Wyoming Rustling

 Cattle rustling was once an enormous problem in Wyoming and the West, or was it?

These guys tried to keep the herd safe going north. (Rawhide)

Before the dry summer and disastrous winter of 1886-87, the big ranches held so many cattle that they were often only estimated, never counted. Rustlers or loopers commonly roped (threw a loop around) Mavericks and any other non-branded or poorly branded cattle on the open range. No one cared, everyone lost a few. At the time, nine million cattle roamed the cowboy state. However, the four-day storm that started on January 28, 1887, changed all that. Never again would Wyoming boast of so many cattle and by the turn of the century Wyoming had an estimated three million head, a much more manageable number.

But with this manageable number came changes. Ranchers now with smaller herds kept a real count of their stock. Stock detectives like the notorious Tom Horn were paid sums reported to be as much as $500 per man by the big ranchers for being, judge, jury and executioner for any supposed cattle thief. By the time Horn was hung in 1903 in downtown Cheyenne, rustlers had long become more story than fact.

Tom Horn

Hard to believe that so many books, television shows and movies about cattle rustling in Wyoming, but the period only lasted from about 1868-1890. It possibly could be stretched to 1903, when Horn was executed at the age of 42.

Caught Red-Handed

Joe LeFors

Caught Red-Handed

 I remember hearing, many years ago, the phrase, “caught red-handed,” and it can still be heard on the occasional old western. I am sure I have used that phrase, knowing it meant caught in the act. But where did it come from? There may be a host of stories to match up with, “caught Red-handed,” but I really like this Wyoming version.

Legendary Wyoming lawman, Joe LeFors, instrumental in the solving of the Tom Horn murder of Willie Nickell, may have, according to Wyoming folklore, coined the phrase. Before telling that story I should mention that LeFors is legendary because of his own bragging about how great a lawman he was. Several lawman of the day called his a braggart and incompetent lawmen. But this still is a nice story.

Seems that LeFors watched with binoculars as a poor homesteader butchered someone else’s yearling cow. He waited until the beef was gutted and the rustler was quartering the animal for transportation before he rode in. The man was hacking away with an old knife and LeFors told him he was caught, “red-handed,” because of the blood all over his arms, hands and shirt.

Could be true, maybe not, but it’s still a great story.

Maybe the homesteader was after this one - could have fed the family for a few weeks

As an afterthought note. LeFors rode home with the rustler and after seeing how destitute he and the family were told him he would be back in, “a few days,” to pick him up. LeFors may or may not have ever went back. The man was never arrested and the homestead was abandoned by the time anyone took the time to ride out and check.

Landscape north of town - taken from Brimmer Point - Guernsey State Park