Baron and the Bullets

Burk Burnett was a cattleman who got his hands dirty.

Burk Burnett was a cattle baron of the old school, controlling hundreds of thousands of acres in Texas around the turn of the 20^th century. He dabbled in other business ventures and was friends with Will Rogers and President Theodore Roosevelt.  But when it came to cattle, Burnett was hands on.

On June 7, 1879, Burnett confronted a man who’d been rustling from his herd.  The thief went for his gun; Burnett was faster, putting four bullets into the miscreant.  A brief trial was held before Burk Burnett was acquitted in the case.