, 1892-03-03
A QUESTION OF OWNERSHIP.
A Glenrock Man Makes Pointed and
Personal Inquiries


To the Editor OF The Leader.
GLENRooK, Wyo.. Feb. 26.-l have
carefully read your article OF q few days
ago headed Won't Bulge an 1nch,"
and OF the facts in the case l do not know
anything but l think the cattle commits
sion is not doing as they should, but are
robbing and bulldozing worse than the
r~ustlers. as they call them. l do lot
claim to be a rustler and do not ride the
range, but remain strictly At home to at.
tend to my business and have done SO
ever since Glenrock was started. / own
q few cattle, which L can prove a lawful
ownership to and have them branded with
a recorded brand. Last fall l had a few
10 sell but not quite enough to make a
carload. To make a full carload | bought
three head from a ranchman and made
the bargain for them in the presence of
reliable witnesses, took a bill of sale
acknowledged before a justice of the peace
and saw to it that the cattle were branded
with the ranchman's brand who sold
them to me and which he claimed he had
recorded as his legal brand and then
shipped my carload of cattle to Chicago
which / claim | had as much right to do
as | would if [ was a millionaire and had
a hundred carloads and belonged TO the
cattle association.
The result was different and the inspec-
tor at Chicago was inclined to retain the
proceeds of the whole carload, but on the
explanation of B. B. Brooks, one of
Wyoming's most reliable citizens and a
member of the Protective cattle a~ssocia-
ton and who knew 1 raised the cattle
branded with my brand, the inspector
gave the money for the cattle l raised
back to me but retained the money for the
three purchased cattle,
Mr.. 1iams afterwards wrote a letter to
Mr.. Brooks calling him a liar and said he
was the cause of the association losing
money rightfully belonging to them.
This was the first intimation | had that
l was raising cattle for the benefit of the
stock commission. knew [ was promptly
paying my taxes, part OF which goes to
to the pockets of this same commission
by the grace of our last legislature. |
sent the bill of sale for the three pur-
chased cattle to Iiams and he replied:
This brand is held as a %rustler's brand
and we will still hold it"
Now | claim to be too well bred to call a
liar and thief by his professional names aud
will leave that for co wards and blackguards
but / really would like to know through
the medium OF THE LEADER what the
laws of Wyoming really are. Are they
such that if l have a few cattle and have
them branded with a legally recorded
brand and promptly psv my taxes to sup
port the state government, still l cannot
ship my cattle to market unless | belong
to the association? Are the laws such
that | dare not buy cattle from a ranch
man in a legal form without being
classed with robbers and thieves2
No one deprecates thievine more than
| do and IN proportion to the number of
cattle l own | probably suffer as much as
Nanyone. but after | do get some of my
cattle ready for market it makes matters
a great deal worse to be further robbed by
men who are supported by the taxes l
help to pay and who should protect me.
| think Wyoming should soon have a
fresh deck and a new deal. Very Re.
specially Yours. THOMAS BIRD.