Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-03-10

IL Cdu udlNAg DS Sdlu
that the gang had a headquarters, as its
members were constantly on the move, but
the town where they appeared the oftenest,
perhaps, was the collection of shantIes
known as Little Missouri. This little ham,
let has achieved a national reputation and
was for years known as the toughest town
in America. 1t is in the heart of the fa-
nous Bad Lands; the disembarking point
for tourists who wish to visit Cedar Canon
and the burning coal mine, and is the scene
of the encounter in which Marquis de Mores
killed Lufsey, the hunter
Its palmiest days were in 1884. At that
time the troops stationed there had Just been
removed; Commodore Gorringe had bought
their quarters known as the Cantonment;
cattle bv the tens of thousands were being
brought into the Bad Lands; cowboys were
taking the place of Indians; 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 horse thieves, with whom the re-
gion soon became infested. 1t was perfect
paradise for this gentry. The buttes or
hills, of which the Bad Lands is made up,
are in no more order than if shot out of a
gun. One might as well try to follow the
trail of bullet through the air as the one
left bv a man who took the slightest pains
in covering his tracks. Twelve miles from
Little Missouri ran the Montana line. Once
across it, the horse thief was safe from ser
vice BY Dakota Sheriff
A PARADISE FOR THIEVES.
The nearest officer of the law with juris-
diction was in Mandan, 160 miles to the
eastward. To the southeast, one could go
800 miles and never see the sign of human
habitation. To the south, 200 miles away,
were the Black Hills. In all the interven-
ing country there was but an occasional
cow-camp. To the northward, 175 miles,
was the Canadian line. Once across it,
there was no difficulty in disposing of horse
flesh at fancy prices. These points were at
once grasped by the "rustlers" and it was
"dead cinch" that a man from the south
with a string of horses had either run them
off from Wyoming or the Black Hills eoun-
try. Horse thieves were practically safe
from pursuit when they reached the Bad
Lands.
1 have still very vivid impression of
how nv tenderfoot days were ushered in by
an introduction TO one of this gentry.
had gone to Little Missouri from Bismarck
with Frank Moore, the proprietor of the
leading Bad Lands hotel. 1t was a cold
night late in the fall, and score of rough
looking fellows had gathered in the bar
room. 1t had been my frequently expressed
desire to meet a genuine cowboy and
Frank apparently satisfied it when he in
troduced me to Jack Wall. 1t turned out
afterward that this was not the mans name
nor had Frank ever seen him before he per-
formed the ceremony of introduction. To
put matters on a smooth running basis,
Frank whispered to me that Jack was the
best cowboy in the country, but an exceed
inglv tough man and then eonfidentially
informed Jack that was a deputy sheriff
from Mandan. l can see now how funny
the subseq quent proceedings were to Frank.
He knew by instinct the man was horse
thief and he thoroughly enjoyed my efforts
to size up the supposed cowboy and the
supposed cowboys effort to size up the mis-
sion of the deputy sheriff
A DANGEROUS EXPERIMENT.
After half an hour of this cross-purpose
conversation, the brilliant thought of trans
ferring to paper my first impressions of
cowboy came over me. Taking out a writ
ing pad, Immediately began putting the
idea into execution, beginning with a
description of the costume, and using Jack
as a model. Never before had L stood SO
near the brink of eternity. Jack was salts
fed 1 was writing his description, as 1
really was, and he gradually worked him
self into white heat at nv presumption in
doing it before his very eyes. A calamity
was only averted by the fact that a shoot
ing scrape broke out in the neighboring
saloon, and that Jack and l did not meet
again before went to bed. The next morn
ing Jack had disappeared. The following
L., -
about so miles northwest of Medora by the
Montana Stranglers -
Good citizens, even now, shudder at men,
tion of this terrible band of avengers. Their
reign was short, sharp and decisive"
They had a mission to perform and well did
they perform it. In less than three months
they had hung or shot 63 men in various
parts of Montana Rnd Western Dakota.
Only 90 of these men were horse thieves,
the other being a son of the Ft. Buford post
trader. He was with three horse thieves
when he was shot, however.
Hardly Montana or Western Dakota
newspaper has to this dav the courage to
speak OF this red-handed band of regulators.
Its formation was so secret; its operations
so swift, bloody and effectual, and its dis
bandment so sudden, that not Is men out
side of the members know who its members
were. All the public knows, or cares TO
know, is that horses and cattle running on
the range were afterward as safe so miles
from the home ranch as if they were under
the eve of the owner. The organization of
the horse thieves was completely broken up.
From that bloody raid of the strangers was
born an almost perfect safety for range
stock.
THE sTRANGLERs' BAND.
The formation of the band of men known
as the Montana Stranglers'' was as much
an outgrowth of necessity as is the passage
settled community. 1t is not hard tas K to
Justify the acts Of the strangers" to a man
who has lived on the frontier for anv length
Of time. Aside from shooting scrapes and
the occasional maltreatment of stranger,
there was but little real law breaking in
Little Missouri, but it was recognized by all
that man had only "six-shooter right
to life and property. Numerous warrants
had been issued at 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 ard hob
mob a day or two with the man for whom he
held the warrant but the legal document !
was always returned with the Endorsement,
''Not found" The thieves had perfect
organization and would have taken sum-
mary vengeance on anyone rash enough to
oppose them.
Such q state of Iawlessness 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 Stockgrowers' Association, and
the second was the order of President Cleve-
land directing all the range cattle to be
driven from Indian Territory. Eleven
members of the association bound them