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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (March 8, 1936)
RANCH MYSTERY A STORY FOR CHILDREN By Paula There had been trouble brewing 'or months on the Nevada ranch nhere Tim and Ron and their parents lived.' Numbers of their attle had been stolen, and the tight Beth came out from the Bast to regain her health on her Uncle's ranch, that uncle was hot in the shoulder during a new raid on his horses. Beth, infer red in trying to solve the plot, found a little silver wheel in a 'ittle-used pasture and kept it as ier own special secret. She 'nought it might be some clew to the identity of the men seeking !o discourage her uncle in the raffle-business and to run him off is land. Beth obtained a promise from Claude, the mail-carrier, to take her into see the little West 9rn town not many miles away. Chapter 8. IT WAS two weeks before Beth had an opportunity to make the trip with Claude. There was much for her to do on the ranch, and, too, she stayed with Aunt Mary when the boys and her uncle took the cattle to the rail road. When that was over, the men started looking for a new loca tion to drill a well. The location for the new well was a long time being decided upon, but at last Beth and Claude drove oft in the mall car rier's rig with Bob, Beth's new horse, hitched on behind. As the carriage neared the little Western town, Beth pulled the star-shaped wheel from her pocket. "Claude," she said, "what ts this?" The man took the shining wheel and turned It over and over tn his rough hand. "Why, miss, that's a rowel. And In case yon don't know what a rowel la. It's the business-end of a spur . . . the part you Jab a horse with to make him step out." While Beth thought her own private thoughts. Claude lapsed Into a long dissertation on the possible cruelty In using spurs. All Claude needed was a subject, and he could make a twenty minute speech about It Beth put the wheel back In her pocket So THAT was what It was I "Where do you wanna' start seeing the town first, miss? Shall we start at the depot?" asked Claude. "Yes, that suits me." There were two or three groups of people standing on the station platform, so Beth knew there must be a train due soon. A new kind of people they were to her, too . . . suntanned and gaunt men in jeans and wide, dusty hats . . . women with wlnd-burried faces and tired eyes. The mall-carrier and Beth' walked out on the platform. She knew from the eager expression on his face that seeing a train come in was a joyous experience for Claude. While Beth busied herself looking around, Claude walked boldly up to two men and greeted them with friendly respect. One was a tall gray-haired man wear ing a wide black hat. The other man. who was introduced to Claude, had a city-look about him. Both found the men Interesting, and since no one addressed her directly she stood back a bit and listened. It was all so different from the Eastern city that had been her home. Here there was so much tl'at was interesting, al most lik'! a scene in the movies. She n-jted the dress of the men with whom Claude was exchang ing remarks. The younger man was dressed in a well tailored suit of whipcord and wore brown leather boots. His horn-rimmed glasses gave him a studious look MANUSCRIPTS WANTED ,ur. mmm fNIFD: ORIGINAL POCMS. SONGV MMM FILMS DEVELOPED Rolls Developed I ( CLASSIFIED RAYS PHOTO SERVICE. L Norton His handbag was marked with the initials F. G. S. Beth puzzled over this. What could those let ters mean? They weren't hie name; that was written above. The older man's clothes were well made, too, but in a loose easy style, and his boots were short and not very shiny. Suddenly Beth noticed a strange thing! The man in the black hat was wearing spurs , . . silver spurs . . . and the rowel was missing from the spur on the man's left boot! Timidly, Beth leaned around into the very center of the group. "You've lost the little wheel off one of your spurs, Mister," she said. The man turned and looked at her, smiling. He had not noticed her before. "Well, you're Just right, sister. I did do that, and I've sent to San Francisco for a new one. They're darned good spurs, and I wouldn't put 'em aside for just a lost rowel." Claude suddenly awoke to his duties and introduced Beth. "This is Walter Chaney's niece. She's out from the East visitin' her kin, and I brought her in today to see a real city." Then he laughed heartily. "Well, now, that's right nice," beamed the man In the black hat. "How do you like this wild and woolly country, sister?" "I like it fine," smiled Beth, but her heart was beating like a trip-hammer. "I like living on my uncle's ranch." Then she heard herself asking, "Do you know my uncle?" "Sure I know your Uncle Walter. Been friends with him for years." , "Have you been out to the ranch lately?" NOW she'd done it! The man smiled tolerantly down at her and said, "No, ma'm. I ain't been out to your uncle's place for many a long month. Been too busy on my own place." It seemed a little strange that he did not mention the "trouble" they'd had at the ranch. Driving back through the Main street Beth asked, "Who are those men, Claude?" "Well, the fella with the glasses Is a stranger in these parts. I ain't never seen him