The Saga of Bertha's Old, White-Faced Cow

In early 1929, the Three Circle Roundup near Birney was underway. The range included the Forest Reserve near Poker Jim, where the Brown Cattle Company (owners of the Three Circle) held a large grazing permit. Repping for several Otter Creek outfits on this particular roundup was Floyd "Hawk" Schaeffer. The sharp-eyed Schaeffer observed an old cow with a calf and the anticipated three circles of the Brown Cattle Company on her right side. She was a "real marker" - a cow with distinguishing characteristics making it easily recognizable. However, the TXT and V Lazy U brands on the left side caught his attention.

The TXT on the cow was old and branded when the cow was young. The VU and 3 Circle brands were relatively new. The presence of 3 Circle cattle with VU brands was not a cause of concern. The V Lazy U outfit, jointly owned by Henry "Bummie" Schubert and Ellsworth E. Lonabaugh, had recently sold several head of cattle to the Brown Cattle Company. Schaeffer knew the Charlie Thex family's TXT Brand and this particular cow. Most importantly, he knew Thex had not sold her.

Months earlier, Lyman Brewster of Birney's Quarter Circle U happened to be in Sheridan, Wyoming, when a group of prominent local cattlemen met at the law office of the previously mentioned E.E. Lonabaugh. Present at this meeting were Manville Kendrick, Alonzo Shreve, Adolph Yonkee, and others. "Reports of larcenies along the Montana-Wyoming border" had prompted the organizational discussions for a regional protective group. The organization felt they needed a Montanan, and Brewster's serendipitous presence in Sheridan led to his attendance. The protective association agreed to hire (with private financing) stock detective John Marsh, in addition to electing Lonabaugh as the organization's president. The new detective would need a Montana commission, and Brewster's connections in Helena would provide this. Brewster was a law school graduate previously serving as legal advisor to the Montana State Senate. His father (George Brewster) and step-father (Jack Arnold) served in the Montana Legislature. In his unpublished memoirs, Brewster recalled:

The question arose: Where was the place to start? No one of the Wyomingites having an answer. At long last, the question was put to me. My quick reply: Charity begins at home. Lonabaugh stiffened and looked sort of blank. Someone then said: "What do you mean?" I proceeded to identify four or five Lonabaugh deals that needed looking into, whereupon a motion was made and passed to do JUST THAT!

But Lonnie was too fast for Marsh. He went to the nearby feedlot, discovered the owners of other stolen animals (which I knew about), and paid for the cattle, thereby beating us to other prosecutions. Certainly, he knew just where to go first.

Ellsworth Eugene Lonabaugh was one of Sheridan's pioneers, arriving with his law practice in 1890. He was highly successful in law and business, becoming one of the area's most prominent financiers. Lonabaugh's cattle partnership with Henry Schubert was well established by 1928. Lonabaugh estimated that this venture had purchased over $200,000 worth of cattle in six years.

Lonabuagh provided the partnership's financial and reputational heft, while Schubert provided his cattle savvy. Henry Schubert, known as "Bummie," was a well-respected cow hand who had worked for virtually every outfit in southern Montana. In 1910, Schubert witnessed the George Mitchell-Ray Tarbell shooting while repping for the Spear Brothers and controversially provided conflicting testimony to that court. After a few years in partnership with Lonabaugh, he established a ranch along Four Mile Creek near Decker, not coincidentally along the Montana-Wyoming border.

In April 1927, Schubert-Lonabaugh's V Lazy U arranged to buy 250 yearlings (heifers and steers) and 50 two-year-old heifers from Charlie Thex. Thex supplied these cattle under several family brands, including his iconic "Thex," TXT, XIX, and MIX. Schubert and his crew branded the cattle at Thex's Otter Creek ranch, then drove them to Schubert's ranch with a stop-over at Birney's Quarter Circle U. Among those assisting Schubert in the drive were hands Henry Talbert and Alonzo Stroup. This was the first time Thex had sold cattle to Schubert.

Frank Schaeffer's discovery of an aged cow with Thex's TXT brand, with the Three Circle possessing a bill of sale from Schubert, seemingly exposed the VU as an origin for stolen cattle in the region. At the time of the discovery, any cow that could have originated from Schubert's purchase in 1927 should not have been over three years old. The cow in question was considerably older. The TXT was owned by Charlie Thex's wife, Bertha.

Since the organizational meeting in Sheridan, Lyman Brewster had joined an effort of law-enforcement officials for Rosebud, Big Horn, and Powder River Counties. Brewster had suspected Schubert and Lonabuagh's involvement but had been frustrated by their inability to obtain evidence. Schaeffer's discovery and Thex's willingness to pursue Schubert gave Montana law enforcement a prime opportunity.

