Cattle Brands | Page 3

broken country. Very few minutes elapsed
before every man who could find a horse was joining the posse that was
forming to pursue them. Before they were out of sight the posse had
started after them. They were well mounted and as determined a set of
men as were ever called upon to meet a similar emergency. They had
the decided advantage of the robbers, as their horses were fresh, and the
men knew every foot of the country.
"The broken country to which the hold-ups headed was a delusion as
far as safety was concerned. They were never for a moment out of sight
of the pursuers, and this broken country ended in a deep coulee. When
the posse saw them enter this they knew that their capture was only a
matter of time. Nature seemed against the robbers, for as they entered
the coulee their horses bogged down in a springy rivulet, and they were
so hard pressed that they hastily dismounted, and sought shelter in
some shrubbery that grew about. The pursuing party, now swollen to
quite a number, had spread out and by this time surrounded the men.
They were seen to take shelter in a clump of wild plum brush, and the
posse closed in on them. Seeing the numbers against them, they came
out on demand and surrendered. Neither the posse nor themselves knew
at this time that the shooting in the bank had killed the cashier. Less
than an hour's time had elapsed between the shooting and the capture.
When the posse reached town on their return, they learned of the death
of the cashier, and the identity of the prisoners was soon established by
citizens who knew the marshal and his deputy. The latter admitted their
identity.
"That afternoon they were photographed, and later in the day were
given a chance to write to any friends to whom they wished to say
good-by. The cow-puncher was the only one who availed himself of the

opportunity. He wrote to his parents. He was the only one of the trio
who had the nerve to write, and seemed the only one who realized the
enormity of his crime, and that he would never see the sun of another
day.
"As darkness settled over the town, the mob assembled. There was no
demonstration. The men were taken quietly out and hanged. At the
final moment there was a remarkable variety of nerve shown. The
marshal and deputy were limp, unable to stand on their feet. With
piteous appeals and tears they pleaded for mercy, something they
themselves had never shown their own victims. The boy who had that
day written his parents his last letter met his fate with Indian stoicism.
He cursed the crouching figures of his pardners for enticing him into
this crime, and begged them not to die like curs, but to meet bravely the
fate which he admitted they all deserved. Several of the men in the mob
came forward and shook hands with him, and with no appeal to man or
his Maker, he was swung into the great Unknown at the end of a rope.
Such nerve is seldom met in life, and those that are supposed to have it,
when they come face to face with their end, are found lacking that
quality. It is a common anomaly in life that the bad man with his record
often shows the white feather when he meets his fate at the hands of an
outraged community."
We all took a friendly liking to the cattle-buyer. He was an interesting
talker. While he was a city man, he mixed with us with a certain
freedom and abandon that was easy and natural. We all regretted it the
next day when he and the old man left us.
"I've heard my father tell about those Cherokees," said Port Cole.
"They used to live in Georgia, those Indians. They must have been
honest people, for my father told us boys at home, that once in the old
State while the Cherokees lived there, his father hired one of their tribe
to guide him over the mountains. There was a pass through the
mountains that was used and known only to these Indians. It would
take six weeks to go and come, and to attend to the business in view.
My father was a small boy at the time, and says that his father hired the
guide for the entire trip for forty dollars in gold. One condition was that
the money was to be paid in advance. The morning was set for the start,
and my grandfather took my father along on the trip.
"Before starting from the Indian's cabin my grandfather took out his

purse and paid the Indian four ten-dollar gold pieces. The