ovided no one else had branded it before. The
time of priority was matter of proof. With the handy "running-iron" or
straight rod, which was always attached to his saddle when he rode out,
could not the cow thief erase a former brand and put over it one of his
own? Could he not, for instance, change a U into an O, or a V into a
diamond, or a half-circle into a circle? Could he not, moreover, kill
and skin an animal and sell the beef as his own? Between him and the
owner was only this little mark. Between him and changing this mark was
nothing but his moral principles. The range was very wide. Hardly a
figure would show on that unwinking horizon all day long. And what was a
heifer here and there?"

Such was the temptation and opportunity which led many a man to step
over the line between right and wrong. Their excuse lies in the fact
that the line was newly drawn and that it was often vague and inexact.
It was easy, from killing or rebranding an occasional cow, to see the
profits of larger operation. The faithful cowboys who cared for these
herds and protected them even with their lives in the interest of absent
owners began in time to tire of working on a salary, and settled down
into little ranches of their own, starting with a herd of cattle
lawfully purchased and branded. An occasional maverick came across their
range and they branded it. A brand was faint and not legible, and they
put their own iron over it. They learned that pyrography with a hot
poker was very profitable. The rest was easy. The first step was the one
that counted; but who could tell where that first step was taken?

At any rate, cattle owners began to take notice of their cows as the
prices went up, and they had laws made to protect property rapidly
enhancing in value. Cow owners were required to have fixed or
stencil-irons, and were forbidden to trace a pattern with a straight
iron or "running-iron." Each ranch must have its own iron or stencil.
Texas as early as the '60's and '70's passed laws forbidding the use of
the running-iron altogether, so that after that it was not safe to be
caught riding the range with a straight iron under the saddle flap. Any
man so discovered had to do some quick explaining.

The next step after this was the organization of the cattle associations
in the several territories and states which made the home of the cattle
trade. These associations banded together in a national association.
Detectives were placed at th