Horsemen Offer Reward for Caught Thieves
A sophisticated gang operating in Whitman County forces local stockmen to put up a $250 bounty for the recovery of stolen property.
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Horse thieves have become so bold and smooth in their work in Whitman County that horsemen in their desperation are offering large sums as rewards for the arrest and conviction of members of one of the smoothest gangs to ever operate in the eastern part of the state. C. A. Mansfield, a member of the firm of Mansfield Brothers, horse dealers and breeders of Endicott, was in Walla Walla yesterday getting out notices offering a reward of $250 for the arrest and conviction of any person or persons having stolen horses in their possession bearing the brand of Mansfield Brothers. 'The gang operating at present in Whitman county is the smoothest the authorities have had to deal with in years,' Mr. Mansfield said. 'We will average about one head a month, but as our animals are worth anywhere from $200 to $300 a head our annual loss soon amounts to a startling figure.'
“The men who make up the gang are no ordinary criminals but seem to be shrewd, sagacious men.”
While horse rustling is no longer the threat it was, the loss of agricultural assets and the helplessness of ranchers against organized, multi-county criminal rings continues to be a concern in rural Washington.
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