Word: prisoners
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Dates: during 1940-1940
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Last week, at rural Huntsville, near Houston, 25,000 rodeo fans saw a roundup unique even in Texas. Started ten years ago to give the inmates of the old, grey prison more recreation, the Texas Prison Rodeo brings out such crowds that it has to be held on four successive Sundays. Two to three thousand spectators are often turned away...
...inmates, it is a great outing. In big, red cattle trucks, sandwiched between armed cars, those quartered at the Prison System's ten farms are taken to the '"Walls" (main prison) at Huntsville. More than 75% of the 6,500 inmates get to see the show. Those who think they can manage a wild bull or a horse "with a bellyful of bedsprings" take part. Each contestant gets $3 and a chance to win an additional $15 to $25 (first prize), $10 (second) or $7.50 (third) in the afternoon's eleven events. They also get a chance...
...outsiders too, Huntsville's Prison roundup is worth riding miles to see. Rodeo fans cram into the Prison Stadium, not because their 50? admission fees go to the Prison System's education fund, but because the convicts put on a rip-roaring show. Besides routine rodeo events-bronc riding, calf roping, bull riding and wild-cow milking-there are entr'actes such as a 50-piece Prison Band, the Cotton Pickers' Glee Club and Bill ("Snuffy") Garrett, a "knobknocker" (safecracker) with 263 years to serve, whose clown act, in top hat and stripes, makes even...
...favorites did not disappoint the fans. The big, coal-black Hodge Brothers, Will & Sim, who operated a juke joint until one night they murdered a bothersome customer, ran away-as usual-with the calf-roping event. In the four years they have competed in the Prison Rodeo, the Hodges have set several unofficial world's records at calf roping, have won some $400 in prizes. Last October, Will was top money winner with $76, Sim runner-up with...
Most exciting event of the prison roundup is the Mad Scramble, a free-for-all barred from most rodeos as too dangerous. In this race, riders mounted on wild bulls, cows and broncs (some saddled, some bareback) are let loose simultaneously, bucking and bumping into one another in their crazy dash to the finish line. Winner last week was Ernest Myers, a Beaumont robber...