Search This Blog

Tuesday, January 7, 2014

RUSTLERS AND OUTLAWS...JURY OR HANGIN'! by PHYLISS MIRANDA



Welcome lovers of the ol' West. For my first blog, I wanted to write about something western ... really western. Although I was born and raised in the Texas Panhandle trust me, horses run when they see me comin'. I haven't had good experiences with horses but admire them as a symbol of the true west. That's why in my historical western's, you won't have me doing a whole bunch of fancy stuff with a horse. My characters typically "get on and get off", although with some research and friends with a lot of patience, I have written a couple of scenes that ended up being pretty dern good.

I thought today it'd be fun to talk about another part of the Old West ... cattle rustling.

In the Old West, the terms rustling and rustler had several meanings. Livestock who forged well were called rustlers by cowmen; meaning the animals could graze or “rustle up” nourishment on marginal land. A horse wrangler or camp cook was also a rustler, but the most widespread and notorious use of the word referred to a cattle thief.

On the vast open ranges of yesteryear, rustling was a serious problem and punishable by hanging. At its peak, one of the largest ranches in the Texas Panhandle had over 150,000 head of cattle and a thousand horses. Obviously, thieves could drive stolen livestock miles away before a rancher learned he had animals missing.

The vast distances to town, hence law enforcement, often prompted ranchers to take actions of their own. Court convictions for rustling were difficult because of the animosity of small ranchers and settlers toward big cattle outfits. Many times, “vigilante justice,” hang ‘um first...ask questions later, was handed down by organized stockmen. Like horse thieves, cattle rustlers could be hanged without benefit of trial, judge or jury.

Today, even with detailed brands logged in books, registering with state officials, inspectors, and the meticulous paperwork involving transportation, not to mention a new era of branding technology to keep track of animals, ranches still face cattle rustlers...those dishonest people who want to profit from selling cattle without the bother of raising them.

No longer is a single head of beef stolen for food or an occasional American Indian slipping off the reservation to provide for his family... it is big business. Modern day rustlers often sneak onto rural ranches at night, or on weekends when the owners are away, steal and sell cattle. An average calf can bring thousands of dollars on the open market; so multiply that by a trailer, or even a truck load, of cattle and you can see why it’s a profitable business to thieves.

Amid warnings that cattle rustling is on the rise in Texas, recently the state Senate passed a measure that would stiffen penalties for stealing farm animals, making theft of even one head of livestock a third-degree felony drawing up to a ten year prison sentence and a fine. Until the proposal is signed into law, a rustler can steal ten or more head of livestock and the punishment is a drop in the bucket in comparison to the law of the Old West ... hang ‘um high and fast. But was hanging always fast and efficient?

I became interested in cattle rustling and the methods of rustlers researching for “Give Me a Cowboy” (Kensington 2009) where my Pinkerton Agent comes to the Panhandle to break up an outfit of rustlers. But I became interested in “vigilante justice” from my mother-in-law, who passed on in 2009 at the age of 93. A story teller, she was raised in Clayton, New Mexico. One of her favorite tales was about the outlaw Black Jack Ketchum, the first man hanged in the town. His execution turned into a big town event, with the lawmen actually selling tickets to the hangin’. As history has it, the sheriff had to use two blows of the hatchet before the rope broke. Probably because of their lack of experience in “structured” hangings, coupled with the lawmen misjudging Ketchum’s weight and stretching the rope during testing, he was beheaded. Ketchum was buried at Clayton’s Boot Hill on April 26, 1901.

But my mother-in-law’s story only began there. Three decades later, when she was in grade school, Ketchum’s grave was moved to the new cemetery. Because her father was Clayton’s mayor, she witnessed the reburial. According to her, they opened the grave and she and her cousin touched the bones of Ketchum’s little finger. I’m sure in those days a casket did not weather well.

To me it’s so fascinating when history bridges time and touches our lives. Do you have a family story where history inserted itself into reality?


