Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1902-08-21
PREMATURE
EXPLOSION.

TT was all evil day for Green Count.
when Bill Ockerson became Sheriff
though his first term brought n
L suspicion of his real villainy: Some
odium cam upon him when he tool
up with Chef Higgins, the "cowboy
lawyer" who wanted to be judge, bu'
by the time public opposition was
aroused in Sandstone Higgins had wo1
and the Judge and the Sheriff com
menced to run things with a high hand
Sandstone was the county seat and the
only place in the county in which
Ockerson and Higgins were fully and
knowingly feared and hated.
The decent cowmen Of Green made
up a minority which the Sheriff and
his side partner, Judge Higgins, quick.
ly set about reducing to a powerless
and scattered handful. Men who had
borne good regulations were made the
scapegoats for the Sherif's lawless
pets, drunken ruffians shot UP the
towns, insulted women and terrified
the townsfolk with impunity. But let
a sheepman, a miner or a tenderfoot so
much as invite the suspicion or arouse
the wrath Of a cattle1nan, and the
vengeance Of 1.-THE law'' was swift
and sure.
II Ockerson brought in an occasional
horse thief OF robber, Judge Higgins
never failed to soften his punishment
or remit his sentence. But if ain ac-
cused, suspected or ''probable'' law
breaker was shot down in his tracks
by the %unerring weapon Of the Sheriff.
1t always TRANSFERRED that the victim
was either a sheepman or one of those
nesltaslng characters who had failed to
~countenance and support the officers
IN authority. Meanwhile the good peo-
pie Of Sandstone, in abject terror of
their Sheriff. We're secretly plotting for
his removal. Like most good folks.
they were neither adept nor at ease
With the weapons of the desperate.
Inc Aev. Ihrcck1nOrtoi1, q brave young
pastor, had dared to arraign both
Sheriff and Judge from his little pulpit
b Sunday, while a squad of bowling
were %galloping and shooting
through the street. But his frame
church burned down that night and
put an end to the hope of organized
opposition.
Doc jeff Peterson, the Coroner. had
secretly looked up the records of Ock-
erson and Higgins. He knew that the
Judge had studied law while serving a
long term in the Missouri p~enitentiary.
n that the Sheriff's picture had orna-
mented the gallery at Topeka, but be-
yond whispered conferences behind
locked doors with Deacon Lusk and
some OF the leading merchants nothing
came Of the information.
It was in March that seven stnors
were driven away from the LYNX
River bottoms and Tom Hardness Of
Diamond Y outfit came into Sandstone
to get the Sheriff and posse after the
thieves. Hardness was an utter rogue,
but he had seen two men on foot
herdlng the steers northward. and Ock.
erson, with half a dozen picked men of
own style, set out in pursuit. The
morning at daybreak while thew
were saltlng their herd, Henry Etling
his partner, a Dutchman named
Caspar, We're surprised and scared to
n a strange steer inside their fence
1hey found where the wire had been
cut ana mended. and the footprints
VI the horse outside where the beef
a been driven into their enclosure.
sack OF their shack liz a pile near the
renee they found nine fresh hides.
a stall for COW thieves!w said Et-
ing, a nervous little sheep man. who
had lost many a sheep to the wire cut
1ers and knew the Sheriff for what he
was. Let's hike for the bottoms
Caspar. Ockerson will never tako nc
in alive" ~
Ihey drc-e the steer out thro,7.b +bo
hoose corral, and in ten minutes were
scainperlng to cover in the cottonwood
lck OF the river bottom. At O
o,cloc the Sheriff and his posse found
Tue COW and followed it's trail n ~
llngs. The hides were picked I'm 90
ev!oence. The officers secured the
neighborhood for the and
not hnding them, burned down tho
and the feed shelter, cut the wire
and drove back toward town
WIN a hundred head of mutton. rho
sneep never reached the pound. how
Tor Tom Hardness circled them
away from the settlements and headed
tnem Tor Lynx River. The ~recovered
steer was corralled in Ockerson's ward
anu a charge Of cattle stealing fxod
Judge Higgins against Henry a.
ing and one Caspar, sheep ranchers
III township II, Green County etc y
l his story soon filtered into Sandstono
ana great was the suppressed indiena1
tioh winch it aroused. Doc Peterson
ioush OF asking for Federal aid IN
suppresslng the twin tyrants Of Croen
county but nobody else seemed to no
TO contrive a measure suf7iciant1u
and daring for the tas,