Oregon City courier. (Oregon City, Or.) 1902-1919, March 09, 1916, Image 1

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GREG
COUE
33d Year
OREGON CITY, OREGON, THURSDAYMARCH 9, 1916
Number 51
CITY
CELLAR IS WORTH
M L ON
DOLLARS
CHARLES F. TERRILL UNEARTHS
SILICA MINE BENEATH HIS
HOME AT CITY LIMITS
VALUE ABOUT $1,200,000
Deposit Discovered Accidentally
Iron Shovel is Polished by Con
' tact with Pure Mineral
as
CHARLES F. TERRILL
Oregon City man who found a million-dollar
silica mine in his . cellar
Charles F. Terrill, of Oregon City,
is not going to be a candidate for
constable this year. Mr. Terrill has
got something better in view. If he
hadn't started to put a cellar under
his house last fall, Mr. Terrill would
probably have sought office as con
stable, so as to have provided a more
or less sufficient income for his family.
But he started to dig the cellar, and
thereby hangs a tale.
Mr. Terrill's house is just outside
the corporate limits of Oregon City.
When he started in to dig his cellar
. Ji struck a peculiar, whitish soft
stone that made the metal part of his
shovel shine like silver as he pushed
the big scoop into the yielding earth.
"Huh," exclaimed Terrill,. "I've
struck something that ought to make
a good metal polish."
And breaking off a few chunks of
it, Mr. Terrill put the material in his
pocket and visited a friend who was a
chemist. He asked him what the stuff
was. The chemist tested and analys
ed it, and two days later he went to
Terrill.
"Charlie," he said, "you take some
of that stuff down to a chemist in
Portland, and see what he says about
it. If he finds its the same stuff that
I think it is ,maybe you've got some
thing interesting."
Mr. Terrill is not an excitable man.
He took the stuff to a Portland chem
ist. When he got the report back he
hunted up his local chemist friend,
and the two of them compared notes.
They both found the same thing.
After considering it a bit, Mr. Terrill
went out and took . options on the
property of his neighbors on either
side. The neighbors didn't think Ore
gon City real estate was worth much
more than a hundred dollars a lot, and
they were glad to sell. That was last
fall.
Monday of this week Mr. Terrill
had in his pocket a contract and bond
ed deed, signed by Canadian and Port
land capitalists, leasing from him all
rights to the property which he had
acquired, and promising to erect and
put in operation within 60 days a re
fining plant that will cost approxi
mately $2,500, and which will em
ploy from 15 to 20 men right at the
start. The plant will turn out refined
silica, one of the most useful minerals
that modern civilization uses.
When Charles F. Terrill started to
dig his cellar under his house at the
city limits of the county seat, he dug
into 400,000 cubic yards of a 95 per
cent deposit of quartz silica. This
stuff runs about a ton and a half to
the yard, and it is worth $20 a ton.
According to his agreement, Mr. Ter
rill will realize $110,000 in royalties
alone from the silica taken out of his
property; and aside from this he will
get a substantial cash payment for
his lease rights. Just how much
money is involved in the deal neither
Mr. Terrill nor the promoters of the
enterprise will at this time make
public
Attorney John Clark, of Oregon
City, is handling-Mr. Terrill's inter
ests in the matter, and Mr. TerriH 'will
be represented in the company which
will be incorporated to develop the
silica property. The plans of the
development call for immediate oper
ations, the erection of the refining
plant on the property, and the ship
ment of the finished material to the
river-front in Oregon City, where it
will be loaded on heavy scows and
shipped to markets in Portland and
Other coast cities. Tho Pacific coast
demand for silica alone will take care
ofthe entire output of the property;'
but it is understood to be the plans
of the development syndicate to marr
ket some of the material in Canada,
-where on account of the European
war, better prices will be paid for
the silica.
