owns this outfit,” and said to him -also, “Who are you?” He said, “I am the night marshal.” I believe I -would have kissed him if he had been close to me because I sure had him -sized up as a hold-up. - -I stayed around there a few days longer and hung onto the hundred -dollars, but decided it was no place for a moneyed man, so took the -train for Denver and lived quite respectable for awhile until I was -pretty near broke and started for Montana. I rode box cars the most of -the way and saved my little money to eat on. - -When I got to Helena I heard Charlie Russell was in Cascade and as I was -badly in need of money, I headed for there and found him batching in a -cabin with plenty grub—and he sure looked good to me. - -After my experience in Cripple Creek I decided that I belonged back on -the range among the cows, and wrote to the foreman of the DHS outfit at -Shelby, Montana, for a job. I had known him several years before and he -told me to come on, he would give me work. So after being outfitted by -Charlie, which meant everything a cowboy needed, including some money, I -went to Shelby. - -I worked for the DHS outfit the first time in 1889 for only one season. -They were one of the pioneer cow outfits of Montana and was owned by -Granville Stuart and Reese Anderson, and were located near Fort Maginnis -and ranged on Flat Willow country in the year of 1887. They moved all -their cattle north of the Missouri River on what was known as the Little -Rocky Range. They swam this big herd across the Missouri River at an old -steamboat landing called Rocky Point. - -The cowboys had a dance while I was in Shelby that I believe there is a -record of in the files of some of the old newspapers of that day. - -There was an opera troupe on their way to Spokane, Washington. For some -reason they were sidetracked at Shelby and as they were from New York, -some of the ladies had never seen a cowboy, so they said (I guess they -thought cowboys eat grass and were only half human). Anyway, some of -them left the train and went to the hotel where the dance was going on -and mingled with the crowd and as those cowboys were very easy for a -lady to get acquainted with and as there was considerable liquor -consumed, the dance was a great success and the ladies found the boys -much nicer than they had anticipated and invited some of them over to -their train. - -Now the male population of the troupe did not take to the cowboys too -well and finally ordered them out of the car which, of course, insulted -the boys and a fight started. But some of these fellows in the troupe -were good boxers and the cowboys didn’t have a chance in a fist fight, -so they brought their guns into the play. They didn’t shoot anyone but -made the car very smoky, and the troupe quit the car and most of them -scattered out in the sagebrush, Shelby being a little cow town on the -Great Northern Railroad. - -It seems that the worst thing that happened was one of the cowboys shot -a lantern out of a brakeman’s hand. So in a few days there was railroad -officials around there, thick as flies, but they couldn’t get any -information and there wasn’t a cowboy in fifty miles of Shelby. The -railroad sent several detectives there at different times but the -population of the town was all in sympathy with the cowboys and nobody -knew any cowboy’s name that attended the dance. So they could not get -any evidence and didn’t know where to find anyone to arrest, and had to -drop the matter. - -My old boss was one of the leaders in that mix-up and he, of course, -made a couple of days ride away from Shelby. It happened he stayed a few -days in a locality where there was considerable stock rustling going on -and he didn’t go to that part of the country very often, so his presence -there created quite a commotion and fear among those fellows living -there, as they thought he was after them. But the old man was simply -dodging the railroad officials and was more frightened than they were. - -At that time the DHS ran two outfits—one at Shelby and one at Malta on -Milk River about two hundred miles apart. Those big outfits in the -course of a few years all accumulated quite a few spoiled horses for -different reasons, sometimes from bad breaking and sometimes on account -of putting strange riders on them so often, sometimes from getting away -when they were half broke, and maybe not finding them for a year. They -would then be harder to handle than a green bronc and would buck a few -riders off. They would get pretty tough and the average cowboy could not -ride them. So the boss would hire a bronc fighter to ride the rough -string. A strange thing about it was that most of those kind of horses -were the best ones in the bunch when they were thoroughly broke. - -The DHS had accumulated about twenty head of those kind of horses. So -the boss sent me to Malta to ride some of those horses. They also hired -another fellow to help me. The only name I ever knew for him was “Red -Neck Davis” and he was a good bronc fighter. - -The outfit was getting ready to go on the spring roundup and we went to -their horse ranch on Milk River and gathered all the saddle horses—maybe -two hundred head—and there was quite a lot of those horses needed -touching up before we went to work on the roundup. The first day Red -Neck and I caught two of the worst horses in the outfit. The boss had -put two men to help us and herd for us (they are called pick-up men -nowadays). - -One of the cowboys had put his bedding out to air that day and had a -nice woolen blanket laid on a pile of poles on the ground. When I -mounted my first horse, he went up in the air and landed right in the -middle of that blanket, and the poles being hard all four of his feet -went through it. I believe the blanket belonged to the fellow that was -herding for me, so I laid the blame on him. - -Shortly after Red Neck mounted his horse, a big buckskin. He had quite -an old man herding for him and rather cranky. He caught the best horse -in his string that morning, one he was sure was gentle so he could pick -up Red’s horse if he stampeded. As soon as Red hit the saddle the -buckskin went in the air and let a roar out of him like a lion, which -scared the old man’s horse and he stampeded. We were only about fifty -feet from Milk River and it was time of high water, and into it he went -and swam across. The old man was sure wet and mad, and cussed the whole -outfit—horses and men—and said he wouldn’t have any more to do with such -a damn wild west outfit. - -That year—I believe it was 1896—our outfit was cleaning up their Malta -Range on Milk River with the view of closing out their holdings in that -part of the country. A fellow named Tom Daly and I worked with all the -different outfits owning cattle in that part of the country. We were -representing the DHS brand and all cattle we gathered we shipped to -Chicago. We had orders to clean the range of our cattle the best we -could, as they had missed several steers from year to year. We found -steers 12 to 13 years old and some of them were sure wild and hard to -gather and bring to the railroad for shipment. - -It was quite comical and interesting to outsmart some of these old -renegades. We usually found them in the roughest country. They would try -to hide when they saw you, and when you got too close to them they would -fight and as most of them had bad horns if you crowded one of them in a -rough place he could easily kill your horse. - -The outfit had a big old steer that had made his home in the Missouri -River Badlands for several years, which was pretty rough and when the -cowboys would find him with other cattle and he got a glimpse of the -riders he would quit the bunch. As he was plenty fast, he would get -somewhere and hide, and as the outfits only worked this part of the -country about once a year on account of not many cattle ranged there, -this old steer had gotten by for several years without being brought out -and shipped. - -I was repping with a wagon that worked that part of the country this -time that I write about and we knew the day that we would camp and ride -the locality that he was ranging in and several of the boys knew this -steer, as he had gotten away from them at different times before. They -were joking me about him several days before we got to this place and -called him “Con’s steer,” and made me a small bet I wouldn’t get him. - -We camped the chuck and bed wagon on a nice level spot of about 200 -acres, just on the edge of the Badlands, and rode from there to the -river, which was about 20 miles. Coming back we found him in a long -canyon that led out to the camp and the rodeo ground. We put riders on -both sides of the canyon on top of the ridges and some stayed behind. We -had about 200 head of cattle, so we just drifted the band along slow. I -told everyone to keep as far away from this old steer as possible so he -wouldn’t break or get on the fight. When we got out to the roundup -ground, some of the other boys had gotten in off their ride and had -found quite a lot of cattle. We had about a thousand head in all. We -bunched all the cattle together as easy as we could so as not to give -this old fellow any excuse to break. - -Now we had to cut out the cows and calves (to brand the calves) and also -cut out the beef steers to ship, and turn the rest loose, and we knew as -soon as anyone went to riding among those cattle this steer would break -for the Badlands and we would lose him. He was going through the bunch -ringing his tail and hooking everything that came in his way, as he was -getting suspicious that everything wasn’t just right. - -So we left about ten men to hold the cattle. The rest of us went to camp -to catch fresh horses to work the cattle and cut out what we wanted. - -I had a little Spanish horse in my string, didn’t weigh over 900 pounds, -built kind of squatty and close to the ground, about 15 years old, but -he knew more about working cattle than lots of men. I caught him. We -went back to the roundup and started to work. I stayed on the outside of -the bunch with my eye on this old bird. The boys had gotten out about 50 -head when someone got too close to this old steer, and here he comes as -fast as he could run, headed for the Badlands! I had a big grass rope -about 40 feet long and had one end tied hard and fast to the saddle horn -and when he came out of the bunch my little horse was watching him and -went right along with him. I run him about 50 yards. He was going down a -hill. I dropped my loop over his pretty horns and let him jump over the -slack with his front feet, and turned my horse the other way as fast as -he could run. When that rope tightened that steer went about 10 feet -high and hit the ground with his head doubled under his body. One of his -pretty horns was broken off right close to his head and he was bleeding -badly, and he was bawling like a calf—where otherwise he would only -snort when you got in his way. - -I didn’t know it at the time, but the boys that I had made the bet with -had framed on me—and it was understood among them that nobody was to -help me—just to have a joke on me if the steer got away. - -So after a few minutes, when nobody came to help me, I let him up with -the rope still on him. The fall had taken most of the sap out of him. He -made a kind of a weak attempt to get to my horse, so I busted him again. -The next time he got up I led him back to the roundup and into the bunch -where I wanted him, throwed him down, took the rope off, and he never -made a break to get away. We took him to the railroad and shipped him to -Chicago. He was a rather funny looking old fellow with one of his long -pretty horns gone and blood dried all over his face. I don’t think he -made very good eating but I tallied him: “One beef steer shipped to -Chicago.” - -In the year of 1897 the Circle Diamond outfit turned loose 5,000 head of -Arizona yearlings on their range on Milk River in Montana and instead of -settling down and locating there they kept on going north until the -outfit heard of some of them 200 miles up in Canada. - -So they sent an outfit of about 20 men with horses and bed and -chuckwagon to bring them back and try to locate them on their own range. - -The DHS outfit sent me with them, thinking some of their cattle had -drifted with the Arizona’s. - -The country was all open—north, south, east and west—for miles (I don’t -know how far) and no ranches after we crossed the Canadian border. We -didn’t know any particular place to go to find those cattle, so we just -wandered around for days, first one direction, then another. After we -got as far north as Moose Jaw, which is well north in Canada, we began -to see some signs of cattle, and would pick up a few each day. And those -cattle hadn’t seen anybody for four or five months and were plenty wild -and, of course, we had to nightherd those cattle every night. And badger -holes were so thick in that country you could almost compare them to a -saltcellar—and the grass was thick and tall so a horse or man couldn’t -see the holes. Somebody would get a fall every day and night. - -One morning we were making a circle, looking for cattle, and we saw two -animals standing on a butte. We got close to them—could tell they were -two head of cattle—and away they went like a couple of antelope. We -finally got ahead of them and got them stopped. They ran around in a -circle for awhile, just like they might be tied together. One wouldn’t -get no distance away from the other. When we got them to the roundup and -could get a good look at the brands, we found they both belonged to the -DHS outfit, and we knew from the Arizona brand on them and the year the -outfit bought them as yearlings that they were 13 years old. They were -pals and had ranged in that part of the country for several years alone, -as we did not find any sign of cattle anywhere within several miles of -them. - -It was quite a problem to get those two old fellows to the railroad. -They were easy to hold in the daytime but at night it took all of one -man’s time to watch them two. We would bed the herd down at night and -those two would lay down in about the middle of the bunch—and sometimes -they would lay ten minutes when they would come slipping through the -herd, heading back the way they came from. They wouldn’t make any noise -and reminded one of two big cats trying to steal away. When they got to -the edge of the herd, the man watching them would holler at them—they -would shake their heads and go right back into the herd and lay down for -a short time and then try again, and would keep that up all night. We -finally got them to the railroad and shipped them to Chicago. - -The man that had charge of that Circle Diamond wagon, or that part of -the outfit that year was Win Cooper. He came from Jack County, Texas, -and was a wonderful cowboy. He used to carry a 45 Colts six-shooter and -had the trigger filed so it wouldn’t stand cocked, but fanned the hammer -with his thumb. He told me the reason he had his gun fixed that way was -for quick action. He could fill the chamber with bullets and start a -tomato can rolling and keep it going until his gun was empty. He used to -tell me about the gun fights they had in Texas a long time ago ... and I -think he sometimes got lonesome for those old feuds and would like to go -back and have a little excitement. - -As I remember, Tom Green County, Texas, and Jack County were enemies and -had a lasting grudge at each other. Win said the reason for that was -Jack County had the better men and always beat the Tom Green County men -in a fight. - -Win didn’t have any education and couldn’t read or write—and when he -paid a man his wages he had to send him to the superintendent and tell -him how long the man worked. - -This year I am writing about was election year in Valley County, -Montana, and the Circle Diamond ranch was supporting a man by the name -of Kyle for sheriff. They had put up a black flag with white letters -which read: “VOTE FOR KYLE FOR SHERIFF.” Now Win had been up in Canada -with his outfit for about six weeks looking for those cattle that had -drifted north and hadn’t had any news as to the happenings around home. -So when he had got the cattle back on their range and turned them loose, -he started for the home ranch with his outfit, but he started several -hours ahead of the men, horses and chuckwagon—they were to follow. But -when Win got close to the ranch and saw that black flag (and he couldn’t -read) he got scared and turned back and stopped the outfit and said it -wasn’t safe to take the outfit home, as he thought that some sort of an -epidemic had broke out and the ranch was under quarantine. So he sent a -man to town to find out what was the matter. - -I worked with several of those old-time gunfighters from Texas and some -that had left Wyoming during the Johnson County war between cattlemen -and rustlers, and found most of them pretty decent fellows. Some of them -were under assumed names and it seemed to bother them to have to carry -that load—and usually when they did talk and tell me about their trouble -most of them were victims of circumstances. - - - - -CHAPTER IX - -JIM SPURGEON - - -The old man that run the DHS that I worked several years for was the -finest old-tune cow boss I ever knew. Jim Spurgeon was his name. He -always looked tough and hard and was about as good-looking as a bank -robber, but he sure had a kind heart and would never let you know he -sympathized with you. - -I never knew him to fire but one cowboy. That fellow was supposed to -stand second guard on night herd, but when the first guard went to call -him, he was not in camp—had went to town and had not come back. The boy -that came to call him woke Jim up and told him what had happened. Jim -got up and stood the guard himself. - -About the time Jim came off guard, the boy got back to camp. He had a -bottle of whiskey and asked Jim to have a drink. Jim refused, which the -boy knew was unusual for Jim. So he was suspicious things wasn’t just -right and didn’t want to get fired. So he came into the bed tent about -twelve o’clock at night, woke Jim up and said, “I believe I will quit.” -Jim said, “Go to bed. You have been fired for three hours.” - -Old Jim looked at him very pitifully next morning and I believe if the -truth was known it hurt him worse to fire him that it did the cowboy. -But he seldom