The Kennewick courier-reporter. [volume] (Kennewick, Wash.) 1914-1938, 1918-02-28
TO RID COUNTY
OF HORSE AND
CATTLE THIEVES
County Commissioners Offer Re
ward of Five Hundred Dol
lars for Capture
STOCKMEN ARE ORGANIZED
Owners of Herds Lose Thousands of
Dollars Annually Thru Activ-
ity of the Rustlers

At the request of stockmen of east
elm Benton county, the county commits
sioners have offered reward of $500
for the apprehension and conviction Of
cattle thieves. Doubtless this actor
will come as a surprise to the ordinary
citizen as it has not been generally
known that there has been much stock
rustling in the county in recent years
Stockmen, however, have reason to
believe that for several years an or.
ganized band of thieves has been sys-
tematically raiding the ranges and
costing the stockmen thousands of
dollars annually.
One of the leading stockmen Of the
county says:
If all the cattle and horses that
have been stolen in what is now Ben
ton county, in the past decade, were
loaded in stock cars and made into
one train there is no engine that could
pull the train. If all The thieves that
stole this stock and got away with it,
were loaded into passenger coaches,
it would make at least an ordinary
large train. But all the thieves that
have been caught in the past eight
years and sent to the penitentiary can
be numbered on the fingers of one
hand. This is not on account of the
inactivity of the sheriff, but largely
because the people have not cooper
ated with him as they should.
The high mark in horse stealing
was reached about ten or fifteen years
ago, when thieves boldly stole by the
carload, and shipped them East. They
stole all one man had and he had three
or four hundred. Of late years there
has been more activity in the cattle
line, with large and small stealings,
while in horses there are many more
individual instances coming to the
sheriff's Office than ever. The high
mark in cattle stealing occurred from
the range from Plymouth along the
Columbia river east for fifteen miles.
In the year 1916 there was stolen
from there as many as fifty head of
cattle, twenty of them belonging to G.
H. Mottinger, who lost thirteen steers
and about that many heifers, in the
latter part of August. They were
Hereford cattle and fat, and evidently
were shipped to market-they were
branded with a hat on the left hip.
! The balance of the cattle stolen had
various brands, I'D. Co." "T," "H," etc.
In 1917 these men hired man to
look after their cattle, but in spite of
that twelve head were stolen from J.
X. Howard, in the last of September.
These were cows and calves, all brand
ed on the left hip.
So flagrant had this promiscuous
stealing become that these men ap-
pealed to the county commissioners to
offer reward large enough to make it
worth while for thief to try to catch
thief, or for an honest man to make
1t worth his time to report to the
sheriff or his deputies any irregu-
larity he may know of. The sheriff or
deputies will then promptly take the
matter up and do all they can to cap
ture the thieves.
The county commissioners realizing
the way the people have been robbed,
and wishing these thieves apprehend-
ed and speedily brought to justice now
offer liberal reward of $500 which
should bring results.
The stockmen of southeast Benton
county have organized themselves in
a protective association, and will be
glad to.furnish, thru the sheriff, the
brands and descriptions of stock stol-
en- at any time. These inquiries will
be confidential. The sheriff also has
large list of horses stolen and will
gladly furnish them to anyone who is
interested in trying for this $500 re-
ward.
ihe county commissioners wish to
give this the widest publicity and hope
otner counties will offer reward as
they and Okanogan county have done,