The St. Johns herald., 1889-10-03
Stock and Range.

sheriff of Carbon county was swag. ' gering around, denouncing "mur- z der" whenever the pleasant Averill-
 Watson incident was mentioned , at the present time, with two ac- complices, he is lying in jail at Sun dance, charged with the theft of 16
 horses. His name is Phil Watson,
 and those of his associates in the , crime are Jess Lockwood, alias Shields, and Hughes, who also re- joiced in the soubriquet of "Pecos." :"
 The horses were taken from the Cross Anchor ranch last March,
 and by unqualified possession and
 sale of the animals, the evidence of
 guilt is straight and conclusive.
 They will probably be tried by Ijury of their peers and turned loose
 again. Sheriff Rogers, of Crook
 county, deserves great credit for
 working up the case and his quiet
 and prompt arrest of the thieves.
 The sheriff chartered an engine to
 run the worthies out without delay
 and before their legion of friends
 could interfere.-Cheyenne. Live
 Stock Journal.
 The running iron" has been used quite extensively here the past sum- mer, and it is generally looked upon as the "thief's iron" During the spring rodeo the grass was very short, the horses poor and weak, the cattle high in the mountains, and as natural consequence many 1 calves were unbranded. Since the grass has grown in the valleys the COWS come down; besides during warm days a sort of spotted fly drives them from the high lands to the valleys. The horses are fat now and the big yearling has proved temptation too great to be resisted, and the running iron" has served the purpose of the man who dared not drive the yearlings to. his cor ral to brand, as you know is the custom of decent and honest men. One man has been watched to see how many he would thus secure with his running iron" Report says that when he had six branded, that the owner thought it was time to call his attention to the fact that the proper place to brand calves was at home in the corral and not in some secluded ravine. Certain 1t is that he vented quite herd the other day, and was absent from home three days explaining how it happened and why the attention of the grand jury should not be called l to 1t. Some others, not so bold, ' have adopted the device of catch ] ing large calves and marking their l ears in some mark not known in the community. They then watch : the calf and when it ceases to fol- ' low the mother, they catch it again, cut out this temporary mark, and ( put 1t in thelr mark and brand. This ear-mark of the thief is known here by the name of the sleeper" and it is quite common to find :, big calf following your COW in one : of these sleeper" marks. Itis said ! that this device was brought here from Texas last fall-at least, that | it came here with the advent of lot of Texans seems to give color to the report.-Wilcox Stockman.
 The time for cattlemen to feel f uneasy and apprehensive was when j figures for stock cattle and beef i were at the highest-in 1883. They c were doing business on high pres T sure basis that could not be main t tained, and that was the time 10 " sell. Those still alive in the busi- i ness can take new heart when good steers go into the market at cent . and fraction, in 1889, for the very . bottom has been touched and bo- :, vine property will advance in value e