Natrona County, Wyoming - The whole text, 1923 (part 11 of 15)

CATTLE rustling seemed to be a popular and profitable pastime for a great many people in Wyoming in the '8o's and early '90's but to this, like all things else, an end had to come, and many of the men who did not quit when the business lost its popularity paid dearly for their folly. Many a nester started into the cattle business with but little more than a cow pony, a rope, a round-up bed, a running iron, and, of necessity, a lack of conscience. After a few years, if he were cautious, he had a nice little herd of cattle with a brand of his own. To put a brand on a maverick' in those days was considered not exactly cattle stealing. The man who applied the iron w^ould merely say to himself that if he had not done it, someone else would, and this left his conscience clear, for he knew he was telling himself the truth. But unbranded strays on the open range were not numerous after the first few years the nester commenced to operate, for there were too many people engaged in the branding business. Then, in order to increase their herds there were some who would shoot the mothers and drive the calves away, and there were others who would blotch the brand on a steer and drive it out of its range.

But the nester w^as not the only one accused of swinging the long rope and operating the branding iron. Some of the big cattle outfits were accused not only of branding mavericks which no doubt did not belong to them, but other dishonest practices were attributed to them. It is said that when the Frewen brothers came from England in the early '8o's and located on the North and Middle forks of Powder river, they negotiated with the 76 outfit on the Sweetwater for 3,500

1 Samuel Maverick was owner of a large number of cattle in Southern Texas in the early '40's, whose ambition was to be able to travel from San Antonio to El Paso and from El Paso to the mouth of the Rio Grande on his own land. He secured title to more than two million acres of land, but his desire to travel on his own land from the points named was never realized. Maverick had a debt agamst a stockman which he was unable to collect in money, and he took 400 head of cattle at S3 per head and cancelled the debt. At the end of four years he sold these cattle at $6 per head, including the natural increase, upon which he had never placed his brand, and consequently there were on the range a large number of unbranded cattle, and when the cowboys and stockmen came across a bunch of unbranded cattle they would remark they "belonged to Maverick," or "they were Maverick's." This is how the term maverick originated and was applied to unbranded cattle by the stockmen and cowboys, and is in common use nowadays.

head of cattle, book count, for which they were to pay ^75,000. The Frewens wanted to see the cattle and also to make a rough tally of them, and accordingly, they started up Horse creek with the 76 representatives, where they located cattle all the way to the foot of Rattlesnake canyon. Then they crossed over to the head of Fish creek, which stream they followed for a considerable distance and there were 76 cattle all the way down Fish creek. But the cow punchers had made a short cut from Horse creek to Fish creek, pushing the cattle ahead of them and arriving at Fish creek ahead of the Frewens, who had gone the longer route. The Frewens counted these cattle - the same cattle they had counted on Horse creek, but they did not recognize them - and they found in the neighborhood of 3,500, but there were actually only 2,200. The Frewens were satisfied with the count and the money was paid over to the 76 outfit and the brand and the stock were afterwards owned by the Frewens. A man named Foley was agent for and a member of the 76 outfit and he was responsible for the short cut from Horse creek to Fish creek made by the cow punchers and the cattle. When the Frewens made their fall round-up and found they were short about 1,300 cattle, they were of the opinion that their shortage was caused by cattle rustlers, but some of the cowboys explained the "joke" to them. The Frewens accepted the matter like good sports, but they did not remain long in the cattle business, for they displayed no more business judgment in other things than they did when they thought they were buying 3,500 head of cattle and got but 2,200. Their experience in the cattle business in Wyoming is said to have cost them half a million dollars.

The cattlemen did not seriously object to having a few of their mavericks branded by a man who was ambitious and wanted to get a start. In fact, many of the large cattle outfits applied their brands on calves and sometimes on two-year-olds when they had serious doubts as to whether the stock rightfully belonged to them. But when the practices of blotching the brands on steers and shooting the mothers of calves were started, the cattlemen realized the time had come when the rustling of cattle must come to an end. The courts could not, or would not, stop it. Large rewards were offered for the arrest and conviction of cattle thieves; livestock detectives were brought into the state to gather evidence against the rustler; many arrests were made, and although there appeared to be an abundance of evidence to convict, yet rustler after rustler was turned loose and the courts were considered a joke and a farce.

to mete out punishment that in their minds seemed adequate to the crimes committed, and a number of men who were said to have been rustlers were shot, but even this did not seem to have the effect of suppressing the business of cattle stealing.

Then the cattlemen formed an organization known as the "Regulators." They imported gunmen from Texas, Idaho, Colorado, and other states. These men were to receive five dollars a day and expenses, and they were to go where they were commanded and do the things they were told. For a number of weeks plans and preparations were made by the Regulators to invade the cattle country and strike a blow that would terrorize the rustlers and cause those who were not killed to flee for their lives.

The KC ranch, in Johnson county, was selected as the first scene of action, and in writing an account of the battle that occurred there, we shall give the unvarnished facts without bias or prejudice. In dealing with the incidents, the cattlemen shall be termed the "regulators" and those whom they sought to punish shall be termed the "settlers."

On the 4th and 5th of April, 1892, definite plans were perfected by the regulators to leave Cheyenne and invade the cattle country and on the evening of the 5th a special train arrived in Cheyenne from Denver bearing the gunmen who had been hired as "detectives." This train was taken to the Cheyenne stockyards where three stock cars had been loaded with wagons, horses, harness, tents, ammunition, and provisions sufficient to carry the party through a ten days' expedition. The stock cars were attached to the special train of three passenger coaches and at 6 o'clock the start was made for Casper.

The train arrived at the stockyards a mile east of Casper at 4:20 in the mornmg, April 6. The paraphernalia was immediately taken from the cars and at about 5:30 three new w^agons, with four horses to each wagon, passed through town. Two of these wagons were loaded with provisions and the other contained bedding and ammunition. The men of the party who were not connected with the wagons, crossed the river on horseback about three miles east of town and joined the wagon party on Casper creek, a few miles northwest. All the mounted men were armed with Winchester rifles and Colt's revolvers. Major Wolcott was in command; F. M. Canton was captain of the Wyoming men and Tom Smith was captain of the gunmen who were brought in from the other states. There were fifty-two men in the party. Friends of the regulators in Douglas and Casper had been instructed to give out the information that the men were surveyors on their way to the Bald mountains.

On their way to Johnson county the regulators met a number of men on the road coming toward Casper whom they compelled to turn back and travel with them for hours or forced them to go through with the expedition. About four miles from Casper, on Casper creek, the party overtook Oscar Lehman and Bert Lambert, who were looking after a band of sheep. Lehman, who had been married but a short time, was ordered to fall in the front ranks and Lambert in the rear. Lehman made such a strong plea to be released that his request was granted upon his promising that he would go directly to his wife, who was in a sheep wagon several miles back. Word was passed to the rear that the two men were to be set free. Upon their release, both men headed toward the sheep wagon, but neither knew that his friend was also to be given his liberty. When Lambert, upon looking back, saw a horseman coming toward him he imagined it was one of the regulators who was urging him to go faster. Lehman thought the man ahead of him was one of the regulators who had broken ranks and was going to the sheep wagon to inform his bride that he was being taken away and he naturally gave chase. When the two men were near the wagon, they recognized each other and their fright was turned to joy.

Later in the day the regulators met J. C. (Dad) Renfro and a man named McGhee, whom they forced to accompany the expedition to Tisdale's ranch where they were detained for two days. One night while they pretended they were asleep, they overheard the plans of the leaders and they recognized the names of more than forty men who were "marked" as rustlers and who were to be shot. Eleven of the men mentioned lived in Natrona county, twenty-two in Converse county and the balance were from Johnson county. After the second day Renfro and McGhee were released, and they started immediately for Casper. Upon their arrival here, however, they refused to disclose any news or details of the happenings while they were held by the regulators, as they had been warned to keep silent or suffer death.

Just before reaching the Tisdale ranch the advancing force was met by Mike Shonsy, foreman for the Western Union Beef company. He informed them that there were rustlers at Nolan's KC ranch. Upon receipt of this information, the regulators decided to camp at Tisdale's until their supply wagons had time to catch up with them. Friday, the 8th of April, was spent at the Tisdale ranch. In the afternoon, Shonsy was sent out in charge of a squad to reconnoiter. After dark they resumed their journey and before daylight arrived at the KC ranch. They surrounded the buildings and concealed themselves in the stable, along the creek, and in the brush along the ravine and awaited orders. Shortly after daylight, WilHam W. Walker, a trapper who had spent the night at the ranch, came out of the house w^ith a bucket and walked toward the creek. He was taken prisoner. Ben Jones, another trapper, then came out of the house and walked toward the stable. He too was taken prisoner. Nick Ray was the next to come out of the house and he had walked but a few steps when he was shot in the head and fell in his tracks. Nate Champion then came to the door and fired a number of shots at the besiegers and they returned the fire hotly. He closed the door and from a window watched Ray slowly crawl toward the house. When Ray had almost reached the doorstep. Champion opened the door, sent another volley of shots toward the stable and creek and then stepped out and dragged Ray into the house while a hail of shot was sent toward him.

