The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1889-04-19
MONTANA WCILANTS
The Celebrated Organization
Known as the "stran-
glers' Band"
Which Carried Terror and
Death to the Horse
Thieves.
sixty-1hree OF the Desperadocs Bit
the Dust in Three Months
Inside History of the
Organization.

a - l
Inside History of the
Organization.
st. Louis Globe Democrat; The
United States has never contained a bet
ter organized nor more persistent band
of horse thieves than the. one which in
tested the Bad Lands of Dakota between
1882 and 1884. 1t can hardly be said
that the gang had a headquarters, az its
members were constantly on the move,
but the town where they appeared often
est, perhaps, was tho collection Of shan
ties known as Little Missouri.
This little hamlet has achieved o ma
tional reputation, and for years was
known as the toughest town in America.
It is in the heartof the famous Bad Land;
the disembarking point for tourists who
wish to visit Cedar Canyon and the burn
ing coal mine, and is the scene of the en-
counter in which Marquee de Mores killed
Lnffsey, the hunter. Its palmiest days
were in 1884. At the time the troops
stationed there has just been removed;
Commodore Gorringe had bought their
quarters known as the Cantonment, cat
tie by the tens of thousands were being
brought into the Bad Lands; cowboys
were taking the place of the Indian; the
Marquis de Mores was beginning the
establishment of immense slaughter
houses and scores Of frontier characters
were attracted to the new town.
Numerous among these characters
were the horsethieves with whom the re-
gion soon became infested. 1t was q per-
feet paradise for this gentry. The buttes
or hills of which the Bad Lands are made
up were placed in no more order than if
shot out of q gun. One might as we'll
try to follow the trail Of a bullet through
the air as the n left by a man who took
the slightest pains to cever his tracks.
Twelve miles from Little Missouri ran
the Montana line. Once across it the
horsethief was safe from service by a
Dakota sheriff. The nearest officer of
the law with Jurisdiction was in Mandan,
100 miles to the eastward. To the south
east one could go 800 miles and never see
a sign of human habitation. To the
south, 200 miles away, were the Black
Hills. In the intervening country there
was but an occasional COW camp. To
the northward, 115 miles, was the Cana
dian line. Once across it there was no
difficulty in disposing Of horse1esh at
fancy prices. These points were at once
grasped by the .'rustlers," and it was a
dead clnch' that a man from the south
with u string of horses had either to run
them Off from Wyoming or the BLACK
Hills country. Horethleves were prac-
tically safe from pursuit when they
reached the Bad Lands.
THE MONTANA s~TRANGLERs."
Good citizens even now shudder a,
mention OF thisterrible band of avengers
Their reign was Short, sharp and de.
cisivc." 9'hey had a mission to perform
and well did tney perform it. In less thai
three mertt IS they had hung or shot six,
ty-tlr,e ,ucn in various parts of Mcntans
and western Dakota. Oaly sixty.two o
these men were horse thieves, the Other
being q Bon of the Fort Buford pos
trader, He was with the horse thieves
When he was shot, however.
Hardly u Montana or western Dakota
-newspanar has 10 this day the courage t.
speak OF this r%ed-handed band of regu
lators. Its Information was SO secret, it
operations so swift, bloody and effectual
and its disbandment SO sudden that no
fifteen men outside Of the members know
who its members were. All the publ,
knows, or cares to know, is that horse
and cattle running on the range were
afterward as safe fifty miles from the
home ranch as if they we're under the eyt
of the owner. The organization Of ths
horse thieves was completely broken up
N'rnn fhof hl,n1, ~,;l f a. tIC.-o-
glers' was born an almost perfect reigr
OF safety for range stock.
The formation Of The band of mer
known as the Montana Stranglers'' wa
as much an outgrowth of necessity as is
the passage and enforcement of proper
laws in a well settled community. 1t is
not q hard task to justify the acts of the
.S%tranglers' to a man who has lived on
the frontier for any length of time. Aside
from shooting scrapes and the occasional
maltreatment of a stranger. there was
but little law breaking in Little Missouri,
bet it was recognized by all that a man
mad only q "six-shooter right" to life and
property Numerous warrants had been
issued in Mandan. 100 miles away, for
the arrest of men in Little Missouri, but
not one of them was ever served. The
officer of the law might come up to the
tough hamlet in the Bad Lands and hob
mob q day or two with the man for whom
he had the warrant, but the legal docu-
ument was always returned with the in
dorsement "Not found" 1t was simply
impossible to receive any support from
the law, and the ''rustlers' took advant-
age OF the opportunity to carry
on their operations with inn
punity. The cattlemen were chiefly
GpnQratad coron IF tho ro-,la. 49,
sixty or seventy miles from their nearest
neigbbor. All were sufferers from the
depredations of the horse thieves, but
even the bravest among them did no
dare deal out even border justice to the
men they knew were robbing them. The
thieves had q perfect organization and
would have taken summary vengeance
on any one rash enough to oppose them.
MURDERoUs GANG.
Such a state of lawlessness could not
last forever, and the end came about
through two widely different causes. The
first was the organization of cattlemen
known as the Montana Stockgrswers' as.
ISOLATION, and the second was the or:er
of President Cleveland ordering all the
range cattle to be driven from the Indian
territory. Eleven members of the associ.
alton bound Themselves together in a Sc
cret order whose sole object it was to
free the country from cattle thieves. The
method of carrying this plan into execu.
ton was not fully solved until the issu-
ance Of the presidents famous order. It
had been settled from the first that a
wholesale slaughter of the thieves was
the only efectual way to get rid Of
them, but the trouble was in find
ing men to perform the CORY
task. The presidents order solved
the problem. Almost every cowboy in
the Nation was originally from Texas,
and belonged to the old school-recruited
from desperadees and border rufiahs of
the lowest class. Crime and bloodshed
were their food and drink. The presi-
deus order threw the most of these men
out OF work by forcing the immediate