Maverick Bill

By the late 1880s, cattle rustling and lack of convictions by law authorities had grown to the point that large cattle outfits began hiring stock detectives, lynching alleged rustlers, and ramming odious legislation through the Wyoming legislature. In 1884 the Wyoming Stock Growers Association pushed through legislation called the Maverick Law. It stated that mavericks could only be sold at auction to WSGS members. The WSGA further stipulated that cattle belonging to outfits with “rustlers’ brands and… stray brands for which there are no known owners” would be confiscated and auctioned as mavericks. It went on to blacklist any cowboys who had the nerve to run their own cattle, barring them from the WSGA roundup. If a nonmember cowboy branded a single maverick, he was labeled a rustler.