Champion evidently realized that his chances of escape were hazardous, for he wrote down in a notebook the progress of the battle so that his friends could be informed of the details in case of his death. Ray died at 9 o'clock in the morning. Champion would not give up, but fired at the besiegers occasionally. At 2:30 o'clock in the afternoon "Black Jack" Flagg and his stepson came by and they were shot at by the regulators. Flagg's account of the attack on him was as follows :

"The morning of the 9th I started from my ranch, eighteen miles above the river, to go to Douglas. I was on horseback, and my stepson, a boy 17 years of age, started with me to go to the Powder river crossing. He was driving two horses and had only the running gear of a 314 wagon. We got to the KC ranch about 2:30. I was riding about fifty yards behind the wagon. We could not see the stable, behind which the murderers were concealed, until we were within seventy-five yards of it. When the wagon hove in sight the murderers jumped up and commanded the boy to halt, but he urged up his horses and drove for the bridge. When they saw he would not stop, one of them took aim on the corner of the fence and fired at him. The shot missed him and scared his team, which stampeded across the bridge and on up the road.

"There were twenty men behind the stable, and seven came up on horseback, three from one side of the road and four from the other, and closed in behind rne. When the men behind the stable saw me, they began to jump for their guns, which were leaning against the fence, and called on me to stop and throw up my hands. I did not comply with their order, but kept straight for the bridge. When I got to the nearest point to them - forty-seven steps - a man whom I recognized as Ford, stepped from the crowd and, taking deliberate aim at me with his Winchester, fired. Then they all commenced firing. I threw myself on the side of my horse and made a run for it. The seven horsemen followed me. When I overtook my wagon, which had my rifle in it, I told my boy to hand it to me, which he did; I then told him to stop and cut one of the horses loose and mount him. The seven horsemen were following me, and when I stopped, were 350 yards behind, but as soon as they saw I had a rifle, they stopped. I only had three cartridges for my rifle, and did not want to fire one of them, unless they came closer, which they did not seem inclined to do."

After Flagg's escape, the regulators brought back the wagon he had left and loading it with hay and some pitch pine, wheeled it against the house and set it on fire. This was about 4 o'clock. The house was soon in flames and Champion was forced out. When he ran from the building, he was in his stocking feet and hatless. He had a rifle in his hands and a six-shooter in his belt. He had gone but about fifty yards when he saw a number of men in front of him. He raised his rifle and fired once, but just then a volley rang out and he fell to the ground, his body riddled with twenty-eight bullet holes.

A notebook was found in Champion's vest pocket soaked with blood, and with a bullet hole through it. Under the printed date of April 9th, the following entry was written in pencil:

"Me and Nick was getting breakfast when the attack took place. Two men here with us - Bill Jones and another man. The old man went after water and did not come back. His friend went out to see what was the matter and he did not come back. Nick started out and I told him to look out, that I thought that there was some one at the stable and would not let them come back. Nick is shot, but not dead yet. He is awful sick. I must go and wait on him. It is now about two hours since the first shot. Nick is still alive. They are still shooting and are all around the house. Boys, there is bullets coming in like hail. Them fellows is in such shape I can't get back at them. They are shooting from the stable and river and back of the house. Nick is dead. He died about 9 o'clock. I see a smoke down at the stable. I think they have fired it. I don't think they intend to let me get away this time.

" It is now about noon. There is some one at the stable yet. They are throwing a rope out at the door and dragging it back. I guess it is to draw me out. Boys, don't knowwhat they have done with them two fellows that stayed here last night. Boys, I feel pretty lonesome just now. I wish there was some one here with me, so we could watch all sides at once. They may fool around until I get a good shot before they leave. It's about 3 o'clock now. There was a man in a buckboard and one on horseback just passed. They fired on them as they went by. I don't know if they killed them or not. I seen lots of men come out on horses on the other side of the river and take after them. I shot at the men in the stable just now; don't know if I got any or not. I must go and look out again. It don't look as if there is much show of my getting away. I see twelve or fifteen men. One looks like |name scratched outj. I don't know whether it is or not. I hope they did not catch them fellows that run oyer the bridge towards Smith's. They are shooting at the house now. If I had a pair of glasses I believe I would know some of these men. They are coming back. I've got to look out.

"Well, they have just got through shelling the house like hail. I hear them splitting wood. I guess they are going to fire the house to-night. I think I will make a break when night comes, if alive. Shooting again. I think they will fire the house this time. It's not night yet. The house is all fired. Good-bye, boys, if I never see you again.

Sam T. Clover, special correspondent of the Chicago Herald, who accompanied the regulators, after describing the trip from Cheyenne to the KC ranch, the capture of the two trappers and the shooting of Nick Ray, gave the following account of Nate Champion's tragic death:

"The roof of the cabin was the first to catch fire, spreading rapidly downward until the north wall was a sheet of fiames. Volumes of smoke poured in at the open window from the burning wagon, and in a short time through the plastered cracks of the log house puff's of smoke worked outward. Still the doomed man remained doggedly concealed, refusing to reward them by his appearance. The cordon of sharpshooters stood ready to fire upon him the instant he started to run. Fiercer and hotter grew the flames, leaping with mad impetuosity from room to room until every part ot the house was ablaze and only the dugout at the west end remained intact.

"These words were barely spoken when there was a shout, 'There he goes!' and a man clad in his stocking feet, bearing a Winchester in his hands and a revolver in his belt, emerged from a volume of black smoke that issued from the rear door of the house, and started off across the open space surrounding the cabin into a ravine, fifty yards south of the house, but the poor devil jumped square into the arms of two of the best shots in the outfit, who stood with leveled Winchesters around the bend waiting for his appearance. Champion saw them too late, for he overshot his mark just as a bullet struck his rifle arm, causing the gun to fall from his nerveless grasp. Before he could draw his revolver a second shot struck him in the breast and a third and fourth found their way to his heart.

"Nate Champion, the king of cattle thieves, and the bravest man in Johnson county, was dead. Prone upon his back, with his teeth clenched and a look of mingled defiance and determination on his face to the last, the intrepid rustler met his fate without a groan and paid the penalty for his crimes with his life. A card bearing the significant legend, 'Cattle thieves, beware!' was pinned to his bloodsoaked vest, and there in the dawn, with his red sash tied around him and his half-closed eyes raised toward the blue sky, this brave but misguided man was left to lie."

Early in the morning of the attack, Terrence Smith, a ranchman living four miles north, heard the sound of firing and rode over to investigate. When he saw what was takmg place, he rode with all possible haste to Buffalo, arriving there at 7:30 in the evening, and notified Sheriff Angus. The sheriff called upon Captain Meuardi to assemble Company C of the National Guard to assist him in repelling the invasion and arresting the men. Captain Meuardi refused to comply with the sheriff's order and gave as his reason an order received by him from the governor a few days prior, commanding him to obey no call in aid of the civil authorities, except through the commander-in-chief. The sheriff then swore in a posse of six men and started for the KC ranch.

Flagg and his stepson, Alonzo Taylor, after their escape, hurried on to John R. Smith's ranch, arriving there about four o'clock. Flagg was a delegate to the democratic convention at Douglas and had planned to meet the other Johnson county delegates at Smith's ranch and proceed to the convention with them. He told of his experiences at the KC ranch and then rode to Trabing, thirty miles distant, reaching there at 9 o'clock. Three men joined him at this place and they returned to the Nolan ranch. On the way they met twelve more men who had been called out by Terrence Smith while on his way to Buffalo. As this combined force was about to proceed, the regulators were seen approaching. Flagg and the other men prepared to give battle from ambush, but their camp fire and the accidental discharge of one of their guns warned the regulators and they detoured, returning to the Buffalo road.

were at Dr. Harris's TA ranch on Crazy Woman creek. They were building a fortification at this place, which naturally led to the supposition that they expected the settlers to make an attack upon them in retaliation for the killing of Ray and Champion and the burning of the KC ranch house. When Flagg reached Buffalo Sunday forenoon, the authorities had not yet left for the field of battle. Couriers had been sent out in all directions calling for volunteers to fight the regulators, and Sunday evening at 8:30, forty-nine men armed with rifles and revolvers started to do battle at the TA ranch. A. S. Brown was the leader and when they arrived near the TA ranch at about midnight, pickets were posted around the buildings and both sides waited for daylight before the fight would commence. Just at the break of day, the posse took positions in sheltered places on all sides of the buildings. The regulators, who had gotten their fort in good shape, opened fire on the posse, but no one was hit. How^ever, they kept the members of the posse from getting near enough to do any effective shooting.

