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diff --git a/78152-0.txt b/78152-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e76bbe4 --- /dev/null +++ b/78152-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5206 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78152 *** + + + + + POWDER RIVER + INVASION + + WAR ON THE + RUSTLERS + IN 1892 + + [Illustration] + + _Written by_ +A. S. Mercer+ + + _Rewritten by_ +John Mercer Boots+ + + + + + Copyrighted September 1, 1923 + By JOHN MERCER BOOTS + All Rights Reserved + + + + + PREFACE + + +The following pages have been written and tied together for the purpose +of giving to the world the true story of the invasion of Wyoming’s +soil by the cattlemen of the plains. It is not sent out as a literary +production, but an honest statement of the facts as they occurred. +Personal acquaintance with the principal actors and accurate general +knowledge of the country and its conditions have given me unusual +facilities for gathering reliable data. (Every statement herein made is +the truth.) + + + + + CONTENTS + + + Page + + Title 1 + + Preface 3 + + Introductory 7 + + Chapter I 15 + + Chapter II 18 + + Chapter III 23 + + Chapter IV 39 + + Chapter V 42 + + Chapter VI 49 + + Chapter VII 51 + + Chapter VIII 62 + + Chapter IX 66 + + Chapter X 68 + + Chapter XI 78 + + Chapter XII 89 + + Chapter XIII 91 + + Chapter XIV 95 + + Chapter XV 101 + + Chapter XVI 103 + + Chapter XVII 109 + + Conclusion 112 + + Appendix 113 + + + + + INTRODUCTORY + + +The vast region of country lying between the Missouri River on the east +and the Sierra Nevada Mountains on the west, an area covering nearly +two-fifths of the surface of the United States of America, was until +recent years considered an unproductive waste, suited only to occupancy +by wild beasts of prey, the bison and the Indian. In the “days of ’49,” +when an almost unbroken line of wagons stretched across the plains, and +for a decade following, it was supposed to be forever set apart as the +summer grazing grounds of nature’s untamed herds; to be the home of +man--never. + +About this time belated freight trains, drawn by hundreds of footsore +oxen, were caught in the eastern foothills of the Rocky Mountains by +the early snowfall. Human nature revolted at the suggestion, but there +was nothing left for the train masters but to get into such winter +quarters as they could construct, turning the dumb brutes loose on the +creek bottoms to perish or live on such herbage as they could find. +Many a tender-hearted frontiersman was moved almost to tears at the +thought of his faithful beasts being left in the wilds as food for +wolves. What, then, was their joy when the springtime came and the +cattle were found not only to have escaped the fangs of the wolves and +mountain lions, but to be fat and sleek, ready for the onward march. + +These revelations becoming generally known, and mineral discoveries +being made in the mountain valleys that attracted a considerable +population of gold seekers, adventurous cattlemen brought herds from +the old states and from the grassy plains of Texas to supply the +mountain markets and the military posts scattered through the Indian +country for the protection of the miners and immigrants. These herds +all readily adapted themselves to their surroundings, grew and waxed +fat, thus demonstrating that the grasses of the plains, the valleys and +the foothills were of the most nutritious character. Ascertaining that +no preparation of winter food was necessary for the roving herds, the +whole region was soon filled with cattle, the farmers of the states +and the ranchmen of Texas were all called upon to contribute to the +great herds being located wherever grass and water could be found in +juxtaposition. These herds numbered all the way from one thousand head +up to fifty thousand, and in two or three instances over a hundred +thousand were claimed by one company. The price of beef ruled high +on the Eastern markets, and for a time all the ranchmen made money +rapidly. The cost of caring for or “running” a herd was lessened in +proportion to the increase in numbers, and this necessarily led to +consolidations by purchase or the formation of companies and the +absorption of small herds. Large dividends were declared and a craze +for cattle company investments was created in the East and also in the +British Isles. Soon the bulk of the holdings passed into the hands of +corporations and high-salaried officers took charge of the business, +living luxuriously at the club houses in the various towns and trusting +the real management of the herds and ranches to subordinates, sometimes +with, but more frequently without, practical experience. + +This was all very well while the markets ruled high and a +thousand-pound steer brought, at the Chicago Stock Yards, sixty to +seventy dollars. If expenses piled up and the output of ripe steers in +the autumn was likely to prove inadequate for the meeting of current +expenses and the declaring of the usual annual dividend on the stock, a +bunch of two-year-old steers and the culls from the threes and fours, +unfit for beef, were rounded up, shipped and sold as feeders, the +proceeds going to swell the regular profits on the business and cheer +the heart of the stockholder. This robbery of the herd was all right +from the manager’s standpoint so long as it tickled the avarice of the +Eastern or foreign shareholders and prevented a careful investigation +of the methods employed. But it was wholesale robbery just the same, +and sooner or later must be discovered and charged up to those +responsible therefor. + +Meantime the country was virtually overrun with cattle, the ranges +crowded and the grass eaten until the winter food was too short to +carry the stock through the cold weather. + +The range cattle industry is based on the theory and fact that the +grasses of the so-called arid region grow up in the spring, quickly +ripen and cure in the sun, retaining all of the sugar, starch, gluten, +etc., in a more or less crystallized state, thus affording a really +rich winter diet for all kinds of herbivorous animals. So long as the +requisite proportion of the growth was allowed to mature and properly +cure, the cattle thrived in winter nearly as well as in summer--at +least they remained strong and healthy during the stormy weather +and quickly laid on flesh when the green grass came. With the range +overcrowded the grass was largely consumed in summer and very little +was left to grow tall and carry rich seeds for winter feeding. The +winter range should not be grazed in summer. + +This shortage of feed, coupled with a few exceptionally hard winters, +caused an excessive mortality among all classes of cattle and reduced +the calf crop fully one-half in all the mixed or breeding herds. Very +soon this commenced to tell in the output of beef steers and greatly +reduced the income of the company, so that more robbery of the herd had +to be resorted to in order to pay a dividend and keep up the market +price of the stock shares. + +Then came a sudden and marked decline in beef values at the great +market centers. The steers that had brought anywhere from fifty to +seventy dollars at Chicago, now sold for from twenty-five to fifty, a +shrinkage of nearly one-half as a rule. This decline was due, first, to +the real falling off in beef values, and second, to the generally poor +condition of the range shipments in consequence of overstocking and the +resulting scarcity of feed. + +Under these circumstances the company managers were forced to ship +beef steers, dry cows and heifers, every fat, available two-year-old +and sometimes the thrifty yearlings, in order to balance the expense +and dividend account. But to these temporary make-shifts there must +eventually come an end. Thus it is evident that the general managers of +cattle companies found themselves in exceedingly hot water--between the +devil and the deep sea, so to speak. Something had to be done; their +integrity and financial reputation demanded action. Dividends were +passed and shareholders demanded the reason. To explain that the herds +had been systematically robbed of future beef steers in the shipment of +unripe cattle would be to impeach themselves. To admit that the hard +winters and overstocking of ranges had decimated the herds would not be +in harmony with official reports rendered. Some other excuse must be +found. Eureka, says one. “Thieves!” he ejaculated, and forthwith the +cry echoed and re-echoed over the entire range cattle country. Of the +evolutions following this remarkable discovery a description will be +given in another chapter. + +Cattle and horse stealing are old industries, older than modern +civilization. Christ was crucified between thieves, and the books +of Moses are not silent on this ancient and modern accomplishment. +Cattle stealing on the ranges by means of changing the brands has been +practiced to a certain extent by a limited number of disreputable +people ever since the beginning of the range cattle industry, and it +will always continue. The enactment of laws restrains but it does not +prevent crime. As a matter of fact there is less stealing and less +lawlessness generally on the plains of the West than in any other part +of the world. However contrary to the general theory that our advancing +civilization is elevating and refining it may seem, it is nevertheless +true that with the increase of years and population there is an +increased percentage of crime. The great mass of Wyoming’s population +is made up of honest men and women, as the following figures from the +United States census report of 1890 fully establish: + +“While the Northeastern states, which are supposed to be most +civilized and with the least number of criminals, have just 1,600 +prisoners to the million of people, Wyoming has only 1,200 to the +million--one-fourth less. The states and territories from Nebraska +to the Pacific average 2,200 prisoners to the million; but Wyoming +scarcely more than half this. Idaho has 1,700 to the million; Colorado, +2,200; California, 2,800--Wyoming has a remarkably small ratio--nearly +three times as many. Nevada, with one-fourth less population than +Wyoming, has 3,300, two and three-fourths times as many; Arizona, with +about the same population as Wyoming, has 4,200, three and one-fourth +times as many offenders as Wyoming. + +“Geographical comparison is equally striking. Wyoming is larger than +Massachusetts, New York, New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut, Rhode +Island, Maryland, New Jersey, Delaware and the District of Columbia. +While these communities had in 1890, 23,000 prisoners, Wyoming had +only 74. Wyoming is larger than Maine, Pennsylvania and Maryland +put together, yet while these old, well-settled states had 7,000 +criminals, all that great region had but one-hundredth part as many. +Even little Delaware had nearly double the number of criminals that +Wyoming had, and little Rhode Island, about one-ninetieth the size of +Wyoming, had over seven times as many. Massachusetts had seventy times +as many; New York, 1,400 times as many.” + +The few scalawags who live by plundering their neighbors are generally +confined to the villages and towns where they can dispose of their +ill-gotten gains. Considering the fact that the hundreds of thousands +of cattle running on our plains and mountain sides are rarely seen +by their owners, or herders, more than once a year, at the general +round-up, when the calves are branded with the character or letter worn +by their mother, the small loss from theft is not only remarkable, but +a high testimonial to the good character of our people. + +The live stock industry of Wyoming has been the leading pursuit for +more than a double decade of years, and the stockmen have dominated the +political and financial policy of the territory from its establishment +in 1868 down to 1892. The Legislature has always been largely made up +of live stock owners or local representatives of Eastern and foreign +cattle syndicates, and until the last session of that body, in January, +1893, the laws have been framed to suit the manipulators of the stock +interest. In 1872 the Wyoming Stock Growers’ Association organized, +the membership comprising most of the leading stock growers of the +commonwealth and many citizens from the adjoining territories. This +body was a strong, centralized power, and for years virtually shaped +the territorial policy and socially controlled throughout the realm. +Legislative enactments first assumed form in the councils of the +Executive Committee of the Association, and through its social prestige +were popularized with the masses, even before adoption as laws. Thus, +through the agency of the Stock Association and the stockmen in the +several legislatures, the stock-growing industry was in full command +of the law-making department. Naturally they everywhere dominated. The +people acquiesced because of the magnitude of the cattle interest. + +About 1889 conditions began to change. The people became restless under +existing policies and demanded a new deal in the interest of the +masses. Settlements had formed along the valleys in the northern and +central portions of the state, where water could be had for irrigation +purposes, and comfortable country homes were already in existence, with +the promise of many accessions in the near future and the making of +prosperous and happy communities. The settlers by far outnumbered the +cattlemen, and they, quite reasonably, thought they had some rights the +cattlemen were bound to respect. More or less friction resulted, for +which, in all human probability, some blame attaches to both parties. +Notwithstanding this condition of affairs, the country continued +prosperous in a fair degree, and new homes were being made along +all the water courses. This was the situation up to the time of the +invasion, the description of which appears in succeeding chapters. + +For the better understanding of the general reader, it is perhaps +advisable to explain more in detail the difference between the +conditions surrounding the range cattle business in its early existence +and those prevailing during the period immediately preceding and +leading up to the time of the invasion. In the early days the country +was open from Montana to Texas; the plains and foothills were well set +in grass; the streams generally were partially or fully lined with +brush and the cattle roamed at will, finding abundant food everywhere. +When a blizzard from the north prevailed the animals headed south and +walked until the storm ceased, sometimes going more than a hundred +miles without stopping. When the storm was over the tired cattle laid +down to rest. A few hours later, disturbed by the pangs of hunger, they +rose, turned their heads toward their home range and quietly grazed on +their way north. Did not a second blizzard interpose and drive them +farther south, the warm days of spring would find most of the herd on +its accustomed feeding grounds. Did the winter prove severe and storm +follow storm in rapid succession, the cattle would be found hundreds of +miles from their home range at the spring round-up, whence they would +be sent back by the cowboys. Instances are of record where Wyoming +cattle drifted during the winter three hundred miles, to the Arkansas +River. The general round-up system in vogue all over the range country +made the return of drifted cattle almost a certainty. Thus, the losses +were merely nominal, and the herds were in good condition each spring. + +During the latter period under review material changes had come about. +The luxuriant growth of grass was found only in small areas; the brush +along the streams was largely destroyed, so that browsing, that in the +early days saved the lives of thousands of cattle, was no longer a +resource; the homeseeker had squatted along the rich valleys, and long +lines of wire fences obstructed the free movement of cattle before the +storm; the railroad lands had been sold and largely fenced, thus more +effectually hemming in the storm-pushed animals. A striking peculiarity +of the range-raised cattle is that if you destroy the perfect liberty +of action they at once become dependent--lose their will power and +rustling qualities. Illustrative of this numerous instances could be +cited where range cattle, drifting before a storm, came upon a fence +that they could not pass through and in utter helplessness walked back +and forth along the fence until they fell exhausted, one upon another, +and died by the hundred. + +With their ranges restricted and fence obstructions on all sides, it +became evident to cattle owners that the open range business must soon +be reduced to a matter of history, or the settlements in the country be +discouraged and the obstructions removed. The paramount question was: +“Which of these conditions shall be permitted to materialize?” + +Stockmen complained bitterly of the failure of the courts to convict +persons indicted or arrested for the theft of cattle and made this +their rallying cry. There was a very potent reason for whatever truth +these allegations contained. + +Up to 1884 cowboys were chosen with an eye to their expertness in the +use of the rope and branding iron. In addition to their regular monthly +wages it was quite common for herd owners to pay the boys from $2.50 to +$5 per head for all the “mavericks” they could put the company’s brand +on, and “rustling for mavericks” in the spring was in order all over +the range country. It is currently reported that one cattleman, now +high in political preferment, raised the price to $7.50 per head, and +in consequence made what newspaper men call a “scoop” on his brethren, +who tarried behind in the $5 list. + +This practice taught the cowboy to look upon the unbranded, motherless +calf as common practice or public property, to be gathered in by the +lucky finder. + +Spurred on by the secret practice of a few cattlemen in advancing the +price of mavericks to cowboy rustlers, the stock association prepared +the “Maverick bill,” which was passed by the legislature in 1884. +This law made it a felony to brand a maverick, save under direction +of an appointee of the stock association, and then with the letter +M, as the property of the state, to be sold each April in advance of +their gathering, to the highest bidder for cash, certified checks +being required to accompany the bids for the estimated amount of the +purchase. The money went to the state and was used in paying the +expenses of the cattle round-up and inspection. The law was declared +unconstitutional by many of the leading lawyers, and deemed to be in +the interest of corporations with large holdings. + +It was directly contrary to the education previously given the cowboys, +and juries made up in whole or in part of old-timers naturally +hesitated in the matter of declaring a man a thief for doing what the +law-makers themselves had taught the people to do. Hence, there was +some trouble in convicting men for appropriating mavericks, but when +branded cattle were stolen and proofs made, convictions followed. + + + + + CHAPTER I. + + WAR ON THE RUSTLERS--THE HANGING OF JIM AVERILL AND “CATTLE KATE” ON + THE SWEETWATER + + +There being a few reckless fellows in various parts of the state who +lived by the theft of cattle and horses, it was comparatively an easy +matter to create the impression that the losses sustained by cattlemen +were much greater than the facts supported. It was as easy to say that +a hundred big steers had been taken as to tell the truth and say that +one or two were missing, and that some one had undoubtedly stolen +them. This report of wholesale stealing excited the sympathy of the +people generally, and here was a point gained. So many cattle could +not be stolen by the few known thieves; there must be hundreds engaged +in the nefarious business. Of whom does this army of brand-burners +consist, was a very natural question. Somebody answered, “The little +stockman and settler.” Very soon it seemed to be understood that the +owners of large herds looked upon all the settlers and homeseekers +as rustlers among the herds for mavericks (unbranded animals), and +the name “Rustler” was used as synonymous with settler. This free use +of an offensive term created more or less bad blood and was a direct +encouragement to the actually vicious, because they could commit more +thefts and charge them to the settlers. + +Keeping in mind the fact, stated in the introduction, that the settler +was an eyesore to the ranchman, by reason of his fencing up the best +lands, it may be seen that the latter was an interested spectator, +if not an active promoter, of the attaching of the disgraceful title +of Rustler to all country homeseekers. In fact, public opinion has +settled down to the belief that the corporation managers conceived the +Rustler howl for the purpose of securing public sympathy for their +future efforts to “run the settler out” by murder, assassination and +incendiarism. + +The first open and murderous attack made upon the settler by the +cattlemen of the then territory, was in the summer of 1889, on the +Sweetwater, in Carbon County. James Averill had taken a claim on the +rich valley lands and opened a small store, where a postoffice had been +established, with Averill as postmaster. Adjoining Averill’s claim +“Cattle Kate” (Ella Watson) had also taken a claim. These claims were +in the center of a large section of country occupied by a cattle ranch, +and the presence of the squatters or settlers there was distasteful +to the “Lord of the Manor.” Averill sold whisky, but was a quiet, +peaceably disposed person, with many friends among the cowboys and the +settlers in the outlying districts. He was never accused of cattle +stealing. Cattle Kate was a lewd woman and spent part of her time in +an annex of Averill’s house. She had a small pasture enclosed and +gradually accumulated a bunch of young cattle, variously reported at +from fifty to eighty head. These she had purchased from the cowboys +and ranchmen. The large cattlemen charged that these cattle had been +stolen from them by the cowboys and given to Cattle Kate in the way of +business exchange; but no civil or criminal action was ever begun in +the courts to prove these allegations. + +Defying all forms of law, ten cattlemen rode up to Averill’s store and +with guns pointing at their victims, took Averill and the woman out of +the house and hanged them until they were dead. There was known to be +one young man present as a witness, and another party was reported to +have been near enough to identify the lynchers. The boy was an invalid +and was taken in charge by the cattlemen. He lingered some weeks and +died--rumor strongly insisting--at the hands of his protectors, by +the administration of a slow poison. The second party gave the list +of those engaged in the tragedy and they were reported to the Carbon +County Grand Jury. Meantime the informant was hunted like a wild beast, +and as he failed to appear before the grand jury, and has never been +seen or heard from since a few days after the hanging, the supposition +is that he sleeps beneath the sod in some lonely mountain gorge where +naught but the yelp of the passing wolf disturbs the solemnity of his +last resting place. Or, perchance, this same howling beast picked the +bones and left them to bleach on the barren hillside. + +When the court convened and the grand jury was called no case was made +against the little band of prominent citizens who had arrogated to +themselves the power over life, and they were discharged. But the crime +of taking two lives without a trial by jury had been committed just +the same, and the disgrace of hanging a woman fastened upon the state. +This incident greatly excited the people throughout the territory and +widened the breach already opening between the ranchman and the settler. + +On the other hand, the success of the “enterprise,” and the failure to +successfully prosecute the perpetrators of the outrage, gave special +encouragement to the stock growers and they determined to “continue the +good work.” + + + + + CHAPTER II. + + THE HANGING OF WAGGONER NEAR NEWCASTLE--ATTACK UPON NATHAN D. CHAMPION + AND ROSS GILBERTSON ON POWDER RIVER--BRUTAL AND COWARDLY MURDER OF + JOHN A. TISDALE AND ORLEY E. JONES IN JOHNSON COUNTY + + +Emboldened by exemption from prosecution for the Sweetwater executions, +the cattle ring determined to begin a systematic and indiscriminate +slaughter of their supposed enemies. They had in their employ men of +known recklessness and daring, and apparently the plan was to have +these hired assassins begin on the eastern side of the state and pick +off their men as they came to them. The first job was the hanging of +Waggoner, a few miles from Newcastle, on the morning of June 4th, 1891. + +Three men went to his house and with false papers took him under +arrest. He was alone with his wife and two small children, so his +friends were ignorant of his arrest; in fact, his wife supposed he had +gone with friends and quietly awaited his return, unsuspicious of foul +play. The body was found on the 12th of June hanging to a tree in a +gulch some miles away, since known as “Dead Man’s Canyon.” When found +the mustache had dropped from the flesh, the face was black, the hands +pinioned behind and decomposition rapidly doing its work. + +Naturally great excitement prevailed in the community when the +discovery of the body was made, and for a time there seemed a +likelihood of more trouble. The savage brutality characterizing the +act of leaving a human body hanging in the woods to be eaten by +vultures or devoured by wolves was calculated to stir the blood of +the average citizen. But the cattlemen’s domination in the community +proved superior to the resisting forces and the matter was dropped +after a partial investigation, with no arrests made. Circumstances +quite clearly pointed to certain men as the lynchers, but in Western +parlance, they “had a pull,” and no official action was taken. + +Waggoner came to Wyoming from Nebraska and was engaged in the horse +raising business. His herd increased quite rapidly and the stockmen +called him a rustler. This was never established and today there are +many reputable people who declare that he was brave, kind hearted, +generous and a law-abiding citizen. His 1,000 head of horses have been +virtually lost to the heirs by legal protection, but thus far none of +them has been identified as “stolen.” + +Just before daylight on the morning of November 1st, 1891, four men +entered the cabin of W. H. Hall, on Powder River, where Nathan D. +Champion and Ross Gilbertson were living. As the door swung open it +stood against the foot of the bunk occupied by Champion. With pistols +pointed, one of the party said, “Give up; we have got you this time,” +and immediately fired at the body of Champion. The latter seized his +revolvers from under his pillow and commenced shooting, whereupon the +would-be murderers escaped from the house. The blood at the door, the +gun, clothing and horses left near the cabin not only evidenced the +fact of some effective shooting on the part of Champion, but gave +identification as to the assaulters. Joe Elliott was arrested, charged +with attempt to murder, and on a preliminary hearing put under $5,000 +bonds. The witnesses having been killed or run out of the country, the +case was finally dismissed. + +Defeated in their attempt to kill Champion and Gilbertson, and getting +the worst of the house-breaking plan, the stockmen naturally put their +heads together to devise other methods of procedure. Bodily safety +seemed to be a controlling idea in the new system of campaign, which +proved to be that of ambushing. District Court met in Buffalo late in +November, 1891, and business of one kind or another called in many of +the country people. This would afford the desired opportunity to waylay +their victims on the road going to or returning from the county seat. +True to the well-matured plans, the killing began on the evening of the +28th of November. + +Orley E. Jones, familiarly known as “Ranger Jones,” a young man of 23 +years, went to Buffalo to arrange for lumber to complete his house on +his claim, expecting to get married as soon as the building was ready +for occupancy. He started home on the afternoon of the 28th, driving +two horses to a buckboard. At the crossing of Muddy Creek, fifteen +miles out from town, he was shot three times by someone in hiding under +the bridge. The wagon was taken to a gully some distance from the road, +the horses turned loose, and Jones’ body left in the buckboard, the +murderer or murderers seeking safety in flight. + +J. A. Tisdale, who lived sixty miles from Buffalo, had gone in to +purchase winter supplies for his family and, after a few days’ visit, +started home on the evening of the 30th, spending the night at the +Cross H ranch, four miles out. Tisdale stated to friends in Buffalo +that he had overheard Frank M. Canton tell Fred Hesse that he (Canton) +would take care of Tisdale, and that he feared he would be killed on +the road home. He was nervous and uneasy, and as a precaution bought +a double-barreled shotgun to carry. A local writer speaking of this +incident, says: + +“Tisdale still showed his uneasiness at the Cross H ranch, and that +night had the window blinds all closed and told one of the boys there +that he thought the cowmen were going to kill him. He started the next +morning on his journey home. Three miles on his murderer was lying +in a gulch within twenty feet of the road, waiting for his victim to +approach. Slowly but surely Tisdale, with his heavy load, was going +to meet his death at the hands of the cowardly fiend. He approached, +passed, and when twenty-five feet by, the murderer’s rifle belched +forth its deadly contents. The first shot, from appearances, struck +the handle of his six-shooter, which he had under his coat on the +left side, and glanced off. He had evidently tried to cock and shoot +his shotgun then, for one of the cartridges was indented slightly, as +though he had drawn the hammer back part way, and it had then slipped +from his thumb, he having received a death shot in the side before he +had time to fully cock it, and the poor fellow fell back on his load +shot to death.” + +To avoid immediate discovery, the wagon and team were driven half a +mile below, the horses shot and the wagon and dead man left out of +sight from the road. But Charles Basch, approaching from the south on +horseback, had witnessed at least a part of the murderous deed, and +he rode to Buffalo and gave notice of same. Basch charged Frank M. +Canton with being the murderer. Sheriff Angus sent a deputy and a small +posse after the body and it was taken to town. The village was full of +country people, and excitement ran high. About the time of the arrival +of Tisdale’s body, Jones’ brother reached town, having grown nervous +over his non-appearance. A searching party was quickly organized and in +the evening the body of Ranger Jones was discovered in a gully near the +crossing of the Muddy, as detailed above, having lain in the buckboard +for three days. Here was cause for still greater excitement, but the +officer of the law had no trouble in preserving order. + +Charles Basch having accused Frank M. Canton with the murder of +Tisdale, it was generally believed that he also ambushed and murdered +Jones, though a few persons thought Fred Hesse was the guilty party, +taking the cue from Tisdale’s remark that he had overheard Canton tell +Hesse that he would “take care of Tisdale,” thus implying that that was +his share of the bloody work, and that others were to do their share. + +Canton was arrested and given a preliminary hearing before Justice of +the Peace Parmalee. Two days were spent in the trial, when the accused +was released. + +The people freely charged the court with corruption and declared the +evidence ample to justify the placing of the prisoner behind the +bars without bail. Only the presence of cool heads in the community +prevented the wreaking of vengeance upon Canton and some of his +sympathizers. Canton and Hesse left the state in a few days. Some +time later new and material evidence was found, and a new information +was filed. Canton was in the state of Illinois, and Governor Barber +was asked to issue a requisition for his return. This request the +governor refused. In March, 1892, Canton returned to Cheyenne to join +the invaders, and the papers were served upon him. Laramie City being +in the same judicial district with Buffalo, Canton was taken before +Judge Blake in chambers, and given a hearing. He was held in bonds +of $30,000, for which sum the following named persons qualified as +sureties, the bond bearing date of April 4th, 1892: + +Hubert E. Teschemacher, Wm. C. Irvine, E. S. Rouse Boughton, Fred G. +S. Hesse, Lafayette H. Parker, A. R. Powers, Joseph G. Pratt, Elias W. +Whitcomb, Arthur B. Clarke, John N. Tisdale, David R. Tisdale, James W. +Hammond, Charles S. Ford, Henry W. Davis, George P. Bissell, William E. +Guthrie, Ralph M. Friend, George W. Baxter, Hiram B. Ijams, Frank H. +Laberteaux and Ranslaer S. Van Tassell. + +These cowardly shootings in the back from places of safety completed +a list of dead at the hands of the cattle barons as follows: Jim +Averill, Ella Watson, Tom Waggoner, O. E. Jones and J. A. Tisdale, to +say nothing of the attempts to murder, and yet they went unwhipped +of justice, to plan and execute other forms of oppression and other +methods of murder. No wonder the people of the state everywhere looked +upon the cattlemen as being arrayed against them and as the enemies +of true progress and development in the commonwealth. The eyes of the +masses were opened to the situation. + + + + + CHAPTER III. + + ORGANIZING THE INVASION--THE WYOMING STOCK GROWERS’ ASSOCIATION AS A + PROMOTER--CHEYENNE THE RENDEZVOUS OF THE PLOTTERS--ACTING GOVERNOR + AMOS W. BARBER PREPARING THE WAY FOR THE INVADERS--THE PRESS OF THE + LAND HOODWINKED INTO FALSE STATEMENTS TO PREPARE THE PUBLIC MIND TO + SYMPATHIZE WITH COMING EVENTS + + +The invasion of the state of Wyoming by a band of cutthroats and hired +assassins in April, 1892, was the crowning infamy of the ages. Nothing +so cold-blooded, so brutal, so bold and yet so cowardly was ever before +recorded in the annals of the world’s history. The results proved +disastrous to the outlaws themselves and cast a shadow upon the name +of the state that will require a decade of years to dissipate by the +sunlight of a continuous prosperity. The crime was so great that the +lapse of years will only tend to magnify it in the minds of all readers +of Wyoming history. In this case the sins of men will live after +them. The audacity, the foolhardiness, of the gang of desperadoes was +such that a study of how it was planned and upon what they relied for +success, seems a necessity in order to convey to the mind of the reader +the impression that the whole story is not a fiction, the work of an +overwrought imagination. Hence, this stopping by the way to illustrate +the various steps taken. + +It is believed that early in the year 1891 it was determined by the +stockmen to terrorize the ranchmen and rustlers of the northern part +of the state and drive them from the ranges. How, it mattered not. H. +B. Ijams, secretary of the Board of Live Stock Commissioners, takes +to himself credit for suggesting to the board the idea of seizing the +cattle shipped to market by such persons as the stockmen saw