The Anti Horse Thief Association was an important citizen-based crime fighting outfit in the Old West. It got its start in the late 1850s, battling marauders and bandits in Kansas. It spread to many states and territories over the next 60 years and included a national constitution and bylaws. They denied being vigilantes.
By 1906, the AHTA counted more than 30,000 members, who believed membership helped prevent theft of livestock and more. Numbers began dropping after the Old West days,

True West March/April 2025
In This Issue:
Western Books & Movies
More In This Issue
- Truth Be Known
- What Has Taught Me: Deb Goodrich
- Earp, Cowboy Songs & Prairie Hygiene
- Trails of the Old West
- The Frontier Characters of South Dakota
- The Bowie Knife
- The Kindled Flame 1835
- King of the Scatterguns
- Selling the Mythic West and the Real West
- A Gut Punch Turns into a Miracle Reprieve
- The Beginnings of the Bird Cage
- Frontier Colossus