Horse Stealing
HORSE STEALING
HORSE STEALING, often punishable as a crime against property, was significant throughout American history. Widely practiced by Ohio Valley Indians and banditti alike against eighteenth-century western settlers, it was difficult to trace and punish. Further west and southwest, populations were even more dependent on horses than the easterners. The culture of the Plains Indians was a horse culture; they raided horses from Mexico, from one another, and from settlers. Here, horse thieves were severely punished and, without benefit of trial by jury, were often hanged from the limbs of cottonwood trees. Following the Civil War, gangs of organized horse thieves operated out of Texas, using hideouts for stolen horses and selling them after driving them hundreds of miles from home.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Dobie, J. Frank. The Flavor of Texas. Austin, Tex.: Jenkins, 1975.
Howard, Robert W. Horse in America. Chicago: Follett, 1965.
J. FrankDobie/h. r. s.
See alsoFencing and Fencing Laws ; Horse .