After a nomadic childhood, Charles Siringo signed on as a teenage cowboy for the noted Texas cattle king, Shanghai Pierce, and began a life that embraced all the hard work, excitement, and adventure readers today associate with the cowboy era. He "rid the Chisholm trail," driving 2,500 heads of cattle from Austin to Kansas; knew Tascosa—now a historic monument—when it was home to raucous saloons, red light districts, and a fair share of violence; and led a posse of cowboys in pursuit of Billy the Kid and his gang. First published in 1885, Siringo's chronicle of his life as a itchy-footed boy, cowhand, range detective, and adventurer was one the first classics about the Old West and helped to romanticize the West and its myth of the American cowboy. Will Rogers declared, "That was the Cowboy's Bible when I was growing up." For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

Reprint of the 1885 ed. First-hand protrayal of life as a cowboy in Texas in the late 1800's.

Charles Angelo Siringo (February 7, 1855--October 18, 1928), was an American lawman, detective, and agent for the Pinkerton National Detective Agency during the late 19th century and early 20th century. Siringo was born in Matagorda County, Texas to an Irish immigrant mother and an Italian immigrant father from Piedmont. He attended public school until reaching the age of 15, when he started working on local ranches as a cowboy.After taking part in several cattle drives, Siringo stopped herding to settle down, get married (1884), and open a merchant business in Caldwell, Kansas. He began writing a book, entitled "A Texas Cowboy: or Fifteen Years on the Hurricane Deck of a Spanish Pony." A year later, it was published, to wide acclaim, and became one of the first true looks into life as a cowboy written by someone who had actually lived the life.This book is a partial autobiography of an "Easterner," who spent most of his adult life as a "Westener," a "Cow Boy" -- Charles A. (Charlie) A. Siringo.

Excerpt from A Texas Cow Boy, or Fifteen Years on the Hurricane Deck of a Spanish Pony: Taken From Real Life I suppose the above would suffice, but as time is not very precious I will continue and tell how the idea of writing a book first got into my head: While ranching on the Indian Territory line, close to Caldwell, Kansas, in the winter of '82 and '83, we boys - there being nine of us - made an iron clad rule that whoever was heard swearing or caught picking grey backs Off and throwing them on the floor without first killing them, should pay a fine of ten cents for each and every Offense. The proceeds to be used for buying choice literature - something that would have a tendency to raise us above the average cow-puncher. Just twenty - four hours after making this rule we had three dollars in the pot or at least in my pocket, I having been appointed treasurer. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.