In response to my story Encyclopedia Brown and the Case of the Mongol Hordes, alert reader Gary Franklin wrote:
[...] the Mongol hordes of Ghengis Khan were nomadic, but they were also herders. (check the world book encyclopedia in your library) In fact they brought large herds of cattle with them in their invasion of china (world book). Think about this, if the hordes could bring their horses with them why not cattle?
He also provided a number of links which I won't post here because that would entail a small amount of work.
Needless to say, I contacted Chief Brown with this new information. He was understandably concerned but informed me that the point was moot. Unfortunately, the horde had slipped in the shower and died in the county jail. It was a freak accident, he said, made more tragic in light of this new evidence.
He did assure me, however, that the county had mounted a full inquiry into the accident and had remedied the problem by coating the shower floors with a non-stick surface.