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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 | | |