ever talked much and few knew how tenderhearted he was. - -One time we had lost about forty head of saddle horses on the roundup -and Jim sent a man to look for them. He was gone a few days and came -back without any horses. - -Now Shelby was the great cowboy town of that time, and whenever a cowboy -had any chance he went to Shelby. There was usually a dance or some -other doings that a cowboy enjoyed—and maybe he had a sweetheart there. - -So the night this boy got back from hunting the horses, we all gathered -in the sleeping tent to get the news of Shelby from this boy, and it was -quite interesting to the rest of us. I can see old Jim yet, sitting -there smoking a big pipe, saying nothing, but listening to everything. - -So he sent another man out on the range next day to look for the horses. -He was gone a few days and came back without any horses ... but plenty -news about Shelby. - -The next morning he told me to catch a saddle horse and go and see if I -could find those horses. I said, “Where will I go?” He said, “Damned if -I know where to tell you to go, only there is one place there is no use -going and that is Shelby. I have sent two men to hunt those horses and -they both went to town and didn’t find the horses. So I know they are -not in Shelby!” You could have heard a pin drop among those boys. They -didn’t know the old man had been listening. - -I remember one time the old man hired a stranger from Oregon to ride a -rough string. Nobody knew the boy but he claimed to be a bronc fighter. -The first horse he rode very near throwed him off. When someone caught -the horse he was in a bad way, had lost both stirrups and his bridle -reins. Someone made the remark he thought that fellow would ride that -horse and whip him. The old man said he could if he had another hand, as -he had to use the two he had to hang onto the saddle horn. - -In those days the way we caught our saddle horses, when we made camp we -pulled the bedwagon up behind the chuckwagon and tied a long rope to the -front wheel of the chuckwagon and one to the hind wheel of the bedwagon. -Then a man held up each end of those ropes and the horse wrangler took -care of the gap. In that way we could corral quite a large bunch of -saddle horses. But there was always some broncs in the bunch and the -boys had to be careful in catching their horses that they didn’t scare -them and cause them to break through the ropes. - -So the old man gave orders for one man at a time to catch his horse—but -Jim had hired a new man that was very fond of roping and he didn’t -always obey orders, and he used a loop half as big as the corral. So -naturally, when he throwed his big loop in among those horses he caught -something. Sometimes two or three head of horses at once. Sometimes he -caught one around the body and would cause the horses to stampede. The -old man had told him several times in a nice way to be careful of that -big loop. - -This morning Jim was in the corral trying to catch his horse. It wasn’t -quite daylight yet and the fellow didn’t see him. So he throwed that big -loop in there and caught two broncs, the brake on the bedwagon and the -old man—all in one loop. And believe me there was some commotion—the -broncs jumping and the old man a-hollering. Charlie Russell helped Jim -get out of the mix-up and he said Jim bucked worse than the broncs. He -lost his hat and his big pipe and hurt his foot. - -When he got straightened out, he went hunting this fellow. He said, -“Where is that big loop S.B.?” and when he found him he told him plenty. -He said, “I don’t think you are a cowboy at all. I think you are a damn -sailor the way you handle a rope. If I ever see you throw another rope -in that corral, I will shoot you. Somebody else will catch your horse -from now on.” But he didn’t fire him, and the fellow was pretty tame -afterwards. - -There was a great friendship existed among those old cowboys of those -days. They would quarrel among themselves and sometimes one would think -they were bitter enemies, but if one of them got sick or hurt, even with -their small wages they would soon raise a few hundred dollars for him, -and as there was no compensation law those days it meant a great deal to -them. - -Old Bill Bullard, the fellow that used to put bacon in everything he -cooked to give it tone, had a partner that he thought a great deal of, -but when they were together they were always quarreling and when they -were separated they would be lonesome. I believe they enjoyed their -quarrels. - -One time they made a trip together up in Canada. On their way back they -had to make a long ride without water, and the weather was very warm. So -the morning of their long ride, Bill told his partner to not put much -salt in their food, as they wouldn’t get any water that day. But the old -boy was out of sorts that morning and said he wanted plenty of -salt—water or no water. All their breakfast was in one frying pan. So -Bill got a knife and run a line through the breakfast and told his -partner to not salt only half the grub. That made the old fellow very -mad and he put plenty salt on his side of the frying pan. Bill said his -partner nearly choked for water that day and it was dark when they -reached Milk River and instead of stooping down to get water he walked -right into the river so he could drink standing up. - - - - -CHAPTER X - -TOM DALY - - -Tom Daly and I worked together for several years and I liked him very -much. - -One time we went from the DHS ranch at Rocky Ridge close to the main -range of the Rocky Mountains to the ranch the outfit owned at Malta, -which was in the eastern part of Montana. We had two strings of horses, -which was about twenty head. We had our beds packed on two horses on -that trip. One day Tom’s pack slipped and got down on the horse’s side. -We roped him and fixed the pack, but while we were doing so we turned -our saddle horses loose with the bridle reins on the ground (which is -the way Montana horses were broke to stand). Mosquitoes were very bad -that day and was worrying the horses, and when we turned the horse loose -that we had been fixing the pack, we turned around to get on our saddle -horses—they both run off and into the loose bunch, which got scared and -away they all went, leaving us both afoot and I think it was at least 20 -miles to any ranch and the day very hot. I never saw Tom excited before -as he was very easy-going, but when I looked at him and asked him, “What -are we going to do now?” his lips trembled and he said, “Damned if I -know.” - -Well, a lucky thing I had my rope that we had caught the pack horse -with. So I picked it up and we started after the horses on foot. They -run about a mile and stopped and went to feeding—but when we caught up -with them, one of our saddle horses would drag his bridle reins around -some of the horses’ legs and scare them—and away they would go again. -Finally we got the bunch in between us and one of the pack horses had -his head down feeding—I made a run at him and when he put his head up to -run I throwed my rope and caught him. We unpacked him and I got on him -bareback, with a rope around his nose, and rounded up the bunch and -brought them back to where Tom was. He had made a loop in the pack rope -and caught his saddle horse. And after a good many trials of roping, we -caught my horse. - -When we got our horse packed again and on our way, we were sure a couple -of happy boys. Tom told me I sure made a lucky throw when I caught that -pack horse. - -In my younger days as a cowboy I had a hobby on saddles. I always wanted -a light saddle with as little leather on it as possible. I used to use a -Clarence Nelson saddle, made in Visalia, California, which was about the -smallest and lightest stock saddle made in those days. Then after I had -got it, I would trim and cut off all the leather I possibly could get -along without. Tom Daly always rode a double rig saddle and wanted it -quite heavy. He was always making fun of my saddle and said I might as -well ride bareback. - -One time a big prairie fire broke out and the best thing we used to have -to fight those fires was a “green” or fresh cowhide. We could tie a -couple of ropes to it and with our saddle horses drag it along the fire -line. If the blaze wasn’t too big, it would smother the fire out -completely. This fire broke out close to our roundup, and we had a big -jaw steer in our roundup and he wasn’t any value as a beef steer. So the -boss told the boys to catch him and kill and skin him and use his hide -for a drag to put the fire out. - -Everybody got their ropes down in a hurry. Tom roped the steer by the -head and I caught him by one hind leg. He weighed about 1,500 pounds and -Tom was riding a big strong horse, and when he saw I had the steer by -the hind leg he never looked back but was spurring his horse and pulling -on the steer to try to throw him down so we could cut his throat, as -nobody had a gun. My horse wasn’t too well broke to roping, but I got my -rope fast to the saddle horn and Tom was pulling so fast and so hard, it -must of hurt my horse and he went to bucking. I couldn’t get my rope -loose from the saddle horn and I hollered at Tom—but he kept right on -going and pulled me—saddle and all—off the horse. The boys joshed me -plenty about my little saddle. I asked Tom why he didn’t stop when I -hollered. He said he didn’t know I was riding bareback or he would. - -Another time Tom and I were gathering saddle horses for the spring -roundup. When we left our camp in the morning we went different -directions and I got back to camp quite a while before Tom did. I had -loosened my cinch and tied my horse to a post and went in the cabin to -cook dinner. I heard someone holler and looked out and saw Tom coming -with a bunch of horses. Those horses were sometimes very hard to corral. -So I run out and got on my horse but forgot to tighten my cinch. Those -horses came by me pretty fast and I run my horse in ahead of them to try -to turn them. They dodged by me and when I turned my horse to head them -off my saddle turned and, of course, I hit the ground and my horse got -away and went with the wild bunch. - -I got Tom’s horse and followed them. After a little distance he quit the -bunch and took off across the country by himself. I followed him about -ten miles and finally run him into an old roundup corral and caught him. -The saddle was under his belly and there wasn’t a thing left of it—only -the saddle tree and the cinch—he had kicked it all to pieces. - -When I led him back to camp I felt like crying and called Tom out to -show it to him. In place of sympathizing with me, he smiled and said he -didn’t see any difference in it than it was before. - -I had to ride 40 miles to town to order another saddle. I tied a rope on -each side of the saddle tree to use for stirrups and rode that distance. -Tom went with me—I think he had the time of his life that day laughing -at my rig. - -We worked together on the roundup that year and slept together. We -worked pretty late that fall and the nights got very cold. We were -holding quite a bunch of cattle and, of course, that meant we had to -guard the cattle at night. Each man guarded three hours and then woke up -another cowboy. One night was very cold. When I came off guard my feet -felt like chunks of ice and I had noticed Tom’s underwear was wore out -where he had been sitting in the saddle. I pulled off my boots and went -out in the frost—then slipped into bed with Tom. He was asleep and -didn’t hear me. I got into bed easy and found that bare place on his -body and planted both feet right on it. He hollered and went clear out -of the tent. He said afterwards he thought somebody had burned him with -a hot iron. I think I got even with him for making fun of my saddle! - - - - -CHAPTER XI - -KID CURRY - - -Most of the big Montana cow outfits moved their herds north of the -Missouri River between 1888 and 1894. The point of crossing on the -Missouri was an old steamboat landing called Rocky Point where Jim -Norris had a saloon. - -When I crossed the river there in 1889, there was no one living there -but the little old man. He had an old hand ferry boat that he took -people across the river with. The night I stayed with him, he told me he -had some fine gin and gave me a drink, which I found out was straight -alcohol and the one drink nearly strangled me, but old Uncle Jim, as he -was called, drank it like water and seemed to do quite well on it. Every -little while he would go to the bank of the river and holler at the top -of his voice, “Do you want to bring your wagon over?” There would not be -anybody in sight, but he seemed to get a great kick out of make-believe. - -I worked with Kid Curry that summer on the roundup. He worked for the -Diamond outfit and I worked for the DHS. Both outfits worked the range -together. Kid was a fine fellow at that time and a good cowboy—that was -before he became an outlaw. I have read where some writers told what a -cold-blooded killer he was and where he had held up banks and so forth, -and I know from some of the dates given that he was blamed for a great -many things he did not do. - -I am not trying to make a hero out of the Kid or say that I approve of -some things he done, but the public at large does not know all the -circumstances leading up to where he first got into trouble. - -Charlie Russell knew Kid Curry and has given me his analysis of his -character (and he seldom made a mistake in the reading of human nature). -Charlie figured any normal man might have went the route the Kid did. - -I am going to set down some of the facts regarding the Kid’s becoming an -outlaw. His name was Harvey Curry. He had an older brother, Henry Curry. -They had a little ranch in the Badlands of the Missouri River and ran a -few cattle and horses. Both the brothers were fine boys at that time and -would give anyone the shirt off their back if they were in need. - -Now there was a little mining town sprung up in the Little Rockies not -far from the Curry Ranch. The outstanding character in that town was a -man by the name of Pike Landusky, a prospector who had found some fairly -rich prospects, and as there was some excitement about the find quite a -lot of people went to the mining camp and Pike being about the first one -on the ground, the town was named Landusky. - -The town was about fifty miles from the railroad and farther from the -Sheriff’s office, so Pike was appointed a Deputy Sheriff. Now Pike was -not a bad sort of a fellow as a rule, but had a reputation as somewhat -of a gun-fighter and was rather proud of it—he didn’t have much -education and very little intelligence—but was proud of his authority as -a Deputy Sheriff. - -The Kid was in town one night with some friends, having a few drinks and -celebrating in the ways of the early West, when Pike decided Harvey had -violated some law and arrested him, and not having any jail in the camp, -handcuffed him for safekeeping. During the time he was handcuffed, the -Kid said Pike abused him shamefully and cast reflections even on his -mother, who was dead and whom Pike had never known or seen, which burned -very deeply into the Kid. During the abuse the Kid told Pike, “I won’t -always be handcuffed, Pike, and when I get out of this trouble, you are -going to get a licking you will remember.” Pike said, “I will be ready.” - -Some time after this incident Pike and the Kid met in the saloon in -Landusky and had a fist fight. Of course the Kid started it and Pike got -a bad licking. When the fight started both men had guns on. Neither one -knew the other had a gun. Pike’s gun was in a holster under his arm. -Kid’s gun was fastened to his pants. In the fight, the Kid’s gun fell on -the floor. A friend of the Kid’s picked it up and when the fight was -over handed it to him. Both Pike’s eyes were pretty well closed, but he -raised up on his knees and was trying to get a bead on the Kid—so he -shot Pike and killed him. - -Of course this was a very serious offense as he had killed an officer of -the law, and the sentiment of the people was divided—and the Kid did not -know whether to give himself up or not. Anyway, he and a few of his -friends went to the ranch and talked the matter over and decided it -would be best for the Kid to cache himself in the Badlands for a while. -And his friends would bring him food—and, of course, the longer he -stayed a fugitive, the less chance he had of getting acquitted if he did -give himself up. So after dodging around for a while and having lost his -older brother, Hank, as he was known, who had died and was always the -leader and adviser, the Kid and a couple of his friends held up the -Great Northern Railroad train which had a shipment of currency—they got -away with it all right and got the money, but it was new money and had -not been officially signed, so of course it was not much good to them. -However, they did pass some of it. The Kid had two half brothers who -come to Montana from Missouri. Their names was Lannie and Johnny Logan, -and they tried to pass some of the money without much success. Lannie -was caught in Kansas City and killed with $10,000 of it on his person. -Johnny was killed in the Little Rocky country in a gun fight with -another cowboy. - -The Kid was caught in Tennessee after several years and sent to the -Knoxville pen—I believe for life. However, he didn’t stay there very -long. The papers said he roped a guard and tied him up and got away. My -personal opinion is he got help in some other way. I was told by a very -reliable party that he went to the Argentine country. Anyway he has -never been heard of since. If he is alive now, he would be about 70 -years old. - - - - -CHAPTER XII - -FRED REID - - -Fred Reid was one of the old time deer and elk hunters in the early days -of Montana. He told me the first bear he ever killed when he was a young -boy, that he was so scared he didn’t go near it after he shot it until -he saw some flies flying around its mouth. He said, he knew then it was -dead. - -Fred hunted for the market and said he often followed elk all day on -foot until they got tired, then he would make the kill. - -After his hunting days were over, Fred went to work as a cowboy and took -charge of quite a big outfit. The man wanted a new range and sent Fred -out to locate one. Fred found what he wanted and moved the outfit to the -Judith Basin. Then he