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About The gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1912-1925 | View Entire Issue (July 16, 1914)
HOME AND FARM MAGAZINE SECTION A Righter of Wrongs By Dix Drommond Osmun. jHE tig cowboy pushed through the I eircie oi auapHiated-looiung people until he was faee to face with the old woman sitting on a broken trunk surrounded by a miserable assortment of household goods. "What seems to be the matter, Jna'amt" he asked politely, taking off his broad-brimmed hat. The woman did not eease hei weep ing, and Jim glared angrily around at the gaping crowd. "If you low-down eritters has been tormentin' the ol' lady, I'd sure be pleased tuh know about it," he declar ed menacingly. "We ain't donenothin', mister," ex plained a man. "She's been turned out fer not payin' her rent." Jim stared. "Yuh mean that some snake-livered coyote put that po ol' dame out fer not payin' a little money I ' ' "Sure dat's what they done." "How mucht" he asked tersely. "Nine dollars an' six bits," volun teered a woman. "Bad luck to the hard heart of him who done it!" "Same here, lady," responded Jim. "Howsomever, the first thing tuh be done aecordin' to my notions is to put her back agin. Such a triflin' sum ain't nuthin' tuh me, an' I'd be proud tuh help an old lady tuh that amount, an' then some fer grub an' things which it looks like tuh me she ain't had plenty of in some time." "Hivin bless yer fer that, mister," eried the woman who had spoken be fore. "May the blissid saints " "Sure, that's all right," broke in the embarrassed Jim. "Now, who's go in' tuh help get this truck backt" There were a score of willing hands at his serviee. The old woman eould not understand at first what was happening, but when she did she made her rescuer exceeding ly uncomfortable by her voluble thanks. He hastily shouldered the trunk and, guided by a small urchin, traversed dirty halls and ascended even dirtier stairways until he arrived at a squalid room, lighted only by one window, and that opening into an air shaft. He set the trunk down and looked about him in consternation. "Why, this ain't fitten fer no hu man bein' tuh live in," he stated em phatically. "Say, what got inter the feller that built this placet Looks tuh me 'sif he was plumb locoed." "Gness yon ain't wise to the eity," answered his guide. "This here place is what they calls a tenement, and they puts as many rooms in as they can so 's to git more rent." Jim scowled; it was not his idea of making money. "Who owns this shacks, sont" "I dunno nobody don't know. I gness the gny would be ashamed to let on." "How does he get the rent, then J" asked the unsophisticated Jim. "Oh, a agent gits it" Jim waited long enough to see the old woman installed, and leaving her a gen erous roll of bills, departed and retraced his steps back to the hotel at which he was staying. "Say," he told the clerk, "I just seen the hello ver thing," and narrated his experiences, leaving out only his generosity. "There was a donation took up," was tho way he explained that part of it. "I'd feel real pleased tuh know the name of the skunk that owns that there shack," he concluded wrathfully. The clerk leaned over the desk and whispered a name in his ear. "Yuh joshin'l" '"No, I'm not. That's straight goods. My cousin is his agent." "Why, th' ornery dog!" exploded Jim, "an' him the richest man in the Btate!" After expressing a few more uncom plimentary remarks, Jim went up to his room, and was still boiling when sleep cut short his maledictions. He awoke the next morning with a well-defined grouch, and ate breakfast in a melan choly silence. "What yuh sore about f" asked a voice in his ear, as a newcomer pulled out the next chair and sat down. "Shack! Well, by Cripes! I was jnst wishin' yuh was here. Wben'd yuh jit int" "Minute ago. What's doin'f " "Hellovcr lot Listen here." An' i'm cravm' revenge," he wound up, "just like that feller we seen in the show last winter." "What yn goin' tuh do! Course I'm in with yuh. He'd oughter be strung up, tnat's what, only this dura coun try's gettin' so blame ladylike." "I dunno. 