Charles A. Siringo

""A Texas Cowboy: Or Fifteen Years On The Hurricane Deck Of A Spanish Pony, Taken From Real Life"" is a memoir written by Charles A. Siringo, detailing his experiences as a cowboy in Texas during the late 19th century. Siringo spent fifteen years working as a cowboy, riding on the backs of wild Spanish ponies and herding cattle across the vast plains of Texas. The book provides a vivid and detailed account of the daily life of a cowboy, including the challenges and dangers they faced, the camaraderie among the cowboys, and the harsh conditions of the job. Siringo also shares stories of his adventures and encounters with outlaws, cattle rustlers, and other colorful characters of the Old West. This book is a valuable historical document that offers a glimpse into a bygone era of American history, as well as an entertaining and engaging read for anyone interested in the Wild West. This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the old original and may contain some imperfections such as library marks and notations. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions, that are true to their original work.

Charles Angelo Siringo (1855-1928) was a cowboy, author and detective. He worked for the Pinkerton Detective Agency for 22 years.

Growing up along the gulf coast of Texas, a young boy learns to ride horses and rope steers, and at an early age, he finds employment with a local rancher. Soon he is driving cattle all over the untamed West and landing in precarious,yet amusing, situations. Based upon the authors life, A Texas Cow Boy is truly a classic of the Old West. From his days as a young troublemaker to the capture of Billy the Kid, Chas. A. Siringo, with humor and honesty, brings to life the rough and exciting stories of the men and women who tamed the wild country.

After years of cowboying, Charles A. Siringo had settled down to store-keeping in Caldwell, Kansas, when a blind phrenologist, traveling through, took the measure of his "mule head" and told him that he was "cut out" for detective work. Thereupon, Siringo joined the Pinkerton National Detective Agency in 1886. A Cowboy Detective chronicles his twenty-two years as an undercover operative in wilder parts of the West, where he rode with the lawless, using more stratagems and guises than Sherlock Holmes to bring them to justice and escaping violent death more often than Dick Tracy. He survived the labor riots at Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, in 1892 (his testimony helped convict eighteen union leaders), hounded moonshiners in the Appalachians, and chased Butch Cassidy's Wild Bunch. Once described as "a small wiry man, cold and steady as a rock" and "born without fear," Charlie Siringo became a favorite of high-ups in the Pinkerton organization. Nevertheless, the Pinkertons, ever sensitive to criticism, went to court to block publication of Siringo's book. Frank Morn, in his introduction to this Bison Books edition, discusses the changes that resulted from two years of litigation. Finally published in 1912 without Pinkerton in the title or the text, A Cowboy Detective has Siringo working for the "Dickensen Detective Agency" and meeting up with the likes of "Tim Corn," whom every western buff will recognize. The deeper truth of Siringo's book remains. As J. Frank Dobie wrote, "His cowboys and gunmen were not of Hollywood and folklore. He was an honest reporter.