Books with author Chas. A. Siringo

A Texas Cowboy; Or Fifteen Years on the Hurricane Deck of a Spanish Pony CHAPTER I. MY BOYHOOD DAYS. It was a bright morning, on the 7th day of February 1856, as near as I can remember, that your humble Servant came prancing into this wide and wicked world. By glancing over the map you will find his birthplace, at the extreme southern part of the Lone Star State, on the Peninsula of Matagorda, a narrow strip of land bordered by the Gulf of Mexico on the south and Matagorda Bay on the north. This Peninsula is from one to two miles wide and seventy five miles long. It connects the mainland at Caney and comes to a focus at Deskrows Point or "Salura Pass." About midway between the two was situated the "Dutch Settlement," and in the centre of that Settlement, which contained only a dozen houses, stood the little frame cottage that first gave me shelter. My father who died when I was only a year old, came from the sunny clime of Italy, while my dear old mother drifted from the Boggs of good "ould" Ireland. Am I not a queer conglomerate--a sweet-scented mixture indeed! Our nearest neighbor was a kind old soul by the name of John Williams, whose family consisted of his wife and eleven children. In the fall of 1859 I took my first lessons in school, my teacher being a Mr. Hale from Illinois. The school house, a little old frame building, stood off by itself, about a mile from the Settlement, and we little tow-heads, sister and I, had to hoof it up there every morning, through the grassburrs, barefooted; our little sunbrowned feet had never been incased in shoe-leather up to that time.

This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.

Charles Angelo Siringo (February 7, 1855--October 18, 1928), was an American lawman, detective, and agent for the Pinkerton National Detective Agency during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He was born in Matagorda County, Texas to an Irish immigrant mother and an Italian immigrant father. Siringo attended public school until reaching the age of 15, when he started working on local ranches as a cowboy. After taking part in several cattle drives, Siringo stopped herding to settle down, got married (1884), had a child, and open a merchant business in Caldwell, Kansas. He began writing a book, entitled "A Texas Cowboy: or Fifteen Years on the Hurricane Deck of a Spanish Pony." A year later, it was published, to wide acclaim, and became one of the first true looks into life as a cowboy written by someone who had actually lived the life. Siringo explains that the copyright expired on "A Texas Cowboy," and "A Lone Star Cowboy" was intended to replace it. He added much information on cattle that was not in the first book. Siringo relates many harrowing experiences, such as buffalo hunting, and herding cattle up the Chisholm Trail. He met Billy The Kid and Pat Garrett, and tells the "true" story of Billy's death. This edition of the book contains all 14 of the original illustrations, rejuvenated.

"That was the cowboy's Bible when I was growing up." - Will Rogers In 1885, Charlie Siringo introduced himself to the world as "an old stove-up cowpuncher" who had just spent "fifteen years on the hurricane deck of a Spanish pony." That's how he described himself on the title page of his book, A Texas Cowboy. It was the first the first time a real Texas cowboy had told his own story in his own words between the covers of a book. A Texas Cowboy reads like Charlie Siringo telling you his story in person. And he tells you all about: cowboying on the great cattle drives, working as a range detective, meeting and pursuing Billy the Kid, falling in love with beautiful maidens (on a routine basis) and getting shot at (also on a routine basis). Reading Siringo is like a chat with an old friend.

Excerpt from A Texas Cow Boy, or Fifteen Years on the Hurricane Deck of a Spanish Pony: Taken From Real LifeI suppose the above would suffice, but as time is not very precious I will continue and tell how the idea of writing a book first got into my head: While ranching on the Indian Territory line, close to Caldwell, Kansas, in the winter of '82 and '83, we boys - there being nine of us - made an iron clad rule that whoever was heard swearing or caught picking grey backs Off and throwing them on the floor without first killing them, should pay a fine of ten cents for each and every Offense. The proceeds to be used for buying choice literature - something that would have a tendency to raise us above the average cow-puncher. Just twenty - four hours after making this rule we had three dollars in the pot or at least in my pocket, I having been appointed treasurer.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.