Evening star., 1934-08-19

ing at all. This was due partly to the fact
that ranges are nearly all fenced now, hence
herds do not mix and lose individual animals'
identity and ownership as in the old days
But in New Mexico, Arizona and Colorado.
highly efficient cattle thieves resumed their
depredations when the depression hit the
country. No longer interested in rounding up
great herds Of stolen cattle to be driven or
and sold in Mexico at q distant market,
these modern rustlers take one to dozen head
of fat steers at q time, slip them into big
truck and dash safely away. et-.~
Sometimes the animals are quickly butchered
and rushed to some meat wholesaler. In either
case thieves are hard to trace or catch and
even II caught ownership could not be proved
unless the brutes were properly branded. There
fore the bottle and the brush are in wide use
now. ,5 q
q, Come to think of 1t, however, maybe the
return Of cattle rusthng will be a sort Of COM
pensating influence to the cowboys threatened
with "sissiness" by dudes and toothbrush brand
ing. If the rancher in 1884 can take to his
six-shooter and puncture few rustlers, or
maybe even string up few on q cottonwood
hmb as IN the allegedly good old days, his wild
spirit should be appeased for having to junk the
hot branding iron.
A DVENT of the oil branding has given rise
n to many a. good and true yarn from the
round and range days just squat with any
big hated fellow whose legs are curved to mt q
mustang ply him with tobacco and respectful
attention. No human in the world responds
to socialibility more than Western rancher.
"RecIect tn time when had foreman
named T. c. Wattrous and he got hisSeh
branded by q steer" is the way one such story
is begun by Bob Ostrander of El Paso. @-
This Wattrous a good man. He could
do more work than any two hands had. But
he was proud some, and Dragged right smart.
lone day the boys was all busy, making
steers of bulls and givin' blackleg shots and
branding and such. when we heard Watt let
out yell.
He shouted to high heaven. We thought he
was kilt He was in a bad way, as a matter OF
fact He had been brandin a right good-sized
critter without tying his legs together He
could do that sometimes. Jest get the critter
down while yore horse holds the lasso tight, and
hold his legs crossed and tight with one hand
whilst you slap on the iron with the other hand.
"ewattrous, he had been doing it right along.
but this critter bellered and snatched hard when
the iron burnt him. He got loose from Watt.
scrambled up. then tripped and fell xs.e-t
when he come down this time, Watt hisseh
was on the bottom, and the hot iron was right
under Watts rumpl
"The pony had drawed back to keep the
rope tight like he Is trained, and there Watt
was with a young steer on top OF him and the
iron on the bottoml can't blame him Tor
bowling but you CANT blame US for laughing
neither It took Watt month to get over that
burn. He's the only man ever see branded By
q steer" .~,,..,x
If, by some remote trick of fate you should
have the tables turned that way on you now.
the oil would brand a human just as it does
cow II you did not give the spot some alleviating
treatment. The soreness and tenderness would
be pronounced. In short, brush branding dis
tinctly Is not recommended for humans.
Humans on the Western ranches are still be-
ing branded with heat, however. Not the red.
k~A~ mAAA 49, TWT-~
ern sunshine brings. '<~4 - ~ .s~~