The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1892-08-04
TROUBLE ON THE LINE.
Cewley County Farmers Arm Themselves to
Resist the Invasion of Texas Cattle.

| a gentleman who came up from Arkan-
sas City yesterday. reported considerable
excitement down on the line among the
farmers and cowboys, with a probability
that blood will be spilled if certain
| bunch of cattle, the property of Banker
Hatch OF Arkansas City, is driven across
the state line from the strip. The particu-
| lars are as follows:
Saturday night bunch of between 500
and 600 Texas cattle arrived on the strip
near Arkansas City, from FL Paso. They
were unloaded at the Chilocco yards and
were turned loose upon some hay land
sold off the Chilocco reservation The
cattle came to Z. Fl. Hatch, receiver of the
American National bank, and were taken
in on debt. The cattle were. generally. in
bad condition, being very poor. The
man who brought them to Chilocco
from Texas returned and the herd was left
in charge Of three cowboys from Caldwell
The report soon became prevalent among
the farmers along the state line that a
bunch of Texas cattle had been unloaded
at the Chilocco yards and were to be driven
west along the state line. This aroused
them and they proceeded to organize to
put stop to such proceedings. Tuesday
morping twenty five farmers, fully armed
went to where the cattle were and de-
manded an explanation and what was to
be done with the cattle. The farmers at
first could get no satisfaction out of the
cowboys, but were told that the boss had
gone to town but would be back at
O'Clock. The farmers returned home and
at CLOCK were back to where the cattle
were. They were determined to
have thorough understanding
of affairs this time They demanded
to know if the cattle were to be moved
west along the state line and received an
evasiYe answer. This made the farmers
angrier than ever and they told the boys
that there were just 100 farmers and each
one of them would kill five head of cattle
if an attempt should be made to take them
west along the state line.
Finally Mr.. Hatch arrived upon the
scene. He explained to the farmers that
he had taken the cattle on debt and they
had been shipped here and he had to get
them in a pasture some place, if not south
of here farther west. He agreed to have
the cattle driven.d down into the strip about
four miles south OF the state line and hold
them there. They should not be brought
any nearer the state line than that and the
herd is now grazing south of Chilocco
creek.
This settled the matter for the time be-
ing, but the farmers are suspicious ana
are still organizing with the deterIuina-
ton to prevent the introduction of the
cattle into the state at the expense of
bloodshed if necessary. Recently some
cattle died along the border in that neigh
borhood with Texas fever and the farmers
will not permit any more Texas stock to
come into or even near the state.
The cowboys are said to be doing every
thing possible to aggravate the farmers by
calling them "old hayeeeds," etc, and it
need surprise nobody to hear of an ex-
change of shots between them one Of these
fine mornings. In the meantime Mr..
Hatch is in bad box with his cattle. He
can't keep them on the Cherokee strip, he
can't take them to Oklahoma and the law
backed by 100 farmers with shot guns pre-
vent him from bringing them into Kansas.
The gentleman who brought the informa-
ton says that the boomers are Watching
the situation closely and if I row occurs
they will take advantage of the sensation
it would create and make a raid on the
strip with view to Fastening its opening.