The barbed wire fence cutters
When barbed wire was first introduced many people did not like the idea; what was once a free range for animals to rome free now was all fenced off and was imposible to get animals past. Some people took into their own hands the problem and decided to start cutting these fences."Beginning in 1886 Aten was assigned to help track down and capture fence cutters. Often working undercover as ranch hands, Aten and his partners would investigate the fence cutting and had a great effect on reducing the amount of damage being done. At one point in his fight against fence cutters he rigged up dynamite bombs. In 1888 Aten placed dynamite bombs along some of the fences that had been cut several times. According to his memoirs, "I fixed the bombs so that when the fence was cut between the posts it would jerk a small wire laid under the grass to the cap and explode the bombs."(http://www.texasranger.org/halloffame/Aten_Ira) The General did not approve of this method and ordered Aten to remove the bombs. Instead, Aten exploded them. Even though no more bombs were there, word spread that the bombs were planted on all of the fences in Navarro County. As soon as word spread around town about the bombs, everyone in the county stopped cutting any fences, even their own.