before . . . must have been atayln' at Mort Russet's place. That's the old fella . . . Mort Russel." "Tell me about him." "Well, I'll swan, If you ain't the curiousist one," laughed Claude. "He's one of the richest men In these parts. Ain't been here long, but everything that man touches turns to gold, as the sayin' goes Smart too, he is." Riding back to the ranch alone Beth turned the silver rowel over and over in her hand. Shr thought "Hasn't been on the ranch for many a month?" Ther she smiled to herself and said . . "Yes, he's smart . . . and torn" thing of a story-teller." The rest of the way home sh tried desperately to think jus what those initials after the nami on the hand-bag at the depot ha meant. (Continued next week) MAKING A FISH POND If you're planning to make a fishpond In your yard . . . and Iff a mighty nice Idea . . . here are some of the things you must be sure about. Be sure the pool is water-tight, so that a small in flow Is quite enough. Have one part of the pool as shallow as from 18 to 20 Inches deep. Thlf is a place where the fish can spawn. Then have a much deepei area where the fish can go for winter quarters. Be sure there is enr.uRh fertility on the bottom of the pond so plants will grow. CLEAN AQUARIUM If you have an aquarium ii. vour home and you notice babbles on the top of the water, that water lacks oxygen. You had hotter clean out the thank and put n fresh water. I MILE LONG WORDS THE words aviators write In the sky require a deal of travel ing A two-word name requires between 10 and 15 miles of flying. I HELLO, fellows! That goes for you air-minded girls, too. Here's a new corner for a weekly hunk of gossip, news and so on about the flying world. The editor says it better be interesting and you can help make It so by drop ping us a line. Lots of things happening to chatter about these days. Air ports just getting ready for the best months of flying. One thing about model building you can write off weather worries. Speaking of weather, this past couple of months have seen some pretty swell stuff done by pilots. They've conquered blizzards, fog, storms of all kinds. It's a pretty good Indication of how fast things move in this present-day world of ours ten years ago no radio beams - were available to guide "lost" ships; no blind flying train ing equipment was available. Wonder what they'll be doing ten years from now? Every evening on our way home from a hard lot of desk flying, we have the chance to watch sea gulls, ducks and other sure fliers in action. Not a bad notion, this, for all of us. The study of bird flight brought about the first glid ers. Every pioneer Otto Lilien thal, the Wright brothers, Octave Chanute, John J. Montgomery got his Ideas from birds. And it's a funny thing, but there is still a lot to learn! Noting the camber of bird wings, the dihedral for stability, the use of tall surfaces is a darn good lesson in flying! As a matter of fact it has only been recently that we discovered the secret of soaring flight: rising columns of air, and where and when they occur. Birds knew It all the time. Too bad parrots couldn't tell us about It Instead of popping out with the usual, "Polly wanta cracker"! When those early-day students were trying to build flapping-wing flying machines, they didn't know that their eye were kidding them. No matter how carefully they watched, they couldn't see FAST enough to discover that birds don't flap their wings straight up and down! Nope, the motion when a bird rises Is upward-backward; downward-forward. In other words, the wings rotate In semi circles. It took speedy cameras to prove this; no wonder the old timers missed their calculations! We sort of wandered off the airplane subject there a little bit but if you're interested enough, we'll dig up some more dope on the first fliers for you maybe some action photos. Talking about those old days brings up Hie thcupht that you model plane builders are missing an Interesting yep. maybe profi table, too lot of fun when you stick to present-day and war time jobs. We'd like to see large flying models of the first Wright Broth ers' ship; Glenn Curtiss' "June Bug"; an early Bleriot; a box winged Farmnn; an Antoinette Don't forget that authentic mod els of the old sailing ships arc highly prized and cost plenty, too. Dig up some specifications Bull Fighting In Peru Offers Exciting Pastime For Tourists IN SUMMER months famous bull-fighters from Spain invade Lima, Peru ... at salaries that compare with those paid opera stars. Although Peru is not noted for punctuality, a bull-fight be gins on time. A bugle blows, a large iron door swings open. A big black and white bull rushes into the ring . . . head down he plunges far the nearest bull-fighter. An other catches the bull's, eye . . . waving his cloak. The bull is kept running until his breath is exhausted. Then a torero flicks his cape . . twists It about the bull's head. The beast Is bewildered; it hesitates. A picador advances with outstretched lance, mounted on an old horse which is bandaged over one eye. The bull charges the blind side of the horse, and lifts both horse and rider into the air. Attendants help the rider up . . . and the main performance begins. The chief bull-tighter plays the out of your local