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832
had died on the plains, many of them killed by hunters just for their hides. In Ochiltree county we saw three buffalo and some of the boys killed one, but the outfit with next herd got the meat. At Palo Duro we struck the old trail and the stage line from Dodge City, to Tascosa, Texas. The cattle quarantine turned us from going to Colorado, and we went into Kansas, where as soon as we struck the railroad I decided to pull for home as I was not well. I went to Dodge City, the honkatonk town, cleaned up and bought a suit of clothes, and left for San Antonio, reaching home July 1, 1885.
The four Rutledge brothers, Jim, John, Ed and Emmett, were well known among the early cattlemen of the state. They moved to Texas from Alabama, with their parents in the early fifties, and settled on the Hondo in Karnes county. All of these brothers, except Emmett, who was too young at the time, enlisted in the Confederate army and served throughout the war. John and Ed Rutledge each received wounds in battle. After the war the Rutledges began driving cattle up the trail to Kansas, and continued their drives until 1879. Jim Rutledge made trips with cattle to New Orleans and to Powder Horn. He was considered an expert in the art of catching mustangs, sometimes catching a whole herd at one time. Emmett Rutledge was for many years an inspector for the Cattle Raisers' Association, with headquarters at San Antonio, and was considered one of the best on the force.