Search the Encyclopedia Mavericana:   ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

Hogan, Horace

Henchman of Rufus Elgree in King City,[1] Kansas,[2] in 1872.[1] (August 16, 1820 – February 27, 1885)[2]

Hired by Rufus Elgree to handle the “dirty work” for the Great Western Railroad and any other task Elgree needed.[1]

In 1869,[2] Elgree ordered[1] Hogan to organize[2] a mob to fight farmers east of King City who had raised a right-of-way dispute with the Great Western. Many of the farmers were injured and some even killed, but Elgree won the dispute.[1]

In September of 1872, Elgree ordered Hogan to undercut Brasada Spur’s shipping rates by 20%. While Elgree traveled to Chicago to meet with “Blackburn,” Hogan continued to approve shipping contracts obligating the Great Western to ship at the deflated rates for weeks to come. When Elgree returned, he realized Bart Maverick and Roy Stafford had been buying cattle and shipping them on the Great Western themselves, saving the Brasada Spur enough money to make a profit while Great Western lost a fortune. Elgree realized the only way to avoid honoring the costly contracts was to remove the Brasada Spur as a competitor. Holding Hogan to blame for the loss, he ordered him to organize a mob to commandeer a Brasada Spur train from Junction City and destroy the Brasada Spur stations along the route and threatened to kill him if he failed. When Bart and Stafford got word of the activity, they organized their own team of local ranchers to stop their stolen train. After a melee between the two factions, Bart and Stafford confronted Elgree to force him to accept liability for all of Brasada Spur’s damages. Hogan stepped forward in support of the Brasada Spur and refused to take the blame or go to jail for Elgree.[1]

See: Brasada Spur