The border vidette., 1914-12-12
CATTLE WORTH sIo,ooo SEIZED

or CnlS SecUlOn OOOh pldCS OlliS week when local officers under the leadership of Charles E. Hardy, collector of the port of Arizona, and H. S. Creighton spe cial agent of the treasury depart ment, rounded up and sieZed 4O1 head of cattle from William Cow an, J. J. Benton and Sherman Crump, alleging that the larger percent of the stock had been smuggled across the line from Mexico, The affair, after due investigation, eventuated happi- ly for the owners named, how ever, it being shown that the animals had been purchased in good faith and in the belief that they were legally imported. Special instructions were 1eceiv- ed last night from Washington that the animals might be re tained by their owners after being duly inspected in Douglas and dipped
 The officers visited Cowan's ranch in Government Draw north of Bisbee and rounded up 3O1 head of cattle while 100 were rounded up and seized at the Benton and Crump ranch near Bernardino. The government claimed that a portion of the an imals had been entered legally through the customs house, but that the larger portion had been smuggled out of Mexico east of Douglas.
 
 were brought to the Benton & Crump ranch by Walter Hewitt, a Sonora cattleman, who said that he was their owner, and thrown together. They were offered to Cowan for sale. Cowan accepted 100 head at that place and immediately resold them to Benton and Crump. The rest of the animals were required to be delivered at the Cowan ranch, where they were received and paid for. Most of the cattle were of the Snake $ brand.
 Recently the government re quired that all animals passing through the customs house should be branded D on the left shoulder In looking over the herd it was found that major ity were so branded. In doing this the persons smuggling the cattle overplayed their hand, as it was easy to show that the animals had not come through the customs house, or many of them have not, there being no record of them. The order is so recent that not many of the cat tie imported bear the brand. Investigation showed that 158 had been legally imported and branded, but many more than that number bore the brand.
 Recently numerous Americans have engaged in irregularities in bringing cattle across the bOr- der which have led many people to believe that as cattle are duty free, it is no offenSe to Smuggle them.
 Such is not the case, however. While the government has stat ed the cattle shall be allowed tc enter free of duty. it specifics that this shall be permitted on ly after legal inspection. Also. while Mexican duty is undoubt edly irksome to cattlemen in So nora, the United States cannot connive either actively of pas sively in any smuggling opera tionS.
 Another effect which may be brought about sooner or later as A. result of indiScriminate snug gling is that of having the Dor der tier of Arizona counties placed in a quarantine district. That would mean that not alone every Mexican COW brought in would have to be dip ped after inspection, but that every head of stock in the border counties would have tC go through the same irksome process whether native born or not.
 This matter will probably be brought strongly to the atten' tion of the state and county cattlemen's conventions which meet here early next month, and steps taken to control the situation. None realize the seriousness of the situation more than the cattlemen operat- ing in this county. While they realize the war conditions pre- velant in Sonora, and that under