Just ran into this on another list. Intriguing. Did Greene County have such an organization? http://www.oklahombres.org/ahta.htm The Anti-Horse Thief Association by Bob L. Blackburn .......The AHTA, which eventually boasted more than 5,000 members in Oklahoma, began before the Civil War in Missouri. The founder was David McKee, a pioneer who had migrated from Illinois to Iowa, then to the gold fields in California, and finally to the hills of Missouri. As a farmer and blacksmith, McKee accumulated property on his Missouri farmstead, but his security was threatened by bandits who descended on farms to steal stock and escape into the rugged hill country. In 1854 McKee moved against the lawlessness by organizing a secret vigilance committee, which he dubbed the The Anti-Horse Thief Association. Declaring that his organization differed from lawless vigilantes who too quickly resorted to lynch law, McKee stated that his organization's purpose was "not to hang thieves, but to prevent criminality". The association's written intention was that "when a person or persons have been arrested and handed over to them charged with theft, they shall investigate the case and if they hand them over to the civil law, attending personally and with the assistance and influence of the society to their legal prosecution." The The Anti-Horse Thief Association prospered in the Missouri hills which produced bandits such as the James and Younger brothers. By 1885 there were 184 sub-orders with 4,973 members, which expanded to 7,055 by 1890. This phenomenal growth extended beyond the borders of Missouri. In 1893 law-minded citizens in Cleveland County established the first sub-order of the The Anti-Horse Thief Association in Oklahoma Territory. The organization spread quickly.