libraries, and let's hear what luck you have. By the way, here's an item about those early ships: Ever no tice that the Bleriot and other pioneer monoplanes supported the wings with a cabane strut? (If you don't know you probably do a cabane strut is usually a pyramidal framework above the fuselage with landing wires run ning from it to wing tips.) Well, the late Boeing P-26A has the same arrangement. Sort of going back to the old stuff, eh? Dn't pet the idea that all the early Jobs were unsound plenty of advanced Ideas were in use along about 1910 and 1011, believe It or something. Saw a photo a short time back of the 1B09 model Demoiselle racing monoplane that did 51 miles an hour top speed and was a trim, neat Job. Of course it didn't have the structural strength and me chanical features of today's ships, but it LOOKED good. And Tony Fokker says that one of the best ways to Judge a ship is by its looks. (Back to birds again the speediest fliers, you Know, are the trimmest, neatest birds. Look up a photo of the Swift the little fellow who has been timed around 200 miles an hour.) SOME Records: Lewln B. Barringer set up an American gilder record of 160 miles last April in 6 hours, 45 minutes. Claimant to world's gliding rec ord is Ludwig Hoffman of Ger many, who soared from Wasser kuppe, Germany, to Oskovice. Czechoslovakia, about 300 miles. First flight across the English Channel was made by Louis Ble riot July 25. 1009 37 minutes for the 25 miles from Calais to Do ver. (That's the crossing that always makes ship passengers seasick, incidentally, and the cross-channel steamers take two hours for It, even today.) Glenn Curtiss, whose name still carries on in the Curtiss ships of today, called his first job the "June Bug." and on July 4, 1008, Thirsty? Not Much! serious business of the muleta. This Is a red cloth stretched over a stick. The bull-fighter plays the tired bull about the ring his drawn sword in his hand. The bull charges again and again Each time the man deftly steps to one side. One misstep and his life is forfeit. According to his skill, the bull-fighters reputation is enhanced or ruined. The bugle blows for the coup-de-grace. The muleta is held in the bull-fighter's left hand; with the right he darts his sword at a spot on top of the bull's neck. The bull charges at the red rag the man leans forward, thrust- ing his sword to the hilt in the bull's body. He leaps swiftly back and to one side. Hesitating, dying, the beast stumbles. Legs weaken, and it fulls. Whistles, rounds of applause, a shower of straw hats greet the forero. He strides about the great ring accepting the cheers with a wave of his hand. T" TAKE. CAPE MOLR-PtT YOUNG FLYERS If there 1b a nest of young birds near your house, why not pretend they are your pets? Put crumbs near en6ugh that the mother bird may find them. Get to a place where you can see Into the nest If possible, and yet not frighten the birds. You will be fascinated with the sight of the little fellows. The first two weeks they will keep the mother busy filling those ever-open beaks. Then, when the two weeks are up you are pretty likely to see a lesson In flying. There will be no parachutes and If a "cadet" loses control during the flight, he is pretty likely to do a forced land ing. Be Interested In the birds in your neighborhood. Learn their names and their songs. See that they have food and water bandy . . a bird-house Is real fun, too. at Hammonds port, he won the Scientific American trophy for a one-kilometer flight at the breath taking speed of 39 miles an hour. There's a "Flying Flea" comipg Into popularity now. Here are some of the early-day names de signers and filers hung on their crates: Red Wing,' White Wing, Silver Dart, Golden Flyer, Bird of Prey, Yellow Hen, Red Devil, Tin Goose. (And then there was our own Jenny.) Over the Captain's Coffee Cup l'rotvl Tales from fcVtryu'iere by Whit W.llm.n CURIOUS, uncanny things have happened since the world began. Because no one knew their cause, they were at tributed to the supernatural. A man saw something extra ordinary. It became a legend or a miracle. He didn't deny his own experience. He admitted the exist ence of things he couldn't under stand. Ignorance, once upon a time, did not limit a man's belief ... or stop his faith in marvels. Until scientists came along to muke a cult of science, the unex plalnable did not mean the false. Today it's different A strange occurence pops up in the news papers. Scientists Investigate. Failing to find a reasonable ans wer, they decide it didn't happen Such men deserve pity. Being a scientist is not an imaginative career. Nor an easy life. When you're asked to explain things you can't measure and test and weigh (file in cubby-hole X-319-899 for future reference), it gets discouraging. TAKE SEA-SERPENTS for one thing. They haven't been classified as to species dr habits or anything else. Just a hoax. Sailors are notoriously credulous, and people like to believe queer tales. No sea-serpent has been caught and examined. So it's annoying when evi dence piles up. A date: 1919. J. Mackintosh Bell on August S went fishing off the. Orkneys. Thirty yards from his boat rose a long neck with a head like a dog. On the head were black whiskers. The beast's neck