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
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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.