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

OF Wesley Schriver i'm his lonely
cabin by horsethieves whose secrets he
knew. have brought to mind the old horse
stealing ring Of which Schriver's muir
derers are doubtless a remaining frag-
ment.
When the "ring" was first formed or
the details of its organization and man.
agement have never been divulged. From
time to time, however, enough OF its
workings have come to light to show the
wonderful extent of its operations and
give a faint inkling of the number and
character of the men engaged In il.
Long before the railroad crossed the
Rockies and united the eastern and
western oceans the ring was i'm active
operation.
Berryessa. the predecessor of Murietta,
vasquez and the lesser bandits, whose
bold lawlessness has startled the whole
West, was known to be one of the big
men in the great stock-thieving concern.
A Mexican horse thief, whose was hanged
i'm Ventura county in the latter SOS, said
Just before he was strung up that Berry
essa was the head of the California di-
vision Of theg lang.
Berryessa was killed while leading an
outbreak of Spanish and Indian convicts
from San Quentin thirty years ago.
After him came Joaquin Murietta, Vas
auez and their gang of outlaws. All these
worked with the ring, and 1t was gencr-
ally supposed that their downfall ended
the Wholesale business in California. The
murder of Sclriver, however, led to the
discovery of the w~ell-beaten trail, and
now people are crediting the many disap-
~pearances of fine stock i'm Southern Cali
fornia to this remnant of the
league.
''The Red Circle Ring" was well chosen.
The operations of the organization ex-
tended in al enormous circle.
Tn western half of this circle extended
through Idaho, Oregon, California and
Arizona. The eastern half went through
Montana, and i'm an irregular N some
times lie line passed through Wyom-
ing, Colorado, Texas and New Mexico,
Joining the western division on the Mex
lean border, near Nogales.
The organization of this ring could not
have been very close. lndeed,it is doubt
full il there was any government or head
TO il. But over each division of the circle
there must have been some sort of a self
constituted leader, whose authority was
like that of a political boss. tacitly granted
though not openly recognized. Hundreds
il not thousands OF men were directly or
indirectly engaged in thisi immense horse
st Ealing trust. Cowboys, sheepmen, ranch
ers. miners, traders, hunters, gamblers,
merchants, lawyers and banker were
said to be connected will IL.
Suddenly the man in advance stopped
and beckoned to those behind him. They
came up, and he pointed out the three
rustlers, with their rifles across the knees,
hiding behind rocks that ommanded the
road.
While they were watching, Gregan's
party came in sight. The watchers saw
the rifles fly up TO the shoulders Of the
three and understood. The rustlers never
fired. Before they could pull trigger each
one of them was shot from ehind
The two parties joined forces and fol-
lowed fiercely on the trail of the stolen
stock. They o o came 10 "A point where
the half breeds party quit the main trail
and cut away To the eastward. The secret
trail of the band led that way through
some of the widest gulches of the Siski-
yous. They overlook them at last aud
two of the pursuers were killed. but when
Gregan's party went back driving the re-
covered stock there were seven horse
thieves hanging from the limbs of the oaks
of Boulder Gap, and below them lay three
more, h balance of the half breeds
band.
Gregan left that country in the sixties.
He went down south and about ten years
ago drifted into Arizona. He went up on
Blue river one day prospecting for a suit
able range. Shortly afterward he was
found dead in his camp, with three bullet
holes through him.
There were empty Winchester shells all
around him, showing that he went down
fighting, and on the trail, 40 yards away,
the dust had become bloody mud.
A week after Big Dave, the tallest and
handsomest of the rustlers in those parts,
died at a rancheria on the ella. "Cub,"
his mate, said he died of pneumonia, hut
there was a hole through his lungs just the
calibre of Gregan's rifle.
The death of Schriever and the burning
OF his cabin with his body in il recalls sew
eral similar instances of the horsethieves'
vengeance on men who knew their secrets
and might betray them.
A man who is now a prominent banker
of Denver was generally understood TO
haye been boss of that part of the ring
that worked in Colorado.
mother man who has since been mayor
of one OF the fiourishing northwestern
towns. figured very extensively i'm the
workings of the band i'm Texas, and had
at least one very narrow escape from a
citizens organization. There are bullet
marks on his arm, the Use OF which menu
Der he has never fully recovered, and, the
story goes, that he once stood beneath a
tree i'm a canyon Of the Panhandle with n
rope around his neck and was only res.
cued by a bold dash of his men, during
which n number of both citizens and out
laws went under.
But on the whole the men have kept the
secrets of the lawless order well. Prob
ably dealt was The penalty of betrayal.
The many unexplained murders of men
known 10 have been engaged in this sort
of work. and quit il TO go TO honest ranch-
ing and so on, might have their explana-
ton in this fact.
The methods of the band are s~tartlingly
simple.
Some rancher in Idaho, for instance,
would nave n fine band of horses. This
fact, most interesting, Of course, to the
members of the ring, would soon be
known. Some night there would he a
stampede of the herd. The herders striv-
ing To stop the stampede would be shot
from their saddles, IL necessary, and soon
the rancher's horses, i'm charge Of other
horsemen. would be laundering along
westward. They would reach the place
of a man either a member of the eang or
in sympathy with il, and turn over the
stock 10 him. With as little rest as they
eo,,lI GOT aloup with tle hand of horses