The Kevin review. [volume] (Kevin, Mont.) 1922-1929, 1922-11-30

rustlers for stealing beef in John
son county, but secured only one
conviction, the defendant being
fined $18.
Early in 1892 a meeting of cattle
men was held at Cheyenne and it
was decided that a general raid
against the rustlers should be
made. The names of IFS alleged
rustlers were compiled, of whom
they determined to kill or drive out
of the country IS. Included in this
movement were several prominent
men of affairs in the state and a
majority of the leaders of the
posse organized were fasteners
who owned cattle, but who were
classified as tenderfeet on the
range. They were all new at this
sort of business and were not fit
to lead such an expedition. They
employed 20 fighting cowpunchers
from the lower range to go with
them. Altogether there were 43
men with three wagons, cooks and
a most complete range outfit.
Starting out at daybreak early
in April, they travelled overland.
and their first encounter with the
rustlers was at the &c ranch,
where Nate Champion and Nick
Ray, two well-known rustlers, held
forth. Ray stepped to the door and
was shot fatally. The house was
then set on fire and Champion was
shot full of bullets as he ran for
a gully nearby. While the fight
was in progress another rustler,
Jack Flagg, came along with a
companion, but was allowed to es-
cape. He notified every rustler
between the K. C. ranch and Buff
falo, and the clans gathered in
fury to fight the vigilantes. In a
few days the rustlers had the vigil
lantes on the run. At the IA ranch
the cowmen were brought to bay
and besieged by 319 rustlers. The
~vigilantes fortified the ranch with
rifle pits, barricaded the buildings
with logs and prepared thoroughly
for a siege. Firing was kept up at
long range on both sides. Twenty
six horses were killed in the ranch
corral by the rustlers in one day.
The siege lasted three days, when
a troop of cavalry from Fort Nc
Kinney arrived on the scene and
took the cattlemen prisoners. Two
of them had been fatally wounded
by the accidental discharge of their
own firearms.
For three months the cattle men
were held in jail at Cheyenne. Then
they were each charged with the
murder of Champion and Ray and
released upon their own personal
recognizance. Each offense was
made bailable in a large sum of
money, the total for the 40 men
amounting to millions of dollars.
The Texas fighting men lit out for
the south without giving bond, and
when the cattle men were brought
to trial a jury could not be secured,
so the cases were nolle pressed and
that ended the matter. News of the
war" and its aftermath had much
publicity in the press of the nation,
but it has gradually been forgot
ten.
The end of rustling cattle came
the end of the open range in
many parts of the west. Where
there is still open range the grow
strength of law and order has
done much to put an end to it. But
now in some portions of the
Did cattle states there are stretches
If more or less unsettled country,
and in these parts there is invaria-
more or less rustling. But now
he courts of justice deal with
.'ustlers, and there are no p%eniten-
iaries without a quota of this class,
Though they r a very different
ype from the rustlers of old.
Copyrighted by Cheely-Raban syndicate.)