Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1909-10-13

into the Cache Just before dayDreaK.
81 don't know what / am steering
you against this morning, Farrell"
said Whispering Smith. Certainly
should hate to run you into Du Sang,
but we can't tell where we shall strike
him. If we have laid out the work
right l ought to see him as soon as
anybody does. Accidents do happen,
but remember he will never be any
more dangerous than he is at the first
moment Get him to talk. He gets
nervous if he can't shoot right away
When you pull, get bullet into his
stomach at the start, if you possibly
can, to spoil his aim. We mustn't
make the mistake of Understanding
him. Rebstock is right: he is fright
with a revolver, and Sinclair and Sea-
grue are the only men in the noun
tains that can handle a rifle with him.
Now we split here; and good luck"
Don't you want to take Brill Young
with your"
"You take both the Youngs, Farrell.
We shall be among rocks, and II he
tries to rush us there is cover"
Stormy German with four Crawling
Stone cowboys followed Whispering
Smith. Every rider on the range had
q grievance against Williams Cache,
and any of them would have been glad
to undertake reprisals against the
rustlers under the wing of Whispering
Smith.
Just how in the mountains-with-
out telegraph, newspapers, and all or
binary means of publicity-news trav-
els so fast may not certainly be said.
The scattered lines of telephone wires
help, but news outstrips the wires.
Moreover, there are no telephones in
the Mission mountains. But on the
morning that the roundup party rode
into the Cache it was known in the
streets of Medicine Bend that the
Tower w men had been tracked into
the north country; that some, if not
all, of them were in Williams Cache;
that an ultimatum had been given, and
that Whispering Smith and Kennedy
had already ridden in with their men
to make it good.
Whispering Smith, with the cow
boys, took the rough country to the
left, and Kennedy and his party took
the south prong of the Cache creek.
The instructions were to make a
clean sweep as the line advanced. Be-
hind the center rode three men to
take stock driven in from the wings.
Word that was brief but reasonable
had been sent everywhere ahead.
Every man, it was promised, that could
prove property should have a chance
to do so at the Door that day and the
next; but any brands that showed
stolen cattle, or that had been skinned
or tempered with in any way, were to
be turned over to the Stock associa-
tion for the benefit of owners.
The very first pocket raided started
a row and uncovered 80 head of five
year-old steers bearing a mutilated
Duck Bar brand. 1t was like poking
out the grassy retreats Of the Cache,
but the work was pushed on in spite
of protests, threats, and resistance.
Every man that rode out openly to
make 9 protest was referred calmly to
Rebstock, and before very long Reb-
stocks cabin had more men around
it than had been seen together in the
Cache for years. The impression that
the whole jig was up, and that the
refugees had been sold out by their
own boss, was one that no railroad
man undertook to discourage. The
cowboys insisted on the cattle, with
the assurance that Rebstock could ex-
plain everything. By noon the Cache
was in an uproar. The cowboys were
riding carefully, and their guards,
rifles in hand, were watching the cor
ners. Ahead of the slowly moving
line with the growing bunch of cattle
behind it, flourished as it were rather
conspicuously, fugitive riders dashed
back and forth with curses and yells
across the narrow valley. If it had
been Whispering Smiths intention to
raise large-sized row it was apparent
that he had been successful. Reb-
stock, driven to desperation, held coun-
Gil after council to determine what to
do. Sorties were discussed, ambushes
considered, and pitched battle was
planned. But, while ideas were plenti-
full, no one aspired to lead an attack
on Whispering Smith.
Moreover, Williams Cache, il was
conceded, would in the end be worsted
if the company and the cowmen to-
gether seriously undertook with men
and unlimited money to clean it out.
Whispering Smiths party had no ex-
PLANTATION to offer for the roundup, but
when Rebstock made it known that
the fight was over sending out Du
Sang, the rage of the rustlers turned
on Du Sang. Again, however, no man
wanted to take up personally with Du
Sang the question of the reasonable
ness of Whispering Smiths demand.
Instead of doing So they fell on Reb,
stock and demanded that if he were
boss he make good and send Du Sang
out.