Sheriff Angus, who had gone to the KC ranch to see what damage had been done, returned to Buffalo at about i o'clock Monday afternoon and after informing the people of the killing of Champion and Ray and the burning of the ranch house, a number of men were sent out to bring in the bodies. The sheriff then started for the TA ranch, accompanied by about forty men. Reinforcements from all sections of Johnson county as well as from Sheridan county had gathered at the seat of trouble until Tuesday afternoon, when there were more than 250 men assembled, acting under orders from Sheriff Angus. In the meantime, the sheriff's posse had captured two of the wagons belonging to the regulators. These wagons contained provisions, bedding, ammunition, kerosene and two cases of dynamite.

At the beginning of the trouble the telegraph line had been cut, but by Tuesday evening it had been repaired and dispatches were sent to the governor in Cheyenne and the president at Washington. Major Martin was ordered by the governor to assume command of C Company of the National Guard and to act under the orders of the mayor of the town of Buffalo to protect life and property in that town.

Colonel Van Horn of the United States cavalry, with three troops, was ordered by the war department from Fort McKinney at 2 o'clock in the morning of the 13th to proceed to the TA ranch and place the regulators under arrest. The troops arrived at 6 o'clock in the morning. Before they arrived, the posse had dismantled the two wagons they had captured and by using the hind axles and wheels had constructed a portable breastworks and were rapidly advancing on the fort. A dozen men who were safely behind the movable breast- works had advanced to within about 200 feet of the fort when the troops arrived. The posse was ordered by Colonel Van Horn to cease firing and the men behind the shield were ordered to the rear. Colonel Van Horn, Major Fechet, Captain Parmelee, of the governor's staff, two orderlies and three color sergeants, then advanced to the fortifications waving a flag of truce. Major Wolcott, who was in command of the regulators, came forth and in reply to a command from Colonel Van Horn to surrender, said, "I will surrender to you, but to that man [turning and pointing to Sheriff Angus], never. I have never seen him before, but I have heard enough of him and rather than give up to him, we will die right here. He has the best of us now, because our plans have miscarried, but it will be different yet."

Had it not been for the timely arrival of the federal troops, the settlers with the bullet-proof portable shield would have advanced to the fort and set it on fire, using the same means to protect themselves as did the regulators when they set fire to the KC ranch house. Had this occurred, there is no doubt but all the men in the fort would have been killed.

An examination of the buildings at the TA ranch showed that the fortifications constructed by the cattlemen were wellnigh impregnable and that the storming of them would have entailed a heavy loss of life upon the besiegers. Breastworks four feet high, made of sawed pine logs, 8x12 inches, were laid up on the north, east, and south sides of the house, which itself was built of the same material. The ice house north of the main building was also loopholed. A fort had been built 200 yards west of the dwelling house, of the same material and in it ten men were concealed. The horses belonging to the party were shut up in the stable which was situated half way between the dwelling and the fort referred to and the walls of the loft of the stables had been strengthened and loopholed.

The government troops took charge of the situation immediately upon the surrender of the regulators and one troop of the cavalry surrounded the buildings; all the regulators were disarmed and, with the exception of one man who was wounded, were marched to Fort McKinney, where they were kept under guard. Among the men arrested were Major Wolcott, W. C. Irvine, J. N. Tisdale, F. M. Canton, W. J. Clarke, F. H. Labertoux, F. G. S. Hesse, Phil Du Fran, D. R. Tisdale, M. Shonsy, L. H. Parker, C. S. Ford, and A. R. Powers, all of whom were either cattle owners or working for large cattle outfits. The remainder of the fifty-two men were the gunmen imported from outside the state.

towns in the state, all was excitement and unrest. Rumors of all kinds, preposterous, ludicrous, probable, and improbable were in the air. It was the main topic of conversation whenever two or more men were together. There were some, but they were very few, who contended that the invaders were justified in their acts. But there was no question that they were not acting within the confines of the law when they burned the KC ranch house and killed Champion and Ray, even though the place was a rendezvous for rustlers and if it were true that the two men were cattle thieves. The man who sympathized with the regulators was exceedingly unpopular.

In Casper a mass meeting was held at the town hall at which nearly every business man in town was present and after much discussion, the following resolutions were adopted:

"Resolved, That we extend to the people of Johnson county our sympathy in this, the hour of their trial, and congratulate them on their moderation and prudence during the whole affair, and trust that in the future, as in the past, they may be guided by prudence, wisdom and unswerving loyalty to the principles of a free government, namely; the maintenance and execution of the law.

" Resolved, That we do detest and condemn stealing in all forms and do severally and collectively pledge our property, our lives and our sacred honor to the protection of the property and lives of all who may come among us, or become interested in property in our state.

" Resolved, That we especially regret the state of distrust and fear that has been engendered among people not personally cognizant of the true condition of affairs, and that we do assure them that their fears are groundless, and that in investing in Wyoming and helping develop its untold resources, they are perfectly safe and will reap a plentiful reward."

Guns and ammunition sufficient to arm two dozen men were stored in a small building in the business section of Casper and men had been selected who held themselves ready at all times to use them should the occasion arise. Reports were circulated to the effect that another body of the regulators was coming to assist the first detachment and arrangements were made to send a body of men from here to assist the civil authorities of Johnson county should the reports prove true. Men were on guard day and night; the road to Buffalo was watched and everything was in readiness for war should another detachment of regulators make its appearance. Excitement was at a high pitch for a week; and not until the captured regulators were taken to Fort Russell did the people relax and settle down to a feeling of safety.

Two days after the surrender of the regulators, the burial of Champion and Ray took place in Buffalo, and also that of Coroner Watkins, who had died while engaged in holding an inquest over the remains. The funeral services were held in a vacant store building on Main street. The room was full of women; few men could get in.

The caskets were profusely decorated with flowers. Rev. W. J. McCulHrn off^ered prayer in which he said: "We thank Thee, O God, that there are those who have stood by the law. We pray that the law may be strengthened; that if we cannot get justice here, then in the other world." The funeral procession then moved out to the cemetery. The hearse was followed by carriages, wagons, footmen and last, 150 mounted men, three women and two boys.

Criminal complaints had been sworn out against the fifty-two men, charging them with murder and arson and Sheriff Angus appeared before Colonel Van Horn at Fort McKinney demanding the surrender of the men to the civil authorities of Johnson county, but the demand was denied. Sheriff Angus then made an appeal to Acting Governor Barber requesting that the prisoners be turned over to the civil authorities for trial. Governor Barber replied that such action would not be taken until order had been established in Johnson county and the sheriff was directed to turn over the prisoners he had lodged in the jail previous to the surrender of the cattlemen. After the governor had ordered the men turned over to the military authorities on an order from the secretary of war to that effect, Colonel Van Horn telephoned to Sheriff Angus to know if one troop of cavalry would be sufficient to send over for Allen, the prisoner in the sheriff's charge, or whether he had better send three troops. The sheriff replied, "If you send one or three troops, the chances are that there will be trouble. But if you want your man, detail one soldier." Accordingly, a sergeant and driver were sent in an open wagon. When they arrived at the court house there were 200 armed men in line on either side of the walk leading from the street to the court house door. The sheriff met the sergeant at the sidewalk, the men fell back, leaving a five-foot open way to the door through which the sheriff and detail walked and entering the court house, they went directly to the jail door. The prisoner, Allen, was brought out, the soldier signed a receipt for him, and the three went to the east door. When Allen saw the multitude of armed men he hesitated, but the soldier dragged him through the lines to the wagon. No one interfered, and the prisoner, under the guard of the soldier and the town marshal, was driven to Fort McKinney, three miles away.

Three troops of cavalry under command of Major Fechet left Fort McKinney for Fort Fetterman on April 18 in charge of the captured cattlemen, under orders from the war department. At Fort Fetterman, a detachment of soldiers from Fort D. A. Russell took the prisoners in charge and escorted them by rail to Cheyenne where they were quartered for sixty days at the fort. Major Wolcott, State Senator John N. Tisdale, and several others were released on parole.

Major Wolcott went to Washington in an endeavor to clear himself and his friends from any charges which might be made against them as a result of the expedition into Johnson county and also to seek the establishment of martial law there.

