Hank recovered and was tried at The Dalles, but was acquitted as Long had fired first. Soon he moved to Wood River, Idaho. Selling horses once again to the many men that were working on a new railroad, he again became prosperous. Soon he met the widow Martha Robie, who had inherited much money from her husband, and owned land on the Umatilla Indian Reservation.

Though not legally divorced from Louisa he married the widow Robie who began to travel frequently by train. Soon, Vaughan got a reputation for foiling train robbers and the railroad awarded him for his deeds with a lifetime pass.

Expanding his operations into Walla Walla and Spokane Falls, Washington, he had become successful enough to hire out his dirty work.  But as rangelands began to get fenced and railroads sped the posses quicker, cattle rustling was becoming more difficult. Soon, he set up a farm on the Widow Robie’s property halfway between Walla Walla, Washington and Pendleton, Oregon.

When his divorce from Louisa was finally legal in June, 1883, he could publicly acknowledge his relationship with Martha Robie. Though the pair appeared to get along better than Hank had with his two former wives, he still spent a great deal of time gambling and drinking in saloons.

Although the farm was successful, Vaughan wasn’t entirely finished with his rustling. Operating primarily at night, he often used his ex inlaws, the McCarty brothers to act as lookouts. Eventually, the ranchers began to form new vigilante committees, which stopped Vaughan from most of his rustling activities.

In 1886, Vaughan humiliated a man named Bill Falwell by shooting at the man’s feet to make him "dance.” Falwell, not the least bit amused, shot Vaughan in the right arm the following day. Later that same year, Vaughan and his new wife sold the farm for a tidy profit and moved to Centerville, Washington, where he continued to shoot up the town.