A goodly number of the cattlemen quietly departed for a change of air, while others repaired to their respective places of domicile. One general manager, who had been in the north for years, remarked that he was “heading straight for Brooklyn, and that once safely over the bridge he would stay on that side of the East River. He had had all the business he wanted with a lot of duffers who had no more sense than to shoulder their guns and fight like demons for their jim crow farms in a country that was not worth a d----n, only for cattle grazing.” He has kept his word. January 21st, 1893, when the case of the State of Wyoming vs. the Invaders was called, nearly all of the cattlemen responded, but the hired men failed to appear. Alvin Bennett, prosecuting attorney for Johnson County, offered a motion to enter a nolle prosque, to which the attorneys for the defense entered an objection. After discussion the court accepted the motion and the prisoners were discharged. A similar motion was made covering the cases of the hired Texans, who had not appeared, and an order of discharge was entered in the court records, also one rescinding the order of forfeiture of bail bonds previously entered. This action was severely criticized by many as unwarranted and outrageous, but the public finally settled down to the common opinion that the ring had so many obstructions of one kind and another to spring that justice was not likely to be meted out in the event of a long and expensive suit, and perhaps it was as well to end the farce without further cost to Johnson County settlers. It presented one object lesson that would in the end result in good to the state by arousing a sentiment among the masses in opposition to corporation rule that in future would prevent similar disgraces. CHAPTER XV. THE WYOMING STOCK GROWERS’ ASSOCIATION, THROUGH ITS OFFICERS ENDORSES THE INVASION April 4th, 1893, the Wyoming Stock Growers’ Association met in annual session at the court house in the city of Cheyenne. John Clay, Jr., of Chicago, President of the Association, was in the chair, and according to the report of the committee on credentials, there were 99 members in good standing. Mr. Clay delivered quite a lengthy address immediately after calling the meeting to order, and after alluding to the general situation of the cattle industry and talking about bad markets, etc., etc., he said: “Not content with the imposition of financial and climatic troubles another burden had to be added to our lot. After a long period of forbearance and patience from range depredations, both petty and wholesale, the trouble culminated a year ago and the so-called invasion of Johnson County took place, which ended unfortunately and gave rise to an almost interminable amount of bad blood, politically and socially.”