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About Lincoln County leader. (Toledo, Lincoln County, Or.) 1893-1987 | View Entire Issue (April 1, 1897)
i MR. : MEEKS' T "T" K said his inline was Slocks, f 1 ami it struck thoughtful ones in Buffalo Horn that the pa tronymie was singularly appropriate for the gentleman himself wns a mild eyed, "sundy-looklu' " little man, with a self-deprecatory nlr that suggested a standing apology on his part for pre suming to exist. He floated into town quietly, and bo unobtrusive and modest whs he that It was several days before his presence began to be noticed, and then only on account of a rumor that bad gained circulation to the effect that lie was an officer of the United States Secret Service. Then Buffalo Hornites lulled. Of course, like all Western peo ple, they understood that It Is not best to Judge from appearances; but, oh! what a chump I'ncle Sum must be. to send a wee bit of a man like this to arrest an Oklahoma malefactor! To be sure, nolxidy had the temerity to suggest this to Sir. Meeks. There are communities In which the one who pre sumes iiM)ii appearances is taking very long chances, nud Buffalo Horn wns one of these. Therefore, Mr. Meeks was treated with great show of respect liy all the leading citizens, who squared tilings with themselves by privately "giving him the horse-laugh." And, ail unconscious. Mr. .Meeks kept on his way, or. rather, stayed where he was and lay In wait for some certain crim inal who wns wanted for violating a score, more or less, of the Federal statutes. In strictest confidence, and with 4'hlld-like faith, he had Imparted more or less Information concerning his mis sion to Mart Winslow, the landlord of ' the little hotel where he was staying 4ind Mart being, after the manner of his kind, an Inveterate gossip, soon spread what information he had gleaned from the stranger, thereby causing a broad grin to appear whenever his guest wns mentioned. "Oil. but ain't V easy?" chuckled Mart to a couple of friends, one day, as he nodded towards the bar-room, where Mr. Meeks was engage.' in "set tin 'em up" to the ever-ready crowd. 4,I' ye ever see sech a sucker? Comes jere mi '.spec's th' duck 'e's layln' for f lope right Int tih tli' camp an' give "isself up, 1 s'pose; so yere'e stays, dlg gln' up lil'teen a week fr board an' spendin' copious at th' bar. Oh, I e'n ma ml it awhile." "tlawd! S'posln' th' man sh'd come In. all or a suddlntV" said .Tim Wylle. the city marshal. "Say, 1 bet 'e'd die o' cnre!" "What Is it tli' little feller wants. Mart'" asked some one sitting by the window. "Sli-h-li! Easy. Frank! oh, I d'no', not now. Hut I'll bet ye one thing 'taln't nobody he's n-golu' t ketch right off." It cnnie to be rumored, within a day or two, that "Kingfisher Williams was the man Mr. Weeks was after, this rumor lxing based upon the fact that the little man had been very quietly, of course making Inquiries concerning that notorious person, whom numerous county and national ollleers were more or less anxious to meet. He was not known personally to any one In Buffalo Horn, but Mr. Wylle assured the little man that Kingfisher Wtllinms was a very bad man, Indeed, and that If Mr. Meeks effected his capture It would be a great feather In his cap whereupon the little man swelled up considerably and luvlted Mr. Wylle to Join him at the bar. It was about n week after this con versation that the secret-service officer ami the city marshal were standing in the bar-room, discussing some question or other, when the door opened and a stranger entered nnd, walking tip to the Iwr, called for w hisky. Mr. Meeks wns looking earnestly upward into the big marshal's face na the stranger en tered, but withdrew his gaze for a mo ment to glance at the new-comer. Then he reached for Ills revolver. "There'll my mnn!" he remarked, calmly, In nu undertone, to the marshal, "(let buck from the bar, please." Wylle, dumbfounded, did as ho wna bidden, In time to see the stranger look up Just at Mr. Mooks got him covered. "Hand up, Mr. Williams!" com Sudei the little man. "I want you!" : PRISONER. With an oath, the other "drew," and for n few seconds there was a con fusion of shots, in which the city mar shal could take no part by reason of his revolver getting stuck and refusing to coma forth. Then the stranger threw up both hands, In token of surrender. "Have you er a pair of handcuffs, Mr. Wylle?" asked Mr. Sleeks. "Put 'em on him, please. Sorry, Sir. Will iams, but I can't take any chances with you." Williams did not answer, but growled angrily under Ills breath as he sub mitted to being handcuffed. "I'll git you for this!" he said to Wylle, as the latter stepped back after finishing the operation. "Oh, ye will, will ye? Walt ontell my frleud, Sir. Sleeks, gits through '1th ye, Sir. Williams," was the cheerful reply. "Wan' r put Mm In th' cooler?" asked the mitrshiil, presently. "No, thanks. He'll bunk with me to night, and to-morrow we leave. SIucli obliged, all the same." It was not more than an hour before every one In Buffalo Horn knew that little Sir. Sleeks had, single-handed, captured the notorious Kingfisher Will lams, after a short battle in which no body was hurt; and the general senti ment was of the "Well, I'll