Fergus County argus. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1886-1946, 1906-03-23

brother, l.. F. Conn, the district at
| torney, and was supposed to have told
things which the district attorney
might make use of to prosecute certain
/ men who were said to have been kill
| Ing sheep. After his first trip to see
his brother he had a barn burned, in
which were some wagons that had
been used for hauling wool. This was
supposed to have been deep, mys-
FERROUS signal to him, giving him warn
| ing. The subtle fact that there were
wool wagons in that barn conveyed
wondrous information. One would
! have had to have lived in Lake coun-
: ty at that time to have understood
| that awful portent. And Conn was
not wise. He made second trip, and
/ that time one of his finest horses took
mysteriously sick and died This was
a further portent. Whether Conn was
disturbed by these matters is not
| known. He never made any remarks
on the subject. But one morning he
went out to ranch of his towards
Christmas lake: he had gone but a
from a bullet This was on March 4.
The snow covered him, and all the
searching by his neighbors did not
find his body until April 90. He was
found with two bullet holes in him
and two empty cartridges in his own
revolver, which was in his hand.
Mention the name Conn in eastern
Oregon, and the person to whom you
are speaking is pretty sure to express
decided opinion as to how he came
to his death. You will be told by
many unprecedented men that Conn
committed suicide. And you will find
lot of men down in Crook county
who do not consider it very healthy
conversation to talk about Conn at all.
| Conns death would not have Great.
ed any great amount of talk. had it
not been for the fact that about this
time the biggest sheep killings in Lake
county took place. On February 2,
1904. three thousand sheep. which had
been driven up from California, were
descended upon by Is men with juni-
per clubs, and most of them killed.
On April % of the same year about
40 miles northeast of Silver Lake, a
sheep herder in the employ of CRUDE
e. Parker. in charge of 400 sheep.
found himself surrounded by nine
masked riders; he was tied and forced
to watch the slaughter of 1890 of his
band, while the other 400 were scat
tered and run to death by the coyotes
These were the two biggest killings
made in the high desert country. II
is generally believed among both
sheep and cattle men that the "high
desert" country will produce more
trouble before dead line" is drawn
Harvey county is cattle country
which has been pretty much protected
from encroachments by sheep from
the very first, by that organization or
the southern fork of the John Day riv
er. The organization is pretty much
gone to pieces from lack of occasion
but the same men are living there wnt
= formed the original organization, ant
y it is not a healthy country for sheep
y In the extreme southeastern portion
:, OF Oregon, to the east Of the Stell
: mountains, there has been some trou
BILE. and sheep herder was found sho
:. through several years ago. NOTHING
was ever done about it. The crim'
was laid to certain dad men" Twin,
in that part of the country, some o
:. whom were in the employ of the bi,
cattle companies, and it was impossi
BILE to prove anything.
This war for range is one which ha!
,, no end until the country is undel
fence. Carried on widely in isolated
districts, as occasion arises, it is com
posed of series of local quarrels
Taken from a general standpoint, it il
possible to explain the cause, but thu
question of settlement is a vital mat
ter and must be attended to upon thu
spot. The complaints of the settlers
and larger cattle men are various
Their strength is also varied. 1t /:
case in the end of the survival of the
fittest