Another Cowboy Episode

Another thing I liked that cowboys did was to set traps. I remember from the old movies that when the cowboys wanted to catch the bad guys, they would dig a trench across the road and cover it with tree branches and sticks and leaves, etc. Then the good guys would get the bad guys to chase them and of course, the bad guys would fall into the trap (trench). Then the good guys would beat up the bad guys, have the sheriff take the bad guys to jail, and then the good guy got to kiss the girl and ride off into the sunset with her.

I thought this was pretty neat and I thought I would try it. There was a chicken house on our property and a garage. There was a walk space between them about 5 feet wide. I thought this would be a great place to dig a hole in the ground, cover it with sticks and leaves, and set a trap for some unexpectant weary soul. I would trap somebody! I would get'em!

I dug the hole right in the middle of the walkway about 2 feet wide and 12 inches deep. No one could miss stepping on the sticks and leaves and fall into the hole. I had a rope in the garage that I thought I could tie up the unsuspecting passerby, thus capturing the "bad guy."

My brother-in-laws grandfather lived in the chicken house that had been converted to a one room apartment. He was about 75 years old and rather thin and frail. He walked with a cane. His name was Jasper Scott.

Well, as fate and my luck would have it, Jasper stepped in the hole. I'd caught my first person in the trap! Of course I had no intention of catching a 75 year old frail grandpa that walked with a cane. I thought I would get someone my own age so I could beat them up and then tie them up with my rope. I don't know if I would have called the local police to get them thrown in jail ... after all, they had committed no crime. And where was the girl that I was going to ride off into the sunset with? Where, oh where was she?

Jasper sprained his good ankle really bad. He was able to get up and get into the chicken house, now an apartment, and call his grandson, my brother-in-law. When my brother-in-law arrived and surveyed the scene, it didn't take a New York detective to figure out the scenerio. I was in trouble ..... again!

I don't remember what my punishment was but I do remember having to apologize to Mr. Scott, fill in the hole-trap, sustain a really good tongue lashing from my hot-headed brother-in-law, and promise I would never do anything like that again.

Dad told me that if I ever did anything like that again, and hurt somebody, there would be hell to pay and I would pay it at a costly price.

I never set a trap again!