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Before
barbed wire crisscrossed Texas, the general roundup
was a fundamental part of the cattle business.
Every fall during the free
range days, cattlemen pooled their resources and rode out to gather their stock.
Cowboys checked each steer's brand, cutting out each head that belonged to his
outfit. After that, ranchers either drove their cattle farther south for the winter,
or shipped them to market.
One of the biggest spreads in West
Texas was owned by the Concho Cattle Company. The ranch covered major chunks
of Concho, Runnels and Coleman County.
The history of the ranch is well
told in a master's thesis completed in 1939 by Irene Henderson, a graduate student
at what was then Southwest Texas State Teacher's College in San
Marcos, now Texas State University.
Unlike most graduate research efforts,
Henderson managed to work a lively story or two into her thesis. In large measure,
that came from her interviews with one of the principals of the ranch, John Franklin
Henderson (1864-1945) -- her father.
One of the stories Henderson told
his daughter concerned an early-day instance of what now would be termed forced
arbitration.
The
tale centers on Bob Price, another of the Concho Cattle Company principals. By
all accounts Price was a heck of a cattleman, a boss who proved a fair hand at
playing Solomon.
Price was in charge of 10 to 15 cowboys out looking for
cattle along the Concho River "this side of San
Angelo," as Henderson related.
While his men rounded up cattle, Price
rode up on two cowboys locked in a heated argument over a steer with a poorly-burned
brand. Most of the time, a poor brand was the result of a botched job during spring
branding. Sometimes, a hard-to-read brand meant some hide burner had altered the
original brand to facilitate a clandestine change in ownership.
In this
particular case, no one suspected an attempt at cattle thievery, but trouble was
building like a thunderstorm on a hot, sticky afternoon. Neither cowboy could
make out the brand on the steer's flank, but both cowboys claimed it for his owner.
Sometimes
a brand could be successfully read by skinning off the hair over the mark with
a sharp knife. Whether that had been tried or not, no one was backing down in
his contention that the steer in question belonged to his boss. The only other
way to determine ownership was to peel back the hide and read the brand in the
tissue below. But that could only be done after the animal was dead -- a conclusive
but costly procedure.
Knowing
that similar disputes had led to killings, Price feared that the situation was
getting out of hand. Close as they were to blows or worse, the two wranglers at
least had sense enough to ask Price, who had a reputation for fair dealing, to
help settle the dispute.
"Whatever I do, you men will be satisfied?" Price
asked.
Both said they would abide by his judgment.
At that, Price
drew his six-shooter and put a .45 slug in the steer's head. With no other word,
he wheeled his horse and rode off. Their ears ringing, the two wide-eyed cowboys
had no further cause for argument.
The only remaining issue was whether
anyone wanted to cut some steaks or leave the carcass for the coyotes. But two
hard-headed cowboys lived to ride another day.
© Mike Cox
"Texas
Tales" March
25 , 2004 column
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