Soon after the sale of public lands in northern Indiana began in 1835 and 1836, that country began to be particularly infested with horse thieves, blacklegs, etc. Their operations extended into southern Michigan because they, of course, knew no state bounds. The inhabitants suffered so much from their depredations that the State Legislature passed on March 9, 1852, an Act authorizing the formation of companies for the detection and apprehension of horse thieves andother felons, and defining their powers. These groups were known as regulators. The first group, known as the LaGrange County Rangers, was organized September 20, 1856. Other groups organized rapidly and effectively cleared the country of these ‘nefarious operators’.