Glimpses of Cowboy Life.

Auckland Star, Volume XVII, Issue 124, 29 May 1886, Page 3

Glimpses of Cowboy Life.

A coKBESCfoNBBNT of the "New York Sun "" has interviewed John H. Sullivan, known* on tho plain and cattle-ranges as BronchoJohn, who is now studying the workings of labour organisations in different Easterncities and their relations to working me» as a class, for the purpose of enlightening hi» isolated fellow-workers of the trails and ranches on the subject. Sullivan ia a cowboy. He donned the sombrere and spurswhen he was twelve years old, and hasfollowed every cattle-trail from the Gulf of Mexico to the mountains of Washington Territory in the fifteen years that have passed since then, A man with an experience such a? this- wag able, of course,, to give an interesting account of. the business in which his life has been spent.

Tho Character of- t&a C»w3soy.

. He began by explaining the grievances 08 hi«-class and defending their character:—A» nearaa lean say, atarotfgh gueee,, iher»ar» between Bjooo and 10,000 cowboys in th» ranges of the cattle-raising region < Ko claw of men work harder. None are co poprly paid for their services. Tha tyranny ana injustice that they are compelled to submit to at the hands of their employers' is as groat, if not greater than that to which any other cfess of labourers are subjpeted. Ho people have ever been so grossly misrepresented and maligned. There ia as muck difference between tho genuine cowboy and the dis~ reputable blusterer and bulldozer, tba» writers for the press have made the cowboy out to be, as there is between the hoaesfc hard-working mechanic of this or any otbec city and the swaggering, rowdy, loafer, or bully that jostles him in the street A wide-brimmed hat, fringed leggings, ability to sit a mustang well, a six efeooter, and a carcase full of Bad rum do not make a cowboy. A cowboy Is not a drunkard. He is not a horse-thief aor a road-agent. The men whose faitbful endurance guides and guards thousands of herd of viiluable cattle through' dangeroaa passes and lonely trails, and who place their Urea between their charges and the many enemies they en» counter from ranch to dead-line, are not . selected from the outcast criminal scum of the country. It is not the cowboy's favourite pastime to- ride through border towns and empty bis revolver at UDoffendinn and 1 helpless citizens. On the contrary, the truo cowfcby is a terror to evil-doern of fill kinds.

Timidity of Mexican Cowboys.