1 can't think uh nuth in'." A gloomy silence fell upon the two. They finished their meal and trailed out into the offiee. "Get over your mad yett" asked the clerk pleasantly. "No, an' I aint goin' tnh," replied Jim. "iife an' my pardner here is Din- in' tuh do somethin' but we can't fig- ger out anything." By the way," said the clerk cas ually, "old Lawrence is going out to his ranch the Arrow Seven, you know in his automobile this morning. Fu- ny how that road winds along in that gulch. I've often wondered he didn't have a hold-up, going back and forth, as he does, with only his kid chauf feur." Why, it does seem sorter resky," assented Jim. "Come on, Shack," he added to his friend, "we gotter be go- in' if we want tuh keep that business engagement." "What business have we got tuh tend tuh I" asked Shack when they reaehed tho street. We're goin' tuh take a ride, me an' you, an' we gotter git another cay use besides ourn." Shack looked surprised, but as the younger man of the two it was not for him to ask questions. Not until they were fully five miles from the eity, fol lowing a trail-like road, did Jim divulge the "business." "An' here's the spot," be wound up. "When we see him eomin' well each git one side oh the road, an ' if he don't stop, ping a tire that'll break in on his hurryin' any." Some minutes later the red touring car of Randall Lawrence was held up in approved bandit Btyle. The owner, being a timid man, offered no resist ance to the masked robbers who order ed him to alight. Mr. Randall was not a western prod uct. Ho had lately eome from the East with money to invest, and had proceed ed to invest it wherever the promise of dividends seemed largest. At first the people of Benson City and the sur rounding country had hailed with de light the advent of a real live capital ist within their borders; but a growing familiarity with Mr. Lawrence's meth ods tempered their delight considerably. It is even probable that had the ma jority of the citizens who abode in that section of Wyoming seen the great fi nancier in his present position they would not have been greatly displeas ed. "Now, Mr. Lawrence," said Jim gruffly, "this ain't no picnic, an' then agin it ain t no proper hold-np. We ain't after your money, but yuh is onr pris'ner just the same. First thing yuh does is tuh shed them duds, an' put on some we has 'speeial pervided for the casion. An' we must ask yuh tuh cut off them whiskers, onless yuh would rather for us tuh do the job. I got the scissors in my pocket for cuttin' 'em." This is an outrage," fumed Mr. Lawrence, his fat. pnffy face livid with anger, "a dastardly outrage." "IThhuh,'' assented Jim calmly. "That's the way it would look tuh most people. Howsomever, if you'D just change them duds and tho rest of it, it'll sumo time an' trouble." The capitalist looked keenly at the other, and failed to find any comfort in tho cold eyes shining through the "I don't know what your game is, but I have $200 with me, which 1 will give yon in exchange for my liberty, and let it end the matter. I am a busy man, and my time is worth money. I " "It's no use," snapped .Tim. "I told yuh what tnh do, and I'm gittin' prety tired uh waitin'." While the magnate was disgustedly following out the humiliating orders un der the direction of Shack, Jim led the chauffeur to one side. "Now, son," he explained, "yuh want tuh do everything just as I lays it out for yuh. First off yuh goes on tuh the ranch and say that your boss sent yuh out for authin'. Then you have a tire bust or the mscbin'ry oxplode, an' let on yuh can't get home till to morrcr. Then about sundown tomorrcr, yuh gets powerful oxcitcd an' rip aroun' an' say that yuh just cayn't keep still no longer that the boss done got held up by two desp'radoes. Got that straight, sont" "Yes, sir," answered the boy. "Good. Yuh scm tub me tuh be a real sensible young feller. Well, about two days from now, yuh come tuh the house which is writ on this paper I'm goin' tuh give yuh, an' yuh '11 find the boss there safo an' sound, an' maybe git a reward. Now, son, I ain't goin tuh be harBh with yuh, but if yuh don't do oxactly as I tells yuh, there'll be sunthin' comin' your way, an' it'll come good and plenty. Yuh '11 be good, won't yuhf" Yes, sir." Right! An' now there's one thing more. After yuh git the boss out, yuh let on that yuh know who's been keep- in' him eaptive. It was Jim Hunter an' Shack Morley. Don't fereit thorn names Jim Hunter an' Shack Mor ley." You want me to tell on yout" ask ed tho amazed chauffeur. "Say, I don't care what you do to him. I won't tell anything if you'd rather not. He's the meanest man I ever worked for, and he's got a lot cominc to him. He" "Easy there, son," reprimanded Jim. "Don't yuh ever run down a man when yuh takin' his money. If yuh don't like him, quit yuh job an' then shoot yuh mouth off some if it'll help yuh any, but 's long as he's yuh boss stan' on his side. Understand! " "Yes, sir." "Well, now hike along an' do's I said." Randall Lawrence, bereft of his Van Dyke beard, and clothed in overalls and a blue flannel shirt, rode through the streets of Benson City between his two captors late that evening, and was duly imprisoned in vile quarters, ne lan guished in his cell for some two davs beforo he was discovered by his chauf feur and released. Coincident with his reseuo ho received news which caused him to procure warrants