Wild West – June 2019

JUNE 2019 WILD WEST 67

nently,” the Two Bar foreman recalled. “He would

contact a man whom he knew from the Pinkerton

Detective Agency, a man that could be relied on

to do the job, and no questions asked.”

Bernard also attended a follow-up meeting of the

committee at Haley’s offices in downtown Denver.

He related the gathering for Willis:

Haley sent for me to meet him in Denver. I met him

there. Haley told me that Wiff Wilson and Charley

Ayers [sic] were in Denver and had given him a tip

on Browns Park conditions. Wilson and Ayers were

prominent business and cattlemen of Baggs, Wyo-

ming. They each had ranches on upper Snake River

and were old-timers in the range country of Routt

County. A meeting was scheduled for 9 o’clock that

evening at Hayley’s office. We went to dinner and

returned to the office an hour or so later. Wiff Wil-

son, Charley Ayers and John Coble came in. Coble

was a man of affairs from Wyoming who had ex-

tensive range interests north of Cheyenne, and he

had been invited to attend the conference. The busi-

ness at hand got under way immediately, with Wil-

son and Ayers bringing up the subject of range in

Browns Park. They condemned the place as an out-

law hangout and a threat to the Haley interests. Both

men stated what they knew about the reputation

of the park and Wilson from personal experience,

giving detailed information regarding his losses, he

attributed to the thieves of Browns Park and named

Matt Rash and Jim McKnight as individuals whom

he knew were cattle rustlers....I accepted their word

at face value. If the [false] information regard-

ing Wilson’s experience in Browns Park had been

passed on to me at the time, as it was four years later,

the entire affair might have been quite the reverse

of what it was.

Bernard reflected on the cattlemen’s consent to

hire Horn:

Horn was not at the meeting [in Haley’s Denver

office], and Coble, acting for him, said that Horn

was to be paid $500 for every known cattle thief he

killed. Haley was to put up one-half of the money,

and Wilson and Ayers one-half. Wilson and Ayers

agreed to handle the financial transaction with

Horn. Haley nodded consent to the agreement, but

he did not commit himself in words. He instructed

me to furnish Horn with accommodations and sad-

dle horses at the Two Bar ranches. After the meeting

was over, and Haley and I were by ourselves, he

said to me: “Neither you nor I can afford to lay our-

selves open to this man Horn. I do not want him on

my payroll to kick back and collect money from me in a much more simple way

than killing men for it.”

Soon after the arrival in Browns Park of the stranger calling himself James

Hicks, a small herd of cattle went missing. Bernard recounted the episode:

Horn went to Browns Park. Soon after our Denver meeting a bunch of 28 head of

well-bred heifers branded V D, belonging to a man at Baggs, Wyoming, on upper

Snake River, were missing. Horn reported that he had followed the tracks of a small

bunch of cattle from Snake River, by way of Powder Wash, to Limestone Moun-

tain, east of Beaver Basin. Wiff Wilson and I went back with Horn and were shown

parts of the cattle trail. The cattle had been driven by two horsemen. They had

camped and night-herded in a small canyon. Wilson and I did not go all the way

to Beaver Basin. Horn’s statements had been verified so far, and we instructed him

to make an effort to locate the cattle. Horn reported back to the committee that

he had found butchered hides bearing the V D brand. One of the hides was found

at Jim McKnight’s summer cow camp at Summit Springs, and one at Matt Rash’s

N S camp. Both places were at Beaver Basin....Horn brought the pieces of cow-

hide for Wilson, Ayers and me to examine. We wet and stretched the hides and

found the V D brand on each piece. That looked like the boldest, most outrageous

cattle-rustling job I had ever seen or heard of. Acting for the general welfare of

all range users adjacent to Browns Park, the appointed committee gave Horn

the go-ahead signal and cautioned him to be sure he got the guilty men only.

Hi There

Hiram Henry “Hi”

Bernard, at far left,

managed ranches

and to keep some

dark secrets in his

time, which ran out

on Jan. 31, 1924.

Bassett Ranch

Their Browns Park spread

was a gathering place for

ranchers as well as outlaws.

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