Arizona republican., 1904-11-21
RELIEF IN TEXAS
The Murder Steer Alarms the SuPer-
 stitious no More.


 cowmen throughout west Texas on ac- count of the peculiar brand il bore on it's left side and the tragedies in which it had taken part is dead, according to a dispatch from Austin.
 The steer was an oUtcast for twelve years IL rOamed over the range at will and to many travellers it brought a chill of terror which they caught sight of the words, branded in large letters on its left side, Murder, 1889"
 The animal gave up its lonely lie about three years ago and took up with bunch of cattle which were being driven to the Bar Fl ranch in Ector county. It remained on thae ranch until its recent death.
 Judge w. Van Sickle of Alpine is familiar with the incidents which oc- cured in the life of this steer. He eaid:
 Tn January, 1SS9 big roundup took place on the Leon Cipa ranch in Brew ster county. A dispute arose between Il. H. Powe and Fine GilIand as to the ownership and branding of certain yearling and Gilland killed Powe mad escaped by riding quickly away
 The yearling over which the dis pute arose was roped and branded Murder, 18S9 The animal was then turned loose on the range.
 Al that tine a squad of state ran gers were camped at Marathon, thirty -hve miles east from the scene of the killing. Six weeks after the killing two of them John Putnam and T. T. Cook, started on scout for Fort Stockton.
 "GiHland had been traced to the Glass Mountains and it was generally supposed that he was in hiding there. The two rangers decided to go through the mountain on their scout in the hope that they might come across the fug- itive.
 They were in the midst Of the moun- tains and were riding along narrow trail. Putnam in front and Cook behind, with their pack mule in the middle, when suddenly they came across GilH- land. The later fought hard for iIs Lle. In that baJle GIIiland was killed. CC-K was cripplCU lOi .:-e auI three horses were killed.
 Putnam and Cook were standing surveying the scene Of the fight when a white steer walked out of some scrub by live oaks nearby, and going up to where GiIlnand was lying snined at his body. The animal turned to walk away and the two rangers saw the brand. Murder, 1SS9" on it's left side.
 That steer was more than seventy five miles from where it was branded and turned loose six months before, and how it had got into the heart of the Glass Mountains was a mystery.
 Following the killing of GiIliland, this strange steer was seen at many places where crimes had been com mitted. Ignorant Mexicans believed 1 that it possessed the spirit of the dead Gilliland. It seemed to haunt the spots where he and his rough associates used i to hold high carnival.
 Some time before the killing of Gill Hand, Jeff Webb, a nephew of Giuiland ! and foreman of a large ranch left AL | pine in terrific rainstorm with a pet bear which he was leading. The next day his body was found on the road | toward Fort Davis The pet bear was ! licking the face of the dead man and ] grOwled threateningly when a cowboy l approached the body. He had been | shot through the head.
 The killing was shrouded in mystery | GilIiland suspected that Sam Taylor, a l desperado had killed Webb. One night not long after this Taylor was sitting l in the back room of a saloon at Alpine ! playing poker when someone fired a | load of buckshOt through the window.
 The load scattered widely, but a number of the buckshot struck Taylor i in the breast killing him instantly He l leaned forward on the table, the cards still grasped in his lifeless hand. He l had just won a pot with aces and e'~ats | which was thereafter known as the | dead mans hand.
 ! "A sweater from New York who was | sitting in tE- gawe was shot through i the back with a buckshOt, and a Mex ican who was standing nearby was shot | through the shOulderblade. The | sweater died very soon.
 Tn after years the outcast steer with its gruesome brand was seen at night standing meditatively near the window
 or that saloon through which the fatal load of buskshOt was fired.
 Later it was ascertafned that Webb
 was not killed by Taylor but by a Mexican who mistook him in the storm
 for an officer seking to arrest him."