1001 Stories From the Old West

Show Notes – A Cowboy Detective, Chapter XI: “The Bill Blank Cattle Case & A Christmas on the L X Ranch”

In this episode: Charlie Siringo takes us deep into one of his most colorful and dangerous investigations — the Bill Blank cattle‑stealing case — and then into one of the wildest Christmas celebrations ever recorded on a Texas ranch. Chapter XI is pure Old West: fraud, frontier justice, hard riding, hard drinking, and a brush with death on a desert where water is life.

The Bill Blank Cattle Mystery

Siringo opens with a case involving a legendary cattleman he calls Bill Blank, a man “foxy enough to out‑fox a fox” and rumored to have “nine lives like a cat.” Blank had borrowed money from Kansas City brokers to buy steers, marking them by cutting the tip off one horn. When the brokers tried to reclaim their cattle, almost all had vanished.

Siringo is sent to unravel the mystery — a trail that leads from Denver to Amarillo, across the Comanche Reservation, and deep into the tangled world of frontier cattle deals.

A Christmas Morning in Amarillo

Arriving in Amarillo at 3 a.m. during a blizzard, Siringo wanders into Jack Ryan’s saloon and finds old friends passed out on the floor. One of them — Burkley Howe — recognizes Siringo’s voice before even opening his eyes. Siringo reflects on Howe’s tragic decline from educated young cowboy to “a total wreck… from that greatest of all evils, liquor.”

Moments later, Siringo is swept into a Christmas celebration with ranch manager John Hollicott — dancing, drinking, and storytelling until dawn.

Christmas Dinner at the L X Ranch

Hollicott’s coachman drives Siringo through a ten‑below‑zero blizzard to the L X Ranch, where Siringo once worked decades earlier. He reunites with old cowboys, meets the Lee family, and sits down to a feast at the same table where he once ate with Billy the Kid.

The chapter captures the warmth, camaraderie, and nostalgia of ranch life — and the ever‑present jug of whiskey that fuels the celebration.

A Near‑Fatal Ride Across the Desert

After leaving the ranch, Siringo mounts Glen Alpine Jr., a magnificent horse descended from famous racing stock. Days later, crossing a 90‑mile stretch of desert without water, the horse suddenly explodes into a bucking fit, breaks free, and disappears into the dusk — leaving Siringo stranded.

His tongue swelling, his canteen nearly empty, Siringo chases the horse through the darkness until he finally spots a “dark object” and hears a loud snort. He approaches slowly, whistling tunes, speaking softly, and finally grabs the broken bridle rein — writing:

“I felt just like I did when the soldiers arrived in Wallace, Idaho — like shouting hurrah for America.”

He survives the night, reaches water at dawn, and rides into White Oaks, New Mexico, where he reunites with old friends and solves a local robbery case before continuing his investigation.

The Truth Behind the Cattle Swindle

Siringo eventually uncovers the scheme: Blank and a partner, Capt. Dash, bought two herds from the same ranch, marked the horns differently, then spent the summer secretly altering the horn tips so Blank’s cattle appeared to belong to Dash. When the brokers came to collect, the cattle were gone — “transferred” by horn‑cutting.

Siringo calls it a theft “many Texans would have patted Bill Blank on the back for,” a perfect example of frontier cunning.

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