The Middlebury register and Addison County journal. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1883-1885, 1885-01-09
WESTERN CATTLE THIEVES.
MOST OF THEM WIPED OUT BY DE
C1SIvE METHODS.
An Organized Hand OF Cattle steal
crs-Ex pIOits OF n captain OF
Nnngcrs-nhis INFLOW EssCnpe.

IhlS is the midst of a cattle country
New Mexico, Texas, Arizona and Old
Mexico all contribute to the importance
of the town. Its reputation for law and
order has not been all that might be de-
sired, because it was the frontier town of
the United States on the east and north,
and the receptacle of the frontier or
'border ruilians'' of Old Mexico. A lot
of refuse from both countries naturally
coagregatcd in this ncighborhood, and
the reputation it had for robbery and
murder AID thieving was pretty well
founded on fact. And the marked re-
generation has been recent. The cow
men here, as in Wyoming and other To-
c%alities, became the establishers of order
and the p;lnishers of crime. Cowboys
who came in ''to paint the town red, :"
as the phrase is, were themselves treated
to a thick coat of that sanguinary color,
and were fortunate if they got off alive.
There is an occasional outbreak even now,
but, as u rule, the ruilian takes care 10
disclose his personal audacity and ugliness
in out-of-t he-way places. The other even
ing, on the Southern Pacific, a cowboy,
sufficiently full of tire-water to lose dis
c%retion, began firing at the lamps in
the car. lie had three revolvers. The
passengers in that coach b~ethought
themselves Of attractions in other por-
tions of the train, and the conductor was
left alone with the desperate. Without
arms himself, he could only jest with the
bully about his bad workmanship. After
a time the shooter fell asleep aud the
conductor drew all the charges. Later
the cowboy visited a gaming table where
the train stopped some time. He put
50. 80 on a card and lost. The gamester
took in the money. The cowbow pulled
two pistols and demanded his coin. The
dealer had been told of the drawn
charges, and instantly knocked the cow
boy down. He was thrown into the
street, and finally got back to the train
without pistols. money or boots or hat
That occurred in Arizona.
rs late as the spring and summer of
1888 there were organized bands of cat
tlc-thieves, and the membership involved
officers of the lava justice and constable
being implicated in a confession which
was secured too late for action by the
grand Jury at that time. The sworn con-
f%ession, which is abundantly sustained
by well-known facts, states that twenty
seven persons were members of the gang
that one of the company was a we'll
known business man in one of the
important towns of Texas; that the
officers mentioned acted as spies and
informers and shared the spoils; that the
business man disposed of the butchered
carcasses, and that the branded hides
were sunk with weights in the river. The
signer of the confession states that he
.,.1 .l..o r L.. ~-l:L ..I -
stole and disposed of $50 head of stock,
including a few horses; and, if the bal
anee did as we'll, the total s%tealings of
that band amounted to more than 300
head, or S26, 900 worth Of property. This
with outrages of a similar nature, put
the cattlemen on their mettle, and their
organizations have effected a total revo-
luton in the business of thievery, so
that here, as in more northern districts,
the cattle industry is considered not only
a safe, but as a preferred investment.
Good fortune sent Captain George w.
Baylor, the oldest captain in the Texas
Ranger service, into town to-day with
his squad of twenty men. He and his
rangers had just returned from a six
weeks race after a couple of murderers
who had decoyeda young man away from
here under the pretense that they could
show him some cheap cattle in Mexico.
lie took $500 with him and accepted
their guidance. He was never heard of
again, and the rangers after investigating
the affair and pursuing the murderers hun
dreds of miles, concluded hat he was
killed Immediately over the line, his body
cut up so it would not sink and thrown
into the silver. This is the latest and for
Il long time the only instance Of robbery
and murder among cattlemen. Captain
Baylor has been instrumental in killing
off many bands of m~arauders. both Mexi-
can and Indian, and has had many mar
row escapes. His left thumb is minus
the nail, and the fingers of his left hand
are stiifened with wounds, and he bears
other scars. but after a hundred fights is
comparatively unframed. He has killed
a dozen men in h~and-to-hand encoun-
tiers, and is held to be invaluable in the
service by Texans. He is tall and slen-
de-, but active and quick of movement,
and hard and muscular. He almost lives
in the saddle. lie and his men were
belted with revolvers, and carried re.
peating rifles. His eyes are small, but
bright blue, and kindly in expression.
lie is full of fun aud merrimcnt, and
seen in n crowd would be taken for a
spirited and genial companion, rather
than a tried and dauntless frontier war
rior. He is given to music, and said
that when his left hand was shot he first
exclaimed, "Well, that does up my old
violin" On that occasion, with one
companion, he had gone to arrest a des-
perado, and found him at a house on the
mountain side with a confederate. Cap
tain Baylor raped on the door, and the
confederate stepped out and asked
what was wanted. He said he had come
to arrest Browne, to which the confeder-
ate said, "Iou can't have him." Browne,
who was on the inside, heard the CONVEX
sation through the open door, immediate
ly fired twice on Baylor through the open
ing. One shot disabled his left hand,
and the second struck an iron ring in the
belt he wore. Brownies confederate see
ing Baylor, as he supposed, totally DIS
abied, turned to fire on Baylor's friend,
and that mistake of judgment was fatal.
BAYLOR, resting his double barreled shot