“Big” Steve Long was a gunfighter who was elected deputy marshal of Laramie during its early lawless days at a time when even the newly elected mayor and other government officials resigned within six weeks of each other in 1868.
Long was a violent man who intimidated, robbed and killed many honest men. He and two other lawless men – Ace Moyer and Con Wagner, owners of the Belle of the West Saloon– forced several ranchers to sign over the deeds to their ranches. Many who protested ended up dead, but with no witnesses to the crime.
Finally, N.K. Boswell, a local rancher and later the first sheriff of Albany County (1869), organized several other ranchers to conspire against the three. Their determination resulted in the hangings of Moyer and Wagner and eventually “Big” Steve. N.K. Boswell and the “Committee of Vigilance” brought Laramie back under control.