It's All Trew: The past delivers unusual stories

Most everyone has heard of Judge Roy Bean and his Law West of the Pecos. The man was self-appointed as judge, outrageous in behavior and arrogant beyond belief. He was once confronted with an unidentified corpse found on the prairie with a pistol and $50 in the pockets. After due consideration Judge Bean fined the dead man $50 for wearing a concealed weapon. A local Pecos butcher was hauled into Bean's court accused by a black washer-woman of failure to pay his laundry bills and even throwing her out of his butcher shop when she tried to collect her due. Bean sentenced the man to "deliver in person, four pounds of his freshest beefsteak, to the woman's home the first day of every month for one year or go to jail." I have read two notations, one years ago and another recently in Ivan Cate's new book, "XIT Ranch, A Texas Legacy," about how well-trained and well-behaved cow horses were sometimes confiscated by the rich ranch owners to use on their polo fields. Some ranches like the XIT often built training facilities for the hobby. With access to many good horses, the cowboys all had their favorites. Each learned quickly to be aware of the visiting bosses when they came out on the range. The employees went to great lengths to hide or disguise a good working ranch horse from confiscation. They compared the "loss to the boss" the same as the old-time horse thieves...more