The two trappers, Jones and Walker, who had been captured and held during the attack at the KC ranch, were believed to be the only witnesses, besides the regulators, of the killing of Champion and Ray and the burning of the KC ranch house. The cattlemen employed F. H. Harvey, a lawyer of Douglas, and O. P. Witt, a livery stable keeper of the same place, to get the witnesses out of the country. The two men were told upon their release at the Nolan ranch to go south and to remain silent as to what they had seen and heard if they wished to avoid trouble. When they arrived in Casper several days later, they found that public sentiment was against the regulators and they did not hesitate to tell all about the affair.

Friends of the settlers wanted the men held as witnesses against the regulators and friends of the cattlemen naturally wanted them to leave the country. They wxre made to believe that the cattlemen would kill them and they became very much frightened. There was no jail in Casper and Sheriff O. M. Rice had no place of safety for them to stay and it was agreed that they should accompany Colonel E. H. Kimball, deputy sheriff of Converse county, to Douglas, where they would be allowed to sleep in the sheriff's office in the front part of the jail until such time as Sheriff Angus would come for them and take them to Buffalo. Several nights after they arrived in Douglas, Walker became intoxicated and Jones walked about the streets with him until about midnight in an attempt to get him sober. Walker wanted to leave the country, saying that each of them would be given a horse and saddle and ^i,ooo in cash to go away and not act as witnesses against the cattlemen. They went over to Morton's place where they met eight or ten men and after considerable parleying, offers of money, and then threats, the two men and a guide mounted horses and headed for the east. The guide left them after riding about twenty miles and the two men rode on to Harrison where they boarded the train for Chadron. At Chadron an attempt was made to stop them, but friends of the cattlemen managed to get them on the train and they went to Omaha. In that city another attempt was made by the civil authorities to have the men returned to Wyoming to testify against the regulators, but the cattlemen were successful again and in due time Jones and Walker were put on a train headed for Saint Louis and that was the last seen or heard of them.

charged with criminal Hbel by George W. Baxter and others. Mr. Kimball was taken to Cheyenne under warrant and lodged in jail for thirty days, during which time his paper ceased publication. It was necessary for him to furnish a bond signed by a resident bondsman. The editor of the Northwestern Livestock Journal finally came to his rescue and he was released and returned home. The case never came to trial for it was the object of the regulators only to suppress the publication of Mr. Kimball's paper until the excitement died out. A petition signed by eighteen of the largest cattle outfits that had stock in Johnson county was presented to Governor Barber during the summer following the invasion, requesting that Johnson county be placed under martial law. Among other things the petition stated that the petitioners were citizens of the state of Wyoming and of other states in the Union and as such were entitled to the equal protection of the law, and to the protection of their property against theft and depredations, and that the county of Johnson and the territory adjacent thereto was chiefly composed of unclosed lands, especially adapted to grazing, and the live stock ranging thereon was worth several millions of dollars. That for several years the stealing and misbranding of live stock in the vicinity had been of frequent occurrence, and was rapidly growing more prevalent, and that stock thieves continually rode the range and placed their brands upon the unbranded calves of other owners and changed and altered the brands upon the branded live stock of others, thereby destroying all means of identifying the true ownership thereof. These stock thieves had, during the past year, greatly intimidated and threatened other residents in that vicinity and had suppressed, by threatened violence, almost all opposition to their unlawful calling and occupation. Their influence, by reason of their numbers and by their methods of intimidation had become so great as to reach the jury box and almost effectually prevent the conviction of any person charged with stock stealing. As an evidence of this the records of the district court in Johnson county for the previous five years showed many indictments had been found against different persons charged with the stealing of live stock and that in nearly all cases the defendants were acquitted. The acquittals were so flagrant and so contrary to the evidence that the judges deplored the existing conditions and had declared it almost a useless effort and expense to try any person charged with the stealing of live stock. The thieves had grown so bold and so open in their support and defense of stealing that they had notified persons who differed with them to leave the country and in many instances enforced their threats by acts of violence and they further threatened to assassinate those who had fled if they returned.

In March, 1892, the thieves got together at Buffalo and organized and arranged for round-ups in violation of law, and were endeavoring to execute the same when certain owners of live stock in that vicinity obtained from the United States circuit court for the district of Wyoming an injunction order restraining and enjoining the carrying on of these round-ups. The United States marshal and his deputies who went to the vicinity to serve the order of injunction were grossly mistreated and embarrassed in the service of the process of the court, and found it unsafe to remain there. One of the deputy marshals, George Wellman, was foully assassinated without cause or provocation, on a public highroad in that county while going to Buffalo to receive instructions from the United States marshal relating to the service of his injunction order.

The petitioners and others intending to enter upon and carry on the round-up arranged for by law, sent trusted and honest employees to attend to the same, and these men were threatened with violence by the thieves and were compelled to leave the county to avoid death or other violence to their persons. During the summer the number of stock thieves in that vicinity had been greatly augmented by the arrival of other men of the same character from other parts of the country, and there existed in that country an organized plan of driving the stockmen out, so that their property might become common property for the thieves; cattle were being wantonly and openly slaughtered in that section by thieves, some of the slaughtering being done for no other purpose whatever than to gratify malicious motives, and other slaughtering was being done to enable the thieves to market the beef and obtain money therefor. The ranches and homes of owners in that vicinity had many of them been plundered, and the personal effects and furniture there stolen or destroyed, and the occupants of the ranches had been driven from the country by fear. Even women and children at the ranches had received threats of violence, and had been compelled to seek places of safety. Letters in the United States mails had been opened by the thieves, and there existed a general and well-founded belief that letters and information could not be safely confided to the United States mails in that vicinity, and in several instances persons had been warned against sending letters to their friends and had been notified not to go to the postoffice either for the purpose of mailing letters or for the purpose of receiving mail therefrom. It was also claimed that no effort of any kind whatever on behalf of the civil authorities in that vicinity was being made to suppress the stealing, or any of the acts of violence and intimidation, and in many instances the civil authorities, by reason of natural inclination or intimidation.

were working with the thieves and under their influence. That the sheriff" of Johnson county openly declared his friendship for those who were known to be thieves, and declared his enmity toward the owners of live stock. With his knowledge, and without any opposition whatever from him, the county was patroled by large numbers of armed thieves who were permitted to go about heavily armed and prepared at any moment to execute their threat against those who were not in accord with them. It was further represented that there existed in the district named an armed combination of men to prevent the administration of law and justice; that neither life nor property was in any respect safe, and did not and would not receive protection at the hands of the civil authorities. That the country was in a feverish state of excitement and under a complete reign of terror, and both persons and property were wholly at the mercy of the outlaws and thieves who infested that section.

In answer to this petition notices were sent out to the eff"ect that "The authorities of Johnson county invite and desire that all owners of cattle ranging in this county who have either personally or by their foremen and representatives participated in the late armed invasion of this county, send able, trustworthy and discreet persons to their ranches to attend to the rounding up and preservation of their property. The undersigned pledge to them the resources of the county in the protection of their interests here. We would suggest that there are a number of idle cowboys here who have not been branded as outlaws or black-balled by the stock association who will gladly work and help round up the cattle during the coming season."

The above was signed by SheriflF Angus, the prosecuting attorney, and the three members of the board of county commissioners of Johnson county.

President Harrison was also importuned to have martial law established in Johnson county for the same reasons as stated in the petition to Governor Barber, and on June 6 six troops of cavalry from Fort Robinson, Nebraska, were ordered to march to Powder River, Wyoming, and six troops of cavalry from Fort Niobrara, Nebraska, were ordered to march into Wyoming and go into camp at a point between old Fort Fetterman and old Fort Caspar. These cavalry forces moved as directed and remained stationed there all summer. On July 30, President Harrison issued and sent forth a proclamation declaring that "By reasons of unlawful obstructions and assemblages of persons it has become impracticable, in my judgment, to enforce by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings the laws of the United States. After repeated efforts, the United States marshal, bemg

"Now, therefore, be it known that I, Benjamin Harrison, president of the United States, do hereby command all persons engaged in such resistance to the laws and the process of the courts of the United States, to cease such opposition and resistance and to disperse and retire peaceably to their respective abodes on or before Wednesday, the 3d day of August next.

"Done at the City of Washington, this 30th day of July, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and ninety-two, and of the independence of the United States the one hundred and seventeenth. Benjamin Harrison."

J. W. Blake, judge of the Second Judicial district, which comprised Johnson and Albany counties, sent a letter to Acting Governor Barber on the 19th of June, requesting that he deliver to the authorities of Johnson county the stockmen then confined at Fort Russell. The judge informed the governor that he had received a certified copy of informations filed against the men, charging them with murder. He stated that he had also received a certified copy of warrants issued by the clerk of the court for the arrest of the parties charged in the information. Judge Blake also made the following requests of the governor:

"First, That you turn over to the sheriff of Johnson county or his deputy, the parties named in his warrants, and give them into his custody at Fort Russell. Second, That before you do this, inform me of the time you will be ready to make the transfer in order that I may give the officer full directions as to the place they shall be held, pending the future proceedings of the court. Pending the time of the trial, I believe it my duty to exercise the utmost diligence and care - first, in placing the prisoners within the custody of the proper officers of the court; second, that they be kept with absolute safety; third, that these things be done in such a way that will entail the smallest possible expense upon Johnson county.

