Niobrara Reads: The Banditti of the Plains with Nancy Tabb

Plan now to participate in Niobrara Reads featuring The Banditti of the Plains, or, The Cattlemen’s Invasion of Wyoming in 1892 by A. S. Mercer this winter.

Books can be picked up at the library in January. After you read it, pass it on to another Niobrara County resident.

In 1894, when A. S. Mercer published this angry eyewitness account of the cattlemen’s invasion of Wyoming, the book was so thoroughly and ruthlessly suppressed that few copies of that edition remain today. Historians have questioned some of Mercer’s conclusions about the Johnson County range war, but they have never controverted the facts of the cattlemen-homesteader struggle as he grimly reported them. With the intention of “executing” alleged rustlers and terrorizing the homesteaders, a band of fifty-two cattlemen and hired gunmen invaded Johnson County, Wyoming, in April 1892. After besieging and killing “the bravest man in Johnson County,” the raiders in turn found themselves besieged by the homesteaders and finally in the protective custody of the United States cavalry.

Nancy Tabb, Local History Librarian at the Johnson County Library will speak on Wednesday, March 18 at 6 p.m. and Historian Rick Kaan will share his research on Wednesday, April 15 at 6 p.m.

Nancy Tabb is the Local History Librarian at the Johnson County Library in Buffalo, WY, a job which has opened up the world of history for her.

Since Nancy’s initial deep dive into Johnson County and Wyoming History in 2016 and much to her surprise, she has developed into a speaker, author, editor, archivist, oral history gatherer, and a local historian/consultant for documentaries. She is currently president of the Johnson County Historical Society and serves on the Executive Board of the Wyoming Historical Society. Nancy along with two volunteers whom she refers to as her “angels” have recently published six local history memoir books that tell first person stories found in the archives of the Johnson County Library. And it appears that Dolly Fraley, Jonette Goraj and Nancy always have one more book up their sleeves, so we will see what is next.

Nancy doesn’t take much of the credit for her success because she knows Who is in control and because “our Wyoming history is just plain fascinating!” Nancy believes and declares that anything that ever happens in a western movie happened in Johnson County first. Her job is so much fun because she truly enjoys researching history and then telling the stories she learns via any media she can. Nancy credits her Nama and her daddy for sharing their storytelling skills and their sense of humor with her. She always appreciates her husband, Dr. Tabb, and their three grown children for being her first listeners and she looks forward to sharing the stories with their grandchildren.