Lovell's trouble that they naturally strengthened each other. The
highest tribunal of justice in Ogalalla was the county court, the
judge of which also ran the stock-yards during the shipping
season, and was banker for two monte games at the Lone Star
saloon. He enjoyed the reputation of being an honest, fearless
jurist, and supported by a growing civic pride, his decisions
gave satisfaction. A sense of crude equity governed his rulings,
and as one of the citizens remarked, "Whatever the judge said,
went." It should be remembered that this was in '84, but had a
similar trouble occurred five years earlier, it is likely that
Judge Colt would have figured in the preliminaries, and the
coroner might have been called on to impanel a jury. But the
rudiments of civilization were sweeping westward, and Ogalalla
was nerved to the importance of the occasion; for that very
afternoon a hearing was to be given for the possession of two
herds of cattle, valued at over a quarter-million dollars.

The representatives of The Western Supply Company were quartered
in the largest hotel in town, but seldom appeared on the streets.
They had employed a firm of local attorneys, consisting of an old
and a young man, both of whom evidently believed in the justice
of their client's cause. All the cattle-hands in Lovell's employ
were anxious to get a glimpse of Tolleston, many of them
patronizing the bar and table of the same hostelry, but their
efforts were futile until the hour arrived for the hearing. They
probably have a new court-house in Ogalalla now, but at the date
of this chronicle the building which served as a temple of
justice was poorly proportioned, its height being entirely out of
relation to its width. It was a two-story affair, the lower floor
being used for county offices, the upper one as the court-room. A