A Dodge City legend recalls the following: An intoxicated Texas cowboy boards a Santa Fe train in 1878. When the conductor calls for tickets, the cowboy answers with, "Ain't got none." The conductor then asks, "Well, where are you headed?" To which the cowboy replies, "Hell." The conductor straightens his coat and says, "All right, give me 4 bits and get off at Dodge City." Perhaps one of the most famous incidents in the town's cattle heyday involved the killing of singer Dora Hand. (who performed under the name of Fannie Keenan) Hand was staying the back room of a two-room set-up used by Dodge City Mayor Dog Kelly. Kelly was away at Fort Dodge at the time and his would-be assassin, a Texas cowboy by the name of James Kenedy (son of the powerful Texas cattleman Capt. Miflin Kenedy) was ignorant of that fact. On October 4, 1878, The younger Kenedy, who had a brawl weeks earlier with Kelly, fired four shots into the mayor's room missing
another performer, Fannie Garrettson by inches but penetrating the plaster wall and killing Hand. A posse was immediately assembled and possibly - no greater posse was ever put together. The group included Bat Masterson, Charlie Bassett, Wyatt Earp, William Duffey, and Bill Tilghman. Kenedy was caught outside of Meade, Kansas, and wounded in the shoulder during the capture. He was later acquited on insufficient evidence. Rumors persisted from that time forward that Miflin Kenedy had paid off officials for his son's release. It should also be noted that Miflin Kenedy sold thousands of Longhorns in Dodge City during this time and his "money" was much appreciated by the Dodge City businesses.In the winter of 1877, in Frio County, Texas a rancher by the name of Kerr discovered one of his mama cows dead in a mud hole. Beside the dead cow was a black and white bull calf. Kerr hauled the calf home to his wife who promptly took to the orphan and raised him by the name- Sancho (pet in Spanish). Before long, the wife was feeding Sancho tamale shucks, and later whole tamales. Sancho seemed to like both the meat and the chile pepper seasoning of Mrs. Kerr's steam-boiled rolls. In 1880, Sancho, now a steer, was sold with some of Kerr's other steers to the Shiner brothers who were contracted to deliver 2500 Longhorns to Wyoming. The Shiner's branded him with a 7 Z and pointed him north. During the first night out, Sancho seemed to determined to go back home. Some said later, for one of Mrs. Kerr's tamales, but whatever the reason, the night crew had to push him back into the herd over a dozen times. Days later, Sancho made his break and heading south, was discovered by the second Shiner herd trailing to Wyoming. One of the point cowboys roped him and turned him north again. As usual, Sancho took a position in the drag and constantly looked south. In September, upon reaching Wyoming, Sancho was branded with C R for his new herd home. The next spring, John Rigby, who was working with Joe Shiner near Kerr's ranch, recalled looking across a pear flat and seeing a paint steer with 7 Z and C R branded on him. The men rode to the Kerr's where Mr. Kerr admitted that Sancho had arrived home about six weeks earlier. Mrs. Kerr had been feeding her pet, tamales ever since. Joe Shiner conceded that, "If Sancho loved his home enough to walk 2000 miles from Wyoming to get to it, he wasn't going to drive him back." Sancho is said to have lived on the Kerr Ranch until he died of natural causes.
The Big Die-Up - By the time the winter of 1885 - 1886 arrived, the cattle industry, especially the trailing of cattle north was about to undergo severe change due to four gradually occuring events - (1) the expanded use of barb-wire, (2) the expansion of the railroads as a means of hauling cattle, (3) the re-populating of northern cattle herds which eventually lowered cattle prices as supply slowly exceeded demand, and (4) the overstocking of herds resulting in overgrazing of open prairies. The winter of 85-86 merely provided the final push toward the inevitable change. The blizzards that winter,The Big Die-Up - By the time the winter of 1885 - 1886 arrived, the cattle industry, especially the trailing of cattle north was about to undergo severe change due to four gradually occuring events - (1) the expanded use of barb-wire, (2) the expansion of the railroads as a means of hauling cattle, (3) the re-populating of northern cattle herds which eventually lowered cattle prices as supply slowly exceeded demand, and (4) the overstocking of herds resulting in overgrazing of open prairies. The winter of 85-86 merely provided the final push toward the inevitable change. The blizzards that winter, began in November and continued through February. Temperatures across the plains ranged from -36 below zero to -70. Hundreds of thousands of head of cattle died during this time for unlike many winters before, cattle could not move to shelter and water due to barb-wire cross fences. Many herds were found stacked against barb-wire barriers, frozen in place, often still standing up. And not only cattle suffered, as many ranchers and ranch hands lost their lives trying to rescue stranded cattle. The final tally would not be known until the spring thaws. By most accounts as much as 5% of the Western U.S. cattle herds perished during the time. The direct results of the above events were - (1) the growing and storing of hay, (2) the fencing of smaller pastures for cattle rotation so as to avoid the depletion of native grasses, (3) the construction of shelters and windbreaks for livestock, and (4) the practice of winter feeding.
Mike Kearby's Texas Copyright 2011
