WYOMING, LAW-GIVER OF ARID REGION 



defend the expedition as the only possible means of end- 

 ing an intolerable condition in the State. The writer 

 has taken pains to gather testimony years after the 

 event, when angry passions had wholly passed away, and 

 found excellent evidence of the fact that those who were 

 selected for extermination at the hands of the " invad- 

 ers " were actually cattle - thieves ; that it was clearly 

 impossible either to end the evil or to stop its growth by 

 appeal to the courts; and that farmers who settled in 

 good faith were never molested by the large stock in- 

 terests. 



However, the political control of Wyoming speedily 

 changed hands as the result of this dramatic episode. 

 The party in power at the time of the event was voted 

 into retirement, and the party which denounced the 

 " invasion" as a savage and unmanly attempt to make 

 widows and orphans of the wives and children of those 

 who honestly sought homes in the public domain was 

 installed in the Capitol at Cheyenne. The probable 

 truth of the matter is that wealthy cattlemen had a real 

 grievance which they could not adjust peacefully with- 

 out years of patient waiting. They felt perfectly justi- 

 fied in their consciences in resorting to violence. They 

 believed the result would be favorable to the prosperity 

 and good name of the State. This actually proved to be 

 the case, but in a very different way from what they had 

 anticipated. It drew attention in a startling manner to 

 certain evils inseparable from the open range and put 

 these evils on the road to ultimate settlement through 

 Congressional action. It broke the power of what was 

 doubtless justly known as "The Cattle Ring" in State 

 politics. It gave an impulse to better forms of dcvelop- 



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