The Bozeman courier. (Bozeman, Mont.) 1919-1954, 1926-05-21

property rights Of others before cow
boys bullets or at the end of a rope
in cottonwood clumps.
In 1885, owing to the bold work
of rustlers, cattle and horse ranching
in northern Montana had become I'M
profitable. The rustlers declared
bigger dividends than did the owners.
Horse stealing was wOrse because it
was easier to get away with horses
and they sold more readily. The
situation drove the ranchers to take
action, and when it came it was thor
Ough. The decision was reached and
organization effected at the fall
roundup in 1885, on the Judith.
Others were interested, some of them
prominent in Montana today, and the
real leader in the work of extermina-
ton was "FlOpping BiII' Cantwell.
From September until the weather
got too raw to ride, the hunting down
of thieves was relentlessIy prOsecut-
ed.
Hang First Victim
The band was recruited from the
most daring and reckless of cowboys
who volunteered at the roundup
camp On the Musselshell about so
miles above its mouth. The first
rogue to pay the penalty of his mis-
deeds was a half-breed, who was
strung up to a cottonwood tree on
the Reece Anderson ranch.
Jim Downs, who kept a cabin near
the mouth of the Musselshell, was the
informant whose confession supplied
the names and rendezvous of the out
laws. His evidence availed him not
a jOt. The Missouri runs swift and
deep where the Musselsheu joins it.
and the banks are high and steep.
After the rope had been adjusted to
Downs neck, no tree was near, so
someone rolled out a big |grindstone
that stood alongside the cabin. In
a very few moments Downs and the
grlndstaOne, with the rope between
them, splashed into the river. Nei-
Their came up.
From him "FlOpping Bill got a
big list of men to operate on, and the
band struck next at the mouth OF
- Lodge Pole Creek, where several
rustleTs were located. Three were
h captured and strung up at dawn on
cottonwood trees that stood by the
cabin. One of the ropes was still
swaying from a branch at this spOt
a dozen years ago.
IL Battle Over BIOckhOuse
lei At this point some of the cOwpun.
cheers became nervous and though
At they had had enough, but the fear o.
is civil action should their impromptI
IS hangings become subject to investi
" cation held them in line. On Lions
n Johns bottom on the Missouri
number of rustlers had a camp, pos
Il ing as wood choppers. The raid OF
a their place early one morning wa
discovered by a householder, and
lg fight commenced between the raid
ers and the besieged, protected by
blOckhOUse, which ended in severa
-desperadOes being shot and six take
q prisoner. One escaped and one COW
boy fell before the fire from the fort
nc Dixie Burroughs, a breed wei
II known in Northern Montana, was tn
an one who got away. Nothing was eve
al said about the cowboy who was shO
and he was buried where he fell.
N During the night, "FlOpping Bill
disappeared. That night a numbe
nv Of men rode up, demanded and sc
cured the six prisoners, and rod
1e away with them. In the mOrnin
be their bodies were found decOratin
ID the cotton woods in the east side G
Long Johns bottom. "Floppin
re Bill" came back a little late an
10 said that the men who had taken an
-at executed the prisoners were of
posse from Miles City. Nobody eve
inquired further about them.
an The johnson County Cattle War
The last famous rustler war o
he the range was that carried on fC
be a few weeks in 1892 by cattle me
of Wyoming against h e JOhnsO
county rustlers, which was repOr
ed daily by the press of the wOrl
~ and given al amazing amount {
nOtOriety, although only two m e
.Su were killed in It'll. The headquartel
ne of the rustlers were at Buffalo, w,
NJ Oming, while the seat Of the cOwme
was at Cheyenne.
1st Emerson HOugh, in his Story
the Cowboy, says that before tn
JIG war practically the whole COUNT
- was living on stolen beef, and NJ
Fl content with this and with serviI
notice IN the cattle companies tn
they would not be allowed to no
their rOundups, the rustlers begs
to ship beef by carload lots to Il
markets of the east. AS there we
no brand inspectors there to dete
the fraudulent nature Of such shi
ments, there was danger that Il
rUstlers would entirely ruin the leg
cattle growers. The extent Of Il
losses suffered by the cOwmen M,
be inferred from the fact that with
the first year after the appOintme
Of brand inspectors at the market
they sent back to the commissions
of the state $4,000 Of estray mo
ey for cattle passing to market fro
Wyoming which had not been shi
lped by the owners. The commissiO
ers returned Of this all but S14,OI
to the proper owners.
A General Raid Planned
j. The new cattle laws put in effe
i, greatly offended the rustlers, who
gan to sOlidify their factions a
made Of Johnson county a rustler 81
Element, where the cattle nen had
/, MlVOiCe. In tour wears cowmau hroue