Omaha daily bee., 1885-05-20
THE BRIGHTON BULLDOzERS
The Operations Of the Alien Cow Men
&. 10 Custer County,
Vast Areas of Lanu Fenced in and
"Homesteaded" by Fictitious
Farmers-A Plain state.
ment OF Facts,

Custer County Leader.
In the Omaha Republican of May Sd
appears what purports to be q statement
of facts In connection with the manage,
ment of the Brighton Ranch company oil
this county, and also of the shooting oil
Province, which is evidently written and
published for the purpose of forming ar
opinion unfavorable to the settlers OF Gus.
ter county In advance Of any judicial de.
c~isions, either in the United States OF
District courts. The article In question
Is Identical In spirit with another pub.
liHhed In the Omaha Herald of the same
date, and evidently the two articles were
gathered from the same source.
These articles ere misststements OF
facts and a reflection upon the citizens OF
Custer county, doubtless published In or
der to create a false impression of affairs
and 1t that manner to create public sym
PATTY antsgonlstic to law and Justice. II
is a hard matter TO rest under the impli-
cation that ninety-fve per cent of the
citizens Of of this county are parties to
injustice and the orlginstors Of falsehoods
In regard to matters that have become OF
%nat,onsl notoriety, and the Leader, be.
Ing identified as q part and parcel of the
great majority upon whom these asper-
aions are cast, feels it a duty 1t owes to
Custer %oounty's citizens to brand the ex.
tract as a falsehood, and one that Is easily
proven 40.
The Brighton company when 1t built
it's fence In this county circulated q petit.
tion through a portion of country con-
tiguous to the territories which it had en-.
closed, praying the general government
to allow the fence to remain. The petit
ton set forth that the land In question
was unfit for agriculture. A number OIL
the cltizans of this county signed the
petition, presuming It was only tbs
Tough land adjoining the ranch that were
to be fenced. As toon as the petition
was secured the company proceeded tc
fence In not only the 10, 0OO acres of uu.
tillable lands but 10000 additional acres,
a large portion of which was as fine agri
cultural lands ss can be found In the
state. This was and is considered q grosE
breach of trust towards the people on the
part of the company, and resulted in the
visit of o special agent of the interior de-
partment, whose report formed the basis
of the suit now pending In the United
States district court. Had the company
acted in good faith In the matter, with
both the people and the government, the
suit would never have been instituted
IS thers Is q large tract of land on the
South Loup which Is UNFIT for agricul
tursl purposes and it's occupancy by tbs
company as a stock range could not be
reasonably objected to. Other stock
men have fenced portions of this land
and have no trouble when due regard
was had for individual tights. S nee the
euit WAS commenced the company has re
moved the fence from a portion of ,he
land in question.
The article asserts sthat the company
has always encouraged the taking o.
lands within its enclosure" The company
has encouraged a certain class of %settlerl
to come inside the enclosure aud entel
lands, and by an unexplained coinci
dence the land so entered by ''lnvited'
parties finds its way into the possession
of the company In the course of ST.
months or more, and the 'invited" set
tier seeks new fields for speculation. AL
others who propose to make homes il
oboV duniGSA ~ pCSOh40 dCluht boLIlcl
have never received a very gushing wei
come, and when they leave, as many {
them have, no tears are shed by the cor
poration's employees at their departure
1t has been the ctmpany's aim to dis
courage actual settlement as much a
possible, whatever its employees may swea
to the contrary not withdrawing. In thi
the company has acted in no way differ
ent from every free range stockman o
corporation In the west, who all recog
nizs that settlement means a curtailmen
of range privileges, diminished herds on
possibly a forced abandonment of tn
business or removal to a new and unset
tied country. 1t is an antsgonism of in
%tereHts that must sooner or later elias
discord unless the range stockmen quietl
accepts the situation as it is, and doe
not attempt to stem the tide of immigra
tion, public sentiment and law.
The Brighton company has acquired b
entry, purchase and lease, a large amour
of territory In this country which 1t cor
trolls absolutely and legally. Tnis ter
tory it has a perfectly unquestioned rigt
to fence and use as 1t sees fit and no oil
! lection Is offered to this. The compap
> has also thousands of dollars invested i
stock and ranch property which the pc,
pie of Custer county as a whole desll
shall remain In the county. The inte
eats of the stock raiser ana grain produce
are to a certain extent identical. TT
company's stock not only creates a ma
ket for limited amount
produce raised in the country, b,
the taxes from It's property i, a m
!, ternal addition to the country's revenu
: No reasonable man objects to the COZ
psny enjoying every right given them /
the law. But the people do object to Il
assumption that the Brighton or ar
other corporation can use their capital
control the public lands to such an exteI
that settlement Is prevented. They der
the night of the company to fence the
In or fence them out of any section
the public domain, to which they ha'
! as much right as the stockman, and 1t
to this assumption of the one and the d
NAL Of the other party that has led to ii
suit which Is now In progress by the go
eminent.
20 AS regards the alleged killing of Gait
% belonging to the company by oerta
parties residing ON the Loup, the Lead