Front:
$500RE-WARD
FOR CATTLE THEIVES
JUST HELP US CATCH THEM
WE WONT HAVE NO TRIAL
WILLS RANCH-
THE CATTLE RUSTLER
by Oren Arnold
The sign means exactly what it says! If you know Western
tradition at all, you can guess what happens to the "theives"
brought in. This sign was posted in the Southwest-no, not in
1879, but in 1939-and within a year the reward was paid six
times! Moreover, there was no trial! Note the bullet holes.
Next to Indians, rustlers were the greatest enemies faced by
cowboys in the Olden Days. A rustler would steal one or a dozen
steers, re-burn them with his own brand and claim them for his
own. Often he would drive off hundreds of cattle in one herd, to
change their brands or sell them miles away. Many a gun fight,
many a death, resulted from the war with rustlers.
In modern times, most rustling is "rubber
tired." Thieves with trucks stop by the road-
side, load on several fat steers,
speed away to butcher them for a
black market. Such thieves are hard
STORIETTES RD
ES
"$500 RE- A
to catch, wherefore
WARD, and no trial!"
DRAMATIC TRUE STORIES
Treat West
No. 4
©L. S. co.
3B-H1683
Back:
COPYRIGHTED BY LOLLESGARD SPECIALTY CO., TUCSON, ARIZONA
650
