Cattle raiding is the theft of live cattle, typically several or many head at once rather than a single animal, and carries different regional names and lore depending on where it occurs. In Australia the practice is generally called duffing, with the offender known as a duffer, though in parts of the country, especially Queensland, it goes by the separate term poddy-dodging, with the perpetrator called a poddy-dodger. In North America, particularly within Western cowboy culture, the same underlying offense is known as rustling and its perpetrator as a rustler, a term that became one of the defining crimes of the American frontier.
Facts
Partially Attested
Typical PenaltyOn the American frontier, sometimes vigilante hanging or shooting 1 Only frontier vigilante punishment is described in the source; no statutory penalty was found Classification
Offense GradeSerious or Indictable Offense 1 Notable ExampleJohnson County War of 1892 in Wyoming, driven by conflict over alleged rustling 1 Connections
Sources
1. Cattle raiding (Wikipedia)
Notable examples, Johnson County War
Conflict over alleged rustling was a major issue in the Johnson County War of 1892 in Wyoming.
American frontier
In the American frontier, rustling was considered a serious offense and in some cases resulted in vigilantes hanging or shooting the thieves.
In Group: Banditry, Raiding and Highway Robbery, Lead sentence
Cattle raiding is the act of stealing live cattle, often several or many at once.
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