Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1927-10-21

and in the early days of their married
life. frequently rode on the range with
him. AT one time ID q visit to her par
ents. she rode alone from the headquar-
tiers to Bozeman, a distance OF a hundred
miles through an almost uninhabited
country.
Roberts was a fine specimen of a man
physically. Although of about medium
height, he was powerfully built and
weighed in the days OF his prime about
100 pounds. At the time that Roberts
was foreman. job Collins, now state
stock inspector, was with the company,
acting as representative Of the company
fall of 1881, Roberts quit and was sue
ceeded by o h M. Collins as foreman.
Gun Misses Fire
A story is told hat at one time when
Roberts. Collins n a neighbor named
Hicox were together, Hicox got into a
quarrel with Collins and suddenly
reached over and pulled the revolver put
OF Roberts belt and pressing it against
Collins stomach, pulled the trigger.
had extracted the cartridge for the ham
mer snapped without result. Hicox threw
the gun down, exclaiming, Take your
damn revolver" and left the room.
During the next year. Roberts. who
was located at Sweet Grass and a a
small herd OF his own, worked as an in
spector for the stock association, COM
prtsing the principal herd owners Of the
state who had banded together to protect
their interests especially against cattle
thieves.
In 1883 and 1884 Roberts was foreman
for the Briggs & Ellis outfit, one of the
large cattle firms Of the territory. Their
range was on the Boulder and through
the territory south Of the Yellowstone
which had recently been coded by the
Crows to the government. .
Following hts employment with Briggs
e. Ellis, Roberts located ON White Beaver,
north Of Reed Point and began opera
tions as an entirely independent oper-
ator. Here too began that period Of his
life when he became the object of suspi-
cion and fear with the hand OF both the
big cattle companies and many of his
neighbors also against him.
His brand In itself was q mark of
suspicion for he had acquired the Dollar
Mark brand. This brand as we'll as sew
eral others could easily be worked over
a number Of the simpler brands of the
earlier operator. And. as working over
brands was a f~avorite trick Of rustlers,
the possession Of a brand Of complicated
design was enough to cause it's owner to
be watched.
The first time that the brand was used
by Roberts was at a roundup while he
was still a foreman. AS was the custom,
a number OF mavericks were put up for
sale, the proceeds going to the expenses
of the stock association. Roberts bought
several OF the animals and then branded
them, with the dollar mark. AS the brand
went on, the pumpkin rollers" as the
nonresident owners from the western
part Of the state were known, could be
seen comforting together with evident
disapproval Of the new brand.
Evidence insufficient
Complaints against Roberts were
brought to the attention of the stock
association and he was at length arrest
I'd on a charge of cattle stealing. In
fact, during the years that he was on the
White Beaver, he was in court q number
of times on similar charges but the as
ISOLATION was never able to secure suffi-
Gent proof TO convict him. 1t was In
connection with q cattle stealing case
that Roberts became involved in a Sec
ond killing scrape.
Nate Young, a neighbor Of Roberts
was a witness against him in a trial al
Big Timber. On the way to the court
house on the morning of the trial Young
was hot and killed by Roberts. There
were no witnesses OF the shooting al
though 1t tool place on one OF the streets
Of Big Timber.
According to Roberts, he had shot In
self-defense after Young started to draw
on him. Young was shot twice through
the neck n head n was killed in
stantly. There was no evidence to con
~trovert Roberts story and he YVES no,
brought to trial. While the killing Of
Kinney had been considered justifable
especially by the code Of the plains
Young's death had quite a different Is
pect to many.
Partisans of Young, including his two
half-brothers, the Johnson boys, were de-
termined to even the score by the deatt