Did the book explain...
...Why the blond killer hated sodbusters so badly? That was the highlight...when he was hung.
shareAre you referring to one of the Suggs brothers? They were just killers -- they weren't particular about it.
Dan was the leader, and the others just followed.
On the range, there were ranchers and farmers (sodbusters). There was a lot of tension between the two; and ranchers did not like it when farmers fenced in their lands and kept the ranchers' herds from getting to water.
I think it was a bit of a class war, too. Farmers made their living in the dirt; and did not command the same respect a rancher did. Many people thought nothing of the sodbusters.
Cowboys lived their lives from the back of a horse. It was beneath them to do work from afoot. Dish was not happy AT ALL to find himself digging a well at the beginning of the book. He was a top hand, and commanded good pay -- from astride his horse, wrangling cattle.