I love research. Story
ideas, setting, even characters can come from one of those tidbits I discover
when I fall down the rabbit hole of research.
The other day I was
reading an article by Dennis Adler in Guns of the Old West magazine. The article
talked about a revolver that is engraved with more than 50 cattle brands. A
line in the article mentioned stock detectives, men who were employed by
ranchers to sort out an “discussions” that came up about which cattle belonged
to which rancher.
I’ve never heard of a
stock detective. So, of course, I started digging through cattlemen’s
association articles, the Anti Horse-Thief Association website (that’s another
blog, right there), books and some Oklahoma history publications. Fascinating
stuff.
When the problem of cattle
rustling grew bigger than a town’s law could handle, ranchers often hired their
own enforcers. Retired lawmen, like Retired Special Texas Ranger Augustus
Judson Votaw, became livestock inspectors. They had to recognize the dozens of
brands at a glance and ensure the men in possession of the stock were actually
the legal owners.
I can already imagine a
hero whose job was to ride into danger with nothing but his wits and weapons,
can’t you?
Until next time,
Tracy
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TGarrett_Author
Hi Tracy: I enjoyed your article. I've had many similar experiences of finding something not too well-known and putting it in one of my books. I never read about stock detectives, but it sure would make a great occupation for a hero. Research distracts me from writing, and it's hard to know when to call it a day. Your cover for Under a Western Sky is terrific. Love the dog! Best wishes.
ReplyDeleteDiane, I could spend hours in unrelated research. Not all bad since it's part of writing historicals. And, I agree, Livia Washburn-Reasoner did a gorgeous cover for this collection. Thanks for stopping by!
DeleteStock detectives play a big role in Wyoming History - Tom Horn and the Johnson County War are probably the two most famous stock dectective stories from our state. Many Wyoming Stock Detectives made their connections at the famous Cheyenne Cattleman's Club, made famous in the movie the Cheyenne Social Club.
ReplyDeleteI caught on to Tom Horn, Neil. And thanks for the next "rabbit hole"--Cheyenne Cattleman's Club.
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ReplyDeleteTwo Dot Books just released "Calling the Brands: Stock Detectives in the Wild West" by a good buddy of mine (and a fine writer/historian), Monty McCord. I highly recommend it. Info. at https://bit.ly/2KVutf6
ReplyDeleteMonty's book is an excellent resource. It came up when I started searching for the article. Thanks for dropping by.
DeleteAgain, a most interesting piece of history. Thank you so much. Now time for another rabbit hole. LOL Doris
ReplyDeleteI'll meet you at the Mad Hatter's tea party, Doris.
DeleteTracy,
ReplyDeleteAnother resource for a tidbit of history about cattle/stock detectives is in "The Gunfighters" volume of the Time Life series 'The Old West'. Here's a snippet from the chapter 'Frontier justice, vigilante style': "...Often, range-roaming gunfighters were recruited by stockmen's associations and given such bland titles as 'cattle detectives' or 'stock inspectors'. When rustlers were spotted making off with cattle, the gunmen would arrive in a body, suddenly pounce on and dispose of the culprits, then as suddenly disperse. In most cases, they went unidentified, and even when caught they could usually depend on the protection of their employers to elude the law's grasp..."
That's a great excerpt, Kaye. Thanks!
DeleteA useful book for research I recently found was "The Cypress and Other Writings of a German Pioneer in Texas" by Hermann Steel,1979, University of Texas Press. It covers mainly the 1840s.
ReplyDelete