Almost every county in the state reported fence-cutting crimes. In Nueces County, the Caller reported that James McBride’s fence, five miles from town, was cut in a number of places and said “the perpetrators of this malicious act should be caught and punished.” In Victoria, a pasture fence a few blocks from the courthouse was cut. In Live Oak County, wire-cutting saboteurs destroyed a fence then dug a grave and left a rope dangling in it with a note — “This will be your end if you rebuild this fence.” Near Castroville, a farmer found a note on his fence, punctuated with a bullet hole — “If you don’t make gates, we will make them for you.”
In Coleman County, in west central Texas, night-riding fence-cutters destroyed a man’s fence then left an empty coffin on his porch. He turned it into a water trough and rebuilt his fence. One rancher, longing for an end to the conflict, said he wished “the man who invented barbed wire had it wound around him in a ball and the ball rolled into hell.”
The crisis was made worse by a drought in 1883. Water holes dried up and some cattlemen and sheepmen found fences standing between their thirsty livestock and water. The fences were cut.
Gov. John Ireland called the Legislature into special session in January 1884 to deal with the crisis. Laws were passed making fence-cutting a felony; it was a crime to carry fence-cutters in a saddlebag. It was a jailing offense to be caught at night with a pair of nippers. With these new laws, the Texas Rangers began to gain the upper hand. |
