Thief of logs and timber was a big business along the rivers used for transporting them to mills some 100 years ago. Loose logs were allowed to float downstream, most unattended. Most were branded on one end with a mark. However, it was easy enough to simply saw off a small part of the end and re-brand the log. Thus in 1891 the lumbermen who did business in Breathitt County placed the following notices the local newspaper, The Jackson Hustler, edited at the time by Dr. John J. Dickey.
"ATTENTION, LOG THIEVES"
"We, the undersigned, owners and dealers in Logs, Lumber &c. on the Kentucky River and its tributaries, do hereby notify all persons against taking up, or unlawfully dealing in any of the following brands of logs, between any of our respective logging points, and booms of the Asher Lumber Company, under a penalty set forth in an act of the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, approved May 15, 1876, and amended by an amended by an approved April 26, 1888, and amended by an act approved May 14, 1890. And we further appoint the Asher Lumber Company and their agents, our agents, to take up and deliver into solid booms, all logs bearing the following brands, and also authorize the Asher Lumber Company to prosecute all persons violating said law:
"J.E. & W.P. Jones, Champion boom, J enclosed in a heart.
"B.M. Hughes, Jackson, Kentucky, boxed A.
"A.D. Hagins, Jackson, Kentucky, circle monogram L.H., or D.F.H.
"J.L. Hagins, Jackson, Kentucky, circle Y.
"Combs & Taulbee, Kentucky C & T., or S.S.T.
"R.H. Brashear, Salt Creek, Kentucky, R.H.B.
"W.J. Whitaker, Mouth of Quicksand, W.J.W.
"Elisha Hensley, Rousseau, Kentucky A.
"Jake & George Marshall, Rousseau, Kentucky, G.M.
"Jackson Lovely, Rousseau, Kentucky, R.I.
"Elihu Reynolds, Grapevine, North Fork and Booneville, Kentucky, E.R. "Thomas Baker, Booneville, Kentucky, T.B. or T.R.
"D.M. Vaughn, Booneville, Kentucky, D.M.V., or D.C.
"John G. White, Booneville, Kentucky, J.G.W.
"John N. Flannery, Booneville, Kentucky, J.F.
"Wm. M. Beatty, Manchester, Kentucky, B.
"J.B. Davidson, Hectorg Creek, J.R.D.
"Justice B. Begley, Corner Shoal, Kentucky, E.B.
"John Griffith, Crockettsville, KY., G.B.R.O.
"Ed. Callahan, Crockettsville, E.C.
"James H. Strong, Mouth of Middle Fork, J.H.S.
"C.B. Hieronymus, St. Helens, KY., boxed H.
"G.A. Hieronymus, Beattyville, dithong H.D.
"W.H. Simms, Beattyville, monogram W.H.S.
"Moore & Whipple Lumber Company, three broken circles and circle W.
"K.U. Lumber Company, Beattyville, K.U."
"$500 REWARD."
"All persons are hereby warned not to catch or interfere with any logs on the Kentucky River or its waters with any of the following brands, viz: a figure 4 in the circle is the brand adopted by the Asher Lumber Company, also 3 broken circles, and also the letter W enclosed in a circle, and cross bars in white paint, being the brands adopted by Moore & Whipple Lumber Co., also the letter T enclosed in a horseshoe and a bolt of white paint around the center being the brands adopted by John Tevis, also logs marked K.U., the brand adopted by the Kentucky Union Lumber Co., and with three white spots on each end. Any person or persons so catching or interfering with any logs so branded, or defacing said brands or any of them, or stealing or secreting any logs branded as above, will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law, and a reward of ($500) five hundred dollars is hereby offered for the arrest, conviction and sentence to the State Penitentiary of any person or persons so offending. Said reward will be paid in cash when a court of competent jurisdiction shall have sentenced the person or persons so offending to the State Penitentiary and so be paid to the person only who furnishes the evidence upon which the conviction and sentence is made."
(signed) "Asher Lumber Co., Moore & Whipple Lumber Co.
"John Tevis, Kentucky Union Lumber Co."