Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1889-03-14
KANSAS vIoILANTEs.
r "reminiscences OF the Early Days
of the Prairie State.

southern Kansas was for a time some
thing appalling, and kept the whole
country alarmed. writes w. u. Holland
in the Detroit Free Press. For the
past thirty years the Indian Territory
has been the rendezvous of many of
the worst citizens in the west. Fugi-
tives from Kansas and Texas, as we'll
as from the eastern states, hocked in
there, where they were sure to find
protection and congenial companions.
A mans social standing in this lawless
community depended on his readiness
with gun" and the number and
atrocity OF the crimes he had commit
ted. The word 'gun" refers TO re-
vOlvcr, but these were OF such an cnor-
nous size that the term "gun" seemed
to suit better.
A residence OF few days
with these people would make an
agnostic argue the necessity of Il hell
and nc could easily show the utility Of
such "A place. While the inhabitants
were banded together TO resist tho law,
they had no confidence in each other
and no fear OF any power, human or
divine. They would have been unable
TO have told Sunday by the aid OF an
almanac and tho entire absence of
razors caused their faces to have Il
heavier hirsutc adOrnmcnt than IA
bearded woman at show.
1t was al easy matter for one or moro
of these outlaws TO enter Kansas, steal
a horse and be back into the Territory
| before the loss would be discovered.
With such facilities for horse stealing
at hand, il is no small wonder that the
farmers in southern Kansas living
close to the state line were able TO keep
any horses at all.
The result of so much crime resulted
in the formation of VIGILANCE commit
tees, the object OF which was TO cause
a suspension Of demonstrating by sus-
pending the thieves. The members OF
these committees were called "Vigi-
lantes," and the beauty Of their method
was found in the fact that they never
had 10 punish q man for the second Of
Tense.
While great deal of fault may be
found with mob law in general, there
is no doubt but the vigilantcs in Kansas
had an clevating effect ON the horse
thieves.
When a horse was stolen, the neigh
Oorhood was notified and men started
out in squads from three to six. They
all went into the Territory, each squad
selecting his own route. 4 noticeable
part of the outfit Of each squad would
be a new halter rope of size sufficient
to hold three or four horses. and per-
haps thirty feet long. Just why such
a rope was necessary TO hold N pony
that at other times was perfectly gem
tie did not appear, but the rope was
taken along at any rate.
In two or three days tho squads Of
vigilantes would begin TO return. Fin
ally one squad came in leading the
horse that had been stoler.. 1t might
also be noticed that while all the other
men had brought back the massive
halter-rope, the squad that brought the
horse brought no rope.
I'VE found the horse, but the thief
got away the successful men said,
apologetically.
Did you see tho thief?" Some one
would ask
Eyes we saw him and the last we
noticed of him he was going through
the brush would be the answer, some
times varied SO as to have the man
"drOwn while crossing river.
The truth was apparently tsld, but
TO the farmer who bad been a member
of a similar squad the careless words
told of a tragedy and he knew that
somewhere in the wild country just
south was a corpse hanging to n tree,
note pinned TO the bosom and futtering
in the wind. He knew that soul had
been hurried TO its Maker; that one
desperate man had struggled with
others as desperate and determined as
himself and had succumbed to the odds
against him. He knew also that it was
n horse-thief that had been hung and
that his own animals were so much
safer. Conscience was stilled by the
thought that il was his duty; n horrible
task, but none the less bounden duty,
due to himself, to his neighbors and to
HIS family.
When starting on such trip, each
man hoped that it would not be his
squad that should overtake the solitary
man riding the stolen horse. He clos
ed his eyes to shut out the remem-
brance of the time when he was men,
Der OF the successful squad-when he
was one of the four who captured the
sullen criminal on the tired and worn
out horse. He could still hear the poor
fellow beg and plead for mercy which
all four were about TO grant, until one
of them whispered 'our oaths," and
from that moment the doom of the thief
was sealed. He hoped that he would
never be party to such another hid
eous crime, but he knew that he would
do what his neighbors expected OF him
and what he expected of them. Dead
men tell no tales, and neither does a
vigilante, so he knew he was safe from
all human law and punishment.
But all this is past and horse-thieves
and vigilantes arc almost unknown in
Kansas The Missouri Pacific and the
Santa Fe railways each cross the Indian
Territory and it is no longer II den of
criminals. The pioneer farmer of Kan
sas speaks of the vigilantes with far
away air as though dimly remembering
something of them and their ways.
The scattering trees that have borne
such horrid fruit are still there and
may he known by their names and local