Florida’s wildest cowboy

Artist Frederic Remington, best known for his depictions of the American West, captured Bone Mizell during a visit to Florida in 1895.

Cracker cowboy Bone Mizell lived from 1863 to 1921.

You have to respect a man who brands a cow with his teeth.

It was a hot day in 1892 as Bone Mizell and two cowpoke companions rode the brush flats of central Florida in search of stray cattle. They spotted a tawny bag of bones with murderous horns — but no brand — at the edge of a thorny thicket.

Bone’s boss, Buck King, challenged, “Rope her and put your mark on her and you can have her.” Determined to rope the thin but tough old cow and to put his mark on her ears, Bone spurred his horse and took out after her.

In an instant, his rope snaked through the air to settle around the horns of the sullen brute who was snorting and blowing. Bone quickly dismounted, went hand over hand along the rope and threw her down. But as he reached for his sharp jack-knife to mark her, the pugnacious old beast sensed that only one hand was holding her.