Fred Sturgis, in the last letter Ted had received from him, had also
mentioned this gang of thieves and desperadoes, whose operations
extended from Canada, into which they made extensive raids when the
Canadian Mounted Police happened to be out of that part of the country,
as far south as the central portion of Montana.
"I have had considerable trouble with the Whipple gang myself," Sturgis
wrote, "but as yet I have never seen but one member of the gang to know
it. I have had plenty of cattle stolen, and have always attributed the
thefts to the Whipples. All I know about the gang is that it was founded
by a fellow named Whipple, an outlaw on the scout, who attracted to
himself a desperate gang of fugitives from justice who had taken refuge
in the Sweet Grass Mountains.
"I have never seen Whipple himself, but from those who claim to know him
he is described as an enormous man of prodigious strength, and a perfect
brute, who has forced his men into absolute subjection by his acts of
brutality toward them.
"With Whipple are a number of bad Indians, who have fled from the
various reservations in Montana after having committed all sorts of
crimes, from theft to murder. It is said that these are more to be
feared than the white men, for they are terribly cruel, and when they
get a victim he is tortured with all the horrible rites of the true
savage.
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