Oct 11: Stock Thieves

On October 11, 1889, a north Idaho newspaper (the Idaho County Free Press in Grangeville or the Lewiston Morning Tribune) printed a report from the Salmon River area: “Armed with warrants, Frank Wyatt, John Hadorn, Wm. Shuck, Louis Sutton, and Fred Williamson rounded up three cattle thieves in Wallowa County and caught them red-handed with 45 head of beef cattle they had stolen from the Salmon-Snake divide. One of the party confessed to having stolen 44 head earlier in the summer, most of which he sold in Walla Walla.”

As an indication of the severity of this problem, earlier that same year the Idaho County Stock Growers' Association began offering a $100 reward for the arrest and conviction of cattle and horse thieves.

References: M. Alfreda Elsensohn, Eugene F. Hoy (ed.), Pioneer Days in Idaho County, Caxton Printers, Caldwell, Idaho (1951).