located his headquarters down in the Badlands of -the Missouri River. It was surely a tough country, to get in and out -of—had to pack in everything on pack horses. - -I asked Fred one time why he picked out such an ungodly country. He said -he wanted to be alone where nobody would bother him and he sure found -the ideal place for that. - -During the winter of 1891 he hired me to go there and ride what he said -was some half-broke horses—about twenty head. He wanted them for the -Spring roundup so he could use them to work cattle. Those horses were -like Fred—plenty tough. I don’t know how he got so many mean ones in one -bunch. - -I never saw so many mean horses—they would buck, strike, kick, bite, or -run away. Shortly after I went to work for Fred, very cold weather set -in and I sure had a tough time with those horses. There was snow and ice -everywhere and it was hard enough for a gentle horse to stand up. These -broncs didn’t care whether they stood up or not when they made up their -minds to buck or run away. The camp was on a ridge with very rough -gulches and canyons on both sides. The ridge averaged about a mile wide -and a good many miles long, and when I would get one of them lined out -on this ridge I would sure speed him up and didn’t give him any time to -think of his tricks. I had to dress pretty heavy in that cold weather -and a lot of clothes on don’t go very good with riding broncs. But the -worst trouble of all was, I would get two or three of them going fairly -good and the weather would turn so cold I couldn’t ride at all, -sometimes for a week and those horses would get bronco again and I would -have all my work to do over again. I rode most of them with draw reins -and I could always double or pile them up in a snow bank before they -would get to a cut bank or a gulch, but one day I was out riding one -without draw reins and the horse stampeded heading for a cut bank. If -one went over it he would land in the Missouri River. I couldn’t stop -him and that bank looked to be a million feet straight up and down, so -when I saw I couldn’t stop him I quit him and that’s a hard thing to do -when a horse is running away. I just let all holts go and fell off but -he didn’t go over the bank as soon as I quit him. He turned and went to -camp which was about four miles that I had to walk. - -One morning one of those horses bucked pretty hard. Fred was there and -saw it. He said, “I saw a lot of daylight between you and that saddle. -Looked to me like you was about gone.” I told him, “Oh no, that’s the -way I ride, kind of loose.” I don’t know if he believed it or not but -the fact was I was just about thrown off. - -The headquarters consisted of a dugout for a home, no floor in it and a -couple of bunks made out of cottonwood poles, and a corral. We melted -snow to make coffee and cook with as the water hole was frozen and about -all we had to eat was sour dough bread and black coffee. Of course, Fred -being a great hunter, we had plenty of deer meat. Soon after I came -there the sugar was all gone so we didn’t have any sweetening the rest -of the winter. As soon as the weather broke so I could get out I quit -Fred and left that part of the country. - -Some time afterwards I was back in that locality and went to his camp. -There was nobody home. It looked like nobody had been there for some -time. I looked around and found some grub. It was a very warm day in the -summer so I picketed my horse and laid down on Fred’s bed in the dugout -to take a rest before getting something to eat. While I was lying there -I saw a snake’s head appear out of a hole in the dugout. It looked as -big as my hand and when he got his whole body out he was a monster. He -was about four feet from me and saw me. He stuck his tongue out at me a -few times and crawled across the dugout to where there was a grub box -and got about half of his body in it and stopped. I raised up on my -elbow to see what he was doing. He had his head in the sugar sack. I was -twenty-five miles from where I could get anything to eat. I saddled up -and beat it out of there. That was a bull snake (Gopher Snake) but he -sure didn’t look good to me and he took all of my appetite, eating out -of the grub box. I saw Fred some time afterwards and told him of my -visit and of my leaving without eating. He seemed very much surprised -that that should bother me any. He said the big fellow had been with him -a long time and that they were great friends. He also said the big -fellow didn’t allow no rats or mice to come near the camp. - -I had quite an experience with another couple of old timers—two brothers -that had a ranch and quite a large bunch of cattle. They had this ranch -for some forty years, did their own cooking and washed their clothes, in -fact, lived in real pioneer style. Their names were Frank and George. I -was working for an outfit several miles from where those old timers -lived. They sent my boss word that we had some cattle strayed on to -their range and he sent me over there to help them gather the cattle and -bring them home, and while working with them I took a very bad cold. One -night when we got home I was quite sick and went into the room where -they slept and laid down on one of the bunks. Later George and Frank -came in and started getting supper. Now, they had a kind of an old box -fastened on the wall of the cabin. They called it their medicine chest -and in there was every kind of a bottle and little pill boxes imaginable -and they were so old and dusty that the description and contents of each -bottle was unreadable. While I was lying down I heard George say to -Frank, “Con is pretty sick,” Frank said, “Why don’t you give him some -bromo quinine?” George said, “Where is it?” “Why, it’s in that thar -medicine box.” So George went looking for it. Pretty soon I heard him -say, “I think this is it.” Frank said, “Yes, I think it is.” George -started in where I was, but Frank stopped him and said, “Wait a minute, -let me look at that again.” There was a little pause and I heard Frank -say, “Hell no, this is coyote poison, don’t give him that.” “All right,” -George said, “I’ll go back to the medicine box and look again.” Soon he -came into the room with several different kinds of packages but I told -him I didn’t think I needed anything now. In fact, I felt much better. - -He was very much disappointed that I wouldn’t try some of the medicine. -But, oh boy, he couldn’t have gotten any of that stuff down me with a -ten foot pole. - - - - -CHAPTER XIII - -INDIANS - - -In the year of 1886 Chief Sitting Bull of the Sioux tribe got permission -from the agent at Standing Rock Agency in North Dakota to make a visit -to the Crow Agency in Montana to visit the Crow Indians. - -So he collected about fifty Sioux warriors and made the trip, and went -to the battle ground where General Custer and his army was massacred in -the year 1876, which was a short distance from the Crow Agency. He asked -the Crow agent for permission to have a war dance on the battle ground. -He said he wanted to recall old times. The agent refused. - -So sitting Bull collected a bunch of Crow warriors and had a party on -the Little Horn River adjoining the battle ground. The party progressed -very nicely until Sitting Bull got on his feet and declared he was the -greatest warrior that ever lived, stating the fact that he had killed -more white men and stolen more horses than any other chief living. That -statement insulted the Crow chief and the party turned into a fight. -Crazy Head, the Crow chief, pulled his knife, grabbed Sitting Bull by -his long hair and throwed him down and made him smell his feet, which -was the greatest insult one chief could offer another, as in the -language of the Indian it made Sitting Bull a dog, which is the worst -name an Indian can call anyone. - -The party broke up, and the next night Sitting Bull, to get even, stole -a bunch of Crow horses, and with his fifty warriors started back for the -Sioux reservation. - -But there was an old squaw man living with the Crows that was plenty -smart in the line of stealing horses and he collected a bunch of Crows -and followed Sitting Bull and overtook his party on the Little Horn -River, and took the horses away from them and killed two Sioux bucks and -scalped them. Sitting Bull and the rest of his party got away and beat -it back to their reservation. - -Now the Crows got very uneasy over this affair and were afraid the Sioux -would go on the warpath and steal away from their reservation and come -back and clean up on them. So the Crow chief, Crazy Head, called all the -Crows together, which at that time was about 2,800, and made a blockade -by putting all their lodges and tepees on a big fiat on the Little Horn -River covering about 20 acres, and at night they put all their horses -inside this enclosure, and put guards all around it at night. Also -inside this enclosure about two hundred of these warriors had tom-toms -and they beat them all night and sang war songs. I want to say here that -all the noise they made was to keep their spirits up, as they were -deathly afraid of the Siouxs. - -The old squaw man was in this big gathering, all dressed up like the -Indians with britch cloth and head-dress with all kinds of feathers in -his bonnet. I recall a rather amusing incident about him. A few years -prior to the time I am writing of, the railroad ended at Miles City, and -the administration at Washington, D.C., had notified the Crow Indian -agent to send several chiefs to Washington to try to make a peace treaty -and give them certain portions of land if they would become civilized. -The agent called this squaw man to the Agency to send him with the -chiefs as an interpreter. Now the old man had never seen a train or -railroad and thought he had to ride horseback all the way to Washington. -He told the agent he thought he could make the trip all right, but would -have to have a new saddle. When he returned from Washington, the Indians -were very anxious to know what he had seen and some of them still -thought they could beat the white men at war. So they asked the old man -how many whites he saw. He picked up both hands full of sand and throwed -it in the air. Said he, “The whites are just like that wherever I went.” -It was said that this demonstration by the old man made it seem useless -to most of the braves to carry the fight any farther. - -They also had the scalps of those two Indians they had killed hung on a -tripod and some of the young braves sure put on a real war dance around -the scalps. - -Another man and myself went there one night. It sure was some sight. We -put blankets around us like the Indians wore. This man I was with could -talk Indian and they told him they knew we were white men even in the -dark from the way we walked. This man’s name was Herb Dana, and he lived -on Tongue River in Wyoming. If he is alive yet he can verify what I have -told about this incident. - -That winter a man by the name of Ed Town and myself started across the -reservation with a freighting outfit, which he owned. He lived at the -foot of the Big Horn Mountains. We had forty head of work cattle (which -was Texas steers) and six wagons (which was two teams, three wagons -hooked together—ten yoke of cattle made a team). It was in the month of -January and the weather turned bitter cold. - -We were near froze to death one night. We made camp and unyoked the -steers, turned them loose without any feed except a few willows that -grew on the creek. We finally got the tent up and I was kicking around -in snow up to my knees, trying to find wood enough to build a fire, but -there wasn’t any to be found. About the time I had given up, an old -Indian came up to me and made signs he had a good lodge and no grub and -that we had plenty food and no fire, and invited us to bring our food to -his tepee. We were sure glad to make the trade. - -His lodge was about 200 yards from our camp. We took all the bacon and -flour the three of us could carry and went with the Indian. That was as -cold a night as I ever saw and am sure we would both lost our lives if -it wasn’t for that Indian. - -I don’t think they had ate for a long time, as the squaws made bread and -fried bacon all night. There was ten Indians in the camp and did they -eat! - -The lodge was round with a hole at the top. The fire was in the middle -of the lodge. They cooked the bread in a frying pan. - -We stayed there three days during the blizzard and outside of a little -smoke we were fairly comfortable, but I think when we left there we were -two of the lousiest men ever walked. I traded an Indian a $12.00 Stetson -for a muskrat cap—I could brush lice and nits off it in swarms. - -When the storm broke we found enough steers to pull one wagon to the -ranch. As far as I know the rest of them died. - -The winter of 1886 and 1887 was the toughest winter of my life and I -believe it will be verified by all cattle men of that period. There was -men in Montana and Wyoming that had 5,000 cattle that didn’t roundup 100 -head the next spring. - -My boss paid me off when we got to the ranch. I met up with another kid -about my age. We had about $20.00 between us and no place to go. So we -made a dugout out of cottonwood poles and dirt. We had no stove, so -built a fireplace to cook on—and on the coldest days it always smoked -the worst. In the spring we smelled and looked like Indians. We rustled -a quarter of beef, a few beans, a little sugar and coffee and lived on -that until spring. We got a little tapioca somewhere for dessert. We -cooked that with water but we couldn’t spare much sugar—there was no -place to get any more (that was on the line of Montana and Wyoming and -was 100 miles from the railroad). - -That winter the Indians suffered terrible from hunger and after we set -up housekeeping squaws and papooses would come to stay until we cooked -our meal with the hopes of getting something to eat. We fed them for -awhile but we were getting low on food and had to quit, but they would -come every day and stay all day and we wouldn’t eat while they were -there. - -One day my partner said he wanted to eat, but didn’t know what to do -with those damn Indians. They were all huddled around the fireplace. I -told him to make a lane through them as if he wanted to put some wood on -the fire. I had a 45 six-shooter under my head on our bunk. When he made -the opening I opened fire on the fireplace and took a fit. I hollered -and bucked like a bronc. I throwed ashes all over the Indians and they -nearly tore the door down getting out. Then we cooked and eat, and -wasn’t bothered with Indians for a long time. - -About a week after a buck Indian came by there looking for horses. It -was very cold and my partner asked him in to get warm. He looked at me -for a while and shook his head and made signs I was crazy. I guess the -squaws had told him about me. We had put out some poisoned meat for -coyotes and the Indians found it and was going to eat it but was -suspicious and tried it on a dog and it killed him, which didn’t raise -us much in their estimation. - -I will always think those Indians got even with me. That following -spring I wanted to leave that part of the country, and I didn’t have a -horse. So I got to talking to some Indians. They said they had a fine -horse running in their bunch. It was a stray—nobody claimed it and I -could have him. I made a date with them when they would corral their -horses. I was there with my saddle. They showed me a beautiful big -sorrel and told me to catch him, which I did. He trotted right up to me -when I roped him and seemed very nice to saddle. I was wondering all the -time why those Indians were so kind to me, but oh boy, when I mounted -him I found out. After the first jump I never saw anything but a little -piece of sorrel mane in front of the saddle. I have been bucked off a -good many times and often thought I could have rode most of the horses -if I had got a break, but there never was any doubt about that Indian -gift horse—I never had a Chinaman’s chance. - -I saw several of those Indians in years afterwards. They would think -awhile before they would remember me—they would laugh and make signs -with their hands how the horse bucked me off. - -The Crow Indians’ name for me was the White Man Chews Tobacco—Masachele -Opa Barusha. - -One time an old Crow Indian told me quite a story about the Tribe that I -don’t believe many people know (and I have seen some evidence of the -truth of his story). - -I was riding line for a cow outfit on the Crow Reservation and an old -Crow Chief came riding into my camp one morning about daylight, and -asked me for something to eat, as he said he was making a long ride on -some important business. I knew him—he was the same Chief that pulled a -knife on Chief Sitting Bull, grabbed him by the hair and made him smell -of his feet. This old Chief’s white-man’s name was Crazy Head—his Indian -name was Ah Shumoch Noch, which means “Curly Head.” His hair was curly -(which is unusual for an Indian) and he had very thick lips, which made -me think of the story the old Indian had told me. He said a great many -snows ago, a Negro showed up among the Crows. Nobody knew where he came -from or how he got there, but he lived with them for many years. The -Crow name for a Negro is Masachele Sha Pit Cot (which means White Black -Man). While this old Chief was enjoying his breakfast (and he was plenty -hungry) I asked him in Indian if he didn’t have some Nigger blood in -him, and it sure made him mad. I believe if he hadn’t been eating in my -camp he would have done something to me, but he said “Barrett” in a very -loud voice, which means NO, but I insisted that he must have a little -Negro blood. Still his answer was NO, with an oath, but I kept on -teasing him about his curly hair and thick lips. He finally stuck out -the end of his little finger with his thumb on the other hand to measure -with—ecosh cota, which meant about the size of a pin head. He sure hated -a nigger. - -There was another old Indian visited our camp sometimes, that was quite -a character. But he could peddle the bull as good as any white man I -ever knew. Sometimes when he came to our camp—we wouldn’t have much food -cooked and wouldn’t give him anything to eat, and he would silently sit -on the ground watching us until we got through eating. When we put our -cooking outfit away, he