Practically the entire commercial
silica supply has heretofore come
from Germany and England. The
European war has cut off this sup.
ply, and hence has greatly, increased
the value of Mr. Terrill's find; Aside
from the silica discovered on Terrill1
place, the only known supply of any
where near its purity in the North.
west is in Eastern Oregon; and the
Eastern Oregon supply is controlled
by the same interests that have leas
ed the Terrill deposit. Owing to lack
of transportation facilities, however,
the Eastern Oregon mine will not be
immediately developed. Its silica is
also a lower grade. "
Silica is used for many things. It
enters largely into the manufacture
of soaps and polishing compounds, it
is important in the manufacture of
high test firebrick for ovens where
great heat is generated. It is used
as one of .the component parts of all
composition flooring, and as a dress
ing for hard surface pavings, such as
are laid in Main street, Oregon City,
It is also used as a filler in cement
where great tensile strength is de
sired, and plays an important part in
the manufacture of pottery and other
examples of the ceramic industry,
Manufacturers of rubber goods find it
indispensable in making all sorts of
moulded rubber forms, and it is also
used extensively in the manufacture
of all grades of heavy paper. . Silica
is also one of the chief ingredients
in all waterproofing materials, in
waterproof paints, cements and pa
per. It is also used in all varieties
of non-conductors, its inorganic com
position making it uneffected by tern
perature or by the lapse of time.
It
is also the base of most wood-fillers
and aside from all these commercial
3 is also very important in the
compounding of pharmaceutical prep
arations,
Silica is not rare by any means,
It forms 80 percent of the earth's sur
face, but it is usually so mixed with
other ingredients as to be impossible
of extraction from the compounds in
which it is found. It is usually mix.
ed with prehistoric ooze, sand, lime,
shale, schist, sand and other impuri
ties; and owing to the thoroughness
with which it is adulterated with
these foreign substances, has no
commercial value. Deposits of pure
silica are exceedingly rare, and the
discovery that the Terrill deposit was
95 percent pure made its marketing a
matter of almost instant success,
The Terrill plant here will be one
of the most economical in the world,
as far as operation goes. The deposit
lies on the side of a hill, and prac
tically on the surface of the ground.
For the first several years it will be
only necessary to shovel it into the
refining plant, which will be located
below the deposit. From there it will
be hauled downhill to the river, and
thence will be towed in scows down.
stream with the current to Portland.
There it will be shipped to various
markets. Engineers who have . in.
vestigated the deposit have not yet
found its bottom, though borings have
already been made to a depth of 80
feet. There is in sight approximate.
ly 400,000 yards of the material, or
600,000 tons, rough measurement. At
$20 a ton, the present market price,
this means that in the Terrill deposit
alone there is about $1,200,000 worth
of silica. Backing for the Terrill pro
ject was secured largely upon the
analysis and report on the body of
silica made by the Oregon Independ
ent Testing company of Portland, the
firm which has been for sometime the
official testing agency of the Oregon
City water commission. ,
Mr. Terrill has been a resident of
Oregon City for the past half dozen
years. In a . moderate way he has
made a success "'of life up to the
present, but he never had any epecta
tions of being a capitalist. Now he
is trying to bear up under his good
fortune .with the best grace possible.
He has not yet decided what kind of
an automobile he is going to buy but
as hints of his good fortune have
leaked out, he has been suprised at
the great number of people who have
assured him they have always been
his friends.
Before coming to Oregon City Mr.
Terrill was engineer at the water
works of Golden, Colorado. The city
put in a gravity system, and Mr.
Terrill bought a camp wagon, and
with his family journeyed over the
plains and mesas to Salt Lake City.
There he sold his outfit and traveled
by train to Hood River, where he
worked as a plumber. Later he mov
ed to Portland and got a place with
the Pintsch Gas company, and shortly
afterwards joined the forces of the
Warren Construction company as
traveling oil expert and burner man.
It as while thus engaged that he
came to Oregon City, and deeming
that the city held possibilities, con
cluded to make the county seat his
home. He borrowed some money to
buy land where he now lives. People
who sold him the land said they'd al
most as as leave give it away as pay
taxes on it. Terrill took five acres
of it, and by the end of two years had
paid off his debts and owned his place
free of encumbrance. Since coming
to Oregon City he has worked with
the Oregon Engineering & Construc
tion company, and for over a year had
charge of road-rolling work for the
county.
