Unbridled Cowboy - Joseph B. Fussell

I’ve never been much of a non-fiction reader, unless it’s things I have to read for research on a novel, but I’ll dip into a memoir or biography every now and then. UNBRIDLED COWBOY is the story of Joe Fussell, a Texas cowboy in the late Nineteenth and early Twentieth Century, told in his own words, the only book he wrote. This is a case of a manuscript being part of a family heritage until decades later when it’s finally published by a university press. That may sound like a recipe for boredom, but in the case of UNBRIDLED COWBOY, it’s not, because Joe Fussell had a way with words and a colorful life about which to write, his own.

Growing up in East Texas, Joe hated school for the most part and quit when he was fourteen to become a cowboy, an existence that took him all over the West. He also worked as a railroader, which contributed to his nomadic life as a young man. In his early twenties, after becoming acquainted with the famous Texas Ranger captain W.J. McDonald, Fussell went to work as an undercover agent for the Rangers, signing on as a cowboy on various ranches where rustling operations were going on and getting the evidence needed to break them up.

One thing that sets this book apart from the typical memoir – and Fussell’s grandson, who edited the manuscript, talks about this in the introduction – is the amount of violence. Before going to work for the Rangers, Fussell rode for a ranch in Mexico that was owned by some Americans. After one of his friends was murdered by a mob because of an altercation at a dance, Fussell barely escaping with his life, he returned to Mexico later, tracked down the members of the mob, and killed them one by one. Then, while working for the Rangers, Fussell mentions serving as judge, jury, and executioner for numerous criminals he tracked down. Fussell’s grandson speculates as to whether or not these gory adventures are true or just stories told by an old man reminiscing about his life. I have no idea, of course, but they make for some good yarns.

And that’s the sense you really get from UNBRIDLED COWBOY, that of sitting around and listening to an old-timer spin colorful yarns. It’s an excellent book and paints what I figure is a pretty accurate picture of Texas in a very different era. I’ve known some colorful old-timers myself – my grandfather used to talk about meeting Sam Bass when he was a kid – and so I really enjoyed UNBRIDLED COWBOY.