At “Head of Concho” we came upon a herd of buffalo, and, of course, we
dismounted and wantonly fired into them, with what effect I do not know,
except that some one wounded an immense bull so seriously that he became
angry or sullen and refused to run away as the others did. We, with our
deadly Winchesters, ceased firing at him, as he was of no use to us, but
not so with the young St. Louis lawyer. He wanted to do something that
he could tell about at home, and so he advanced upon the irate animal
with his little thirty-two calibre pistol, firing as he went. He was
encouraged and animated by the shouts of Bobo and Uncle Billy: “Charge
him, mister,” “You’ve got him,” “The next shot will fetch him,” etc.
Mrs. Mills said: “Why, Uncle Billy, that animal will kill the man! Call
him back!” Uncle Billy said: “Why, _of course_, he’ll kill him. Now you
just watch, and you’ll see fine fun. He’ll toss that little lawyer
higher’n the top of this coach.” And yet Uncle Billy and Bobo were not
cruel men.
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SOME TEXAS LAWYERS.
In 1871 I held a judgment for $50,000 which I had obtained in the El
Paso District Court against a citizen of El Paso County for having
caused my arrest and imprisonment by the Confederates in 1861, as
related in my war story. This judgment being in full force and I being
in Austin, my friend, Major De Normandie, then Clerk of the Supreme
Court, introduced me to a prominent attorney of De Witt County, Texas,
who informed me that the defendant owned property in De Witt County out
of which my judgment, or a large portion of it, could be satisfied. I
implored this attorney to act for me in De Witt County, and on my return
home I sent him, at his request, a certified copy of the judgment and
received a letter from him dated June 7th, 1871, informing me that they
had written out a levy which they would proceed with in a day or two,
and requesting me to send them some money for costs, which I did. After
long delay I wrote this attorney, asking to be informed of the result,
and he replied that the whole proceeding was a failure because he had
dated the levy _on a Sunday_, which mistake vitiated the whole
proceeding and that my rights were lost.
He stated that “strange as it might seem” he had been led to make the
mistake by an error in an almanac in his office. As this attorney did
not suggest any remedy for his own blunder or institute any further
proceeding I concluded then, and believe now, that political prejudice
or some other unworthy motive had influenced him to act in bad faith
with his client. The attorney and the defendant were both Confederates
and Democrats, while I was a Union man and a Republican, and much bitter
feeling had grown out of the suit and the acts preceding and attending
it.