proper to +class as “rustlers,” have the money sent to him as secretary of the +board, in Cheyenne, and force the shippers to make a pilgrimage to the +capital to prove their property. It was believed that this would so +embarrass and cripple the little fellows that they would go out of the +business. Thousands of cattle were so seized, and considerable money +thus obtained yet remains tied up in the hands of the commission. + +In January, 1891, the Legislature passed an act creating the “Board +of Live Stock Commissioners of Wyoming.” The board consists of three +members, and employs a secretary. + +Following are the sections that, in the opinion of Mr. Ijams, justifies +the action taken as above indicated: + +“Sec. 13. The Board of Live Stock Commissioners shall exercise a +general supervision over, and so far as may be, protect the live stock +interests of the state from theft and disease, and shall recommend from +time to time such legislation as in their judgment will foster said +industry. + +“Sec. 17. Said Board of Live Stock Commissioners is hereby authorized +and it is made its duty to appoint such stock inspectors as it may deem +necessary for the better protection of the live stock interests of +the state, and to distribute them at such points or places within or +without the state as will in their judgment most effectually prevent +the violation of any and all laws of the state for the protection of +stock. + +“Sec. 26. It shall be the duty of all persons shipping estrays at +once upon the sale thereof to remit to the secretary of the live +stock commission the proceeds received for each and every estray, the +ownership of which shall be unknown to the inspector to whom a receipt +for the same was given. If any inspector shall at any time sell an +estray shipped from this state, he shall immediately remit the proceeds +thereof to the secretary of the live stock commission. + +“Sec. 29. The secretary of the live stock commission, upon satisfactory +proof of the ownership of any estray sold, as above provided, and +for which he has received the money, shall pay such owner the amount +received from the sale of such estray or estrays; Provided, That such +ownership shall be proven within one year after the publication of the +notice of sale of said estray or estrays, as above provided. Proof +of the ownership shall be by affidavit of the owner with at least one +credible corroborating witness.” + +Just where the extra judicial power conferred upon the board is given +is difficult to see in the above. Yet, it has been freely exercised. + +This plan, while it worked a great hardship upon many innocent people, +did not deter the settlers from attempting to raise and ship cattle +to market. Failing in this, more heroic methods were adopted, as +delineated in Chapter II. Still unsuccessful in gaining control of the +rich valleys of the north, a large number of prominent stockmen met in +Cheyenne in the early winter of 1891-2 and presumably agreed upon the +invasion as later planned in detail. + +Money was a prime necessity and a subscription paper was circulated +among all the stockmen of the state, who were believed to be in +sympathy with the movement, and it is said by some who saw the +list, that nearly a hundred thousand dollars was subscribed to this +“Extermination Fund,” if we may coin an expression to fit. The cash +being provided for, the next thing in order was to gather in the +leaders and see upon what ground they stood. True, a good many ranchmen +refused to contribute and be a party to the proposed outrage, but +enough, in the opinion of the inner circle of plotters, had been +committed to force the others into line. + +The three members of the Wyoming Board of Live Stock Commissioners, J. +W. Hammond, W. C. Irvine and Charles Hecht, state officers, were in +the city most of the winter. Frank Walcott of Glenrock, came in about +or soon after the holidays, and several other leading stock raisers +from various parts of the state and from the East were frequently seen +in the city. These, in connection with several cattlemen domiciled in +Cheyenne, made a large list of interested parties to work for a common +end. + +Ex-Governor Baxter’s office, in the Commercial Block, seemed to be +the invasion incubator, for there Walcott and Irvine, the first and +second in command of the cutthroat army, generally were to be found in +consultation “over private business,” as the man in the outer office +was wont to explain to callers. + +Knowing that their contemplated action was in direct and flagrant +opposition to all law and an over-riding of the constitution of the +state, it was necessary to ascertain how those in authority would +look upon the matter. Acting Governor Barber, as executive of the +civil government and commander-in-chief of the state militia, was the +first man to look after. During the months of February and March the +Governor and the stockmen were almost inseparable. Irvine, Walcott, +Baxter, Ijams, Hammond and Hay seemed each to be a twin brother of the +executive, and at his office, adjoining the Cheyenne Club House, the +passer-by in the night could almost always see one or more of these +people closeted with or going into the governor’s place. That they +captured him, body and soul, his later official acts and his refusal +to act abundantly testify. The path from Baxter’s office to the acting +governor’s dormitory might appropriately be termed the trail of blood. + +Having made “medicine” with the governor, friendly relations were +to be created with the military at Fort D. A. Russell. That these +efforts were, in a measure, successful is evidenced by the capture of +government tents with the invading hosts, supposed to have been loaned +to them by some of the post officers. + +Presumably, the United States Senators, Warren and Carey, needed no +coaching. Both were leading stock growers and general rumor credits +Carey with being a contributor to the working fund of $1,000 in cash +and other valuable considerations. + +Other Senators and men high in the nation’s councils are believed +to have been led into approval of the diabolical scheme by +misrepresentation and fraud. + +Dropping back to the state officials, their action after the collapse +of the murderous raid led the people, generally, to believe that +many of them not only knew of the plans laid, but actually gave +encouragement to their carrying out. + +Being reasonably assured of the official support of the state +authorities and important outside aid, as early as January, 1892, a +systematic effort was made to create public sentiment favorable to +their hellish work, through the press outside of the state. During +the holiday season a long article appeared in the Washington Star +abusing the people of Johnson county, classing them as rustlers and +bad men generally. It made a great story out of the wrongs suffered +by the cattlemen, and was evidently inspired by some person informed +as to what the spring months would usher in on the plains of Northern +Wyoming. Omaha, Chicago, New York and Philadelphia papers also +contained frequent articles calculated to make their readers believe +that a reign of terror existed in half a dozen counties in the state +that could only be overcome by a resort to arms, especially as all the +court and peace officers of these counties were said to be open and +avowed rustlers or acknowledged sympathizers therewith. This class of +reading matter was uncommon for the papers publishing it, and could not +have appeared so uniform in character and even in dates without some +inspiring hand behind it. The only rational conclusion, therefore, is +that the invader managers had a literary bureau charged with the duty +of creating a public sentiment in the land to which they could point +as a moral backing of their future developments. This work was carried +down to the day of entering the field, and even after the capture +of the outfit. For weeks before the start the Denver papers fairly +bristled with blood-curdling stories of the outrage, committed by the +desperate homeseekers north of the Platte River against the poor cattle +kings. + +These preliminary arrangements had all been so easily and successfully +worked that the stockmen seemingly actually believed they could capture +the state, run its country people over the border and return to the +conditions present when there was no man in all the north country save +the festive cowboy and he a law unto himself. As evidence that they had +arrived at this frame of mind, the following interviews with H. B. +Ijams and George W. Baxter of Cheyenne, given in Denver, Colorado, +while the expedition was in the north, are cited. The first is copied +from the Cheyenne Daily Tribune, one of the invader’s most trusted +organs, of date April 12, 1892, and we give it as it appeared in that +delectable sheet, headlines and all. It shows very clearly how the +ex-governor felt at that time, and what his hopes were founded upon. It +is good reading at this late date: + + “WIPE THEM OUT + + “All Honest Citizens Are in Hopes That the Cattlemen Will + Exterminate the Rustlers--Governor Baxter Is Interviewed--What + Northern Cattlemen Have + to Say About the Warfare--Other + Questions Discussed. + +“DENVER, April 12.--Ex-Governor Baxter of Wyoming and Judd Brush of +Greeley, President of the Cattle Growers’ Association, are in the city, +in company with a number of prominent cattlemen of this state and +Wyoming. A member of the party, in speaking of troubles in Wyoming, +said: ‘The sympathies of nine-tenths of the people of Wyoming are +with the cattle owners. I do not know to what extent the people of +Colorado are informed as to the points at issue in the fight which is +now fairly under way, but from what I have learned I am willing to give +all the assistance possible to any body of men which will attempt to +exterminate the rustlers. + +“‘The latter have terrorized whole communities for years and +practically control the actions of officials in several counties of the +state. The cattlemen who have gone into the state at the head of the +fighters whom they can trust are men who were driven off the ranges by +the rustlers. Many of these men saved their lives only by escaping on +fast ponies under cover of darkness. The time has come when they must +quit the state altogether or make a fight to the death. The party was +organized quietly in this city, as it was felt that the preliminary +arrangements could not be safely made in Wyoming, so widespread is the +influence of the rustlers.’” + +“‘Is there no other way by which the interests of the cattlemen could +be protected?’” + +“‘Absolutely none. The courts have been appealed to time after time, in +vain. Grand juries refused to indict the cattle thieves, although in +many cases the rustlers appeared before the jury and acknowledged their +guilt. It is simply a battle for existence on the part of the cattle +owners in half a dozen counties. They must maintain their positions +with rifles or let the robbers have full sway. I have been told of +instances where the rustlers served notice on merchants, saying that +they must keep quiet or suffer condign punishment.’” + +The day before the above quoted interview, H. B. Ijams, secretary of +the Wyoming Board of Live Stock Commissioners, was in Denver, and a +Republican reporter interviewed him at length. From his statements we +produce the following extract: + +“‘I do not believe any of these reports,’ he said, ‘of conflicts having +taken place. I think that all these dispatches are inspired by the +rustlers and their sympathizers. There are newspapers of Wyoming which +have always advocated the cause of the thieves and they are still at +work fixing up these reports. The rustlers have charge of the wires +and I am waiting now for the time when our men can get hold of them. +So, while I am pretty much in the dark, I am certain that the true +situation of things has not been told. + + A SURGEON WITH THE INVADERS + +“‘One thing I know cannot be true. The dispatches say that a wounded +man was brought into Buffalo who was supposed to be one of our +invaders. That is absurd. A good surgeon, with everything which he +might need, is with the invaders, and if anybody is hurt, he is taken +care of in the camp. They are well provided with everything that may be +needed. And I want to emphasize strongly the character of the invading +party. There are about sixty good men, and of that number, twenty +especially are among the best citizens of the whole state. They are men +who have been driven out of Johnson county by the gang of rustlers, and +they are going back for--well, “retribution” is a good word. + + FIGHTING FOR HOME AND PROPERTY + +“‘They are fighting for life, home and property, and I want to predict +that the rustlers will be wiped out. With the aid of Sheriff Angus, +the rustlers cannot muster as many men by far as our party will have +in the field very soon. As for the militia, I fancy that most of them +are now with one party or the other. The company at Buffalo will pretty +certainly stick to the rustlers. The “TA” ranch, where the fight is +said to have occurred, is owned by Dr. Harris of Laramie City and his +foreman is one of the leaders of the invading party. + + EXPLAINING DISPATCHES + +“‘Now I think I can explain some of the vague dispatches. Men come in +to Casper and Cheyenne and other towns with stories of what they have +seen and heard, when they have no foundation for such tales. Before +I left Cheyenne a man came in from the west and began to tell how he +had met “our” party well out on our journey. I questioned him pretty +closely and knowing just exactly the make-up of our party, it soon +proved that his story was an entire fabrication. So it is with the +most of the messengers from the seat of war. There may have been a +fight, or several of them, but I doubt it. Our party is not going at +things hastily, and when we do hear reliable news, it will be of a very +decided nature. + +“‘It is useless for me to go into a history of this trouble and the +conditions leading up to it. The Republican has given the account very +accurately and completely. All we need now is news, news.’” + +Vague rumors of disaster to the cattlemen had reached the press and +these two valiant long-range fighters, taken by surprise, unbosomed +themselves, thus giving a clear insight to the public of the faith of +the constitution wreckers then on the gory field of battle, and the +camp followers engaged in feeling and trying to regulate the public +pulse. + +Another thing that gave hope was the belief that they had fully +enlisted the sympathy of the President of the United States in their +behalf. On the 17th of April, the following telegram was sent from +Paris, Texas, to the San Francisco Chronicle and published generally +throughout the country: + +“About two weeks ago eleven men, who had for years been acting as +either United States deputy marshals or deputy sheriffs, left here +rather mysteriously, and it was given out that they had gone West to +enter the cattle business. They belong to the party that was rounded up +by the troops and rustlers and taken to Fort McKinney. It turned out +that they were sent to Wyoming by the United States Government to help +the big ranchmen protect themselves from the raids of the rustlers. +The large cattlemen, it is said, appealed to President Harrison for +protection, and offered to pay for men who would come and aid them in +maintaining what they considered their rights. The President requested +the marshals of the Eastern, Western and Northern districts of Texas to +go to Wyoming at once, and a party of forty-three was organized. It is +said that they took oaths as Pinkerton detectives.” + +While it is probably not true that the President had any conception +of the depth of villainy to which the treason plotters were stooping, +it has been generally understood that his consent to a transfer of a +deputy marshal from the South to Wyoming had been secured. That an +effort was made to gather up a large number of these Southern deputies +by the agents of the invaders is known, and the braggadocia with which +Ijams speaks in the above quotation when he says, “Angus and the +rustlers cannot muster as many men by far as our party will have in +the field very soon,” indicates that recruits were expected from this +direction. The circumstances and conditions strongly point to some +kind of an understanding with the United States Marshal’s office at +Washington, if not with a higher power. + +It is evident, also, from the tone of the Baxter-Ijams interviews +given above that they expected many recruits from Denver, and were in +that city to aid in forwarding a second battalion to the front. Squads +were promised from Casper, Douglas and Newcastle, and it is known that +a case of guns was shipped to Douglas, addressed to Acting Governor +Barber about that time, and later shipped to Cheyenne, without being +opened, presumably because the volunteers were all on the other side. +Buffalo was booked for a hundred men, and stragglers were to come in +from the Big Horn and other places. But none of these auxiliaries +materialized. Baxter’s “nine-tenths of the people of Wyoming” were +found to be in sympathy with the people and against “the cattle owners.” + +All of these promises to aid, and the splendid detail of plans laid, +however, led Baxter to boastingly say to the Denver interviewer, “I am +willing to give all the assistance possible to any body of men which +will attempt to exterminate the rustlers.” This promised assistance +did not seem to arouse the common herd of Denver to the enlisting +point, notwithstanding the liberal terms of $5 a day and $50 for each +and every scalp taken by any of the force. (See Downing’s confession in +the appendix.) + +As evidence of complicity between Wyoming’s acting governor and the +invaders, it is in order to present the following transcript from the +books of the Adjutant General’s office: + + Cheyenne, Wyo., March 23, 1892. + + General Order No. 4. + + Colonel De Forest Richards, Commanding First Regiment, + Wyoming National Guards: + + Sir: + + Colonel De Forest Richards, commanding First Regiment Infantry, + Wyoming National Guards, is hereby directed to instruct his company + commanders that they shall obey only such orders to assemble their + commands as may be received from these headquarters, to assist the + civil authorities in the preservation or enforcement of the laws of + the state of Wyoming. + + By order of the Governor and Commander-in-Chief. + + (Signed) FRANK STITZER, + Adjutant General. + +In order to show that the above order is in direct violation of the +laws of Wyoming, the following copy of Section 33, Chapter 85, Session +Laws, 1890, is given: + +“Sec. 33. Whenever in any county there is tumult, riot, mob or any body +of men acting together with intent to commit a felony, or to do or +offer violence to person or property, or by force or violence to break +or resist the laws of the territory, or in case of an Indian outbreak, +and the civil authorities are unable to suppress the same, or there is +reasonable apprehension thereof, the governor or sheriff of the county, +or the mayor or judge, during the absence of the governor, may issue +his call to the commanding officer of any regiment, battalion, company, +troop or battery, to order his command, or any part thereof, describing +the same, to be and appear at a time and place therein specified to act +in aid of the civil authority.” + +Why should Amos W. Barber, acting governor, violate this plainly +written statute? Why should he, by an official act, over-ride the +law and transfer the power to call out the militia from the civil to +the military branch of the state government? It was a very strange +proceeding. There is but one explanation possible--it was a necessary +safeguard to the invaders. With that law in force the moment a band +of invaders crossed the line of Converse or Johnson counties the +respective sheriffs would call out the company and contest their +advance. This would be a menace to the cattle men. There was a strong +company at Douglas and one at Buffalo. Malcomb Campbell of Converse +County, and W. G. Angus of Johnson, were known to be men who would act +promptly in an emergency, and shape their action to the interest of the +people. The military must be withdrawn from their call. This order was +made on the 23rd day of March, and on April 5th the cattlemen’s forces +moved on Johnson County--a “mob, or body of men acting together with +intent to offer violence to person or property,” in the county; but the +hands of the sheriff were tied, so far as the authority to call out the +military was concerned. Do you see how nicely the order fit the case? +Can any fair-minded reader fail to realize that General Order No. 4 +was issued for the protection of the cattlemen while engaged in their +bloody work--to render the settlers of Johnson County helpless in the +hands of a gang of men supposed to be large enough in numbers to burn +and loot the premises of the lone settlers on the public domain? + +The constitution of the state of Wyoming contains the following +distinct and easily understood utterance: + +“Article No. XIX.--Police Powers.--Section 1. No armed police force, +or detective agency, or armed body, or unarmed body of men, shall ever +be brought into this state for the suppression of domestic violence, +except upon the application of the Legislature or executive, when the +Legislature cannot be convened.” + +Under the above section of the constitution the duty of the governor is +clearly manifest in the emergency of an invasion of the state. Amos W. +Barber was acting governor of Wyoming on the 5th day of April, 1892, +when an armed body of men came on a special train from Denver, and +after stopping for a time in Cheyenne, rolled away on another special +train made up at the city depot and stockyards for the northern part +of the state, on murder and arson bent. His closest personal friends, +with whom he had been in intercourse most of the day, joined the gang +at the depot, and it was simply impossible, under the circumstances, +for him not to have known of the violation of the constitution being +perpetrated. The governor is Commander-in-Chief of the state troops, +yet he folded his arms and allowed the hired army to move on the +unsuspecting settlers while they were plowing for their spring crops +and endeavoring to provide for the wants of wives and children. + +But were it possible not to understand the conditions present at +that time, the following day everybody knew what had happened and an +intercepting order could have been sent and the troops ordered out. +This was not done. When asked why, he replied that he had no official +knowledge of the violation of the constitution and could not act on +simple hearsay. Waiting for the barn to burn before the water was +turned on. + +In order that the acting governor may not be misrepresented, the +following clipping is taken from the Cheyenne Leader of April 8th, 1892: + +“Governor Barber was seen yesterday and asked if he had taken any +action with reference to the armed body of men which entered and passed +through the state on Tuesday evening. + +“‘I have not,’ he replied. ‘The matter has not been brought to my +attention officially. I only know of the matter through newspaper +reports, which, as you know,’ he added, with a smile, ‘are somewhat +conflicting on the subject.’ + +“‘Do you intend to take any official notice of the matter?’ + +“‘As soon as I have learned the facts I will take such steps as I may +deem necessary. I was more interested in the statement from Douglas, +published in the Leader yesterday, than anything else. It was to the +effect that the militia could hereafter be only ordered out by the +Commander-in-Chief. This matter has been under consideration ever +since the last Legislature adjourned. Previous to that, under certain +circumstances, judges, sheriffs or mayors could call out the militia. +This was changed by the last Legislature so that this power rests +exclusively with the governor. During my absence from the state I was +much worried that something of this sort would be done. The idea of the +order was to make it plain that the militia could only be ordered out +by the governor, as no one else now has that authority. The order was +issued over a month ago.’” + +The reader can compare the law quoted above, which was then and is +now in force, with Barber’s statement, and draw his own conclusions +as to exclusive power resting with the governor. Besides, if the law +conferred no authority upon “judges, sheriffs and mayors,” why issue +an order to prevent the exercise of power not possessed? The peculiar +exigencies of the case seemed to demand it--namely, the preservation of +the proposed invaders. + +Another circumstance that confirms the belief in the mind of the +general public that the governor had a guilty knowledge of the proposed +invasion is the fact that Charles B. Penrose was employed as surgeon +to the invaders and accompanied them for a time on their raid. When +captured he had in his possession a case of surgical instruments +belonging to Governor Barber, and no one will accuse him of stealing +them--they must have been loaned to him for use, and loaned by their +owner. Dr. Penrose was a close personal friend of the governor, and was +in Cheyenne as his guest at the time of the start. Is it reasonable to +suppose that this stranger would accept so responsible a position as +surgeon general of an invading army without consulting his old college +chum with whom he was in daily contact? + +Having smoothed the way of the transgressors to the satisfaction of +themselves, the steering committee began to look around for fighting +material. To meet on anything like equal footing the hardy pioneers +who had braved all the dangers of frontier life required men of nerve, +practical experience and good horsemanship. Texas and the Southwest was +the most inviting field, so a number of special agents were sent there +to open recruiting stations. The wages offered were flattering, and to +a certain class of reckless men sufficient inducement to undertake the +hazardous job. Fortunately, for the information of the public, George +Dunning, one of the hired men, made a confession, under oath, and told +the terms upon which all of the men were recruited. These were $5 a +day and all expenses paid, including a mount of horses, pistols and +rifle. In addition, each man of the command was to receive $50 for each +and every man killed by the mob. George W. Baxter, R. M. Allen, Frank +M. Canton, Tom Smith and a few others are reported as the recruiting +agents sent to the Southwest, while it is known that H. B. Ijams went +on the same mission to Idaho. The work of enlisting was a little slow, +for brave, honorable men hesitated when given to understand exactly +what was expected of them. Going to war in the regular way, when +patriotism and duty calls, is one thing--going to fight for a set of +corporation cormorants against settlers on the public domain, simply +for the money there is in it, is quite another. However, with the long +list of ex-deputy marshals and thoughtless cowboys between the piney +woods of Texas and the Rio Grande, the agents of the cattlemen believed +they had secured sufficient force to be effective in connection with +the large number of volunteers promised from Wyoming and adjoining +sections. + +So the men were ordered to report at Denver, Colorado, the 1st of +April, 1892, where they were to be met by a committee, after the annual +meeting of the Wyoming Stock Growers’ Association, on the 4th. The +association meeting was attended by many leading cattle raisers from +all over the state, and while nothing is known by the public as to what +its secret actions were, it is believed that the work of the several +special committees was approved and the general plan of the campaign +adopted. Results immediately following force the above conclusion. + +Before adjournment on the 4th, the following resolution was introduced +by W. E. Guthrie and passed by a unanimous vote: + +“Whereas, The cattle interests of this state have been seriously +jeopardized by thieves and outlaws; and + +“Whereas, Many herds are leaving this state to seek protection +elsewhere; be it + +“Resolved, That the Wyoming Stock Growers’ Association appreciates +and endorses the able and fearless manner in which the Board of Live +Stock Commissioners have attempted to guard the interests of honest +cattle owners in the state, acting as they have without compensation or +reward, and solely for the general good and prosperity of the state; be +it further + +“Resolved, That we believe all money now withheld by such board to +be the proceeds of stolen cattle, and that we commend their cause in +retaining the same until proof of ownership shall be made.” + +This is a direct reversal of all law and practice--branding men as +thieves and then requiring them to prove themselves honest, instead of +counting them honest until proven to be dishonest. It was an approval +of the idea of the invasion--taking the law into their own hands, or +rising superior to the law and declaring that they “were a law unto +themselves.” + +The Idaho contingent was ordered to report at Cheyenne, and a squad +was expected to be at Casper. About twenty-five men were gathered +at Cheyenne, and all day during the 5th the work of preparation was +going on. Guns and pistols were purchased by the score and ammunition +was carted out by wagon loads. Rolls of blankets were shipped, and +altogether it was a busy day in the Capital City. + +The plan of the campaign, it is believed, was to go direct to Buffalo, +kill Sheriff Angus and his deputies, and there be re-enforced with a +large number of co-workers, when they would capture the town, kill +twenty or thirty citizens and then raid the settlements in the county, +killing or driving out several hundred more, thus getting rid of all +their enemies. After satiating themselves with the blood of Johnson +County’s citizens, they undoubtedly expected to make detours into +Natrona, Converse and Weston counties, where they had dead lists in +the hands of the mob, covering many settlers and some business men in +each county. Spotters were already in each county locating the men to +be killed, and apparently they anticipated a regular picnic in their +work of death. One leading idea seemed to be that a reign of terror +would at once be brought about and that hundreds of settlers would +gather up their families and fly for safety before the approach of +the crimson-handed slayers. To prevent the sending of news by wire in +advance of the cutthroat band, men had been posted along the telegraph +line leading north, with instructions to cut the wires and leave the +communities in ignorance of their approaching danger. + + + + + CHAPTER IV. + + THIRTY HIRED ASSASSINS AND TWENTY REPRESENTATIVE STOCKMEN LEAVE + CHEYENNE TO MURDER, BURN AND DESTROY--THE FINAL PREPARATIONS AND THE + START--ARRIVAL AT CASPER AND DEPARTURE, MOUNTED, ACROSS THE COUNTRY + + +Monday and Tuesday, April 4th and 5th, 1892, will always be remembered +as red letter days in the criminal history of Cheyenne, the capital +city of Wyoming, the baby state of the American Union. Leading members +of the Wyoming Stock Growers’ Association were engaged on these two +days branding a bunch of seventy-odd, picked and highly fed horses with +the unrecorded or “Maverick” brand “A” on the left shoulder, loading +them in cars, and putting in other cars, saddles, harness, tents, +ammunition, giant powder, provisions, etc. Late in the afternoon of +the 5th a special train came in from Denver, Colorado, carrying the +southern contingent of hired murderers. Stopping for an hour in the +east end of the switching yards, the cars were then taken across the +Crow Creek bridge to the stockyards, where the stock and baggage cars, +already loaded, were attached, and at 6 o’clock the start was made +for Casper, two hundred miles to the northwest. The mob consisted of +somewhere between fifty and sixty men, divided about equally between +hired helpers from the South and Wyoming citizens. These latter were in +the proportion of about two stockmen to one hired man. Each person was +armed with a brace of pistols and a Winchester rifle. + +The leaders were anxious for a start at their bloody work, Major +Walcott, in command, as a parting salute, saying to the railroad +superintendent, “Hurry up; put us at Casper and we will do the rest.” + +The track was clear and a fast run was made to Casper, that point being +reached three or four hours before daylight the next morning. The train +was stopped at the stockyards, some distance outside of the town, and +before sunrise the wagons were loaded, the horsemen mounted, and the +cavalcade on the move across the open prairie, following the guides who +had been summoned to be in waiting. + +Before reaching Casper a stop was made at the Fort Fetterman +stockyards, where Ed David, the general range manager for Senator +Carey, was taken aboard with two well-caparisoned saddle horses, +blankets, guns, etc. But there was heaps of trouble on young David’s +mind. He had promised, and was expected, to go on the raid. Serious +consideration of the matter, however, had caused him to reconsider and +cancel his engagement. Asked for his reason, he stated that as Carey’s +foreman, if he went on the trip, it would connect the United States +Senator directly with the invasion and destroy his future political +advancement, a thing not to be tolerated for a moment. There was a +good deal of back talk on the part of the commanding officers, but it +was finally agreed that David should give his horses and outfit to a +man who had been hired to cut the telegraph wires, this man joining +the band and David taking his place as the official wire-cutter of the +expedition. The hired man accompanied the gang and the telegraph wires +were cut--presumably by Ed David in accordance with his promise so to +do. (This information comes under oath, and is reliable.) + +There was a little music on the train as it rolled away that will +probably never reach the ear of the public in its sweetest tones. +Several of our “best citizens” had pledged themselves to be of the +party, and had gone so far as to purchase their outfits, but as the +hour of departure drew near and the possibilities and realities of the +campaign presented themselves, the spotless “white feather” lured them +away from their professed allegiance to the cause, and they were--not +on the train. The discussion of why these bovine worshippers were not +present is reported as being more forcible than elegant, and yet withal +exceedingly musical in its rythmic changes. + +Seven miles out the invaders camped for breakfast. The balance of that +day and the following were consumed in the march to Tisdale’s ranch, +forty-odd miles from Casper. Two or three men were met on the road and +forced to turn back and travel for hours. Then they were permitted to +go their way on a promise of secrecy as to having met any force of men. +Friends of the outfit at Casper and Douglas had been instructed to give +out the information, should the mob be discovered and suspicions be +aroused, that the passing men were a crowd of railroad surveyors going +to locate and hold a pass in the mountains. Major Walcott was supposed +to be in command of the forces, with Canton as captain of the Wyoming +men and Tom Smith over the Texans. + +Just before reaching Tisdale’s ranch Mike Shonsy, foreman of the +Western Union Beef Company, rode up to the advancing column with the +information that there were rustlers in the neighboring ranch, and +after consultation among the leaders of the band that night, a change +of route and plan was agreed upon. + + + + + CHAPTER V. + + COWARDLY ATTACK UPON THE K. C. RANCH--FLIGHT OF JACK FLAGG UNDER + FIRE--CAPTURE OF THE TRAPPERS JONES AND WALKER--SHOOTING OF + RAY--BURNING OF THE RANCH HOUSE--ATTEMPTED FLIGHT AND KILLING OF NATE + CHAMPION--CHAMPION’S DIARY + + +As indicated in the last chapter, the information brought by Shonsy +to the effect that there were rustlers at Nolan’s K. C. ranch, on the +North Fork of Powder River, changed the route of the invaders. Friday, +the 8th, was spent at Tisdale’s waiting for the supply wagons to +come up. In the afternoon, Shonsy, in charge of a squad, was sent to +reconnoitre, the balance of the party following after nightfall. The +design was to reach the ranch before daylight and blow up the house +with dynamite, thus destroying all who chanced to be in the building. +But daylight had broke when they reached the place and safety forbade +too near approach to the dwelling, where “dead shots” might get the +drop. So they concealed themselves in the stable, along the creek, that +nearly surrounded the house, and in the brush of the ravine on the +side opposite the creek. Having the premises completely surrounded, +and being themselves concealed, the besiegers waited the appearance of +the inmates, expecting to shoot them down as they came out. Seeing a +traveler’s wagon in the yard, the suspicion was raised in the minds of +the leaders that possibly some of their friends might be in the house, +and orders were given “await orders” before shooting. + +Presently a man came out with a bucket and walked down to the creek. +He was captured and concealed behind the creek bank. Another man came +from the house after a time and walked to the stable. He was captured +and held. These men proved to be Jones and Walker, two trappers who +had stopped over night at the ranch. In a little while Nick Ray came +out of the house and walked several steps from the door when he was +shot and felled to the ground. Champion rushed to the door, gun in +hand, and poured a volley at the besiegers, all the time a hot fire +being directed at him. He closed the door and evidently watched from +the window whence he could see that his friend Ray was slowly crawling +toward the door. When Ray was close to the step, Champion opened the +door, sent another volley toward the stable and creek, then laid down +his gun and, with bullets thick as hail flying about him, stepped out +and dragged his friend into the house. + +A regular fusillade was kept up upon the house until the middle of +the afternoon, and a good many shots were fired from the house. It is +understood that several of Champion’s shots took effect in the fleshy +part of the assailants, but none of them was dangerously hurt. About +three o’clock in the afternoon Jack Flagg, on horseback, and his +stepson came along the road and approached within a few rods of the +mob, the men being concealed. This part of the day’s doings has been +told by Mr. Flagg in a newspaper article and is here reproduced as the +best authority available. He says: + +“The morning of the 9th I started from my ranch, eighteen miles above +on 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 +3 1-4 wagon. We got to the K. C. ranch about 2:30 P. M. 