To one lucky person who leaves a comment today, I will send you either a paperback or a hardback of “Give Me a Texas Outlaw” anthology which I shared with fellow Texas authors Jodi Thomas, Linda Broday, and DeWanna Pace.

24 comments:

  1. Really informative blog post, Phyllis! But the story of your mother-in-law and the bones of Ketchum is the best part. Thanks for sharing. I don't have much experience with horses so always must do my homework when writing about them, but I still fear I may not be getting it right.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Nice to officially meet you Kristy. Thanks for comin' to visit. I always loved the story my mother-in-law told of Ketchum. I'm glad I'm not the only one around who doesn't have experience with horses. I've been around them a lot and marvel at them, but I'm only 5' 3" tall with really, really short legs, so I look like a fat ballerina when I finally get on the back of a horse. I agree with you, let's keep it simple when we write. Let those who are horsemen do the fancy stuff. Have a great day. Phyliss

      Delete
  2. I think Give Me a Texas Outlaw was my favorite anthology of any of our six. I really enjoyed writing my story and portraying the "feel" of true outlaws. Johnny Diamond was so real to me. Your story was amazing and I think what made it so was Dakota, the autistic boy. You really outdid yourself.

    I always love going through Clayton when we go to Red River. You can just feel the history and the presence of Black Jack Ketchum. He was such a handsome man and it makes me so sad that he ended up the way he did. Crime certainly didn't pay for him.

    Wishing you tons of success, dear friend!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Miss Linda, I'm sure happy to see you today. I really loved your story about Johnny Diamond. I think Dakota might well be one of my very favorite character of the six (now seven) western anthologies we had stories together in. I love Clayton, too and the Ecklund Hotel. I sit there sometimes when we eat and swear I can see my husband's grandfather sitting in a corner eating. He was a man not easily forgotten, but not famous (thank goodness) like Ketchum. Have a great day, and you get back to work on your second Bachelor of Battle Creek book. I need some pages to read! Big hugs, my good friend, P

      Delete
  3. Hi Phyllis! Also love the story your mother told about Black Jack Ketchum! The last hanging our neck of the woods took place in the 1930s -- a bank robber who also killed a local deputy. The vigilantes took him from the jail and hung him....my husband's step-father's brother was one of the deputies at the jail the group tied up and had to get past to get the guy.

    And yes, cattle rustling is alive and well.....as ranchers we are quite aware of the issue! We used to take cattle out into the mountains to graze and others who did the same occasionally lost cattle. We don't have any major rings, but it still happens...of course, one of the turn around stories, is that nowadays people are "dropping off" their horses into the country because they are so expensive to maintain, apparently they are abandoning the animals and figure ranchers won't mind or won't notice??? Our neighbor discovered two horses in his field one morning!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Gail, glad to meet you. I love your personal story about the last hanging in your area and it's always interesting when you know the backstory such as your husband's step-father's brother being tied up. Really interesting. Thanks for sharing.

      We had one particular group of cattle rustlers around here a couple of years ago. They'd just back up a cattle trailer and gather up cattle and drive off. They got caught. It was horrible to me, one of the young men was the son of one of our deceased judge's here that I knew well and didn't need the money in the least. I think it was just because they wanted to see if they could do it.

      I have a friend who keeps rescue horses and there are so many around here. I have a ST coming out on March 14th from Kensington and it's the first of the Kasota Spring series. In the third book, my heroine (who is 5th generation rancher from two of our anthologies) still owns the Jacks Bluff and has a horse rescue. I'm gonna keep you in mind when I begin to write it. I'm such a softy when it comes to animals that I can't even watch the advertisements to adopt animals on TV. Two thumbs up, three if I had three, to you and other ranchers who are unselfishly taking in these abandoned animals. Have a great evening, Hugs from Texas, P

      Delete
  4. Phyliss, I loved your post and especially the part about Black Jack Ketchum. The story is told in our family that my dad's aunt was asked to hold the reins of Jesse James's horse while he robbed a bank. He gave her a silver dollar--she was about 7 or so. I love all these stories that bridge time, as you say. Interesting stuff, for sure. A few weeks ago there was something on the local news about the police making an arrest of some cattle rustlers.
    Cheryl

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Miss Cheryl, thanks to you and Livia for starting Prairie Rose Publications and I'm thrilled to be a part of your first anthology "Wish for a Cowboy" and even more thrilled to be included in the second "Hearts and Spurs". Thank you for a great blog site.