would get up on his feet, hitch his blanket over -his shoulders and go out of the tent and call us all the mean dirty -names he could think of, such as dogs, skunks and snakes. Well, maybe -the next time he came we would feed him and it was sure wonderful to see -the change in him. He loved bacon and coffee. Sometimes we would give -him a big plate of bacon and sour dough bread. He would sit on the -ground, cross his legs and boy, how he would eat! He would get his hands -all bacon grease and rub them through his hair, and get a few shots of -that strong coffee into him—it seemed to stimulate him like a shot of -hop. Then he would open up with his “bull.” He would talk part Indian -and part English. His favorite line was how much he loved the white man, -such as, “Me no steal em White Man horse—White Man he my brother—My -heart very good for him” (and I know he would steal the coppers off of a -dead white man’s eyes). He said the Piegan Indian and the Sioux was very -bad and all the time steal white man’s horse, but he was always watching -out for the white man and wouldn’t let other Indians steal white man -horse. - -I recall another Indian I knew several years later, his name was -Christmas. I always thought that he had stolen my saddle. One time at -Big Sandy, Montana, we had shipped a train load of cattle out of Malta, -and as usual after the cattle were all loaded out, we proceeded to -celebrate before we went back on the range to gather some more. I think -there were about twenty of us when we started the night celebration, but -sometime in the night I must have took a nap, anyway I came to about two -o’clock in the morning and as it was late in the month of October it was -quite cold, in fact I thought I would freeze to death, everybody was -gone to camp, my horse was tied to the hitch rack, the saloons were all -closed, and not a light anywhere. I was working my way around trying to -find my horse. When this Indian showed up where my horse was tied, he -evidently had been drunk too and seemed very glad to find someone to -talk to or steal something. He came up to where I was and said, “By -golly Con Price I sure glad to see you, you my brother.” I guess I must -have got some bad whiskey and felt pretty mean for while Christmas was -talking to me I thought it would be a good joke to swing on him. His -hands were both hanging down by his sides, so I was not taking any -chances. I braced myself and gave him all I had, right on the point of -the chin. It turned him half way around and he fell on his stomach. He -weighed about two hundred and twenty-five, he had on a pair of heavy -cowhide boots, that must have weighed five pounds each. He had no sooner -fell down than he was up again and running like hell, he didn’t look -back or say a word, but with those big boots and his weight, it sounded -like a bunch of horses running away. I saw him about a month afterward, -he didn’t say anything, but smiled. I guess he thought it was a good -joke too. - -After Christmas left I got on my horse, and started for camp, of course -there were no roads so I started out across the prairie, and it was very -dark and I got lost. I finally landed in some heavy sage brush, I got -off my horse and tied him to some brush, by that time I had got awful -thirsty and couldn’t find any water. I felt something in my chaps -pocket, and found it was a bottle of tomato catsup (where or how I got -it I never knew). I couldn’t get the cork out so I broke the head off of -it with a rock, and drank nearly all of it. I layed down and went to -sleep but woke up in a short time with a terrible pain in my stomach, -the first thing I thought was that I had swallowed some of the glass -from that ketchup bottle and I was sure scared. It was getting daylight -about that time and I knew where I was, and I got on my horse and -started for the old DHS horse ranch. There was no one home as the boys -were all on the roundup. I heated a tub of water and got into it and had -a big sweat, after that I felt much better, I cooked something to eat -and went to bed and stayed there until the next morning. As I knew about -where the roundup would be, I found camp that day, nobody said much to -me about my absence, as it was a legitimate excuse those days for a -cowboy getting drunk to be late on the job. - - - - -CHAPTER XIV - -OPEN RANGE DAYS - - -In the days of open range, everybody had great freedom. A cowboy could -change countries every spring if he wanted to and they were always -drifting from one range to another—not only to different ranges but to -different states. For instance, maybe he would be in New Mexico one year -and on the Canadian border the next. - -Every cowboy had a private horse of his own, pack horse and his own bed, -which consisted of a tarpaulin and some blankets. And according to the -custom of them days he could stop at any cow camp or ranch and was not -under obligations to anyone, and if he wanted to stay a week and rest -his horses that was O.K. too. If there was no one home, he always found -grub and helped himself, so he was quite independent—and it did not take -much money to travel. Nature provided him with new scenery every day, -such as unclaimed land, rivers and creeks, and in my day plenty of wild -game of all kinds. I don’t believe the tourist of today with his -automobile has anything compared to what we had. - -I am going to make a statement here that almost sounds fishy, but I can -prove it. I worked for a cow outfit that run twenty-five thousand cattle -and three or four hundred saddle horses to handle the cattle with, and -they didn’t own one foot of deeded land. The land was unsurveyed and -belonged to the government. They usually built a big log house, some -corrals and a kind of stable, and called it their ranch, and no one -disputed their title—even a sheepman must not get too close with his -woolies. They paid no taxes on this land and as it would be impossible -for the assessor to count the cattle in an area of two or three hundred -miles, I would say a good honest cattle man might give in one-third of -his number. An outfit the size I speak of, would hire about twenty-five -cowboys during the summer months and keep four or five during the -winter. That was the only expense they had, outside of buying saddle -horses to mount their cowboys—which was ten or twelve to the man. - -I have been asked quite often what a “Rep” was by people that was -hatched at a later day. Well, for illustration, Tom Jones has a ranch at -San Francisco—Bill Smith has a ranch at Los Angeles. Both run several -thousand cattle. There are no fences between those two places, so, -naturally, in the course of a year quite a number of both men’s cattle -would drift out of their range where they worked their main range and it -wouldn’t pay to send a whole outfit so far for what cattle had -drifted—so they picked out a very reliable cowboy that knew their -brands. He cut out his string of horses, packed his bed and started for -one of those ranges to represent the outfit he was working for. There -might be six or seven reps with each different outfit. - -Now, when one of those outfits started to work their range, they started -what they called a “Day Herd”—that was for the purpose of holding all -cattle that the reps, or the home outfit wanted to hold—sometimes beef -cattle, sometimes some outfit changing hands—those cattle were held by -home range men and driven from one roundup to another and each day, and -each roundup; anybody that found any cattle they wanted to hold or take -home, they were cut out and put in that day herd. - -This herd sometimes got pretty big before the roundup was over and was -bunched up at night and held on what they called the bed-ground. Those -cattle were night herded by all cowboys that worked during the day, by -shifts of two or three hours each, the hours depending on the length of -the nights—spring or fall—sometimes two men on shift, or more, depending -on the size of the herd or how hard they were to hold. - -The rep never done any day-herding as he was supposed to see all cattle -rounded up so as to pick out the cattle he represented, as other cowboys -didn’t know his irons as well as he did. There was also a little cowboy -etiquette extended to the rep—he didn’t have to stand night guard unless -it was absolutely necessary. - -When this roundup was over and the range all worked, lasting from a -month to six weeks, the big herd was worked and every cowboy that had -any cattle in the herd cut them out in a bunch by themselves, or some -other fellow that had cattle going home the same direction as he was, -then they throwed in together. If a cowboy didn’t have help enough to -move his cattle to their home range, the outfit he gathered them with -sent some men to help him. This custom was practiced in all the outfits. -Another fine practice in the early days by honest cowmen was if a cow -was found in a roundup with a calf belonging to her and nobody claimed -her, the captain of that roundup branded the calf with the same iron -that was on the mother and turned her loose where she was. This was done -with what was known as a running iron, which was a small bar and a small -half circle—one can make any brand on an animal with those two irons. -Now if that was a steer calf and nobody claimed him until it was grown -and fit for beef, that same captain or any captain of any roundup had a -right to load and ship that steer to any market with his cattle, say -Chicago, Omaha or Kansas City, which were the principal shipping points -in those days. There the stock inspector got a record of what state the -steer came from and when he was sold. It was his duty to see that the -money was sent to the stock association of that state, they having a -record of the brand and the address of the owner. A check was -immediately forwarded to the party. - -For instance, Charlie Russell and myself got a check for a steer I had -not seen for six years and had been loaded on the train four hundred -miles from where I turned him loose. He was shipped to Chicago, sold and -the money sent to Helena, Montana, where we had our brand recorded. - - - - -CHAPTER XV - -THE JOHNSON COUNTY WAR - - -This incident I write about was known as the Johnson County War in -Wyoming in the years of 1893 and 1894, and I presume some of the -old-timers of today remember those days when those things happened. - -The way it first started, some of the cowboys working for the big -outfits bought a few cattle of their own and branded them and turned -them loose on the range. The cattle barons objected to this, and passed -a resolution that any cowboy owning a branding iron could not work for -them—for the reason, them days there were a great many mavericks on the -range and the cattlemen divided them up among themselves. This caused -considerable bitterness, as the cowboy claimed any animal without a -brand belonged to the first one that found it. There may have been some -justification on both sides; at any rate it developed into quite a feud. -I heard one old cattleman remark that he knew cowboys that even their -grandfathers never owned a cow, had more cattle than he did. - -This feeling between stockmen and cowboys got to be very serious, as -each side took the law in their own hands to a great extent, and there -was quite a few people killed. The rustlers got so bold they took a -contract with one of the construction contractors to supply them with -beef. They would go out on the range, and butcher any animal they found, -regardless of what brand was on the animal. - -The stockmen appointed a stock detective. His name was Chris Groce, who -was very capable and absolutely fearless, and for a while held the -rustlers somewhat in check, but as time went on the sympathy of all the -little ranchers and cowboys were with the cattle rustlers. - -I remember two boys that the cattlemen wanted put out of the way but -could not catch up with them, so they formed a posse and went out after -them. They finally run those boys into an old cabin out on the range and -tried to get them to surrender without any success. They finally backed -a wagonload of hay up against the cabin and set it on fire. When the -cabin caught fire, the rustlers made a break to get away, and the posse -killed both of them. - -There was another ex-cowboy I knew that decided to go into business for -himself. He would go out on the range, shoot a steer, butcher it, bring -it to town and sell it. He went by the name of Spokane. He got along -pretty well for a while, but one day the Sheriff was trailing some horse -thieves across the country and run on to Spokane with a steer shot down -and was butchering it. The Sheriff told him to throw up his hands, but -instead Spokane crouched down behind his steer and opened fire on the -Sheriff with his six-shooter and made it hard for the Sheriff to get -him, but the Sheriff had a Winchester and could reach him at long range. -He finally shot him in the arm and Spokane came up and surrendered. The -Sheriff told me afterwards he sure hated to shoot him, as he was plenty -game. I was in the hotel the night they brought Spokane in and the -doctor dressed his arm without any anesthetic. He lay on the couch and -smoked cigarettes just as unconcerned as if everything was all right and -in no pain. They sent Spokane to the Pen for three years and when he got -out he straightened up and made a very good citizen. - -These conditions seemed to go from bad to worse until things got so bad -the cattlemen took it on themselves to hire a bunch of Texas Rangers to -come to Wyoming to protect their interests. That fact created more -bitter feeling and anybody taking sides with either group was sure in -danger of their lives at all times. I remember a bunch of rustlers and -cowboys, went to an old deserted ranch and built a kind of temporary -stockade. The Rangers followed them there and tried to arrest them on -their own authority. One of the boys in the stockade told me afterwards -that siege lasted several days, and they had to go to a spring for -water, and every time they did so there would be considerable shooting -from both sides. - -Finally conditions got so bad that it got out of control of the local -authorities and the militia was called out to settle the trouble. They -arrested everybody—cattlemen, cowboys, rustlers and Rangers, and took -them all to Cheyenne. That broke up the feud and nobody gained anything. -Most of the cowmen lived in the East and they were sick of the whole -affair. Some of them sold out and never did come back to Wyoming. The -cowboys and rustlers drifted to parts unknown, and things in Johnson -County got on a more legitimate basis. I met several of those cowboys -afterwards in Montana. Most of them were under assumed names, and some -of them had very good jobs, such as stock inspectors and foremen of big -outfits. They generally made pretty good men, as they had had plenty of -experience. - -At the time those conditions existed, I was breaking colts for the PK -Cow outfit on Soldier Creek, close to Sheridan, Wyoming, and Buffalo -Bill Cody sent notice to Sheridan that he would be there on a certain -day and wanted to buy a carload of wild horses to ship to Boston for his -show, also he wanted to hire some Wild West riders to take back to -Boston. That is a long time ago and there wasn’t the bronc riders there -is today. Some rode with tied stirrups, some with buck straps. There was -a quite a number of riders but only one boy qualified—his name was -Scotty. I tried for that job, but Bill hurt my pride very much, as he -told me I might make a rider but wouldn’t do at that time. The only -consolation I had was to say to myself that Bill didn’t know a good -rider when he saw one. - - - - -CHAPTER XVI - -BRONCOS - - -Several people not familiar with horses have asked me what a -bronco-buster means, and they seem to think all cowboys are bronco -riders, which is not so. I sometimes talk to an old-timer that once rode -broncs and broke horses, and like most all old-timers in every line of -work they claim the younger generation cannot compete with them the way -they did it in their day. But the old boys are only kidding themselves -when they think those young fellows can’t ride a bucking horse. They -have made a profession of it and keep in practice. Another thing, the -old-tuners never flanked a horse like they do in contest today—that’s -putting a strap around his kidneys and cinching it up to make him -buck—and it does make him buck harder than without it. He gets in a -twist when he is up off the ground. That the horses of the old days -never did. I have been judge at several bucking contests and shows and I -would venture to say that no old-timer could ever have rode those horses -with that rigging on him without first getting used to it. - -Another thing, in the old days of the range the good riders tried to -keep their horse from bucking, whereas today they train and teach them -to buck for the shows. So naturally the horse and rider have more -practice. - -There is a great difference between a bronc-rider and a horse-breaker, -or a regular cowboy—and still they are classed as the same by a great -many people. Not saying anything against the modern bronc-rider, but all -he knows about a horse is to ride him while he bucks. I have seen some -the best riders that didn’t have any idea what a horse should do after -he quit bucking, from the fact he saddles him in a chute and gets on him -in there—then he is let out and the skill he uses is to stay on that -horse a few seconds until the whistle is blown by the time-keeper and -the horse is caught by the pick-up man—and many a time that whistle has -saved many a boy when he was all in. But the poor bronc-fighter has a -hard time at best. He has plenty of competition and they can’t all win -and most of them, if they follow it long enough, wind up broken -physically and financially. So the old saying still goes ... “all it -takes to make a good bronc-buster is a strong back and a weak mind” ... -as all it requires is plenty courage and practice. - -But a good horse-breaker really does something. He uses intelligence and -studies the disposition of his horse, as every one is different and -requires different methods—and I wouldn’t attempt to say which is the -best. Some cowboys are natural horsemen and seemingly without taking -very much pains get wonderful