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Cattle Drive Heroes and Trail Bosses

Print Olive: From Texas Roundups to the Nebraska Range and a Violent End

Print Olive turned wild Texas cattle into a fortune, led a Nebraska stockmen's group, and lost it all to violence, lawsuits and a bad market.

Who Was Print Olive?

Isom Prentice Olive, called Print, was one of the most feared cattlemen of the post-Civil War range. He started as a Williamson County, Texas, roundup boss with three brothers, built herds large enough to be counted among the biggest in his Nebraska county, and ended up shot dead in a Colorado saloon at 46.

The documentation on his life is thinner than for most cattle barons, so this profile sticks to what one detailed account, a Texas Escapes feature, states directly and adds context from other pages we could verify. Where dates are unclear, we say so.

Early Life in Williamson County, Texas

The Texas Escapes account says Olive was a baby when his family moved from Mississippi to Williamson County in 1843 by covered wagon. That detail does not match the 1840 birth year commonly listed for him, which is why his birth date is best treated as approximate. He fought for the Confederacy in the Civil War.

After the war he and his three brothers managed a large roundup of wild cattle in Williamson County. According to the account, they quickly built a fortune from it. No herd sizes are given, so any specific head count attached to the Olives should be treated with caution.

Trouble in Texas and the Move to Nebraska

Violence followed the family. Thomas Olive died in a gunfight, and Bob Olive was shot by a local rancher. Print himself faced two murder indictments in Texas and was found innocent both times.

He moved to Colorado, but his reputation came with him and local ranchers forced him out. In 1878 he settled in Custer County, Nebraska. Tax records from 1879 listed the Olive family among the county's largest ranching operations, which shows how quickly the outfit had rebuilt after leaving Texas.

The Custer County Livestock Association

Olive helped found the Custer County Livestock Association to deal with cattle rustling and was elected its president. Stockmen's associations of this kind were common on the open range, where ranchers shared roundups and pooled money to police theft.

Open-range markets were also unforgiving. The Ike Pryor entry on Wikipedia shows the pattern: in 1885 a Texas market crash pushed Pryor to move 20,000 cattle to Colorado, and most died in the Big Die-Up. Olive's fortune met the same slump, though his bigger losses came from the courts.

Why Is Olive Called the Man Burner?

Olive fought with neighboring ranchers in Nebraska, and the cause of the feud is unclear in the account. Bob Olive attacked one of the ranchers and was killed in a gunfight, and the men who killed him were found not guilty.

Olive later organized a lynch mob that hanged two men and burned their bodies. He was never proven to have done it, but the act earned him the nickname Man Burner. A manslaughter charge against him failed when witnesses did not appear.

What Made It Work, and What Broke It

The Olive outfit rose on a few documented habits, and fell on the costs of its reputation. The account says his fortune reportedly went to legal fees and bribes, and what remained was lost in the 1880s beef market slump.

This entry is marked thin because the record is mostly one narrative source. It is included so the hall tells the cost of the trail as well as the glory.

  • Work the wild herd. After the war, the brothers gathered unbranded Williamson County cattle and sold them for cash.
  • Join the association. Olive helped start the Custer County Livestock Association and led it as president.
  • Scale in a new county. By 1879 the family appeared among the largest ranching operations in Custer County tax records.
  • Know the limit of violence. Murder indictments, feuds and lynching charges consumed his money and made enemies.
  • Watch the market. The 1880s beef market slump finished what legal costs had started.

Death and Legacy

Olive returned to Colorado and was shot dead in the Haynes Saloon in Trail City by Joe Sparrow. He was 46. The Texas Escapes feature frames his life as the path from successful cattleman to man burner, and that arc is how he is remembered in Nebraska and Texas range history.

For more cattle history, see the ranching section on farm.FM, or read a farm.FM story about Nebraska cattle country.

Timeline

  1. c. 1840Born, by most listings
  2. 1843Family moves to Williamson County, Texas
  3. 1861-65Fights for the Confederacy
  4. After 1865Runs large roundups of wild cattle with his brothers
  5. 1878Settles in Custer County, Nebraska
  6. 1879Olive family listed among the county's largest ranchers
  7. 1886Shot dead in Trail City, Colorado

Frequently asked questions

Who was Print Olive?

Isom Prentice Olive was a Texas-born cattleman who built herds in Williamson County, Texas, then in Custer County, Nebraska, and led the county livestock association before his violent death in 1886.

Why was Print Olive called the Man Burner?

A lynch mob he organized hanged two men and burned their bodies. He was never proven to have done it, but the nickname stuck. A manslaughter charge failed when witnesses did not appear.

How did Print Olive die?

He was shot dead in the Haynes Saloon in Trail City, Colorado, by Joe Sparrow at age 46, after his fortune had been spent on legal costs and lost in the 1880s beef slump.

Sources and further reading

Profiles are compiled from public sources and reviewed against them. See our editorial policy to suggest a correction.

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