A Texas Cowboy

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There is no better exploration of Texas cowboy life than Charles Siringo’s. What sets his memoir apart is his candid account of the personality, habits, and values that brought him to the range. His difficult, dirt-poor childhood, his free-spending ways, his driving wanderlust, his love of whisky, guns, horses, and star-topped boots, his distinctly situational ethics, his aversion to manual labor—and equal aversion to education—compose a package that belongs on the back of the horse.

Siringo tells a great story, and he does it without any of the obvious embellishment that characterize the memoirs of some of his contemporaries. He is too open about his own flaws and failings for the words to be anything other than the truth. And his candor is perfectly complemented by a wry wit that spices his stories perfectly.

Tales of the Chisholm Trail and of Billy the Kid are highlights of the book, but it is Siringo’s earliest years—before he became a cowboy (or Cow-boy, as he originally put it) that may be the most compelling. In all, his story is so full of excitement that something as remarkable as the Indianola Hurricane of 1875 receives little attention—even though Siringo spent the night in water up to his neck. It’s a Texas must-read.