The Sidewalk Cattlemen's Association

According to a 1966 article in the Meteor, Fox wrote a front-page column that ran March 6, 1941, poking fun at people wearing cowboy boots in Madisonville without any need for them, since they didn’t own cows. Two young Madisonville lawyers, Ebb Berry Jr. and George Brownlee, were harpooned in the column and called “sidewalk cattlemen.” The column, written with Fox’s well-known acid wit, laid out rules for wearing cowboy boots and penalties for infractions. The rules state that owners of two head of cattle are entitled to wear cowboy boots, owners of three head can wear boots with one pant leg stuffed into the top of a boot, owners of four head can stuff both pant legs into the boots, and owners of six head can wear cowboy boots with both pant legs stuffed in and add spurs to their boots. The Meteor article notes a paper salesman, Ralph Ritcheson, visited Madisonville from Waco and called on Fox after the column ran. Ritcheson was wearing cowboy boots, but was unable to prove ownership of any cattle. He was escorted to a drug store and forced to buy drinks for everyone within yelling distance, and his boots were poured full of ice water. The tradition of dunking violators in the horse trough by the courthouse comes from that incident. The Madisonville Sidewalk Cattlemens Association was officially organized on March 25, 1941. Heath was elected president and Fox was named secretary-treasurer of the association. Press wire services picked up stories about the association’s zany doings at Madisonville and newspapers all over the country ran them. For years, the association conducted a nationwide contest in the spring and flew the winner in to Dallas, Fort Worth or Houston. The winner was met by a delegation from Madisonville, presented a full costume of western clothing – including cowboy boots – and became the guest at local dances, suppers, the barbecue and the rodeo. Contest themes included “Most Weather-beaten Cowboy,” “The World’s Happiest Taxpayer,” “Why I Think Texans are Liars,” “How Texas Can Better its Relations with the Other 47 Less Fortunate States,” “The Most Drought-stricken Rancher in North and South America,” and “Why I Would Like to Live in Texas.”...more