"I do not consider it necessary at this time to have these men taken to Johnson county. I have in view two methods of holding them in custody, both of which will require the assent of the parties accused.

"One is that they be confined at Fort Russell as long as the war department will detain them there; the other that they be confined in the north wing of the penitentiary at Laramie, a portion of the building now unoccupied for any purpose, and where they will not under any circumstances come in contact with any of the convicts confined in another part of the building.

"Should you surrender these men to the judicial department upon this request, my positive order will be given to the officer to whom they are surrendered upon these points in the way I have indicated as to their confinement, and I am satisfied beyond any question that these orders will be obeyed. For this reason I believe that I have a right to make them, and I have never known an officer of Johnson county to disregard any direction I had given him. I must urge upon you, that I insist as soon as the matter can be arranged, wherever these prisoners are detained, they must be kept under the custody of an officer of the court for Johnson county."

On July 5, the prisoners were taken to Laramie where Judge Blake was holding court. Adjutant General Frank Stitzer, of the Wyoming National Guard, accompanied by almost the entire military staff of the governor, accompanied them. They were formally turned over to the deputy sheriff of Johnson county, who took charge of them. An application for a change of venue from Johnson county was made, heard and granted, after a deliberation lasting two weeks, and Cheyenne was selected as the place of trial. The prisoners were then returned to Cheyenne, put in charge of Sheriff A. D. Kelly, and quartered in Keefe's hall, instead of the jail.

On August 7 they were arraigned before Judge Scott, in the district court for Laramie county and three days were consumed in securing a jury. At the close of the third day the sheriff presented a petition to Judge Scott for relief, setting forth that Johnson county was bankrupt; that its officials had not paid the expenses incurred by the detention of the prisoners in Albany county pending the hearing on the motion for a change of venue; that the cost of holding the prisoners, including hall rent, guards and food, was over a hundred dollars a day; that he could not get any money from the Johnson county officials with which to meet these bills; that Johnson county warrants would not take the place of money; that he, as sheriff, would no longer assume responsibility for these current expenses, and prayed for an order of court that would secure him against loss, as he could not longer hold the accused.

When court convened on the morning of August 10, Judge Scott handed down his decision on the above petition which stated that he was unable to issue an order compelling Johnson county to make good the sheriff's disbursements for the maintenance of the prisoners and as he had refused to longer provide for them, the only alternative was to admit them to bail. But as the defense refused to furnish bail, he was forced to release them on their individual recognizances. The prisoners at once signed each his own bail bond for ^20,000 in the two separate cases, and they were all set at liberty, but ordered to appear at the next term of court, in January, 1893.

January 21, 1893, when the case was called for trial nearly all of the cattlemen responded, but the hired gunmen failed to appear. Alvin Bennett, prosecuting attorney for Johnson county, offered a motion to enter a nolle prosequi, to which the attorneys for the defense entered an objection. After discussion the court accepted the motion and the prisoners were discharged. A similar motion was made covering the cases of the hired gunmen who had not appeared, and an order of discharge was entered in the court records, also one rescinding the order of forfeiture of bail bonds.

This action of course ended the trial and although the general public severely criticised the courts, it was conceded by many that it was better to discharge the prisoners than to pretend to keep them in custody when they were as a matter of fact freer to go about the streets and to public places than the men engaged in business or those employed in offices, stores or the shops.

At the meeting of the Wyoming Stockgrowers' Association held in Cheyenne on April 4, 1893, John Clay, president of the association, in referring to the unfortunate affair, said: "Not content with the imposition of financial and climatic troubles another burden had to be added to our lot. After a long period of forbearance and patience from range depredations, both petty and wholesale, the trouble culminated a year ago and the so-called invasion of Johnson county took place, which ended unfortunately and gave rise to an almost interminable amount of bad blood, politically and socially. While the invasion is now consigned to history, it developed, during its progress last spring and the long, weary summer months which followed, a spirit of admiration for all classes of the men who had taken part in the expedition. Under the most trying circumstances they stood shoulder to shoulder, scarce a murmur escaping them. Notwithstanding their errors of judgment, we respect them for their manliness, for their supreme courage under the adverse fire of calumny and the usual kicking man gets when he is down. There will be a day of retribution and the traitors in the camp and in the field will be winnowed like wheat from the chaff."

In connection with the killing of Nate Champion, it is well to mention that he was classed as the most daring cattle thief in the state and several attempts had been made before to kill him. About daylight one morning in November, 1891, four men went to his cabin and two of them broke in the door. They leveled their guns at him and Ross Gilbertson who was in bed with him. Champion started to talk and at the same time reached for his six-shooter. The fellows became rattled and one fired with his revolver within two feet of Champion's face, but owing to the dim light or nervousness, he failed to injure him beyond inflicting some powder burns.

In the fall after the regulators were discharged, Dudley Champion, a brother of Nate, was shot and killed by Mike Shonsy about twenty miles northwest of Lusk. The two men met on the range and after a few words Shonsy pulled his gun and fired, killing Champion instantly. Shonsy, accompanied by a lad who saw the shooting, immediately started for Lusk, where he gave himself up to the officers. A preliminary hearing was at once had, the boy swearing that Champion drew his revolver first, and that Shonsy fired in self- defense. This relieved Shonsy from blame and he was released. A few hours later he took the train for Cheyenne and from there took the afternoon train south, presumably going to Mexico. Twenty-four hours after Shonsy's release by the court at Lusk, other witnesses arrived and it was claimed that Champion had made no gun play and that the killing was unprovoked, cold-blooded murder on the part of Shonsy, but no action was taken to bring him back and answer forthe crime.

A number of other killings occurred as a result of the invasion, but after thirty years, the bad blood has ceased to exist, for many of the men on both sides have been called to that Judgment where justice is done to all.

The killing of the two men and the burning of property by an organized band of men who acted as judge, jury, and executioner, was a regrettable and deplorable affair. It gave to Wyoming a name for lawlessness that kept many good people from coming here and thus retarded our growth and development, but on the other hand, it had its good effect, for many men who had no vocation and existed by semi-lawlessness with perfect security, soon became solid, lawabiding citizens, whose every act would stand the light. The cattle rustlers could see their finish and many of them filed on homesteads and engaged in ranching and stockraising. Then people from other states came and settled and developed the land, turning patches of sagebrush, cactus and greasewood into beautiful fields of alfalfa. This put the large cattle outfits out of business; the open range "with a thousand cattle on every hill" is a thing of the past; comfortable homes and prosperous ranches have been established where there were thousands upon thousands of acres and miles upon miles of barren land without a fence or house in sight. What a wonderful and welcome change!

Three thousand sheep were trailed into Natrona county in the summer of 1888 by Joel J. Hurt to be turned out on the open range. This was the first band of sheep that was brought into the then exclusive cattle country. Now we have more than 300,000 sheep ranging within our borders. The bringing in of these sheep and those that followed caused as much contention and bloodshed as the fights between the cattlemen and the "nesters" and rustlers.

People nowadays will naturally wonder why there should have been so much animosity between two classes of men engaged in similar pursuits in a country which had always been termed the "free and boundless west," where every man was supposed to have an equal chance with every other and where there was room for all. In the beginning there was plenty of room for all, but there came a time when the settlers cut up the country into ranches and the land available for free pasturage shrank until there was room only for the strongest. But this was not the real cause of the contention between the sheepmen and the cattlemen. It arose from the difference between the two classes of livestock and the further fact that the cattlemen had been "monarchs of all they surveyed" on the open range and they were opposed to anyone else coming in who might in any way interfere with them.

The cattle were turned out on the range to wander at their will without being disturbed except by an occasional rustler, but the sheep, the cattlemen claimed, were nomadic and gregarious. Wherever a band of sheep had fed they said the cattle would not go. The argument was put forth that a flock of 3,000 sheep would march across the country, eating the grass down to the roots, and what they did not eat they would tramp out with their sharp little hoofs, and pack the soil and destroy its porosity so that the grass would not grow after they had passed. They would pollute the watering places and leave behind an odor that cattle would not tolerate. These charges, taken in connection with the constantly shrinking free pasturage, were the reasons the cattlemen hated the sheep raisers and tried to drive them out of the country. As a general thing the cattlemen always got the best of the fight, because a band of sheep were generally looked after by two or three men and a dog, while from ten to a dozen cattlemen came, and in the night time, too, to look after the sheepmen.

