I once saw a dude step out of a hotel in Cheyenne, wearing a silk hat, cut-away coat, lavender pants, high pressure collar, scarlet velvet scarf, patent leather shoes, etc. Several cowboys were riding through the street and spied him.
"Say, Dick," said one of them, "what de ye s'pose it is?"
"Let's tackle it and see," said Dick; "it looks alive."
"Pard, hadn't you better put them togs on ice?" queried another of the party. "They're liable to spile in this climate."
The youth was highly offended, gave them a haughty, withering look, and without deigning a reply of any kind turned to walk back into the hotel.
"Let's brand it," said Dick, and as quick as a flash a lariat fell about the dude, closed round his slender waist, and he was a prisoner. The boys gathered round him, chaffed him good-naturedly, took his hat and rubbed the nap the wrong way, put some alkali mud on his shoes, and then released him, bidding him "go in and put on some clothes." A little good-natured repartee on his part, or an invitation to drink or smoke, or a pleasant reply of any kind, would have let him out without any unpleasant treatment; but he scorned them, and they considered it a duty to society to post him on how to act when away from home.
A friend relates having seen an eccentric individual, with a long plaid ulster, walking along the principal street in Miles City, and as the sun came out from behind a cloud and commenced to beam down with a good deal of force, he raised a green umbrella. A "cow puncher" rode up and, pointing at the umbrella, asked:
"What is she pard? Fetch her in and put a drink in 'er."
The man was both scared and mad. He thought he had been insulted by one of those "notorious, ruffianly cowboys." He called "police." But the police was not at hand, and in the disturbance that followed his umbrella was spirited away, he knew not whither or by whom, and his plaid ulster was somewhat damaged by contact with mother earth. All he would have had to do to preserve the peace and his self-respect, would have been to answer the fellow good-naturedly in the first place, either declining or accepting his invitation, and he could have gone on his way unmolested; but he brought a small-sized riot on himself by assuming a dignity that was out of place in that country and under such circumstances.
In common with all other human beings, the cowboy requires and must have amusement of some kind, and his isolated condition, depriving him of the privileges of theatres, parties, billiards, and other varieties of amusement that young men in the States usually indulge in; of the refining and restraining influences of the female sex, it is but natural that his exuberance of spirit should find sport of other kinds. His only sources of amusement on the ranch are his rifle, revolver, bronco, lariat, and cards, and in course of time he tires of these and seeks a change. He goes to town and meets there some of his comrades or acquaintances, and they indulge in some wild pranks, which to Eastern people, and especially those who happen to fall victims to their practical jokes, appear ruffianly. Their love of excitement and adventure sometimes gets the better of their judgment, and they carry their fun to excess. They corral the crew of a train which has stopped at the station, and amuse themselves and the passengers by making the conductor, brakeman, baggageman, engineer, and fireman dance a jig to the music of six-shooters. In one instance they boarded the train and made the Theo. Thomas orchestra (which happened to be aboard) give them an extemporaneous concert. They have even been known to carry their revels to a still worse stage than this, and to resort to acts of real abuse and injury against defenseless people. But such acts on the part of genuine cowboys are rare. They are usually perpetrated by the class, already mentioned, of "fresh" young chaps or objectional characters who drift into the business from other than pure motives, and frequently by pretended cowboys who are not such in any sense of the term. But by whomsoever perpetrated, such acts are highly offensive to and vigorously condemned by the respectable element in the business, both employers and employés. Much odium has attached to the fraternity by such conduct, and much more by reason of crimes committed by others and charged to this class, so that the cowboy is in much worse repute among Eastern people than he would be if better known by them. And notwithstanding all the hard things with which these men have been charged, I had much rather take my chances, as to safety of life and personal property, in a country inhabited only by them than in any Eastern town or city with all their police "protection." When sojourning in cattle countries, I have left my camp day after day and night after night, with valuable property of various kinds lying in and about it, without any attempt at concealment. I have left my horses and mules to graze, wholly unguarded, several days and nights together, and though on my return I may have seen that my camp had been visited, probably by several men, not a thing had been disturbed, except that perchance some of them had been hungry and had eaten a meal at my expense. It is the custom of the country to leave camps and cabins at any time, and for as long a time as necessary, without locking up or concealment of any kind, and instances of stealing under such circumstances are almost unheard of, while he who would leave personal property similarly exposed within the bounds of civilization would scarcely hope to find it on his return.