- Term
cattle rustling
- Broader Term
cattle trade
- Remarks
Cattle rustling was a crime endemic in the West. In an economic system where cattle were a significant, and mobile, investment, criminals frequently tried to steal other people's livestock. Cattle could be actively stolen, lured away from their ranches, or caught as strays. The main obstacle to rustling was the system of branding, whereby a rancher could prove that a given animal belonged to him. Rustlers developed a number of ways to get around the branding system. If possible, they would steal young calves before they were branded. If a particular animal had already been branded, a so-called overbrand would be used. To overbrand, a rustler would officially register a brand that incorporated another rancher's brand. (For example, the 8 could overbrand the S, or the 7 H L could overbrand the H L.) Then, after stealing that rancher's livestock, they could display the (legally) registered overbrand on the cattle to authorities. Running brands, which were branding irons that were used like a pen to draw the brand on, could also be used to overbrand or alter existing brands. Rustling was considered a serious crime, and many rustlers were shot on sight by ranchers, rather than turning them over to the proper authorities. Occasionally, merely being caught with a running iron on one's person was considered enough evidence for an open-range execution. If they did receive a trial and were exonerated, angry crowds sometimes lynched suspected rustlers anyway. Rustling is still practiced today, with tranqulizer guns, cargo trucks, and other modern equipment. In 1993 alone, the Texas Department of Public Safety recovered 4,000 head of rustled cattle.
- See Also