ATTEMPTS TO MUZZLE THE PRESS
A few weeks after the arrival of the invaders at Fort Russell it was
determined by them and their friends to regulate, or muzzle the press
of the state. It had been claimed that all of “the best citizens”
approved the raid with its red-handed murders. There were some
newspapers, however, that dissented from this view, and that did not
hesitate to call murder and arson by their proper names. To be held
up to public gaze as guilty of cold-blooded murder did not suit the
sensitive natures of the men who had merely killed two of their fellow
citizens in one day and burned the body of one of them while they sat
around the camp fire meal and joked about the incense that rose from
the burning pile. This sort of talk must be stopped.
Colonel E. H. Kimball was editing a paper at Douglas, Wyoming, and
he dipped his pen in gall each week when speaking of the outrages
committed by this gang of outlaws. He printed their names in full and
told just what crimes they had committed. He must be destroyed and
the power of his press overcome. So a dozen or more of them filed
informations against him for criminal libel. One of the charges was
made by George W. Baxter, of Cheyenne, general manager of the Western
Union Beef Company. Upon this a warrant was issued and Colonel Kimball
was kidnaped and brought to Cheyenne, where he was lodged in jail. He
was held for 30 days before he could give bonds, the law requiring
bondsmen to be residents of the county where the accused is in prison.
This had the effect of temporarily stopping the issue of the paper, as
Colonel Kimball was a poor man and could not hire the work done while
he remained in jail. The case never came to trial.
The editor of the Northwestern Live Stock Journal offered to sign the
bonds of Colonel Kimball, and as a reward his paper was boycotted
by the cattlemen in any way connected with the raid. Later four of
them entered his office one day and made a personal attack upon him,
undoubtedly with murder in their hearts. But their designs were
frustrated and the editor still lives.
The next attempt to regulate the tone of the press was made by this
same man Baxter on the Cheyenne Daily Leader, because it dared to
condemn the work of the assassins. He owned a few shares of the Leader
stock and began an action for the appointment of a receiver so as to
get control of the columns and shut off the truth about the invasion
and its supporters. The trial was long and expensive, but finally
resulted in a withdrawal of the complaint. These efforts at destroying
the press were so barren of success that it was concluded to make no
further attempts in that direction.