results, while the other fellow will try -ever so hard and never get nowhere. - -Nearly every state has a different way of starting a young horse. In -Montana the first thing we did with a wild horse was to catch him by the -front feet and throw him down, and take one hind leg away from him by -tying it up so he can’t touch the ground with it (that way he can’t hurt -you or himself). He stands on three legs and if he tries to kick or -fight he usually falls down. After a few falls he will stand and let you -rub him all over his body and legs, and you can saddle and unsaddle him -until he finds he can’t get away from you and that you aren’t going to -hurt him. That was the system I used and I thought I got very good -results. - -However, I have seen cowboys use a blindfold on a horse that worked very -well, too—using a soft piece of leather or a piece of cloth to put over -the horse’s eyes and in that way learned him to stand while they saddled -him and got on and off until he gets used to it. But I always preferred -the way of letting the horse see what was going on from the first -lesson. - -But that is just a small part of breaking a horse. In the first place he -may have a notion of bucking no matter how careful you have been in -handling him, as there is no doubt some horses inherit those different -bad habits from their ancestors just like humans do, and if bucking -happens to be the favorite way of your horse’s showing his meanness, the -cowboy must be able to ride him, as every time a horse bucks his man off -he is getting that much nearer to being an outlaw. Then another -thing—seldom ever any two horses buck the same. One will have some -different twist from the other one. I have seen good riders get on a -horse that didn’t seem to buck so hard and would get throwed off. When I -used to ride, the hardest for me was one that bucked and whirled around -and around. - -But the bucking is usually the small part of breaking a horse or at -least to make him valuable as a cow horse. Most horse-breakers first -start the horse with a hackamore and sometimes never put a bridle on him -for a couple of years and then sometimes he is not finished, depending -both on what kind of a horse and man they are. - -I think in the early days in Wyoming and Montana they got much quicker -results with a horse, as they started working cattle with a young horse -as soon as a man could pull him around at all, and there is no doubt but -that is what makes a good horse. They are like people. One can read -forever about learning to do something and will never learn much until -they actually do the work themselves. - -There is no doubt California turns out some of the best broke horses in -the world, but the breaking sometimes costs the owner as much as two -hundred dollars. So it can be readily seen that a big cow outfit like -they had a few years back, that had a couple of hundred saddle horses -and worked 25 or 30 men, couldn’t put in two years breaking a horse or -pay two hundred dollars to break him. Even at that I have seen just as -good, if not better, practical cow horses that never had that much time -or money spent on them—but they worked cattle every day during the six -months of the season—and I contend that’s what makes cow horses and -cowboys. - -Another difference in the professional bronc-rider is he has his horse -in a chute to handle and saddle him, with plenty of help. The old-timer -had to rope his horse out of a bunch of horses and saddle him alone and -get on him without any help. Then maybe he would stampede, run over a -cut bank or fall down—and he had to be able to take care of himself. - - - - -CHAPTER XVII - -MY MARRIAGE - - -In the days that I write of there were very few women folks in the -country and a less number of girls, but there was one family who had one -girl of about seventeen years and I thought she was very attractive. I -worked about twenty miles from where she lived and used to go to see her -quite often, but she had two brothers about eight and ten years old and -they were wild as Indians and their main sport and pastime was riding -wild calves and yearlings. The girl was about as wild as them and -usually joined in those bucking contests, so when I went courting her -she wanted me to join in on the fun. As my every-day work was riding and -handling cattle, this kind of sport didn’t interest me. I was serious -and wanted to make love, so those boys were a great worry to me, as when -I wanted to court the girl the boys wanted to ride calves. One time when -I was particularly interested in talking to the girl they wanted me to -go out to the corral and ride calves, and of course I wouldn’t go, so -one of them suggested I act as a horse and he would ride me. To get rid -of him I consented. He was to get up on my shoulders, put his legs -around my neck and hold on to my shirt collar with his hands. Then I was -to start bucking, which I did. When I got to bucking my best I bent over -forward and threw him off pretty hard and hurt him some. He got up -crying and the girl was laughing at him for being bucked off. He said, -“Well, I would have rode the S.B. if he hadn’t throwed his head down.” -Anyway, I got rid of him for that day and had a chance to court the -girl. - -As most any story is not complete without some love and courtship in it, -I am going to write my experience in that matter. - -I was married to Claudia Toole in the year 1899. She was a daughter of -Bruce Toole, who was a brother to Joseph K. Toole, Governor of Montana -at that time. Now Bruce Toole was a very fine aristocratic Southern -gentleman and knowing that a cowboy didn’t usually climb very high on -the ladder of culture he didn’t think I was desirable company for his -daughter. So, we had to carry on our courtship secretly from the old -gent, and as about the only amusement of those days was country dancing -and as we all went to them on horseback (which usually was 15 or 20 -miles) we would ride to a dance. As I could not go to my girl’s home to -get her, we would designate a certain rock or creek out on the range to -meet at and would go from there to the dance. That is where I would -leave her the next morning after the dance. Her father thought she went -to those parties with her brother, who was in on our secret, so in all -our courtship it was unknown to him and it was the shock of his life -when we slipped away and got married. - -My wife had a pinto horse of her own that her father had got from the -Indians and given to her and he must have had some fine breeding back in -his ancestry somewhere as he could run like a blue streak. I usually -rode the same horse every time we went out together and the two horses -became very attached to each other. One time I had taken my wife to a -dance and ventured a little closer to her home than usual. I unsaddled -her horse and turned him loose in the pasture and rode away. Her horse -ran along the fence and put up a terrible fuss about being separated -from my horse. My wife’s father saw him acting up and wondered what in -the world was the matter with him, but he hadn’t seen me. That was one -time we nearly got caught in our secret courtship. - -I was working for a large cattle company and we had a great many saddle -horses. They used to stray away from the ranch quite often and I used to -ride the range hunting them. There was an old German who had quite a -large ranch about ten miles from us, and a good many cattle and horses. -He used to try to keep in contact with me as much as possible to find -out if I had seen any of his stock and to tell him where they were. So, -he used to tell me whenever I was anywhere near his ranch to come there -and eat and feed my horse. - -About three miles from this old man’s ranch was an enormous big rock -that one could hide a couple of horses behind very easily and my wife -could get up on the top of the rock and see the whole surrounding -country. That was one of our meeting places and we had a date one day to -meet at this rock at a certain hour. I could always see her and her -pinto horse coming for several miles, so I was at the rock this day -waiting for my girl and the old German was out riding this day looking -after his stock and saw me quite a distance away and came to where I -was. He spoke very broken English and of course was glad to see me and -inquire about his stock. He said, “Veil, Con—vot you look for?” I told -him I had lost a horse and was hunting for him. He wanted a description -of the horse, so if he found him he could hold him for me. Of course I -had to give him an imaginary description and I wanted to get rid of him -as I expected my girl along at any minute, but he insisted that I should -go to his ranch with him and have dinner and feed my horse. I used every -excuse I could think of—told him I was in a hurry to find the -horse—thought he might be sick and would die if I didn’t find him right -away—but he said, “Come on with me and have dinner and I vill go mit you -and hunt the horse.” Of course, that was just what I didn’t want. I had -a hard time, but finally got rid of him and went and found my girl. - -Some months afterwards, my girl and I were at another rancher’s place -and quite a crowd of people had gathered there that day. The old German -came and in the general conversation he said, “Con, didth you findth -that hos you vos looking fo’ and vos he sick?” I told him I had found -the horse and he was fine. My girl was listening to the conversation and -her face turned as red as a firecracker—of course I had told her about -the meeting with the old man at the rock. - -I think everybody has more or less trouble in their courting days, but -it seemed to my wife and I that we had more than our share. As I said -before, my wife’s parents didn’t know we were keeping company at all—in -fact, didn’t hardly know me. There was a very noted dance coming off -about 20 miles from her home that we had planned to attend, when, lo and -behold, a few days before the dance a very wealthy and refined gentleman -(and an old friend of her father’s) with a fine team and top buggy -(which was very rare in those days) came to her father’s ranch to ask -her parents to take her to the dance. They at once gladly said yes and -she in order not to tip her hand had to consent, and mind you, we were -engaged to be married at this time. Of course, with me not knowing -anything about this transaction it placed her in a very precarious -position, and she had a terrible time getting in touch with me to -explain to me what had happened. It didn’t set too well with me, but in -order to keep everything under control we agreed that she would go to -the dance with this man and I would go alone. I guess the fellow must -have had some suspicion of the way things stood, as he told her the next -day when he was taking her home that he noticed she and I seemed to feel -very much better when we had our first dance together. He tried to -question her about me and told her I didn’t even own a cabin. She acted -very innocent and unconcerned about the matter, but he must have figured -he was out of the race, because he never came to call on her again. - -When we got married we had to steal away like we did when we were -courting. I borrowed a team and spring wagon and we had to drive forty -miles and the snow was about belly deep on the horses. Then we had to -wait over in Shelby until the next day to go to Great Falls. The job of -getting her away from the ranch was the hard part of it. My wife’s room -was upstairs in her home and we agreed that she would throw her stuff -out the window about eight o’clock at night and I would pick it up and -carry it to the wagon I had parked about 100 yards from the house. I -didn’t have any idea how much stuff she had until she began throwing it -out—clothes, suitcases, shoes and everything else that a woman ever -wore, and besides, she used to play the piano and she had great bales of -sheet music and every time one of those bales of music hit that frozen -ground it sounded like someone had shot a high powered rifle and the -stuff fell right in front of a window down stairs and the window -curtains were up. Her father sat reading about ten feet from where I was -picking it up. I would take all I could carry on my back to the wagon -and came back for another load, and as she was still throwing stuff out -while I was gone there would be a bigger pile than ever when I got back. -I believe she would have thrown the piano out too if the window had been -big enough, and the worst part of it was her father had two bloodhounds -and they bellowed and howled every time she threw out a fresh cargo. It -was a very cold night and I wore a big fur overcoat and every time I -bent over to pick up a package they would howl louder than ever. They -thought I was some kind of animal. I tried whispering to them to get out -and keep still and that would bring a bigger howl than ever. I was -watching her father pretty close through the window and every once in a -while he would cock his head sideways to listen and acted like he was -going to get up and come out, then would settle down and go to reading -again. During those intervals, my heart was sure pounding and I was all -sweaty with fear. I have often heard of people being very nervous when -they placed the bride’s ring on her finger, but I know that is nothing -compared to the ordeal I went through. I forgot, and left a lot of -things around where I loaded the wagon and it snowed a lot after that. -Every time my wife missed something of hers, we would go to that spot -and shovel snow. Neither one of us had any idea of what it took to set -up housekeeping and it is amazing what we bought. One thing we both -agreed on was a carpet, as we intended to move into an old cabin that -had big cracks in the floor. When we got home and checked our Outfit, it -seemed to be mostly carpet. Then I think every friend we ever had gave -us a lamp for a wedding present, so we had a whole wagonload of carpets -and lamps. We had hanging lamps, floor lamps and lamps to throw away, -but hardly anything else in the way of housekeeping. When we arrived -back in Shelby there were about 25 cowboys in town that had come to -celebrate Christmas (it being Christmas week we were married) and they -were all at the train to meet us. Most of them had a good sized Xmas jag -on and the different congratulations I got from that bunch would sure -sound funny today if I could remember them all. They were all old time -cowboys that I had worked with for years. We all went to a saloon to -celebrate the event. Each one would take me aside to pour out his -feelings and congratulations, and give me hell for stealing away to get -married without telling them. Some of the names they called me wouldn’t -look good in print but that was their way of showing their true -friendship. One old bowlegged fellow that I had known from the time I -was a kid had a little more joy juice aboard than the others. He didn’t -have much to say, but stood at the end of the bar and drank regularly -while the celebration was going on. He had one cock eye and kept -watching me all the time until he got an opportunity to attract my -attention. He nodded to me to come over to where he was. I went over to -him and he looked at me silently for a moment and said, “Well, you’re -married, are you?” I said yes, and he asked, “Did you marry a white -woman?” I answered yes, and he said “You done damn well, but I feel -sorry for the girl.” In the meantime, while we were away getting -married, my wife’s father wrote her a letter to Shelby where we had our -team and wagon and told her all was forgiven and to come home, which we -did. - -I went to work for him and as he owned plenty of cattle and horses I -seemed to be just the kind of a son-in-law he needed, but we sure had a -supply of carpet and lamps that we didn’t know what to do with. - -[Illustration: Con Price and Charlie Russell At Great Falls, Montana -(1903)] - -[Illustration: Charlie Russell with Sandy and Dave At the Lazy KY -(1907)] - - - - -CHAPTER XVIII - -THE LAZY KY - - -A few years after my marriage we settled on a squatter’s right on the -head of Kicking Horse Creek in the Sweet Grass Hills in Montana. The -land was unsurveyed at that time and one did not know where his boundary -lines were. So one staked off what one thought was about right and it -was respected by most stockmen. - -I lived seven years on that squatter’s right and when it was surveyed I -proved up on it at once. The government allowed me from the time I -established my residence. I also had fenced in about three thousand -acres of government land, which I had the use of for ten years without -any cost. - -It was quite easy to borrow money those days. So I soon was in the -cattle business for myself. - -After some years Charlie Russell came to see me and in our conversation -he asked me if I would like a partner. That suited me fine, as that -would give me some money to work on. So I told Charlie I would gather -the cattle and horses, and he would come to the ranch and we would count -the stock and appraise the outfit. - -He said, “You know what there is. You count the stock and appraise what -other stuff you got, and send me a bill, and I will send you a check.” -And when we dissolved partnership and sold out, we settled the same way. -He had great faith in mankind. - -Charlie and I built up a very nice little ranch. He and Nancy both filed -on some land adjoining my old place and we run about three hundred -cattle and about sixty head of horses. - -Our cattle brand was known as the Lazy KY. Our horse brand was the -letter “T.” It was very hard to get a desirable brand at that time, as -the recorder of brands would not give you a brand you asked for, but -would pick out a brand for you, and if what he sent you didn’t suit, you -sent two dollars more until you got the kind of iron you wanted. - -We had a great deal of trouble getting a horse brand until we got the -letter “T.” Governor Joseph Toole owned this brand in the days when -Montana was a territory, and he had not used it for many years. A great -many people tried to buy it from him, but he would not sell it, but -through his brother, Bruce Toole, who was a cattleman, he agreed to let -us have the iron, and as he admired Charlie’s work would not accept any -pay for it. Also the recorder of brands, in courtesy to the governor, -transferred