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About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (March 9, 2016)
Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, March 9, 2016 The all-night municipal gunight of the frontier town of Ione - THREE Folklore program set Friday in Heppner Offbeat Oregon History No. 366 By Finn J.D. John November 22, 2015 Plenty of Oregon towns have been the scene of Old West-style gunfights during the frontier era, but very few of them have ever hosted one in which nearly everybody in the town par- ticipated. The tiny town of Ione, in northern central Oregon, is one that has. The occasion of Ione’s experiment in mixing a gunight with a block party (“two great tastes that taste great together”?) was the arrival on the scene of a local troublemaker named Charles Earhart. Earhart was well known to the citizens of Ione. At various times a wheat farmer and a saloon- keeper, he was also an ex- convict, having just been pardoned out of the joint six months earlier on charges stemming from a drunken shooting spree in Ione. He was one of those fellows who’s perfectly nice until he takes a drink — but after that, watch out. That night, his boilers were well stoked — and he was on the town to settle a score. Before his jail stretch, when he was keep- ing his saloon in town, he’d boarded with a woman named Mary Granger. He and Mrs. Granger appar- ently got along too well for the tastes of her husband. Whether there was anything to be jealous of or not is unknown, but Mr. Granger was conident enough in his conclusions that he moved out, taking the couple’s two sons with him and leaving three daughters — ages 10, 13 and 14 — with her. The couple had a fourth daugh- ter as well, who had married a man named Henry Clark and left the nest. Months went by. Ear- hart went to prison, served a year and a half, was par- doned by the governor, and moved back to town. Mary Granger left her boarding- house business and took a job as manager of the Ione Hotel. And then, in late June of 2009, she offered Earhart a job on her staff. When news of this job offer reached the ears of Henry Clark and his wife, the two of them confronted Mary and demanded that she ire Earhart and remove her other daughters from his inluence. News of this interfer- ence reached Earhart’s ears on Thursday, July 2. He apparently stewed on it for a day; but Friday MILES & night found him in a more pro-active mood. “Early Friday eve- ning, Earhart began to tank up, and at dusk went down to the hotel conduct- ed by Mrs. Granger,” the Heppner Gazette reporter wrote. “Upon meeting the woman in front of the ho- tel on the sidewalk, a quar- rel ensued. The quarrel, after reaching the warm stage, was taken up by Henry Clark.” Clark was, of course, just the man Earhart want- ed to see, and he pulled a big knife out of his pocket with which to continue the conversation — escalating the imminent conlict from ists to knives. Clark responded by escalating things a bit more — with a revolver. Mary Granger jumped between the two men, try- ing to hold Clark, who ired over her shoulder at Earhart. Then, shaking free, he ran to the street and ired three more shots after the fast-retreating ex-con. All were clean misses. But Earhart didn’t scare that easy — not, at any rate, when drunk. Running to Walker’s General Merchandise store, he kicked out the plate- glass front window and ducked into the building, making for the gun counter. He was looking for a Win- chester rile, with which to continue the arms race with Clark. Luckily for everyone involved, he couldn’t ind the riles in the dark. But he did ind a dandy dou- ble-barreled shotgun, and grabbing a couple boxes of shells (loaded, in another stroke of luck for all in- volved, with No. 1 birdshot) he headed for the door, bashing the lock off with the butt of the shotgun to let himself out. Then he struck out for Clark’s house. Nobody was there. But on his way back to town, Earhart met Clark with another man. Leveling the shotgun at them, he ordered them to climb over a nearby fence, and as they did so, he pumped a charge of bird shot into Clark’s back. Luckily for Clark, it didn’t penetrate enough to inlict more than a painful lesh wound and knock him off the fence, where presum- ably he had the good sense to not move. Meanwhile, Ione resi- dents who’d seen or heard the burglary at Walker’s MILES OF SMILES Our success... It's All About Kids, Employees, & Customers!! Mid Columbia Bus Company provides a family atmosphere for the employees to come to work each day and know they are appreciated. NOW HIRING SCHOOL BUS DRIVERS Starting Wage $11.75/Hr. Apply at: Mid Columbia Bus Co. 541-676-5861541-481-7551 The Heppner Gazette’s report on the gun battle in the follow- ing week’s edition ran under this attention-grabbing headline. store had reported the situ- ation to the town marshal and sheriff’s deputy. Soon virtually every man in Ione was excitedly (and, in most cases, drunkenly; after all, it was Friday night) hurrying home, arming himself, and presenting himself for ser- vice on a posse. The oficers were gathering and instruct- ing the excited members of the still-growing posse on the main street in town, ap- parently unaware that their quarry was sitting quietly on the steps of the drugstore next to a friend whom he’d forced at gunpoint to ac- company him. Finally, Earhart looked over at his friend, remarked that it was his turn to make a move, and started up the street. The movement caught someone’s eye, and a shout went up from the posse: “Stop right there!” Ear- hart’s reply was two quick blasts from the shotgun as he took to his heels, heading for the far side of a black- smith’s shop; the path be- fore him was lighted by the muzzle lashes of at least a dozen posse members’ riles and pistols, but somehow none of the bullets hit him, although one did graze his back. As he ran, Earhart tripped over an elderly hobo, who had spread his bedroll out between two houses. The hobo raised his head, trying to see what had happened — and a member of the posse, seeing him there and thinking he was Earhart, shot him, inlicting a severe chest wound. “As soon as the facts were realized the posse was considerably rattled, and Earhart’s whereabouts were lost track of,” the Gazette reported. Assuming Earhart was in one of the warehouses, the posse surrounded