After the sheepmen came into the cattle country, the days of the "free range," when the grass belonged to whomever chose to take it, were numbered. It was plain to be seen that the loss of the enormous free range would gradually turn the cattlemen into farmers who would feed their cattle in the winter with hay, corn, and cottonseed and it would make ranch hands out of the once free and independent cowboy, and the vast roaming herds of cattle would be gone forever.

There were physical and mental differences between the cowboy and the sheep herder. From the very nature of his occupation, the cowboy was a wild, free being. He broke the savage and almost untamable broncho to the saddle and then rode him. His work was swift and vigorous and his charges were the great, strong, free steers and cows that never knew the touch of human hands. He lived and endured hardships with others of his kind and his pleasures were as fierce as his work. His was the strenuous life.

The sheep herder, on the other hand, pursued his soHtary occupation afoot, his only companions being his dog and his thousands of sheep, which have no individuaHty and are maddeningly, monotonously alike. The very lonesomeness of his occupation made the sheep herder either a morose and sullen brute or a poetic dreamer.

Cowboys were known to stand off from a band of sheep and with their rifles pick off sheep after sheep until they had exhausted all their ammunition, and when they could shoot no more, ride away, exulting over the fact that they had caused a loss to the sheep owner. If a herder should attempt to fight back, he, too, was generally shot at. A favorite source of amusement for some of the cow punchers was to gather a hundred or so head of steers and drive them pell-mell through a flock of sheep, killing many and scattering the rest in all directions. Others have driven hundreds of sheep over a steep precipice, thus causing a great loss to the sheepman. All that was necessary to get a band of sheep started over a bank was to start a few of the leaders off and then the whole band would go over with a rush and cause a "pile-up" of the poor dumb brutes, and they were either killed from the fall or smothered by being piled one on top of the other from ten to twenty deep.

The cattlemen drew an imaginary line on the range which they called a "dead line." While most of the land was owned by the government and the cattleman had no more title to it than the sheepman, thousands of acres of good grazing land were laid out by the cattlemen as the "cattle country," and if a sheepman dared to pass over their dead line with his flock he was visited in the night by a band of men and the herders were killed, the wagons burned and the flocks scattered. Unparalleled and the most sickening barbarity was practiced both to human beings and the poor dumb brutes.

This practice of brutality, destruction, and death was kept up for about twenty years by men who, for the most part, got their start by rustling, and it seemed to meet with approval by some people, and even some of the oflficers of the law and the courts seemed to be but little concerned.

In the Sweetwater country numerous sheep camps were burned, the sheep killed and the herders shot at because the "dead line" was crossed, but the men who committed these depredations were never brought into court for the reason that those who had suffered the loss were reasonably sure that a trial in the courts would result in a farce and only cause more trouble.

War Between Cattlemen And Sheepmen 365

town of Basin, and they clubbed and shot to death about 4,000 head of sheep, burned the camp wagons and shot a team of horses valued at $400. About ^700 worth of grain and provisions were also destroyed. The Gantz sheep, about 7,000 in number, were being taken to the Big Horn forest reserve and the settlers along the foot hills of the mountains complained that the stock w^as being moved unnecessarily slow and that they were destroying the home range of the settlers. The men who committed this crime were so bent on destruction that even the sheep dogs were tied to the wagons and burned. The men who were in charge of the sheep were given some provisions and told to leave the mountains and never return, and they lost no time in complying with the demand, considering themselves fortunate in escaping alive. Mr. Gantz suflFered his loss as the many who had suffered before him and nothing was ever done to bring the men to justice who committed the act, although it was well known who perpetrated the heinous deed.

There was one case, however, where the perpetrators were brought into court. A raid was made April 3, 1909, on No Water creek, in the Ten Sleep country, between Thermopolis and Worland, when Joe Allemand, a sheepman from Natrona county, with his camp mover, Joseph Emge, and sheep herder, Jules Lazier, were shot to death in the night time and their bodies burned. The wagons were destroyed by fire and many sheep were slain. The crime was so revolting that the Wyoming Woolgrowers association offered a large reward for the apprehension of the murderers, and at the session of the grand jury held in Basin the first part of May, true bills were returned against George Sabin, Herbert L. Brink, Milton Alexander, Ed Eaton, Tom Dixon, Charles Faris, and William Keyes. At the November term of the district court Faris and Keyes showed the white feather and turned state's evidence, with the understanding that they should not be prosecuted. Brink was the first to be tried and he was found guilty of murder in the first degree, and was sentenced to be hanged, but a compromise was made with the court and it was understood that the sentence would be commuted to life imprisonment, provided two of the others would plead guilty to murder in the second degree and the other two would plead guilty to arson. It was claimed that Faris and Keyes were the actual murderers, and the court and the people in general naturally felt that it was unfair that they should escape and the others should suffer, but the prosecuting attorney had promised them this reward for turning state's evidence, and they were the chief witnesses against their companions in crime. In accordance with the compromise and agreement Alexander and Sabin pleaded guilty to murder in the second degree and each was sentenced to serve from twenty to twenty-six years in the penitentiary. Tom Dixon and Ed Eaton pleaded guilty to the crime of arson and they were each sentenced to the penitentiary from three to five years. At the same term of the district court a poor Mexican sheep herder, who had shot and killed a gambler because he had been robbed by him, was convicted of murder in the first degree and given a sentence of life in the penitentiary. Judge Parmelee, who presided at the trial of the cattleman, as well as at the trial of the Mexican, was severely condemned by some of the newspapers of the state because of his light sentence upon the men who had committed the atrocious crime of killing the three sheepmen, slaughtering the sheep and destroying the property, and the seemingly severe sentence upon the Mexican sheepherder who had killed a professional gambler who had robbed him of all his money, and to an unprejudiced and unbiased public it would truly seem that the Goddess of Justice did have her face turned to the wall at that term of court.

When the men left the little town of Basin to be taken to the penitentiary there were many prominent people at the railway passenger station to bid them farewell and express the hope that they would all soon be pardoned and be allowed to return home; all but Lorenzo Paseo, the Mexican sheepherder. He received no sympathy and no one expressed the hope that he would be pardoned or that he would ever return, because in the heat of passion he had shot and killed a gambler who had robbed him of his last penny. But the other men had premeditatedly murdered three men, slaughtered a thousand dumb sheep and destroyed by fire the property of the men they had sneaked upon in the night time and killed; these were the men that were attracting the sympathy of the public.

Of the six men, who were taken to the penitentiary, five of them received every consideration that it was possible for the warden to give them. Paseo, however, received no favors, and in the summer of 191 2 he led a revolt by a dozen other convicts and broke through the prison walls and in his attempt to make good his escape, he shot a citizen of Rawlins who attempted to effect his capture, and a few minutes later he himself was shot dead, and thus ended his miserable existence. Ed Eaton, who was to have served three to five years, died on June i, 191 2, just five months before his term would have expired. Tom Dixon served his three-year sentence and was discharged November i, 191 2. Alexander, with the twenty to twentysix year sentence, was paroled on December 14, 1914, and pardoned February 13, 1917. Sabin was soon made a "trusty," or an "honor" convict, and was allowed to work on the public highway instead of inside the prison walls, and on December 17, 1913, while "working" in the Basin country, among his friends, he "escaped" from the guards and has not since been seen by the authorities. A feeble attempt was presumed to have been made by the authorities to capture him, but they were careful not to make the search too diligent. It is claimed that he went to South America. Brink, who was first sentenced to be hanged, but according to agreement the sentence was reduced to life imprisonment, had his sentence commuted by Governor Joseph M. Carey on December 4, 1914, to from twenty-five to twenty-six years. Because of the liberties and favors extended to him by the prison and some of the state authorities Brink was looked upon by many of the convicts as a hero. A few years after his incarceration, a negro, who had committed a heinous crime upon a white woman, was brought into prison because it was feared a mob would take him from the county jail and hang him, but the state prison was not as safe a place as the county jail, for Brink was the leader among the convicts who hanged the negro to the topmost gangway of the cell house in the penitentiary. The state and prison authorities made an "investigation" of the hanging, but they were unable to discover who committed the act, and as the negro deserved to be hanged, it was considered that the job was well executed and it was presumed the authorities did not press the investigation very closely. On December 8, 1914, Brink was paroled and on May 15, 1917, he violated his parole and left the country. Nothing was heard from him until February 11, 1922, when he was returned to the penitentiary to serve out his commuted sentence. He was captured by the authorities of Vancouver, B. C. He had been living with his sister since his escape, and after three children had been born to the brother and sister, as father and mother, he then deserted the poor woman and unfortunate children, and the woman complained to the authorities of her brother's treatment. The authorities returned him to the Wyoming penitentiary, and it is said he is constantly in dread of receiving the same treatment that he helped mete out to the negro who had committed a less revolting crime.