      I love your story about your dad's aunt holding the reins of Jesse James's horse while he robbed a bank. I love it! I think there is plenty of cattle rustling going on today. I think about our friend Nat (you've met her) and their ranch. It would be so easy for a truck to get into the land and out without anybody knowing it (until it was too late) because of it's size and physical location. Of course, I wouldn't want to be the one to run up against their Foreman who is probably third generation cowboy! Thanks, my friend. Hugs, P

      Delete
  5. Love your blog. I'm writing an historical fiction about a water war along the Utah-Arizona border in 1905-6. At the time, a consortium of ranchers were trying to crossbreed buffalo and Galloway cattle. One large ranch fenced off a major water hole so another rancher retaliated by stampeding the "beefalo" through the fence, driving the other guy's cattle through the newly rent gap, killing the cows and branding the calves.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ed, I love the premise to your story. When I first began writing, I was told to write what I knew, so most everything I write is set in Texas. Sounds like a great story. We're very familiar with beefalo because of Col. Charles Goodnight and his cross-breeding. Just this weekend there was an article in the newspaper about the buffalo that came from his blood line (buffalo, not his personal LOL). They've redone his home less than 30 minutes east of us. I'm going to keep watch on you, Ed, because I want to read your book when it's finished. Have a great evening and so good to meet you. Phyliss

      Delete
  6. What a great post, Phyliss! I so love when real historical tidbits appear in romance novels. I don't have much family lore in that regard other than my great-great grandpa marched with Sherman in the Atlanta campaign. I am doing an Ancestry.com right now.

    I watched a show on History Channel on modern cattle rustling...bringing in big rigs and taking a whole herd. Sheesh. Good job today!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Miss Tanya, hope you're nice and warm out there in California! I love to put real historical facts in my novels, but brother they better be right or a reader will catch you for sure. They sometimes forget they are reading "fiction". I don't have anything in my family as interesting as ancestors marching with Sherman. I had to do a lot of research for one of the anthologies about cattle rustling and learned so much about hair branding and how they'd make a maverick by slicing the tongue of the calf so it wouldn't stick to it's mama. Very interesting. I did a blog a long time ago at Petticoats and Pistols about Charles Goodnight and the calf wagon. Maybe I'll retro it over here one of these days. Miss Tanya, thanks for dropping by. Hugs, P

      Delete
  7. I wrote a comment early this morning, but it disappeared.
    You have some great first hand knowledge of what it takes to run a ranch. That has got to be invaluable to you when you write westerns. I have to research everything.
    I used to watch a series titled The Last American Cowboy on TV. It was amazing to see one of the ranchers use helicopters and mortorcycles to check on his cattle and round them up. One thing was made evident for the modern rancher and the traditional ranchers--cattle rustling is still going on today and they've become even better at it. The program showed how rustlers with big 18 wheelers pulling huge cattle trailers would go on a rancher's land and steal large numbers of cattle. There's always someone trying to get something from a hardworking industrious person, isn't there?
    I like the name Black Jack Ketchum.
    All the best to you, Phyliss.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Sarah. Ouch, sorry your comment went away, but glad you came back. I am fortunate that a girl who worked for me married the foreman of one of the camps on a big ranch around here, so my DH, two little girls at the time, and I'd go out there and spend the weekend a lot. I had no idea when I'd pull the chute gate that I was learning something I'd use one day. Old Blackie, the horse I was talking about that made me look like a fat ballarine on him, would go out and work all day long, but the moment he'd hear us coming in the pickup and trailer to bring him and Clay back home (delivering salt, not just a free ride home) that sucker would stop work and there was nothing Clay could do to make him go back to work. He knew he had a free ride back to his dinner. We had strict rules not to come out into the pasture until a certain time. It's funny. Then our friend Nat (who owns one of the original spreads here in the Panhandle) had a big ol' stud named Tex and he'd stop in the middle of the road when we'd go out in the 4-wheeler and wouldn't move. It was as if he was saying ... I was here first, so just go around! Love him.

