Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-11-13
VALUE Of HORSE THIEVES

Horse thieves said the philosopher In one
of his lectures To his class, are bad in what
ever light you take them. They democrat
lie the moral sense of the community.
besides making people walk instead or
ride. and. they don't half take care OF the
horses after they get them. A horse thief
VIII stealsa hundred dollar horse. ride him
nearly to death and then sell him for
twelve dollars and drink, all of which
Is calculated to wound the pride and self
respect Of the animal to a hurtful extent.
Some years ago before trolley cars came
IN and beared the horse market there were
numerous, crowds Of organized horse
thieves N the Wild and woolly west, who,
when not engaged in the serious occuoa-
ton of horse lifting. varied their after
dental murders. One of these outfits in
the neighborhood Of Deadwood became es-
pecially annoying to the authorities and
TO those citizens who were happy or I'M
Lappy In the possession Of pony. Finally
patience ceased to be virtue and the or
ders came from headquarters to the mar
shai OF the district to organize posse and
bring the gang in so that retribution could
be meted out. In short time the Depart
c1ent OF Justice was informed that the
posse had been formed. had gone on the
hunt and had returned with three prisoners,
VINO were turned over to the authorities
ana whose fate Is not set down in legend
or song. l,s
After q time, however, the department
here was grieved by receiving without ex-
Pianation a bill reading 1.-The United States
government, dr., to the Deadwood posse
1910 Tor the expenses Of catching three
morse thieves" Although with a doubling
mind the department sent the bill tn the
treasury Department. The treasury did
not spend a moment in doubling but with
pronptltude and harshness born of
eng experience turned the bill down. in
1act. turned 1t upside down. The auditor
ono not contend himself with a turn-down.
pul AIDED some American language about
peopie VINO wanted four thousand dollars
wren the variety could be picked up any
DAY on the road for so a head. The an
oitor closed with some uncomplimentary
aIlusions to department that would send
Up Sucn accounts. The Department of
Justice FELT even more grief at this rebuke
than at the receipt of the original hill and
seht friend of mine, who was in the ser
VICE &C. out to investigate the account.
rms man went out to the Deadwood
nelghborhood with mind filed with preiu-
ace. Primarily he objected to an extraya
sant valuation on horse thieves, and sec
onuarliy ne had his opinion of posse that,
s1Lartins out to roundup a gang of horse
anleves only succeeded in capturing three
Inlroly, ne did not want to go to Dead
WOO at ALL AT any rate, he began to take
testimony. ~
His first inquiries consisted of an in
FORMAL talk with the big leader of the
posse and what he learned went sometime
like this: "n' 'o"ieehihs
HOW many members were there to that
horse thief gang?"
wei. about twenty-five"
And you captured threeT'
YES we put three of them in tail."
Have the. rest of the gang been giving
any trouble since them"
wen, no. they haven't troubled us
,." Then you must have captured the
No. can't say they was. The three we
Drought IN didH't amount to much. thew
rest LUZ inc
"Umph.',, n
That closed the first round. and after
iight refreshments the inquiry took a new
nne. the nan from the department having
IAN tane -. On some additional prejudice regard
no well II, how .RHany were there in that
..ISt mnb; ni there was just twenty-four"
How long, were you out?' ee'
we NE was out exactly twelve days"
WheW! One thousand dollars a day."
WHAT dia E so; t9 get at this thing some way
well we rode and tailed
=. raa gay We SURPRISED the horseys in
Did yoG.sIks. sh5 .
We'll. we fit some -
Were any, Of the thieves hurt?"
Some SIX of them were shot I'D consid-
KILLED.. .nr-d asaas.q
we buried them" (" H..
The third day?" Ia.
We rode like hi"
THE next" H.
% I'VE come onto the horsevs as +bev MO.
crossing a ford" "'
Amy thieves hurt?,'
We buried five of them afterwards"
The fifth day?"
rately." oepo
ANY @ighting@ ),
Well there was considerable shooting
and cutting 1 believe FIVE of them was
ready for the resurrection"
What about the sixth day?" 4
THAT day we got the drop on six of than
IN canon and had EN- tied before they
knew it," ivy
What did you do with them?"
six. Being an officer Of the government. ~
course didn't take no hand In 1t. but kent
my back turned until it was all over The
next day we caught the last three. They
s .hnet,n up .heir hands ian soon as we got in
hang them. too, but I said MOI No Stree
said. The United States government has
sent you out to catch these horse thieves.
the United States government is paving
good wages, and expenses, and iii be
id If the United States government shan't
get something for its money These three
horse thieves goes quietly back to Jail: be-
SIDES l says, they amt no regular horse
thieves. anyway, they's only cooks and wa
termen.' Then we rode peaceful back to
comp, being 200. miles therefrom"
Ny friend was a little weak by this time.
but he managed to continue.
en- onNyhN Nv IN
"Oh. yes. We was all considerable shot
and cut up"
Anybody killed?''
Fourteen of the boys was killed out
right and two has died since then"
what was your idea of disposing Of the
$12, 900 you have asked?"
well. the boys thought the survivors
ought to get about $25 apiece for their
services. and that the widders and or
phans ought to take the rest
Colonel. will you take drink?"
"Some:'
Then the man from the department sent
a telegram to his chief saying that the
Deadwood bill was all right, and that the
auditor was an ass.
The philosopher said he did not know
whether the moral of his story was that
treasury auditors did not know as much
H. h.