Between 1866 and 1910, there were nearly one thousand train robberies in the US, according to historian Michael Wilson, the vast majority of which occurred in the West. 

Yet, on a frontier where government law enforcement was spread thin, private individuals came to the rescue through bounty hunting and private detective agencies.

Throughout the Old West, private firms, individuals, and government authorities offered rewards for the capture and conviction of fugitives, typically advertised by newspaper ads or circulars. 

The Tombstone Epitaph, for instance, reported 31 separate reward offers involving Cochise County, Arizona, between August 1887 and 1893—a county that reported fewer than 7,000 residents in the 1890 census. Roughly half of these were offered by private parties. One such ad from the March 15, 1891, edition of the Tombstone Epitaph reported the following:

Another ad in a June 17, 1886 edition of Hoof and Horn, a Prescott, Arizona newspaper largely devoted to livestock news, posted a standing bounty for cattle rustlers:

In this way, bounties gave victims a way to seek justice for fugitive crimes without simply waiting around for government lawmen to do their job. Instead, individuals took action to root out lawlessness, including property theft.