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Ghost Town
In NorthernColorado
LongsPeak 
PioneerClimbers
Outlaws
In EarlyColorado
Skiing
SteamboatSprings
 
CattleKate
Victim ofFrontierJustice
Fossil Treasure
 At thePawneeButtes
Remember the CCC
Roosevelt’sProgram inthe 1930s
EstatePlanning:Gift Taxes
 V 
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The Senior
February 2009
Local Attractions • Scenic Places • History • Money • Health • News
 
2• February 2009 • The Senior Voice
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The Senior Voice • February 2009 • 3
 Published Locally Since 1980
 VOL. 29, NO. 3
 Advertising: Lambdin@frii.comEditorial: thevoice@frii.com Website: www.theseniorvoice.net
PUBLICATION INFORMATION
The Senior Voice 
newspaper has beenpublished locally the first of each monthsince 1980 for residents age 50-plus.
 ADVERTISING
 Ad deadline is 20th of month.For rates, call 970-229-9204;or see www.theseniorvoice.net.
 Wolfgang Lambdin Advertising Director  Associate Publisher Fort Collins(970) 229-9204Lambdin@frii.com
SALES OFFICES:
Ft. Collins and Greeley (970) 229-9204Loveland and Estes Park (970) 482-8344
EDITORIAL DEADLINE
 Announcements and stories must bereceived by the 10th of the month.; ads by the 20th of the month.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
The Senior Voice 
 welcomes readers' lettersand contributions. Enclose a self-addressedenvelope and return postage to:
The Senior Voice 
, 1471 Front Nine Drive, Fort Collins,CO 80525, or email thevoice@frii.com.
The Senior Voice 
assumes no responsibility fordamaged or lost material submitted by readers.
© Copyright 2009
The Senior Voice 
EDITORIAL OFFICE:
1471 Front Nine DriveFort Collins, CO 80525(970) 223-9271email thevoice@frii.com www.theseniorvoice.net
No material may be reproduced by any means without permission of the publisher.
Dr. William Lambdin, Publisher 
By Peggy Hunt 
W
hen a group of Wyomingranchers hanged “Cattle Kate” in1889, they said she was a worn-outRawlins prostitute who stole their cattle.In fact, Ellen Watson was aneducated, 27-year-old woman tryingto make a living on a small homesteadwest of Casper along the OregonTrail. Her name was not Kate, saidresearcher George Hufsmith andothers. A reporter deliberatelyconfused Ellen Watson’s name with aprostitute called Kate Maxwell, whichis why Ellen mistakenly came to becalled Cattle Kate.The ranchers also hanged Ellen’sfiance, James Averell. The reason: Thebig cattle outfits didn’t want home-steaders on free grazing lands; so theycharged Ellen and James with rustling.James had written several letters tolocal newspapers protesting the actionsof big ranchers, who controlled thestockgrowers’ association and would notallow him to register his cattle brand.On July 20, 1889, six ranchersrode up to Ellen’s house and forcedher into a wagon. They then drove toa nearby store that James owned and,at gun point, forced him to join them.Some cowboys who worked forEllen and James tried to follow butwere turned back. One, however,witnessed at least part of the incidentfrom a distance.There were no large trees in thearea; so the ranchers tied ropes to ascrub pine next to an embankment andforced Ellen and James to jump off the edge.It was a drop of only a few feet.People later figured that Ellen andJames probably did not break theirnecks but strangled slowly.One man who worked for Jamesrode to Casper and told the sheriff whatwas happening. It took the sheriff nearly three days to arrive at the deso-late place where Ellen and James stillswung from the ropes.Some wondered why it took thesheriff so long to arrive. Otherswondered about newspaper stories thatexcused the action of the ranchers andgave suspicious reports of the incident.One newspaper said:“The female...exhausted a blasphe-mous vocabulary upon the
Ella Watson was wrongly called Cattle Kate and wrongly hanged for rustling. Wyoming History Museum.
visitors...When preparations for theshort trip to the scaffold were made,she called for her own horse andvaulted to its back from the ground...“Ropes were hung from the limbof a big cottonwood tree...It isdoubtful if any attempt will be madeto punish the lynchers. They acted inself protection...”That and other reports containedmany distortions. There was no largecottonwood tree, no scaffold, Ellendidn’t have her horse with her, and itseems preposterous that she wouldhave “vaulted to its back from theground” just before being hanged.The men who killed Ellen and herhusband were never punished. By thetime a trial was held, anyone whomight testify had mysteriously disap-peared.Most of Wyoming’s early settlerswere decent people, but not the bunchthat hanged Ellen Watson.________________
COVER PICTURE: A young womanin native American dress. Courtesy of the Cheyenne Visitors’ Bureau. Seecheyenne.org for other photos and visitor information.
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The Story of ‘Cattle Kate’
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