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 me. When the men behind the stable saw me, they +begun 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 on 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.” + +The escape of Flagg and his stepson was a sore trial to the banditti, +as it made the giving of a general alarm to the settlers a certainty, +and in consequence, gave promise of an uprising of the whole people in +arms against their common enemies. Time was precious, and no more could +be wasted on the besieged. The wagon left in the road was run down to +the barn, loaded with hay and pitch pine wood, then backed up against +the window of the house, Dunning says, by Major Walcott, A. B. Clark, +John Tisdale, Tom Smith and James Dudley. A torch was applied and in a +moment the building was a mass of flames. + +Champion ran out at the south end of the house, gun in hand. A hundred +shots were fired at him without effect, and no doubt he thought escape +was possible. But as he approached the ravine two hundred yards from +the house, a dozen men fired from the brush simultaneously. Even +these whistling missiles of death passed him by and he raised his gun +to reply. Before he could shoot a second volley belched forth from +the hidden foes and brave Champion fell--hero in the hearts of all +his neighbors. Many of the assassins must have fired repeatedly into +his dead body before daring to approach it, for on being prepared +for burial twenty-eight bullets were found to have pierced him. +Eye-witnesses differ slightly in their narratives of this exciting +scene, but from a comparison of statements, the above is believed to +be a correct, though short, summing up of the facts. For variety, and +in order that there may lodge no charge of prejudice, the following +account, from the pen of Sam T. Clover, correspondent of the Chicago +Herald, who was with the regulators from the start until after the K. +C. massacre, is given. Clover being in constant association with the +free-booters was naturally looking through the colored glasses they had +prepared for him, though no doubt trying to be impartial. He says: + +“The roof of the cabin was the first to catch on fire, spreading +rapidly downward until the north wall was a sheet of flames. 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 puffs 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 of the house was ablaze and only the dugout at the +west end remained intact. + +“‘Reckon the cuss has shot himself,’ remarked one of the waiting +marksmen. ‘No fellow could stay in that hole a minute and be alive.’ + +“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 of his crimes with his life. A card bearing the significant +legend, ‘Cattle thieves, beware!’ was pinned to his blood-soaked 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 by the band of regulators who, having succeeded in +their object, rapidly withdrew from the scene of the double tragedy.” + +Champion’s pistol and gun were confiscated by some of the gang, and in +searching the body a pocket memorandum book was found soaked with his +life’s blood and bearing 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 someone 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 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 someone at the stable yet; they are + throwing a rope out at the door and drawing it back. I guess it is + to draw me out. I wish that duck would get out further so I could + get a shot at him. Boys, I don’t know what they have done with them + two fellows that staid here last night. Boys, I feel pretty lonesome + just now. I wish there was someone 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 is + scratched out). I don’t know whether it is or not. I hope they did + not catch them fellows that run over 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 those men. They are coming back. I’ve got to look + out. + + “Well, they have just got through shelling the house like hail. I + heard them splitting wood. I guess they are going to fire the house + tonight. 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. Goodbye, boys, if I never see you + again. + + “NATHAN D. CHAMPION.” + +The above diary written while half a hundred armed men had the house +surrounded, with all avenues of escape shut off, with a constant hail +of bullets entering from every direction; with his dead friend lying +on the floor beside him, knowing, in fact, that these fifty men were +thirsting for his blood, is a remarkable production, and will be quoted +in history as the utterance of a brave man throughout all time to come. +No stronger expression of nerve and heroism has ever been recorded, and +coming generations will point to Nate Champion as one of the coolest +and bravest men of the Nineteenth century. + +The cattle barons branded him a thief, but his neighbors, many of them +recognized as fair-minded, honest men, even by the said “barons,” +declare that he was not a thief, but an honest, hard-working and +conscientious citizen; that his life’s blood was wanted, not because +he would steal cattle, but because his testimony, if given in court, +would send two or more of the members of the robber gang to the gallows +or to prison for cold-blooded crimes committed. Remembering that these +people who thus think and talk have never committed a crime or broken a +law of the state, and remembering also that murder, arson, body burning +and many attempts to murder are known to lie against the cattlemen +engaged in the raid, it seems impossible not to accept the verdict of +Champion’s neighbors in preference to that of his murderers. The great +body of the people have already decided this question and the decision +is recorded in Champion’s favor. + +Nathan D. Champion was born in the country, seven miles from Round +Rock, Williamson County, Texas, September 29th, 1857, being the sixth +son of Jack Champion and Naomi Standerfer. The family is an old and +well connected one, with no scandal attached to its record. By a second +marriage of Nate’s father there are six sons, making twelve in all, +beside six daughters, or a family of eighteen. Nate and his brother +Dudley have been in Johnson County for a number of years, coming up +with Texas cattle and serving as top hands on many of the big ranches. + +Nick Ray was a Missourian, who came to Wyoming as a cowboy and has +done faithful work in that line for years. He was blackballed by the +stockmen, but his neighbors say unjustly. + + + + + CHAPTER VI. + + THE MARCH TO THE “TA” RANCH--INCIDENTS BY THE WAY--PREPARING FOR A + SIEGE. + + +After the killing of Champion the cattlemen joined the supply wagons +that had arrived on the creek in sight of the smoking ruins of Nolan’s +ranch house, and the cooks served a hearty meal to the hungry men. Dr. +Penrose, the company’s surgeon, and Ed Towse, the special reporter sent +along with the mob by the Cheyenne Sun, reported themselves sick at +Tisdale’s ranch and deserted. Supper being over, the order to mount was +given and a start was made direct for Buffalo, sixty miles away. The +ride of thirty miles to the Western Union Beef Company’s headquarters +was made in five hours, according to several different reports, the +object of the forced march being to reach Buffalo before daylight, +surprise and capture the town, killing Angus and a long list of others +before the people were notified of danger by Jack Flagg. Shonsy, the +foreman of the Western Union Beef Company, of which George W. Baxter +is general manager, who was with the gang, had about a hundred head of +grain-fed horses in the stables ready for the men, and a change was +quickly made. With these spirited animals, specially fed for weeks, +in anticipation of this emergency, the men dashed off at a rattling +pace for what they were pleased to call the “doomed city of the +plains.” Near Carr’s ranch, on Crazy Woman, a camp fire was seen in the +road ahead, and the accidental discharge of a gun gave alarm to the +invaders, who supposing it a party of rustlers, on vengeance bent, cut +the wire of Carr’s pasture fence and made a long detour, reaching the +Buffalo road at a safe distance beyond the camp fire. + +At two o’clock they were at the 28 ranch, twenty-two miles from +Buffalo, having ridden thirty-eight miles since leaving the K. C. ruins +at sundown, beside losing about an hour’s time and covering four or +five extra miles. At this ranch coffee was served and two hours’ rest +taken. At 4 o’clock the march was resumed. When well on the road toward +Buffalo a horseman appeared and informed the leaders that there were +two hundred excited citizens under arms as a Sheriff’s posse, in the +town, and strongly advised against an attack being made. He said the +arrangements made for the assassination of Angus and his deputies the +night before had failed by reason of Angus hearing of the killing of +Champion and his organization of a posse and departure for Powder River +to head off the mob. + +This information caused a change of tactics, and orders were given to +march to the TA ranch and fortify for a strong defense. About this time +James Dudley, alias Gus Green, was reported with a broken leg from an +accidental discharge of his gun, caused by his horse bucking. He died +later on at the military post. + +The TA ranch was reached shortly after noon and all hands put to work +strengthening the position. The following plan was furnished the +Daily Leader by a correspondent on the ground during the siege, and +is believed to be substantially correct. The buildings are located in +a bend of Crazy Woman Creek, twelve miles from Buffalo. The house and +ice house (marked in the cut) are built of hewed logs, 6×8 inches. The +stable is also constructed of logs closely fitted together. Log breast +works were built on two sides of the house and earthworks inside of +the fort. Loop holes were cut, and altogether the position was able +to stand off a rifle siege almost indefinitely, did the provisions +hold out. In this respect, however, the situation was not encouraging, +for the three heavily loaded four-horse wagons of supplies had been +captured by the rustlers early in the day, and the sole dependence was +the small store at the ranch for the cowboys’ use. The supply wagons +were found to contain not only provisions, but fuse, giant powder and +poison. + +Still the “white caps,” as the rustlers styled the block house party, +were in good spirits, because they had faith in the promises of their +“Cheyenne friends” to protect them in the event of an emergency. The +emergency had come and their faith was to make them whole. + + + + + CHAPTER VII. + + THE SIEGE--GATHERING OF THE SETTLERS--CONSTRUCTION OF BREASTWORKS AND + RIFLE PITS--ANGUS’ WONDERFUL RIDE--OFFICIAL CORRESPONDENCE--RESCUED BY + ORDER OF PRESIDENT BENJAMIN HARRISON + + +Terrence Smith had seen and heard the firing on the K. C. ranch in the +morning, and divining its import, had ridden to Buffalo, notifying +the settlers as he went. Sheriff Angus swore in a posse of 12 men +and started about sundown to the relief of his Powder River friends. +Meantime, other citizens of Buffalo and countrymen as they came in were +being deputized and armed. Jack Flagg and his stepson rode rapidly to +Grabing, 30 miles, reaching there at 9 o’clock. Securing three good +men as recruits at this point they started back to the assistance of +the men they supposed to be still imprisoned at the K. C. Reaching +Carr’s ranch at 12 o’clock, they met 12 more men going on the same +mission, having learned the news from Terrence Smith while on his +way to Buffalo. As the combined force was mounting for the start the +regulators were discovered approaching, and the little band prepared +to ambush them. Fortunately for the murderers, one of the boys let his +gun go off accidentally, when the advancing column took the hint and +escaped by making a detour as described in a previous chapter. + +Flagg’s party then went into camp for the rest of the night and in the +morning followed on north, passing the TA ranch and reaching Buffalo in +the afternoon. Reinforced to 48 men, they rode out to the TA ranch and +at daylight on the morning of April 11th, the invaders were completely +surrounded. Sheriff Angus had in the meantime returned from the K. C. +ranch, having ridden 120 miles in the marvelous time of 14 hours, and +reported the shooting of Champion and the burning of Ray’s body. This +news greatly increased the prevailing excitement, and during the day +of the eleventh a crowd of between three and four hundred well armed +and determined men, making a stand in defence of their homes and their +liberty, were on the ground to aid in dislodging the enemy. In the +absence of the sheriff, Arapahoe Brown and E. U. Snider were placed in +command. Monday night was devoted to digging rifle pits and throwing up +breastworks around the besieged. Tuesday brought recruits from Sheridan +County and the distant parts of Johnson, thus swelling the ranks of +the home defenders. Early on Monday morning the cattlemen opened fire +on a bunch of settlers 400 yards up the hill, and the battle was on. +A brisk fire was kept up most of the time from the opening shot until +the final surrender. There was not a cannon in the country save at Fort +McKinney, and the commanding officer there refused to loan one to the +settlers. Realizing that the fortifications were impregnable to small +arms and fearing state interference at an early day, it was determined +to construct a moveable breastwork that could be run down the hill +sufficiently near the fort to admit of throwing against its walls the +dynamite captured from the cattlemen’s supply wagons. For this purpose +two of the captured wagons were used. A correspondent on the ground +describes this “Go-Devil” as follows: + +“The idea of building a movable fort or breastwork originated with +Arapahoe Brown and E. U. Snider. The running gear of the captured Arp & +Hammond wagons, two pair, were placed side by side several feet apart +and then fastened together by a framework of logs. The rear of the +wagons was the front of the fort and was comprised of two thicknesses +of eight-inch logs fastened together by wire. This formed a breastwork +over six feet high, with five port holes in it, also protected by eight +inch pieces. If necessary baled hay could be placed inside, making the +protection still stronger. Five men could slowly move the ingenious +contrivance, fifteen could move it easily, and it would protect 40 men. +The plan was to move it down upon the white caps near enough to throw +giant powder into their fort. It was in working order and had been +moved about 100 yards when the soldiers came in sight. All proceeding +at once ceased and the men who for 48 hours had held the fighting +cattlemen at bay cheered the troops lustily as they advanced to the +rescue.” + +The two days’ fight had resulted in no killing on either side, but on +Wednesday morning the conditions were anything but promising for the +cattlemen. During the previous night rifle pits had been dug within 300 +yards of the fort and the Go-Devil, or Ark of Safety, was ready for +business. The first bomb sent into the enemy’s camp would have forced +some of the men from cover and the sharpshooters in the rifle pits +would have sent them to earth. Two hours’ delay in the arrival of the +government troops would have proven, in all probability, fatal to the +besieged white caps. + +A little after sun-up on the morning of the 13th, Colonel J. J. Van +Horn filed into camp with three troops of cavalry from Fort McKinney. +The Colonel, bearing a flag of truce and accompanied by his staff, +Captain Parmalee, Governor Barber’s aide-de-camp, and Sheriff Angus, +advanced to the fort and demanded the surrender of the party. Major +Walcott, in command of the invaders, replied: “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.” (The above response of Major Walcott is as reported by the press +correspondent present at the time, and is accepted by the public as +true.) + +Preparations were at once made for the transfer of the captives to Fort +McKinney and in two hours’ time they were on the road to the post. The +citizens quietly dispersed, many going directly to their homes and +others riding into Buffalo. All seemed to be satisfied with the turn of +affairs, but all equally insisted that when the excitement cooled off +somewhat, the prisoners should be turned over to the civil authorities +for trial. + +The following is a list of the men who surrendered to Colonel Van Horn: + +A. B. Clark, E. W. Whitcomb, A. D. Adamson, C. S. Ford, W. H. Tabor, G. +R. Tucker, A. R. Powers, D. E. Booke, B. M. Morrison, W. A. Wilson, M. +A. McNally, Bob Barlin, W. S. Davis, S. Sutherland, Alex Lowther, W. J. +Clarke, J. A. Garrett, Wm. Armstrong, Buck Garrett, F. H. Labertaux, +J. C. Johnson, Alex Hamilton, F. M. Canton, W. C. Irvine, J. N. +Tisdale, W. B. Wallace, F. DeBilleir, H. Teschemaker, W. E. Guthrie, F. +G. S. Hesse, Phil DuFran, Wm. Little, D. R. Tisdale, J. D. Mynett, M. +Shonsey, Joe Elliott, C. A. Campbell, J. Borlings, L. H. Parker, S. S. +Tucker, B. Wiley, J. M. Beuford, K. Rickard, Frank Walcott, B. Schultz. + +George Dunning of Idaho, in the confusion incident to the surrender, +secreted himself in the loft of the house until dark, when he walked +away. He took the “wrong end” of the road and went into Buffalo, where +he was arrested by Sheriff Angus and put in jail. R. M. Allen, manager +of the Standard Cattle Company, of Ames, Neb., had left the party after +the K. C. murders, and when met by the news which caused the retreat +to the block house, presumably going to hurry up reinforcements, by +order of the mob, and was captured at Buffalo. Dudley, suffering with +a broken leg, had been sent to the military hospital before the TA +engagement. Another Texan, shot in the groin, was not taken with the +party, but sent for later. + +A Buffalo paper of April 14th, speaking of the situation just after the +surrender, says: + +“Here in Buffalo, all was excitement and unrest; rumors of all +descriptions, preposterous, ludicrous and probable, pervaded the +atmosphere. No two men could start a conversation but what a crowd +would soon gather around. Knots of men could be seen on all street +corners, earnestly speculating on the outcome; but for all the utmost +decorum and good nature prevailed. But few arrests were made by the +officers, and those only for the personal safety of the individual +arrested. + +“Soon after the return of the troops with the prisoners to Fort +McKinney criminal complaints were sworn to before Justice Reimann and +warrants for murder and arson issued against these men. Sheriff Angus +served the warrants on Colonel Van Horn, demanding the surrender of the +criminals to the civil authorities of Johnson County, but his request +was denied.” + +The history of this remarkable siege would not be approximately +complete without showing how the rescue was brought about. Hence, the +reader will pardon the introduction of copies of the various official +telegrams that passed over the wires on the subject. + +The private telegraph line from Douglas to Buffalo being in the hands +of the cattlemen and no message permitted to pass while the expedition +was moving north, was at once ordered opened to business when the gang +went to the TA fortification. The raiders’ friends telegraphed the +situation to Acting Governor Barber as soon as the line was repaired, +and he immediately opened up communication with Washington, as the +public believes, in harmony with previously arranged plans. The delay +in repairing the line came nearly proving disastrous to the invaders, +for it was late on the afternoon of April 12th when Barber received +notice of the perilous condition of his friends. At once the following +message was given for transmissal: + + (Telegram) + + Cheyenne, Wyo., April 12, 1892. + + The President, Washington, D. C.: + + An insurrection exists in Johnson County, in the state of Wyoming, in + the immediate vicinity of Fort McKinney, against the government and + said state. The Legislature is not in session and cannot be convened + in time to afford any relief whatever or take any action thereon. + Open hostilities exist and large bodies of armed men are engaged + in battle. A company of militia is located at the city of Buffalo, + near the scene of action, but its continued presence in that city is + absolutely required for the purpose of protecting life and property + therein. The scene of action is 125 miles from the nearest railroad + point, from which other portions of the state militia could be sent. + No relief can be afforded by state militia, and civil authorities are + wholly unable to afford any relief whatever. + + United States troops are located at Fort McKinney, which is 13 miles + from the scene of action, which is known as T. A. ranch. I apply to + you on behalf of the state of Wyoming to direct the United States + troops at Fort McKinney to assist in suppressing the insurrection. + The lives of a large number of persons are in imminent danger. + + AMOS W. BARBER, + Acting Governor. + +To this President Harrison replied as follows: + + (Telegram) + + Washington, April 12, 1892, 11:05 P. M. + + The Governor of Wyoming, Cheyenne, Wyoming: + + I have, in compliance with your call for the aid of the United States + forces to protect the state of Wyoming against domestic violence, + ordered the secretary of war to concentrate a sufficient force at the + scene of the disturbance and to co-operate with your authorities. You + should have a competent and authorized representative at the place. + + BENJAMIN HARRISON. + +To this is added the following telegram from General Brooke at Omaha: + + (Telegram) + + Omaha, Neb., April 12, 1892, 11:37 P. M. + + Governor Barber, Cheyenne, Wyoming: + + Order of President received and commanding officer at McKinney + ordered to prevent violence and preserve peace in co-operation with + you. Have you a representative to join the commanding officer? The + troops will move at once and will act with prudence and firmness. + + JOHN R. BROOKE, + Brigadier General, Commanding. + +A Washington press dispatch of the 13th says that Senators Warren and +Carey were wired from Cheyenne late on the night of the 12th as to +the situation at the T. A. ranch, and that they both called upon the +President, arousing him from his bed. After consultation the secretary +of war was called upon and that distinguished officer was induced to +immediately telegraph General Brooke at Omaha, ordering relief from +Fort McKinney to the imprisoned cattlemen. As United States Senators, +Warren and Carey were the moving power in the case. + +Military history fails to record another instance where such prompt +action and celerity of movement was had as in this case. Barber’s +telegram to the President left Cheyenne after dark on April 12. +Reaching Washington, 2,000 miles away, a consultation between the +President, secretary of war and Wyoming’s Senators was held, a +telegraph order was flashed to Omaha, 1,500 miles, and in turn +transferred to Fort McKinney, another thousand miles, all before 1 +o’clock on the morning of April 13th, or inside of six hours. Within +another hour three troops of cavalry were in their saddles on the +road to the besieged white caps, and before sunrise their bugle notes +sounded “rescue” to the waiting barons, 15 miles from the post. + +The casual reader of these pages cannot help but note the strange +phraseology of Governor Barber’s dispatch to President Harrison--“An +insurrection exists in Johnson County.” There was no insurrection. The +people were in arms, but they had taken them in defense of their homes +and their lives, against an invading army that was killing citizens, +burning homes and laying waste the country as it went. An insurrection +is “A rising against civil or political authority; the open and active +opposition of a number of persons to the execution of law in a city or +state.” + +Johnson County citizens were doing none of these things unless the +invaders were acting under orders of the executive when they marched +north to murder and burn. + +Another passage in the telegram strikes the informed reader as +peculiar--“the continued presence of the military company (Co. C, N. +G.) is required in Buffalo for the purpose of protecting life and +property therein.” There is no record of Company C having been called +out to active duty by the governor until after the sending of the +telegram to the President. The truth is believed to be that they were +not so ordered out. The captain of the company being a white cap, and +fearing lest some of the guns of the company might be pressed into +service for use against his friends at the T. A. ranch, ordered and +kept a squad of the men at the court house day and night to “watch the +guns.” The company did no guard duty, as a company, in the town during +the siege, and the above executive utterance was entirely superfluous. +But it served his purpose, deceived the general government officials +and saved his friends. + +Wednesday morning, after the surrender, Major Martin received orders +from the government to call out Company C and report to the mayor of +the town--but the invaders were safe in the hands of Colonel Van Horn +before the company members were so called. It is known, also, that the +captain of Company C was called on by Sheriff Angus Sunday afternoon, +when the first news of the invasion reached the town, and that he +refused to obey the sheriff’s orders and call out the company to defend +the lives and property of his fellow citizens against the approaching +enemy. He was ready, however, to act promptly when his friends were in +danger. + +On the 13th of April Governor Barber telegraphed General Brooke for an +escort, to which the following is an answer: + + Omaha, Neb., April 13. + + Governor Barber: + + Your dispatch received. The commanding officer at Fort McKinney + reports the surrender to him of Major Walcott and 45 men, with + horses, arms and ammunition, who are being held as prisoners at the + post. Under the circumstances I can send a troop of cavalry and + transportation for your party to Gillette, or I can send the Walcott + party to Douglas or Gillette, as you may direct. Please advise me of + your wishes early. + + JOHN R. BROOKE, + Brigadier General, Commanding. + +The governor changed his mind and replied to the above as follows: + + Cheyenne, April 13, 1892, 10 P. M. + + General John R. Brooke, Commander Department of the + Platte, Omaha, Neb.: + + Answering your telegram of this evening, owing to the present + excitement existing in Johnson County, it seems best that you should + send the Walcott party with suitable escort to Douglas. I thank you + for your kind offer to supply me with transportation and escort from + Gillette to Buffalo, but the occasion for this trip at this time is + so likely to be entirely dissipated that I will probably not go. + Please advise me of your action regarding the Walcott party. + + AMOS W. BARBER, + Acting Governor. + +Colonel Van Horn having refused to turn over the prisoners to the +civil authorities of Johnson County, Sheriff Angus sent the following +telegram: + + Buffalo, Wyo., April 14, 1892. + + Amos W. Barber, Cheyenne, Wyo.: + + Make a request on General Brooke to have the commanding officer at + Fort McKinney to surrender the 44 men now held by him as prisoners to + the civil authorities for trial under the charge of murder. Warrants + have been issued for the above men. + + W. G. ANGUS, + Sheriff of Johnson County. + +C. H. Parmalee, the white cap sympathizer, learning of Angus’ request, +sent the following protest: + + Buffalo, Wyo., April 14. + + Amos W. Barber, Governor: + + The sheriff made a demand this morning upon Colonel Van Horn for + prisoners. He will hold them until his orders are received from the + President. If prisoners should be placed in county jail at Buffalo, I + fear it would not be entirely safe for the peace of the town just at + present. + + C. H. PARMALEE, + Captain and Aide-de-Camp. + +To this the governor replied: + + Cheyenne, Wyo., April 15. + + W. G. Angus, Sheriff of Johnson County, Buffalo, Wyo.: + + Answering your telegram of yesterday, the military authorities will + at the proper time be requested to deliver to the civil authorities + the men now held at Fort McKinney. They will not be delivered until + order and quietude in Johnson County are so fully restored as to + convince me that no further violence will be offered them and that + the civil authorities of that county are entirely willing and able to + give them the protection which the law requires to be given to all + prisoners. An immediate request for their delivery will not be made. + + AMOS W. BARBER, + Acting Governor. + +Meanwhile, to make doubly sure the retention of the men by Colonel Van +Horn, the following dispatches were forwarded: + + Cheyenne, Wyo., April 15, 1892. + + Colonel Van Horn, Commander, Fort McKinney, Wyo.: + + I request that you obtain the custody of and take to Fort McKinney + and there give protection to the men belonging to the invading party + who were arrested before the surrender, and who are now confined in + the county jail at Buffalo. This is done in order that all the men + belonging to the invading party may be certainly protected from any + violence due to the present excitement in that vicinity. I made a + similar request upon General Brooke, and have directed Sheriff Angus + to deliver the men to you. + + AMOS W. BARBER, + Acting Governor. + + Cheyenne, Wyo., April 15, 1892. + + General John R. Brooke, Commander Department of the + Platte, Omaha, Neb.: + + I have directed Sheriff Angus to deliver the men belonging to the + invading party, who are now in jail, to commanding officer at Fort + McKinney. + + AMOS W. BARBER, + Acting Governor. + + Cheyenne, Wyo., April 15, 1892. + + W. G. Angus, Sheriff of Johnson County, Buffalo, Wyo.: + + You are hereby requested to deliver at once to Colonel Van Horn, + commander at Fort McKinney, the men belonging to the invading party, + who were arrested by you before the surrender and are now confined in + the county jail at Buffalo. This is done because the excitement and + hostile demonstrations in that vicinity require it. + + AMOS W. BARBER, + Acting Governor. + + Cheyenne, Wyo., April 15, 1892. + + Colonel Van Horn, Commander Fort McKinney, Wyo.: + + Angus, Sheriff of Johnson County, asks that the men who surrendered + to you be delivered to the civil authorities of that county. I have + declined to make the request for the present for the reason that + there seems to be too much danger of the civil authorities not being + able to give the men adequate protection against violence. + + AMOS W. BARBER, + Acting Governor. + + Cheyenne, Wyo., April 15, 1892. + + Governor Barber, Cheyenne, Wyo.: + + I am assured by the telegraph company that my order of 9 P. M. of the + 13th to Colonel Van Horn reached him last night. Under that order he + will hold the Walcott party until he gets orders from me. The line + from Douglas to McKinney ceased working about 2:30 A. M. today. + + JOHN R. BROOKE, + Brigadier General, Commanding. + +The fear that the culprits who had deliberately and in cold blood +killed two of their fellow citizens might be turned over to the civil +authorities where the crime had been committed, so preyed upon the +governor’s mind that in order to make assurance doubly sure, he wired +the secretary of war to instruct the commander at Fort McKinney to +deliver the prisoners at Cheyenne, nearly 400 miles distant, and at +great expense to the state. To this he received the following reply: + + Washington, D. C., April 15, 5 P. M. + + A. W. Barber, Governor of Wyoming: + + Orders have been sent to General Brooke to deliver to you as soon as + he can do so, the captured party under Walcott. + + S. B. ELKINS, + Secretary of War. + +These several dispatches show very clearly where the executive heart +was, and to the unprejudiced mind explain, in a measure, the lack of +official action at an earlier stage of invasion proceedings. + + + + + CHAPTER VIII. + + BUFFALO DURING THE “T. A.” SIEGE--GREAT EXCITEMENT, BUT ORDER + PRESERVED--BURIAL OF CHAMPION AND RAY--DEATH OF CORONER WATKINS + + +When the news of the burning of the K. C. ranch reached Buffalo on +Sunday, the 10th of April, and it was learned that the invaders were +on their way north with murderous intent, a feeling of alarm and +determination at once took possession of the people. Robert Foote, the +leading merchant of the town, mounted his celebrated black horse and, +with his long white beard flying to the breeze, dashed up and down the +streets calling the citizens to arms. A gentleman present tells of the +picturesqueness of the scene as almost beyond description. Riding up to +the front of a store or residence, he would call out the inmates and in +terms as follows address them: + +“It is the duty of every citizen to protect and uphold the laws of +his country. Wyoming has been invaded. An armed body of assassins has +entered our own county and with bullet and fire have destroyed the +lives and property of our people. This same murderous gang is now +marching on our village with the open threat to murder our citizens and +destroy our property. As men and fellow citizens who love your homes, +your wives and your children, I call upon you to shoulder your arms +and come to the front to protect all that you hold dear against this +approaching foe. If you have no arms, come to my store and get them +free of charge. Our honor collectively, your honor individually, and +the honor of your common manhood demand immediate action. Fall in line.” + +The venerable appearance of Mr. Foote, the bold and fearless utterances +made in the presence of open and avowed sympathizers of the white caps +and friends of the people alike, had the desired effect. In less than +one hour a hundred brave men were under arms, ready to lay down their +lives in defense of their homes. + +They were all sworn in as deputy sheriffs and systematically organized, +the city marshal co-operating with them in every detail. Pickets were +mounted and stationed well out on all the approaches to the town, +and order and discipline everywhere established and maintained. The +churches and school houses were opened as quarters for the men, and +the good women volunteered their services as in the old Colonial days +of our country. As flying couriers carried the news to the country +districts the settlers came pouring in, each man with his gun and +pistol, and a look of determination on his face that boded no good to +the outlaws who dared invade their homes. + +Hundreds of men were spared to surround the cattlemen at the T. +A. ranch, 12 miles away, but the constant rumor set afloat by the +white caps not in the fighting ranks of their friends, that large +reinforcements were on the way from the north and the west, kept +excitement running high in the town and seemingly made it necessary to +keep up an organized force with which to meet any emergency. + +Mr. Foote magnanimously and patriotically threw open his store doors +to the multitude and supplied every want of the home guards and the +besiegers at the T. A. Guns, ammunition, blankets, warm clothing, +slickers, flour, bacon, tobacco, canned goods, etc., etc., went out +in a constant flow until thousands of dollars’ worth had gone to feed +and make comfortable the home defenders. The local community, and the +state at large, owe a debt of gratitude to this big-hearted and brave +old pioneer that it can never suitably repay, yet he will always hold +a warm place in the hearts of all honest residents of the state. As +the crime of the invasion will never die, so Robert Foote’s noble +generosity will live always. + +To add solemnity and deep seated feeling to the situation during the +days of the siege the people realized that the dead and mutilated +bodies of two of their fellow citizens were being brought from the +ill-fated K. C. ranch for a Christian burial. With this burden of +anxiety and trouble upon them the people obeyed the law; maintained +order in the town and throughout the county, thereby demonstrating in a +most striking manner their loyalty to good citizenship. Sheriff Angus, +the most thoroughly abused man in the state, proved himself competent, +honest and a man of the people. + +Two days after the surrender the burial of Champion and Ray took +place, as also that of Coroner Watkins, who had died while engaged in +holding an inquest over the remains of the K. C. victims. A newspaper +correspondent present made the following mention: + +“The funeral of Champion and Ray was held at 2 P. M. in a vacant store +building on Main Street. The room was full of ladies and but few men +could get in. The handsome coffins were beautifully and profusely +decorated with flowers. Rev. W. J. McCullom, a Baptist, read from the +scriptures and then offered 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.’ + +“Rev. Rader then delivered a few brief remarks. He said: ‘These men +have been sent to eternity. We know not why. They were not criminals. +They were of Christian parents. Ray leaves five brothers and three +sisters. His parents could not be notified, as the wires were cut. But +the same honors have been paid as if they were here.’ + +“Many were in tears. Those who had not already viewed the remains were +allowed to. A strange sight it was, too. The black and charred trunk +of Ray’s with a floral surrounding. The procession then moved up the +main street and out to the cemetery. The hearse was preceded by Revs. +Rader and McCullom. Then came carriages, wagons, footmen and last, 150 +mounted men, three ladies and two boys. There were probably 500 in all. +An eight-minute, short service was made at the grave by Rev. Rader.” + +This outpouring of the people to participate in the last sad rites +for the departed showed clearly that the masses were arrayed solidly +against the law breakers and assassins, whatever the executive and his +coterie of supporters might represent to the President of the United +States and his chief advisers. They were not upholders of insurrection, +but protestors against the operations of the banditti. + +After the funerals the country people generally went home, feeling that +they had done their duty and that the backbone of the invasion had been +broken, notwithstanding the continued threats of another attempt on the +part of the captured cattlemen. They were all ready to “come again,” +however, should the necessity arise, and did not hesitate to say so in +very plain English and in the presence of the non-fighting white caps, +who were acting as spies. + +No greater proof of the loyalty of Johnson County people, or the +“rustlers” of the northern counties, could be given than the following +incident: + +After Governor Barber had ordered R. M. Allen, who was in the jail at +Buffalo, turned over to the military authorities and after receipt of +an order from the secretary of war to the same effect, Colonel Van +Horn telephoned to Sheriff Angus to know if one troop of cavalry would +be sufficient to send over for Allen, 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 was sent in an open wagon, with a driver. When +he drove up in front of 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 house, went directly to +the jail door. 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 and preferred returning to the jail, but the +soldier, taking courage from the coolness of the sheriff, ordered and +fairly dragged him through the lines to the wagon. No one interfered, +or suggested interference, and the city marshal mounted behind the seat +occupied by the soldier and the prisoner, they were driven rapidly to +Fort McKinney, three miles away. + +Knowing that this man had actively participated in the murder of two +of their fellow citizens, whose burned and mutilated remains they were +then preparing for burial, and believing that his delivery to the +military meant his discharge without trial for the crime committed, +the spectacle of 200 well armed men standing by and making no protest +is a demonstration of the highest type of manhood and a manifestation +of supreme respect for the forms of law such as has never before been +shown on the frontier, or anywhere else in this broad land. And yet +these same men have been called outlaws and a price placed upon their +heads by the cattle barons. + + + + + CHAPTER IX. + +THE PRISONERS ORDERED TO CHEYENNE--THE MARCH FROM FORT McKINNEY TO FORT +FETTERMAN--TRIPLE PROSTITUTION OF THE CIVIL TO THE MILITARY AUTHORITIES + + +Not satisfied with over-riding the civil by the military powers of +government in calling upon the President to order Colonel Van Horn and +his troops to disband the Sheriff’s posse while endeavoring to arrest +a mob of men who had committed murder and arson in the county, Acting +Governor Barber again prostituted the civil to the military forces by +seeking governmental power to prevent Sheriff Angus from performing +his official duty in the serving of regularly issued warrants for the +arrest of these same known criminals. They were held five days after +their surrender within three miles of the county seat of Johnson +County, yet the sheriff, by the strong military arm of the general +government and the order of the state executive, was not permitted +to serve his warrants. Again, having arrested and lodged in jail +some of the participants in the double murder and arson, the sheriff +was ordered by the governor to unlock the iron doors of the prison +and turn over the culprits to the military, thus completing a triple +prostitution of the civil authorities to military rule. + +This is the first time in the history of the United States when, by +action of the state executive, the military has been called upon to +prevent a peace officer from the discharge of his duty in the execution +of the law. It has been reserved for Wyoming’s acting governor to bring +disgrace and shame upon the state by violating the universal law of +commonwealths which demands that he duly enforce the statutes. + +Conformably to orders from the War Department and by request of the +governor, three troops of cavalry left Fort McKinney on the morning +of April 18th in charge of the captured cattlemen, headed for Fort +Fetterman. The weather was cold and stormy, but the trip was made +without serious mishap. The story had been freely circulated that the +“rustlers” would attempt to ambush the prisoners on the road, but this, +like many other wild rumors floating among the people, was the work of +white cap sympathizers, put in motion to create public sentiment in +favor of the returning horde, and thus lessen the hopes of conviction +for the crimes committed. + +At Fetterman they were met by a detachment of soldiers from Fort D. +A. Russell, who took the prisoners in charge and escorted them by +rail to Cheyenne, where they were quartered for 60 days at the fort, +presumably under military guard. Instead, however, of being confined +to their quarters, as other men charged with murder are confined, they +were given a very loose rein. The cattlemen spent much of their time +in Cheyenne, those having families sleeping at their homes, or in the +houses of their friends. The hired Texans had the run of the town at +night, very often, and pandemonium reigned in the West end. + +Major Walcott, the commander of the invaders, was released on parole, +and made a trip to Omaha and Chicago for the purpose of consulting +(the press dispatches said) United States Senator Manderson and other +influential persons as to the proper course to take in securing release +from the difficulties into which he had led his friends. State Senator +John N. Tisdale, another leader of the mob, and others of the gang, +were paroled and went to Denver to attend the Masonic Conclave and +enjoy themselves. How many others had leave of absence is not known, +but it was understood that permits were to be had for the asking. + +On the way from the north, and after their arrival in Cheyenne, the mob +did not hesitate to publicly declare that they would soon get out of +their present trouble, and then they would go back to Johnson county in +force and “clean the rascals out.” This kind of talk was so common, and +certain Republican papers like the Sun and Tribune of Cheyenne, echoed +and cheered these sentiments to such an extent that the residents of +the northern counties lived for months in anticipation of a second raid +upon their homes and property. + + + + + CHAPTER X. + + THE KIDNAPING OF THE TRAPPERS JONES AND WALKER--EYE-WITNESSES OF THE + MURDER OF CHAMPION AND RAY + + +Believing that Benjamin Jones and Wm. W. Walker were the only witnesses +of the killing of Champion and Ray and the burning of Nolan’s K. C. +ranch house, prudence dictated the removal of these men from the +reach of the prosecuting citizens, and the supreme importance of the +work demanded that the conditions of their removal be made liberal +and surrounded by no pledges as to the methods to be employed. The +injunction was simply: “Get rid of the lying bastards who would swear +our lives away.” Accordingly, F. H. Harvey, a lawyer of Douglas, +Wyoming, and O. P. Witt, a livery stable keeper of the same place, were +employed by the cattlemen, who were backing the invaders, to relieve +the country of the presence of these two men at any cost. + +Jones and Walker were the two men who had stayed all night at the K. +C., April 8th, and who had been captured by the mob on the morning of +the 9th, as detailed in a former chapter. After the burning of the +house and the shooting of Champion, the two men had been released +with the injunction to go south and keep marching, but to hold their +tongues as to what they had seen and heard, if they expected to live +long and be happy. They came south, reaching Casper after some days. +Finding that public sentiment was wholly against the murderers, they +told the story of the cowardly attack and brutal murders of April +9th, substantially as related in these pages. This “Trappers’ story,” +finding its way to the ears of the white caps, opened their eyes to the +necessity of getting rid of the witnesses and caused the employment of +the kidnapers above mentioned. + +The details of the spiriting away of these important witnesses has been +told by the deputy sheriff of Converse county, who was on the ground +and familiar with all the facts. His statement is therefore given here +in full and believed to be in strict conformity to the facts. There is +ample corroborating testimony, however, so that the case does not rest +on Colonel Kimball’s evidence, which is as follows: + +“As is well known, two trappers, Ben Jones and Wm. W. Walker, witnessed +the brutal murders of Champion and Ray. After the killing and burning, +Wolcott released them and told them to ‘go south and keep going.’ +They went to Casper. As is well known, Governor Barber refused to +deliver the murderers to the proper authorities of Johnson county, but +kept them at Fort Russell under military protection, evidently with +the intention of turning them loose without trial or punishment. As +Sheriff Angus could not arrest them, of course no subpoenas could be +issued for or served on said witnesses, as they could not be cited to +appear at any particular time or place to testify. Consequently, said +witnesses were free to go when and where they pleased. + +“Sheriff Campbell was absent at Washington, and Under Sheriff Kimball, +the writer hereof, caught on to the fact that the cattlemen were about +to attempt to get said witnesses out of the way, even if they had +to kill them, and we wrote both Sheriff Angus of Johnson county and +Sheriff Rice of Natrona county to be on their guard. The latter began +to investigate, and learned that a citizen of Casper had been offered +$200 in cash to get Jones and Walker out of town anywhere so that the +stockmen could get hold of them. Sheriff Rice informed Jones and Walker +of their danger, and they were badly frightened. Casper has no jail or +place of safety where they could stay, so Sheriff Rice wired Sheriff +Angus of the danger and advised him to take them to Buffalo. At 2:35 +p.m. of May 20th we received the following dispatch: + + “‘Buffalo, Wyo., May 20. + + “‘To E. H. Kimball, Douglas, Wyo.: + + “‘There are two witnesses at Casper in danger of white caps. Have + them brought to Douglas and keep safe, and present bill to county. + Will write you particulars. + + “‘W. G. ANGUS.’ + +“By some means F. H. Harvey knew the contents of that dispatch before +we did, and when we took the train for Casper, two hours later, he +went along. We went to Casper and saw Sheriff Rice. We went to the +witnesses and showed them the dispatch. We told them frankly that they +were not prisoners; that we had neither subpoena nor warrant for them, +and that they did not have to come to Douglas unless they wanted to. +They seemed anxious to come. In consultation with Sheriff Rice it was +agreed that they should come here, be given arms to defend themselves, +and be allowed to sleep in the sheriff’s office in the front part of +the jail until such time as Sheriff Angus should come or send for them. + +“The next morning we purchased tickets for them and took them to +Douglas in the express car on the regular train. Harvey was also in the +passenger coach. At Glenrock, Senator Carey’s pet ‘stock inspector,’ +Higley, took the train and walked into the express car. We cautioned +the men to look out for him. He went out, but soon came back and +attempted to speak to Jones. Messenger Bennett told him to get out of +the car and stay out, and he went. We then became satisfied that Harvey +had been employed by the stockmen to either have the witnesses killed +or run out of the country, and told them so. Arriving here we gave +them rooms in the sheriff’s office and each a six-shooter to defend +himself. We cautioned them to be careful who they talked to, and under +no circumstances to go upon the streets after dark. But Harvey or some +of his gang managed to interview Walker during the daytime and got him +in a notion of leaving. He told the old man Jones about it, but the +latter objected. He wanted to go to Johnson county to testify against +the murderers. One night we had to go to Inez and Glenrock on official +business. We left a man asleep in the office with Walker and Jones, +not to guard them, but to protect them in case they were attacked. +That evening O. P. Witt got Walker, the young man, to take a drink of +whiskey. That settled it. Walker soon got pretty full, and when night +came he refused to go to bed. As he could not be persuaded, Jones said +he would walk him back and forth in front of the office and sober him +up. + +“Now, here is Jones’ story as told us in Lawyer Fisher’s office, in +Chadron, in the presence of four other witnesses: He said that they +walked about until near midnight. Mr. Walker insisted upon leaving. He +(Jones) objected. Walker said Harvey and Witt had offered them each +a horse and saddle and $1,000 if they would leave the country and not +testify against the cattlemen, and he was in favor of going. Harvey +and Witt came along and took them over to old man Morton’s place to +talk it over. There they met altogether some eight or ten men, who +insisted upon their going. The names of most of them are known and will +be given during the coming political campaign. Some of them live here +in Douglas. Jones says that they parleyed there for an hour. The gang +finally offered them each a horse and saddle and $2,700 cash when they +got east of Grand Island, Nebraska. Jones wanted the money then. He +told them that he thought that they were just trying to get them out in +the country to kill them, and that he would not go with such a gang. +He finally told them that there were no charges against him; that he +could go when and where he pleased; and that if they would give him +a horse and $500 then and there he would leave the country all alone +and they had leave to kill him if he ever returned to testify against +the Wolcott gang. They refused to do that. One of the gang then told +him that he and Walker had got to leave or they would kill them right +then and there. Jones said that he would go, provided only one man went +along with them, and it was then arranged that Witt should accompany +them to Harrison, Neb. Harvey was to take the train and meet them there +that evening, and the four would go together to Grand Island, where +they were to be paid $2,700 each and given tickets to New Mexico. Jones +said it was intended by the gang that it would leave here early in the +evening, but it was about 1 o’clock in the morning when three saddled +horses were brought out of Morton’s stable and he was told to mount a +blue roan. Jones said he weakened when he saw the murderous-looking +gang standing about, and he flatly refused to go, and said he was going +to the sheriff’s office and go to bed. Instantly guns were drawn and +one of the stockmen said: ‘Get on to that horse, you s-- of a b-- or I +will kill you! We’ve stood enough of your d--d foolishness.’ Jones said +he thought it meant death anyway, so he mounted the old man Morton’s +black horse that had been loaned to the gang for the occasion. Walker +mounted a red roan and Witt the blue roan, and the three pulled out +through a back alley and struck east at a rattling pace. + +“Jones says they rode upon a keen gallop for perhaps 20 miles, when +Witt suddenly stopped and dismounted. He took a lariat from his saddle, +threw it over the telegraph wire and pulled it down. He took a pair of +wire-cutters from his pocket and cut the wire. Following along to the +next post he cut the wire again as high as he could reach. Taking one +end of the wire he mounted his horse and dragged the detached piece a +long distance and dropped it in the sagebrush. He says that when they +left the sheriff’s office at dark they each put a revolver in their +pocket, but with no intention of stealing them. Witt did not know that +they were armed. After riding several miles after cutting the wire +Witt suddenly stopped and said he was lost. Jones said the road was +perfectly plain, but Witt insisted that he did not know which way they +were going. Witt told them to remain where they were, and he rode off +a few rods and commenced lighting matches, one after another. They +could see the tops of trees near by. Jones whispered to Walker that +Witt was giving a signal and that assassins were probably concealed +near there to kill them. Drawing their revolvers, they rode up to Witt +and demanded to know what he was doing. He said he was lost and was +lighting matches to look at his compass. They knew he had no compass +and ordered him to get back into the road. Jones took the lead, Walker +following Witt. Jones had the best horse, and he says that from that +time until daylight they hit only the high places in the road. They +stopped at a ranch to get something to eat, and the lady asked them +if they met any strangers going west during the night, stating that +about a dozen armed horsemen went past there just before dark. Jones +says he is positive that it was the intention of the stockmen to have +them murdered there where Witt gave the signal, and that their leaving +Douglas late in the night was all that saved them. + +“When near the Node ranch Witt’s horse gave out. He told them to ride +on to Harrison. They asked what they should do with the horses. Witt +told them to ride into a gulch a mile or so from town, hide the saddles +and shoot the horses. After leaving Witt they consulted what best to +do. They had but 50 cents between them. Jones wanted to strike across +the country. Walker insisted on going to Harrison and taking the train. +When near Harrison they hid their saddles and turned their horses +loose, but did not shoot them. When they boarded the train at Harrison +they were paralyzed with fright to see that Harvey and Witt had a gang +of six or seven with them that had got on the train somewhere along +the line. They ordered them to take a seat among them in the rear end +of the rear car. Jones did not know them, but is sure that they were +the gang that intended to kill them the night before. Jones said he +expected to be taken from the train and killed at some station, or +killed and thrown from the train while it was in motion. It has since +been learned that Bill McCann, a miner at Glenrock, Gibson, Wellman, +who was since killed in Johnson county, and probably Craig, were among +the gang on the train assisting Harvey. Jones says when they arrived +at Crawford it was very dark, and before the train fairly stopped +McCann and others rushed Walker out of the front end of the car, and +Harvey, Witt and one or two others grabbed him and jumped from the +rear platform. He did not know where they were, or that they were near +a station, and thought they were going to kill him then and there. +He drew his gun and told them to stand back or he would shoot. The +cowards were afraid to seize him and were trying to reason with him. +Marshal Morrison was on hand to arrest Jones and Walker in obedience +to a telegram from here. He did not know them, but the gun play and +loud talk at the rear end of the train attracted his attention. He +demanded to know what the trouble was about. ‘They are trying to kill +me!’ yelled Jones. ‘No, we are not,’ replied Harvey; ‘this old man is +crazy and we are taking him east to an asylum. I wish you would help +us take him over to the B. & M. train.’ ‘It’s a lie! I’m not crazy!’ +cried the poor old man; ‘they are trying to kill me.’ Just then Witt +chirped in: ‘This man is my uncle and we are taking him to his home in +the East. Come, uncle,’ said he, turning to Jones, ‘don’t act that way; +please don’t, uncle.’ ‘I’m not your uncle!’ protested Jones. ‘Give me +that gun,’ said Morrison. ‘Who are you?’ said the poor old man. ‘I’m +the city marshal here,’ he replied. ‘Then, I demand your protection,’ +said Jones; ‘I am a witness against the men who killed Champion and +Ray up in Johnson county, and these are cattlemen who are trying to +kill me to keep me from testifying against them. They have just killed +my partner back there.’ Instantly the marshal and an assistant put +the handcuffs on Jones and Witt and started for the jail. On the way +Jones described his partner, whom he supposed had just been killed. The +marshal sent Jim Haguewood over to the B. & M. depot, where he nabbed +Walker. McCann had just bought two tickets for Grand Island, and he and +Walker were about to board the train. Walker was taken up and jailed. + +“Witt and the two witnesses left Douglas about 1 o’clock Thursday +morning. We returned from Glenrock about 1 in the afternoon, and at +once set about to discover what had become of them. We had no legal +process for holding or detaining them, and we could not have stopped +them had they taken the train in broad daylight, but we were afraid +they had been killed. We soon learned that Witt had bought and paid +cash for two horses the night before, and that he was also missing. We +sent a man to interview his partner, Morton, and his answers were so +evasive and misleading as to confirm suspicions. We also learned the +telegraph wire had been cut near Lost Springs. We then knew well enough +that Witt had been paid to run them out of the country, but we had no +legal right to stop them. On going to the sheriff’s office a little +later we discovered that they had taken two revolvers, so we procured +warrants and wired Marshal Morrison to arrest them at Crawford, rightly +surmising that they would ride east and then take the train. That night +we got a dispatch from Marshal Morrison that he had them. + +“The next day we took the train for Crawford, where we arrived a few +minutes after a special train had taken Morrison and his prisoners to +Chadron on a writ of habeas corpus. + +“County Judge Ballard, after hearing the habeas corpus case, released +the prisoners. Deputy United States Marshal Hepfinger had been brought +up from Omaha and, armed with a warrant for the arrest of Jones and +Walker on the charge of selling liquor to Indians, the moment the +word ‘released’ escaped the lips of the judge he pounced upon the men +like a beast of prey, handcuffed them together and rushed them off to +a special train, standing at the depot, and in a moment they were +moving rapidly for Omaha. Attorney Harvey had secured the warrants from +United States Commissioner Darrington on complaint of Witt. Sheriff +Dahlman also had warrants for the arrest of the trappers, issued on +complaint of Deputy Sheriff Kimball, charging the theft of two pistols, +the object being to get the witnesses back into Wyoming and hold them +to testify in the cattlemen’s cases. Harvey and Witt took the special +train for Omaha.” + +The last chapter in this shameful drama is told in a press dispatch +from Omaha, which is here reproduced: + +“Three bedraggled, unkempt and altogether rough-looking men, two of +them handcuffed together, and all of them with terror depicted on +every feature, huddled in a bunch at the heels of Deputy United States +Marshal Hepfinger about 5:30 o’clock last evening as he entered the +private office of Marshal Slaughter in the Federal building. + +“Little attention had been attracted by the party as it moved hurriedly +down the long corridor, for the reason that at that hour there were few +to notice them. One was Witt, the liveryman, and the two handcuffed +together were Jones and Walker. The bracelets were removed as soon as +they were safely in the marshal’s office and the doors were closed +behind them. + +“Each man carried a heavy, yellow oilskin coat, and none of the +prisoners gave evidence of having enjoyed a moment’s rest or peace +of mind in many a day. They were gaunt and hollow-eyed, and glanced +suspiciously at every one and into every corner. + +“Their arrival disturbed the siesta of United States Judge Dundy, who, +although it was long past his usual time of leaving the building, had +stretched himself on the lounge in Marshal Slaughter’s office, as if he +had an appointment and fully meant to keep it. + +“When the prisoners entered the judge slipped across the corridor into +his own private office and was closeted with Attorney Frank Ransom, who +had likewise been haunting the building for some time, apparently in +search of a friend who came not. + +“Two other attorneys, comparative strangers in town, but who were +afterward identified as F. H. Harvey, of Douglas, and H. Donzleman, of +Cheyenne, were also flitting about from one office to another and in +a very few minutes the entire party, with Prosecuting Attorney Baker, +assembled in the office of the District Court and the prisoners were +arraigned on the charge of selling liquor to the Indians. + +“They waived examination and their bond was fixed at $200 each, for +which their personal recognizance was accepted. Another adjournment +to the office of the marshal followed in order that the men might +gather up their belongings, and they then left the building piloted by +Attorney Donzleman and Deputy Hepfinger. Marshal Slaughter professed +ignorance as to their destination, saying he supposed they were going +to supper and that they had also asked where they could get new suits +of clothes. + +“He insisted that he knew nothing about the case, except what he had +read in the newspapers, and he did not even know that Deputy Hepfinger +was in Chadron until that morning when he received a telegram from +him stating that the deputy had arrested his men and would be in that +night. They had been arraigned and released on bail, and further than +that he was ignorant as a dove. + +“Deputy Hepfinger could not find time to say a word and Deputy Jackson +was but little different. He simply admitted that he was in Crawford +Friday and saw the men arrested. He had just sort of happened around +to help Hepfinger bring them in, but neither deputy had gone out on +that particular business. The marshal ‘supposed’ that Hepfinger had +merely been following orders in the way of serving warrants issued by +the United States commissioner in whatever part of the state he might +happen to be. + +“The last move in the game was made late tonight (Tuesday). + +“Attorneys Donzleman and Ransom were busy until 8:30 o’clock filling +obscure corners in the rotunda of the Millard, and when a reporter +approached the former shortly after that time the bewhiskered lawyer +insisted that the whole trouble up in the cattle country had been +exaggerated. + +“But he could not stop to talk. He was going out of the city and would +be back in a couple of days, when he would write a book and do several +other things. Right now, however, he must catch his train, so good-bye. + +“He dodged around a little and finally entered a closed carriage +waiting at the door. It was not a street hack, but a carriage ordered +from the stable for the occasion, and away Mr. Donzleman went. + +“A few minutes afterward the same carriage dashed around a corner some +blocks away and there were four inside and another on the seat with +the driver. Inside were Mr. Donzleman and the erstwhile prisoners, +Jones, Walker and Witt, and the passenger on the box was the busy Mr. +Hepfinger. + +“They drove straight to the United States Marshal’s office, which the +deputy entered, and after a short wait he resumed his place and then +began the long, rapid drive to West Side Station, where the Missouri +Pacific night express was boarded and the fugitives were whirled away +to the southward.” + +It would, perhaps, be unjust to accuse Judge Dundy of knowingly aiding +a conspiracy to defeat the ends of justice in kidnaping witnesses from +a distant state, but the honest reader cannot escape the conviction +that the United States marshal’s office was in criminal collusion with +the conspirators. The cattlemen’s attorney, Donzleman, was in Omaha, +in consultation with the marshal. A deputy had been sent to Chadron +to serve false papers; that is, warrants issued on a false charge; +the attorney and the marshal, having telegraphic information that the +witnesses had been arrested and were on a special train, hung about the +office awaiting their arrival; the marshal or the attorney, or both, +asked Judge Dundy to remain in the office after court hours to hear +an important case, and when the prisoners arrived all things were in +readiness to at once proceed to business, hear the case and turn the +accused loose. Did they have their liberty? Attorney Donzleman and +Deputy Marshal Hepfinger took them in charge and the deputy stayed with +them until they were placed on the train and sent out of the country. +The stop at the marshal’s office while on the way to the train further +implicates that officer, and the public will always hold him as a party +to the damnable job. + + + + + CHAPTER XI. + + MARTIAL LAW THREATENED--PETITION OF THE INVADERS TO ACTING GOVERNOR + BARBER--PRESIDENT HARRISON ISSUES A THREATENING MESSAGE TO WYOMING + CITIZENS--COLORED TROOPS QUARTERED IN THE NORTH + + +When the captured cattlemen got fairly warmed up in their quarters at +Fort Russell and had an opportunity to read the newspapers of this +state and from the great outside world, they discovered that public +sentiment was universally against them, save where the papers had been +unduly influenced, either by money or some other power. Accordingly +the threats of another raid became less violent and the brains of the +baffled “cattle kings” commenced to work on other lines. The first +brilliant thought that seemed to be meaty was martial law in the +northern counties. This would mean the disarmament of the people of +three or four counties and the placing of all the machinery