Show A ROMANTIC LIFE SHANGHAI PIERCE WHO RECENTLY IN TEXAS the greatest ranchman in the country and on ned acrea ilia bise to fortune erected a monn meat to special letter for years there has been standing in the pierce family cemetery in mat isorda county texas a magnificent monument ment erected by A H pierce to own memory pierce now sleeps n the shadow of the stately memorial died a few days ago his was a strange career known from coast to contat abel H pierce better known in texas as shanghai was the richest ot texas cattlemen he was as well known in banking circles in new york as on the of texas and the big moneyed men ol 01 chicago st louis and kansas city knew him almost as well as did the people of the larger towns of texas nothing was too big for shanghai to take a hand in from a poker game to a blind pool in wall street but the only thing he prided himself on was his knowledge of cat tie it was a chance meeting with shanghai that led charles H hoyt to write the texas steer they met on a railroad train and hoyt conceived the idea of writing a play around the cattle king says the new york press pierce was born in rhode island C years ago and went to texas when a boy on account of his extreme height he was 6 feet 4 he got the sobriquet of shanghai and it clung to him so well that few persons knew his christian name and referred to him as shang 1 first lor when he got to texas he had noth ing but the cloths on his back a rug ged frame lots of energy and a de termination to succeed he got work as a cowboy with a man named grimes who owned a great ranch the country was wild in those day and a cowboys life was full of hardship shanghai soon showed the stuff of which he was made he could ride with the best of the mexican or texas cowboys and his judgment of cattle was excellent and he was untiring before he had been with old grimes long he was selected as foreman of the gang there was one thing about shanghai that soon became noticeable when on the drive with cattle his herd increased amazingly possibly shanghai was more successful in gath ering in the lost and strays than any other foreman possibly he kaw where to find the mavericks A mav erick is an unbranded cow or bull and shanghai was a wonder in discovering cattle that bore no brand of owner ship lett by war soon pierce branched out tor him belf and he was rapidly accumulating SHANGHAI PIERCE wealth when the civil war broke out the war left him penniless but un flaunted and he started in again as a ranchman it was slow work for come years but the tall young yan bee was patient and persevering land was cheap and cattle were cheap the range was illimitable there were no ances the winters were mild the attle increased rapidly and it cost lit tie to live cattlemen as a rule are profligate the tall young yankee was provident while other cattlemen spent their money in gambling and riotous living young pierce attended strictly to busl ness he rounded up his bunch at the proper time overlooked no maver icks kept his branding irons hot and elways took good cattle to market 1 fortune in the early it began to be ap predated that shanghai pierce was getting rich again when other cattle got short ot money and were forced to sell a portion of their herd shanghai was always able to buy tor he had plenty of money and abundant credit if a cowman wanted to dispose of a tract of land and was willing to sell cheaply shanghai was able to furnish the money lie prospered always so things went on year in and year out other cattlemen complained but shanghai pierce prospered and the longer he worked the richer he be came there is only one record 0 shanghai making a mistake in these early days that was when he got the kansas feier he went to that state dropped and returned to texas once back on the old ground shanghai again made money he had recovered all his losses within a few years and again was rich when the range began to be fenced shanghai was one of the first to see the necessity for owning land he bought all that he could in big strips and managed to get some of the choicest grazing lands in the low country between the brazos san bernard caney tres palacios Pala clos colorado guadaloupe and san antonio rivers not content with this he bought a great ranch in the indian territory at the time of his death he was reputed to be the owner of acres had many adventure A few years ago when an inventory of mr pierce s property was made it showed that he was worth in excess of that was before the big in cattle aad before the land was considered of any value except tor grazing now the appraisement of the same property would probably double the figures but pierce had not become millionaire without many thrilling adventures and be declared that tha making of a fortune Is simple and aisy compared with the task ot keep arg it many a night he slept on the prairie only to find that a rattlesnake had crept into his blanket in tha night to keep warm many a time he faced death at a pistol point but he seems to have borne a charmed life and although he had been shot at fre and desperate men have tol lowed him with the intention of mur erang him he escaped all the balleta that were intended for him A close tail once pierce had a close call in san antonio and he used to tell the story himself I 1 came to san antonio with a bunca of cattle he would say and sold them at a good price this wa a rougher town then than now the boys would come in from the range and shoot up the town regularly there were lots of desperate characters and life was held cheap after I 1 got my money for my bunch of steers I 1 found that I 1 was being treed by three men they dian didn t make any play dur ing the day but I 1 knew that during the night the would try to murder me I 1 had enough money in my pile to tempt any one I 1 was a stranger in san antonio and had few friends upon whom I 1 could de pend I 1 dian didn t know lust what to do but determined to meet the situation calmly the first opportunity that de I 1 rounded up the three men who were trailing me and invited them to dank I 1 acted like a good fellow with them tor an hour or more getting them to drink all I 1 could A bide for ute then I 1 made an appointment alth them for the evening and telling them I 1 had some business to attend to in the nature of collecting some more money due on my catt e I 1 left them I 1 went over to a place where I 1 knew a fellow had a thoroughbred horse I 1 priced the animal and got possession of him then I 1 got aboard that thor ough bred and started out of town be fore I 1 had gone a mile my three friends discovered what I 1 had done and they began to chase me I 1 never took my leg down from that thoroughbred until the next morning when I 1 did dis mount I 1 was 75 miles away from san antonio the three men aho vho meant to rob me followed me all through the night they kept on my trail and they got warm on it the next day but not until they were well into the coun try where I 1 belonged they were am bushed then what became of thema shanghai was asked really now I 1 can t remember the big man would reply |