Sam Bass

E. C. “Teddy Blue” Abbott, of Gilt Edge, Montana. Knew Sam Bass Before Famous Cowpuncher Became a Hunted Outlaw; The Capture and Death of Sam Bass at Roundrock, Texas in 1878. Roster of Delegates to First Stockgrowers’ Convention Includes Many of Famous Cattlemen

Originally published in the Hysham Echo on April 28, 1927

(by Dan. R. Conway)

When the Montana Stockgrowers’ association met in annual convention at Miles City a few days ago, there were numbered among the delegates but very few representatives of the cattle industry who can hark back to the organization meeting of that body held at the old cow town forty-three years ago.
In 1884, when the forty-two delegates - men who were among the first leaders of the range days, answered the call to be present when there should be formed an association for the protection of the industry’s best interests - the cattle business was at its zenith. Such men as Conrad Kohrs, Granville Stuart, Phil Poindexter, Dr. Ames and others were at the head of firms which represented cattle interests running well into the millions of dollars.
In 1884, the range was open - free - the bunch grass which everywhere abounded was wonderfully sweet and nutritious. It had been found that cattle fattened upon it quicker and kept in better condition than those which fed upon the blue grass of Kentucky or the buffalo grass of Nebraska and Colorado. There were no wire fences to interfere; the homesteader was an unthought-of quantity, and except for the depredations of an occasional rustler, “life was one sweet song” for the man or firm who had herds on the open range.

Stock Growers Organize

Cattle rustlers, range controversies and market problems, however, were beginning to assume proportions which called for concerted action and organized effort. Consequently, it was deemed wise that the cattle men form an organization through which all topics of common interest could be presented, discussed and disposed of. Thus, according to Warner & Beers’ History of Montana, compiled in 1885:

“The Montana Stockgrowers Association was organized July 28, 1884 with Colonel W. B. Hundley, chairman pro tem.
“Russell B. Harrison was elected secretary. Dr. A. Ames of Betaverhead; Granville Stuart of Meagher, and Conrad Kohrs of Deer Lodge, were appointed a committee on credentials, who reported as follows:

“Mr. Chairman - Your committee find that the following organizations are represented by delegates, viz.: The Stockgrowers’ Association of Southern Montana, of Beaverhead county; the Musselshell Stockgrowers’ Association; the Helmsville (Deer Lodge county) roundup; the stockgrowers of the Hamilton district, Gallatin county, and the Judith roundup.
“Your committee find that eleven counties are represented by forty-two gentlemen present, who also represent various firms and corporations operating in the several counties. Your committee therefore reports the number of delegates as forty-two, as follows by counties:

“Beaverhead county - Phil H. Poindexter, Dr. Azel Ames, A. B. Valentine, W. E. Hawkes, representing the Ames Cattle company. Choteau county - D. A. G. Floweree, R. B. Harrison, Thomas Ray; Custer county - J. M. Holt, M. Ryan, J. Scott, Rosenbaum Brothers, by J. Smith; Dawson county - M. Ryan; Deer Lodge county - Conrad Kohrs, John C. Moore, William Wallace; Gallatin county - Charles Anceney, William Martin; Jefferson county - U. F. Zeigler, Valentine Staubach, Ross Deegan, J. H. Freezer; Lewis and Clark county - John T. Murphy, John Schuyler Crosby, Charles D. Hard, Ross Deegan, Robert S. Hamilton, B. F. Potts, representing Potts & Harrison, Conrad Kohrs, L. A. Walker, representing Dearborn Sheep company; J. J. Fant, John Thomas, Ed. Whitcomb, William B. Hundley, representing Hundley and Preuitt; D. A. G. Floweree; Madison county - Phil H. Poindexter; Yellowstone county - D. A. G. Floweree, Ryan Brothers, John T. Murphy; Meagher county, Granville Stuart, A. J. Seligman, Percey Kennett; Potts & Harrison, Gans & Klein, R. N. Sutherlin, Conrad Kohrs, Hundley & Co., Stadler & Kaufman, Ryan Brothers, E. G. Bailey, J. H. Freezer, Mullery & Cannon, Valentine Staubach. Missoula and Silver Bow not represented.

“ - Azel Ames, J., Granville Stuart, Conrad Kohrs, Committee on Credentials.
“Granville Stuart was elected president, B. F. Potts, vice president; R. B. Harrison, secretary; J. P. Woolman, treasurer. The executive committee was made up of one member from each county, while the delegation to the National Convention was similarly made up.
“In April, 1885, the following officers of the new organization of the Montana Stockgrowers were elected at the convention at Miles City: President, Colonel T. J. Bryan; first vice president, Governor B. F. Potts; second vice president, Captain William Harmon; secretary-treasurer, R. B. Harrison.”