Incidentally in the history of the
Terrill deposit there is an interesting
little story that shows the great acu
men and diligence of William E. Stone,
one of the candidates for the repub-
(Continued on Page 12)
PORTLAND "JITS"
ILL
COUNCIL GRANTS PERMIT FOR
SHORT TIME AFTER MILD
SORT OF DISCUSSION
NEWSPAPERS ARE "BUMPED"
Historic Division Street Tangle is also
Settled at Meeting that Brings
Out Many Smiles
Oregon City is to have Portland jit
neys again, and that at once. The
city council, in a special session Wed
nesday night, granted a permit to H.
L. Hickmon to operate cars between
the county seat and Portland and
just as the vote was cast an engineer
outside on the Southern Pacific let
out two sharp blasts of joy on the
whistle of his locomotive.
Mr. Hickman's permit is good until
March 22, at which time further ac
tion on the jitney matter will be tak
en. Mr. Hickman, in asking the coun
cil about the matter, said he had run
a jitney last summer, and that he had
been a resident of Oregon City for
over twenty years.
As soon as the jitney matter came
up Councilman VanAuken started
beating a tatoo on the table with his
fingers. He seemed nervous. Coun
cilman Metzner said he didn't think
the jitney question could be consider
ed so abruptly, and thought the mat
ter ought to come up later. Mayor
Hackett seemed inclined to think that
the council ought to wait till it had a
transcrip of the state supreme court
decision in the jitney case.
Councilman Albright moved that
Mr. Hickman be given a permit Mr.
VanAuken wanted to know if the per.
mit would let Hickman run on the
hill. Mr. Roake amended Mr. Al
bright's motion, so that the permit
would be good only until March 22.
And in this form the motion carried
and then the engine whitled with glee.
The jitney episode was the first
thing to ruffle the routine of the meet
ing. . Before that the council had re
considered for the 'steenth time the
matter of the assessments on Division
street These assessments were final
ly compromised, cut jind settled by the
street committee, and everybody seem
ed satisfied.
After the jitney matter, Mr. Ruco-
nich startled the council by saying
that he had $300 worth of Sewer Dis
trict Ten warrants, that he had been
holding them since 1912, and he want
ed to know what his chances were of
getting some money for them. Coun
cilman Albright asked him what he'd
take for them. Councilman Roake
wanted to know if any money had
ever been collected on that sewer dis
trict. It began to look as if the
stormy, history of Sewer District Ten
was going to be revived; but Mayor
Hackett forestalled trouble by tolling
Mr. Ruconich that he'd "probably" get
some money when the city sold its re
funding bonds.
Mayor Hackett then unloaded the
Portland extra" trouble on the coun
cil. Referring to a recent invasion of
the city by husky "newsies" from the
Rose City with "extras" of the Tele
gram, he said that many people had
been buncoed, and asked the council
what they wanted to do.
"A lot of people got fooled two
ways," said Councilman Roake. "They
not only got fooled because there was
no news in the paper, but they had to
pay a nickel for it, while the paper
said that it should be sold on the
street for two cents."
"I didn't get buncoed," said Council
man Metzner. "The boy was shout
ing 'all about the big fire,' and I ask
ed him where the fire was. He said
in Alaska, and I didn't buy a paper."
Councilman Cox moved that here
after any boys or men coming to Ore
gon City to sell extras of Portland pa
pers should be ordered to obtain a
permit from the mayor. J. David
Olson, local representative of the
Journal, told the councilmen that
every time the Journal printed an
extra they telephoned to him, and he
got the Oregon City newsboys out,
the local boys could make extra
money.
This met with the approval of the
council, which declared that the local
boys ought to make the money.
Mayor Hackett said that maybe the
local managers of the other, papers
could be persuaded to do the same
thing. Mr. Cox withdrew his first
motion, and got another one over, to
the effect that the recorder be in
structed to write to the Oregoniun and
the Telegram, telling hem that if thev
attemped o sell exras on the street
they would have to either get a per
mit from the mayor or else send the
papers to local newsboys.
"You'd better include the News in
that too," said Councilman Roake, and
it was done. Recorder Loder will now
have the pleasure of telling the Ore
gonian, Telegram and News that they
ought to copy Journal methods in the
county seat
Councilman Albright rose and re
marked that in spite of the fact that
the city had entered into a contract
wih a local firm for he removal of
garbage every month, there was a lot
AGAIN
CIDER BRINGS ACTION
Wilsonville Man Held under Guard
after Attacking Family
According to DeDutv Sheriff Mur
ray, of Wilsonville, there were "big
doings" out at the home of Chris
Wilhelm, a 47-year old farmer near
the south county town .Wednesday
night Mr. Murray went to the scene
witn ur. cutler, when calls for as
sistance had come from Harris Mil
ler, the hired man on the Wilhelm
place.