of the +law into the hands of the friends of the cattlemen to be specially +run in their interests. It would really mean the barring out of all +new settlers and the driving out of many already located, through the +oppression always following the enforcement of martial law and the +overthrow of the civil authorities. + +Impressed with the importance of this idea and still clinging to the +belief that the stockmen could control the politics and state policy as +of old, the following petition was presented during the summer of 1892: + + + Petition for Martial Law + + To His Excellency, the Governor, Cheyenne, Wyoming: + + Sir: The undersigned respectfully represent that they are the owners + of and are interested in, cattle and horses, located and ranging in + the county of Johnson, in the State of Wyoming, and in the territory + adjacent to said county; that they are citizens of the State of + Wyoming and of other states in the Union, and as such are 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, is chiefly composed of + unclosed lands, especially adapted to grazing, and the livestock of + your petitioners and others ranging thereon is worth several millions + of dollars. + + And your petitioners further represent that for several years the + stealing and misbranding of live stock in the vicinity named has been + of frequent occurrence, and has been rapidly growing more prevalent, + and that stock thieves continually ride the range and place their + brands upon the unbranded calves of other owners and change and + alter the brands upon the branded live stock of others, thereby + destroying all means of identifying the true ownership thereof. These + stock thieves have, during the past year, greatly intimidated and + threatened other residents in that vicinity, and have 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, has become so great of recent + years as to reach the jury box and almost effectually prevent the + conviction of any person charged with stock stealing. As one evidence + of this the records of the District Court in Johnson county for the + five years last past, show that over 50 indictments have been found + against different persons charged with the stealing of live stock, + and that of this number there have been less than ten convictions. + These acquittals have been so flagrant and so contrary to the + evidence that the judges have deplored existing conditions and have + declared it almost a useless effort and expense to try any person + charged with the stealing of livestock. + + These thieves have grown so bold and so open in their support and + defense of stealing that they have notified persons who differ with + them to leave the country, and have in many instances enforced their + threats by acts of violence, and they further threaten to assassinate + those who have fled if they return. + + In March, 1892, these thieves, together with others whom they had + intimidated, met 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, a courageous and honest man, 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. + + Your 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 last two months the + number of stock thieves in that vicinity has been greatly augmented + by the arrival of other men of the same character from other parts + of the country, and there now exists in that country an organized + plan of driving the stockmen out, so that their property may become + common property for the thieves; cattle are being wantonly and openly + slaughtered in that section by thieves, some of the slaughtering + being done for no other purpose whatsoever than to gratify malicious + motives, and other slaughtering is being done to enable the thieves + to market the beef and obtain money therefor. The ranches and homes + of owners in that vicinity have many of them been plundered and the + personal effects and furniture there stolen or destroyed, and the + occupants of the ranches have been driven from the country by fear. + Even women and children at these ranches have received these threats + of violence, and have been compelled to seek places of safety. + Letters in the United States mails have been opened by these thieves, + and there exists a general and well-founded belief that letters and + information cannot be safely confided to the United States mails in + that vicinity, and in several instances persons have been warned + against sending letters to their friends upon the outside (of the + mailsack), and have been notified not to go to the postoffice either + for the purpose of mailing letters or for the purpose of receiving + mail therefrom. + + No effort of any kind whatever on behalf of the civil authorities in + that vicinity is being made to suppress this stealing, or any of the + acts of violence and intimidation, and in many instances the civil + authorities are, by reason of natural inclination or intimidation, + working with the thieves and under their influence. The sheriff of + Johnson county openly declares his enmity towards the owners of live + stock. With his knowledge, and without any opposition whatever from + him, the county is patrolled by large numbers of armed thieves who + are permitted to go about heavily armed and prepared at any moment to + execute their threat against those who are not in accord with them. + + In conclusion, your petitioners represent unto your excellency that + there exists in the district named an armed combination to prevent + the administration of law and justice; that neither life nor property + is in any respect safe, and does not and cannot receive protection + at the hands of the civil authorities. The country named is in a + feverish state of excitement and under a complete reign of terror, + and both persons and property are wholly at the mercy of the outlaws + and thieves who infest that section. + + We, therefore, pray your excellency will place the district named + under martial law, for the reason that it is the one remedy for the + existing evils, and it is the only way of protecting the lives and + property of the people there. + + Respectfully submitted, + (Signed) + Trustees of PRATT & FERRIS CATTLE CO., + By J. A. Pratt, Manager. + CLAY & FOREST, + HENRY A. BLAIR, + WM. A. PAXTON, + WINDSOR, KEMP & CO., + E. S. ROUSE BOUGHTON, + JOHN N. TISDALE, + FRED G. HESSE, + A. R. POWERS, + HENRY G. HAY, + MANHATTAN CATTLE COMPANY, + By H. G. Hay, President. + OGALLALA LAND & CATTLE COMPANY, + By W. C. Irvine, Manager. + CLARK & HUNTON, + A. B. CLARKE & CO., + CONRAD & CLARK, + MURPHY CATTLE COMPANY, + E. W. WHITCOMB, + THE WESTERN UNION BEEF COMPANY, + By Geo. W. Baxter, Manager. + JAS. G. PRATT, + BAY STATE LIVE STOCK COMPANY, + By H. H. Robinson, Superintendent. + +To the reader of these pages who has kept the run of events as they +have been detailed, the above can only be viewed in the light of a +tissue of false statements from beginning to end, and as a last dying +effort to accomplish by strategy what the signers of this petition, or +their agents, had failed to do in an open fight on the grassy plains of +Northern Wyoming. + +Up to the time of the filing of this libelous petition no act of +violence had been perpetrated in Johnson county, or any other northern +county, save by the cattlemen themselves, or their hired assassins. +The threats, intimidation and murder were all on the side of the +cattlemen. True, George Wellman had been killed, but the well-settled +conviction then, and now, rested and rests in the minds of the public +that this unfortunate young man was the victim, not of the settlers of +Johnson county, but of the cattlemen themselves. That the murder of +George Wellman was planned in Cheyenne and the brutal outrage executed +on orders from the Capital City seems of easy demonstration to all +fair-minded men. + +What are the facts? For years the stockmen had dominated the north--its +hills, valleys and plains were overrun with their lowing herds. As time +wore on the hardy pioneer came to dispute with them the occupancy +of the rich lands and to build homes where before was seen only the +dashing cowboy and the long-horned steer. This was an innovation not +to be tolerated. A few cattle were stolen--as is the case in all +communities--but no act of violence was committed. Exasperated at the +situation and realizing that no serious charges could be successfully +preferred against the settlers--the series of cold-blooded murders +heretofore mentioned in these pages was perpetrated at the hands of the +cattle barons. Still no overt act was done by the settlers. Then the +raid was undertaken for the purpose of terrorizing the country. This +failed of its purpose, though 48 men crimsoned their hands with the +blood of their fellow citizens. Still no blood stains were upon the +hands of the settler. They rose up in their honor and their might to +defend their homes and their lives against the swoop of the assassins, +but they committed no crime. + +Baffled at every turn, what more natural to a band of men who had done +murder, arson and body burning, than to order the death of one of +their trusted aiders if, by so doing, they believed that they could +fasten the crime of assassination upon the innocent settler and use +the circumstance as a lever to force the declaration of martial law +in the country they were trying to conquer? With Wellman dead, and +the crime of his murder laid upon the settler, it was believed that +the governor could be induced to place Northern Wyoming virtually in +the control of the then defeated cattlemen, through the agency of the +marshals who would supersede the civil authorities in the event of +martial law being proclaimed. With martial law in force in Johnson, +Converse, Natrona and Weston counties, as was contemplated by the above +recorded petitioners, the defeat at TA ranch would be turned into a +great victory. To accomplish this by the loss of one of their friends +would be, from their standpoint, gaining much for a little. They would +not stop to consider the matter in the light of the infamy that should +attach to an act of such base treachery, for would it not save many of +their own lives by accomplishing what it would require another raid +into the county to as successfully do? And with the aroused feeling +everywhere prevalent was it not almost a certainty that some one of +the faithful would be called upon to pay the final debt of nature? The +chain of circumstances is very damaging to the professed innocence of +the cattlemen’s ring. + +Exactly what impression this document had upon the mind of the acting +governor will probably never be known to the public. Neither will it +be known just what action he took in the premises, unless a thorough +and far-reaching investigation is made by the Legislature. But the +suspicion is strong in the minds of most well-informed persons that +the subject matter was laid before our United States senators and +the president, with a request that action be taken by the general +government. This impression prevails by reason of the subsequent action +of the secretary of war in quartering soldiers for months in two of the +northern counties, a thing unknown before in the history of the country +during a time of peace, and the issuing of a proclamation by President +Harrison calling upon the citizens of Wyoming to lay down their arms +and repair to their homes, or by implication, that martial law would +be declared within three days of that official notice. This being +done at a time when the invaders were in the hands of the military at +Fort Russell, and when no armed body of men was to be found anywhere +in the state, save the soldiers at the two government posts, makes it +difficult of explanation except on the theory that a copy of the above +quoted petition, setting up a false condition, had been presented to +the president, and his interposition specially urged, either by the +governor or the United States senators at that time representing the +state in Congress. + +It is understood that the main object of Major Walcott’s parole trip +was to secure senatorial influence in urging the president to declare +martial law, and perhaps Senator Manderson and some others joined the +Wyoming senators in this outrageous demand. + +The first fruits of the cry for martial law are made manifest in the +following telegram: + + “Washington, June 6, 1892. + + “Six troops of cavalry from Fort Robinson, Nebraska, are ordered to + march to Powder River, Wyoming. The two troops of cavalry at Fort + McKinney are directed to join them. Six troops of cavalry from Fort + Niobrara, Nebraska, are ordered to march into Wyoming, going into + camp at a point between old Fort Fetterman and old Fort Casper.” + +These cavalry forces moved as directed, and remained stationed in the +sagebrush all summer, apparently as a forerunner of martial law. Common +rumor had it that the regulators believed the presence of the troops +would so incense the settlers that some overt acts would be committed +and such serious trouble follow as to make martial law necessary, or +at least excusable. The northern press “caught on” to this idea, and +strongly urged upon the people to bear patiently this humiliation and +give no cause for further action by the government. Such advice was +hardly necessary, but there was no disturbance at the camp on the Platt +river. + +At the Powder river camp there was trouble, but it was so plainly +the result of viciousness on the part of the soldiers that no action +looking toward martial law could be taken by the authorities. Two of +the colored troops got into a row with a depraved white man over a +lewd woman at a bagnio in the village of Suggs, a mile from the camp. +The night following, between 10 and 11 o’clock, a squad of 44 colored +soldiers marched into the town and opened fire on a saloon where a +number of men were assembled, playing cards and drinking. The attack +was unprovoked and unexpected. The citizens, however, rushed for their +guns and pistols, and charged the black soldiers, driving them out of +town, killing one and wounding five. It was claimed that some of the +friends of the white caps were in the soldiers’ camp at the time, and +the responsibility was charged to them. No further trouble occurred. + +As confirmatory of the impressions that the sending of troops into +the state was the result of the misrepresentations of the interested +stockmen, and that they hoped it would turn out to be a move in their +favor, the following statement of an officer stationed at Omaha, and +made to an agent of the Associated Press reporter on June 11, 1892, may +be quoted, as follows: + +“It is believed by the military authorities that the presence of a +large body of troops in the cattle districts will have a quieting +effect, and in case it becomes necessary to take active steps to +quell another outbreak, the troops will be close to the scene of the +disturbance. The department is convinced that there are a number of +thieves in that region who are agitating this bitterness and are at the +head of this lawlessness that has terrorized portions of the state. +These thieves will be watched very closely, and about the first break +they make they will be taken in by the powerful arm of Uncle Sam. + +“One of the officers at the headquarters was asked today if he thought +the State of Wyoming would be placed under martial law, and he replied +that he did not think it would be necessary to adopt that measure. +‘There is one thing you may depend upon, however,’ he said, ‘the +government is not going to put up with the lawlessness out there any +longer. That business has got to come to an end, and my opinion is that +if you watch matters closely you will see an emigration from Wyoming of +some of the parties who have been busy stirring up the trouble.’” + +The last remark quoted above has proven true--some of the stockmen who +were “busy stirring up the trouble” have “emigrated,” and others are +likely to follow suit, but the settlers who took up arms to defend +their homes remain, and no hired assassins can drive them out. + +The soldier quartering scheme failing to produce the desired effect, +some occult influence was brought to bear on President Harrison, and he +issued the following: + + Proclamation + + “Whereas, 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 within the state and district of Wyoming, the United States + marshal, after repeated efforts, being unable by his ordinary + deputies, or by any civil posse which he is able to obtain, to + execute the process of the United States courts; + + “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 3rd day of August next. + + “In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal + of the United States to be affixed. 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. + + (Seal) “BENJAMIN HARRISON. + + “By the President: + “JOHN W. FOSTER, Secretary of State.” + +No more infamous document ever issued from official pen. No greater +outrage was ever perpetrated upon a long-suffering people than is +here ruthlessly thrust upon all of Wyoming’s citizens. The statements +made in the “whereas” were absolutely false in every line. They were +lies, pure and simple. On the day that the text of this insult reached +Cheyenne a prominent citizen approached Judge Riner, of the United +States Court, and asked him what the proclamation meant. His reply was +that he knew absolutely nothing about it. That he was as much surprised +as any other citizen--that there were no processes issued from his +court but what had been served in the regular way--no obstructions +having been met with by the marshals that had come to his knowledge. +Every person then living in the state knew that there was no resistance +to law within our borders, and that there was no body of men collected +anywhere to whom an order to “disperse and retire peaceably to their +respective abodes” could possibly be addressed. + +How came it, then, that the president of this great country should +descend to the level of a blackmailer, and by an official act proclaim +to the world that the good people of an entire state were engaged in +resisting the law? + +There is but one explanation--the statements in the petition to Acting +Governor Barber had been presented to him as the truth, and he had been +deceived by senatorial representatives into believing them. It was the +influence of the old Cheyenne cattlemen’s ring permeating official +ranks from the policeman on his beat up through all the gradations to +the White House at Washington. It is said that our senators denied any +knowledge of this proclamation until it appeared. This may be true, but +the public is slow to accept it as a truth. How did the president gain +the information upon which to base his statements? Certainly, he would +not accept such grave charges as true without an investigation. Should +he investigate, where would he begin? Manifestly with the senators +from the state implicated. Were the statements filed by the governor, +no sane man, sitting in the presidential chair, would act on them +without consultation, when there were two senators to whom he could +apply for confirmation or denial of the charges. There is no escape +from a division of the responsibility of the president’s defamatory +proclamation between the acting governor and the two senators +representing Wyoming at that time, and the public will so hold. + + + + + CHAPTER XII. + + ATTEMPTS TO MUZZLE THE PRESS + + +A few weeks after the arrival of the invaders at Fort Russell it was +determined by them and their friends to regulate, or muzzle the press +of the state. It had been claimed that all of “the best citizens” +approved the raid with its red-handed murders. There were some +newspapers, however, that dissented from this view, and that did not +hesitate to call murder and arson by their proper names. To be held +up to public gaze as guilty of cold-blooded murder did not suit the +sensitive natures of the men who had merely killed two of their fellow +citizens in one day and burned the body of one of them while they sat +around the camp fire meal and joked about the incense that rose from +the burning pile. This sort of talk must be stopped. + +Colonel E. H. Kimball was editing a paper at Douglas, Wyoming, and +he dipped his pen in gall each week when speaking of the outrages +committed by this gang of outlaws. He printed their names in full and +told just what crimes they had committed. He must be destroyed and +the power of his press overcome. So a dozen or more of them filed +informations against him for criminal libel. One of the charges was +made by George W. Baxter, of Cheyenne, general manager of the Western +Union Beef Company. Upon this a warrant was issued and Colonel Kimball +was kidnaped and brought to Cheyenne, where he was lodged in jail. He +was held for 30 days before he could give bonds, the law requiring +bondsmen to be residents of the county where the accused is in prison. +This had the effect of temporarily stopping the issue of the paper, as +Colonel Kimball was a poor man and could not hire the work done while +he remained in jail. The case never came to trial. + +The editor of the Northwestern Live Stock Journal offered to sign the +bonds of Colonel Kimball, and as a reward his paper was boycotted +by the cattlemen in any way connected with the raid. Later four of +them entered his office one day and made a personal attack upon him, +undoubtedly with murder in their hearts. But their designs were +frustrated and the editor still lives. + +The next attempt to regulate the tone of the press was made by this +same man Baxter on the Cheyenne Daily Leader, because it dared to +condemn the work of the assassins. He owned a few shares of the Leader +stock and began an action for the appointment of a receiver so as to +get control of the columns and shut off the truth about the invasion +and its supporters. The trial was long and expensive, but finally +resulted in a withdrawal of the complaint. These efforts at destroying +the press were so barren of success that it was concluded to make no +further attempts in that direction. + + + + + CHAPTER XIII. + + GOVERNOR BARBER PERMITS JOHNSON COUNTY OFFICERS TO SERVE WARRANTS ON + THE INVADERS--PECULIAR CONDITIONS PRECEDENT--CHANGE OF VENUE IS + GRANTED BY JUDGE BLAKE + + +J. W. Blake, judge of the Second Judicial district, which comprises +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 informs the governor that he has received a certified copy of +informations filed against 44 persons, charging them with murder. I +have also received a certified copy of warrants issued by the clerk of +the court for the arrest of the parties charged in the information. + +The men against whom the informations are found are confined at Fort +Russell under absolute control of the War Department. The courts, +before they can exercise their functions, must have control of the +persons whom they accuse of offense of the law. + +In view of these conditions I make the following requests: + +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 you 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 the 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. + +Up to this time the acting governor had refused to permit the Johnson +county officers to serve the warrants on the confined cattlemen, +notwithstanding almost daily applications had been made for that +privilege. After the receipt of the above communication the matter was +given careful executive consideration, and on the morning of July 5th, +1892, Governor Barber escorted the prisoners to Laramie City, where +Judge Blake was sitting “in chambers.” Adjutant General Frank Stitzer, +accompanied by almost the entire military staff of the governor, +marched the cattlemen to Hesse’s hall, a large room previously engaged +as headquarters for them. Here they were formally turned over to Deputy +Sheriff Roles, of Johnson county, who took charge of them. They were +made comfortable in their new quarters and seemed to have little care +about the future turns their case might take. + +An application for a change of venue from Johnson county was made, +heard and granted, but two weeks’ time was consumed in the selection +of a place, Cheyenne finally being chosen. The attorneys for the +prosecution objected very strongly to having the trial carried to +Cheyenne on the grounds that that city was the head center of the old +dominating cattle influence, and the feeling of sympathy worked up in +favor of the accused, many of whom had been prominent in political, +business and social circles, would prevent an unbiased hearing of the +case. This idea was fought by the lawyers for the defense, and many +witnesses were called on either side. When Cheyenne was decided upon +the opinion in many parts of the state was freely expressed that the +cattlemen had won, and that the trial would be a howling farce. It was +honestly believed by many people that the tentacles of the old gang +were so securely fastened in the people of that city that they could +control the findings of juries as they had in the past shaped the +legislation of the state. From that time forward interest in the case +lessened among the masses and they began to agitate the question of how +to counteract this un-American system of intrigue and conspiracy that +was so rapidly undermining our republican form of government. + +The prisoners were returned to Cheyenne, put in charge of Sheriff A. D. +Kelly, and ostensibly quartered in Keefe’s hall, instead of the jail. +The first night after their arrival the cattlemen proper of the gang +were given a champagne banquet at the club house by their white cap +friends, and it was a night of high revelry. During the entire term +of their waiting for the sitting of the court the cattlemen slept at +their homes or the hotels, and the entire party took their meals where +they chose, and had the run of the town day and night. A full list of +guards was employed at the expense of Johnson county, and the prisoners +were supposed to be kept in their quarters continually, save when they +were escorted to their meals. The truth of the situation is well and +fittingly illustrated by the following incident: + +A newspaper man wanted to interview some of the confined men one +evening about 8 o’clock. He found three guards on duty at the front +door, and asked to be shown in to see the prisoners. He was escorted +inside but found no one present. Being somewhat surprised, he asked +how this happened. The reply was, “The guards are on duty, sur, and if +yez wants to foind the prisners, yez must go where they are; oi’ll not +foind ’em for yez.” + +Another incident may be mentioned as giving a sort of object lesson. +One morning soon after the return of the regulators to Cheyenne, the +writer hereof was going down the street to his office, when he observed +one of the imprisoned men come to the door in his night shirt, reach +out through a partial opening and get the morning paper lying on the +door sill. A block farther down he saw another invader taking his +morning walk. Two blocks farther a city policeman was met, driving in +front of him four tramps, each with a chain fastened to his leg and a +50-pound weight on his shoulder, being marched to work on the streets. + +The contrast was striking--the cattlemen, crimsoned with the blood +of their fellow men, given the freedom of the town, and indulging in +riotous living--the tramps, with no crime charged against them but that +of asking for bread, placed in the chain-gang and driven like beasts to +break stones on the highway. Comments would only weaken the case--the +reader must draw his own conclusions. + + + + + CHAPTER XIV. + + THE TRIAL OF THE INVADERS + + +On August 7th, 1892, the invaders were arraigned before Judge Scott, in +the District Court for Laramie county, at the court house at Cheyenne. +They all pleaded not guilty, and the work of securing a jury began. +Three days were consumed and some progress made. It was evident that a +jury could be found in the county, and hopes began to be entertained +that the prisoners would be called upon to face their accusers for the +killing of Nathan D. Champion and Nick Ray, and the burning of the +Nolan ranch on Powder river, April 9th, 1892. Skeptics and doubters +there had been from the time of the arrest of the prisoners. “They will +never be tried,” was an expression heard every day, and in all parts of +the state. The theory was that the cattlemen exerted such a dominating +influence that in some way they would prevent a final hearing and that +the accused would go free. The special privileges granted the prisoners +throughout the summer months strengthened this idea, but when the day +of trial came and both prisoners and witnesses appeared in court, the +doubters began to hope that they were mistaken in their judgment. + +But a bomb shell was already loaded, with fuse attached. At the close +of the third day the sheriff, A. D. Kelly, 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 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 praying for an order of court that would +secure him against loss as he could no longer hold the accused. + +When court convened on the morning of August 10th, Judge Scott handed +down his decision on the above-named petition in substance as follows: + +“I am unable to issue an order compelling Johnson county to make good +the sheriff’s disbursements for the maintenance of the prisoners, and +as he has refused to longer provide for them, my only alternative is +to admit them to bail. But as the defense refuse to furnish bail, I am +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. + +When this news reached the public a feeling of disgust was everywhere +manifest, save among the white caps, who flung their banners on the +outer walls and literally colored the town crimson. It was then clearly +demonstrated that the old guard had gotten in its work, and that crime +was still to go unwhipped of justice. The press of the country was +generally outspoken in denunciation of the travesty upon justice, +and many very bitter editorials were printed. The following from the +Cheyenne Daily Leader is a sample of the more conservative utterances: + + The Prisoners Released + + “Well, the stockmen and Texans are all at large, having been released + yesterday on their own recognizances. Taking it all around perhaps + it’s just as well. Their confinement at Keefe hall was such only in + name. They were permitted to go at will day or night about the city. + Many of them never slept in the hall at all, and the guards were an + elegant superfluity except whenever it was necessary to preserve the + peace among the Texans. Some of the prisoners took in the Templar + demonstration at Denver, and few of them were ever impeded in any of + their movements. + + “The keep of the prisoners, pay of guards and hall hire, amounted to + about $100 a day. For all practical purposes this amount of money was + but little better than wasted. In the ordinary sense of the term the + prisoners were never guarded and could have made good their escape + at any time were they so minded. Such scenes as were presented could + not, in the nature of things, increase the public respect for the + law or its administration, and from this point of view it was better + to discharge the prisoners even on their own recognizances than to + pretend to keep them in custody when they were as a matter of fact + freer to go about than men employed at the shops.” + +Thoughtful persons asked why Governor Barber had brought these men +hundreds of miles from the scene of their misdeeds to be held at the +expense of Johnson county, and ready money demanded at every turn in +the case? Johnson county’s credit was good at home and abroad--her +warrants had always been paid and her people would have been glad to +furnish guards and provision for the invaders and taken their pay in +evidences of indebtedness, knowing that they were good for their face +value. This privilege was denied them, and the costs more than doubled +by transferring the case to distant points for a hearing. Besides this +the white cap press continually held Johnson county up as a bankrupt +community and insisted that it could never pay the cost of a trial. +This tended to weaken or destroy her credit away from home and rendered +the borrowing of money difficult. Looking at the train of circumstances +as a whole, and connecting them with the final release of the prisoners +without trial, on the plea of Johnson county bankruptcy, the consensus +of opinion in many circles was that the 10th of August witnessed the +closing act of a drama (if such a comparison may be allowed) fully +outlined before the prisoners left Fort McKinney for Cheyenne under +military escort. The fact that confidence in their ultimate release +never seemed to be lacking in the minds of the invaders strengthens +this view of the case. They apparently knew what was to be the outcome. + +There were many ludicrous and humiliating incidents connected with the +detention and partial trial of these men. They were under arrest for +murder, in the hands of the law and the sheriff, yet when arraigned in +court to plead F. M. Canton was carried in on a stretcher, wounded by +the accidental discharge of his own pistol while in one of the city +saloons in the early morning hours. This was made the excuse for asking +an order of court to disarm the prisoners, and as there was a living +example of the danger before the court, the order was granted. This was +the 7th day of August, and the prisoners had been in custody since +April 13th--all this time carrying the arms and flaunting them in the +face of the law, while the citizens walked the streets with no weapons +of defense. + +Another incident is worthy of relating. A brother of Nathan Champion +came in on the afternoon train from the west. Desiring to see the men +who had killed his brother, he asked the first man he met on the street +where they were to be found. He was directed to Keefe hall. Approaching +the entrance he found no one on guard at the door, so went inside and +slowly walked around the room, deliberately looking at the men as they +sat or lounged about. For a wonder, there happened to be about half the +prisoners in the hall at the time, and two or three of the cattlemen +who were personally acquainted with the murdered Champion. When they +saw this man approaching they thought it was the ghost of the murdered +man, and rushed for an officer to put him out. The deputy sheriff +asked: “Who are you, and what do you want here?” He replied: “My name +is Champion, and I came in to see these men who killed my brother +Nate.” The deputy quietly walked by Champion’s side and told him he +had better retire as visitors were not allowed without a permit. “All +right,” said Champion. “I have seen the murderers, and have no further +business here,” walking out as he finished the remark. + +The presence in the city of a brother of Nate Champion seemed to stir +up unpleasant memories and create forebodings in the minds of the +imprisoned cattlemen, for apparently well authenticated rumor said that +an express wagon was driven up to the rear of Keefe hall just at dusk +the evening after the above named visit, and 40 Spencer rifles unloaded +for the use of the prisoners in the event of an attack by “rustlers or +their friends.” No attack was made or contemplated, but all the same +there was a good deal of nervousness displayed for several days, and +Champion’s ghost seemed to have taken possession of Keefe hall, much to +the disgust of the temporary sojourners therein. + +Immediately on the signing of their bonds, preparations commenced +for leaving the city. The Texans and many of the cattlemen took +the afternoon train for the East. The fiscal agents of the Stock +Association were part of the outgoing throng, which laid over a day +in Omaha to settle up with the hired men. These were supposed to be +on the payroll at $5 a day from the time of their enrollment in March +up to the hour of their discharge by the court, as well as for the +computed time of their journey home. The Omaha papers of the 12th +and 13th of April announced the happy adjustment of these financial +arrangements and the departure of the late imprisoned on their way +south in the best of spirits and with canteens well filled. + +Tom Smith, the captain of the Texans, has since paid the last penalty. +He was shot and killed by a negro desperado on the cars between +Gainesville, Texas, and Guthrie, Oklahoma, in the summer of 1893. +Others of the band are reported killed, but how many is not known. He +who lives by the sword shall perish by the sword, will no doubt prove +true with many of these reckless characters. + +A goodly number of the cattlemen quietly departed for a change of air, +while others repaired to their respective places of domicile. One +general manager, who had been in the north for years, remarked that +he was “heading straight for Brooklyn, and that once safely over the +bridge he would stay on that side of the East River. He had had all the +business he wanted with a lot of duffers who had no more sense than to +shoulder their guns and fight like demons for their jim crow farms in a +country that was not worth a d----n, only for cattle grazing.” He has +kept his word. + +January 21st, 1893, when the case of the State of Wyoming vs. the +Invaders was called, nearly all of the cattlemen responded, but the +hired men failed to appear. Alvin Bennett, prosecuting attorney for +Johnson County, offered a motion to enter a nolle prosque, 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 Texans, 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 previously +entered. + +This action was severely criticized by many as unwarranted and +outrageous, but the public finally settled down to the common opinion +that the ring had so many obstructions of one kind and another to +spring that justice was not likely to be meted out in the event of a +long and expensive suit, and perhaps it was as well to end the farce +without further cost to Johnson County settlers. It presented one +object lesson that would in the end result in good to the state by +arousing a sentiment among the masses in opposition to corporation rule +that in future would prevent similar disgraces. + + + + + CHAPTER XV. + + THE WYOMING STOCK GROWERS’ ASSOCIATION, THROUGH ITS OFFICERS ENDORSES + THE INVASION + + +April 4th, 1893, the Wyoming Stock Growers’ Association met in annual +session at the court house in the city of Cheyenne. John Clay, Jr., of +Chicago, President of the Association, was in the chair, and according +to the report of the committee on credentials, there were 99 members in +good standing. + +Mr. Clay delivered quite a lengthy address immediately after calling +the meeting to order, and after alluding to the general situation of +the cattle industry and talking about bad markets, etc., etc., he 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.” + +After moralizing for some time on the low state of Wyoming public +sentiment that he admitted was with the Johnson County settlers and +against invaders, he continued as follows: + +“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 from all classes of the men (the very +flower of Wyoming’s citizens) who had taken part in the expedition. +Under the most trying circumstances they stood shoulder to shoulder, +scarce a murmur escaping them. Gentlemen, I am not here to defend +these parties. Technically, legally, they did wrong, but I consider it +no mean privilege to stand in this prominent position today and say +that I count everyone of them a friend. 