True stories of old Houston and Houstonians: historical and personal sketches / by S. O. Young. Page: 110
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110 TRUE STORIES OF OLD
ton too intimately associated together to enjoy the whiskey part
of it."
"That was a fine experience you had, major," said a retired
ranch man, "and since you have told the story I will give a bit
of my own experience in the same line."
"I had been in Richmond for about two weeks enjoying myself
with the boys. I had drunk lots of whiskey but had not eaten
a thing. Finally I got so that I could not get any action at all
out of whiskey. It would not make me drunk or do me any
good at all except for a few minutes, when it would die out and I
would have to fill up again. One of my friends was running a
saloon, and upstairs over the saloon he had a faro layout and
other fixtures, among them a billiard table. I was in his place
one morning, feeling awful. I took four or five drinks and he
persuaded me to go upstairs and lie down on the billiard table
and try to get some sleep. It was a big room
and was not
sealed, having all the rafters bare. I lay down on the table
and was thinking how much I would give to be sober so I
could take a fresh start and enjoy myself with the boys, when
I heard a scraping sound down at the end of the room on one
of the rafters, and looking up I saw a big rattlesnake about
fifteen feet long, trying to slip up on me without my knowing
it. He'd creep along a little bit, slip, catch himself, and then
begin it all over again. I got interested, and it aroused the
sporting spirit In me, and I lay there betting, first that he would
make it and then that he would not. He would stretch away
out, get a good hold, and then try to draw himself forward, would
slip, nearly fall, and catch himself. I got so interested that I
did not realize that he was gaining all the time, and the first
thing I knew he was right over me. Then he turned himself
loose and did not try to catch himself. But I was too quick for
him. By the time he hit the table I was half way down stairs,
and the next moment I was across the sidewalk, heading for
the other side of the street.
"Just as I left the sidewalk a man riding a big black horse
came charging down on me with a long sword in his hand. I
realized somehow that he could not touch me so long as I was
on the sidewalk and r made a dash for it and just got there
in time. I also realized that I had to cross that street, so I
waited until the fellow's back was turned and started again, but
he whirled his horse and came near getting me. Then I waited
until he got away off and made another dash, but he saw me out
of the back of his head and I just barely reached the sidewalk
in time. Then I made out I was going down the sidewalk, and
as soon as his back was turned I made a quick dash, but he was
there all right, and again I just barely saved myself. That
made me mad and I started into the barroom to get a gun to
do him up, when the saloon man and a number of my friends
jumped on me and tied me. They sent for a doctor and for
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Young, Samuel Oliver. True stories of old Houston and Houstonians: historical and personal sketches / by S. O. Young., book, 1913; Galveston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth24646/m1/110/: accessed April 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.