But coming back to the wars between the cattlemen and sheepmen. The Allemand, Enige and Lazier case was similar to many cases that had previously occurred and a number that have since been committed, except that the perpetrators of the crimes were not even brought into court. But now, since it has been learned that the sheep do not devastate the range, befoul the water and "leave an odor that the cattle will not tolerate," and that there is fully as much profit in sheep growing as there is in cattle raising, the dead lines have been removed; cattle and sheep feed on the same range and drink from the same water hole, and many of the early-day cattlemen

"The Monument," cut from a slab of rough Pennsylvania granite, standing about eight feet above the ground, fourteen inches in thickness, with cross arms four and one-half feet long, and weighing several thousand pounds, in a lonely spot along a trail on Monument creek, in Carbon county, about eighteen miles from Alcova and fifty-two miles in a southwesterly direction from Casper, is the silent marker for one of the most deliberate and dastardly murders that has ever been committed in Central Wyoming.

Inscribed on the base of this rough cross, 'way out on the lone prairie, the brief inscription gives but this information: "To the memory of God, and in the name of I. Morris Wain, of Philadelphia, Pa. Born July 12th, 1866, murdered by his guide July 28th, 1888,"

There is a question as to whether the date inscribed on the monument is the correct date upon which the murder was committed, as will be noted from a sketch by Boney Earnest, who claims that he saw Wain and two other men on August 8; and there were two men murdered, instead of one, as the inscription would indicate.

I. Morris Wain of Haverford, Pennsylvania, and C. H. Strong of New York City came west on a hunting, prospecting and pleasure trip in the early spring of 1888.

At Wichita Falls, Texas, they outfitted with a wagon, team of mules and two saddle ponies and came north, arriving in Denver early in June. They remained in that city for a week, and in Denver they hired a man named Thomas O'Brien as cook, guide and teamster, and started for Bozeman, Montana. Near Rock Creek, Wyoming, they found game in abundance and they remained in that vicinity two days, killing game. On July 27 the party reached Boney Earnest's ranch on Canyon creek. Strong talked with Mr. Earnest, and among other things he told him that they were on their way to Bozeman, where they intended buying a bunch of horses, ship them east and sell them at a good profit.

"I saw them again on the 8th of August," says Mr. Earnest, "while I was on my way to Oil City to attend a meeting of the miners. I was accompanied by my wife and Miss Castleberry. We were about three miles from the Sweetwater bridge. Wain was driving the team and Strong and the cook were on the saddle ponies. We did not stop to talk to them, but I wondered why they were going back over the same road that they had come over a week previous.

Guide Murders Two Men 369

"One morning, about a week later, after we had returned home from Oil City, a man came to the ' Pick' ranch, at the mouth of Sand creek, and he had in a tin can the upper and lower jaw bones of a dead man, and the teeth were filled with gold. The man said while he and a number of cowboys from Colonel Torrey's ranch were on their way home from Rock creek they camped at the Point of Rocks over night. The cook went to a clump of willows to get some wood to start a fire, and in this bunch of willows he discovered the body, which was very much decomposed.

"Art Roberts, living at Ferris, was coroner, and he was sent for to make an investigation. We went to the Point of Rocks, gathered up the remains, held an inquest and buried the body. The verdict of the jury was that the man, unknown, came to his death from a gun-shot wound, inflicted by a party or parties unknown.

"I took a silk hankerchief which was around the neck of the dead man, and a silver bangle off from his wrist, hoping that these might lead to a clue to his identity.

"About a week later, while the men of the Pick Cattle company were gathering beef and rounding up cattle in the vicinity of the Point of Rocks, H. A. Burtch, who was wrangling the saddle horses, discovered another body in a gulch, partly covered with brush. When we went over I at once recognized the dead man as the young man. Strong, on account of his perfect teeth. William High, who was sheriff of Carbon county at that time, and Frank Hadsell, his deputy, were notified, and they made every effort possible to trail the murderer, but owing to the fact that there had been several heavy rains, the trail could not be followed, although we did find that the man had gone in the direction of Laramie City. We learned several months later that Ed. White, Ad. Keith and a man named Snider had met the man on the road between the head of the Bates Hole road and the Little Medicine Bow river. The man had the mules hitched to the wagon and the saddle ponies were following, but the men had not heard of the murder, and took it for granted that the man was traveling through the country with his own outfit. These men gave the information that O'Brien was headed in the direction of the Medicine Bow river.

" For more than a month the officers scoured the country, looking for some trail, but were unable to find anything definite until they learned the story of Messrs. White, Keith and Snider. In the meantime the murderer was going back to Colorado as fast as possible, over the same trail that he and his victims had come over.

murdered men had camped. On Dry creek, about eighteen miles from where the two men were killed, we found that the party had camped alongside an irrigation dam. We found where they had had a big fire and the grass was tramped down. There was some paper and other material scattered about in the grass. My brother found a spur about twenty feet from where the fire had been, and on the spur strap was cut in the leather ' Red Dog.' I found several pieces of paper with the name S. M. Wain and J. S. Wain scribbled upon them. In the grass, about forty feet from where the fire had been, I found a letter, which had been torn into small pieces. I gathered up every particle of this letter, and that night at George Mead's ranch, which was about a mile away, we pasted the letter together on some tissue paper, and had no trouble in reading every word of it. The letter was from Miss S. M. Wain, Hamstow Farm, Cheltenham, Pennsylvania, a sister of I. M. Wain. I wrote to the young lady, telling her of the tragedy, and her brother, Jacob S. Wain, immediately left for Wyoming. He came directly to my ranch and I took him to the place where the young men had met their death. He recognized the bangle and the silk handkerchief which I had taken off from the body of his deceased brother. The bodies of both young men were exhumed and taken back east for burial.

"The Monument, or granite cross, that stands on the spot where the crime was committed, was shipped to Rawlins by Mrs. Harrison, a sister of I. M. Wain, and it was erected by me on December 23, 1889."

O'Brien was trailed to Aspen, Colorado, where it was learned that he disposed of the mules and the other property that he had stolen from the men he had murdered. From Aspen he went to Colorado Springs where he stole some horses. He was captured, tried in the courts and convicted of horse stealing and received a sentence of fourteen years in the penitentiary at Canyon City. Messrs. White, Keith, Snider and Frank Harrington, all of whom had seen O'Brien on the range, accompanied Jacob S. Wain to the Canyon City penitentiary, where the murderer was positively identified as the man who had the team of mules, saddle ponies, etc., and was headed toward Colorado.

-Arrangements were made to have the man brought to Carbon county, Wyoming, and stand trial for murder, after he had served his sentence in the Colorado penitentiary for horse stealing, but the fellow died in the penitentiary before he had served his sentence for horse stealing, and thus he escaped the hangman's noose.

THAT marvelous phenomenon, the Chinook wind, is the salvation of the stockman of Natrona county. In the dead of winter, with the feed on the range covered with a foot or eighteen inches of hard-packed snow, and the streams a glare of solid ice, and the cattle, sheep and horses in an almost starved condition, the Chinook wind is even more welcome than the flowers that bloom in the spring. Were it not for the Chinook winds there would be but little stock in Central Wyoming on the open range. In the winter of 1886-7, which has gone down in history as the most severe winter in this part of the country since the memory of man, when thousands of cattle died on the range from starvation and being frozen to death, the Chinook winds, for some unaccountable reason, failed to appear, and snow and ice covered the range from November until March.

The "January thaw" in the Middle States is not to be compared with the Chinook winds, which change the climatic conditions in a very few hours from biting cold to the mild spring weather. Snow banks two and three feet deep disappear as though a blast from a furnace was turned on them; the ice in the streams melts away, and the frost is brought forth from the ground. No other phenomenon in this land of meteorological mysteries is quite so unique and distinctive. From the days of Lewis and Clark the Chinook wind has been a delight and a wonder. Its name is derived from the Chinook nation of Indians, a one-time numerous and powerful people inhabiting the north bank of the Columbia from The Dalles to the ocean. Trappers, herdsmen and early agricultural settlers, noting that it came into the interior from the southwest, called it Chinook, under the somewhat mistaken belief that it flowed out of the Chinook country and drew its warm and melting properties from the mild Japan current. Scientific research of later days has shown that this belief was largely erroneous.