Arriving at the farm the deputy
found Miller sitting on the door of the
potato pit. Wilhelm was inside. Mil.
ler told the doctor and the deputy that
Wilhelm had been nartakine freelv of
cider early in the evening. The farm
er has two barrels of it in his cellar
About nine o'clock Wilhelm left the
cellar and came up into the house,
smashed his acred wife on the head
with a half-filled bottle, and probably
rractured her skull. He then attacked
his crippled daughter, Lena. At this
Miller took a hand in the nroceedmm
and put his boss in the potato pit.
Murray left Wilhelm under guard
for the rest of the night Dr. Butler
says Mrs. Wilhelm is in a critical con
dition.
SCHOOL HOURS CHANGE
County Seat Highschool Pupils Get
Less Time for Lunch
The school directors of the district
comprising the county seat this week
voted to change the hours of attend
ance at the high school. While school
sessions will still open at nine in the
morning, the luncheon period will be.
gin at noon henceforth, and will end
at 12:45. This makes the luncheon
period half an hour shorter than
formerly, and as a result the after
noon session will conclude at 2:45 p,
m., instead of at 3:15 as formerly.
This change was made to save time
for school work, and to give the pu.
pils greater liberty in the afternoon.
Checking on the pupils showed that it
took most of the boys less than 15
minutes to eat their lunch, and that
the girls usually ate theirs in 17 or
18 minutes. If they keep up to that
schedule they will still have about
half an hour at noontime for recrea
tion; and by getting back to work
earlier they will be able to see . the
movies m the afternoon after school
closes.
NEWSIES PLAN NINE
Vendors of Papers in County Seat
Want $35 for League Equipment
Oregon City's boy merchants the
"newsies" are organizing a baseball
club, and they want thirty-five dollars
with which to outfit themselves with
suits and other equipment. They have
been soliciting aid on the streets and
in the business houses during the week
and already have over $27 towards the
sum they need. They expect to get
the balance before the end of the week.
The Newsboys' nine will be found
to have some good ball material in
it, and they expect to make a record
for the county seat that will make
older ball fans sit up and take notice.
Tom Long, one of the prime movers in
the scheme, says that the Newsies may
even challenge the Commercial club
nine before the season is over. The
boys will try to break into the Chau
tauqua circuit, and are confident they
can put up a real game right from the
start
WAS READY TO FIGHT
"Could you lick a postage stamp?"
Sergeant George B. McGee, recruiter
for the United States Marine Corps,
standing in the lobby of the postoffice
waiting for "prospects," turned about
angrily at this slur on his fighting
ability, only to face a heavily veiled
woman carrying parcels under each
arm. The woman went on to say that
she would have to raise her new
fangled veil to do it herself and would
the .sergeant oblige? So the ser
geant gallantly obliged, and licked not
only one Fut several stamps and plac
ed them on the parcels she was carry
ing. "The United States Marine Corps
is prepared for anything," McGee later
explained, "even to licking stamps for
fair damsels in distress."
of garbage on the hill streets still
standing on the curbing.
"On one block of High street there
are eight piles of garbage," said Mr.
Albright emphatically.
"Excuse me, you're wrong," said
Councilman Metzner. "My wife told
me they had been removed this morn
ing." "The men have been working on
garbage since the first of the month,"
said Mr. VanAuken, of the street
committee, who got the present con
tract "over" on the council. "They
are working right along, and I don't
think there'll be any trouble if the
weather improves." .
The council let it go at that, and
then started in to canvass the vote of
the election for fire chief and oher
fire department officers. After con
siderable delving into the charter the
council decided on how this should
be done.
"Put out the votes," said Mayor
Hackett, "and we will proceed."
But the votes were not put out
They could not be found, even though
some of the councilmen looked under
the table for them. So the canvassing
of the vote on the fire election went
over till the next meeing.