Anceney at 1927 Meeting

Of those listed in the above account of this first stockgrowers’ meeting, Charles Anceney, of Bozeman, still one of the state’s leading cattlemen, was the only one of the few survivors present at Miles City this year.
The founders of the great industry and the men who were heads of firms during the palmy days have, with few exceptions, passed on; but of what was in those days, the younger element - the punchers and herders, a few remain, and when the “boys” gathered in the lobby of the Olive hotel a couple of weeks ago, there were several present who used to sing the notes of “Sam Bass” and the “Cowboy’s Lament” at the annual roundup on the Judith or over on the Beaverhead, or up on Powder river.

“Teddy Blue”

And, numbered among these old faces whose countenances seem little marked by the passing of time, was one of the few Montana men - perhaps the only one - who actually knew this “Sam Bass” of whom almost every old-time puncher used to sing; and knew him intimately in the old days before this pioneer hero among train robbers had become notorious. This man is E. C. Abbott (better known as “Teddy Blue”), owner of the Three-Deuce ranch near Gild Edge in Fergus county.
“Teddy Blue” is a son-in-law of the late Granville Stuart. He came to Montana up the Texas Trail with the great herd of longhorns in 1883 and rode the range till the roundup days were over. Having been born in the cow country and having been in the saddle since he was old enough to sit on a pony, he understands cattle and knows the history of the cattle era as do few men living today. He is probably the best authority in Montana on range history.

Sam Bass

An Old Cowboy Song

Sam Bass was born in Indiana,

It was his native home;

And at the age of seventeen,

Young Sam began to roam.

He first went to Texas,

A cowboy for to be;

A better hearted feller

You’d seldom ever see.

Sam used to deal in race stock -

One called the Denton mare.

He matched her at scrub races

And ran her at the fair.

Sam used to coin the money,

And he spent it just as free

And he always drank red liquor

Wherever he might be.

Sam started from Joe Collins’ ranch

In the merry month of May,

With a herd of Texas cattle,

The Black Hills for to see.

Sold out in Custer City,

And then got on a spree;

And a harder bunch of fellers

You’d seldom ever see.

On their way back to Texas

They robbed the U. P. train.

They then split up in couples

And started out again.

Joe Collins and his partner

Were overtaken soon -

With all their gold and silver

They had to meet their doom.

Sam arrived in Texas,

All right side up with care;

Rode into the town of Denton,

Its pleasures for to share.

Sam’s life was short in Texas -

Three robberies did he do.

He robbed the mail and express car;

He robbed the passengers, too.

Sam met his fate at Roundrock

On July twenty-first;

They filled poor Sam with rifle balls

But Jackson got his purse.

Now Sam, he is a corpse,

A-mouldering in the clay-

And Jackson’s in the bushes

A-tryin’ to get away.

Sam Bass

Sam Bass, as the song written by some cowpuncher, says, was born in Indiana. When a young man he drifted west, and the year 1871 found him working for J. B. Abbott, father of Teddy Blue, at Lincoln, Nebraska, when that town was the northern terminus of the Texas Trail.

Teddy Blue remembers Sam Bass as a good looking fellow who was considered a good man and was a general favorite. At that time, Teddy Blue was but a small boy, and Bass, taking a fancy to the youth, was accustomed to take young Teddy out with him at times, when he stood guard with a herd.

After spending a year or two in Lincoln, according to Teddy Blue, Bass in 1872 drifted south to Texas, and he was not seen again by his old friends. A few years later, however, the whole country was hearing the exploits of Sam Bass and his gang of train robbers. And, the story is told that as a climax to a brief career, Bass was killed by the Texas Rangers at Roundrock, Texas, July 21, 1878. In a general way, this song, “Sam Bass,” contains the story of the man whose name forms its theme, although there are various versions of this history, as is usually the case with bad men who worked under cover.
At Benton, Texas, where he settled after leaving Lincoln, Bass became somewhat of an amateur racehorse man and he is said to have made a lot of money with his string of fast cow horses. He was a reckless, daredevil fellow, and traveled at an unusually fast pace, even for the frontier country such as Texas was in the early seventies. Among his closest friends were the Collins Brothers, well-to-do cattle men.

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