Details
ABBOTT, E.C. ("Teddy Blue," 1860-1939). Collection of six autograph letters signed ("E.C. Abbott") to Andrew Fergus, 27 July 1909 - 22 November 1911. 15 pages in all, 8o, in pencil, with additional related material recounting the history of the early Montana cattle business and the range war of 1884 .
A colorful collection of letters by the famous Montana cattle driver, E.C. "Teddy Blue" Abbott, author of the classic cowboy memoir We Pointed them North: Recollections of a Cow Puncher (1939). The 27 July 1909 letter to Fergus conveys Abbott's vibrant spirit: "Oldtimer, fly at it, have all the fun you can for life is short and goes fast...Beef is high and Cattle fat, so let her rain...I feel good we got another boy. Mary named him Teddy Blue. Some people think we ought to quit but to tell you the truth I am trying to raise enough Democrats to elect Dave Hilger and if he lives long enough I will win out yet." The other letters take up a more sober theme: Abbott's efforts to lighten the prison sentence of a friend, Jack Tabor, convicted of murder. 23 February 1911: He urges Fergus to write the Governor on Tabor's behalf. "You know that Prejudice against him was the cause of his severe sentence. Tell the Gov. that Tabor is a man that was never known to break his word...At present things look very favorable for Jack. I sure would like to win out on this and if I don't it wont be my fault." 26 February 1911: To Gov. Edwin Norris asking that Tabor's sentence be commuted to manslaughter. Abbott claims that Tabor was threatened and harassed "by Horse thieves and their friends" during the brutal range war of 1884. (6)
A colorful collection of letters by the famous Montana cattle driver, E.C. "Teddy Blue" Abbott, author of the classic cowboy memoir We Pointed them North: Recollections of a Cow Puncher (1939). The 27 July 1909 letter to Fergus conveys Abbott's vibrant spirit: "Oldtimer, fly at it, have all the fun you can for life is short and goes fast...Beef is high and Cattle fat, so let her rain...I feel good we got another boy. Mary named him Teddy Blue. Some people think we ought to quit but to tell you the truth I am trying to raise enough Democrats to elect Dave Hilger and if he lives long enough I will win out yet." The other letters take up a more sober theme: Abbott's efforts to lighten the prison sentence of a friend, Jack Tabor, convicted of murder. 23 February 1911: He urges Fergus to write the Governor on Tabor's behalf. "You know that Prejudice against him was the cause of his severe sentence. Tell the Gov. that Tabor is a man that was never known to break his word...At present things look very favorable for Jack. I sure would like to win out on this and if I don't it wont be my fault." 26 February 1911: To Gov. Edwin Norris asking that Tabor's sentence be commuted to manslaughter. Abbott claims that Tabor was threatened and harassed "by Horse thieves and their friends" during the brutal range war of 1884. (6)