Well, first I appeal to any actual working cowboys that are on this board to jump in and correct me if I am wrong on any of this branding thing.
Tom's source for the examination of the branding iron and the running Iron is none other than myself. I am no cowboy, but my husband was, and I put in my fair share of helping out working cattle and in the corrals when we were short-handed. AS a result, I was exposed to the old ways of doing things.
The stamp irons were government issue and were US and the one for the regiment, which I identified in my lower post. The US would be on the horses and mules left front shoulder. Small, about 3 and 1/2 inches, not large like the cattle brand. The4y were only for identification; did not have to be seen from far off like cattle brands. The right rear flank would have the regiment and company brand the same size; for example, for Company B, 4th Regiment; the brand would read 4-B. Do you really think the military men, Lt. Hurst and his soldiers, did not know that? Wyatt sure didn't, or he wouldn't have tried to pass this nonsense off.
Wyatt didn't know it because the mules were not there. He never saw them. He claims he saw a branding iron reading DS and that "...afterwards some mules with that brand were found..." A DS branding iron the same size as a government issue iron? Really? Wyatt didn't know enough to just say they had a running iron to change the brand with. That might have worked. You cannot stamp over an existing brand as it will blur the brand. A running iron could make the change better for such a small adjustment.
From the ranch where the McLaurys and Patterson were squatting near the Whetstone mountains to steal the mules, only six, from Fort Kearny, is about two hundred miles round trip by horseback. The time involved and the distance covered and the fact that they would have to have buyers ready would never be worth it. It would take them a week or more. The mules could not be bought across the border as no one over there would have the money. On the American side, the mules could not be sold unless someone would move them out of the territory and far away. Brands do not grow hair over them. They don't disappear. These guys were never in a position to pull off such a stunt.
The McLaurys established a good reputation with their neighbour ranchers and were seriously trying to get a future built. That's why they bought or homesteaded in the Sulphur Spring Valley later. They would not likely take the time and effort to steal six government mules from the other side of the territory.
The information on government brands comes from Fort Huachuca records. Mules often had notches in their ears and often had their tails shaved in different ways to indicate if their were troublesome in certain harness hitchings. They were not easy to deal with.
Your last comment doesn't work. The mules and horses would have both brands and done at the same time. They were government issue animals. Why would Hurst have to mention either brand? He knew how they were branded and had no idea that a year or so later Wyatt would be trying to pull off this ridiculous story in a courtroom! And of course, the cowboys knew they could not cover both brands. The story falls apart.
If the mules were there when they talked with Patterson, though the military could not go on private land, The Marshal could. So why didn't Virgil & Co., Federal, just round up the mules and take them, right then and there? Because the mules were not there. Virgil had the authority but the mules had been turned out and that is why Hurst foolishly had to wait for delivery in Charleston and it never happened. By then, there was nothing he could do about it.
There is more but that hits the highlights!