ooked more tolerantly on the shackles
of civilization in Medora in 1885 than they had in 1884. The
vigilantes' raid had undoubtedly chased the fear of God into the
hearts of the evil-doers.

Whatever can be said against the methods adopted by the
"stranglers" who came through here last fall [remarked the
_Bad Lands Cowboy_], it cannot but be acknowledged that the
result of their work has been very wholesome. Not a definite
case of horse-stealing from a cowman has been reported
since, and it seems as though a very thorough clean-up had
been made.

The ranch-owners, evidently, did not find the situation as
satisfactory as Packard found it, for in July the Little Missouri
River Stockmen's Association, of which Roosevelt was chairman,
determined to organize a posse to "clean up" the country north of the
railroad between the Missouri and the Little Missouri rivers.
Osterhaut, captain of the round-up, was appointed leader and half a
dozen ranchmen contributed a cowboy apiece. Roosevelt sent Sewall as
his representative.

The route was through about as wild and unsettled a portion
of the country as can be found now, so the people here say
[Sewall wrote his brother on his return], and the oldest
heads seemed to think thare might be some danger, but we saw
nothing worse than ourselves.

Once more, that August, Packard raised his voice in favor of the
organization of the county, but once more mysterious forces blocked
his efforts. Meanwhile, the Stockmen's Association was exerting a
stabilizing influence that was as quiet as it was profound. No one
talked about it, or thought much about it. But to evil-doers, it
loomed uncomfortably in the background. Sometime during the year 1885,
the Association voted to employ a stock inspector at Medora to examine
the brands of all cattle shipped thence to Chicago. This was a
distinct check to the thieves, and might have been checkmate, if the
Association had not seen fit to appoint to the position the same Joe
Morrill who as United States deputy marshal had already exhibited a
tenderness toward the lawbreakers which was almost if not altogether
criminal. What Roosevelt's attitude was to this appointment is not
known; but he was under no illusions in regard to Morrill.

Amid the tumult and excitement of life in Medora that summer of 1885,
the consolations of organized religion were more inaccessible even
than the services of