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About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (July 14, 1927)
HEPPNER GAZETTE TIMES, HEPPNER, OREGON, THURSDAY, JULY 14, 1927. PAGE THREE CHAPTER I A Fatal Smashup. "Another little drink won't do us any harm!" The two young men in the small car Bang it together, a reedy tenor and a pleasing baritone. They were on the river road, coming south from Burley to their home town, Scottdale. The hour was 10 o'clock of a mild spring evening. A moon whose rays were Altered by thin clouds illumined the road running through well-timbered bluff lands. Below and at the right, the river shone with a subdued light. It could be heard splashing about the rocks in the rapids. The driver of the little car brought it to a stop in the road. He hud dark hair and eyes and regular fea tures. He was considered good look ing, though there was weakness in his eyes and about the loose set of his mouth. "Come across with that bottle, Ed die," he commanded. He placed his hand against the side of the other's head and pushed violently. He was boisterous and a little malicious. "Quit it, you nut!" commanded Edison Forbes, knocking the other's hand down sharply He produced a flask from the lower, outside pocket of his coat. It was a little over half full. He passed it to the other, who took it eugerly, removed the cork, and tilted the bottle. The liquor gur gled down his throat. Forbes jerked it away. "Hey, what's the matter with you?" he ask ed, half-laughing, half-vexed. "Trying to get away wit) ten dollars worth of booze in one swallow?" He raised the bottle and looked at it humor ously, trying to determine the exact quantity against the moon. "Come home to your drunken old father!" was his address to the bottle. He too tilted it. The liquor was Canadian whiskey, but a reproach to the name when compared to that imported before The moon had temporarily conquered the clouds and was now shin ing brightly. They saw that the driver of the car, a woman, was dead the passage of the Eighteenth Amend ment. For this hnd been manufactured for an illicit, eager, not too discrim inating trade. It had passed through several hands before importation. Each middleman had done something to cheapen and degrade it before passing it on. The stuff was strong with the strength of vitriol and it lapped at the throat and stomach-lining l'ke liquid fire. The young men gasped and coughed, the barbaric stuff brought water to their eyes, and all but choked them. There was an in stant and savage kick to it. "Little close harmony now, old kid," suggested the dnrk youth, thumping Forbes on- the shoulder. ' They swung into a favorite of the training-camp quartets: "Farewell, farewell, my own true love, Farewell, farewell " A high-pitched scream of mortal terror; another; and then a crash and a tinkling of glass, cut across the song. They stopped instantly. "What's that?" queried the tenor, fright in his weak voice. "Sounds like a smashup ahend," re plied Forbes, rapidly. "Let's go." The other was unnerved by the portent of trngedy. He was trembl ing. He mBde three attempts to start the car before he succeeded. The road at this point curved rnther sharply as it followed the edge of the bluffs, so that little was visible in front but the tall trees. They had proceeded but a short dis tance when a turn brought them to the scene of the accident. A south bound truck was well on the wrong side of the road. It was in collision with a touring-car which, in an effort to avoid the truck, had dropped into n ditch which bisected the roadway. The ditch was planked only across the narrow surface of the built-up highway at this point. The truck had forced the car down ward and back, so that its renr wheels were in the ditch. The truck hnd partly telescoped it. The mnssivc wheels and forwnrd end rested on the crusHcd-in bonnet of the car. All this Forbes and his companion saw as they stopped their own car and made a hasty survey. The moon had temporarily conquered the clouds i.nd now shone brightly. They saw that the driver of tho car, a woman, was dead. She hnd been crushed be tween the back of the car and the Bteering-wheel. She still sat upright the nose of the truck against her body. The driver of the truck wns in his place. His arms were on the steering-wheel. Ilia head rested on his D Michael J. arms. The truck windshield had been broken. This was the only damage to the heavier vehicle. It loomed, a shapeless bulk, under its closely fas tened tarpaulin. The body of the truck was tilted from the road at a dangerous angle. Forbes' companion ad been sober ed by the spectacle. He stood by and wrung his hands ineffectively. Forbes climbed into the seat of the truck and raised the driver's 'head. The man opened his eyes. It was appar ent that he was partially duzed by the shock. But there was raw liquor