Print rode to a bluff overlooking the homestead, saw for himself the tall and fenced corn, and was convinced that this foothold on Clear Creek would encourage a flood of settlers, render the ‘Olive Line’ meaningless, and perhaps ever again make it impossible to fix a boundary between homesteading and cattle operations in the central Platte country.
Bob immediately argued for ‘six-shooter’ action. He wanted to make an example of the Mitchell and Ketchum operations, so that settlers would know that when they entered Custer County they might just as well ‘prepare to meet their god.’ Years later, when the Burlington Northern built their line into Custer County and across the Clear Creek Valley, the conductor called out to his passengers as they crossed the county line, “Prepare to meet your god.” True story. Convinced that the foothold must be destroyed, Print set Bob to the task. Realizing that the crop could not be consumed in one nighttime attack, Bob assembled a herd of several hundred head in a nearby draw. As darkness provided cover on the night of the attack, wire cutters opened the gates and the longhorns flowed in. By morning, not a stalk of corn stood knee high.
Ami Ketchum, who was as volatile as Bob ‘Stevens’ Olive, stood in disbelief at the destroyed crop. “If that’s the way the Olives want to play, all I can say is it’s a game two can play.” Over the next few days, a plan was devised that would replace the crop that was to have gotten them through the winter. He and Luther would hunt several head of ‘slow elk,’ Olive steers grazing in the nearby canyons. They would butcher them by night, load them in a wagon and haul them into Kearney. The first such ‘elk hunt’ took place in August. Ami found an eager market in Gebhardt’s Butcher Shop in Kearney and returned with a net of $15. The plan continued unhindered for the next few weeks, Ami returning from his weekend ‘hunting’ trips with a load of supplies and a few dollars in cash.
Print’s suspicions were aroused when his sources indicated that Ketchum and Mitchell showed no signs that they were leaving, and work continued on their building projects. New materials continued to arrive, and new fences were being built. Bob Olive had taken a break and gone back to Texas to visit his parents, and upon his return to Kearney by train, he passed a pen of cattle and, curios, he looked more closely. There were seventy head of Olive cattle. Bob approached the Sheriff, Dave ‘Cap” Anderson, and together they tracked down the ‘Owner,’ a packinghouse buyer who was staying at the hotel. He produced a ‘release’ from the Olive brothers signed by Print Olive. Knowing his brother always signed as I.P. Olive, they two examined the ‘bill of sale.’
Anderson acknowledged, “We know who’s responsible. It’s Ketchum and Mitchell for sure. Print came through here a few days ago with his suspicions, and he asked me to prepare a warrant for Ketchum’s arrest. How about this? I appoint you as my deputy. You deputize a few men good with a gun, and you go bring Ketchum in.”
Radical Winds ~ by Steve Buttress, posted by Chuck Peek