the brand without cost. So we owned one of the oldest brands -in the state, and as we never transferred the iron to anyone I believe -it still stands on record in our names. - -But Charlie and I started in the cattle business too late to get the -full benefit of the open range. The cattlemen were like the Indians. At -one time they had everything they wanted—free range and free water—but -the sheepmen soon began to squat on the watering places and it wasn’t -many years until they had outnumbered the cattlemen. - -There was a general hatred between them, as the cattle wouldn’t graze or -water where there were sheep and the sheep would go everywhere. That was -bad—but was nothing compared to when the farmers came from the East and -homesteaded the land. I seen that country change in two years from where -there was open range everywhere to where there wasn’t a foot of -government land left, either in Montana or across the Canadian line, and -in 1910 we had a very dry year and had to gather our cattle and bring -them home. So decided to sell out. The farmers filed on every water hole -in the country and they all had dogs, so the cattle didn’t have a -chance. Some of the old-timers hung on for awhile and reminded me again -of the Indians, as they said the farmer couldn’t last and would starve -out and the country would all go back to open range. But when I seen -those farmers raise fifty bushels of wheat to the acre on that virgin -soil I could see the handwriting on the wall. - -Course that land soon wore out for raising grain and most of those -settlers sure had a hard time to get by but they are still there. It -never will be a good farming country, but they have ruined it for the -cattleman. They have even drove the sheep out. - -One time when the sheep and cattlemen were at war, I knew two cattlemen -that was very hard put by the sheep. They had monopolized all the free -range and water, and as it has always been commonly understood that -saltpeter would kill sheep, they decided to work on the sheepmen. So -they sent away and got one hundred pounds of saltpeter and as it was a -very serious crime to poison the range, they were very careful. They -took the saltpeter in front of a band of sheep that was grazing on their -range. One of them rode next to the sheepherder so he couldn’t see the -sack the other one had on his horse. Then they cut a hole in the sack -and rode slowly in front of the sheep and distributed the one hundred -pounds. One of those fellows was quite a large cattleman and after the -job was completed he got scared and left that part of the country for -about a week so that in case of an investigation he would have an alibi -that he was not at home at the time of the poisoning. - -When he came back he hunted up his partner in crime to know what luck -they had had. He told him the sheep had eat all the saltpeter and hadn’t -killed one of them. He said, “I’ll be damned! I give up. Those sheep are -too much for me.” - -The range war got to be very bitter in that locality and I was very glad -to get out. Whenever anyone lost a cow or horse, he blamed someone for -killing it and the feeling got so bitter that it looked like it was -leading up to where someone would get killed, and they did. - -Charlie and I sold out to a man by name of Peter Wagner, and we had a -neighbor by name of Al Pratt. He was very quarrelsome with everybody. -Wagner was quite an old man. Pratt was a young man. He had chased the -old man on horseback several times and once had beat him over the head -with a wet frozen rope, another time had knocked him off his horse and -run over him. - -The surveyed road to town went between our house and barn, and in -wintertime the snow drifted so deep it was impassable, and I had left -about an acre of ground open where people went around the snowdrift. - -About six months after Charlie and I had sold out to Wagner, one morning -Pratt started to town on this road with a team and buckboard. When he -came to this spot, the old man was there on horseback, standing on the -detour. Pratt started to drive on Wagner’s land and he told him to -follow the county road. Pratt said the road was impassable and tried to -force his team past the old man, but he grabbed one of the bridles of -the team. Pratt struck Wagner in the face with his buggy whip. Wagner -jerked out his gun and shot Pratt once in the neck, once in the back and -three shots hit the buckboard. Pratt fell out dead. - -At the trial I was called as a character witness. The prosecuting -attorney asked Wagner how many shots he fired. Wagner said, “One, to -save my own life.” When he asked him to account for the other four -shots, he said he was riding a hardmouth horse and he tried to run away -at the first shot, and in pulling on his bridle reins with his left hand -he forgot what his right hand was doing, and thought he must have kept -pulling the trigger on his gun. It was an automatic and, of course, as -long as he kept pulling the trigger it kept shooting, but he couldn’t -explain how the gun kept pointing towards Pratt’s body. - -The corpse laid there in the snow for twenty-four hours before the -sheriff and coroner arrived and there was a gun found by the body. -Wagner claimed self-defense. I testified that Pratt had pulled a -Winchester on me once and threatened to kill me—which I think helped -some. - -Wagner was quite wealthy when this happened. He got free but he was flat -broke when he got out. - -He had told me several times prior to this incident that he was deathly -afraid of Pratt, which I believe makes a very dangerous man when he is -afraid of another man. - -One thing about our neighborhood I never could understand was as long as -the people were very poor they were peaceable and neighborly but when -they got a little prosperous some of them were in court the year around. - -We had a justice of the peace nearby and he sure had plenty business. I -listened to one case that seems very amusing to me now. The judge liked -to play poker and when he wasn’t busy with court duties he was usually -in a poker game. This case was between two ranchers over the cutting of -a wire fence. The trial was held in a little store. Each one acted as -his own attorney, also testified in his own behalf. While one of them -was testifying, the other one was sitting on the store counter, swinging -his legs and listening, and when the other fellow made a statement he -didn’t approve of he said, “That’s a damn lie.” The judge jumped to his -feet and said, “Damn you, you can’t talk that way in this court.” - -After the trial the judge took the case under advisement for a few -hours. - -Late that night I met the judge and asked him how the trial came out and -when he told me I expressed some surprise. He said, “Hell, that other -fellow couldn’t win in this court with four aces!” - -Charlie used to come to the ranch quite often and enjoyed riding -horseback, but I always had a hard time to convince him the horses were -gentle. We kept about ten head and as I was the only one who rode them, -they were always fat and rarin’ to go, and as when he and I worked -together in the past, I was nearly always riding colts. He said he -didn’t believe I ever owned a gentle horse. - -So one time he came to the ranch to file on some land and we had to ride -about fifteen miles. He told me to be sure to give him a gentle horse -and I thought I did. I saddled his horse next morning and gave him the -bridle reins and turned around to get on my horse, when I heard a -terrible noise. I looked around and Charlie was down on his back with -his foot fast in the stirrup, and the horse jumping and striking at him. -I ran and caught his horse and got him loose. He had lost his hat and -his clothes were dirty. He said, “This is another one of them damn -gentle horses you have been telling me about. Now I have got to ride him -fifteen miles with a hump in his back. I will feel good all day.” I -don’t think I tried to get him to gallop but he said every time he tried -to hurry that horse he would hump up like he was going to buck until he -would pull him down to a walk. - -He wrote me a letter when he went home and painted a picture of himself -down on his back with his foot fast in the stirrup. He said it reminded -him of a friend of his in Great Falls that sold a man a horse and told -the fellow it was a regular lady’s horse, but had killed two men in -Butte afterwards. - -For thirty years, Charlie Russell owned a pinto named Monte that could -almost talk. I don’t believe Monte was ever in a stable until he was -twenty years old. When Charlie quit riding the range and went to living -in town, he built Monte a stable but Monte didn’t like civilization and -would not stay in the stable unless he was tied up, then he would be -very nervous and would never lay down. But after some time Charlie found -out there was only one way Monte would compromise and that was to leave -the stable door open and Monte would lay down with his head out the -door—he took no chances on being shut in. - -Charlie and I had about fifty head of mares at the ranch. That was of -the Mustang Stock. We raised some good tough saddle horses but in -general they weren’t much to look at—pintos, buckskins, all kinds and -colors. - -So I began looking for a better grade of a stallion to improve our herd. -I finally contacted a fellow by the name of Jake Dehart and he told me -he had a fine stallion to sell, so I went to look at the horse. He was a -terrible looking sight. He had been neglected, was sick and badly run -down. His legs were swelled up almost as big as his body. He hadn’t shed -his winter coat of hair and looked like anything but a horse. Dehart -showed me the registered papers of the horse and they were O.K., in -fact, he was an imported horse and of fine breeding. I didn’t know -whether I could save the horse or not. Looked like he might die any -time, so I told Dehart I would trade him a bunch of horses for the stud. -We set a date when he would come to the ranch to look at the horses that -I was to trade him. I told Dehart I thought I could give him about 20 -head of horses for his stallion. Our horses run on the open range and it -took several days to gather them. - -When I got them all gathered and in the corral, they were sure a -tough-looking bunch but when I would think about Dehart’s stud the -Mustangs looked the best of the two so I began culling out the worst -ones for Dehart, but he didn’t come on the day agreed on and looking the -culls over I figured there was some too good to give him. Dehart didn’t -come for several days and when he did arrive they were sure a sorry -looking bunch of horses. Some of them crippled, some of them had been -cut in barbed wire, some blind in one eye, some with their hips knocked -down and some locoed. When Dehart did come he walked up to the corral -and looked over the fence at the horses. He said, “My God, I thought you -had better horses than those things. Where are the rest of your horses?” -I told him that was all I had. Of course, I had got the rest of them out -of sight. - -Poor Dehart was in a bad spot. He had a lot of money in the stud and he -was afraid he was going to die and it was either take this bunch of junk -or nothing, so we traded. Shortly after I had made the trade Charlie -came up from Great Falls to the ranch to see how things were getting -along and didn’t know I had made the trade. There was nobody home the -day he came. I was out on the range riding after cattle. This big -terrible looking animal was standing in the corral. When I got home -Charlie asked me where I got that mountain of “beauty.” I told him about -the trade. “Well,” said Charlie, “he is sure a good sleeper. I watched -him for an hour in the corral; he never moved an ear.” Charlie said -Dehart must have got me drunk when I made that trade. I told him if he -saw what I had traded for him he would think Dehart was the one that was -drunk. - -I doctored that horse and brought him out of his sickness and he -produced the best colts in that country at that time and I later sold -him for $500.00. In another way the trade proved to be very profitable. -I wanted to vent the brand on the horses when Dehart took them but -Dehart said no, he was going to ship those horses out of the country and -didn’t want any more brands on them as it would hurt the sale of the -horses. Instead of doing that, he sold them all at the railroad station -where he had intended to ship them from. It was about 20 miles from our -ranch and in about the middle of our range where our horses run and -where I turned loose the rest of our horses, after the trade was made -and the people that bought the horses from Dehart turned them loose on -the range without either branding them or venting them. Consequently -those horses in a few days were back on their range mixed up with our -bunch without any way to identify them and all branded with our iron. I -told those people about the matter and tried to get them to get their -horses but they didn’t give it any attention so in a few months I sold -all our horses on the range with the iron. When I sold the horses with -the brand they sure put up a howl. They threatened me with court action, -said they would have me arrested, but they couldn’t do anything about it -as it was their own fault so I figured I got the stallion for nothing. - -One time when Charlie Russell and I were in partnership in the cow -business, I lost some yearling colts and as the country was all open in -those days and no fences, our stock would sometimes stray two or three -hundred miles away from home. So, after about three years after I had -lost those colts I heard of some horses up in Canada which had my brand -on them. I had a neighbor who had lost some colts about the same time as -I had, so we decided to go up in that country and try to find them. We -each took a couple of good saddle horses and started out. That country -was very thinly settled those days, just a little stock ranch here and -there, sometimes twenty-five or thirty miles apart. As it was late in -the fall and the weather was getting quite cold, we had to make some of -those ranches to camp overnight, on account of horse feed and a place to -sleep. - -One evening we rode into a ranch that a couple of Irish brothers owned -and asked them to stay overnight. They said, “Sure, you’re welcome as -the flowers in May.” Neither of them had ever been married and did their -own housekeeping and cooking. The evening we got there they had just -butchered a beef. We helped them hang it up in the barn and went to the -house to cook supper. It was sure a dirty looking joint and the brother -that cooked supper had his hands all stained with blood and dirt from -butchering the beef. He had to make bread for supper and didn’t wash his -hands, but mixed up the bread with his hands—blood, dirt and all. But we -hadn’t had anything to eat all day and were plenty hungry, so we ate it -and thought it was fine. We hunted horses all next day and along in the -evening came to what looked like an old deserted ranch where nobody was -home. After making a lot of noise and shouting, a man came out of the -cabin. He was a Mormon and was living alone on this old ranch. Said he -was sick and had been in bed three days and that there was no food on -the place and that he couldn’t keep us overnight. - -It looked like a bad storm coming up and we didn’t know any place to go. -We told the man we were going to stay anyway, and as we both had -six-shooters he didn’t argue too much with us. We put our horses in the -old barn and went to the house. The Mormon went back to bed. We went to -the kitchen to see if we could find anything to eat. It was the dirtiest -looking outfit I ever saw in my life. The frying pans and kettles didn’t -look like they had been washed for six months. We got a fire started and -cleaned up things a little and looked through all the old boxes and -found some beans, dried apples and flour. By ten o’clock that night we -had what we thought was a pretty good meal. I went to the Mormon’s -bedroom and asked him if he wanted anything to eat. He didn’t answer me, -but began getting out of his dirty blankets. He hadn’t even taken his -clothes off. We got him to sit down at the table and he ate more than -both of us. After we got him filled up on food he got to talking quite -friendly. He said he had been a Mormon missionary in some jungle country -and had spent several years converting natives into the Mormon religion. -In listening to his experience as a missionary I couldn’t help wondering -what kind of a job he did, because if there is anything in the old -saying that cleanliness is next to holiness he was sure a flop. - -The next morning was very cold and stormy, but we were anxious to find -our horses and our quarters were none too comfortable, so we bade our -Mormon friend goodbye and rode away. He was about 40 miles from any town -and we didn’t see any means of transportation around there, so we often -wondered what ever became of him. - -Well, we headed for a big lake about twenty miles from this Mormon’s -place. We heard there was a lot of horses ranging in that part of the -country and there found our horses, so we drove the whole bunch to an -old roundup corral that we had located that day. I had three horses in -the bunch and my partner had one. Those horses were three years old and -were not halter broke. In fact, they had not had a rope on them since -they were yearlings and then were only caught by the front feet and -thrown down to brand them. So, we had to catch them that way now. We -necked them to the extra saddle horses we had with us and turned them -out of the corral and headed them towards Montana. Just before dark we -spotted a ranch and some corrals so we headed for there. We found a man -there who had come from Michigan and taken up a homestead out on the -Canadian Prairie. He evidently was a man of some wealth as he had spent -considerable money fixing the place up. He wasn’t very keen about -letting us stay overnight. He kept sizing us up and I guess he had heard -a good deal about cowboys and rustlers and thought we were a couple of -horse thieves. We explained our condition to him and told him the -circumstances and that we were a long way from home, so he finally -decided to let us stay. - -While this fellow looked like he had considerable wealth, he didn’t have -very