Distinctly Montana Magazine

1866 Cattleman's DIary, used to record important information Canyon cattle were double-counted. Modern rustlers resort to the rustling of cyber cattle, but cyber detectives stay on their trail. And although the dollar figures may be high in cyber crime, there is this to be said for doing things the old-fashioned way: You can't eat virtual beef. It's hard to bear a grudge against Sim Roberts, though he was undoubtedly a rustler. Around 1882, Cattleman John T. Murphy, suspecting Roberts of rustling, inserted silver coins just under the skin of some of his cattle. He planned to retrieve the coins before witnesses to prove ownership of the animals, but received a letter in the mail one day. Out fell a handful of dimes, and an anonymous note" "A big cattleman like you shouldn't be so careless with his money!" Some rustlers operated on an international scale, stealing Montana cattle and driving them across the border to Canada, then returning to Montana with stolen Canadian cattle. One such operation in 1896 was broken up when a mysterious stranger hired on at a ranch near some of this nefarious activity. A good worker, he was forgiven unexplained absences. Some might have suspected him of rustling, but the truth came out when he identified himself as Sgt. T. B. Kilgore of the Canadian Mounties and arrested a gang that had perpetrated the cross-border thefts. Stock detectives on both sides of the border worked to catch rustlers; they worked shipping points as far east as Chicago. These men had an almost encyclopedic knowledge of brands, as well as the skill to read brands, which were nearly illegible to other's eyes. Reading brands is complicated by the fact that the brand grows as the animal grows, becoming less clear than the compact mark put on a calf. Add to this the work of a skilled "rewrite man," and it's not surprising that an amateur may have trouble deciphering the marks and even a brand inspector may need to shave the hair around the brand to expose it cleanly. 78 Imagine you have been lucky enough to register a simple S brand. Clean and open, it makes a clear and easy to read mark. The rewrite man comes along with a running iron or a heated cinch ring held between two interwoven green sticks and suddenly your S has been turned into a - 8 - (Bar 8 Bar). The change can be detected when the animal is butchered, as the scar tissue on the inside of the hide will differ between the original brand and the change. Of course, killing a valuable member of the breeding herd to prove it is stolen isn't a perfect solution: "Yep! It was stolen all right. Now it's supper." These days a biopsy may provide less invasive proof. Even DNA testing can be applied. This is particularly useful in the case of the "rustling" of a prize bull's "potential" for AI (artificial insemination). That is an extreme case of bull borrowing. A simpler method employs a good pair of wire cutters between the neighbor's fine bulls and one's own cows. The bull is a co-conspirator in this crime. Cow borrowing takes more time. A good cow may be "borrowed" from another rancher for four or five years if the range is large and rough enough to provide concealment. Her calves receive the guilty rancher's brand, and the cow will mysteriously reappear on the owner's land when she ceases to be a useful breeder. Variations on the theme of cattle crime and punishment will probably continue as long as there are range cattle, rustlers, and livestock detectives, but whether changing a brand or hacking cattle transactions on a computer, it would be well to remember that romance of the Old West notwithstanding, it's not a good thing to be branded a thief. distinctly montana • winter 2014

• Cover