Council then adjourned.
E TO
SMALLER FRUIT
PRUNES AND CHERRIES NEED
ATTENTION NOW TO AVOID
BLIGHT AND LOSSES
HINTS FOR WORK ARE GIVEN
Material Used to Kill Parasites and
Growths Should be Mixed so as to
Permit Its Staying on Trees
Washington, D. C, March 9: Sug
gestions which may help growers of
the lower Columbia and the Willa
mette Valley to reduce losses of their
prunes and cherries from brown-rot
will shortly be published by the U. S,
Department of Agriculture in a pro
fessional paper, Bulletin No. 368 of
the Departmental series, by Charles
Brooks and D. F. Fisher of the office
of Fruit-Disease Investigations in the
Bureau of Plant Industry.
The recommendations, which call
for repeated sprayings at certain
times with self-boiled Jime-sulphur or
Bordeaux mixture combined with
resin-fish-oil soap to make them stick
and spread, are based largely on
promising results obtained in experi
ments during the last season in the or
chards of A. W. Moody at Felida,
wash, me results are published not
as final conclusions but to give grow
ers the benefit of such knowledge as
was obtained, in the belief that the
spraying system recommended is well
worth careful trial.
Observations for a number of sea
sons have shown that the apothecia, a
stage of the fungus that develops
from the fallen prunes, is the prob
able source of the blossom infection
with Monilia blossom blight Fall
plowing and early spring cultivation
ahead of tho blossoming period have
apparently helped in preventing the
disease by interfering with the de
velopment of the apothecia..
In the spraying experiments the
early applications of spray were wash
ed off, which showed the importance
of the addition of a sticker, but even
under rather unsatisfactory conditions
spraying has given fairly good re
sults. The prune trees given both
early and late spraying with self -boil
ed lime sulphur set from 2 to 5 times
as. much fruit as the unsprayed ones,
and gave a yield of 2 times as much
and had 1-9 as much brown-rot on the
harvested and 1-8 as much on the
stored prunes.
In spraying, self-boiled lime-sul
phur 8-8-50 and Bordeaux mixture
4-60 have both given good results,
but the former has seemed somewhat
more satifsactory. Two pounds of
resin-fish-oil soap should be used to
each 50 gallons of the mixtures.
Where this soap cannot be readily ob
tained, it may be made up as follows:
Resin 5 pounds
Potash lye, such as is
sold for washing
purposes 1 pound
Fish-oil 1 pint
Water 5 gallons
The resin is dissolved in the oil by
heating' in a large kettle. After this
has partially cooled the potash is add
ed, the mixture being slowly stirred
and carefully watched to avoid its
boiling over. A part of the water is
now added and the boiling continued
until the mixture will dissolve in cold
water. This will require about 1
hour. The remainder of the water is
then slowly added and the mixture
thoroughly stirred.
This soap was found very valuable
in making the spray spread and ad
here to the fruit. The soap, however,
cannot be used with commercial lime
sulphur. '
Several years results will be neces
sary as a basis for any final recom
mendations, but in so far as th esea
son of 1915, when rainfall was below
normal at the critical seasons for this
rot, was typical, the following schedule
of spraying may be suggested:
The first application just before
the blossoms open.
The second just after the petals
have fallen.
The third when the husks have fall-
The fourth about 4 weeks before
harvesting.
The first and the fourth applica
tions have been found especially im
portant during the past season.
Observations made near Vancouver,
Wash., and in the vicinity of Salem,
Ore., in April showed that there had
been a blossom-infection of cherries
similar to that already described on
prunes, it appeared that most of the
infection had taken place after the
petals had fallen but before the fruit
had a chance to push through the
husk. Black Republican cherries
seemed especially subject to infection,
estimates indicating that on this va-
ety fully 90 per cent of the blos
soms were infected with Monilia. In
many orchards at least 75 per cent of
the blossoms of other varieties were
similarly infected.
