by E. S. Sutton

In this pioneer country in the 1880s and 1890s, law breaking such as lying, stealing and killing was a common thing. The settlers lost cattle, horses, fuel or anything that was badly needed for everyday living. The cattlemen wanted to run the settlers out, and keep this big range for cattle. A vigilante committee was organized, made up of settlers on the South Fork in Kansas. Whenever a settler lost a cow or a horse to the thieves, this group banded together to help him find and recover his property. Very often they knew who the thieves were but could not prove it.

On one occasion one of Jim Gorthy’s homesteader friends lost seven head of cattle, all he had. He and the members of the vigilance committee came over to Jim’s place. The rest of the story is quoted in Jim’s own words as told to his daughter, Anna (Gorthy) Benge. She wrote his life story while he was still living.

“Cattle rustling had gotten so bad that the farmers and homesteaders decided it must stop. Everyone knew who the thieves were, but it was impossible to prove anything because the sheriff and his deputy were in on it too. One evening I heard some horses coming along. It did not pay to take a chance so I moved my gun to a handy place. Then I saw it was some of my homesteader friends. One of them called out, ‘Jim, someone stole my seven head of cattle and they are all I have. What do you say—come along with us and we’ll find out what those two Irish Mickys know.’ The boys elected me the spokesman. They were fairly sure where the cattle went and who stole them.

“Mike O’Laughlin and Mike Sweeney lived in a dugout that was called Horse Thief Cave. (The remains of this cave can still be seen several miles south of Parks.) If you didn’t see the stove pipe sticking out of the ground you would never know there was such a place there. It was a pretty good-sized dugout. The two Mikes expected their neighbors to let their horses and cattle run the range, but they never trusted their own out of their sight. They kept their horses stabled in the dugout. 

“Well, we rode over there. Members of the committee surrounded the cave. Alfred Buell and I walked up to the door, but we didn’t stand in front of it. We knew better than that. We knocked and kept well to the sides of the door. Mike Sweeney answered and asked who we were and what we wanted. I told him I was Jim Gorthy, and I wanted to talk to O’Laughlin. He said that Mike had gone to the river and he didn’t know when he’d be back. I told him there was a gang of us around the shack, and I knew that O’Laughlin was in there, and we’d tear the place to pieces to get him. At that I heard a click of a Winchester and knew that O’Laughlin’s gun was loaded and that he would be coming out. I gave the sign to Buell and both of us were ready. When Mike threw open the door and started out Buell knocked the rifle upward and as O’Laughlin stuck the gun barrel out ahead of him he shot into the air. At the same time I grabbed Mike around the waist and out he came. We told him about the stolen cattle and that we wanted to get them back. He denied knowing anything about them. Before Mike realized what was happening the boys had a rope around his neck. They had rigged up a wagon tongue, and had put a rope through the eye of the tongue, and had a rope around his neck. He wasn’t a bit scared and not a bit excited. He refused to talk and it looked for awhile until we tightened the rope and gave it a jerk, as though we would be forced to have a necktie party. 

“Finally, Mike said, ‘I will talk to Jim Gorthy but I won’t talk before any of you. If you will let me walk over the hill yonder, I’ll tell him.’ We figured there was something crooked ahead, but O’Laughlin was not armed, and we were all armed with our guns loaded and would shoot in case he started something. I went over the hill with him. He studied and thought for quite a spell before he finally told me we would find the cattle north of here on Indian Creek. He knew we meant business and would shoot or string him up if he was lying. Two men went to the place Mike described but it was too late. The cattle had been moved on and we never did find them. We did find one cow but she was so footsore that she could not travel. This showed that the cattle had been pushed to the limit and had been abused.

“Mike O’Laughlin decided that it was getting too warm for him. He and Black Minor pulled out for Dakota, but Mike took a neighbor’s team with him. He was brought back to Benkelman but escaped. I never heard of O’Laughlin again.”

~Dundy County Heritage. Dundy County Extension Council, Pruett Press, Boulder, Colorado, Pp 487, 488, 489

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