The old west was chock-full of cowboys and irate townspeople delivering vigilante justice to horse thieves with hemp rope over the limb of a tree. However, the early years of Kansas Territory were filled with the practice of foraging from the land. Both jayhawkers and bushwhackers lived by foraging and stealing horses became a regular activity.

Stealing horses had infected all of Kansas Territory no less than a raging epidemic. The following examples from the papers of 1859 offer a snapshot of the harrowing conditions.

At Palermo, Kan., John Stairwalt discovered that his matched team of horses had been stolen the night of May 26, 1859. He quickly gave chase and was able to capture two thieves who were turned over to the Doniphan County sheriff. According to the report in the June 18 Kansas Herald of Freedom, an angry mob “took the prisoners out of the Sheriff ’s hands,” and found them guilty before a “people’s jury.” To save their lives, the two thieves confessed that they were working with a gang of desperadoes out of St. Joseph, Mo. The punishment was set at 50 lashes each “and as they exposed their confederates, they were given leave of absence as soon as the number of stripes had been inflicted.”

Bands of horse thieves roamed throughout the territory. The July 2, 1859, Elwood Free Press reported that vigilance committees had recently organized in nearly every county in Kansas Territory.

Two men showed up at Atchison wanting to sell their horses. They claimed they were returning from Pikes Peak having failed to find gold. They were offering to sell at a very low price so as to get enough money to get home. However, a Mr. Gilliss of Leavenworth recognized the horses, having himself been in pursuit of the thieves. They were believed to be connected to “an extensive band of horse thieves.” The editor continued, “Horses are stolen from some place in the Territory every night.”

The July 23, 1859, Lawrence Herald of Freedom carried a reference from the Topeka Tribune lamenting, “There seems to be renewed activity amongst the horse-stealing gentry. Why will not our people adopt the California practice of swinging the scamps?” The editor of the Herald of Freedom challenged the call for “Lynch Law” in dealing with horse thieves “who have perhaps been led into their loose ideas of mine and thine by border- ruffian or jay-hawking associations.” It was a certainty that horse thieves were “a class for whom neither the gods nor men seem to have charity.”

Charity certainly was not carrying the day.

The White Cloud Kansas Chief of Aug. 11, 1859, reported on horse thief excitement at Iowa Point, Kansas Territory (southeast of White Cloud along the Missouri River). A man by the name of Woods was captured with several horses that had been stolen near Highland, Kansas Territory. He was taken to Iowa Point on Saturday, Aug. 6, and held in a room. After dark a mob rushed into the room, put out the lights, and cried, “Hang him!” Woods fought back with a knife and slashed several men before the attempt was given up.

People crowded into Iowa Point from every direction the following Monday. A meeting was held. Speeches were made. Finally it was decided to let him have his day in court. A constable escorted the prisoner to Highland for trial where Woods exposed a number of his accomplices. The Kansas Chief editor wrote “the day is past, when men are to be hung up indiscriminately, without hearing or trial.”

The “day,” was not yet past. On Aug. 13, 1859, the Kansas Herald of Freedom published that three men came to Leavenworth in the later part of July with a warrant for the suspected horse thief identified as Pendergrast. The warrant had been issued from Delaware City, located on a beautiful rise east of Lansing overlooking the Missouri River. Deputy Marshal Simkins complied with the warrant and handed Pendergrast over to them. A few days later Pendergrast’s body was found on the shore of the Missouri River.

The Aug. 13, 1859, Herald of Freedom related that, “According to the Leavenworth Times, lynch law is being secretly administered in that county by “Regulators’.”

And from the Leavenworth Herald, “A Vigilance Committee has been organized at Atchison, to regulate horse-thieves, and have hung one already.” The report added that a vigilance committee at Elwood was attacked by a gang of horse thieves wounding several in the committee. Kansas was not just bleeding over the issue of slavery. A state of war with horse thieves existed in nearly every community in the territory.

At Lawrence, “Regulators” began a sweep of suspected horse thieves. The Sept. 15 Lawrence Western Home Journal reported several nights early in September, of “terrific cries for mercy,” answered with “Pull the rope! Pull the rope!” Not willing to wait for darkness one man was hung in broad daylight in front of a flock of gathering witnesses. For better or worse, politely tying one end of a rope around the necks of lawbreakers, and the other end around the trunk of a tree had become the preferred remedy to eliminate territorial horse thieves on The Way West.

“The Cowboy,” Jim Gray can be reached at 220 21st RD, Geneseo, KS Phone (785) 531-2058 or kansascowboy@kans. com.