      Linda Broday got me hooked on the Last American Cowboy and I've still got most of the episodes recorded and they are more valuable now that I'm writing ST contemporary small town Texas series. When I read Black Jack Ketchum ... I can see a rogue lawman instead of an outlaw ... Ketchum! Have a great evening and glad to hear from you. Phyliss

      Delete
  8. Loved this post Phyliss. Famous outlaws and lawmen seem all stories until you hear someone who actually had something to do with them. Touching Ketchum.s bones somehow makes him more real. Only story I have is a later one. Bonnie and Clyde stopped at my grandfather's farm and asked for directions. It was afterwards that my grandfather found out they had just robbed a nearby bank and were traveling the back roads running from the law. So unknowingly he helped them escape.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Hi Livia. Thank. I'm with you about outlaws and lawmen just being a story until you hear about something first hand. I was so thrilled that my precious mother-in-law shared her story about Ketchum. I love your story about Bonnie and Clyde. As a matter of fact, I'm over at P&P today and wrote about Bonnie and Clyde (actually about Ma Ferguson, the first governor of Texas), so you might enjoy what I found out. But I love your story. As I told Cheryl, thanks for doing PRP and this is a great blog site. Thanks and have a wonderful evening. Hugs, P

    PS: We have something else in common besides the love of Texas and westerns. We had an earthquake about 20 miles east of us yesterday and in the paper they mentioned your town as having earthquakes, which I knew about. Hardly a rumble here.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Hope your earthquake wasn't just the beginning. Azle went from having no earthquakes to having almost daily earthquakes. Scary.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Livia, we've had them before, but it just seems strange here in this part of the country. I've never been in one out in California, but my kids have and they said it's really scary, particularly for those who can remember the Northridge Quake. Hope yours stops and we don't have any more. Have a great evening. Hugs, P

      Delete
  11. Hi Phyliss.
    Wonderful group of anthology authors! You always get the best covers! Oh and that bit of family trivia is amazing. You have firsthand knowledge...pardon the pun!
    Charlene Sands ...your filly sister!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Don't pardon the pun. Enjoy it.

      Really enjoyed the post too and the touch of family history. I'm sure it's only the tip of your grandmother's stories.

      Delete
    2. Charlene, I think you started something! I'm still laughing. Between you and Alison, you all made my day and I guess it isn't a laughing matter, huh! I only wish I had a comeback. Surely I have a comeback on the tip of my tongue! UGG! Outta here friends! Hugs, P

      Delete
    3. Sorry Charlene, I got carried away. Thanks for the compliment. The contributors to the two anthologies are amazing to work with. It's a challenge to write a story that short and I thought after six anthologies it'd be easy, but it isn't. Livia does our covers. Aren't they nice! Outta here again. Hugs, P

      Delete
  12. Kristy McCaffrey, congratulations for being our winner today! If you'll contact me at PhylissMiranda.com with your mailing information, I will get your signed book off to you as soon as possible. Thank you for being the first to check in this morning! Again, thanks and congrats! Phyliss

    ReplyDelete
  13. Read this post yesterday, then was called away and didn't get back to comment. I knew rustling was still going on, but the new law is pretty fascinating. Loved the post. Thank you. Doris

    ReplyDelete