In May 1929, Rosebud County district attorney F.F. Haynes had Schubert arrested for grand larceny. Considerable legal wrangling regarding the location of the theft eventually caused Schubert’s indictment to be moved to Powder River County, the site of Thex’s ranch. The case became one of the first significant legal cases in the newly formed County Seat of Broadus.

Lonabaugh’s reaction to Schubert’s arrest was immediate. He personally backed local efforts to get Schubert bailed out and lawyered up. Schubert pleaded not guilty at his arraignment, with Lonabaugh actively assisting the legal team with his own investigations. The Sheridan pioneer repeatedly expressed his disbelief that the charges had been filed. Shrewdly focusing on what he considered the prosecution’s biggest weakness, lack of evidence, with Lonabaugh suggesting that Schubert was the victim of a simple mistake or misunderstanding.

As part of the prosecution’s investigative team, Lyman Brewster knew they needed more evidence to get a conviction, especially with the influential Lonabaugh working so strenuously behind the scenes. A confession from one of Schubert’s associates could blow the lid off the whole case. Brewster recalled:

We scooped up the hired riders of the time, worked them over but came up with nothing. One of the Talbert’s however, had left the country for parts unknown. He might be of assistance, a very remote possibility, even if he could be located…

The Talberts had a married sister who knew nothing, or even suspicioned her brothers might be suspect. I went to her homestead home, visited on a general basis about nothing, then wondered where Harvey was, not suspicioning a thing, and replied that he was somewhere in California, possibly the Imperial Valley. I was off and runnin…

Brewster arranged for extradition papers, was deputized, and took the next train to California. Harvey Talbert was found working for the Imperial Valley Irrigation District. The newly deputized cattleman interviewed Talbert when the local sheriff brought him in.

I told him of our dilemma, of Schubert, and the old “ring-eyed” cow, and interestingly, remembered her as if it were yesterday. He said that after the cattle arrived at the Schubert Ranch, they set out to re-brand those stolen. When the big, old cow was downed, Bummy first barred the original TXT and remarked: “This belongs to the girl.” Thex’s own brand was Thex. The TXT covered the whole left side of the cow, and so vividly remembered by Talbert. Then he told me that this circumstance had always bothered, and that’s why he left the country in order to start “clean,” but that he would be glad to cooperate.

(Author’s note: in his memoirs written in the 1970s, Brewster recalls the cow as being “ring-eyed.” None of the contemporary descriptions of the cow refer to her as so, only as “white-faced.”)

Lonabaugh also had concerns about the possible cooperation of Harvey Talbert and began distancing himself from his partner. On May 8, 1929, he wrote Schubert’s missing hired hand:

Your mother says that you were working for Mr. Schubert at the time, May 1927, and I notice that your name appears on the complaint as a witness against Schubert and for Thex…I will be obliged if you will write me fully just what your recollection is on this matter and if you have made any statements against Schubert to Mr. Thex or any on on his behalf. I would like to know what it is, as I have no desire to continue in business with a man that does not shoot square, and if, in fact, Schubert did steal these cows, I would like to know it.

Allan McSweyn, who worked at the OW on Hanging Woman Creek, stated that Schubert admitted to him (while drinking) that:

At a time when Thex and his daughter had gone to the house for dinner, six head of cows came down the lane, and that he, Schubert, opened the gate and turned these cows into the bunch that he had bought. He also said that he had had a number of conversations with the Brewster boys and that two of his cows had been found on the west side of the Tongue River, without calves…

The legal maneuvering continued until the middle of 1931. Lonabuagh decided to appeal to Thex directly to drop the case. Thex declined to do so in his characteristic style:

I have never felt right over the losses I had. I would have thought far more of Bum if he had held me up with a gun. He betrayed my confidence in this matter. If I had not placed confidence in him I would not have sold to him…If I had any doubt as to Schubert’s guilt, I would have given him the benefit of the doubt. I had no ill feelings against him, and in fact I liked him, and you surely know that by my actions.

Henry Schubert suddenly changed course with Thex immovable and new evidence now piling up. He pleaded guilty to one charge of grand larceny without implicating Lonabaugh in the slightest. Bummie received a sentence of two and a half years at Deer Lodge. The old lawyer, for his part, assumed his new role as an unwitting accomplice and paid Thex for the missing cattle. E.E. Lonabaugh continued to practice law, investing in coal companies and other businesses near Sheridan. He died in 1938.

For his part, Lyman Brewster credited the “cow-sense” and “photographic memories” of Hawk Schaeffer and Harvey Talbot for breaking the Schubert case. Because of their recollections of Bertha’s old, white-faced cow, Schubert was in prison.