be dog goued!" variety. That night Sir. Sleeks had a levee nnd blushlngly received the congratula tions of the best citizens of Buffalo Horn during a period of two hours, while his now staunch friend, Jim Wylle, obligingly guarded his desper ate prisoner. Had he been a less tem perate man, he might have retired somewhat the worse for liquor, as did most of the citizens of Buffalo Horn; but he kept his wits about him and was as sober as his prisoner when they turned In. Next morning, a half-score of leading citizens had sufficiently recovered from the night's revelries to nceompanv him and his prisoner to Four-Mile Creek. lhls honor wns modestly protested against by the little man, who seemed not to see that he had done anything remarkable, but he was hooted down, and when they reached Fonr-SIIle bis escort parted from his with three rous ing cheers nnd n volley of revolver shots by way of salute. It was about one o'clock In the nfter nou when nu excited, hatless mnn, mounted on n Minting horse that dripped with perspiration, dashed up to the Hotel Winslow, In front of which a nuniberof citizens were sitting discus sing the events of the day nud night previous, and hoarsely announced: "Kingfisher he's killed 'im!" "What? Who?" asked Winslow. "What ye talkln' about, man?" The stranger wns gasping for breath, but presently mnmigod to explain that, twenty miles south, he had been resting under a tree. by a Btrenm, when a little man nnd a big man, whom he hud known In Kingfisher as "Kingllsher" Williams, came along and dismounted near by. The little man was leaning over to get a drink when Williams sneaked up behind him and struck htm down with his handcuffs. After this, said the stranger, he saw Wllllnuis take the keys from the little man's ioeket and unlock his handcuffs. Then he shot the Insensible victim with the hitter's own gun, mounted, nnd rode away; and the new-comer hurried Into Buffalo Horn the faster because Williams caught sight of him as he was leaving and took a few shots at him. "W'y dldu't ye shoot back 'r else git th' drop on "Im w'eu 'e hit little Sleeks wP th' bracelets?" asked Jim Wylle, fiercely. "Cause, In the first place, I didn't think 'e'd kill th' man. Second" and the stranger eyed Wylle quizzically "I reckon ye hain't real well acquainted ith Kingfisher Williams, be ye?" In less than an hour the little town wns practically depopulated of men, all but the cashier of the local bank and a few bar-teuders having gone on the warpath to catch nnd hang Kingfisher Williams for the murder of Mr. Meeks. The stranger did not accompany theni, his horse being blown and himself not being anxious to meet Mr. Williams. However, It made no difference, m ev ery one knew the ford which tht stranger said was the scene of the tragedy. Thus, nearly every one being gone southward to mete out Justice to the alleged murderer of Sir. Sleeks, It was really child's play for that gentleman and Sir. Williams, emerging from their hiding-place in the hills Just north of the town, and Joining the stranger who had brought the news, to loot the bank, three stores, the hotel, and every saloon In the place, and to get safely away on fresh horses at least three hours before the pursuit could be organized. And that Is why every officer whose business takes him into Buffalo Horn and neighboring towns Is looked upon with suspicion until his credentials are approved. Lester Ketchum, In the Saq Francisco Argonaut. WILLIE AND TAD LINCOLN. The Two Sons of the Great President and Their Natures. Julia Taft Bayne contributes an ar ticle to St. Nicholas on "Willie and Tad Lincoln." Who were nlnvmntea nf hpr brother during the time that they lived In the White House. Sirs. Bayne says: Willie Lincoln was the most lovable boy I ever know sensible, sweet-tempered, and gentle-mannered. He was rather fair, with blue-gray eyes, while lad had quick, dark eyes, and a fiery temper. Though very affectionate when he chose, Tad was unyielding In nis dislikes. His peculiar defect of speech made It difficult for strangers to understand him, but those who saw him every day had no difficulty. The two Lincoln boys were then a little over 10 and 8 years of age, my two brothers being a year or two older. The elder, Horatio, or "Budd," as he was always called, was fair, like Willie Lincoln, while Hally was dark. This resemblance of the two pairs of boys was often remarked upon. Willie nnd Tad were two healthy, rollicking Western boys who had never been accustomed to restraint. The no tice which their father's exalted station brought upon them was at times dis tasteful. Willie once said: "Wasn't there ever a President who had chil dren before? I wish they wouldn't stare at us so!" The first time they went to church with us, Willie said: "Will he pray for us, do you think? Preachers al ways pray so long for Pa." Dr. Smith did pray for them, as he recognized them In our pew. Willie's cheeks grew very red, but Tad was sitting on he floor of the pew, and heeded not He was so uneasy that he always sat on the floor a good part of the service, drawing pictures, and amusing him self with whatever he could flud in his pockets. On another Sunday, when he was un usually restless, a young officer friend of ours gave him a knife, which