CATTLE RUSTLING

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXX, Issue 4874, 23 July 1936, Page 6

CATTLE RUSTLING

AMERICAN PROBLEM. CARS AND SILENT GUNS. San Francisco, June 17. The West is changing, but in no phase of its life more sharply than in the methods of the cattle rustlers, Gone are the romantic days hoof-beats rumbled at night across the prairie, and a rustler gambled his wits against a rope noose. To-day’s rustlers—and they are increasing in an alarming degree—drive automobiles, use high-powered rifles, equipwith silencers, and kill and dress their beef on the spot. The practice began with the depression. Driven by poverty, men who worked with the packing firms at Chicago and Kansas made agreements with butchers to deliver beef at exceptionally low prices. ' Whole families, under the pinch of poverty, went into the business, women and children being posted on the hills while their menfolk cut out a few from a herd and drove them to a distant retreat, where they were butchered. The appearance of a rancher or any of his men was signalled to them by means of an Indian smudge fire, covered and uncovered at intervals through the use of a blanket.

The more alert criminal bands of rustlers come from the ranks of racketeers who profited by liquor running until Prohibition was repealed. Beef cattle represent the same degree of profit; a bulky steer averages 50 dollars, dressed. In other days, the presence of a buzzard meant that one member of a herd had died, due to alkali, wolf, or coyotte. Now, the cowman knows that inspection will reveal heads, hoofs, and hides, with the brand removed, making it impossible for the rancher to prove that his beef has been slaughtered. The work of the marauder is made easier by the fact that herds grazing adjacent to highways are docile and can be approached at will.

A gang drives with darkened headlights on a herd. Lights are turned on. Silent rifles mutter a few times. The kill is quickly skinned and dressed. Or, perhaps, a saddle-horse is carried in a truck; a few head are cut out and driven across a State line. The racket has increased so rapidly, from Missouri to the Pacific, from the Rio Grande to Canada, that jealousy between State police and sheriffs no longer exist. Under the unwritten “Rustler’s Law” they join forces. A sheriff will lead a culprit to the border, hold him there until his colleague gets into position on the other side, then kick him over the line into the hands of his pursuer. Air transport companies are co-operating, pilots watching for marooned cattle, and giving clues to possible bunches that have been cached away.