September 2018 38 Finally, as Wister watched in horror, Tisdale took a stick and proceeded to gouge out one of the horse's eyes. The sickened Wister chose to stay the night at the Tisdale ranch, but the sight of the poor horse being tortured burned within his memory. He described the incident in the "Balaam and Pedro" chapter of "The Virginian" over the strenuous objections of his old friend Theodore Roosevelt who too was appalled by the cruelty and wished not to see it in print. There was even a tipping point in the lives of both Wister and Roosevelt, himself a former gentleman rancher who himself had battled and chased down rustlers in his Dakota ranching days. Both Wister and Roosevelt may have been patrician. They may have also had a soft spot for fellow Harvard graduates as some of the WSGA leaders like Teschemacher were. But Roosevelt could also identify with the common man, the Cowboys who worked for him. His very own moral compass had set a limit in going so far as to side with men who cared so little for both animal and human life, men whom they both knew to be brutal. It was no secret that Tisdale's brother John N. was a leader of the WSGA and no secret that the brothers had marked both Nate Champion and John A. Tisdale for destruction. No secret too, that their instrument in the deaths of these two Texans would be that WSGA Range Detective named Frank Canton who as noted had some bad blood with his old Texas neighbor John A. Tisdale, and who didn't care much for Nathan D. Champion either. On the afternoon of December 13, 1891, John A. Tisdale left Buffalo, heading back to his ranch with a wagon load of Christmas presents for his wife and his children plus two dogs a local merchant who had befriended him had given him. He got to a ditch a few miles outside of town and got no further, for it was here a rider fired a fatal shot into the doomed man, splashing blood all over the Christmas presents and leaving Tisdale slumped down across the presents he had bought for his family. When the older dog howled in anger and tried to follow the shooter, he shot him dead as well. The rider rode onward, thinking he had not been seen or recognized but his horse was. Enter a middle-aged Cowboy by the name of Charlie Basch. Only five months earlier Basch had been riding about a dozen miles south of Buffalo when he witnessed a team of runaway horses dragging an unconscious woman and her terrified child away. He quickly rode forward, seized the reins of the horses, and recognizing the woman as Frank Canton's wife, carried her back to the Canton ranch where Frank Canton had just arrived home. The distraught Canton urged Basch to ride into town on his horse, "Old Fred" and bring back a doctor. Basch was able to do so, Mrs. Canton survived, and Frank Canton was extremely grateful. How grateful he was would soon be evident when the not-so-unknown rider sitting on "Old Fred" overlooking the blood- soaked wagon containing the dead John A. Tisdale saw Basch riding nearby and knowing Basch had recognized "Old Fred" had chosen to spare the life of Basch. After this rider rode off Basch and other riders would discover Tisdale's body, the body of the slain dog and the blood-soaked presents he had hoped to bring home to his children. By the beginning of the new year of 1892, the Cowboys and the homesteader residents of Buffalo were totally riled up and openly hostile towards the WSGA. Nathan B. Champion, fresh from the assassination attempt on his own life and angered over the cold deliberate murder of his friend Tisdale, finally chose to accept the mantle of leadership once held by the slain Jim Averell. He had actually told Tisdale (shortly before Tisdale's own murder) in the presence of his family "There's going to be trouble. If it comes to fighting, I can fight, but I can't lead a fight." But after his friend was murdered, Champion did just that. He began to speak out openly and clearly against the WSGA and against the same Frank Canton he had known as Joe Horner back in Texas. The small ranchers and the homesteaders, including Buffalo Sheriff Red Angus admired Champion and would soon join him in speaking out against the outrages perpetrated by the ranching syndicate and their hired gunfighters. Maybe more importantly, the local press, which once shamefully sided with the WSGA had turned on them. The editor of Cheyenne's "Northwestern Livestock Journal,"Asa S. Mercer was particularly critical of the Cattleman's Association. Thus, an entire community which once was in fear of the ham-fisted WSGA leadership and their hired Range Detectives had finally had enough. The murder of a quiet rancher, a neighbor, a friend bringing home presents for his family brought home to them the arrogance, brutality, and avarice of the WSGA as the Averell-Watson lynching’s never did. Champion may have physically resembled Christopher Walken, the actor who portrayed him in "Heaven's Gate" and perhaps too he like Averell had been was much more outspoken than the quiet, soft-spoken "Shane" character as portrayed by Alan Ladd. But he did have that same quality of quiet courage as demonstrated by that fictional hero whom his life would somewhat be based upon. The WSGA alarmed and in panic, would now choose the extreme. They claimed they would begin arresting, on the charges of rustling, any of the small ranch owners and homesteaders who were openly speaking out against them. But in secrecy, the WSGA board, headed by former Union Army Major Frank Wolcott a known bully, had chosen not to arrest the troublemakers but to exterminate 70 of the ranchers and settlers, including Nate Champion and Sheriff Angus, who were openly opposing them. Knowing that they could not depend on the Cowboys who worked for them, many of whom were in sympathy with the small ranch owners and were sickened by the brutal murder of Tisdale, Wolcott, Teschemacher, and Irvine with the assistance of the sinister Canton hired 25 Texas gunmen, many of whom Canton knew personally. They also invited several reporters to "cover" their extermination party. On the afternoon of April 5, 1892, these men with murder in their hearts would board a train in Cheyenne. They were joined by 25 local WSGA cronies who would augment their ranks, alight in Casper, then ride up to Buffalo shooting down the errant ranchers and burning down their homes along the way until they had gunned down all 70 of the By Alan Rockman continued on page 41 The Range War That Inspired Two Classic (And Beloved) Western Novels And Movies - And One Turkey Movie, Part 2 The seeds of this range war were planted in “The Big Die- Up” of 1886-1887 where over 320 ranchers, their families, and entire herds of thousands of cattle were wiped out by the extreme frost, exposure, lack of fodder, and the non-stop blizzards. There was no real or true estimate of the losses but cattle barons and stockmen throughout Montana and Wyoming lost between 50 and 90 percent of their cattle herds. Alan Ladd, Shane, 1953