The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-12-05
RANCH FOREMAN ROBERT DEyINE
RELATES HIS EXPERIENCES
RECOVERING CATTLE.
HOW HE KILLED BOB SMITH
THRILLING NARRATIVE TERsELY
TOLD IN THE LANGUAGE OBJ A
WYOMING COWBOY.
Devine Spoiled a Nice Little Scheme
for Selling Rebranded Calves
as Genuine.
Special Correspondence of the Globe.

| CASPER, Wyo., Dec. 2.-My business
Is COW punching, and am not much
| Of scribe, but I'll try and tell in my
own way Of my trip into one Of the
most dangerous regions in the United
! in search Of stolen cattle. I am range
foreman for the c.. Y. outfit, and before
relating the story Of my troubles with
the band of thieves, who for the last
six years have been stealing cattle on
the G. Y. range, want to describe
their stronghold in the middle of part
of the country known as The-Hole-in-
tbe-Wall.
The Hole-in- the-Wall is situated in
Johnson county, Wyoming, about four
teen miles from the north line Of Ma
trona county, Wyoming. 1t is about
thirty miles from north to south and
twenty from east to west. 1t is sur
rounded by the Big Horn mountains
on the north and west and on the
south is a high wall of rocks varying
from 100 to 300 feet in height.
There only two ways to get into the
Holei the Wall-through two passes.
It's as fine a hiding place for outlaws
as can be found, and it's in the possess
sion of one of the worst bands of
thieves that ever struck the United
| States. After they drive stolen cattle
into the Hole-in-the- Wall there is no
way for cattle to get out unless they
find one Of the two passes, and so if we
don't go in after our stolen stock it
stays there.
The grass is fine in the Hole-in- the
Wall and stock keeps fat there all the
winter. The Hole is watered by North
Powder river, Red Fork river, Buffalo
creek and several other smaller
streams 1t is a very rough country,
and no man who isn't we'll acquainted
with it ought to venture in for he'll
never find his way out.
| In the middle of the Hole is the out
! laws ranch where a band of thirty Of
the biggest thieves unhung live the
| year round at the expense of the neigh
boring cattle owners. Their home is
| built of pine logs about sixteen feet
square, with port holes to shoot from,
| and a rifle pit in front of it, with a
ditch leading from the house to the
rifle pit. They keep man on the watch
all the time.
|
off COWS and cattle inside of the Hole
! in the-wall, separate them and then
drive the COWS out and brand the calves
with a. new brand. The cows soon leave
| and three or four weeks later the out
laws drive the calves out and sell them
! to buyers who handle their stolen cat
tie. In October 1 found 12S c. Y. cows
near the pass that had been separated
from their calves. 1 took band of G.
| Y. cowboys, went inside of the Hole
in-the-wall and found at the Hole-in-
| the-wall ranch fortythree of the
calves. 1 quickly sent part of the boys
after the COWS to see if they would
claim the calves.
That night the outlaws drove the
| calves out. We followed them over the
| Big Horn mountain about seVenty-five
miles. Near Gov. Richards ranch we
| got fresh horses and kept on the
| thieves trail until we came up to them
at No Wood, where We found that the
| calves had been left with ranchman
who had contracted to winter them.
| They were all branded with letter
E on the left shoulder. Now if I had
not found them, next winter they would
| have brought some of them back and
| reported that they had bought them
| of the ranchman who had been taking
care of them during the winter, and the
| letter E would have seemed to be an
old brand. and so their story would
pass muster. L tell you they are ex-
rerts at the business, are the Hole
| in-the-Wall outlaws.
But I'm not getting along with my
| story
The outlaws have been following me
up for year trying to do me for get
| ting stolen cattle back, but they were
especially anxious to get me out of the
way after the affair 1 have just re-
| ferred to. But 1 managed to keep out
of their way all right until last July
On the 23d of that month 1 was round
ing up stolen cattle that had been
driven into the Hole-in-the-W Wall, when
Bob Smith, the leader of the band,
rode up, in company with AL Smith
and Bob Taylor They came quite near
and called out "How dye do?" 1 took
no notice, until, when they were about
forty feet away from me, | saw them
reach for their sfX-shooters, so I reach
ed for my Winchester, dropping be-
hind rock that sheltered me little.
Bob Smith was the first one to loose
off. He shot my horse first fire through
the neck. The horse fell as though he
had been shot in the brain. 1 got the
second shot. I was cool and aimed
with care. L shot Bob through the
breast near. the. right lung. His second
shot just cut me slightly on the left
side. My second shot went to the
mark, striking him just to the left Of
the back bone, near the kidneys 1
saw him pitch forward in the saddle
and knew I had him then, but 1 gave
him a third shot, striking him near
the same place as my second bullet
The third shot dropped him from his
horse and l then turned my attention
to Bob Taylor and Al Smith, who were
shooting at me.
Then some of my men came up and
Al Smith ran like a scared wolf and
was soon out Of reach. Taylor was be-
hind a bank, still shooting, but four of
my men, 10 Laford. Jim Drummond.
Lee Devine and Bill Rogers, had all
dismounted and were cutting the dirt
so close to Taylor's feet that he threw
up his hands and surrendered. He was
disarmed and taken prisoner. Al Smith