Folk Travelers: Ballads, Tales and Talk Page: 11
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THE TRAVELING ANECDOTE
also that his name was Jack Smith. They felt obligated to convey
the news to the victim's wife. One cowboy declared he had a gift
for always saying the right thing at the right time. There was no
opposition to his acting as spokesman. The posse rode to the home
of the late Jack Smith.
"Are you the wife of Jack Smith?" the tactful cowboy began.
"Yes, I am," the woman replied, apparently a little huffed.
"No you ain't," the news-breaker came back. "You're jest his
widder. We got his body out there in the waggin, and it's dressed up
mighty nice. We hung him for a horse thief, but please don't feel
bad about that. He was plumb innocent. After we strung him up
we found out he wasn't the guy we was looking for at all. We're all
ready to swear he was innocent."
John McGinnis of Dallas credits his story to Mark Twain, though
I don't recall having seen it in Mark Twain's writings. According
to John McGinnis, Mark Twain used the story to illustrate how near
tragedy and pathos the best humor often skims. McGinnis himself
uses the story to enforce his theory that the farther west you go, the
drier the humor grows.
Joe Toole was a rancher living way out in the Rocky Mountain
sage lands. One day he told his wife that he was simply beat out
with staying so long in the bushes and never seeing anybody and
that he was going to town to celebrate. So he saddled old Paint and
struck out for Cheyenne.
When he got there, he found the town as quiet as a funeral pro-
cession. It kinder riled him and made him more determined to
celebrate. He raised up in his stirrups and gave a yell, and when
he drew his horse to a sudden stop in front of The Cowboy's Delight,
instead of getting down and hitching him to the hitching rail, where
there wasn't a single horse to keep him company, he socked his spurs
into him and rode right through the open door.
The barkeep was sitting on a stool behind the bar with his head
down on his arms taking a nap. When he raised up, anybody could
have seen his eyes were bloodshot. Cheyenne had had its celebration
running two days and nights and now was sleeping it off. But Joe
Toole was looking for nothing but life and not noticing signs.11
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Folk Travelers: Ballads, Tales and Talk (Book)
This volume of the Publications of the Texas Folklore Society contains popular folklore of Texas and Mexico, including traveling anecdotes, folk ballads, folklore in natural history, as well as information about black and white magic, Western animals, and cattle brands. The index begins on page 259.
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Texas Folklore Society. Folk Travelers: Ballads, Tales and Talk, book, 1953; Dallas, Texas. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc38314/m1/17/: accessed March 28, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Press.