The work as yet has not been car
ried out as fully as could be desired.
seems evident, however, that the
Monilia blossom blight was the cause
serious losses in the Willamette
Valley in the season of 1915, and that
TM
SP
BOY ROBBERS CAUGHT
Milwaukie Marshal Captures Young
Bandits as They Seek Loot
Marshal Sam Riley, of Milwaukie,
gathered in Tuesday night two young
boys who gave their names as John
Saunders, 15 years of age, and Ewald
Schneider, somewhat older, as they
were bending over a pile of loot in the
deserted carbarns at Milwaukie. Riley
nad seen the boys lurking about the
old carshops, and upon investigation
found a cache of stolen material hid
den within. Tuesday night the mar
shal lay in wait for the lads, and
picked them up when they put in an
appearance. -
The two boys were turned over to
Juvenile Officer D. E .Frost. Upon
examination they admitted having
robbed Stoke's grocery at Oak Grove,
the Day hardware store at Milwaukie,
and one or two small candy stands.
Trifling amounts were stolen in each
case, the loot consisting mainly of
candy and cigarettes.
The Schneider boy said he was 16
when he was first arrested, but later
said he'd admit he was 19 if they
would give him a cigarette. Still
later he told Juvenile Officer Frost
that he'd bet a hat they couldn't prove
he was eighteen, and that the most he
could get for his actions would be a
scant year in the reform school. Both
boys formerly attended the public
school in Sellwood.
WATER FUSS ON
Gladstone Council Backs up Mayor in
Row with Superintendent
Tuesday night they had a nice little
council meeting at Gladstone, and a
majority of the council backed up
Mayor Howell, who refused to pay his
water rent to the new superintend
ent. The mayor said that the new
superintendent had not yet filed his
bond, and so had not qualified for of
fice. Just to show who was boss, the
water superintendent shut off the
water at the mayor's house.
The council approved a reDort of
the water committee of the council,
which ordered the superintendent to
turn on the water again, and to re
turn to water patrons all fees he had
collected before March 9. Council
man Burdon, who was supposed to
have resigned over the water tangle
when it first broke out, was on the
job, and nothing was said about his
resignation, so it is supposed that he
has changed his mind.
Gladstone water affairs are still
more or less tangled.
COUNTY CLUBS PRAISED
Activity of Farmers near Estacada
Has Approval of O. A. C.
Reports of election of officers by the
(jeorge Commercial and Social Club,
of East Clackamas county, Oregon,
are published by the Estacada Pro
gress. H. C. Stevens is the new pres
ident, A. H. Miller, vice-president, Ot
to Jansen secretary, and Miss Sarah
Howard, treasurer. The George Club,
like its neighbor society, the Garfield
Country Club, is one of the few real
live, progressive, country associations
that provide help for their members,
recreation for their young people, and
social culture for the entire com
munity. (O. A. C. Bulletin.)
A FISHY TALE
But It is Doubtless True, and It Cer
tainly is Interesting
Answering a blood call perhaps, the
below named enlisted men of the
United States Marine Corps are sail
ing away o'er the nven seas:
Corporal Swa-i on the U. S. Ma
chias. Privet: Haddock on the U. S. S.
Cautine.
Private Seals on the U. 8. S. Dela
ware. Private Pike on the U. S. Prairie.
Private Sturgeon on the U. S. S.
Utah.
WEDDING DRAWS NEAR
Nuptials of Miss Fraker and Mr.
Hawley to be Held in Portland
Willard P. Hawley, Jr., obtained a
marriage license from the county
clerk's office Wednesday to wed Miss
Marjorie Fraker. The marriage will
be solemnized in Trinity House, Port
land, Saturday at high noon. The
bride is one of the county seat's most
popular young women, while the
groom is a son of W. P. Hawley, own
er of the Hawley mills.
Social Service Club Meets
The Oak Grove-Milwaukie Woman's
Social Service club meets this after
noon at the residence of Mrs. Webb,
Oak Grove. The program will be in
charge of Mrs. Amanda Oatfield,
Mrs. Robert Brown and Mrs, Kom-
brodt.
You like suggestive printing don't
you something that has the "punch"
to it? Try the Courier Job Depart
ment. the brown-rot of the fruit was the
cause of considerable loss at the can
neries and heavy losses in the ship
ping of fresh fruit
It seems probable that a treatment
for cherries similar to that outlined
for prunes would give satisfactory
control of both the blossomed infec
tion and the later brown-rot attacks
on the fruit
F VICTI
OF WEIRD PLOTS
ENTERPRISE MAKES MONKEY
OF OFFICER IN EFFORT
TO ATTACK COURIER
"THE BLACK TRUTH" IS TOLD
Unfortunate Outburst on Part of Over
Timid Political Ring Hits Wilson :
Below the Waterline
William J. Wilson, sheriff of
Clackamas county, ought to be pro
tected from his political "friends."