much to eat. As he didn’t make any excuses about it, I think we had -his regular bill of fare. He didn’t have any meat, no butter or sugar or -coffee. My partner was a coffee fiend, and this fellow gave us cold milk -for breakfast. My partner was very blue all that day and said he felt -very queer, like the world was coming to an end or something terrible -was going to happen. But that was because he missed his coffee. - -This man charged us ten dollars for very little to eat and a very poor -bed, and as it was not the custom to charge anyone those days for food -it made my partner very mad. When we got our horses saddled and ready to -go next morning, my partner went to the barn and as he was gone quite a -while I asked him what he was looking for. He said he was looking for -something he could steal, to get even with that old guy, but he said -this fellow was so stingy he didn’t have anything worth taking. - -Well, we finally got going back towards home. If the weather had been -good it would have been about two day’s ride, but about ten o’clock a -bad storm came up and by noon it was a real blizzard and out there on -the plains you couldn’t see a thing or know what direction you were -going in, but after wandering around for some time we came to a coulee -that we recognized (Verta Grease Coulee). It was about 25 miles long and -we knew it put into Milk River which was the direction we wanted to go, -also we knew there was a ranch on Milk River at the mouth of this -coulee. We followed this ravine all day and about night came to the -ranch. They welcomed us in and gave us a good supper and a feather bed -to sleep in. It was a terrible blizzard and I think we would have lost -our lives if we hadn’t found this ranch. - -My partner was rather a spooky fellow and had some kind of a phobia. He -was always worrying about a cancer or some other dreaded disease, so -while we were lying in that good warm bed and talking how lucky we were -to find this ranch a funny thought came to me to give my partner a -scare. He had his head covered up and was about to go to sleep. I nudged -him and said, “Bill, I forgot to tell you that this place was -quarantined for Smallpox a short time ago,” and he made one jump and -landed out in the middle of the room and said, “My God, I would rather -go right out into the blizzard than stay here!” Then I had a hard time -to convince him I was joking and I don’t think he rested very well the -rest of the night. He told me afterwards I gave him the worst scare he -had ever had in his life. - -We got home the next night and it was a very profitable trip, as I had -found three head of horses I didn’t know I owned. - -Somewhere on the trip I had got lousy and I believe I had more lice on -me than any man that ever walked in public, and big ones too. My wife -threatened to make me sleep with the dog, but finally took pity on me -and let me sleep in the house, providing I would sleep in a room by -myself. I don’t know if all Canadian Greybacks are as big as those were, -but I had to boil all my clothes about three times to get rid of those -big tough babies. - - - - -CHAPTER XIX - -MEMORIES OF CHARLIE RUSSELL - - -I first met Charlie Russell in the fall of the year 1888. He was night -herding beef cattle on the Judith Basin and Moccasin Range roundup. -Charlie was very modest and never claimed to be a great cowboy, but I -noticed the bosses always gave him a very responsible job, as the cowmen -of those days were very particular how the beef cattle were handled. - -We usually started the fall roundup about the first of September and the -gathering and driving to the railroad sometimes took until the 15th of -November. Now from the first day we worked the range, we cut out some -steers fat enough for beef, and those cattle were under constant herd -night and day, and the men were supposed to handle those cattle so they -would gain in flesh while we were holding them—and any cowboy caught -running or roping those steers was fired at once—and great care was -taken to keep the cattle from stampeding. When we got all through we -would have 2,000 or 2,500 head of cattle in the herd. - -I remember a rather amusing story Charlie told me in years after we had -quit working on the range. We were talking about people we liked and -disliked. I said to Charlie, “I always thought you liked everybody.” He -laughed and said, “No. There was one roundup cook I have never forgiven -for what he done to me.” He said, “I was night herding cattle. One dark -night the cattle were very nervous and kept trying to stampede. Just -before daylight my horse stepped in a badger hole and fell—right in a -nice patch of cactus and prickly pears!” Charlie said he didn’t miss any -of those cactus. When he got up his body felt like a small cactus field. -His partner caught his horse and stayed with the cattle, and Charlie -headed for camp. The cactus was distributed in his body so he couldn’t -sit on the saddle, so he walked and led his horse. - -When he got to camp, the cook was starting breakfast. (I knew this old -cook and he was plenty brave.) None of the cowboys were up yet. Charlie -went in the cook tent where there was a lantern and took off his clothes -to doctor himself and pull out some of those cactus. This old cook never -spoke to anyone if he could help it, and as nobody had any right to come -in that cook tent unless the cook called them to eat, Charlie was taking -a privilege contrary to custom. Anyway the cook evidently did not notice -him until he had all his clothes off and was disgracing his cook tent by -undressing in it. He walked over to where Charlie was, said, “What the -hell you think this is ... a hospital?” He had a big butcher knife in -his hand. He throwed Charlies’ clothes outside and told Charlie to get -the hell out of there too. - -Charlie told me whenever he met a new acquaintance and he said he was a -roundup cook by profession, he looked on him with some doubt as to his -being human. - -I was associated with Charlie for a good many years and I think I knew -him as well as anybody could, and I think as a man and a friend he had -very few equals. He was a fine Western artist, but Will Rogers said -Charlie would have been a great man if he couldn’t have painted a fence -post. I thing that told the whole story. - -Charlie enjoyed telling jokes on himself, which very few people do. He -told me about one time the Captain of the Judith Basin Roundup sent -another cowboy and himself to the Moccasin Roundup to rep (that was to -gather any cattle that had drifted from their home range). The other man -took a violin which he played a little, and Charlie took some paint and -some brushes. The next year the boss of the Basin Range met the boss of -the Moccasin Range and said, “What was the matter last year? I had a lot -of cattle over on your range. I sent two men over there and didn’t get -hardly any cattle.” - -The other boss said, “What the Hell could you expect? You sent a fiddler -and a painter over there to act as cowboys.” - -All during Charlie Russell’s life as a cowboy he drew pictures for -pastime—sometimes with a lead pencil and sometimes with a paint brush -and even in his earliest and rough work, one could always recognize the -man or horse that he had used for the picture. We used to wonder at -those pictures but he (or us) never dreamed that he was the making of -the greatest Western artist of his day, which I believe has been -conceded by art critics. - -The last riding for wages that Charlie did was for the Bear Paw Pool at -Chinook on Milk River. They were a combination of the Judith Basin Pool -that he had worked for several years, but had moved their cattle across -the Missouri River into the Bear Paw country. Charlie told me the reason -he quit punching cows. The last winter he stayed in Chinook him and some -other boys had a cabin that they wintered in and it was so cold they put -on German socks and lined mittens to cook and eat breakfast, and nearly -froze at that. I think it was in the year 1892 he bid goodbye to the -range and saddled and packed his horses and headed for Great Falls to -try his luck at painting. He told me he had tough going for quite awhile -as he did not know the price to ask for a picture. - -I have seen some of Charlie’s pictures that he sold for ten dollars at -that time, that afterwards he sold one to the Prince of Wales for ten -thousand dollars that I couldn’t see a great deal of difference. I think -this money difference was due to his business manager—his wife, Nancy C. -Russell, who certainly deserves great credit for making Charlie’s name -famous. She is in very poor health at this time (1939) and has suffered -for a long time but she has a great fighting heart and has never said -“Whoa” in a bad place. - -As a cowboy Charlie Russell was sure strong for cowboy decorations. As I -look back on him now, I can see him, seldom with his shirt buttoned in -the right button hole, and maybe dirty with part of one sleeve torn off, -but his hat, boots, handkerchief and spurs and bridle were the heights -of cowboy fashion. Of course those were the days when we didn’t get to -town only two or three times a year, but when we did go to town we -dressed like millionaires as long as our money lasted. - -When Charlie quit riding and started painting for a living, some of his -friends advised him to change his way of dress and get some city togs. -That he would not do. He never liked suspenders or shoes and never wore -them. He disliked fashion and said it was just an imitation of someone -else. He always wore a good Stetson hat, a nice sash, and a good pair of -boots—even after he had quit the range. - -It reminds me of two city men I knew had come to a cow ranch on business -and had an old-time cowboy taking them around. One day they were -discussing the beauties of nature and when each one decided what he -thought was the most beautiful thing he ever saw one of them asked the -cowboy his idea of beauty. He promptly answered, “The prettiest thing I -ever saw was a four year old fat steer,” and he may have been right, as -nature had given the steer everything it had to make it beautiful in its -class, and he knew he was a steer and was satisfied with his lot and -didn’t pretend to be anything but what he was. - -That was the way I knew Charlie. He loved nature and the West and was -Western from the soles of his feet to the top of his head and had the -finest principle and the greatest philosophy I ever knew in anybody. - -Charlie told me one of the worst troubles he had was some fellow would -rush up to him and say, “Hello, Charlie, I am sure glad to see you.” -Charlie would say, “I am glad to see you, too,” and to save his life he -couldn’t place him. He would talk to him about everything he could think -of, hoping the fellow would say something that would refresh his memory -but usually without any success, and he said he had to be very careful -to not say “No” or “Yes” in the wrong place and give himself away. - -I remember, when I went back to Montana from Cripple Creek, Colorado, in -1894, I came into town (Cascade, Montana—where Charlie was living) in a -box car, but didn’t tell Charlie how I arrived. In the few years I was -away from Montana, Charlie heard I had been killed by a horse. I didn’t -know anything about that report. So when I walked into his cabin we -shook hands and had quite a talk—and, of course I thought he knew who I -was. He was sitting by the stove frying bacon and I caught him looking -at me in a sort of a puzzled way and I knew at once he didn’t know who I -was. So I said to him, “You don’t know me.” He said, “Yes, I do.” “Well, -who am I then?” He said, “If I didn’t know Con Price was dead, I would -say you was him.” - -While I was with Charlie that time, just in fun he had me pose for him -in a stage hold-up. I had a sawed-off shot-gun, big hat and my pants -legs inside my boots. We found an old Prince Albert coat somewhere that -I wore and a big handkerchief around my neck. I surely looked tough. He -sure got a kick out of that model. - -Well, he painted that picture in a rough way and didn’t give it much -attention and never gave it any consideration as to value. It was more -of a joke than anything else. I think about two years after he was -married, he went to New York, and in some way this picture had got mixed -up with the rest of his stuff, so it landed in New York with him. - -He said New York was sure tough then for an artist breaking into the -game. He said there was only two classes of people there: paupers and -millionaires, and he had a hard time to keep out of the pauper class. - -But some artist friend loaned him the use of his studio and Charlie was -trying to do a little work and took this old picture there. - -One morning a foreign nobleman came in and was looking the studio -over—mostly the other artist’s work—and he came to this old picture. -After examining it for some time, he said, “How much is this picture -worth?” Charlie said he needed money pretty bad just at that time and -wanted to ask him one hundred and fifty dollars, but didn’t know whether -the old boy would go for that much or not. While he was hesitating -Nancy, his wife, stepped over to where the old fellow was and said, -“This one would be eight hundred dollars,” and the man said, “Very well, -I’ll take it.” Charlie said he nearly fell off his stool with joy. - -After the fellow left he told Nancy, “I’ll do the work from now on—you -will do the selling,” and I believe that bargain held good until the day -of Charlie’s death. - -Charlie didn’t like the new set-up. He was a child of the open West -before wire fences and railroads spanned it. Civilization choked him -even in the year 1889 when the Judith country was getting settled up -with ranchers and sheep had taken the cattle range. He hated the change, -and followed cattle north to the Milk River Country trying to stay in an -open range country. He said, “I expect I will have to ride the rest of -my life but I would much rather be a poor cowboy than a poor artist.” He -didn’t know he was graduating from nature’s school and the education -frontier life had given him. - -In the fall of 1891 he got a letter from a man in Great Falls who said -if he could come there he could make seventy-five dollars a month -painting, his grub included. - -It looked good to Charlie, as he was only making forty a month riding, -so he saddled the old gray and packed old Monty, the pinto, and hit the -trail for Great Falls. - -When he arrived in Great Falls he was introduced to a guy who pulled out -a contract as long as a lariat for him to sign. Charlie wouldn’t sign it -until he had tried the proposition out. This fellow gave Charlie ten -dollars on account, saying he would see him later. - -After a few days he met Charlie and wanted to know why he hadn’t started -on the work. Charlie told him he had to find a place to live and get his -supplies. - -The contract read that everything Charlie painted or modeled for one -year was to be the property of this man and he wanted him to work from -early morning until night. Charlie argued with him that there was some -difference between painting and sawing wood and told him the deal was -off. - -He hunted up a fellow he knew and borrowed ten dollars and paid this -fellow that had advanced the money to him. Charlie said he wouldn’t work -under pressure so they split up and Charlie started out for himself. - -He put in with a bunch of cowboys (I was one of them), a roundup cook, -and a broken-down prize fighter. We rented a shack on the south side of -town. Our bill of fare was very short at times as Charlie was the only -one that made any money and that was very little. We christened the -shack and gave it the name of Red Onion. We had some queer characters as -guests. Broken gamblers, cowboys, horse thieves, cattle rustlers, in -fact, everybody that hit town broke seemed to find the Red Onion to get -something to eat. Among them all it was hard to get anyone to cook or -wash the dishes but at meal time we always had a full house. Along about -spring time I got a job in a cow outfit and I told Charlie. So he said -if I was going away he had an announcement to make to the gang—and in -effect it was that the Red Onion would be closed and go out of business. - -I believe it was the Spring of 1889 we met at Philbrook in the Judith -Basin for the Spring roundup and a lot of the boys were celebrating at -the Post Office and store. The postmaster told us someone had sent him a -piece of limburger cheese through the mail. He didn’t know what to do -with it as he didn’t know anyone civilized enough to eat it, so he gave -it to the cowboys who put in a lot of their time rubbing it on door -knobs, the inside of hat bands and drinking cups. They had the whole -town well perfumed. When someone noticed an old timer that had come to -town to tank up on joy juice and had got so overloaded he went to sleep -in the saloon, his heavy drooping moustache gave one of the boys an -idea. A council was held and it was agreed that he should have his share -of the limburger rubbed into his moustache under his nose. Being -unconscious, old Bill slept like a baby in a cradle while the work was -done. - -Next day Charlie Russell saw him out back of the saloon, sitting on a -box and looking very tough. He would put his hands over his mouth, -breath into them, drop them and look at them and shake his head. Of -course, Charlie knew what was the trouble as he had helped to fix him up -the night before. Charlie went over to him and asked, “How are you -stacking up today?” Old Bill looked at him in a kind of a daze and shook -his head. “Me? I’m not so good.” Charlie asked, “What’s the matter, are -you sick?” “No-o-o not more than usual, I’ve felt as bad as this a -thousand times. But—oh God—” then he covered his face again with his -hands. After a few seconds he slowly lowered them, shaking his head and -groaning, “Oh, it’s something awful, I don’t savvy.” - -Charlie very much in sympathy with him said, “What seems to be the -matter, Bill?” “Damned if I know, but I’ve got the awfullest breath on -me. ’Pears like I am plum spoiled inside. You can tell the boys my stay -here on earth is damn short. Nobody could live long with the kind of -breath I’ve got on me. Oh, oh!” Then he would breathe into his hands -again, saying, “Oh God!” - -I believe he would have died if they hadn’t told