on his breath. "What's the matter?" he mumbled, stupidly. "1 thought so!" snarled Forbes. He turned to his companion. "It's Scoot Libbey. I bought our booze from him at Burley." Retaining his grip on the man's collar he backed off the seat, drugging the bulky, feebly re sistant Libbey with him. "You fool!" he suid fiercely, when they had stumbled to the ground. "Running a booze-truck, and without tense enough to keep sober. See what you've done?" He jerked the man roughly about so that he could see the havoc his leckless driving had created: The little cur, partly under the truck, and looking as though it were being de voured by the ruthless monster as tride it: and the body in the telescop ed seat. "You've killed that woman." Forbes shook the driver savagely. I.ibbey's eyes opened wide. His juws sagged apart. His nose, broken and twisted in some past bruVl, threw a grotesque shadow across his face. He backed away from the sight that Forbes' hands forced him to look up on. "Lenime go, Eddie," he urged huskily. "Lemme get away from here!" Forbes' was sinewy and strong. He was very little taller th:m the driver and much lighten, but he held the bulbous Libbey easily. "Get away!" he echoed contemptuously. "Y'ou'll get away with ubout ten years for manslaughter. They'd ought io hang you!" CHAPTER II The other's shoulders slumped sul lenly. His brief struggle hud revealed, j.pparem ly. that escape wns impos sible. He was an employee of a booze-ring which was smunpling con traband liquor into the United States by the shipload, and so was admit tedly within the shadow of the law. Forbes himself had, only an hour be fore, persuaded the driver to break open one of the eases stacked beneath the shrouding canvus, and sell him a bottle from ils contents. "What'll we do, Eddie?" implored the dark-haired youth, shivering from the upset to his nerves; "try to get her out?" "Wc can't until help comes," re turned Forbes. The river road was little used, except by the few farmers living along it. That is the reason the booze truck, making the long run to Detroit, had chosen the byway. These cruisers avoided chance en counters whenever possible. "The coroner must see this jam before we move anything." A light flushed through the tops of the trees above them and was gone. "Someone's coming," announc ed Forbes. "That's a car climbing Waterman's hill. Move the flivver to cne side, kid, so they can drive up." He retained his grip on the driver of the booze-truck. The dark-eyed youth climbed into his car. There was no passing on the left, or east, side, since th ditch was there, and the vehicles in collision. But on the right side one might with care negotiate the crest of the blulw This the young man did, driving urgently but carefully until he was in the highway on the Scottdale side. There was a level space a few rods below where ho might have paiked, But he did not stop there, instead, the engine whirring urgently, he wheeled to the left in'o ft byroad. This connected with the main high way, a mile to the east. Ho turned off the lights as he tied. The moon furnished sufficient illumination, and the way was reasonably clear. Forbes iip curled at his compan ion's cowardice. Ho made n quick inhalation, as if to shout, but thought better of it. After all, the fellow might as well go. There wov.ld be explanations to make. The fewer vho had to tell how they came to be on the river road that night, tho better. Scottdale was a small and l'uritanicul city that hated and lonthed the booze trafhc and illegal drniking. It vif? ited its displeasure on those who drank. WAMP Phillips Illustration, by Henry Jay Lee Copyright Michael V. Phillip Released thru Pu.bliahr Autocwtar Service. His companion was safely away hen the light of the car which had shone a few moments before Bur mounted the hill. He turned his head to watch its approach, and the next instant was on his back in the deep ditch. Libbey had no rolish for fac ing trial for taking human l!fe. He had struck with surprising quickness and force, considering his rolypoly body and his semi-drunkenness. Fear had sobered him; that was evident from the speed he showed getting away. He ran across the road. As Forbes scrambled up he plunged recklessly over the side of the steep bank to ward the river. It was a long and steep descent, but one not particular ly perilous. The surface was grassy i.nd soft with the melting snows and the spring rains. There were bushes but few projecting rocks. The river at this point was not tormiduble. The broken white water the rapids was swift but shallow. Even as he stood on the brink and peered ufter the hurtling figure, Forbes visualized the man's destina tion across the river to the railroad only two miles beyond where from one of the small towns nearby he could catch a train that would land him in Detroit or Chicago. He decided that it