Free trader-journal. (Ottawa, Ill.) 1916-1920, 1919-08-22
ROMANCE WEAvED
IN CATTLE BRANDS
Cause OF Many Battles Between
Rival RanCherS and
With Outlaws.
MORE THAN 5000 IN TEXAS
"coW" Thieves Use Ingenious MethooG
to Change Marks on Stolen Ar
r1als-Many Strange De-
vices Are Used.

Austin. Tex -Romance, not unmiX"d
with tragedy, might be written about
the cattle brands of Texas and the
Southwest. Around them have ccn-
tered many thrilling deeds. They
have been the means Of bringing swift
retribution to host of outlaws; they
hf,ve served rs the basis for traiSar-
tons involving the sale of many mil
lions of head Of cattle.
The records Of the Texas Cattle
RaiselS' association show that There
are more than 5000 registered brands
In this state. No two brands are aliEe.
Usually each brand represent, sop
arate ranch. 1t is often the case that
ranch il much better known by the
brand of its cattle than by the name
of the owner Owners may change
but the brand never
When fernando Cortcz conquered
Mexico in the early part of the six
teenth century he established a ranch
upon the sthmus of Tehauntepec The
cattle bore his brand, Although That
was nearly 400 years ago the cattle
upon that ranch today bear the orig
inal COrtez brand.
Origin Lost in History.
The origin Of the cattle brand dates
back to the dim dawn Of history, II
the days of free grass and open range
the brand was an absolute necessity IN
order that the owners might Identity
their cattle in the annual roundup
With the coming Of wire fences tls
necessity was largely obyiatrd, but tho
brand served still to place guilt upon
cattle thieves This purpose is stu
served and this fact accounts largely
for the retention Of the brands by all
of the ranchmen.
Ingenious methods are sometimes
used by cattle thieves to change exist
ing brands upon stolen stocks. Most
of the members OF the Texas Ranger
force are experts in the matter Of de-
fecting the Disgusting or changing of
brands.
The cattle brands of some ranches
are an intangible asset of great value.
These brands have come to stand for
honesty in breeding, honesty in weight
and honesty in dealing, just rs the
heraldry of knighthood stood for hon
or, for bravery and for noble deeds
and ompIishment. Announcement
that cattle Of ii certain brand are Of
fered for sale is often sufficient guar
antce that no precautions against
fraud of any kind are taken.
Every Letter Is Used.
In the record Of brands every letter
of the alphabet is represented and
most letters are found in three or
four positions. An exception is "o."
which has hut one shape, in any posi-
ton, and therefore can he used only
once, True, there is the ''O' nat,rncd
Mt the sides, but ii is then called
mashed 90" link or goose egg.
~" is another letter that is not SuS-
ceptible of many positions, for hori-
zontally II is o. ar is another letter
with limited use 1t is seldom seen
except In combination with other
characters, and Is usually called bar.
"C' and tx" are examples Of letters
that are used in four positions. For
example, an ordinary "k' makes one
position. Turn it to an angle Of -
degrees aud you have the "tumbling
X; on its back, horizontally, the lazy
Is" and reversed fourth position.
There are lazy and tunbling brands
In all letters except "O'' and a."
But when the cattle business be-
comes general aud instead Of too
ranches there are thousands. new
brands must he devised. The seeker
for a brand naturally gets an insignia
different from that of other ranchman
else the brand would fail of IT'S yUr-
pose, SO in the latter days the letters
were finally all taken up and the urcos-
sity for individual and unique brands
has led to many a strange device.
Many Novel Designs.
For example, there is the spur"
ranch, tine "Turk Track" ranch. the
"TumbIing n Of the Lazy "" Every
ranch has its principal brand and
some have many others Ranch own
crs, who trade extensively aud are
constantly acquiring cattle with differ
ent brands, have "a numbcrof mSguius