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7.

asked for beef to pay for the intrusion. If this was not forthcoming they made trouble for the cowboys and would watch for a chance to make the cattle stampede and raise the "dickens"[[strikethrough]] with us. Now, on the Red River, what today is called Oklahoma, we found the Comaches, Kiowas and Chickasha Indians. When the men refused to give these red fellows cattle they would make threats and make us trouble. The Indians would ride around the herds in their war paints and as much as dare the cowboys to show themselves or engage in a fight with them. At night they would steal some of the cow ponies staked out and hold them as [[strikethrough]] hostage until we paid the ramson, which was cattle. Sometimes one head would be enough and then again they seemed to think that they ought to have the greater part of the herd. In this, they found that the cowboys were never willing. The result would be a pitched fight or an ambuscade and someone would give up his life in protecting the herd.

Across the Kaw river in Kansas there lived an old woman who all the cowboys called "Aunt Dinah." Her place was the home for the colored cowboys. We worked hard to reach this place for we were always sure of a [[strikethrough]] welcome. There we would have dances and a general good time before ending up the drive into Kansas City, then the market for cattle and the end of the [[strikethrough]] [[pencil correction - C]] chishom trial. What good times we use to have there. The dancing, the drinking and the singing of [[strikethrough]] cowboy songs as well as the good things "Aunt Dinah" would prepare for us. We stay[[pencil correction - ed]] there as long as we could both going and coming and get the bosses after us in great shape. But we really did not care as long as things were lively with us.

The latter part of 1873 I came to Fort Worth. The walls of the old fort were standing then. The fort walls stood in the main art of town a little to the west of the present court house. I stayed there through the Christmas holidays and then went to Denton creek. There I fell in with Burnett & Crystal. I broke horses for these people and worked for them at this for nearly two years. I never met with an accident [[strikethrough]] while doing this,