The merits claimed for the Mexican cowboy are not admitted by the narrator:— The Mexican cowboy, you know, is generally regarded as the master of tie ions and lasso, and it is the custom for people to jsay, "He is as smart with the rope as a Mexican." Taking it all in all, I think the 'white cowboy is superior to the Mexican. I have known a herd of 3,000 cattle in charge of Mexicans to be stampeded in a thunder-storm beeauae the Mexicans were afraid of the thunder and lightning, and threw themselves from their horses, stripped themselves, anl lashed their naked bodies with cactus as a penance for some sin, : while the herd rushed wildly away in all directions, and hundreds were lost. It is not an uncommon thing for Mexican cowboys to stop on the trail to punish themselves for their sins. Frequently their : wild cries cause a disastrous stampede at the cattle in their charge. I have sees these Mexicans walk barefooted for rods over patches of prickly cactus, while a companion followed them and lashed their naked backs with the same thorny plant. Homesteads Wrecked *__a Fl_a_-.il by Cattle). The great blizzards and snowstorms of the west are among the best agents the big landgrabbers have m Montana, Wyoming, _and other territories. In Montana especially the cattle of all brands are turned loose in fall after the beef gathering has taken place and the fat cattle sent off to market. Wheo winter comes on, the herd drift together until there will be maybe gtwenty-nVe or thirty thousand cattle bunched. By-and-by there comes a snowstorm, and the bunchgrass is covered up beneath two feetof snow. The storm is sure to be followed by a big fall in temperature. The mercury will go to maybe 30 degrees below zero. Then all nutriment leaves the tall prairie grass on which the cattle bave fed since the bunch grass was snowed under. The herd becomes crazed Jwith hunger, and a stampede follows. The great body of the starving cattle start south like an avalanche, heading straight for localities where homesteads have been taken in the greatest number. They bear down on the settlements and besiege the homesteaders, who vainly try to keep them back with their rifles. They - shoot the hungry animals down by the hundred, and sometimes manage Xo hold them in check until their ammunition is exhausted. Then the flight must end. The cattle «Veep down on the homestead, and not only eat up every vestige of hay the homesteaders have stored up for their own small herds, but tear down the houses and outbuildings which the settler! builds out on the prairie sod, and devour the roots of the grass that remain succulent in the sod. Homesteads, hundreds at a time, are cleaned up by a herd of hungry cattle, quickly and thoroughly, on a single stampede. Then the herd continues on its way, taking the homesteader's herd of two or three hundred with it, and leaves him a homeless, ruined man. - The homesteader is discouraged. The wake of the stampeding herd is quickly followed by the agent of a big landowner. He makes the discouraged settler an offer for his claim; and the settler, nine times out of ten, is glad to accept the offer. This is one way in which the rich cattle-raisers obtain such extensive tracts- of the most available land. Stampedes. It is surprising what a trifling thing will start a stampede that may cost many lives and the loss of hundreds of cattle before in can be controlled. I was coming up the Texas trail once with a party of outer cowboys. We had 4,000 cattle in the bunch. One of the boys opened his tobacco p*uch to get a chew. The wind blew a shred or two of the fine-cut out of his fingers. The tobacco floated away and lodged in a street's eye. In a moment the eye began to smart and the'steer got w ltd. . Its antics started others, and in ten seconds the whole herd was surging and dashing about out of control. It was two days before we got the herd working quietly again. Two of our best boys were trampled to death, and 400 cattle were lost. Hail-storms were greatly dreaded by cowboys on the trail, especially if they come at night when the cattle are sleeping. If a hailstone happens to strike a steer in the eye a stampede is sure to follow. Itis during stampedes that the cowboy has work to do. His one great object is tojfkeep the flying herd together. He urgoa his mustang dead against the advancing column of frantic cattle at the constant risk of his life, and works the cattle gradually in a circle. The cowboys all ride to the right around a stampeding herd. If they can get the cattle to running in a circle, the first important step in controlling \. them is accomplished. I have beep with a party in a stampede where we were obliged to ride around a herd ' for a distance of over 200 miles before we got it under control, and then it was only 25 miles from where the stampede started. In all that time not , one of us took a moment's rest or a bite to < eat. Such things can't be thought of during a stampede. I_e •• Milling" of Cattle. Next to a stampede, the cowboy dreads the taking of a herd of cattle across a stream. The cattle are taken across in bunches of 25 or 30. The cowboy strips all his clothing off, and swims his horse along with the cattle. Sometimes the bunch may be taken across and landed on the other side without any trouble; but the cowboy ia always expecting to hive a case of " milling " on his hands before he gets the bunch across. I have before brought a bunch of cattle safely to almost within reach of the opposite shore, when the sudden appearance of a jack rabbit on the bank would scare a steer, and back' he would tarn. In a moment the whole bunch would be swimming wildly round and round in the middle of the stream. This is called milling, and it is the work of hours to break up the mill and get the cattle started for the shore again. In doing this it is often necessary for the cowboy to plunge.from his horse and swim about among th a, cattle often getting on their horns or astride of . them. The water is generally filled with running ice, but the sun is scorching hot.:.' The bunch drifts down stream sometimes for miles before the milling is broken. The cotton wood trees along these streams are usually loaded with hornets' nests. The momenta hornet sees the cattle floating down the stream under the trees he drops down on them, followed by numbers of his fellow-colonists, and they plant their stingers wherever they drop. I have been so badly stung while fighting' a mill that my head Would swell so that I could not wear my hat A raid of hornets generally breaks up the milling of the cattle attacked; for the aaimala can't stand the stings, and they make for shore. Many a good cowboy has been drowned in trying to break up a mill in' mid-stream. It is not uncommon for a party to spend three Weeks or a month in getting a herd of 4,000 cattle across a stream. ' .<.'■'.. i ■■•"I