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 a 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.” + +Later in the day when “the good of the order” was sprung for general +discussion, Henry G. Hay, treasurer of the association, closed a speech +of general approval of the stockmen’s methods of cattle seizure by the +inspectors of the Live Stock Commission, intimidation, etc., with the +following sentence: “I love the association for the enemies it has +made, as they are nearly all thieves and rustlers.” + +These utterances of the officials of the stock association in an open, +public meeting, and the hearty endorsement they received from the +ninety and nine members present, very clearly prove that the public was +right when it declared at the time of the invasion, the responsibility +of that outrage rested upon the Wyoming Stock Growers’ Association. +The invaders and the stock association are now quite generally used as +synonymous terms among the people. + +An analysis of these “official utterances” is unnecessary because each +reader will do that for himself, but it is well, perhaps, to call +attention to the threat made in the closing sentence of John Clay, +Jr.’s speech: “There will be a day of retribution.” Is this a warning +that there will be another invasion? Another band of hired assassins +brought into the state to murder and burn, and in such numbers as to +overcome all resistance? Is another and greater attempt to be made to +overthrow the state constitution, drive the settlers from their homes +and reinstate the cowboy as the ruler of the country? That is the plain +English of the “Official threat.” But he was probably talking through +his hat. + +It might be pertinent to here inject this inquiry: “Can an organization +whose officers openly countenance murder, arson and body-burning, and +denounce all who differ from them in opinion as thieves and rustlers, +be looked upon by a community as an upholder of the majesty of the law +and a friend of society?” + + + + + Chapter XVI. + + SOME MATTERS INCIDENTAL TO AND CONNECTED WITH THE INVASION + + +It was claimed in the invaders’ petition to the governor and in his +dispatch to the President, and talked in the press as well as on the +street that the civil authorities of Johnson County refused to give +protection to the cattlemen while engaged in their legitimate business +of gathering and branding their cattle. To prove the falsity of the +charge the following official notice is given as it was printed and +sent broadcast over the country in May, 1892: + + Notice + + To Henry Blair, Dr. Harris, the Murphy Cattle Company and Other + Owners of Cattle Ranging in Johnson County: + + 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 to send able, trustworthy and discreet + persons to their ranches to attend to the rounding 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 blackballed by the stock association who + will gladly work and help round up the cattle during the coming + season. + + C. J. HOGERSON, + C. M. DEVOE, + J. T. BROWN, + County Commissioners. + ALVIN BENNETT, + County and Prosecuting Attorney. + W. G. ANGUS, + Sheriff. + +Another false statement that was freely circulated throughout the +country was to the effect that Johnson County was a barren waste, only +suited for range cattle grazing, and that three-fourths of the taxes +accrued from the range herds owned by the large cattlemen who were +either present or represented in the raid. The martial law petition +sent to the governor stated that the assessable value of the range +herds amounted to “millions of dollars.” The exact facts are presented +by the county clerk in the following statement: + +“The assessed valuation of property in Johnson County for 1891 was +$1,789,075.69. The valuation of all horses and cattle owned by +stockmen was $318,125, the tax on which was $3,817.50.” This shows the +cattlemen’s interest in that county to have been less than one-fifth +of the total, yet they claimed to be entitled to the control of all +matters by reason of their money invested. + +On the morning of May 10th, 1892, George A. Wellman was murdered on +Nine Mile Divide, in Johnson County. Here is the story as it was first +told to the Bulletin, in Buffalo, on the day of the murder: + +“Thomas Hathaway, a cowboy, who has been for several years in the +employ of H. A. Blair Company, known as the Hoe outfit, came into town +Tuesday evening, unarmed, wild-eyed and excited, and unfolded a tale +that created consternation among the people. + +“His story, as told then, is as follows: + +“George A. Wellman, who, since the absence of F. H. Labertaux, was +in charge of the Hoe outfit, came from Gillette to the Hoe ranch on +Powder River, Monday evening, the 9th of May, paid off the men at work +there, and Tuesday morning, he (Hathaway) started with Wellman to go to +Buffalo. Each was riding a horse, and Wellman was leading a pack horse, +packed with Hathaway’s bedding. When about 15 or 16 miles southeast +from the Crazy Woman stage crossing, and about 10 o’clock in the +morning, as they were riding side by side along the Nine Mile divide, +two shots were fired in quick succession, so quick that one man could +not have fired them, and George Wellman fell from his horse. + +“Hathaway’s horse pitched him off; he mounted again and followed +Wellman’s horse and the pack-horse about 300 yards to the right, +stopped, unsaddled both Wellman’s horse and the pack-horse, turned them +loose and rode as fast as he could to Buffalo to notify the sheriff.” + +Hathaway changed his story somewhat as he told it to different people, +and in the evening he was arrested on suspicion of being a party to the +crime. The body was sent for and an inquest held, but no certain key +to the mystery was found. The case has been in the United States court +because of the fact of Wellman being a deputy United States Marshal, +but the public is today as ignorant as it was on the morning of the +murder as to the identity of the men who fired the fatal shot. Wellman +was a popular cowboy with all the people and not known to have an enemy +in the country. The Masons of Buffalo buried him with due honors, and +general sorrow prevailed throughout the county. He was married at +Martha, Wisconsin, April 21st, 1892, and had just returned from that +interesting ceremony when he was stricken down. + +The belief is general in the northern counties that Wellman died at +the hands of the invaders and not by act of the so-called rustlers. As +explained in another chapter, they believe he was selected as a victim +in the hope of fastening a crime upon the settlers of Johnson County +for the purpose of exciting sympathy for the captured white caps. + +Some weeks after the discharge of the invaders, Dudley Champion, a +brother of Nathan, was shot and killed by Mike Shonsey, one of the +late prisoners. Champion came down the cattle trail in search of +work, and at a point about 20 miles northeast of Lusk fell in with an +outfit from Texas. During the evening meal Shonsey rode up, and for a +time pleasant conversation was carried on between the entire party. +Suddenly Shonsey raised his gun and fired, killing Champion instantly. +Shonsey, accompanied by a lad who was in the employ of the Texans, +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 Shonsey fired in self-defense. This, +of course, relieved Shonsey from blame, and he was released. A few +hours later he took the train for Cheyenne, arriving in that city +at midnight. The next morning he settled up with George W. Baxter, +in whose employ he had been, and took the afternoon train south, +presumably going to Mexico and out of reach of the law. + +Twenty-four hours after Shonsey’s release by the court at Lusk other +witnesses arrived, and it was claimed that Champion had made no gun +play and that his killing was unprovoked, cold-blooded murder on the +part of Shonsey. But the information came too late--the murderer was +flying southward and out of reach. Thus was added another crime to the +long list chargeable to white cap influence. + +Undoubtedly the motive for the killing of Dudley Champion was the fear +that he would, if permitted to live, seek revenge for the murder of +his brother Nathan at the K. C. ranch. A living Champion was looked +upon as a constant menace--therefore, no Champions must be permitted to +live. Shonsey is still absent from the state, and no action has been +initiated to bring him back to answer for his crime. + +Readers of these pages can but be impressed with the knowledge that the +whole cry of the invaders and their promoters was the decimation of +their herds by the rustlers. “Thief, thief!” was the constant yell, and +the charge was always that, “If the thieves are not wiped out our herds +will be.” So they went to battle to destroy the men who had thus driven +the cattle from the ranges of the state. That this was a false cry, the +following story abundantly proves: + +“The Western Union Beef Company, of which George W. Baxter was and +still is general manager, had a herd located in Johnson County, with +Mike Shonsey as range foreman. The grass was short and the company had +determined to move the herd to Montana in hopes of securing a better +range. In the early autumn of 1892, four or five months after the +invasion, the herd was gathered for the drive to Montana, and behold +there were found and rounded into the moving bunches about two thousand +more cattle than the company’s books called for. The rustlers had not +taken many of these cattle, surely. Yet no man was a more vigorous +“thief” howler than this man Baxter. + +Some persons have been uncharitable enough to suggest that the general +manager and the range foreman had entered into a conspiracy and “put +up a job” on the company for their personal pecuniary benefit, namely, +anticipating and perhaps urging the removal of one herd, they had +“doctored” the tally sheets so as to show two thousand head less than +the real number. Then, when the gather was made, if they found all the +books called for less, say two or three hundred, they could buy the +remnant for a few hundred dollars--less than half of the market value +of the shortage, for it costs nearly all the value of the tailings of +a herd to gather it--and thus have a two thousand herd of their own. +But the little unpleasantness of the invasion made the climate of +Johnson County unhealthy for Messrs. Baxter and Shonsey, and the cattle +gathering had to be done by cowboys not in the deal. Thus, everything +bearing the company’s brands was brought in and the soft snap so +carefully planned was “given away.” + +Assuming that there is no truth in this very plausible story, which is +proper in the absence of direct proof, and that if Baxter and Shonsey +had made the gather of the cattle, the same results would have been +secured, the fact remains that the herd had not been looted, as claimed +by Baxter and his co-workers in the invasion, and the belligerent +attitude was assumed without cause. Baxter must accept one of the +two horns of this dilemma--he either allowed the tally sheets to be +incorrectly made out, or he knowingly set up a false cry of stolen +cattle to justify an outrage upon his state and the people such as was +before unknown in the history of the United States, for no practical +cattleman, as he claims to be, could visit his range month after +month and year after year without realizing that his herd was rapidly +increasing, instead of being day by day growing less from wholesale +robbery, as he everywhere proclaimed. This effectually lifts the charge +of cattle stealing from the citizens of Johnson County. + +Several members of the Texas contingent of the invaders have paid the +debt of nature since their release from custody by the Wyoming court, +all dying with “their boots on”; and many of them under circumstances +peculiarly distressing. One of the sad stories will be sufficient to +record here. The article copied below is from the Buffalo Voice of a +date early in February, 1894, under the heading, “Vengeance Is Mine”: + +“Last Friday, at Fort Smith, Arkansas, the Texas Kid was hung. He will +be remembered as being one of the invaders, and the one who boasted +that he was the man who fired the shot that killed Nick Ray. He was one +of the hired Texans who got $5 a day and rations for helping Wolcott, +Carey, Warren & Co. to kill and scare people out of this country in +order to help out their arid land scheme. After getting out of jail +he went back to Texas and murdered a girl, and for that crime he was +justly hanged. He was engaged to the girl he murdered, before he came +up here as an invader, and when he went back she had learned what he +had done in Wyoming, and refused not only to marry him, but told him +she never wanted to see him again. He became enraged and deliberately +shot her. He was soon caught, and in less than a month after committing +the crime was tried and sentenced to be hung. He broke down several +days before the execution of his sentence and repented of his crimes. +He blamed the instigators of the invasion for being the cause of his +ruin and the death of a fair young girl. He said that he had been +told by Wolcott that a band of outlaws existed in Johnson County, +in comparison to whom the James boys or the Daltons were innocent +children; that they not only were thieves, but that they had waylaid +and killed several stockmen, and that nine out of ten of the citizens +were scared to death of this gang, which numbered about 75 men. He +said Wolcott and Irving told him that the governor and both Senators +had offered rewards for their capture or extermination, and that the +governor, as the head of the state, had given his sanction to the +invasion, as had also both Senators. He denounced the whole gang and +expressed regret for the part he took. “Vengeance is mine, saith the +Lord.” + + + + + CHAPTER XVII. + + A WORD ABOUT WYOMING + + +Midway between the rock-ribbed coast of New England and the golden +sands of the Pacific, high above and beyond the reach of the malaria +laden winds that gather in the low lands on either side, sits fair +Wyoming, youngest born of the sons and daughters of our Republic. +Resting on the summit of the great Rocky Mountains, her garments fall +in graceful folds to the East and West, covering an area of nearly four +hundred miles square. Within these rectangular lines is found a variety +and richness of nature elsewhere unknown, and absolutely beyond the +power of words or brush to paint. + +Here we see the broad, treeless plains stretching away in the distance, +earth and sky blending, like the sailor’s morning welcome in the calm +of mid-ocean. Yonder the rolling approaches to the foothills, green +with grasses and decked with flowers of a thousand hues. There the +foothills themselves, the bodyguards and picket sentinels of the great +ranges, ever on duty as the trusted soldier on the tented field. These +supports to the great backbone of the continent are as varied in their +conformation and consistency as are the comprehensions of the human +mind. One is the perfection of symmetry, when viewed from any quarter, +its sides smooth and inviting from base to apex; another, rock piled +upon rock, craggy projections here, cavernous depths there, walls +perpendicular and walls hanging over; stones smoother by the action of +the elements on their surfaces, or shaped into all manner of grotesque +forms by these same elements, as their composition is uniform or +conglomerate in character. + +Then come the mountains, the giants in nature, rearing their proud +heads far into the etherial blue, and from their vantage ground wearing +a smile that reaches out and gladdens the earth in its lower fields; +the dew drops from the mountains, gathered there while the storm king +reigned, are the joy, the life of the plains below. Raised from the +lower depths by the strong pulsations of nature, these mountain ranges +cross the state from south to north, with diverging spurs to the east +and west, forming a network of mountains, slopes, valleys and plains. +On yonder peak rests the snows of centuries, a robe of whiteness, +unspotted by the changing rays of the sun, unsullied by the tornado’s +sweep, and secure from the cyclonic embrace of electric combinations. +Down the sides of this cloud-piercing pile the pine tree grows in +sturdy thrift, and from the shady nooks spring babbling brooks that +dance and sing their way to the Platte and the Yellowstone, whence they +wander on to lose their identity in tropical seas. + +The placid beauty of the plains, the enchanting, soul-inspiring and +matchless grandeur of the Platte canyon, the sublimity of Yellowstone +Park, the playground of the gods, afford a variety of scenery so +entrancing that the mind is satisfied and the soul is filled to +overflowing. + +As the surface of the state invites to contemplation and satisfies the +most ardent lover of nature’s work, so beneath these masterpieces of +omnipotent mechanism lies buried a material wealth as inexhaustible as +are the sands of the sea shore. Black diamonds, the coal of commerce, +underlie more than one-half of the state, and Wyoming could warm +the nations for a century without material shrinkage of the supply. +Nature’s active laboratory seems to be located directly under this +keystone of American commonwealths, for chemical combinations and +experiments there conducted have given us not only the gems from the +mountains, but pearls from the ocean depths. Every mineral of value +known to commerce or manufactures is found in greater or less quantity, +and the iron mines are the marvel of all beholders. The oil fields of +the state are greater than those of Pennsylvania and Ohio combined, and +the soda lakes are the glory and pride of the continent. + +We are blessed with the raw material for a great manufacturing +community, and the soil of our valleys is like unto the delta of the +Nile. The cloudless days of nearly all the year, and the bracing winds +that chase o’er plain and hill drive malaria far away, and physical +development becomes perfect. + +Wyoming is nature’s bonded warehouse. Here are stored the treasures of +a continent, but for ages the doors have been securely fastened and +the seals are yet unbroken. Intelligent research will find the keys +and deliver the goods to a waiting world for the pleasure, comfort and +enchantment of the people. To this end we invite the prospector to come +within our gates and swell the number of developers. + +Already blessed with a home-loving and patriotic citizenship, the +topography and climatic conditions of the state will stimulate +Republican sentiment among all classes, and as the years and the ages +roll by Wyoming will be pointed to as the birthplace of true Democracy, +the land of freedom to men and women, the one spot in nature’s wide +domain where the laws are made by the governed, without regard to +sex. As we now lift our eyes to Andorra, the oldest Republic, nestled +securely in the fastnesses of the Pyrenees, and thank God that one +tribe has preserved a Republican form of government for twelve hundred +years by reason of its bravery and love for human liberty, so as the +history of the world’s progress is written in future years, will the +eyes of all people turn to this commonwealth as the land where brave +men and fair women, free men whom the truth makes free, equally hold in +trust, and sacredly preserve the rights and liberties of the people. + +Rocked in cradles guarded by nature’s great mountain sentinels; +developed in the atmosphere of freedom that breathes from every +hillside and valley in these highlands; brought to man and womanhood +under the magic touch of nature in its grandest forms, the offspring +of Wyoming will be as proud, brave and patriotic a race as ever sprung +from the descendants of Eden’s illustrious pair. To a people thus +fortunately situated the future is assured, and we invite the brave and +the good of all lands to come and abide with us, in the full belief +that the domination of the old cattle-growers’ ring is ended, and that +from this hour the people will rule. + + + + + CONCLUSION + + +With all of these natural resources and this exceptional political +situation, the state is being held back in its development. Corporation +rule dominated so long, and then the disgrace of the state’s invasion +came as a climax. Some of the invaders still hold up their heads and +try to pose as men, but the dry rot has taken hold of many of them, +and it is only a question of a short time until the last one will +have quietly folded his tent and departed to a more congenial clime. +To be pointed at with the finger of scorn by every passer-by becomes +wearisome, and the weariness grows oppressive. Defeat brings disgust, +and as the old ring has suffered this at every turn, the practical idea +of a change of pasture is already having the desired effect. From now +on there will be a new Wyoming, purified by the people’s rule, and made +the home of a happy and prosperous population, engaged in opening up +and humanizing the mountain, valley and plain. + + GEORGE W. BAXTER, Ex-Governor + Recruiting Officer of the Invasion + + + + + APPENDIX + + +The following confession of George Dunning, one of the hired men of +the invasion, was written by him while in the Johnson County jail, at +Buffalo, duly sworn to and published in the Northwestern Live Stock +Journal in October, 1892. As the result of that publication the editor +of the journal was arrested for criminal libel while in the city of +Chicago, and his printing office seized. The postmaster at Cheyenne +held all the copies of the paper containing the confession as “obscene” +literature, referring the matter to the Postmaster General and getting +instructions (after the election) to let the paper go through the +mails. Fortunately, a part of the mail left the Cheyenne office before +the postmaster found out the contents of the paper, and a goodly number +of copies went out by express, so that the public got the information +before it quite generally. + +The statements made in the confession are of a startling nature, but so +many of them are known to be true that the public is disposed to accept +the entire story as true in detail. The writer hereof has seen and read +the original of the letters written to Dunning by H. B. Ijams, and they +confirm the statements given in the confession in regard to them. + +The blush of shame will come to any honest man who reads the hellish +plot, as laid before Dunning, especially when he reflects that a +crazy, wicked attempt was made to execute the very plans as detailed. +Of course, there is a good deal of superfluous verbiage used in the +confession, but this is to be expected in an article prepared by an +uneducated man: + + CONFESSION OF GEORGE DUNNING + +About the 1st of March, 1892, I was on my way from the 79 mine near +Silver City, Owyhee County, Idaho, to Boise City, Idaho, which is a +distance of about 60 miles. I had heard there was about to be a sale +made of the 79 mine and group of mining claims; I and four other +parties have a lease on the 79 mine and group of mining claims. I was +going to Boise City to see W. B. Knott, the owner of the 79 mine. I +wanted to see him about getting my pay for what work I had done about +the 79 mine. According to our contract with W. B. Knott we took a +three years’ lease on the 79 mine and group of mining claims with the +understanding that if the property was sold before the expiration of +our lease that each of the leasers should be paid $4 a day and all +expenses for what time he worked, and each leaser was to receive $1,000 +besides. When I left the mine I walked to Snake River the first day, a +distance of about 30 miles, and stayed all night with a man by the name +of Cox. The next morning I left Cox’s place to go to the Hot Springs. +As I was passing Mr. Bernard’s place Mr. Bernard asked me if I had +received a letter from Mr. Stearns of Nampa. I told him I had not. Mr. +Bernard said Mr. Stearns would like to see me. I asked Mr. Bernard if +he knew what Mr. Stearns would like to see me about. Mr. Bernard said +that Mr. Stearns would like to employ the right kind of a man to run +a cow outfit in Johnson County, Wyoming, for a friend of his and that +they would pay me big wages. I told Mr. Bernard that I and some other +parties had a three years’ lease on the 79 mine and it had always, for +the last 12 or 13 years been considered one of the best mines in the +state, and that while we were running the south drift that the ledge +had lately widened out and showed higher grade rock than any other +place in the mine. I told Mr. Bernard that I heard that the mine was +about to be sold, and if the sale came off I would have money enough +to go into something for myself, and if the sale did not come off that +I should go back to the mine and get out rock so that as soon as the +roads got good I could get the rock milled and get my money for it. Mr. +Bernard said he heard we had a good layout on the mine, but that the +man that wished to hire me and some of my friends to run his outfit +of cattle was very wealthy and a member of the Wyoming Stock Growers’ +Association; that the association had had a good deal of trouble with +their stock in Johnson County, and that the Wyoming Stock Growers’ +Association was the largest and wealthiest association of the kind in +the world, and if I wanted to go to Wyoming to work, and if I and my +friends would fill the bill that money would cut no figure with the +stock association. I thought the matter over a minute or two. I was +satisfied there was something wrong. I told Mr. Bernard that I would +think the matter over and have a talk with Mr. Stearns; that I could +see Mr. Stearns in Nampa on my way to Boise City. I then went on to the +Hot Springs ranch. + +When I got to the Hot Springs ranch I told some of my friends that Old +Bernard was up to some of his skulduggery; that he had another scheme +in view; that I did not take much stock in it, but I was going to see +Mr. Stearns when I went through Nampa on my way to Boise City, and +that I would learn more of the particulars. At this time I was not +acquainted with Stearns. This man Bernard that I had the conversation +with in regard to coming to Johnson County, Wyoming, to work, was +one of the leaders in the stock association in Owyhee County, Idaho, +seven or eight years ago. Everything in the line of the stock business +in Owyhee County, Idaho, seemed to be running smooth until the stock +association was founded at Silver City, Idaho. There was at that time +little or no complaint of stock stealing in that part of the country. +About the time the stock association was in working order there were +rumors of cattle and horse stealing by the wholesale started around +the country and men who belonged to the association said if the small +stockmen did not sell out or leave the country that they would make +them costs enough in court to break them up. When court sat in the fall +the men who belonged to the stock association kept up their howl about +the amount of stealing that was going on. The sheriff of the county had +turned out defaulter to a large amount of money, and in order to cover +up his defalcations had committed a number of forgeries. The sheriff +picked up the grand jury on the streets and managed to manipulate them +in such a manner that the grand jury found two indictments against me +for branding cattle, and indicted a number of others besides myself. +The amount of money the sheriff was a defaulter was settled for him +and the courts failed to convict a man that was indicted by that grand +jury. This man Bernard took a very active part in the prosecution of +all cattle cases. I know him personally to be a thief and a perjurer. +He was continually talking about the need of a vigilance committee +while the stock association was in its glory in Owyhee County, Idaho. +The association only lasted about two years in Owyhee County, Idaho; +it then went to wreck. + +In the course of a day or so after my conversation with Mr. Bernard in +regard to my coming to Johnson County to work for a cattle outfit I +was in the town of Nampa, Idaho, on my way to Boise City. Mr. Stearns +called to me on the streets and asked me if it would be possible for me +to go to Johnson County, Wyoming, and take charge of a cattle outfit. +Mr. Stearns said that it would be better if I could take four or five +of my friends along; that everything would be fixed satisfactorily in +regard to the money matter; that we would have a show to make some +money. Mr. Stearns then went on to explain how he came to speak to me +about the matter; he said he was back East on a visit last summer and +he met an old friend and school chum of his by the name of Clark; said +Clark was one of the best men he ever knew in his life; that Clark had +made barrels of money out of the cattle business and owned a large +amount of cattle in Johnson County, Wyoming, and vicinity. Mr. Stearns +then went on to tell me that Clark had told him while he was back East +last summer that the cattle thieves, or rustlers, were committing great +depredation on his stock in Johnson County, Wyoming, and that every man +they hired was standing in with the rustlers, and that things would +have to take a change in Johnson County or the stockmen would have to +gather up what stock they could and leave the country. Mr. Stearns said +he had a talk with Mr. Clark about me and some of my friends, and told +Clark that if he would give us good wages that we would run his cattle +for him, and that we would run them on the square; and that it would be +a cold day if Clark did not get what cattle belonged to him. + +Mr. Stearns next showed me three or four telegrams that had been sent +to him from Cheyenne, Wyoming, one of which read: “Please send party +by next train, if possible.” When I saw the telegrams there was but +little doubt in my mind but what the whole business was crooked. Mr. +Stearns told me that money would be forwarded to me from Cheyenne or +else a man would come from Cheyenne to Nampa and explain matters, if I +thought I could go to Johnson County, Wyoming. I told Mr. Stearns that +I could go and to have his man, who Mr. Stearns told me would be H. B. +Ijams, secretary of the Wyoming Stock Growers’ Association, meet me in +the course of three or four days in Nampa, Idaho. I told Mr. Stearns +that I would be back from Boise City by that time. I then went to Boise +City and came back to Nampa, Idaho, where I was introduced to Mr. H. +B. Ijams, of Cheyenne. Mr. Ijams and I then went over to Mr. Stearns’ +office to have a talk about the cattle business. Mr. Ijams talked very +freely about matters pertaining to the cattle business in Wyoming and +especially in Johnson County. Mr. Ijams complained bitterly about the +depredations he claimed that were committed upon the bands of horses +and cattle by the rustlers in Johnson County and vicinity; he said +that the stock growers’ association would either have to put a stop to +the thieves or else sell out or gather up their stock and drive them +to some other state. Mr. Ijams said the stock growers’ association +had owned stock on the range too long to be run out of the country +by an outfit of thieves, and if it was necessary the association +would fight the thieves until the last one of them was wiped out of +existence. Mr. Ijams said the Wyoming Stock Growers’ Association had +paid out thousands of dollars for hiring men from different parts of +the country to kill off the horse and cattle thieves in Wyoming. Mr. +Ijams