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

tiOns, resulting in material financial
loss.
So far as the term 'rUstler" is
concerned. this criminal still exists,
bObbing up here and there in those
areas of the great Northwest where
sizeabIe herds of beef cattle re-
main remindfuI of the Old West as
it was in the days prior to the advent
of the ''nester," the "sheepherder"
and the farmer.
Nevertheless, the ''rustler," as we
hear of him today is in very little
n the "rustler" which is described
in history and narrative of the Old
West. True it is, the Old-time rus
tier was a lawless character, but to
be fair and appreciative of conditions
as they used to be, he was not to be
classified in the same denomination
as the present-day range outlaw. To-
day, cattlemen face a different indi-
viduaI entirely. He is a cattle thief
he steals hOrses-he apprOpriates
livestock and anything which he be-
lieves himself able to convert into
cash. But, in that, he is nothing 9TH
er, today, than the city bandit con-
filming his activities to the country
districts, where he seems to believe
that because of greater distances, he
is less liable to be apprehended.
The rUstler of the Old West was a
product of the range-nOt of the
urban centers. He was the honest
COwpuncher who, unfortunately had
yielded to temptation, and gone
wrong.
The OId-Time ''Rustler''
One Of the picturesque types of
the cattle range days, especially in
the northwest, was this "rustleT, 3"
who was the last to surrender in the
fight for the old days and the old
ways against the Entertainments of
civilization. There was much cOnfu-
sion in the minds of most people not
familiar with the cow country as to
lust what constituted a rustleT, for
after a time it became a custom in
the west to refer to any outlaw as a
rUstler. If a murder were committed
in any lonely spot newspapers would
attribute the crime to rustlers. The
same mysterious beings were blamed
for train robberies and stage-cOach
hOldups. If a lynching bee were held
the men whose necks were stretched
regardless of who they were or what
they had done, would be reported
as rustlers. And so any and all bad
characters of the west came to be
called rUstlers.
1t is true that in the later years
of the cattle industry all rustlerS
were criminals, but it is equally
true that all criminals we're moi
rustIers. And it is also a fact, al
though never admitted by the later
generation of COW men, that in the
early days of the cattle range there
was such a thing as a good rustler
Indeed in those days no rustler wa
a criminal. He was simply a hard
working cOwpuncher who drew a lit
tie extra pay for doing extra work
He got his name in the early MAYER
ick days before strict laws wert
drawn to govern the cattle ranges
In those days there were many I'm
branded cattle running on the ranges
and these became the property of an,
man who rounded them up and pu
his brand on them. A cattle maj
therefore, had a standing offer to hi
cowboys of from 81 to SIS for eacl
maverick found and branded wit
the bOss's brand. Later on the cat
tie associations for a time paid SIS
head for any mavericks found an
turned over to the association. Tn
cowboys were accustomed to ''get GU
and rustic" for calves, and there wa
no bad meaning attached to the wor
rustic"
How Some Herds Started
Some cOwpUnchers in those earl