Original Cowboy Storieswritten by......R. V. Jahns"A PLANNED ACCIDENT" "It's a very frustrating and awkward thing working for a boss you have no respect for and even dislike a great deal. Ordinarily I'd never work for such a person but when it comes to a matter of my pride or feeding my family, the family has to come first. So I find myself along with my eight year old son day riding for the Willow Ranch. Now this isn't the real name of the ranch but for the reason of possible repercussions, I'll call it that. The owner who I'll call Charlie Sutton, which isn't his real name, wasn't only disliked by me but by everyone I ever ran across in the area. He was a slum lord from Southern California and from stories I've heard was among the worst. He seemed to have plenty of money and bought this nice ranch in my area. To say this was a nice ranch is certainly true, being will set up and ran by the former owner who was a real cattleman. However, as soon as Charlie Sutton took over this was all too rapidly changed. I guess the best way to put it would be to say that Sutton just started to rape the ranch. Getting all from it he could with little or no regard for the future. This really disgusted the local ranchers who hated to see such a nice place being destroyed for the immediate dollar. It didn't take very long at all for the couple Charlie hired to run the place while he was away doing his slum business to see what was happening and quit. He couldn't immediately find anyone to run it for him and it was time to start moving cattle to the summer range. He had moved temporarily to the ranch, but had no idea what so ever what to do or how to go about it. How he got my name and phone number I'm not sure, but one evening I got a call from him. He identified himself and wanted to know if I could come and day ride for him for a while and if I knew another person who he could get to come and ride also. My son was only eight at the time but he was a better and more experienced hand when it came to handling cattle then a lot of the young "cowboys" that hire on ranches these days. Before he could walk I'd set him on a little blue roan mare we had and tie him in place with the saddle strings and away we'd go. I told Sutton I knew another rider I could get and we'd be over at daylight. We pulled into the.ranch at the designated time with the horses in the trailer. When Charlie saw Travis, my eight year old son was the other rider I could tell he wasn't very pleased although he didn't say anything. It didn't take long though before he started to comment to me and others around how well Travis could handle cattle. He seemed utterly amazed that an eight year old could do such a thing. I guess the kids he was use to seeing was of a different breed. Travis and I did a quite a lot of day riding for the Willow Ranch that summer gathering and moving cattle from here to there. Sutton really took a shine to Travis and would introduce him to his California cronies who'd come to the ranch to visit as "the kid who was eight turned eighteen. ' Naturally to have someone brag on your son makes you feel good and your chest swell, but it didn't improve my liking for Charlie Sutton in the least. I might mention here that although I had no liking or respect for the man in the least I felt honor bound to treat him as respectful as any other man and work just as hard for him as I would for myself. After all, I agreed to give him a good day's work for a good day's wage and my personal feelings for him didn't fit into this contract. Finally summer came to an end and it was time to start the fall gathering. There was another ranch that shared the same range in the National Forest.......I'll not say which one. This meant that riders from both ranches worked together gathering all the stock then separating them later. The family that owned the other ranch hated Charlie Sutton with a passion for it seems he pulled some dirty deals on them. Personally taking advantage of their good nature then doing them dirt in return, more of this raping business. Thankfully Travis or I weren't involved in any way. The way we worked this gathering was to agree to meet at a certain place at daylight or shortly after. We'd trailer our horses to this agreed upon meeting place then discuss how we'd ride this certain area so as to get the best coverage with the least amount of effort. Charlie would sometimes come with us if he could get out of bed in time or wasn't too tired or saddle sore. On this particular morning we'd met at the designated place and were unloading our horses and getting ready to ride. Charlie Sutton was with us. I had unloaded my horse and tied him to the side of the trailer then stepped back into the trailer for something when I heard the son of the other ranch owner and their rider talking in low voices just outside my trailer. Normally I'd have paid no attention and I know that eave dropping isn't polite, but something caught my attention. They were talking of how they could ride upon Charlie when he was out away from everyone and knock him in the head, jam his foot through the stirrup then spook his horse. It would look like an accident and no one could ever prove otherwise. Now I must admit that I don't know if they were just fantasizing or if they really planned to do it. I sure wouldn't want to make any accusations. I make some noise in the trailer and hollered at Travis so those boys would know I was in the trailer and would be unsure whether I heard them talking or not. All that day I rode in such a way that I could keep Charlie in sight most all of the time. I never mentioned what I'd over heard to him or anyone else until just a few days ago when relating the incident to a friend of mine. Well, Charlie sold all the cattle and everything else that was loose then sold what was left to an outfit that made a dude ranch out of it. It made me sick, as I'd have given my eyeteeth for such a place. To Charlie Sutton it was just something to squeeze a dollar out of......"
the end....... ....written by R.V. Jahns
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