was not worth while to chase the' fugitive. The telephone would be faster and surer than his own legs. - A message to Lancaster and Loomis would result inevitably in Libbey's being picked up. He turned back to the wreck. He tried to wipe the blood from his face. But his nose was bleeding cop-' iously from the chauffeur's blow a:d he succeeded only in smearing it i bout considerably. - He felt a sense f responsibility for the accident. It was evident that the driver had de cided to become his own customer. But this was only after Forbes had persuaded him to break into the case of whiskey at Burley. A restraint had been removed when the guard that habitually traveled with the truck, Barney Oik, had been taken ill and compelled to go to bed at Burley. This left Scoots Libbey in sole charge of the cargo. And moral laws have little force with the drivers of booze trucks. By the very nature of their calling they are not of high calibre. Fear of fists and bullets is all that keeps them tit all faithful. Savage self-contempt possessed Forbes. This tragedy had ended the temporury exhileration of the alcohol he had consumed. His knees trem bled; his stomach rose. Pandering to his cursed appetite had lighted the powder-train thut ended in this the snuffing out of a useful and blameless life. 'lhe car from the south had drawn up and stopped, unheeded by him. He was deep in his own vhiriwiivi. He drew the bottle from his pocket and hurled it into the adjoining Held. A shining arc was rente I that glitter ORDERS TAKEN THIS WEEK FOR SUNFREZE 3-layer brick contains French Vanila, Vic toria Nut and Malted Pineapple. DELICIOUS NORMAN ICE CREAM We carry the bulk. McAtee & Aiken n Your Money Goes Farther This Way: People maintain checking accounts in this hank because they want to get the greatest value from their money. Their money goes farther that way. They get more ben efit from it when they maintain a reasonably larg aver age balance. Such a balance provides them with suffi cient funds for emergencies, entitles them to greater service from this bank and builds up credit so that, if necessary, they can secure loans in proportion to their needs. Maintain a checking account here with a reasonably large balance. It will help you get the most from your money. And you'll be entitled to the maximum of mighty valuable service from this bank. Farmers & Stockgrowers National Ileppner Bailk 0reon ed in the moonbeams and in the light of the automobi'o. A grave, bearded man, dressed in the gurb of a farmer, left the vehicle and approached him. The newcomer was followed by a younger man, from his general resemblance to the other, his son. "What's this?" demanded the man with the beard. He looked with disapproval ut the blood-stained face of Forbes. "A booze-runner ran into that car and killed the woman," was the dull reply. He was still hearing the clam or only of his own mental battlefield. The two men surveyed the wreck, erified his assertion, -end came back to confront him. "Where's the driver?" asked the spokesman. Forbes waved his hand toward the west. "He ran away just before you cume. We better telephone and head him off before he jumps a train." The two men considered. The old er turned to his companion and said: "Stephen, you go over there and find what he threw away." The youth climbed the rail fence. His Bearch was brief; the bottle was easily seen against the brown earth of the field. He handed it accusingly to his father. "You'll have to come with me," said the elder, coldly. "I'm Constable Wooten of Highlands township. "Why should I go with you?" aske'd Forbes, in surprise. "You just thew away a half bottle o' liquor. You've been drinkin'. And your face is all blood. I'm goin' to turn you over to the sheriff as the driver of the truck." "But I told you " began Forbes, impatiently. "Yes. And if we find the man you said has run away, then you're all right. But I huven't seen any driver but you." (Continued next week) A Good Afalfa and Sheep Ranch For Sale Located on John Day high way, one mile of Dayville. Sell with or without sheep. Good fall, winter and spring range and summer permit on Malheur forest. Can give time on land. Address, or call on F. L. Officer, Dayville, Oregon. 12-25. FOR SALE Ford truck with "Rux' axle. See J. Perry Cornier. Edsel B. Ford A remarkably good "close-up" of Edsel 13. Ford, now president of the Ford Motor Company, taken as the 14 airplanes hopped off on a relia bility tour of 25 American cities and for which he will award a spec ial trophy for the 4,200 miles of flyinp. -MM- 0 r a Vwr rfii EXTENDING RURAL SERVICE. Farm electrification has passed the experimental stage in this country. In the past year a total of 227,5QQ farms in 27 states were supplied with electricity and 175 uses for electricity on the farm were found. 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