In 1896, several wealthy cattle barons in the area made attempts to purchase the Bassett ranch from the Bassetts. When the Bassetts refused, the barons began to rustle their cattle. Ann and her sister Josie, in turn, rustled cattle from them. This led to a feud, and resulted in the cattlemen bringing in hired killer Tom Horn to deal with what the cattlemen deemed to be criminals. Horn eliminated several known rustlers during that time, but took no action against the Bassetts. While he also killed two rustlers in 1900, Isom Dart and Matt Rash (a sandy-haired Texas cowboy), who were known to be associated with the Bassett family, this was unrelated to the Bassett conflict with their neighbors.