them. They soon learned their mistake when the shotgun bellowed again from a near- by bush on the hillside be- hind them, sending a cloud of stinging .160-caliber pellets at a posse member from 80 yards away. The posse member, peppered with shot but not really hurt, fell to the ground and started yelling for help; Morrow County Sheriff’s Deputy Walter Cason went to help him, and himself got a charge of shot in the back and another in the legs. After that, the posse re-formed and waited for daylight, which finally came and revealed Ear- hart’s hideout. Tired, sober and suddenly aware of the hopelessness of his situa- tion, Earhart started crying and begging for mercy. He came out and was soon safely arrested and shackled and on his way to Heppner in the care of the sheriff. Behind him he left the town of Ione peppered with bullet holes — more than 50 of them on the north side of Main Street alone. On the way to the sher- iff’s office, Earhart and Deputy Walter Cason — who, remember, Earhart had hit with two long-range blasts from the shotgun — got into a nasty verbal ight. It ended with Earhart threat- ening to come back to Ione and kill Cason — a threat that several other people overheard. Earhart pleaded Not Guilty to all charges, and his trial was a bit of a cir- cus. “In outlining his case to the jury, (Earhart’s at- torney) declared that they would prove the shot ired by Earhart … was ired ac- cidentally as the result of his stumbling as he walked along the sidewalk,” the Gazette’s reporter wrote. “He said further that they would prove that a con- spiracy was formed by the armed mob for the purpose of murdering the accused man.” Not surprisingly, it didn’t work. He drew four and a half years in the state pen. One imagines the citi- zens of Ione didn’t much look forward to Earhart’s release date. Of course, he came straight home. But he found the reception awaiting him somewhat warmer than he might have anticipated. Maybe Earhart intend- ed to settle his score with Cason upon his return to town, and maybe he’d for- gotten all about it. But when he arrived, he found Cason waiting for him. The two men went for their pistols. Cason shot him through the heart. (Sources: Heppner Ga- zette: July 25, 1908; July 8 and 15, 1909; and Jan. 20 and 27, 1910; Heppner Herald, Sept. 22, 1914; Pendleton East Oregonian, July 5 and 7, 1909; cor- respondence with Mark Hooker) Finn J.D. John teaches at Oregon State University and writes about odd tid- bits of Oregon history. For details, see http://innjohn. com. To contact him or sug- gest a topic: inn2@offbe- atoregon.com or 541-357- Marriage Licenses Morrow County Clerk Bobbi Childers has released the following marriage license report: -March 1: Harold Poeling, 56, Irrigon, and Linda Marie Putnam, 54, Irrigon. -March 3: Bruce Allen Daniels, 32, Umatilla, and Sonja Leilani Bradley, 26, Umatilla. -March 4: Curtis J. Papineau, 56, Lexington, and Carolyn M. Proebstel, 54, Lexington. Sandra Van Lieu with her animals According to Fant, Riki The Oregon Trail Li- Saltzman, Oregon Folklife brary District will present Network executive director, a program, the Oregon “is very excited to seeall the Folklife Network, Keep- great folk and traditional ers of Tradition: Morrow and Umatilla Counties, on artists that folklorist Deb- Friday, March 11, at 6:30 bie Fant has documented p.m. at St Patrick’s Senior in Morrow and Umatilla Apartments, 190 N Main counties.” Saltzman, who plans to St., Heppner, be at the public programs, Debbie Fant is host- notes that “Fant’s library ing the presentation. Fant, programs will give local who has a master’s degree audiences a wonderful op- in anthropology and folk- portunity to hear irsthand lore from the University of about the fascinating cul- Texas, Austin, has been a tural traditions of north- public folklorist for over 20 years, irst as a ieldworker eastOregon. And we’d love for the Bureau of Florida to get feedback on future Folklife. She was the re- folklife programming in the cent recipient of an Archie region.” Funding for the library Green Fellowship from the programs and folklife sur- American Folklife Center, vey ieldwork in Morrow Library of Congress. She County is provided by a has worked as the Idaho grant from the National state folklorist, manager of the Cowboy Poetry Gath- Endowment for the Arts, ering (Western Folklife Folk & Traditional Arts. Center), deputy director Additional support comes of Northwest Folklife, and from the Oregon Arts Com- now for the Washington mission, Oregon Historical State Parks & Recreation Society, and the Univer- Commission. Fant has con- sity of Oregon. The Oregon ducted ieldwork, directed State Library, Oregon Trail festivals, edited publica- Public Library, and the tions, curated exhibits, and Friends of the Heppner is now conducting field- Library provided additional work in Oregon’s Columbia support. Gorge region. Talking Rocks tour March 19 Everyone is invited to join the city of Heppner for a bus tour after the St Patrick’s Parade, Saturday, March 19. Those planning to attend should meet in front of Heppner City Hall 111, N. Main Street at 2 p.m. for a free, approximately one-hour tour to learn about the community’s history. For more information, call 541-676-9618. Arts and crafts sale planned for St. Pat’s weekend Members of the Morrow County Creative Arts and Crafts will be at the front of the Les Schwab building in Heppner over the St. Patrick’s weekend. Hours will be Friday, March 18, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday, March 19, from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Members at the sale will include: -Phyllis Piper with her Raggedy Ann dolls, using an old pattern with her original design. She will also have her dish towels for sale. -JoAnn Shannon with lots of crocheted items such as baby clothes, dressed bears and towel toppers. -Carmen Williams with jewelry, assorted crocheted craft and crocheted towel items -Dottie Hunnicutt with baby leece blankets, chil- dren’s adjustable aprons with cookie cutters, stuffed dolls, coasters, church purses and other miscellaneous items. -Darla Hanson with prints of ighting elk, sledding and goldish. -Dave Williams with wood craft items and assorted leather items. -Don Shannon with wooden crafts, decorations and pillows. ALL NEWS AND ADVERTISEMENT DEADLINE: MONDAYS AT 5:00 P.M.