he thought Tad would not open, but he did, and cut his finger, and I had to do It up in hiy best embroidered handker chief. On this occasion I was goaded to say: "I'll never take you to church again. Thomns Lincoln!" he hated of all things to be called Thomas "I just suf fer agonies an the time!" "Well," said Tad, "wasn't Willie sitting up there, good as pie, and you poked me with you toe?" Election or United States Senators. In his paper on "This Country of Ours" in the Ladies Home Journal ex Presldent Harrison writes of Congress, and tells how United States Senators are elected. "The law of 180C," he says, "provides that the Legislature chosen next before the expiration of the terra of a Senator shall choose his successor, and that it shall proceed to do so on the second Tuesday after it as sembles. On that day each House of the Legislature must vote separately, viva voce, for a Senator, and enter the result on its Journal; the two Houses must at 12 m. the next day meet In Joint session, nnd If It nppears that the same person has received a majority of the votes In each House he Is de clared elected; if there has been no elec tion the Joint assembly must take a vote, and If any one receives a ma jority of the votes a majority of all the members elected to both Houses being present and voting he Is to be declared elected. If there Is no elec tion the Joint assembly proceeds with the balloting, and must meet every day at 12 m., and take at least one bal lot each day until a Senator is elected. The Governor of the State is requed to certify the election under the seal of the State, to the President of the Senate, the certificate to be counter signed by the Secretary of State of the State." Expenses of the White Home, Congress appropriates between $40, 000 and $50,000 annually for the cur rent expenses of the Executive Man sion to meet clerk hire. Including that of the President's private secretary, which is $5,000 a year; stenographer! tyiewr!ters, telegraph operators, mes sengers, doorkeepers, a steward, and housekeeper, and light and heat OnlyThsT Old Gentleman (to railway porter) Torter, the rain Is dripping in from the lamphole all over my trousers. Forter (reassuringly) No, iir, jf, quite water-tight, I assure you. It's only the oil leaking a bit-Household Words. Whenever two women get together, and there la a man In an adjoining room, they soon begin to whisper. EAPiLY DAYS OF OIL. BEGINNING OF PETROLEUM DAYS IN PENNSYLVANIA. Growth nnd Collapse of the Tremen dous Boom that Followed One Resi dent Who Objected to the Greenish Bcutn and Left for Canada. The First Strike. The story of the discovery of oil In PeilllKvlvnnln nnrl the Rtlrrlnn' Inci dents connected therewith is an Inter esting chapter in the country, with which our readers are un doubtedly familiar. But there are many facts of Interest prior to the boring of the wells that are known to but few. It Is related of a fltspnnriifri.il Tttnimni. COL. UltAKE. resident, of what afterward became fa mous as the Oil Prnek reMnns tlmt liU Interest was sufficiently a wakened by reports, wnicn reached him In some Way. of ljuaaiulv rich (ienoslts nf rim I oil across the Canadian border, to cause him to leave Oil Creek and repair to Canada. One of the objectionable features of the farm he left, according to the story, was the oozing of a green ish scum to the surface of the streams, so much that at the point where his horses nnd cattle drank it was neces sary to construct a surface dam, In or der that the animals might drink with out being compelled to dip through the noxious deposit floating on the surface of the water. This fionting substance was of an oily nature and long had been used In the war paints, rites and medicines of the Indians of the region, from whom It derived Its name Sene ca oil. No thought, however, of the Im mensity of the supply of the multiplied uses to which It might be put was en tertained by any one. The oily wealth the restless settler sought In Canada failed to materialize at that time. Meanwhile, In the form of the despis ed scum oozing from the old Oil Creek farm he had deserted, It was making the effort nature afforded to force upon the world more fitting recognition of the volume nnd value of It stored In the hidden natural reservoirs from which It enme. This oil found its way to the surface at various points along the creek flats, notably In the vicinity of A TYPICAL OIL TOWN the lumber mill of Brewer, Watson & Co., perhaps a mile south of Tltusvllle. Eventually a high value wns put upon It for medicinal purposes, and the gath ering of It principally by the process of soaking It from the water with blan ketsbecame quite a profitable busi ness. It also had a limited use as a lu bricant, nnd a more limited use as an lllumlnnnt In Its crude stnte. In the days Just prior to the discov ery of oil the Oil Creek valley, from Tltusvllle southward to the Alleghany River, or to the present site of Oil City, a distance of about twenty miles, was practically uninhabited. Titusvllle was a little lumbering village. It was not until 1857 that It was believed that oil existed In sufficient quantities for com mercal purposes, nnd in thnt year drilling through rock was begun at Tl tusvllle under the direction