The Chinook is not a moist wind like that which blows in from the Pacific, but derives its snow-melting powers from its exceeding dryness. Vapor-laden winds from the Pacific, rising to great heights in the Cascade mountains are drained of their moisture by that mountain wall and become cold, dry and rarefied in those lofty eleva- tions. In falling from the mountain heights to the plains of the inland empire they are warmed by compression. It has been scientifically determined that the Chinook wind in falling from mountain to plain is warmed at the rate of about one degree for each i8o feet of descent. Here, then, are the peculiar properties of the Chinook wind - warmth and dryness, melting the snows by its low temperature and sucking them up by its thirsty properties.

When the Chinook wind has reached the Rocky mountains after leaving the Cascades it is again moisture laden and this moisture is precipitated by that high range and its deviating spurs. It is rendered dry at the summit of the Rockies and is again warmed by its rapid descent to the plains, and this benign influence is often extended to the Dakotas.

To the people inhabiting the vast interior this Chinook wind has ever been a joy and a mystery. When snows lay deep, the lakes were ice-bound, and Indian herds were famishing, and aborigines, from the Mandans of Dakota to the Yakimas and the Walla Wallas, sought to propitiate this great spirit by incantations and long-continued dances. In after years the white herdsman, despondent, as he saw his horses and cattle dying on the frozen snows, found cheer and returning fortune in its warm and melting breath.

The mirage is another singular phenomenon that often appears on the plains of Wyoming. Unlike the Chinook winds, which make their welcome visits in the winter months, the mirage is a phenomenon of the summer months, and is as oppressive and distressing to the weary, thirsty traveler as the Chinook wind is helpful to the almost frozen, starved animals of the plains. ^ To see a mirage to the best advantage requires favorable conditions, both physical and mental. Not alone must the plain, the atmosphere, and the sun be right, but the effect will be greatly heightened if the mental state of the beholder has been suitably prepared for the phenomenon. To this end, suppose him to be journeying over one of those barren, even tracts which so extensively abound in the deserts of the west. The sun is almost unendurable in its intensity; the ground is parched and dry; the grass withered and sparse; no tree or shrub relieves the landscape; no sign of water is visible anywhere; while the oppressive heat and the cravings of thirst tax his endurance to the utmost. In the midst of his sufferings comes the promise of relief. Several miles ahead of him, in a gentle depression, he distinctly sees a body of water; it may be a river, but more probably a lake. Its surface gleams in the sun and here and there it is roughened by passing breezes. The shore line is distinct and is bordered with objects that look like trees. The sight inspires new life; the spirits rise; and the pace of the traveler is quickened with fresh energy. It is wasted effort on the part of more experienced companions to urge caution in trusting so implicitly to appearances. Confidently he pushes forward, with his eyes fixed on the refreshing sight before him. But as he nears it a change comes over the scene. The surface of the lake begins to show gaps and breaks that he has never noticed on any other lake. These gaps increase as he approaches; the water surface diminishes; it begins to have a trembling, shimmering appearance; it finally vanishes from sight; and when the traveler reaches the spot he is still surrounded by the same cheerless landscape over which he has already traveled so far. With what tenfold power does his thirst now come back, enhanced by the bitter disappointment! The lesson of the mirages or "false ponds" was hard to learn and it required many a chastening such as has been described to place one fully on his guard against it.

The cause of the phenomenon of the mirage is not perfectly understood, and has received a variety of explanations, some maintaining that it is due to refraction alone, others to reflection. Strange as it may seem, these false appearances, if we may trust the many accounts of observers, are sometimes erect, at other times inverted. The necessary conditions of an eflPective mirage are a broad plain with an extensive horizon free from conspicuous undulations; a dry, hard ground which will reflect readily the rays of the sun; warm, dry and clear weather, so that the eye can easily scan the ground for several miles.

Wislizenus holds that the true mirage always shows objects double, the lower erect by refraction through the stratum of air next to the ground, and the upper inverted by reflection against the surface of a different stratum some distance above. Another authority says that the mirage is an optical illusion, occasioned by the refraction of light through contiguous masses of air of different density; such refraction not infrequently producing the same sensible effect as direct reflection. It consists in an apparent elevation or approximation of coasts, mountains, ships, and other objects, accompanied by inverted images. In deserts, where the surface is perfectly level, a plain thus assumes the appearance of a lake, reflecting the shadows of objects within and around it. The mirage is commonly vertical, that is, presenting an appearance of one object over another, like a ship above its shadow in the water. The mirage in most cases is produced by reflection from the desert sand.

Whatever may be the true explanation, the delusion is a perfect one, and its tantalizing effect upon the thirsty wayfarer is more distressing than the thirst itself.

"Hell's Half Acre," about fifty miles west from Casper, on the Yellowstone highway, is one of the natural curiosities in Natrona county that attracts a great many visitors. It contains some three hundred acres of land, which, in March, 1922, by an act of congress, through the efforts of the Casper Chamber of Commerce, was withdrawn from all forms of entry, and Natrona county agreed to accept it and protect it as a public park provided the land was given to the county, and in December, 1922, Senator Warren introduced a bill favoring the turning over of this land to Natrona county.

In the early days this geological freak of land was known as the "Devil's Kitchen" which, on account of its occupying more than three hundred acres of land, instead of half an acre, was a much more appropriate name than it now bears. Who gave the place the name of "Devil's Kitchen" is not known, but it is believed to have received its present name, and the one that it will no doubt in the future be known by, through some one who had confounded it with the original "Hell's Half Acre," in Natrona county, which will hereafter be described, together with an explanation as to why and how it received its name.

The original "Hell's Half Acre" in Natrona county was given its name by the cowboys in the early days. This piece of bad land is seldom seen and nowadays is rarely referred to or thought of, since the days of the open range is a thing of the past. It is a piece of boggy land on the north side of the Platte river, about twenty-two miles southwest from the city of Casper. There is a large bend in the river at this point and there are high banks on the south and east, and on the north is a stretch of meadow land consisting of fifteen or twenty acres. But before you reach this meadow land from the north, you must pass through a patch of bad land which is covered with what first appears to be a bed of white ashes, but this is the scum of alkali which has come to the top of the marshy patch. The place was known only to the cowboys who in the fall of the year came here at the time of the round-up to get their cattle from the pasture land further to the north.

T. J. Healy, known as "Black Tex," owned this patch of land and he built a cabin near the river. He and his friends often remained here to rest for a few days after a hard ride with a bunch of stolen

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The cowboys named this marshy spot "Hell's Half Acre" because it was such a rough, barren, and boggy piece of ground, and that its name is very appropriate will be appreciated by anyone who may be unfortunate enough to ever pass that way.

But referring to the original "Devil's Kitchen," now called "Hell's Half Acre," it being located alongside the Yellowstone highway, naturally attracts the attention of the thousands of visitors who pass by on their way to the Yellowstone National park. In this weird depression there are deep caverns, crevices and pits, and there are many fantastic shapes resulting from the wearing away of friable material; there are towers, spires, buttresses and other architectural effects, which suggest the ruins of man's creation, rather than the wearing away of the formation of the earth; here and there standing alone are quaint forms, carved by wind and weather out of the volcanic matter, and then again there are a number of places the effect of which is that of the pyramids of Egypt, dropped down into this not un-Egyptian landscape. It is not easy to depict a scene like this; it is too altogether unusual; too shifting; too grand.

And while it is curious and wonderful to look upon, it could hardly be expected to inspire one to poetical verse, but it did have such an effect upon a lady from California, who had viewed all the wonderful sights in the Yellowstone National park without any poetical symptoms breaking out. Two verses of the six stanzas which the lady indited are herewith produced, not because of the beautiful sentiment expressed in the verse, but just to show the effect the scene created in the mind of the lady.

The ground in and around this formation is entirely useless for grazing or any other purposes, and is classed, so far as being of real value, with the thousands of acres of the other "bad lands" in the state.

When this part of the country was controlled by the Indians this patch of land was called the "Burning Mountain, near Powder river." When Bonneville visited the place in 1832, according to Washington Irving's description it was "held in superstitious awe by the Indians and considered a great marvel by the trappers." He said: "It is abounding with anthracite coal. Here the earth is hot and cracked; in many places emitting srrioke and sulphurous vapors, as if covering concealed fires. A volcanic tract of simdar character is found on Stinkingwater river, one of the tributaries of the Big Horn, which takes its unhappy name from the odor derived from sulphurous springs and streams. This last-mentioned place was first discovered by John Colter who, in 1808, came upon it in the course of his lonely wanderings and gave such an account of its gloomy terrors, its hidden fires, smoking pits, noxious streams, and the all-pervading smell of brimstone, that it received, and has ever since retained among trappers, the name of 'Colter's Hell.'"

The coal from this "burning mountain" has long ago been consumed and there are pits, caves, and caverns in the ground which now present the appearance of the inoperating pits of Hades, as is imagined by some people. It is truly a curious and weird formation and will always attract attention.