said the methods of the stock association were expensive, but +he knew of no other way to keep the thieves down. Mr. Ijams spoke of +the hanging of a man by the name of Waggoner, a horse man, and the +lynching of Averill and Cattle Kate, and about the killing of Tisdale +and Jones last fall and the assault on Nate Champion and his partner +on Powder river last fall. Mr. Ijams said last fall the Wyoming Stock +Growers’ Association made a contract with certain parties to kill off +15 men who were considered by the stock association to be the leaders +among the stock thieves in Johnson County, Wyoming. Mr. Ijams gave +me to understand that the men who were employed by the Wyoming Stock +Growers’ Association to do the killing last fall in Johnson County, +Wyoming, were Frank Canton and Joe Elliott and Tom Smith and another +man whose name I forget, who Ijams said got off all right to Montana. +Mr. Ijams said our men got Tisdale and Jones all right. The next job +they tried after they attempted to do up Champion and his partner, on +Powder river, they went into the Champion cabin about daylight and +told Champion and his partner to give up, and at the same time one of +the party fired his pistol at Champion’s head; Champion then shot one +of the party up the coat sleeve with his revolver and another through +the ribs. The party then left Champion’s place, leaving their grub, +blankets and several horses and overcoats in the vicinity of Champion’s +place. Mr. Ijams said that the failure of their men to do up Champion +and his partner, on Powder river, and the killing of Tisdale and Jones +last fall put an end to the killing business for the rest of the winter +in Johnson County. + +Mr. Ijams said that after the assault on Champion and his partner +and the killing of Tisdale and Jones last fall, on the Powder river, +there was a good deal of excitement in Johnson County, and people +were getting on the war path; that the stock association thought that +if they had some of the thieves killed off that it would terrorize +the balance in such a manner that the most of them would leave the +country. Mr. Ijams said the stock association were mistaken in regard +to the effect produced by the killing off of a few thieves by men who +were hired by the stock association; that instead of terrorizing the +rascals that the thieves were becoming more bold in committing their +depredations upon live stock, and that the thieves were getting more on +the war path every day of their rascally lives. Mr. Ijams said that the +course the stock association had been pursuing for a number of years in +regard to killing off the thieves in Johnson County and vicinity had +bitterly prejudiced a great many ranchers and business men and other +people who never owned any stock, against the stock association; that +he had thought the matter over a great deal and had lately come to the +conclusion that the stock association had not gone about the killing +off of the thieves in the right manner. Mr. Ijams said that since +the assault on Champion and his partner and the killing of Tisdale +and Jones, on Powder river, last fall that the stock association had +another scheme in view for doing up the thieves and he thought it was +the proper one under the circumstances, and that this last scheme would +meet the approbation of a great many law-abiding citizens of Johnson +County, who would shudder at the idea of the stock association hiring +men in Cheyenne or Texas to come to Johnson County to shoot the cattle +thieves in the back. Mr. Ijams said that the latest scheme of the +stock association was to publicly wipe the thieves in Johnson County, +Wyoming, out of existence; the way he said the stock association of +Montana did in that state eight or nine years ago. Mr. Ijams said that +after the assault on Champion and the killing of Tisdale and Jones +that one of the stock association’s best men, a man by the name of +Tom Smith, had gone to Texas to get 25 men to join the rest of the +outfit in Cheyenne whenever the stock association saw fit to make a +raid on Johnson County and kill off the thieves; said Smith used to be +a deputy United States Marshal in Texas; and that a number of deputy +United States Marshals would come from Texas with Smith. Ijams said +Smith had been engaged in the business of killing off cattle thieves +for a number of years, and was the most successful man he knew of in +his line of business. Ijams said Smith was the man who put up the job +to hang a horseman named Waggoner. Ijams said Smith and party read +a bogus warrant to Waggoner and took him a short distance from home +and hanged him. Mr. Ijams said the stock association were hiring the +men that Smith would bring from Texas on the basis of $5 a day for +each man hired and all expenses would be paid by the association; and +the association would pay each hired man $50 for every man that was +killed or hung by the mob on the raid. Ijams said that most of the work +would be accomplished in a month, but he intended to divide the mob +up after the first month’s work and have five men in each squad, and +have them ride over the country for several months and kill the thieves +whenever they run on them. Mr. Ijams said the mob would probably kill +off about 30 men in Johnson County while on their raid; that the stock +association wanted to kill off more, but that a good many thieves +would escape. After the mob got through with Johnson County they were +to visit other parts of the country. Mr. Ijams said the mob would +have three or four months’ work and it might take them all summer. +When the mob got through with Wyoming, Ijams said the association had +raids planned for other parts of the country. Ijams said the stock +association had 25 or 30 friends in Buffalo and vicinity who would join +the mob when they got in the vicinity of Buffalo; said the friends of +the stock association in Buffalo were determined men, and that the +mayor of the town (a man I believe by the name of Burritt) was at the +head of their organization. Ijams said the governor and Judge Blake +were back of this movement to wipe the thieves in Johnson County out of +existence. Ijams told me about the United States Marshal helping him +plan the raid and said that the stock association had some very warm +friends in Congress and the United States Senate, among whom he said +was Senator Carey, a man of great influence and wealth. Ijams spoke +about the sheriff and his deputies in Johnson County, and said they +were in sympathy with the cattle thieves, and that he would rather +have the sheriff and one of his deputies, a man I believe by the name +of Rowles, hung than any two s-- of b-- he knew of. Ijams spoke of +Rowles as the affidavit fiend; said Rowles had caused the stock +association a good deal of trouble by getting out affidavits against +some of the parties the stock association had employed to kill off the +cattle thieves in Johnson County. Mr. Ijams said the stock association +had a great many influential friends all over Wyoming; he said the +association paid no attention to the courts in Johnson County; that +all the courts were on their side; he spoke about Frank Canton being +arrested for killing Jones and Tisdale, and said the evidence was very +strong against Canton, but that Canton’s friends were obliged to prove +an alibi for him; said the affidavits in regard to Canton’s proving an +alibi had been gotten up to fit the case, and were false as far as the +truth of the matter was concerned; that it was no trouble for the stock +association to procure affidavits to fit any case. Ijams said that if +the raid came off that it would come off before the cattle round-up; he +said that when about 30 of the thieves were killed off that 300 or 400 +people who were in sympathy with the thieves would get up and leave the +country the best way they could; that the people who were in sympathy +with the thieves would leave their stock on the range; that before the +raid was over the stock association would have a round-up of the cattle +in Johnson County and take possession of all the cattle on the range +that belonged to the cattle thieves and their sympathizers; that the +stock association would ship the beef and brand over the rest of the +rustlers’ cattle. Ijams said that if I and my friends were willing to +work with the mob on the same terms that the stock association were +hiring the rest of the mob in Texas that the stock association would be +glad to have us join the mob in Cheyenne at some future time. I told +Ijams that I thought his terms were very liberal. Ijams said there +would be no trouble about any of the mob getting their money according +to contract. I told Ijams that I was willing to take the stock +association for my pay. Ijams said that it had not been definitely +settled yet just when the mob would leave Cheyenne or just what action +the stock association would take about the matter. Ijams said it would +be necessary for him to return immediately to Cheyenne and confer +with two other men who were officers in the stock association, who, +with him, had the management of affairs in regard to recruiting a mob +of men to come to Johnson County, Wyoming, and kill off the cattle +thieves. Ijams said his propositions to me were made as an agent of the +Wyoming Stock Growers’ Association. And before the association knew +just what they would do about the matter it would be necessary for the +association to hold a meeting at their headquarters in Cheyenne, and +before the mob could start from Cheyenne to Johnson County, Wyoming, +to kill off the cattle thieves, that it would be necessary at the +stock association meeting for every member of the association or his +representative to endorse the general plan of campaign of Ijams and +the other two officers of the association who were connected with the +recruiting of the mob to come to Johnson County, Wyoming, for the +purpose of killing off the cattle thieves and rustlers. Mr. Ijams +said he would write me a letter once in a while after he got back to +Cheyenne and keep me posted in regard to affairs. I then left Ijams in +Nampa and went to Caldwell, nine miles west of Nampa. This interview I +had with Ijams in Nampa, Idaho, was on the 7th of March, 1892. Before +I left Ijams in Nampa I asked him what was the general reputation of +the cattle thieves and rustlers in Johnson County in the neighborhood +where they lived. Ijams said the thieves the stock association intended +to have killed off generally bore a good reputation in Johnson County +and vicinity where they lived. Ijams said they were not generally +considered thieves or outlaws in Johnson County and vicinity. + +After my arrival in Caldwell I did not know hardly how to regard +Ijams’ proposition. Ijams was perfectly sober at the time of our +interview and seemed to be a very intelligent kind of a man. I saw +Ijams talking in Nampa to one of the head men of the Ada County Stock +Association, a man by the name of Valentine. I thought the matter +over a good deal. Ijams did not seem to get mad or excited during our +conversation in Nampa, but seemed to talk about the matter of murdering +30 or more men in much the same manner that many people would talk +about taking a picnic excursion. I could not think for some time that +Ijams was in earnest, he seemed to have other business in the county +besides interviewing me. Ijams asked me if I knew a man by the name of +Lamb, in Silver City, Idaho, that used to be editor of the Silver City +Avalanche, and wanted to know if Lamb was in Silver City or vicinity. I +told him that Lamb was in Delamar, Idaho, about nine miles from Silver +City. Ijams said that he once loaned Lamb $1,500 in St. Louis and that +Lamb had never returned the money. Ijams said he had a notion to go to +Silver City and see Lamb. Ijams inquired about Lamb’s ability to pay +the $1,500 and gave up the trip. I was satisfied that Ijams and some +of those fellows in Nampa were trying to give me a talk on the side +to see if I would not have Ijams arrested in Nampa, Idaho, or make a +fool out of myself in some other way. Ijams while in Nampa had shown me +a list of the men he wanted killed in Johnson County, Wyoming. Ijams +spoke about three of the Ninemeier brothers who had killed three men +at Silver Mountain, Idaho, and said they had been recommended to him +as the right kind of men for his business. The governor of Idaho had +offered $1,500 each for the capture of the Ninemeier brothers that +murdered the three men in Silver Mountain, Idaho. + +When I was at Caldwell waiting to get paid for my work about the +79 mine I thought over Ijams’ proposition a good deal. I could not +conceive how any one had any reason to think that I and my friends +were so diabolically inclined as to join a mob and go to a distant +part of the country and engage in the business of murdering men by +wholesale who stood in the same position before the Wyoming Stock +Growers’ Association that I and my friends a few years ago did to the +Owyhee County Stock Association in Idaho. I and my friends in Idaho +are about the only ones that ever had any trouble with the stock +association in Owyhee County, Idaho. The stock association dealt us a +good deal of aggravation for nearly two years, a large amount of which +was blackmail, and some of the wretches had not quit lying the last I +heard from them. While the stock association was in existence in Owyhee +County, I took a very active part in dealing the institution misery. +I and my friends took a very active part in prosecuting and trying to +bring to justice some of the perjurers and assassins whom we claim were +in the employ of the stock association. I have gone to a good deal of +trouble and expense in Idaho to work a hardship upon that misguided +and unfortunate institution of a stock association during its short +and melancholy existence in Owyhee County, Idaho. The more I thought +of Ijams’ propositions the more I became convinced that Ijams had been +imposing on me with his stories in regard to killing off the cattle +thieves in Johnson County, Wyoming. When the members of the Owyhee +County Stock Association in Idaho were talking unusually wicked and +seemed to be thirsting for gore, I and some of my friends formed an +association for the purpose of bringing to justice any of the members +of the stock association who should do a small stockman an injustice. +And we intended to bring to justice any criminals that might be in the +employ of the stock association and we were quite successful in running +down some of the criminals in the employ of the stock association. +Our association was an organization for the mutual protection of the +small stockmen. We were to brand each other’s stock when convenient and +favor each other in other ways. Our association I have every reason +to believe is in as good running order today as it ever was. We call +it the Owyhee and Bruneau Stock Association. Soon after my interview +with Ijams in Nampa, Idaho, I saw a friend of mine in Caldwell by the +name of Henry Dement, who was a member of our organization, for running +down vigilantes or criminals in the employ of the stock association of +Owyhee County, Idaho. I spoke to Dement about the propositions that +Ijams had made to me in Nampa; Dement said it would be a good idea +for me to keep my eyes open; that the stock association was strong in +Wyoming, and it was hard telling what they would do in that country. +After I saw Dement I thought the matter over a good deal and came to +the conclusion that as far as Ijams’ proposition to me was concerned, +that the whole business was a fake. I could not conceive how Ijams +could imagine that I and my friends were composed of the right material +for a mob. I could not think of any circumstance that any of us had +ever been accused of that would justify Ijams in arriving at his +conclusions. After a couple of weeks I got two letters from Ijams, +saying he would keep me informed when he wanted me and party to start +for Cheyenne, and he would let me know the number of men to bring with +me. When I had my first interview with Ijams I knew nothing about any +of the troubles in Johnson County, Wyoming. After I got my second +letter from Ijams I began to pay some attention to his stories. After +I got my second letter from Ijams I went to Boise City to see about +getting my pay for my work about the 79 mine; on my way to Boise City +and in Boise City I met several men who had lately come from Johnson +County or vicinity. I inquired about the state of affairs in Johnson +County in regard to the cattle business. One of these men I had a talk +with was Bob Gunnall, a noted foot racer, and bartender at the Wilson +Hotel in Nampa, Idaho. Gunnall said he was just from Johnson County +and vicinity; came from there about six months ago. Gunnall told me +about the killing of Jones and Tisdale, and about the state of affairs +generally in Johnson County, Wyoming. Gunnall was very bitter against +the Wyoming Stock Growers’ Association, and said the association had +spent thousands of dollars for the purpose of hiring professional +assassins in Texas and other places to come to Johnson County, Wyoming, +and vicinity and shooting law-abiding people in the back. Gunnall said +the people of Johnson County were wild with excitement on account of +the murders that had been committed upon peaceable and law-abiding +citizens in Johnson County by assassins in the employ of the Wyoming +Stock Growers’ Association. Gunnall spoke well of the people of Johnson +County and vicinity; said that, as a rule, they were as law-abiding +a class of people as could be found anywhere; that he believed there +was less stock stealing going on in Johnson County than there was in +most any county where there was as much stock as there was in Johnson +County. I asked Gunnall if he did not think the stock association +would attempt at some time to hang up some of the people of Johnson +County the way the stock association of Montana hung up the so-called +thieves in that state eight or nine years ago. Gunnall said it would +be just as good a thing as the people of Johnson County would want +for the stock association to turn a mob loose in Johnson County; +that a mob of 2,000 men could not intimidate the people of Johnson +County. The other men I saw and had conversations with seemed to have +about the same idea about matters in Johnson County, Wyoming, that +Gunnall did. They all spoke of the people as a law-abiding class of +people, and all agreed that the Wyoming Stock Growers’ Association +of Cheyenne had been importing assassins from Texas and other places +to Wyoming for the purpose of shooting people from ambush whom the +stock association styled rustlers or cattle thieves. After I had my +conversation with Gunnall and others in regard to the cattle business +in Johnson County and vicinity, I began to think that Ijams might have +been in earnest, to a certain extent, in regard to his propositions to +me. I was convinced of the utter hopelessness and foolishness for the +stock association to ever send a mob to Johnson County, if Ijams meant +anything by his propositions to me. I supposed he meant to recruit an +outfit of men and have them go to work in Johnson County in his cow +outfit, and then see, after he was well acquainted with his men, how +many men he could select out of the outfit that were of the same stripe +that Frank Canton had been represented to me to be. + +I began to think Ijams was in earnest. I stayed in Boise City several +days and tried to get my pay for my work in the 79 mine, and tried to +get money from other sources, and spoke to some of my friends, Henry +Dement and Frank Speelman, about rustling money for one of them to come +to Johnson County, Wyoming, and let certain parties know about Ijams’ +proposition to me. I could not get the money to send a man ahead in +time in inform the authorities in regard to Ijams’ proposition to me. +It did not use to be any trouble for me to borrow a few hundred dollars +in Idaho. I most always had money when I was engaged in the cattle +business. But during the last few years that I have been mining and +doing other work, I have gone broke on pretty nearly every project I +have tackled. I had $1,484 coming to me for my work about the 79 mine. +I have not got any of the money yet. I soaked my revolver in Caldwell +in a pawn shop to get money to go to Boise City on, and try to rustle +money in order to send a man ahead to let certain parties in Johnson +County know what propositions Ijams had been making to me. I never got +my six-shooter out of soak until Ijams sent me the money to come to +Cheyenne. I left the letters that Ijams sent me with Henry Dement of +Caldwell, Idaho. I talked the whole matter over with Dement and others, +so that if the mob came into Johnson County or were captured on the way +they could not make any bull story stick in regard to their coming to +Johnson County with peaceable intentions. Ijams always represented to +me that the first thing the stock association had to do was to kill off +the rustlers and then the stock association would have a round-up of +the cattle in Johnson County before the mob left the County, and that +the stock association would appropriate all of the rustlers’ cattle and +horses and all stock that belonged to the sympathizers of the rustlers. + +Before I left Idaho I tried to get Bob Gunnall to come to Cheyenne +with me. I was satisfied from what I heard that Gunnall was well +acquainted in Cheyenne and had relations living there who were well +fixed and could let Gunnall have the money to come ahead and inform +the authorities in Johnson County in case we had reason to believe the +outfit that was to leave Cheyenne was a mob and were coming to Johnson +County with the intention of killing off the rustlers. I told Gunnall +that I was confident that we would capture enough of the criminals in +Cheyenne to pay us handsomely on account of certain parties I expected +would be in Cheyenne with the mob about the time we got there that had +large rewards offered for their capture. Gunnall said he would like to +come, but I would make it all right any way, and that he was badly in +debt in Nampa and could not leave the country until he had squared up; +that he had to go to Delamar right away and run a foot race; that it +would be $1,200 or $1,500 in his pocket to run the race. + +I arrived in Cheyenne April 2nd, 1892; I came in on the 5 o’clock +afternoon train; I was in town five or ten minutes when I met Ijams on +the street. He said he was just looking around and was expecting to +see me and a party from Idaho. He asked me how many men I had brought +along with me. I told him that I was obliged to come alone on this +trip, as I and my friends were expecting a good deal of trouble in my +part of the country, and it would be necessary for every one of my +friends to get to the front if matters took the turn that we expected +they would. He said that we would get along nicely any way; that Smith +had no trouble in getting the number of men in Texas that he wanted +at the rates the stock association offered, $5 a day wages and all +expenses paid by the association, and $50 bounty to be paid to each +hired man for every man that was killed in the said raid made by the +mob in Johnson County or vicinity. I said the terms were the same as +we had talked about at Nampa. Ijams asked me if the terms on which the +stock association had hired the men in Texas were satisfactory to me. I +told him I thought the terms of the association were very liberal. He +said if I chose to remain in the country after the raid that the stock +association would be able to offer other inducements to me. He then +asked me if I had brought my bedding and saddle or my guns. I told him +that I brought nothing with me but my revolver. He said that he would +go around town with me tomorrow and show me the stores where the stock +association generally did their trading, and he would make arrangements +for me to get anything I needed in my line, and have it charged to +the stock association. Ijams said he would have plenty of time, that +we could not start as soon as he thought we would when he sent me the +letter to Caldwell. Ijams said the stock growers’ association had not +held their meeting yet, and that the men from Texas would not come from +Denver until the Wyoming Stock Growers’ Association had held their +meeting. Ijams said the coming meeting of the Wyoming Stock Growers’ +Association would be the most important meeting of the kind ever held +in the Western country. Ijams said it would be necessary for every +member of the Wyoming Stock Growers’ Association to be present at +the next meeting or to be represented by proxy, and that it would be +necessary for every one of them to endorse the general plan of campaign +of Ijams and two other officers of the association who had charge of +the arrangements for recruiting a mob of men for the purpose of coming +to Johnson County, Wyoming, and killing off the rustlers. Ijams then +asked me if I had a hotel that suited me. He said I could stop at the +Inter-Ocean or the Metropolitan, and that the stock association would +settle my bill. He said that there were a number of stockmen who were +going on the raid to pilot the mob through the country stopping at +those two hotels. I told Ijams that I had on my working clothes and I +would rather stop at some cheaper hotel. He said all right, to suit +myself, to knock around town and enjoy myself the best I knew how, and +if I wanted a suit of clothes or money I could have them, and that I +would want to get me a good rig, that I was now working for a rich +firm and that at the figures I would get for my work that it would not +take me long to pay for a good outfit, and that one average killing +for the mob would pay for a first-class rig and probably more. Ijams +and I then parted; I went over to the Dyer House, a 25-cent hotel, and +registered my name. After supper, about 8 o’clock in the evening, I +met Ijams and two other men on the streets. Ijams introduced the two +men to me as Mr. Morrison and Mr. Tabor. He said Morrison and Tabor +would show me around the town. I had a long conversation with Morrison +and Tabor that evening. They said they had been in the employ of the +stock association for a number of years as stock detectives; they said +they had worked for the stock association so long that the association +thought they owned them. They said they were going along with the rest +of the mob when they left Cheyenne to go to Johnson County to kill off +the rustlers. They said the mob would first come to Buffalo and kill +off what men they wanted in town, that they would shoot or hang up +the sheriff and his deputies and would depose the civil authorities +and keep possession of the town until the stock growers’ association +could have their own officers to take charge of the courts of Johnson +County. They said the mob would have to do a good deal of fighting in +Johnson County; but when the mob cleaned up Johnson County that it +would raid Natrona, Sheridan and Converse counties, and would meet with +little opposition in those counties and in Sweetwater County; that the +rustlers outside of Johnson County were unprepared to make a fight, and +were not expecting anything, and that all the mob would have to do +would be to hang them up as they came to them. Morrison and Tabor said +the mob would have its hands full in Johnson County; that last fall +the Wyoming stock growers had employed four men to kill off a number +of rustlers; that these four men made an assault on a man by the name +of Champion and Gilbertson, on the Powder river; said these four men +intended to hang Champion and Gilbertson in their cabin; that they went +into the cabin about daylight and told Champion and Gilbertson to give +up, that they had get them this time; that while these four men were +holding their revolvers on Champion and Gilbertson that Champion got +his revolver and shot one of the party up the coat sleeve and the other +through the ribs; that the party then retreated leaving their horses, +overcoats, bedding, some grub and a Winchester, that Tom Smith had at +one time made Frank Canton a present of. I understood Morrison to say +that the parties to the assault on Champion and Gilbertson were Frank +Canton, Joe Elliott, Tom Smith and Fred Coats; they said that last +fall after the assault on Champion and Gilbertson, that there were two +men killed near Buffalo by the name of Jones and Tisdale; they said +that the party that killed Jones and Tisdale was in the employ of the +stock association; they said that Champion and others knew who these +men were that were in the employ of the stock association, and that +the mob would do all witnesses up that knew of any facts that would +tend to criminate any of these parties who had been in the employ of +the association for the purpose of killing off the rustlers; they said +the stock association had offered these four men in their employ for +the purpose of killing off the rustlers $1,500 for each man killed. +They asked me what arrangements I had made with Ijams in regard to my +wages during the raid of the mob in Johnson County. I told them I had +not made any definite arrangements yet, but that I would work the same +as the rest of the mob. They said that the stock growers’ association +had told them that they were hiring the Texas men on the basis of $5 a +day wages and all expenses paid by the association, and $50 bounty to +be paid to each hired man of the outfit for every man that was killed +by the mob; they said the stock association told them they would give +them the same rates, but if any of the mob were getting more, that +they wanted the limit; that they did not want to work cheaper than the +rest of the mob on account of having been in the employ of the stock +association for a number of years. Tabor said he was in the Powder +River country, in Johnson County, last fall; that the men who were in +the employ of the stock association for the purpose of killing off the +rustlers had terrorized Johnson County to such an extent that everybody +carried Winchesters and six-shooters wherever they went, and that when +the settlers were going to Buffalo, if they were on horseback, that +they hardly ever traveled the main roads, and that they always tried +to ride around the gulches and bunches of brush. Tabor said that the +settlers seemed to think that the stock association had a man hired +to stand behind every bunch of brush or rock in the country for the +purpose of taking their scalps for the bounty that was offered by +the stock association. Tabor said his business in Johnson County was +looking over the country and keeping cases on rustlers. He said that +a liquor or dry goods drummer could not come into Buffalo without the +settlers thinking that he was in the employ of the stock association +and had his valises loaded with dynamite for the purpose of blowing +them up. + +This is the substance of my interview with Morrison and Tabor the first +night I was in Cheyenne. + +On the morning of the 3rd of April I met Ijams on the street. I +told him that I was looking around town to see about getting me a +Winchester. He said he had just bought me one that morning, a 45-90 +Browning Brother’s patent. He said the outfit would get all their guns +at one store, and that the stock association would foot the bill. I +went over to the store to look at my gun. I saw a number of stockmen +getting guns and ammunition, among whom were H. W. Davis, D. R. +Tisdale, J. N. Tisdale and others. The next day I got me a saddle and +the rest of my rig. The day I got my gun I saw a man in the gun store +April 3rd, when I was looking at my gun. His name was Fred Wombold. +He said he used to scout for the government with a man by the name +of Ketchum, brother of the man that was lynched by the Olive outfit +in Nebraska. We had a long talk about mob law generally, and Wombold +said he had been watching things around the gun shop, and that the +stockmen had already bought over 20 guns there that day, and that +they were organizing a mob to come to Johnson County to kill off the +rustlers. I told Wombold when the mob would leave Cheyenne. He gave +me to understand that he would come ahead of the mob and inform the +authorities in Johnson County. There was a good deal of excitement at +the gun store when the mob got their guns. Ben Morrison and Tabor told +me that the whole town was onto the racket of the mob going to Johnson +County. They said that all the officials in Cheyenne were friends of +the stock association, and we would not be molested on that account. I +asked them if the soldiers were not liable to hold up the train when +the mob got opposite Fort Russell. They said that Governor Barber had +the running of the soldiers and he would not allow them to molest the +mob; that Barber had helped plan the raid the mob was about to make, +and that the officers at Fort Russell were friends of the stockmen. + +On the evening of the 3rd of April I got acquainted with a man by the +name of Mike Burns from Buffalo. We had a long talk about the mob; +he told me he would start for Buffalo on the morning train and would +inform the authorities in regard to the mob. On the 4th of April I +helped to brand the horses that the mob left Cheyenne with; there were +three carloads of them; they were branded AL on the left shoulder. When +we were branding horses I was introduced to Joe Elliott, Van Tassal, +Ewing, Clark and others. When we were branding horses there was a good +deal of talk about the state of terror the settlers of Johnson County +were in on account of the depredations that had been committed upon +the settlers by Elliott, Canton, Tom Smith and Fred Coats. There was a +good deal of talk about the necessity of killing off all men who were +witnesses against Elliott, Canton, Tom Smith and Coats. These were the +four men that it was claimed were in the employ of the Wyoming Stock +Association for the purpose of killing off the rustlers last fall. It +seemed to be the general opinion among the gang at the stockyards that +if the mob could kill off about 30 rustlers in Johnson County that it +would terrorize the settlers in such a manner that 300 or 400 settlers +that owned stock and were in sympathy with the rustlers, would leave +the country the best way they could, and the stock association would +have no trouble about appropriating their stock, together with the +stock of the rustlers the mob intended to kill. + +On the 5th day of April I helped to load the three wagons and the three +carloads of horses, and the baggage that belonged to the mob; a man +by the name of Van Tassal bossed the job. I saw Ijams again on the +afternoon of the 5th of April. He said the Wyoming Stock Association +had held their meeting; he said the stock association had approved +of the general plan of the campaign of his (Ijams) and the other two +officers of the stock association who had charge of the arrangements +for recruiting the mob and of the general plan of killing the rustlers. +He said the mob would get along nicely; that every man that was a +member of the Wyoming Stock Growers’ Association was backing up the +movement; that Governor Barber, Judge Blake, the United States Marshal +and nearly all the state officials were on the side of the stock +association, and would stay with the mob through thick and thin. He +said the mob had some very influential friends in Congress and in +the United States Senate, among whom he said were Senators Carey and +Warren, whom he said were men of great influence and wealth. I asked +Ijams