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The ranchers of Lincoln County were starting in business, and the temptation to increase one's herds by means of rope and running-iron a temptation which was always strong on the frontier was augmented among some by a wholesome regard for their own lives and property: better to give shelter to outlaws and buy stolen cows for a dollar or two a head, than to defend your own stock against an overwhelming force of dead shots.
The imprint of a hot iron on a hide made the creature the property of the brander, provided no one else had branded it before. The time of priority was matter of proof. With the handy "running-iron" or straight rod, which was always attached to his saddle when he rode out, could not the cow thief erase a former brand and put over it one of his own?
Texas as early as the '60's and '70's passed laws forbidding the use of the running-iron altogether, so that after that it was not safe to be caught riding the range with a straight iron under the saddle flap. Any man so discovered had to do some quick explaining.
Here he "raised his family," as the old expression has it, and, his sons grew up, Finn, Ike, and Billy. Those were wild days, and the two last-named boys became more proficient with rope, running-iron, and forty-five revolver than they ever did with their school-books. In time they were known as rustlers and in the lawless town of Charleston by the San Pedro River they fell in with Curly Bill.
At any rate, cattle owners began to take notice of their cows as the prices went up, and they had laws made to protect property rapidly enhancing in value. Cow owners were required to have fixed or stencil-irons, and were forbidden to trace a pattern with a straight iron or "running-iron." Each ranch must have its own iron or stencil.
In them days there was a good many sleepers an' mavericks on the range. I expect we used a running-iron right smart when we wasn't sure whose calf it was." He was trying to put the best face on the story. June could see that, and her heart hardened toward him. She ignored the hungry appeal for mercy in his eyes. "You mean you stole cattle. Is that it?"
The rustler might brand with his own straight running-iron, as it were, writing over again the brand he wished to change; but this was clumsy and apt to be detected, for the new wound would slough and look suspicious.
During that strife the herds of the southwest were neglected to such an extent that thousands of cattle grew to maturity without ear-mark or brand to identify their owner. A good mount of horses, a rope and a running-iron in the hands of a capable man, were better than capital.
They gave him the branding outfit to carry, a running-iron and a little pot with charcoal and bellows; and with these he followed the riders at a convenient distance and leisurely pace. Some days they branded one hundred cattle. By October they had August Naab's crudely fashioned cross on thousands of cows and steers.
But Jane couldn't mend a broken heart, and Milly died." For moments Lassiter did not speak, or turn his head. "The man!" he exclaimed, presently, in husky accents. "I haven't the slightest idea who the Mormon was," replied Venters; "nor has any Gentile in Cottonwoods." "Does Jane Withersteen know?" "Yes. But a red-hot running-iron couldn't burn that name out of her!"
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