Wrong Side of the Law Read Online Free Page A

iron, an illegal tool used to alter the brands on livestock.
    Apparently Dutch passed himself off as a legitimate stockman, while at the same time operating as a rustler with an assortment of shady characters. Among them was a former NWMP constable named Frank Carlyle. Carlyle had given up his scarlet tunic for an outlaw’s duster. He would wind up dead at the bottom of a coulee, gunned down by a criminal colleague.
    Thanks to the vast stretches of wide-open country and a sparse population, the outlaws could carry on their trade almost with impunity. It helped, too, that the rustlers’ victims were often reluctant to go to the police (or sheriff) out of fear of reprisal. Like the gangsters of a later day, the rustlers knew that a threat could go a long way in keeping memories blank and lips sealed. When a rancher named Frank King complained to the police about the outlaws, the gang kidnapped him and kept him in their camp for two weeks. He was blindfolded most of the time and subjected to rough treatment. When the outlaws finally let King go, they warned him to stay away from the police posts. King left for parts unknown.
    James Marshall, a former Mountie, was another rancher whose life was made miserable by the rustlers. His stock had been shot and run off and on at least one occasion the desperadoes had lain in ambush for him. Marshall wouldn’t be frightened off as King had been, but he never left his house without his rifle and even slept with it close at hand.
    It would be impossible to say how many horses and cattle Dutch Henry stole or how much money he made during his criminal career. The profits must have been substantial, because stealing, driving, and disposing of rustled livestock involved a certain amount of hard work — something most outlaws hated with a vengeance. Had the returns not been worth the effort, they’d have drifted into other enterprises — like robbing banks and trains.
    Dutch Henry and his gang got away with their depredations until the summer of 1904, when Dutch ran into a Canadian rancher who was not too timid to report a robbery to the Mounted Police. In 1903 Paschal Bonneau of Willow Bunch, in what is now Saskatchewan, entered into negotiations with R.E. Hamilton of Lewiston, Montana, for the purchase of 230 horses. Bonneau hired Dutch Henry to drive the herd from Montana to his ranch at Willow Bunch. Bonneau had heard rumours that Dutch was involved with rustlers, but Dutch also had a reputation as a top-notch cowboy who could be relied upon. He decided to trust Dutch with the horses. Bonneau went to Montreal for the winter, expecting that when he returned in the spring, the horses would be at his ranch.
    Instead of taking the horses to Canada, Dutch and a partner named Frank Jones, leader of one of the worst of the rustler gangs, tried to sell off the horses in Montana. But Hamilton’s brand was well known, and nobody would buy the animals. Early in 1904, Dutch and Jones had a hundred of the horses taken across the border, paying the duty on them at the police post at Wood Mountain. The horses were taken to Moose Jaw and advertised as being for sale. The outlaws’ agents for this business were Edward Shufelt, John Sally, and Sally’s wife. They had a bill of sale “proving” they had bought the horses from Dutch Henry.
    Paschal Bonneau was still in Montreal when he got word of a crooked deal involving his horses. He was soon on a train to Moose Jaw, where he took legal action against Shufelt and the Sallys. However, he couldn’t find anyone willing to testify against Dutch Henry, so great was people’s fear of the outlaw. Meanwhile it was discovered that Shufelt had a long criminal record, was known to have killed at least one man in Montana, and was wanted on a variety of charges. He was sentenced to five years and died in prison.
    The honest ranchers in the area came to Bonneau’s support. His stand against the rustlers was a dangerous one, but everyone knew that sooner or