if he thought the outfit might not be arrested at Fort Russell on +the way to Casper. He said there was no danger; that Governor Barber +and Senators Warren and Carey would manipulate the troops; that the +troops could not be called out except for the protection of the mob, +and that the mob would be able to take care of itself, and that the +officers at Fort Russell were friends of the stockmen. I asked Ijams +how about the troops at Buffalo. He said the troops at Buffalo were +an outfit of sons-of-b----; that they had been stealing beef from the +stockmen for years, and that the officers at McKinney upheld them in +committing their depredations; that the soldiers at McKinney would +invest the amount they saved by not drawing beef rations in luxuries, +and the soldiers at McKinney were able to eat plum duff three times a +day. + +Ijams said that arrangements had been made to watch the soldiers +very closely at McKinney and see that they did not desert or steal a +Gatling gun and join the rustlers. He said that parties in Buffalo +would look after the soldiers so closely at McKinney that they would be +perfectly harmless, so far as the mob was concerned. About 6 o’clock +in the evening the mob left on the train for Casper. Before leaving +the stockyards the mob in Cheyenne were joined by the mob from Texas +that came on the train from Denver. I think there were about 52 men on +the train when the mob left Cheyenne. There was no excitement on the +train until after dark, when orders were given for every man to get a +rope and have his guns ready. The leaders of the mob said the sheriff +from Buffalo and one or two of his deputies might be coming on the +train from Casper to Cheyenne; that a good many people in Cheyenne had +known for some time the mob would start for Johnson County and that the +people in Buffalo might have heard about the mob, and the sheriff and +one or two deputies might be coming to Cheyenne to see what they could +find out. The leaders of the mob said arrangements had been made so the +mob would know if the sheriff and party were on the train, and if they +were they said it would change the plans of the mob altogether. That +it would be necessary for the mob to stop the train from Casper if the +sheriff and party were on and to hang the sheriff and his deputies and +any rustlers that might be on the train. + +The leaders of the mob said there were several rustlers in Casper that +they would hang up if they were obliged to capture the sheriff and +party from Buffalo, but if sheriff and party were not on the train from +Casper that the mob would go direct to Buffalo without interfering +with anyone. Before the train the mob was on met the train from Casper +the leaders of the mob reported that sheriff and party were not on the +train from Casper. The train the mob was on arrived at the stockyards +near Casper a short time before daylight and commenced to catch and +saddle up their horses. By the time the part of the mob left the +stockyards that had their horses in the last of the three cars the +sun was about one-half or three-fourths of an hour high, and parties +in Casper seemed to be watching the mob closely. Some of the mob said +there were several rustlers in Casper from Johnson County that they +ought to hang, but they did not want to make any disturbance until they +got to Buffalo. They said if the mob caused a disturbance in Casper +the sheriff in Buffalo would swear in 100 or 200 deputies and come to +meet the mob in the Powder River country. The mob said the only way +they could succeed was to come to Buffalo and kill off the sheriff +and his deputies, so that the citizens would have no leader and no law +in the country to protect them. The mob came about six or seven miles +north of Casper and stopped for the wagons to come up in order to get +breakfast. The mob stopped in camp until about 1 o’clock. About noon +several of the mob went out and brought in a horseman. The mob said +they intended to kill all rustlers that they would capture on the road. +They held the horseman prisoner for about half an hour. He was unarmed +and proved to be a man that was riding after sheep. The took him along +prisoner for six or seven miles north of where they camped at noon and +turned him loose, after making him promise to say nothing about seeing +the mob in the country. The first night out from Casper, the night of +the 6th of April, the mob camped about 20 miles north of Casper. On the +morning of the 7th of April they were called together and told that +hereafter Tom Smith and the rest of them would be in command of Frank +Canton; for them to obey orders and ask no questions. About 10 o’clock +on the morning of the 7th of April the mob stopped a young man from +Buffalo by the name of Kingsbury. They said he was a sheepman’s son. He +was allowed to go his way. About noon on the 7th of April they camped +about 30 miles north of Casper and got dinner. From there they left the +wagons and arrived at John Tisdale’s on the night of the 7th of April, +about 8 o’clock in the evening; the weather was very stormy. + +About 10 or 12 miles before the mob got to Tisdale’s ranch they were +met by Mike Shonsey, who informed them that at a ranch on Powder River +there were 15 or 16 rustlers. I could not get any information at the +time just what ranch it was the rustlers were at, or in just what part +of the country the ranch was, but I have since learned that the ranch +that Shonsey meant was the K. C. ranch, on the middle fork of Powder +River. The Texas part of the mob stopped in the bunk-house at Tisdale’s +ranch; the stockmen stopped at the residence. I was with the Texas +party. On the morning of the 8th of April we were told by the leaders +of the mob that we would lay over at Tisdale’s place that day and wait +for the wagons to come up and the men would have a chance to rest. The +Texas men were about played out. In the afternoon we were told that +the leaders had decided to make a raid on the rustlers on Powder River, +about 16 miles from Tisdale’s. The leaders, in the evening, gave orders +for the mob to kill every man on this ranch they proposed to raid, and +to leave no man alive about the ranch to tell any tales afterward, no +matter who he might be. The wagons arrived at Tisdale’s ranch about 5 +o’clock the evening of the 8th of April. + +After the wagons arrived at Tisdale’s we were told by the leaders that +it would be the last place we would probably see the wagons unless +by an accident the teamsters were able to deceive the rustlers and +get through to Buffalo; that for every man to get what ammunition and +blankets he wanted to take along with him; that after raiding the ranch +on Powder River the country would be full of straggling rustlers, and +the chances were they would capture the wagons. About 7 o’clock in the +evening four men were detailed to go to the ranch on Powder River and +keep off a safe distance and see if the parties who lived at the ranch +had left or not. I managed to get one of the Texans, who was detailed +for the occasion, to let me go in his place. I had caught my horse +and started to saddle up, when Walcott came down from the house and +said I could not go along with the party to investigate matters. He +said the men that were detailed for the occasion would have to go, and +that us fellows would have to learn to obey orders and better ask less +questions. If I had gone along with the party of four to investigate +matters of the K. C. ranch I intended when we got in sight of the K. +C. ranch to get off my horse and empty my Winchester at the rest of +the gang and then to go down to the house and inform the parties who +were living there as to the state of affairs in their part of the +country. Mike Shonsey, Jack Jones, Elick Kinzie and one of the Bookers +left Tisdale’s ranch to investigate matters at the K. C. ranch, on the +middle fork of Powder River. They were to meet the balance of us four +miles south of the K. C. ranch, after they had investigated matters and +let the rest of the mob know how everything was running about the ranch. + +The mob left Tisdale’s ranch about 11 o’clock on the night of the 8th +of April and stopped several hours in a gulch on the road about four +miles from K. C. ranch and waited for the return of Shonsey and party. +Shonsey and their party finally returned to the gulch where the balance +of the mob were waiting, and reported everything all right at the K. +C. ranch; they said the parties there were not expecting anything, and +that they were playing the fiddle and having a good time generally. +Shortly after the return of Shonsey and party the mob started for the +K. C. ranch. Joe Elliott had about 10 pounds of giant powder tied +behind his saddle. It was the intention of the mob to blow the house at +the K. C. ranch up with the giant powder and to shoot any of the men +who showed up in sight at the K. C. house after the explosion. But the +mob got to the K. C. ranch too late to use the powder. It was breaking +day when we got in sight of the ranch; about the time the mob saw the +K. C. house, the leaders of the mob, Major Walcott, Frank Canton and +Tom Smith, called to the mob to halt, pointed out the K. C. house and +said the parties they proposed to kill were living there and that they +did not intend to allow any man that was about the place to get away +alive. They said the mob were too late to use the giant powder; that +they would have to surround the house and let the parties come out as +far as possible and then they would shoot them down. The leaders then +ordered six men to go on the south side of the K. C. house and conceal +themselves in a gulch in order to shoot any parties that might show up +in sight. The six men ordered to take a position in a gulch south of +the K. C. house were Mike Shonsey, Jack Jones, Elick Kinzie and three +of the Bookers. The balance of the mob went to the river and left their +horses in charge of a part of the mob at the river about one-half mile +above the house; a part of the balance of the mob went down the river +from where they left the horses and hid behind the bank of the river +for a distance of about 100 yards above the bridge, and the rest of the +mob went to the stable, and some of them were concealed in the stable +and to the left of the stable; and some of the mob were behind the end +of the stable next to the river. When daylight came John Tisdale and +I noticed a wagon in front of the K. C. house; Tisdale said that the +party at the house had company. + +I told Tisdale that the visitors might be friends of the stockmen who +were traveling through the country, and were obliged to stop all night +at the ranch. I told Tisdale that I did not hire out to kill men as I +came to them, and I thought it would be a good idea if we found out +who the strangers were at the K. C. house. Tisdale said he would like +to find out who the parties were, but it would not be safe to go to +the house. I told Tisdale that I would take chances on going to the +house; that I would go a-foot and tell the parties at the house that I +came from Buffalo and was going to the railroad to leave the country. +Tisdale said all right, for me to go to the stable and tell the men at +the stable about it. I went to the stable and told Canton and Wolcott +that Tisdale was satisfied that the parties at the house were friends +of his, and that he told me to go to the house and investigate. Walcott +and Canton said that Tisdale must be crazy; that they would allow no +man to go to the house; that if the parties at the house were friends +of his that the chances were they would be out of luck. If I had gone +to the house I intended to inform the parties at the house about +the mob, and I intended to stop at the house and not return. I was +satisfied with what Joe Elliott and others had told me that the mob +could never dislodge the parties in the house. I never heard them say +anything about running a wagon against a house to burn it down, but I +was afterwards told that the plan was studied up in Cheyenne over a +year before the mob started. + +After my talk with Wolcott and Canton about going to the house, I went +back along the river bank to where I had left Tisdale. Orders had been +given by the leaders for every man to carry but five cartridges in his +six-shooter and to have no loads in his Winchester; it was claimed that +at the time that Joe Elliott and party made the assault on Champion +and Gilbertson, that the party were waiting in the brush for Champion +and Gilbertson to come out of the house so they could shoot them, and +that one of the party let his six-shooter fall on the ground, and that +it went off, and the party were obliged to make an assault on them for +fear they might have heard the gun and would get to thinking the matter +over and would not come out of the house. The leaders said that if any +of the gang did not want their heads shot off they had better not allow +any guns to go off accidentally. + +The mob lay in ambush at least two hours before any one showed up at +the house; then one man came out and went back into the house again. +In about 15 minutes afterwards an old man came out of the house with +a water bucket in his hand and came straight towards the river. I +kept showing up all that I thought was necessary, when I saw the two +men appear, but the old man kept coming straight for the river. When +he got behind the bank of the river Frank Canton, Joe Elliott, Ben +Morrison, Tom Tabor and Tom Smith took the old man prisoner and had one +of the Texas kids guard him down in under the river bank, just below +the bridge. In about half an hour after the capture of the old man two +men came out of the house and seemed to be on the lookout from their +appearance. I thought they were aware there was something wrong. I kept +dodging up so they could see me, and the largest man of the two went in +the house in a rush. + +And the young fellow stood around awhile and seemed to be watching in +the direction of the river. I showed up again in sight. The bank was +poor protection where I was. The young fellow had just gone in the +house and I expected they would begin shooting from the house. I left +my position and went up the river about 40 yards to where John Tisdale +was at a cottonwood tree. The young fellow showed up again and came +out of the house and picked up a club and began whittling on it and +coming toward the river. He seemed to be on the lookout all the time. +It took him about half an hour to come from the house to the stable. He +was then taken prisoner by Canton, Elliott and party. Shortly before +the young man got to the stable the big man came out of the house. I +showed up again and took a good look at him, and asked Tisdale who he +was. Tisdale said he did not know the man; that he was not wanted by +the mob. The big man came out to where there was a cottonwood tree +and took an axe in one hand and began cutting the bark high up on +the tree. Shortly after the arrest of the young man the big man quit +cutting the bark on the big tree and walked over near a smaller tree. +He had been there for perhaps 10 minutes when there was a shot fired +from an aperture in the stable that was used to throw out the manure. +Almost at the same time that the first shot was fired from the stable +the men stationed at the north end of the barn commenced firing, and +those men stationed in different localities fired about the same time. +The big man staggered and fell. The mob kept up a continual fire, and +the big man commenced crawling on his hand and knees towards the door +of the K. C. house. After the mob had fired perhaps 100 shots there +was a man appeared in the door of the house, in plain view, and began +shooting toward the stable. He fired a number of shots and went out of +sight in the house. He disappeared only for a moment and then came out +in full view and began shooting again. During this time the mob kept +up a constant fire and the big man that was shot near the house kept +crawling toward the door. By the time the big man got near the door of +the house the small man had shot 10 or 20 shots. The small man then put +down his gun and pulled the big man in the house. The mob kept shooting +at the house for the balance of the day, and there was a good many +shots fired from the house. The mob claimed that the first man shot was +Nate Champion. The mob kept the house surrounded and sent to a ranch to +get a wagon load of hay to run against the K. C. house to burn it down, +but the men came back that had been sent after the wagon and reported +that the wagon was away from home. About 3 o’clock a man and a boy came +along the road. The man was on horseback and the boy was driving the +team. The mob told them to throw up their hands and immediately began +firing at them. They whipped up their horses, and after going a mile or +so they took a horse out of the harness, the boy mounted the horse, and +they made their escape, closely followed by some of the mob, who fired +a good many shots at them. The mob captured the wagon and horse left +behind by the boy and man. They brought the wagon down to the stable +and loaded it with brush, hay, wood and pitch pine. Major Walcott, A. +B. Clark, John Tisdale, Tom Smith and James Dudley then run the wagon +against the K. C. house and set fire to the hay and shavings on the +wagon. The house soon caught fire. There had not been a shot fired from +the house for over an hour before the wagon was run against the house. +The mob thought that both men in the house might be dead. + +In about half an hour after they had run the wagon against the house +and set fire to it, a man ran out of the south end of the house and +continued running south. The mob at the stable and vicinity kept up a +continual fire on the man that came out and was running south. After +the man had run about 200 yards and was nearly opposite a part of the +mob who were concealed in a gulch south of the house, the mob at the +stable and vicinity quit firing, and the part of the mob who were +concealed in the gulch south of the house raised up and began firing +and killed the man who came out of the house at the K. C. ranch. The +man that was killed in the gulch south of the K. C. house the leaders +identified as Nate Champion. They said they were mistaken about the +first man that was shot in the morning. They said that when they +captured the teamsters, Jones and Walker, that Walker told them that +there were only two men at the house, Ray and Champion. The mob said +the first man shot in the morning must have been Nick Ray. Tom Smith, +of the mob, went through Champion’s pockets and found a memorandum +book, with sketches of the fight at different times during the day. +One of the mob took Champion’s six-shooter and belt. After Champion’s +pockets had been rifled, Sam T. Clover, at the request of some of +the mob, Tom Smith, Joe Elliott and others, wrote upon a piece of +paper, “Beware, Cattle Thieves!” and buttoned the piece of paper upon +Champion’s vest. Tom Smith, Elliott and others of the mob said they +wanted that piece of paper left on Champion’s body so that when his +friends found him that they would know what he was killed for, and so +that his friends would know what to expect if they stayed any longer in +the country. + +After the mob had killed Champion and Ray at the K. C. ranch we took +supper at the wagons, about half a mile above the K. C. house, on the +river. After supper we started for Buffalo. About six or seven miles +from the K. C. ranch we changed horses and kept on the road to Buffalo +until near a place known as Carr’s ranch, where we saw a bright fire +burning about half a mile ahead. Some one in the direction of the fire +let a gun go off. We then left the road and turned to the left and cut +a wire fence and went through a large field, and came into the road +again and followed the road to the 28 ranch, where we got some coffee +and bread and took two hours’ rest in the loft of the stable. We then +started for Buffalo on the morning of the 10th of April, and came a +short distance toward Buffalo from the TA ranch when Ford, who had gone +to the TA ranch to get a change of saddle horse for one of the mob, by +the name of Dudley, came riding up to where the mob had halted, and +reported that Dudley’s horse had bucked with him and thrown him, and +that his Winchester fell out of the scabbard and was discharged about +the time that Dudley fell from his horse, and shot Dudley, breaking his +leg. The leaders claimed that arrangements had been made with parties +in Buffalo to meet them a short distance from Buffalo and inform them +as to the state of affairs in Buffalo. While we were talking about what +to do with Dudley a man rode up to us. He came from the direction of +Buffalo. + +This man informed the leaders that there were over 200 settlers +in Buffalo up in arms against the mob, and that the settlers were +deputized as a sheriff’s posse for the purpose of arresting the mob. +This horseman informed us that the sheriff was in the Powder River +country with a posse looking for the mob. This horseman said that the +parties that had charge of the arrangements for assassinating the +sheriff at Buffalo had intended to kill the sheriff on the night of the +9th of April, in order to keep the sheriff from organizing sheriff’s +posses before the mob could get to Buffalo. But the horseman said that +a man from Powder River had rode into Buffalo on the afternoon of the +9th of April and reported the fight at K. C. ranch, and the man said +that the sheriff had organized a posse and started to Powder River +before the parties who had intended to kill him had an opportunity to +do so. + +The mob turned back and went to the TA ranch and fortified. The leaders +claimed the reason they were fortifying at the TA ranch was on account +of their plans miscarrying in regard to the killing of the sheriff on +the night of the 9th of April. The mob intended to kill the sheriff +and his deputies, if they first made a raid on Buffalo. But if the +mob should get in a fight on the road to Buffalo, so that there was a +chance for the people in Buffalo to hear about the mob being in the +country before they had time to get to Buffalo, they claimed to have +made arrangements with certain parties in Buffalo to assassinate the +sheriff and his deputies in order to prevent them from swearing in a +large posse of men for the purpose of arresting the mob. + +About 12 o’clock a party of 15 or 20 men were seen by the mob a short +distance from the TA ranch going on the road towards Buffalo. The +leaders of the mob said the party were the sheriff and posse and gave +orders for every man of us to conceal himself and keep out of sight +until the sheriff and posse came up so close that we could see the +white of their eyes from the stable, and then the leaders of the mob +said for us to open fire on the sheriff and posse, and to kill every +one of them. The leaders of the mob claimed that the sheriff and posse +would come to the ranch to demand the surrender of the mob, but the +sheriff’s party kept the road toward Buffalo and did not come to the +ranch that day, April 10th, 1892. The leaders claimed that we were +safer fortified at the TA ranch than anywhere. They said the sheriff +at Buffalo would deputize several hundred settlers for the purpose of +arresting the mob who would have taken no part in the fight. If the +sheriff and deputies had been killed on the night of the 9th of April, +according to the arrangements made by the mob with certain parties in +Buffalo, the leaders of the mob claimed that it would be impossible for +the sheriff’s posse to capture us at TA ranch inside of a week, and +that before that time Governor Barber and Senators Carey and Warren +would manipulate the troops at McKinney in such a manner that the +troops would come to the rescue of the mob before the sheriff’s party +could do us any injury. The leaders of the mob were very bitter towards +the soldiers at McKinney, and especially the commanding officer. The +leaders of the mob said they knew the teamsters and wagons would be +captured by the rustlers, and that they had fixed up a good scheme +on the old beef-eating vagabond who was in command of the troops +at McKinney. They claimed that they had told the teamsters to tell +everybody that they had orders from the leader to drive the wagons to +the post at McKinney and turn them over to the commanding officer at +the post according to arrangements that the leaders had made with the +commanding officer to take charge of the wagons a week before. + +About 12 o’clock two men came from Buffalo and joined the mob; one +of the men was Phil Du Friend and the other, I understood was George +Sutherland. The men brought considerable news from Buffalo to the mob. +The mob claimed the cause of their being obliged to fortify at the +TA ranch was on account of the sheriff and deputies not having been +killed, according to arrangements. They claimed that if the sheriff and +deputies had been killed that there would not have been any officers to +swear in a posse of men as deputy sheriffs for the purpose of arresting +the mob, and that the settlers would not have taken the responsibility +upon themselves of turning out and fighting the mob. On the other hand, +the leaders claimed that if the sheriff and deputies had been killed +according to arrangements made by the leaders of the mob, that their +friends would have joined them when we came to Buffalo, and that the +expedition would have been a success instead of a possible failure. +These matters were talked over by the leaders, Du Friend and the other +man from Buffalo. + +The leaders explained to Du Friend and the other man that we would be +obliged to fortify and remain at the TA ranch until Governor Barber, +Senators Carey and Warren sent the troops at McKinney to our rescue. +The leaders claimed that we could stand the sheriff’s posse off for a +week if necessary without losing any men, if the friends of the mob +in Buffalo would closely watch the soldiers at McKinney and prevent +the soldiers at McKinney from stealing out a Gatling gun and turning +it over to the sheriff’s posse, some of whom the leaders said were +ex-soldiers and knew how to work a cannon. The leaders told Du Friend +and the other man that the morning of the 11th of April they would +send a man from TA ranch to Cheyenne to confer with Governor Barber +and the officers of the stock growers’ association in regard to the +predicament the mob was in, and for the purpose of making arrangements +with the officers of the stock growers’ association to have at least +150 men in readiness to reinforce the mob whenever the officers of the +stock growers’ association thought it would be expedient. The leaders +explained to considerable length to Du Friend and the other man that +there was yet a show for the mob to make a success of their raid, if +their friends in Buffalo would go to the front as they agreed to. The +leaders told Du Friend and the other man that there was a show for the +troops from McKinney to come out to the TA ranch in the night to stop +the fight. The leaders explained to Du Friend and the other man that +if some of the friends of the mob could be concealed in a gulch by +themselves near the lines of the rustlers and open fire upon the troops +from McKinney, that the success of the raid made by the mob depended +upon that one circumstance. The leaders said that their friends in +Buffalo would have plenty of time to make their own arrangements in +regard to selecting their ground, so there would be no trouble for +them to get out of the way after they had fired on the soldiers, and +the fight had began between the soldiers and the rustlers. The leaders +said that if the friends of the mob could bring on a fight between the +soldiers and the sheriff’s posse in the night that the mob would have +their horses saddled for the occasion, and that as soon as the fight +began between the soldiers and sheriff’s posse that the mob would mount +their horses and make their escape towards Cheyenne, where they would +be joined by reinforcements, and would come back and kill every man +that had packed a gun against them at the TA ranch. + +The man that came from Buffalo with Du Friend said he would go back to +Buffalo and see what arrangements he could make to bring on a fight +between the troops and the sheriff’s posse. He left in the afternoon +for Buffalo. I asked Du Friend when he first heard the mob was coming +to Johnson County. He said the first he knew for a certainty that +they would raid the county was last January when he was in Cheyenne. +I asked him if he had come from Buffalo to join and stay with them; +he said he had. Du Friend said that if the rustlers got a hold of me +all they would do would be to shoot me, but he said that if he fell in +the rustlers’ hands they would burn him. On the afternoon of the 10th +of April, the mob built their fortifications in order to stand off +the sheriff’s posse until Governor Barber, Senators Carey and Warren +could send the troops at McKinney to the rescue of the mob. The leaders +claimed that if they attempted to retreat when their horses were so +near played out that they would be surrounded by the sheriff’s posse +and would have to surrender to the civil authorities--something the mob +said they did not propose to do under any circumstances. + +On the night of the 10th of April one of the mob came to the TA ranch +about 10 o’clock in the evening. He said that he was riding in the +head teamster’s wagon; and had his horse saddled and tied behind the +wagon; said that sheriff’s posse passed the wagons on their road to K. +C. ranch; said sheriff’s posse asked the head teamster a few questions +and then went on. He reported that after sheriff’s posse left the +wagons he got on his horse and came to join us; he said the country +was full of rustlers. About 3 o’clock in the morning of the 11th of +April I went from the fort down to the house to get some grub for the +men at the fort; at the house I saw a man with his leggins and spurs +on; I supposed that he was the man that was going to Cheyenne. I asked +Fay Parker who he was, and Wolcott spoke and said the man’s name was +Johnnie Jones; that he was a distant relation of a great grand-aunt of +his, and that I would better take a good look at him so I would know +him the next time I saw him. After I had finished my breakfast at the +house I took some grub and coffee up to the men at the fort. About +daylight a number of horsemen appeared in sight of the fortifications +coming from the direction of Buffalo. The firing then commenced and was +kept up most of the time until the surrender of the mob to the troops +at Fort McKinney. + +During the fight at the TA ranch the mob seemed to feel perfectly +secure from danger; they claimed that they were so strongly fortified +that the sheriff’s posse would not change the works, and that it would +be impossible for the sheriff’s posse to get their rifle pits close +enough to harass the mob before Governor Barber, Senators Carey and +Warren would send the troops at McKinney to the rescue of the mob. Then +they claimed that if the rustlers and troops did not get into a fight +that it would be necessary to surrender to the military authorities +and be taken to Fort Russell at Cheyenne, where, the leaders claimed, +they would be turned loose in a short time, and they would come back to +Johnson County stronger than ever, and would kill every man that packed +a gun against them at the TA ranch. The leaders seemed to think the +possible failure of the raid was due to the fact that the sheriff and +deputies were not killed on the night of the 9th of April. + +During the fight at the TA ranch the mob talked a great deal about the +way the men who were in the employ of the Stock Growers’ Association +last summer and fall had terrorized the settlers. They claimed that +last summer and fall there was only four men in the employ of the +stock association for the purpose of killing off the rustlers; they +claimed these four men were Frank Canton, Tom Smith, Joe Elliott and +Fred Coats. Elliott and Canton had a good deal to say about how they +would be back after the fight at the TA ranch. They said they would +terrorize the settlers of Johnson County when they got back again so +that those settlers who had an opportunity to leave would get out of +the country the best way they could. The troops from McKinney did not +arrive quite as soon as the leaders expected; they thought that the +commander of the troops was standing in with the sheriff’s posse, and +had taken the wrong road to the TA ranch. When the troops came in sight +soon after sunrise the mob appeared in fine spirits, and said that +their friends--Governor Barber, Senators Warren and Carey--had sent the +troops to their rescue, and that it would be but a short time when they +would come back stronger than ever, and would kill off every man that +packed a gun again the mob at the TA ranch. + + GEORGE DUNNING. + + + + + (At end of Mercer’s BANDITTI OF THE PLAINS.) + + +State of Wyoming, County of Johnson, ss: + +Personally appeared before me, T. P. Hill, clerk of the District +Court in and for Johnson County, State of Wyoming, George Dunning, +who is personally known to me as the person who signed the foregoing +statement, and deposes upon oath, duly administered to him, that the +foregoing statement by him signed and comprising 44 pages, numbered in +red ink from 1 to 44 inclusive, was written by him, is made without +solicitation, fears or threats from any party or parties whatsoever, +and that all the matters and things contained therein are true to his +own knowledge and belief. + + GEORGE DUNNING. + +Subscribed in my presence and sworn to before me this 6th day of +October, 1892. + + T. P. HILL, + Clerk, District Court. + +By Gustave E. A. Moeller, Deputy Clerk. + + + + + Transcriber’s Notes + + +Errors in punctuation have been fixed. + +Spelling, including names, has been retained as printed in the original +publication, except as follows: + +Page 17: Changed "stockgrowers" to "stock growers" + +Page 21: Changed "give notice" to "gave notice" + +Page 23: Changed "WYOMING STOCK-GROWERS’ ASSOCIATION" to + "WYOMING STOCK GROWERS’ ASSOCIATION" + +Page 24: Changed "any astray sold" to "any estray sold" + +Page 27: Changed "H. B. Ijam" to "H. B. Ijams" + +Page 42: Changed "forebade" to "forbade" + +Page 58: Changed "Ford McKinney" to "Fort McKinney" + +Page 67: Changed "had let his friends" to "had led his friends" + +Page 69: Changed "subpoenaes" to "subpoenas" + +Page 73: Changed "city marshall" to "city marshal" + +Page 111: Changed "Andora" to "Andorra" + +Page 111: Changed "Pyrennes" to "Pyrenees" + +Page 111: Changed "illustrous" to "illustrious" + +Page 113: Changed "verbage" to "verbiage" + +Page 116: Changed "depradation" to "depredation" + +Page 117: Changed "H. G. Ijams" to "H. B. Ijams" + +Page 118: Changed "bcoming" to "becoming" + +Page 120: Changed "Rowels" to "Rowles" + +Page 122: Changed "Ijams were" to "Ijams was" + +Pages 122, 123, 124, and 125: Changed "Ijam’s" to "Ijams’" + +Page 127: Changed "Growers’s" to "Growers’" + +Page 129: Changed "the the rustlers" to "the rustlers" + +Page 132: Changed "gatling gun" to "Gatling gun" + +Page 133: Changed "sheriff and and party" to "sheriff and party" + +Page 133: Changed "wer not" to "were not" + +Page 147: Changed "mattersand" and "matters and" + +Page 147: Changed "dayof" to "day of" + +Enclosed italics font in _underscores_ + +Enclosed small capitals font in +plus signs+ +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78152 *** |