Orphan Who Ran Away To Sea
- Orphan Who Ran Away To Sea
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Title |
Orphan Who Ran Away To Sea |
Subject |
Richard King |
Transcript |
The Orphan Who Ran Away To Sea After his parents died, eight- year- old Richard King was apprenticed to a jeweler in New York. He ran away and hid in the hold of a ship bound for Mobile. He was discovered at sea. In Mobile, the stowaway got a job as a cabin boy on Alabama steamboats. In time he became a pilot and moved on to the rivers of northern Florida, where he met a young steamboat captain, Mifflin Kenedy. At the outbreak of the Mexican War, the U.S. Army hired Kenedy to operate steamboats on the Rio Grande, which were needed to supply Zachary Taylor's army. Kenedy urged his friend to join him, and King arrived in 1847 to become the pilot on the Corvette. After the war, the Army put its steamboats up for sale. Kenedy and King, as partners, bought the Colonel Cross, Grampus and Comanche. On July 10, 1850, King celebrated his 26th birthday at a hotel bar in Brownsville. Two years later, he rode north to attend the Lone Star Fair in Corpus Christi. He was struck by the idea that the vast range of grass was ideal for raising cattle. He discussed this with his partner, but Kenedy wasn't interested. King found a partner in Texas Ranger G.K. "Legs" Lewis. The two bought 15,000 acres, at two cents an acre, on the Santa Gertrudis Creek. They bought a herd of cattle in Mexico and hired vaqueros to work them. Two years later, King married Henrietta Chamberlain, whom he called "Etta", and they moved to the ranch. After "Legs" Lewis was killed, King steadily increased the size of his holdings. He never forgot advice given by his friend Robert E. Lee, which was to "Buy land and never sell." When Richard King died in 1885, he had become the greatest cattle rancher of his time. He left "Etta" with 614,000 acres. Not bad for an orphan boy who ran away to sea. Murphy Givens: KEDT Radio Scripts |
Author |
Murphy Givens |
Publisher |
KEDT Radio |
Date |
6/14/2002 |
Type |
Sound Recording |
Format |
MP3; Length 2 min. 27 sec. |
Language |
English |
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