The Hardin tribune-herald. [volume] (Hardin, Mont.) 1925-1973, 1935-03-15

Vi 40AA6Sos AA4Sy "V4S
adrift along the streams where the
rich native grasses grew in abundance,
and although there were great herds
of buffalo in the county at that time,
the cattle thrived on their new range.
More cattle were trailed into the
country from the Rio Grande; also
horsemen with their herds of brood
mares. Wherever horses and cattle
roam the ranges there will always be
found outlaws, stock thieves, lurking
in the shadows and blinds like hungry
coyotes. The outlaws became holder
and their numbers grew as the years
passed. Their depredations caused the
stockmen grievous loss. On top of this,
some outlaws were selling whisky to
the Indians, melting the redmen to kill
range cattle and to help gather horses
for the Canadian market.
Such were the conditions that faced
the stockmen in the summer of 1884.
While the stockmen were debating how
to handle the situation, Sam Mckenzie,
a half-breed, arrived at Fort Maginnis
riding a stolen pony. A group of cow
boys from the DIS ranch near by,
recognized the pony and the rider.
Sam was also known to have helped
drive stolen horses across the line into
Canada. The cowboys locked him up
for the night and the next morning he
was taken to a cottonwood tree, a moose
adjusted and the other end of the rope
thrown over a limb, then the cowboys
pulled on the rope and hoisted Sam
into the air, where he strangled to
death. It is from this hanging that the
yiri1o rfnc rncoi,oI f1ooir roron GCfro
lers." The occurrence started the ball
rolling; men were o in to act as
Vigilantes. Then came the hanging Of
Sam LaFevor and Charley Gibbs, Frank
Belwaux, and a man who owned a store
just below Carol. This man was
known to be trading merchandise for
stolen horses which were taken into
Canada where a ready market could
always be found.
The Vigilantes, acted with swiftness
and determination. They did not know
the rendezvous where most of the out
laws would be found. This was over
come by sparing the life of notorious
character, one William Contrell, known
on the ranges by his sobriquet Flop
ping Bill" He agreed to act as exc
cutioner and to furnish all the infor-
nation necessary. They caught and
executed Red" Mike and Brocky Gal
lagher at the mouth of the Musselshell;
three miles up the Musselshell river,
they came upon california" Ed and
another man corralling a bunch of
horses. They both paid the penalty.
These two men were given decent
burial by the Vigilantes. Their graves
~ ~ q ho@1orI vOinf NIyoN1oNIirr tho
Musselshell river. They were ex-cow-
boys gone wrong.
Granville Stuart in his book, Forty
Years on the Plains" writes of the Wig
ilantes arriving at an outlaws camp at
Bates Point Is miles below the mouth
of the Musselshell, of the shooting to
death of six outlaws and the escape of
five others. -Four of the fugitives were
later taken from the custody of a
United States marshal and executed at
the mouth of the Musselshell.
The outlaw camps extended at in
tervals along the river bottomlands as
far as Wolf Point. However, when the
Vigilantes were through with their
gruesome work, there were no more
outlaws in northeastern Montana. One
of the few that escaped was Dutch"
Louie. He happened to be with Pike"
Landusky and Frank Aldrich pros
pecting for gold in the Little Rockies,
thus escaping the vengeance of prim-
tive law; he thereafter led an honest
life. During his declining years, Dutch"
found refuge at the Darnell ranch Just
above the mouth of Snow creek, and
when he died of old age, John Darnell
buried the b0dV IN a small knoll OVER