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SNAKE BIT ON THE BANKS OF THE CONCHO | OIL RIG CREW MULLIGANS SETTLE THE WILD WILD WEST (PHOTO ESSAY) UNCLE JED MULLIGAN'S PHOTO ALBUM by Blackjack Mulligan with Dick Bourne
SNAKE BIT ON THE BANKS OF THE CONCHO The first time I ran into Scrapiron Adams we were working a summer on the Double XX Ranch near the Concho River near San Angelo. We were still in high school and became life long friends. It all started that summer breaking broncos on the Concho. On this very ranch my ancestors the Mulligans had nearly starved over a century before. Great great grand uncle Dead Eye Mulligan had come with his family to try and make it in the cattle business. (He was called Dead Eye as one eye had been shot out in a fight in a Dodge City saloon.) On this very spot that Scrap and I were working, we had found the same spot where Dead Eye and his family had attempted to breed their high bred cattle with the old Tex-Mex cattle, only to find out all 50 head of the high bred were dead of "black leg" which they were not immune to. They were devastated and broke on the Concho River. The year was 1856!
One evening after a hard days work we were beddin' down and lo and behold, Scrap got bit by the biggest rattler I had ever seen. One quick shot from Puss's .44 caliber hand gun and his head was blowed clean off! (The Rattler's head, not Scrap's.) I told Puss we needed to get Scrap to town and to a doctor, but Puss said, "No one goes into town on my crew! We will handle it right here!" Puss whipped out his his Bowie knife (which has a story line of its own), cut a huge hunk out of Scrap's arm and applied a tourniquet made of rawhide. Out of his saddle bag came a canteen full of Sotol! Sotol is a known West Texas drink made from the Sotol plant. Tastes similar to gasoline. Dousing Scrap's arm with the drink and giving him a drink as well, Puss took a big swig and then handed the jug to me and said "Have one, kid!" And then ol' Puss commenced to to suck the poison out of Scrap's arm! Scrap's arm swelled about twice its size and I've never seen anyone with more courage than Scrapiron. It was love/hate for me with Puss! On one hand, he helped Scrap, but we could have been in town in a couple hours! The next couple of days were rough ones for Scrap, but the arm went down and started to heal and he only missed a couple days of work which was more important to Puss. Sotol did the trick, it was a very strong drink and I can just now start to understand how my ancestors survived these rough desert plains! Dead Eye Mulligan and his wife were destitute. They had lost everything they had, those high bred cattle he had purchased in Denver just couldn't survive in this God-forsaken land. My great aunt Elizabeth made a deal for some milk cows and started to churn butter and after a hard winter she was producing 100 pounds a week and selling to the nearby fort. At $1.00 a pound, Dead Eye started to rebuild his herd and with Aunt Lizz's help, an empire was in the making! So on the banks of the Concho legends are made! And only by a hard slap of raw hide from Scrapiron did I snap out of my stare into the deep waters of the Conch. "You going to work today, boy? Or just day dream all day long?" If he only knew what a dreaming sidekick he was taking to! - Blackjack Mulligan January 5, 2007
Scrap and I worked every summer together, sometimes in the oil fields on drilling rigs. We had actually started at the age of 14 which is unheard of but we knew the boss and he was Red Childress, Uncle Reba Joe's brother. One summer Scrapiron and I hired out on a drilling crew which included myself, Scrap, Uncle Reba Joe, and Uncle Red, the boss! Well the temperature must have been 110 degrees in the shade and Red had us digging ditches out in the sun in a very hard dirt called caliche. Reba Joe said "Leroy!" (he always called me as my unused middle name which was Leroy - I don't know what Nadine was thinking!) "Leroy, me and you and Scrap is out here workin' like slaves and that red headed S.O.B. is in the shade!" He just kept on and finally he convinced me to go up to the rig platform and tell Uncle Red we had enough and we wanted our pay cause we were going to Mexico and find some Mexican ho's and we didn't need this crap!
Well, I did just that. I marched right out
and told Uncle Red that we had enough of this and wanted our pay cause
we were going to Mexico and find some Mexican ho's. Well that went over
like a lead balloon with Uncle Red, and I believe it's about 30 feet to
the bottom of that rig platform and that is where I wound up, head over
heals! Uncle Red was chasing Reba Joe off the drilling site with a pick
axe and screaming, "Quit puttin' crap in that boy's head! he's screwed
up enough as it is!" Uncle Reba Joe was gone!Well, needless to say I was
heartsick. Uncle Reba Joe was my hero and was the original Hud! Uncle Reba Joe loved his Caddys and Mexican hos! - Blackjack Mulligan January 5, 2007
MULLIGANS SETTLE THE WILD WILD WEST A photo essay of the Mulligan's expansion west in the late 19th century, with comments on each photo by Jack Mulligan himself.
Great grandfather on the left, and on the right is Moose Mulligan: 6'5", 295 lbs., 17 years old. And in the wagon is Mama Windham!
Mulligans digging for water in old town near Big Bend, Texas.
Hours before the massacre at Little Big Horn, Custer in lead. Two Mulligans lost!
Taking Geronimo to Florida. My great uncle Windham looking out the train window!
A young Jed Mulligan with one of his woman. You can see how compassionate my family was!
From Uncle Jed Mulligan's family photo album:
Resting place for a cowboy trying out Ranger Jed Mulligan's patience.
Where you spent your days and nights until the circuit judge arrived.
Where Mulligans worked as a youngsters!
ALSO VISIT:
All throughout the Eagle Pass Biographies and Chronicles, you will find links to all sorts of material from the trivial to the bonafied educational! Your old school education on the real Texas begins here!
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Written by B.J. Windham. Edited and Presented by Dick Bourne, Mid-Atlantic Gateway. © 2006-9 B.J. Windham / Blackjack's BBQ / Mid-Atlantic Gateway |
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We had been branding cattle all day, and for a couple of sixteen year
olds we were doing great! Just keeping our attention was an issue, and
we thought Boss Puss Daniels was lucky to have us on his round up crew.
Puss was a very evil man and very hard to work for and we were
continually pulling antics on Puss just to drive him nuts. Like throwing
live rounds in the camp fire and hollerin' "Run Puss, Run!" 
