Rocky Ford enterprise., 1910-03-11

izations ever known-invited his
special attention to their herds
and contributed a monthly &c.
knowledgment Of $3.50. which. with his numer.
GUS fees. made his income an ample ONE
often as large as $500 a month-sometimes
double this amount.
Among the members of the association was
Sam Lazarus Soon after McDonald's ar
rangement with the catuemen Lazarus was
sending a herd Of perhaps a thousand head
into Kansas. driving them across the Terri
tory. Pat Wolforth was In charge Of this. herd
and when Just beyond the Territory line. in
. very lonely district. met with misfortune.
One evening near nightfall the cattle sud-
denly became frightened. doubtless by some
device OF the outlaws. and Wolforth and his
men found It impossible to control them. A
general stampede followed and Lazarus cattle
were scattered over the prairies and through
the fastnesses Of the Strip-a prey to the
spoilers lying In wait every hand. It was
4 heavy disaster and there seemed little hope
" much in the way OF recovery.
Bill Mcdonald took no such view OF the
situation. With Pat wolforth he Immediately
visited the scene of the stampede and began
looking for cattle with the "Diamond.tail"
such being the trade. mark Of the Lazarus herd.
1t was n ticklish undertaking. Some Of the
cattle had been butchered and they. Of course.
were lost. Others had been absorbed by the
herds Of the men. who. though not regularly
engaged in COW stealing. were in nowise par
ticular TO whose cows they got and vel.
coined anything that browsed unguarded
the range.
Mcdonald began by prevailing upon the
honest ranchmen in that section to Join at
once In a general roundup. by which means a
great number of cattle could be collected and
distributed TO their rightful owners.
II mattered little to Mcdonald and Vol.
forth where they found the Diamond.tail brand
they took the cattle: peaceably II possible.
forcibly II necessary. II was n sudden and
energetic procedure and resulted In the recov.
cry of the greater number Of the lost drove of
Lazarus
1t resulted further in a definite plan by Bill
Mcdonald for the disbursement of cattle
stealing in the Territory and for the capture
of those most actively engaged In that In
dustry. The back country was very sparsely
settled and the Indians and halfbreed whites
and negroes were not especially interested in
law and order. even where they were not di.
rectly concerned In opposing these things.
Nearly all. however. made a pretense of
agricultural employments. There were towns
~ considerable size. and railroads-the latter
sHording liberal returns now and then when
Neie train was waited upon in lonely place
and the express messengers. mall agents and
passengers were invited at the point Of six
shooters to contribute to n highway develop
ment fund.
Bill Mcdonald decided to break up this sort
of thing and set about II In a way suggested
by his own peculiar genius. Investigation
must be conducted openly and yet in a way
to avoid suspicion.
Returning to Quanah and Wanderers creek.
Mcdonald allowed his beard to grow mutton
chop fashion. bought q paint horse" "a spot
ted pony) an old tenderfoot saddle such as a
plainsman would never use-and book with
pretty pictures of fruit in it-a nurseryman's
plate book. the kind fruit tree statesmen
always carry. Then. dressed as unlike an OH.
Ger or a cowman a Texan possible. with
these properties he set out to all appearances
a genial, garruous. easy going tree man. will
ing to sit around all day and whittle and swap
knives and yarns and to express any kind OF
interest or sympathy necessary to encourage
a man to tell mis- business ventures and those
of his neighbors.
1t was a pleasant excursion enough. No
fruit tree man had been through that section
thought It worth while to go. McDonald's ex-
cursion prosed that profit awaited the seller
of trees who should first make that wilderness
his territory. Most of those bad men had
been fairly good boys at home at some time
in the past and the sight Of those luminous
plates. presenting fruit of extravagant size
and coloring, made their mouths fairly water
at the thought of its cultivation by the door
way of their own dugout sod house or log
cabin. They turned the pages lovingly and
IuR,ered over the wonderful plums and pears
and peaches. As they turned they talked and