of Col. Ed win L. Drake, who had been a railroad contractor at New Haven, Conn. His salary wns to be $1,000 a year and the compnny had provided him with $1,000 with which to begin the work of sink ing a well. The little village afforded but few of the necessary equipments for the work, and the funds were soon exhausted. The company, losing faith In the enterprise and becoming Indiffer ent, failed to advance Col. Drake more money. It was then the tatter's trou bles began. The drillers he had engag ed failed to appear. This was due In part to the report spread over the re gions that Drake was crazy In believ ing that oil would be found by drilling Into the rock. But his faith on this point was unshaken, after his study of the salt wells and other investigations of Insanity, only served to intensify bis determination to demonstrate that the theory wns correct It was not until the middle of June, 1850, that he was able to proceed with the well, and then only from outside assistance. The First Completed Well. On Saturday, August 28, 1S50, the drill at the shallow depth of 00V4 feet, bout 85 feet In the rock, dropped Into a crevice ns the day's work was beD. finished, nnd the tools were pulled out until Slonday morning. The followin, day, Sunday, the senior driller, "Unci Billy" Smith, strolled down to the wej and saw what seemed to be oil within a few feet of the top. He dipped an Improvised bailer Into the well and t came up filled with petroleum. Tlitjj was the first oil well conceived and completed. It was not the first arte sion well in which oil was found, hut It was the first well sunk for oil. The period In which the lilgh-tijj mnrk was renched In the regions, In tht volume of business, in interest nnd population, wns in the six years fol lowing Col. Drake's strike. The ell max of that period found 100,000 peo pie In the regions which had been prac tically a wilderness but a few yean before. Though the striking of the Drake well caused feverish excitement at once, an Immediate Influx of people to the regions and sent skyward the vnlue of lands along the creek, there was a bar to the boom In the limited means for storing and marketing the product. Within three years the sup ply so much exceeded the demand that the price dropped from CO cents a gal lon to 10 cents n bnrrnl. There wcrc three big wells nt this neriod whinh nveraged 2,500 or 3,000 barrels a day, nnd several hundred small ones. For lack of storage nnd shipping facilities a great quantity of oil wns wasted. In 18G2 a small lake of petroleum was kept between the big Fountain and Empire wells and many a boatload was procured at 10 cents a barrel. In the years 18(34 and '05 the boom reach ed Its climax and then began Its rapid decline. The Polar Snow Cap of Mars. We have received the following Infor mation from America: "A telegram re ceived at Harvard Observatory on Jan. 11 from Lowell Observatory, now locat. ed near the City of Mexico, says that a rift has been observed since Jan. 7 In the north polar cap of Mars In longitude 40." This "rift" Is probably similar to those observed nt the opposition of 1894, In the southern cap. Prof. W. H. Pickering, with a six-Inch telescope, found one In May 22, crossing the cap from longitude 330 to 170. This grew considerable In size, measurements made on June 0 and 15 Indicating a width of 100 and 350 miles respective ly. Sir. Douglass also during the same month, June 10, detected a second nnd third rift, the latter running from longi tude 1(0 to 90. The sequence of phe- IN THE EARLY SIXTIES nomena observed sems to indicatethat they are due to the lower levels at the poles being uncovered; in this way, as the snow melts, the bare ground is ex posed, appearing dark in contrast to the snow still lying on the more elevat ed heights. Their broadening Is then a nntural result of the departing enow, and Indicates that the polar cap Is at that time In a far advanced state of dis integration. Nature. No Big Men. A man from the mountains of East Tennessee was In Washington recent ly and visited the cnpltol. He met Congressman-elect Brownlow of the First District, who knows every man In Tennessee and calls them by their given names. "Well, John," asked the statesman, "what do you think of Washington?" "Waal, Walt," replied the f ennesse an, " 'tween yo' an' me, I'm sorter dis appointed. I've bin layln' out ter cum ter Washington fer thirty-odd y'ar. I've heard thet all th' big men o' th' United States was hyar. I done snrched higa an' low all day fer 'em. an' I dldu't see none. The feller on th' bench, th' Jedge, I reckon, he be, In one o' them two co't rooms up thar is mlddllu' hefty, but ole Abe Thompson thet runs the saloon In Bristol 'd made two o' him, 'ith enough trlmmln's lef over ter make two or three boys. Ther may be big men hyar, but I kain't fln' 'em." Washlugton Star. One-Cent Newspapers. There are now $8,000,000 worth of one-cent pieces In circulation, and the call upon the mint is still for more. Not all these cents are wanted for the plate collection. It Is one-cent Journalism more than anything else which keeps the wheels turning in the mint as In tbs marts of trade. rhlladedlphla Record. When a woman complains a good deal of cold feet It Is a sign tht la an old maid. u v