The Cattleman's Pages of History
We are in the 103rd year of The Cattleman magazine. We thought we would take a few minutes each month to look back in history to find the interests of cattle raisers at the time. We have reprinted the text of these news items as they appeared in the issue. Any comments from the editor appear in brackets.
“One of the banner entertainment features at the Midland Fair and Interstate Stock Show was an “Old Fiddler’s Contest,” between M.J. Bonner of Weatherford, Jesse Roberts of Springtown and J.K.P. Harris of Maryneal, Texas. On the right is pictured M.J. Bonner, the winner, who informed us that the contest was for the World’s Championship. He is 69 years of age. In addition to his fiddling proclivities he is an artist at the buck and wing dance. The fiddle used by Mr. Bonner was made in 1636 and is valued at $1,000.00. He has been playing it for fifty-five years. On the left is Jesse Roberts of Springtown, who was third. J.K.P. Harris of Maryneal, who is said to have more gold medals won in fiddling contests than a band leader in the moving pictures, was second. He escaped before this picture was made. Messrs. Bonner, Roberts and Harris are all old Confederate soldiers. Take a tip from me, and the next time you have a fiddlers’ contest be sure to have this trio on hand.”
“Pages of History” is from the October 2016 issue of The Cattleman magazine.