Charles A. Siringo was truly a Texas original not only in that his life was singular in its variety?youthful survivor, working cowboy, Pinkerton detective, early movie extra. He also was an original among Texas cowboys in providing a personal narrative of the actual experience of the uniquely American hero, the cowboy. A TEXAS COWBOY, OR, FIFTEEN YEARS ON THE HURRICANE DECK OF A SPANISH PONY, takes us through his journey as a fatherless child, the...

"An epic account of the Old West and a vivid portrait of the outsized life of cowboy, detective, and chronicler Charlie Siringo. No figure in the Old West lived or influenced its legacy more fully than Charlie Siringo. Born in Matagorda, Texas, in 1855, Charlie went on his first cattle drive at age 11 and spent two decades living his boyhood dream as a cowboy. As the dangerous, lucrative "beeves" business boomed, Siringo drove longhorn steers north...