Western news and the Libby times. [volume] (Libby, Mont.) 1920-1933, 1930-01-16
The Parable of the Cow dthe Deer
Written in 1950l
SPASM TWO

In the first place the COW thief
created his own code of ethics. For
wasn't he always a "durn" good fell
low? Didn't he always drive or ride
the best horses? Weren't his cigars
and his liquor among the best? And
wasn't he free with them?
His disfavor meant social ostra-
cism.
Under the hypnotic suggestion of
the COW thief, anyone who cordially
suggested prosecution, or furnished
evidence toward conviction was de-
nominated "snitch," "meddler,'
troublemaker, etc. The thief let it be
understood that anyone who didn't
use the branding iron on other peo-
pies calves was a tenderfoot, and
any one who constantly refused to dc
so was under constant suspicion of
being a spy.
Not only did the masses of the
people fall for the COW thief's code of
ethics, but public men condoned the
stealing of cattle and condemned a
man as troublemaker who assisted
in the prosecution of COW thieves.
Preachers condemned the giving of
evidence from the pulpit. | we'll re-
member hearing from the pulpit a
sentence something like the follow
ing: much as cattle rustling is to be
deplored, the shopping around of med
dlers is much worse
Teachers joked with their pupils
about their midnight branding esca-
pades.
Don't understand th4t everybody
cheerfully condoned the act. Those
who lived honestly, however, couldn't
stand the gaff of the crowd. 1t was
better to lose few calves once in a
while than to stand the slurs of the
crowd.
Another means the big cow thief
had of escaping detection, was hid
ing under woman's skirts. Gosh,
didn't know how that was going to
sound before it was written.) They
would get hold of some feminine
adventures who came out from the
East for some excitement and take
her along with them. Of course, a
majority Of the people didn't like such
procedure, but Texas ideas of chivalry
prevented the prosecution of "re-
spectacle" woman for such a trifling
offense as cattle stealing. Not only
that, but public opinion opposed any
prosecutions in which any respect
able" Woman's name might be men
toned. The result was that the big
COW thieves frequently planned to
have some real nice" woman, who
was hungry for adventure along on
their midnight expeditions. With the
woman's name involved the officers
refused to prosecute.
Maybe concrete example will bet
ter show how this worked out.
A young lady named Alexander was
employed as teacher in q small town
school. She came from Cleveland, O.,
and boldly announced that she was
daughter of Alexander the Great, else
how did she come by his name?
Most Of the natives fell for this
tale, and she was taken into the best
society in town, which of course was
the COW stealers. Some two or three of
the biggest of these men took her
along on several night branding ex-
petitions. In one night AZ calves of
another rancher were rebranded Bar
x. She wrote friends back in Cleve-
land about how she had branded doz-
ems of calves, although in reality she
had never had a branding iron in her
hands. And the real thieves were not
prosecuted, because such procedure
would be a reflection on the charac-
ter of a Good Woman"
1t turned out later that this woman
was not daughter of the Great Alex
ander at ALL
Another thing that prevented prose
cution was the fact that most of the
people were guilty of technical" steal
ing themselves. 1t was hard for man
who had killed the other fellows
calves for his own meat to furnish
testimony against the big thief, when
the big thief knew Of such informer
having butchered calves not belong
ing to him, himself.
And they kept on stealing cattle.
If you want to know what was done
about it, you have to wait till next
time.