The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1890-06-29

stole is among the undiscovered secrets OF
the business. Whether each receiver i'm
turn paid the men who brought him the
stock, or whether there was some grand
collecting and distributing point no one
outside of survivors lof the ring itself
knows.
The horses were passed on down through
Nregon and California, usually TO San
Francisco, where they found a market. III
San Francisco was thought to be too near
the scene OF the robbery, they just passed
along through the state-like n bucket
brigade passes water at n freEand sold
about Los Angeles, or even carried clear
through to Mexico.
Berryessa's men, or Murietta's gang,
brought them over the same old trail that
led through the unfortunate Schriver's
cabin yard, and the receivers In the south
disposed of them. or course horses stolen
away up in Idaho or Montana, could cas-
lily be sold i'm southern California or Mex
leo without exciting .suspicion, particii.
larry when the man who signed the bill OF
sale was the proprietor of a big stock
ranch with thousands of cattle n horses.
There was 10 telegraph TO head oil the
rapidly moving stolen bands, and no rail-
roads. Idaho was n month away from Los
Angeles, and even IL IL had been possible
to follow as quickly as the constantly
changing ~custodians of the herd vel il
would have been lmost impossible to
catch them, for the members OF the ring
knew every trail and corn patch along the
line. They had their agents all over to
hinder and mislead their pursuers, or
even, IL necessary. Ia ambuscade them ut
some particularly lonesome place, and
end h chase right there.
OF course, they could not always be sue
cessful. Revenge or injustice in the dis
tribution of the plumber must sometimes
lead TO a betrayal of the thieves, and then
il was the horse thieves instead of the
owners of the stock that fell from their
saddles and wasted to skeletons on the
lonely trail.
But this was far from frequent. As soon
as a member of the gang found that sus-
picion was pointing dangerously near to
him he mysteriously disappeared, and
that part of the country knew him no
more.
With the extensions of the railroads
and telegraph. the work of the gang be-
came more risky and less lucrative. The
magic circle was broken in many points,
and of late years its sections ceased TO
work in conjunction, and the scattered
bands have simply stolen where they
could and escaped as best they might by
their own exertions.
Probably the strongest fragment of the
circle Is the band hat is descended from
theM urietta and Vasques gangs. They
work through Southern California, run
ming the stolen stock across Ia Mexico,
and also get into Arizona and New Mex
leo. Up to n few years ago the Texas
part of the line was very strong, but the
Texas rangers ran them very hard n
their operations now are confined tn the
big range away oil from the railroad.
In Colorado there is still a strong band
of outlaws, who are known to have their
agents In the cities just as in thee old times
when the circle was u~nbroken.
But the breaking up of the ring was not
accomplished by the easiest work in the
world. There were lnnumerablc shoot
ings and l~ynchings before the stockmen's
horses and cattle were even reasonably
safe.
The breaking of the connection i'm the
northern part of this state and the south
of Oregon was particularly difficult.
All the stock from the north had to come
this way To reach the markets OF San
Francisco and Northern California cities.
and il they were barred of from these
markets they knew the back of the charm
of the circle would be broken.
Three of the 'rustlers" killed a Mexican
herder i'm Eastern Oregon and took the
little band of horses he had in charge.
Jim Gregan, the owner of the horses, and
half n dozen of his %neighbors started in
pursuit.
Near where the city of Grants Pass now
is the thieves made their first stop. A
half-breed had a ranch there, and 10 him
the ''rustlcrsn intrusted the stolen prop
erty.
The three stopped at the ranch. while
the half-breed and some of his men went
OH south with the stolen horses,
Pretty soon the pursuers reached the
half-breed's ranch. but, of course, the
stock was gone The trail was hot and
fresh. however, and ON they went. They
were following so close that the ~rustlers
decided to stop them In order TO save the
plumber. They cut across the INT un-
ill They sfrlleE the road nxar which tho
ranchers must come, and there, just at
the mouth of a narrow canyon, they lay in
ambush.
But the ranchers. before they came to
the half-breed's ranch had left word of
the raid and pursuit, mt another band of
recovering the stock. They knew hat
they could overtake the travellers by cut
ting across the country from the half
breeds ranch, and as they did they found
the rustlers' trail and this they followed.
As they neared the main road they dis
mounted N came on quietly on the
chance that the horse thieves ahead Of
the first band of pursuers might not yet
have passed.
In 1866 there lived near Murphys. Gala
veras county, IA young Frenchman. He
had a cabin among the hills, and a WELL
trodden, though generally unknown, trail
led past IL.
Like Schriver. this Frenchman's
scorched bones were found among the
charred ruins of his cabin.
The Frenchman must, however. nave
been an active party to the rings opera
tons, for, under what had been the fire
place in the cabin was found n perfect
mine of stolen property, among II the sill
yer mountings of saddles and brides tina
had disappeared with valuable horses.
There was little time for inquiry those
days, and the Frenchman's murderers
were never discovered, nor was the reason
of their vengeance, though il is supposed