He ought to get a new press agent.
Probably his political "friends" mean
well enough, and probably his press
agent did the best he could but, oh,
what a mess they made of things for
the sheriff! .. , ... , , ..
Evidently frightened by the politic
al outlook, The Oregon City Enter
prise and the political ring that con
trols it last week devoted approxi
mately threee columns of its valu
able (sic) space to lambasting the
Courier, and in the process they
slung more mud at the head of Wil
liam J. Wilson than would have been
done by his worst political enemies.
And all because of a story that the
Courier printed about the adventures
that befell an unfortunate demented
man at Ardenwald.
Readers of the Courier will prob
ably recall the story that the Courier
printed. The Courier story perhaps
did cast, some criticism at Sheriff
Wilson, or rather upon the judgment
that he displayed in the episode. But
there was not a word in the Courier
reflecting on Mr. Wilson's personal
courage or integrity. Yet the En
terprise, in its political partisanship,
starts off with this:
"By ignoring the truth completely
. the William, Klinkman
case is so distorted as to make it
appear that Sheriff Wilson played the
role of a coward in the capture of the
Ardenwald madman.". - ,
THE COURIER HAS NEVER
"MADE" IT APPEAR THAT SHER
IFF WILSON WAS A COWARD. It
has been left for the Enterprise and
the Enterprise political bunch to make
that suggestion. It has been left
for the unfortunate sheriff's press
agent to paint in the color of coward
ice in the picture drawn of the sheriff.
After a prologue in which this
cowardice string is harped on until
it is firmly fixed in the readers'
minds, The Enterprise reprints
with some garbling the Courier's
story of the Ardenwald episode, and
interjects paragraphs of its owi;,
showing the interpretation that the
sheriff's "friends" placed upon the
story. Referring to these ideas of its
own, The Enterprise says:
"The Courier's story follows, para
graph by paragraph, with the truth
printed in black under each para
graph.'' What an unfortunate choice of
words was picked by the "defenders"
of the sheriff "The black truth"
verily, it could not be better describ
ed! The Courier desires right here to
pause in its review of the efforts of
the sheriff's "friends" to apologize for
him, and to touch briefly upon the
Ardenwald story itself.
This man Klinkman first developed
violent mania on Tuesday of last
week. The sheriff and his deputies
Were on the scene Tuesday and Wed
nesday. Tuesday night no paper in
Oregon knew anything of what was
happening at Ardenwald. Wednesday
afternoon rumors of something out
of the ordinary in that locality got to
the Portland newspapers. The first
news of the Klinkman episode reach-' :
ed Oregon City when Portland pa
pers called up their local corres
pondents Wednesday afternoon, late,
and asked for information. The Cour
ier was called up in this manner at
5:30 Wednesday afternoon. At that
time there was but one reporter on
the job in the Courier office, and he
had the city council meeting to
cover Wednesday night at seven.
Newspapermen are wizards, sec
ond-sight artists and general miracle
workers, but they cannot be in the
Oregon City council chamber and in
Ardenwald at the same time. The
Courier reporter who was on the job
stayed in Oregon City. He got such
information as he could regarding
Ardenwald, and telephoned it to .
Portland.
BELIEVING . THAT SHERIFF
WILSON WAS "ON THE JOB," HE '
USED THE SHERIFF'S NAME.-"
Later, after the council meeting.,
when the sheriff had returned, he
called up the sheriff at his home, and 1
asked for certain details regarding :
the Ardenwald episode, and the sheriff
obligingly gave them. He also call-:
ed up Fortland, and learned from s
(here the report that Portland and ;
Multnomah county officers had gained -
in an investigation of affairs at Ar-,'
uenwald. It was thon half past ten .
at night and at that time the Courier
reporter wrote the council story and
the Ardenwald story, as both had to
be in type the first thing Thursday
(Continued on Page 12)
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It