Midnight, Me and the Blues by Cracker

Jake Byler spoke with Elizabeth Doyle in San Angelo, Texas, as part of the Federal Writers' Project, 1936-1940. The entire interview can be found at the Library of Congress. As a young cattleman, Byler experienced what he later called the worst stampede he'd ever witnessed. It was near Buffalo Gap, which is located south of Abilene, Texas.

"The boss was over on first guard smoking Bull Durham in his pipe and rode off behind some bushes to strike a match and light his pipe. A strong wind was blowing from the south and just as his horse breasted an old stray yearling to keep him in the herd, he stopped so suddenly that it jarred the fire out of his pipe and that south wind whipped the sparks right over into the herd. They were gone!" he said. It was night, and it didn't take much at all to spook these wild cattle into a stampede.

"A new boy, who was sleeping under the wagon, jumped up, bumped his head on the wagon and made for a near-by sapling. Another puncher started up after him and he yelled, 'Don't come up here, we'll both bend this little thing down!' The fellow made for the next nearest bush and we made for the cattle. I tell you we had to be up and coming to even keep near them," Byler said. "They certainly were exactly right to be scared to death by those sparks. They were just old, wild longhorns fresh off the range and we had some time getting them stopped. Then when we had stopped them, once they made a second break and ran all night long. There wasn't a dry thread on any of us and our horses were given out next morning when we finally got them stopped. I felt like I never wanted to see another cow so I turned in my time and quit."

But that wasn't the last of Byler's range experiences. He moved on to New Mexico, where he said he became involved in the receiving end of criminal activities, some of them involving a fellow known as Billy the Kid. "A new hand knew better than to ask questions. If he had any sense at all he kept his mouth shut and stuck to duty. If he didn't, he didn't last long. Billy the Kid was doing his part of the stealing on the Pecos and selling to [his employer]. I've slept many a night right by Billy and never asked a question, just got up next morning and took the cattle he had brought in up to the reservation without a word."

The stories that cowboys sang to the herd at night were true, he told Doyle. "Yes, we sung, whistled, and hummed to the cattle so they would know where we were, also that the other guards might know our location. The constant sound prevented fright from any sudden sound, such as a horse stumbling, etc."