him what was the -matter. - -All the years I knew Charlie, I never knew him to go to church (although -I know he was a real Christian at heart) but there was an old time -preacher, a Methodist by name Van Orsdell. He preached in cow camps, -school houses or anywhere that he could get even a few people. - -Brother Van told me when he graduated from the ministry he came up the -Missouri River on a steam boat to Fort Benton. He had a very good voice. -He said he sang hymns to pay his fare. That must have been in the early -1870’s. When I knew him first, he used to ride horseback through the -country and hold services, and he was sure loved by everybody. I -listened to one of his sermons in the cow country and there was quite a -sprinkling of cattle rustlers in that locality and I remember in his -talk he told us if we would do as God wanted us to do we wouldn’t need a -fast horse and a long rope. - -He told us he overtook a bull whacker (a freighter) pulling a big hill -out of Fort Benton one time. Brother Van was riding a horse and he -followed along behind this fellow and the language he used for those -cattle was sure strong. He said the fellow called each steer by some -religious name with an oath after it, such as Methodist, Baptist, -Presbyterian, and so forth. - -When the bull whacker got to the top of the hill, Brother Van asked him -what was the idea of giving those cattle such religious names. The man -said, “It’s appropriate. For instance, there is old Methodist—when I -unyoke him he walks out a little distance and paws on the ground, gets -down on his knees and balls and bellers just like a Methodist preacher. -Then there is that old steer I call Baptist. If there’s a water hole -anywhere, he will find it and get into it and throw water all over -himself—and old Bishop there, he leads all the other steers.” He had a -religious name appropriate for each steer. Brother Van got a kick out of -that. - -Brother Van was a very devout Methodist and one time he and Charlie were -discussing religion, Charlie said he didn’t believe in so many branches -of religion and said he thought the people should have a general roundup -and make them all one. Brother Van said, “That’s a fine idea, Charlie, -and make it Methodist.” - -One time at Malta, Montana, when we were shipping cattle, a cowboy got -killed. He was riding a young horse and the train came by and this horse -got scared and run away with this boy. It ran into a wire fence and hit -the wires just high enough on his legs to cause him to turn a somersault -and land squarely on top of the boy and broke his neck. Brother Van -preached a sermon over that boy’s body. When I look back at it now, it -seems to me the boy’s body was laid out in an old store and I think -there were about twenty cowboys with their chaps and spurs on and the -old time cowboy was a rather queer kind of a mixture of human nature. -Sometimes he drank whiskey to celebrate and have a good time; other -times he drank when he was blue. I guess to try to raise his spirits. -Anyway, this morning quite a number of them had taken on quite a load of -the old joy juice. When the sermon started, Brother Van preached a very -forceful sermon and the tears rolled down his old cheeks like rain drops -and in looking around after that sermon was over there were very few dry -faces among that tough old bunch of waddies and they were all as sober -as if they never had a drink. - -Speaking of batching, some people of this day may not know what it -means. But for us cowboys it meant this: four or five of us would get -together in the fall of the year and get a cabin in some little town, -buy some groceries and go into winter quarters, and everybody cooked -according to his liking and if anybody didn’t like the way one fellow -cooked he could cook to suit himself. - -I remember one winter a bunch of us batched together and there was a -great variety of tastes. One fellow loved maple syrup and lived mostly -on that and a little bread ... but mostly syrup. Another old-timer -wanted to put bacon in everything he cooked. He said it gave the cooking -“tone” (he meant flavor). He spoiled most of his cooking for the rest of -us. I believe if he would try to make a cake he would have put bacon in -it. I liked hard-boiled potatoes; nobody else did, so that was my -specialty. Charlie Russell was the coffee and hot cake man. We all -agreed he had no equal in those two things. - -One time we had a Christmas dinner and in some way got a chicken (I -don’t want to remember how we got it) and we held council as to how it -would be cooked and, of course, the old-timer came forward at once with -his bacon idea. But we told him the chicken was old and tough and we -would have to boil it. That didn’t make any difference to him, as he -said any way a chicken was cooked it had to have bacon in it to be good -and to give it tone. Anyway he won out and the bacon was put in. Really -I think there was more bacon than chicken. - -Charlie Russell volunteered to make some dumplings, which sounded good -to everybody, but for some reason unknown to all of us, the dumplings -turned to gravy and we had to eat them like soup with a spoon. Charlie -himself didn’t boast about those dumplings but his alibi was Bill’s -bacon ruined the whole mixture. I don’t know as to the truth of that -statement as I never knew Charlie to make dumplings again. - -One time I was in Great Falls, Charlie was circulating a petition to get -an old-time cowboy out of the penitentiary. He had been sent up for -rustling cattle and had served about four years. Charlie asked me to go -with him on his rounds, and I did. - -We called on people for several days and there was not a man or woman -turned us down, until we met one of the wealthiest men in Great Falls. -He read the petition and handed it back and said, “He can rot in the pen -as far as I am concerned.” Then he began to criticize Charlie for -circulating the petition. There was where he made a mistake and the -things he told him must have cut pretty deep into his feelings. - -Charlie said, “If you don’t want to sign the petition, that’s your -business, but don’t you roast me. I knew this man. He was once my -friend. I don’t approve of what he done, but he has a wife and two -children praying for his release and he has been punished enough -already.” Then he looked him in the eye and said, “You know, Jim, if we -all got our just dues, there would be a big bunch of us in the pen with -Bill.” I thought I could see the old boy’s whiskers tremble because he -knew what Charlie meant. - -I have never forgotten what Charlie said when we left this fellow. He -said justice was the hardest, cruel word that ever was written. He said -if all the people that were crying for real justice got it, they would -think they were terribly abused and would not want it and would find out -they wanted a little mercy instead. - -While Charlie and I were partners, he got an attack of appendicitis and -someone told him to stand on his head and walk on his hands and knees -and it would cure him. He said he tried that cure until his head and -knees were so sore he couldn’t perform anymore. - -So he finally made an appointment with the doctor for an operation. - -The morning he went to the hospital his wife, Nancy, was with him. When -they dressed him for the operating table (he called it putting a set of -harness on him) Nancy was very much frightened and looked like she might -break down under the strain. So to quiet her, he began to tell her how -simple the operation was and that he didn’t mind it at all and started -to roll a cigarette, but his hands got to shaking so bad the tobacco all -fell out of the paper and, of course, Nancy noticed that and it really -made matters worse than if he had said nothing. - -After he had gotten over the operation, he had some very severe pains. -One day when the doctor came to see him Charlie asked him if he had lost -any of his tools. When the doctor asked why he thought so, he said he -was sure he had some of them sewed up inside of him. - -There was an old doctor in Great Falls told Charlie and me a rather -amusing experience he had about that time. - -There was a fellow came through the country and camped in several places -around Great Falls and one day he murdered a whole family and throwed -them in the river. The officers finally arrested him and had him in jail -awaiting trial. During that time he killed himself and he was buried in -the paupers’ graveyard. - -This doctor told us he had a great curiosity to know what a human brain -and head was like that would kill those people without any known motive. -For some reason, Doc could not get the body and as he didn’t like the -idea of prowling around the graveyard at night, he chose one cold, rainy -morning to go out and dig this fellow up. It took him quite awhile to -get him out of the ground, and as he had just a small buggy to carry him -in, he had to break the coffin open and put him in a gunny sack. - -Doc said while he was working on the corpse the sun came out and the -weather cleared and he thought everybody in Great Falls went for a ride -or walk. There was people all around him and looking at him rather -queer, and he was afraid he would be arrested for a grave robber, but he -finally got to town without anybody seeing what he had. - -Doc’s entrance to his office was on Main Street, and no other way to get -in. So he drove into an alley back of his place. There was a Jew running -a pawn shop there facing onto a side street. So Doc took his sack with -the corpse and went in the back way of the Jew’s store and dropped it in -his woodshed, and went into the front where the proprietor was standing -behind his counter. - -Doc slipped up to the counter and whispered, “Sol, I left a stiff in -your shed back there. I will get him when it gets dark.” He said the -Jew’s eyes began to grow large and said, “Vat’s a stiff?” Doc said, “A -dead man.” The Jew began to scream and was attracting people on the -street. He said, “My God, my God, take him out of here! I will be -arrested for murder!” Doc whispered to him to hush, but he hollered -still louder, so Doc picked up his sack, put it on his shoulder and -walked up the main street into his office. He told us he was sure -relieved when he got that corpse in his back room. - -He had the skull on his desk when he told us the story and said whenever -he looked at it, it reminded him of one of the most strenuous days of -his life. - -While I was working for the DHS outfit, I think it was in 1896, I got a -letter from Charlie Russell telling me he was married. He said the -gospel wrangler had caught him and necked him. The word “necking” didn’t -mean then what it does now. We would sometimes have a wild horse that we -couldn’t hold in the bunch and every chance he got he would run away and -we would lose him. So it was the horse wrangler’s job to catch this -horse and with a short piece of rope tie him to a gentle horse, and the -old horse would lead him wherever he went. He had to eat and sleep and -go where the gentle horse went. - -So Charlie said he was necked and didn’t think he would get away for -awhile, and gave me a pressing invitation to come and see him, and I -wrote him the day I would be there and the train I would be on. - -But something happened and I was a day late. Charlie met me at the -train. After we had visited for a little while several other boys joined -us and we were enjoying our general talk. Charlie turned to me and said, -“What happened you didn’t come yesterday?” He said, “When the train -arrived I was at the depot and looked on the blind baggage car, on top -of the train and down under the cars and the brake rods.” The conductor -knew Charlie and said, “What are you looking for, Russ?” Charlie said, -“I told him I had a letter from a friend of mine that he would be on -this train and I come to meet him.” - -That was the first time I knew he knew I had got out of that box car -several years before in Cascade. - -I recall one time I was breaking horses close to the town of Cascade, -Montana. I would ride a colt into town nearly every day. - -A blacksmith and a barber got heckling each other about riding broncs. -The blacksmith bet the barber four dollars he would ride the first horse -that I rode to town. Charlie Russell was stake holder. - -I didn’t know anything about this bet until I had come to town and both -parties tried to find out the merits of the horse—whether he would buck -or not, and as I knew the stake money was going to be spent for drinks, -I told each one a different story—the blacksmith he wouldn’t buck, the -barber he would, so as to be sure to have the bet go as the blacksmith -was a little scared, but he was a big, powerful young man and the horse -was rather small, he took a chance. - -The bet was he had to ride the horse to the livery stable and back, -which was about two blocks. - -He got on. With a death-grip, with the reins in one hand and the other -on the saddle horn, he started and was getting along fine—going -slow—when a stock man by name H. H. Nelson started by him going home. He -had a big canvas overcoat on and could not resist the temptation to -shake his coat as he rode by the bronc—and down went the bronc’s head. I -think the first jump the saddle horn hit the blacksmith in the eye, and -the next jump he was on the ground. Somebody caught the horse and helped -the blacksmith up. - -He said, “That is all right. I have lost this bet, but I will make -another one—I will whip Nelson the first time he comes to town.” - -We sure had a great time spending that eight dollars and I think -everybody else spent all they had besides. - -We named that “A quiet day in Cascade,” and Charlie drew a picture of -it, with chickens and dogs and everything running in all directions and -some old man with a cane trying to get out of the way. - -I remember a very amusing incident on a roundup. We had been out on the -range for about three months, and nobody had shaved. We came into a -little town (a shipping point) and when we had got the cattle all loaded -on the train, we found out there was a barber shop in town, so we all -patronized it, but there was one stingy old fellow in the outfit that -wouldn’t spend a quarter to get shaved, so when we got started back on -the range, he felt out of place, as we were all shaved and slicked up. -He asked if there was anyone in the outfit that could shave him. I told -him I could. Now I had never shaved a man in my life, the cook had an -old razor in the Mess box, and God knows when it had been sharpened, (we -had no safety razors those days). I started in on him, of course his -beard was full of sand and dust, and I used cold water and lye soap to -make the lather. When I got to working on him, the blood followed the -razor wherever I touched him. We didn’t have any mirror so he couldn’t -see himself bleed. The boys would ask him occasionally how he was -getting along, he said the razor pulled a little but Con was doing fine. -Charlie Russell was laying on his belly looking at the performance, and -he laughed till the tears rolled down his cheeks. When I got through -with him he looked like he had broke out with the small pox. He picked -scabs off his face for several days, he didn’t complain, but he never -asked me to shave him again. Nobody felt sorry for him because he never -was known to buy a drink, and he had three thousand dollars in the bank, -which was a big fortune to a cowboy. - - - - -CHAPTER XX - -COWBOY PHILOSOPHY - - -As I grow older there are rather strange thoughts come to my mind about -cowboys and cow people. I have mingled with most all classes of the -human race and I have some very true and sincere friends among all -classes—but I don’t believe there is any other people in the world that -was as intimate and friendly on short acquaintance as the old time -cowboy and cowman. - -They would fight among themselves and some of them would steal from each -other but let one of them get in a tough spot and his clan would come to -his rescue when everybody else had throwed him down, I was on a roundup -on the Moccasin range in Montana in the year 1888 and a small rancher -lost a milk cow. He had come to the round up to ride with us for a few -days to try to find his cow. The next morning we left camp about -daylight and hadn’t went a mile from camp when his horse fell and broke -the man’s leg above the knee. We got the bedwagon and fixed some -blankets in it the best we could and drove him 20 miles to a doctor. The -boys raised three hundred dollars for that fellow ... and none of them -had ever seen him before that day he came to camp. - -There was an old-time cowboy and cowman—lived at Gilroy, California, -that I knew for twenty years. His name was Ed Willson. He is dead -now—but when I recall the many kindnesses he extended to me in those -years I knew him, it has burned a brand on my memory that time cannot -blot out. He was as rough and tough as a grizzly bear, and to know him -on the surface meant you didn’t know him at all. My wife and I had eaten -Christmas dinner with him and his family for several years and he had -planned for it again the year he died. He had been quite sick for a long -time but came to see me on the sand of December with an invitation to -come again to the Christmas dinner. I was sick in bed and told him we -would come if I was able, but I got worse and on Christmas day could not -get up. He was also in bed on that day—but when noontime came and we -didn’t show up he had his wife, Pal, fix up a tray of turkey dinner and -bring it in and show it to him. He smiled and said, “that ought to cure -the old son-of-a-gun.” He had it sent three miles to my home. He died a -few days after. I never saw him after he came to give me the invitation. -That is just one of the many kind considerations that the old-time -cowboy had for the other fellow—and I believe if they were organized -they would be the greatest fraternity on earth. - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Memories of Old Montana, by Con Price - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MEMORIES OF OLD MONTANA *** - -***** This file should be named 56016-0.txt or 56016-0.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/6/0/1/56016/ - -Produced by Roger Frank - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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