for the arrest of Jim Hunter and Shack Morley. run wait till the trial," was all they could be induced to say. If them two boys swore on the Bi ble that they held uo that there ol' skunk, I wouldn't believe it, onless uh course they done it fer some kind of a joke," declared the foreman of thf Bar O outfit, which numbered Jim and Shack among its members, and his dec laration voiced the sentiments, not only of tho Bar O people, but also of every once who had ever eome in contact with tho two culprits. The day of the trial saw the popula tion of Benson City considerably aug mentod by a rough and noisy clement who loudly voiced their belief in the prisoners' innoeenee, and evinced a readiness to pull Benson City apart if the jury should decide otherwise. In the crowded courtroom Jim and Shack listened to the ravings of the prosecuting attorney with unmoved faces. Mr. Lawrence was equally se rene. He told his story simply and truthfully, dwelling much on the dis comforts of his imprisonment. "Gentlemen," he said impressively. "the room where I wns confined was not fit for a hog to live in. I breed some pretty good hogs, and 1 11 tell you honestly that if they had found them selves in that room they would have died for laek of air and sunshine." Beach, Forest, Stream and Moun tains. furnish natural pleasure at Bayoccan; while comfort and convenience may he had in a completely furnished summer hungalow; S10.00 a week, $18.00 two weeks, $30.00 a month. Rates at Hotel from $2.50 per day up. T. B Fetter Eealty Companviltg 722 C'orbrtt Building fev'S" -J WgF Portland. Oregon. w y5;- ' The jury langhed and Mr. Lawronee dcBcendod from the witness stand well pleased with himself. At last it was the turn of the lawyer for the defense, Jim Hunter. : He lazily stretched his six feet of height upward till he was standing erect. "Now, Judge, I don't know much about this law business, an' I wants tuh ask yuh, Judge, cayn't I tell the thing in my own way, an' will yuh kindly keep that there feller that's been roasfin' me an' Shack, quiet till I gets through 1" The judge nodded. "Well, then, Mr. Judge, an' fellers on the jury. Mo an' Shack done kid naped Mr. Lawrence, an' we done put him in a pretty mean room. I admits that what he says about them there pigs uh his is right, 'cause that room wasn't fitten fer no pig tuh live in. There wasn't no fresh air, as ho says. 'an the smells was suthin' orful, but I don't Bee why Mr. Lawrence is rais in' such a holler about it. That there room was in a ten 'mint house at No. 2 River street, an' Mr. Lawrence own it, an' if it's so plumb bad fer him tuh stay two days, what's it like fer them po' folks that's there all the timet That's what we shut him up fer so's bo could know what it was like." The courtroom laughed yelled is a better word. In vain the iudiro rapped for order. Even the jury rocked back and forth holding its fiide in merriment. Mr. Lawrence rose hastily and tried to reach tho donr, but the crowd held him bick. The prosecuting attorney at tempted to make a speech, but he him self recognized its futility. Already the jury had reached a decision, and nothing that he could Bay would alter it 'I fell plumb mean about it," said Jim some time later to an admiring au dience, who were thrusting upon him and Shack every token of its worship for a joke is still a joke in the West "I feel plumb mean about it," he repeated. "We mighter done 'most anything tuh him, an' he'd 'a' got over but tuh mak him a langhin' stock like we done it's goin' tuh stick tuh him fer the rcBt of his life." Gates for the Garden. The garden should have two gates, ono small one and one large one. The small gate should be convenient to the house and the large one convenient to tho barn, for hauling manure aud en tering with team and tools. Cheapening the Rations. The Iowa station has found that a small amount of oil meal or cotton seed meal added to corn and oats improves and cheapens tho ration for work horses. A mixture of 77 pounds of shelled corn, 15 pounds of oats and 8 pounds of oil meal gave somewhat better results than oil meal, and tho ration was a little cheaper in the proportion of 79 pounds of corn, 15 pounds of oats and six pounds of oil meal. Success May Bo Farther Down. In many instances tho yield of gar dens can be increased by simply getting down a few inches deeper with fork or spade. The French gardeners can give Americans many lessons in this respect The soil should be pulverized, but work should not bo commenced too early. Flowing tho ground while it is too wet will cause the sail to pack in solid lumps. Good land is almost ruined in this manner. Tho Kentucky innate has pained a hill anthnriiing the employment of eonvieta in the manufacture of articlee for gtata nee. it
