OCR Text |
Show war qfTheTlains. A Wyoming1 Man Recites the Romance of the Kecontre Between the Cowmen and lias tiers. Hard Winters and a deduction in "Wages the "Meat Witbin the Coeoanut." FEUD OF A LIFE TIME. . , A Struggle that Implies the Total Extermination Exter-mination of One Side or the Other. .: 4 I . M. MERITS OF THE FICKT. A View that Makes the Cattlemen Mora Responsible Than at I'M rut Sight The .Branding of Mavericks Cuts i Very Important Figure, . The present situation in Wyoming so far as it refers to the rencontre bet een tho cowmen and cowboys was never more graphically depicted than by a disiutcDested visitor in the city today. The gentleman's disinterest is emphasized; by the fact that he lives up in that country over which the tocsins of war are now sweeping with such deadly effect and hnpM that if he should have occasion to go back to a country which ha has practically abandoned aban-doned to find peace and not the pistol as his reception committee. He was not-di.,posed to enter at any voluble distance into-the merits of the difficulty when the interviewer met hiin this afternoon, but finally yielded and said that the present condition of affairs in Wyoming was calculated to do anything-else anything-else than subserve its prosperity. "No matter," said he, "how tha present war between the kings of the trail and the alleged rustlers resulted it was! bound to precipitate a feud that meant tho extermination of one or the other of the contending Tactions in the state. The kings themselves have every adva'i'Rge. To specify they are backed by tb. oiiieials of the state, and have a tremendous pull through Senators Carey and Warren. When I say this, my conclusions are derived front the fact that at least one of these two gentlemen, gen-tlemen, if not both, are numbered with tho. cattle kings. The outlook is lamentable fop Wyoming. No matter ho"' present hostilities hostili-ties rceult in determining the mastery of one side or the other, it w ill be the means o losing to the state the patronage of all tha' splendid volume of foreign capital whicV. has been its mainstay and support." "What has been the actual cause of the trouble between the factious V" "To a great extent it has been exaggerated on both sides. The f uudamental cause has been the decline in the price of nattle exceptionally ex-ceptionally severe winters. The farmer has fiJ, forced the cattle king to cut dc wu the wages - . - "... of the cowboys, and that started them to rustling on the side. At the same time there was a notable reduction in the increase and large herds showed such alarmir' condensation con-densation that the owner- found it difficult to recoirnize them as the ones in which they had originally invested. Small herds of cattle, varying from 100 to 500 head, begau to spring up along the ranges, ami t ie alleged al-leged "rustler" to become more numerous each month. The competition from this source became alarming. The cattle kings jumped to the conclusion that they were be. ing systematically worked. There was but one thing left and that to settle the question of title in warfare. Oft its vicissitudes you have already learned-At learned-At present the rustlers would seem to have the best of it with WyomintrN upon each and all occasions the wortit. Both; t are to blame for the present condition pf af-fairs, af-fairs, the kings of large herds in that they have educated the. cowboys for years patst that it was among their duties to, preset v and maintain the numerical interests of tix& herd in the branding of slick-ears. This means that the cowboys were taught-to steal and brand mavericks. The rust-i'-rs are te blame for not reforming when tbeir seryicea were no longer needed by the cattle kings. It looks again as if some one was experienc. ing a hard job in quitting a bad habit." "It is reported by correspondents at the seat of war that Sheriff Angus of Johnson county w as having a hard time iu keeping his hands off V "Nothing to it. The report istho remoU est from every probability. Ho is a cool feilow, with the dash, daring and spirit of the frontier, but is too wise to exceed the authority vested 1 in hiin by the law or court his own downfal and irretrieveable ruin by any interference, with the troops who may be sent there to es cort the sl.x kmen now iu military custody to Douglas as has been ordered. The fact is that within forty-eight hours there could be more soldiers landed in Johnson county than there are people living there, so that the folly of resistance is told in a breath." "What are the prospects for an end to the present war?" "I'll swear I don't know; both sides aro reported to be very determined. If the cat. tie kings succeed in the fightit simply meuuS the sweeping of the alleged rustlers off tho face of the earth, and when a man or collection col-lection of men are fighting for their lives and their all it is a hard thing to tell when they will li a down." The visitor has reasons that are most ob. vious for keeping his name out of print, bui believes he has sized the war up correctly. |