OUTLAWS-OF-THE-OLD-WEST-L Archives

From: "Mary Lou Hudson" <>
Subject: [OUTLAWS] Gaines Starmer 1892
Date: Mon, 2 Feb 2004 01:04:55 -0500

RETURNED
Gaines Starmer Did Not Bring Back the Body of His Brother
Who Was Killed While Fighting a Band of Horse Thieves
He Reports Thousands of Cattle Lying Dead on the Prairies
Source: The Daily Gazette, Thursday, May 12, 1892
Gaines Starmer, janitor at the court house, returned yesterday from his trip to Oklahoma. He was called to Orlando, Ok., over a week ago by the tragic death of a brother who was shot by a band of horse thieves who he with a number of other men tried to arrest. The body of the dead man was buried before Mr. Starmer arrived at Orlando. He had been killed far away from any settlement and it was nearly twenty-four hours before the body received any attention in the way of preparing it for burial. There is no embalmer in Orlando, and the murdered man's friends were unable to send the remains to this place for burial as at first intended.
United States marshals are still after the roaming horse thieves, but there is little likelihood of them being caught. Mr. Starmer says the officials in the territory do not exert themselves to catch desperadoes unless there is a big reward offered.
The horse thieve now operating in Oklahoma and the Indian strip, are well organized, and the band is composed of as desperate a number of dare devils as ever rode the plains. They know no law and will brook no restrictions of their movements. Every one of them is sworn to fight to the death when they engage in an encounter with the authorities. They well know if they are taken alive they will be shot to death or lynched. For that reason they will never surrender. They have among their numbers the best shots in the territory, and their system of firing is rapid and accurate, while they are skilled in protecting themselves by the bodies of their horses in the Indian style. Settlers haven't much show among these knights of the plains. The posses which go after them are usually farmers who are unused to the use of firearms, and in their unorganized condition they fall an easy prey to the bullets of the rangers. The thieves steal the best stock of the farmers and drive !
off with impunity. It is likely that this will continue until United States troops are ordered into the territory to make a grand round up of all lawless characters.
Mr. Starmer says that Oklahoma is settling up fast, and he saw many farms in the neighborhood of Guthrie and Orlando with much better improvements upon them than many Buchanan county farms that have been under cultivation for forty years. The growth of the new towns in Oklahoma is something wonderful, Mr. Starmer says. Guthrie is rapidly assuming metropolitan airs. New and substantial buildings are springing up on every hand; streets are being improved and business is booming in every branch. There are excellent prospects for crops this season, and the people of the new country are confident and happy.
Mr. Starmer brought home with him a pair of horns that had once adorned the proud head of a Texas steer. They are beauties, measuring 3 feet and 8 inches across from tip to tip, and both being formed exactly alike. Mr. Starmer will have them polished and mounted. His murdered brother secured these horns on the plains. Hundreds of cattle which are crippled in the cars while being shipped into the territory are thrown from the trains and killed and skinned. Roving bands of Indians take what meat they want and jerk it for future use.
Near Gutherie a large trench is now being dug to admit of the carcasses of hundreds of cattle which lie around on the ground dead. Stupid shippers lose more than they make by over-crowding stock cars. It is not unusual to find from one to half a dozen cattle either dead or so badly crippled that must be killed in the stock trains that daily arrive in the new country. There are excellent feeding grounds in the territory for cattle, and the country is covered with sheep herds already.

Note: This newspaper article submitted to Creekmore Cousins Family Newsletter by Lois Laird, Dighton, KS 1999.

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• [OUTLAWS] Gaines Starmer 1892 by "Mary Lou Hudson" <>