A. P. W.
[ALEXANDER PERRY WHITE]
12/19/1931
Jim Sparks claims that he didn’t [know] I had dogs, but he is a ...
... . He knew I did. It never did me any good to do anything mean unless I
could tell a fellow about it. Then I generally got ... .... out of me. If
it stays cold, I will kill some hogs and take the liver and poison Jim
Sparks’ dogs. The best way to poison anything is too take long log and
bore holes in it. Fill the holes with strychnine and tallow and a wolf or
dog will stand there and lick it. Some times they die around the log and
sometimes they will get a mile off, but it gets ‘em. One time we was out
on the round up. We was up on California Creek and Tom Patterson lost his
pocket book. It had a $20.00 bill in it and a $150.00 note. We were
not going
to work that afternoon and Tom told Jim Barbee and me that if we would
find his pocket book, he would give us the $20.00 that he wanted the note.
I said to Jim, you go down the creek and I will go up it. About the first
place I stopped, at a big rat’s nest, I found it. It had the marks of
rat teeth on it. You would find rat nests all over the country as high as
the table and about 10 to 12 feet long. They made good fire wood when snow
was on the ground. Joe (speaking to Joe Eidson) when are you going to
announce. I figured Bus Gordon was going to run against you, but I see
where he has announced for the legislature. That’s what the matter with
Texas now. Too ... many like that down there. John Mark says that the 3
winners for Congressmen at large will be Jim Ferguson, Oscar Calloway, and
Cyclone Davis. Won’t that be the ... of a bunch?
(Ranger Days) I had been on herd the night before. We had three
middlings of meat and there was 10 men in a mess. The Commissary Sergeant
said, "I am going to issue the bacon (this was that night). Next
morning came and the bacon was gone. I slept with old Henry at this time,
had been sleeping with him for 12 months. We had a big box for a bed with
straw piled in it along with our blankets. The next morning the Commissary
Sergeant came around and said the bacon was stole and that he wanted to
search my quarters. I told him to fly at it. He went up to my bed, raised
the blanket, and found the bacon. I sure cussed old Henry out ... ...
he would steal anything. They would issue cartridges and you could sell
them for 5 cents apiece. Henry would steal a lot and sell. I bet he had a
bushel.
(Election) I am not interested in but one race. I am for my little
Dolly. She used to give me lots of magazines. I went in to John Koen’s [Koen’s
Drug Store] one day and he handed me a bunch of magazines. I asked him for
Doll. He told me that she was over at Tate’s. [Tate’s Drug Store] I
told him that I don’t like Old Tate ... ... but I am going over there to
trade. [Doll was likely Doll Adams.]
April 12th, 1932
Ted Couch thought that when he ran for office, all that he had to do
was buy a cigar and lean up against a post and let people look at him. I
don’t think he carried a single box in the county. One time Dick
Morrison ran for office and I saw him on the street later. He said
"... ... Perry I have played ... . I didn’t carry but one box in
the county and .. ... I didn’t go to it.
April 12th, 1932
I went from here one time with Tom Patterson to Fisher County and all
we had to eat was 9 biscuits and a little piece of bacon. We were on horse
back and I ... ... nearly starved to death before we got there. Every time
I would suggest stopping, Tom would say, "Let’s ride on," and
so ... ... we so we got by and went on to ‘Fisher Counter without
anything else to eat.
The last time I saw Bill Forsythe, he had a hard outfit. He said I don’t
know where ... ... ... I am going, Perry.
Old Tom wouldn’t do anything out of the way when a young fellow was
along. I wanted to go to a bawdy house one time and he said, "... ...
you don’t have any business there."
April 20th, 1932
Talking about prohibition, I was down at the bridge one time when old
Doctor Perry came along in a buggy and wanted me to go with him. He was
going out to make a prohibition speech. We got out to Mesquite Creek where
there was a good spring to take a drink. He had a quart of liquor along as
he needed a little stimulant before making his speech. We went on up there
and he made the ... of a speech. We got back down to the spring on the way
back and he took another drink.
Geo. And Rufe was out one time and they had a quart jug of whiskey tied
on the saddle. The jug had a little glass handle and they went on to a
spring to stop for dinner. They started to take a drink and all they had
was the handle.
Once me and Arch was out cow hunting and we met an old man and he asked
me about the Gann’s and the Massingills, as he said he was from Angelina
County. Arch, "... ... if you are an honest man, you are the first
... ... honest white man I ever saw from Angelina County.
One time here, when the Government issued corn, General Lane was here
seeing around about the needy and I went in old Squire Loyd’s office,
and he asked me if I was one of the drought stricken. And old Squire said,
:"No, He is an old Texan." Old General Lane said, "... ... if
he is a Texan, he will steal enough to keep alive."
I was going up Elm Creek and I had not had anything to eat
since the day before and I didn’t have a dime, so I rode up to a cabin
and said to an old man (he was a rough old feller) "I have not had
anything to eat since yesterday at dinner." He said, "You are ..
... .. Of a fix, but ... ... get down and eat all you can find.