was six feet out of water, as thick as an elephant's leg. Bell aimed his camera, but the shutter did not snap. The townspeople of Brims Walls had seen the same animal annually for several years. Another date: the last of April, 1920. The Third Officer of the Tyne, sailing past St. Paul's Rocks along the coast of South America bound for Rio . . . saw a huge creature keeping up with the ship. It's head was like "an umbrella handle." If followed be sloe the vessel for five minutes, then curved down and sank. The Captain refused to enter this in the Log; the wine bills might be stopped. In August, 1923 : The survey ing ship Kellett was operating in the Black Deep, Thames Estuary. The sun was shining. Close to the ship (about 200 yards) a ser pentine neck jerked up ten feet from the water. The snake-like body that followed the neck was thought o be eighty feet long. The head Itself was hard to dis tinguish because of its swaying movement. It's Interesting to note that Black Deep had been closed to navigation since the beginning of the war leaving eight years for monsters to congregate. 1935: The serpent of Loch Ness, Scotland and . the shy monster seen In Puget Sound, Oregon. NO SCHEDULED ECLIPSE Is the cause of historic dark hours In various parts of the world. One place was Oshkosh, Wisconsin. March 19, 1886. The day was light, a little cloudy. Suddenly a wave of total dark- DID you think we were through with that old, old argument about a trade route to the Indies ? Well, you're wrong. It was over a century since Co lumbus first sailed away from Spain, and the search was still going on. Oh, the Europeans knew HOW to get to the Indies, but the competition between the various countries for the exclu sive right to trade there was keen. Pirates roamed that seaway to the Indies, and the Spaniards were driven off their course by the Dut' h everyone wanting his share ( that meant the biggest share) of the Indies trade. Thon the Dutch decided to find still another route to the East ind keep It just for themselves. They sent to England and hired one Henry Hudson, who already hud a reputation for exploration This gentleman they fitted out with a ship and a crew of sailors and ordered him to go to the North i'ole to find a new way to I he Indies! Well. Henry started north all ight, but It wns too lnt in the season for him to make his way through the Icy seas. So, back hr turned and decided to try a trip through America Inntead of around It. He'd heard about the big waterways that Champlaln had spoken of! He sailed up a great swift river, and he was hopeful. There wsa game and vegetation on every side. (On your geography map lilts Is the Hudson River.) The next year, Henry started ness swept down over the town There was panic. Some people prayed, some ran about franti cally. Scientists offered no ex planation. There was no eclipse at Wim bledon, England, on April 17, 1904 no thunder, no rain, no clouds. But for 10 minutes it was dark as midnight. If you go looking tor odd events, you'll find them all too easily in supposedly scientific magazines, authentic reports of actual happenings. PHENOMENA, ENDLESS and fascinating, if you like to puzzle for reasons. This column has told of red rain that tell In Australia a few weeks ago. la November, 1902, mud rained down on Tasmania. If It came via a whirlwind, why was the mud dropped In one place only? Not long ago a heavy red rah. covered the south of England, swept to Ireland, and reached the Canary Islands ... leaving a thick layer of orange-red dust Chemists collected the substance, said It camu from the Sahara. Some said it came from English country roads. These were opin ions, based on the fact that dust storms had occured on the great desert However, such storms are always occuring. And , . . one chemist reported the substance to be 36 per cent organic matter. No satisfying reason is given. NOT MANY YEARS AGO anyone who believed that stones fell from the sky would have been laughed at or locked up. No stones were tn the sky. How could they fall? It's less difficult to believe things which happen fairly close to home, rather than across the world Europe, Asia, India. A Signal Service observer . made a report to the Monthly Weather Review that in Bis marck, North Dakota, a heavy fall of sharp stones broke windows Fifteen hours later the fall wa: repeated. There was no winj, and the stones fell straight from the sky rattling against the bouses Further away At Poorhundur, India fiat pieces of ice have fallen. Some weighed several pounds. The sky was clear, but something was happening high overhead. Thunder was heard. And Ice descended. NO ONE BELIEVED MUCH In radio before It was discovered, . or In the telephone, or 14-passen-ger planes. Or that a great clip per ship of the air would take off from the Alameda air port for China. In the last fifty years there's been more mechanical progress than In the previous thousand or more. It was impossible fifty years ago to fly 'round the world. In terplanetary space will one day be conquered in the same way by children or grandchildren at men who doubt today. HAVE YOU COME across a sea-serpent recently or odd experiences that baffle good common sense , . . events that scientists don't explain to your satisfaction? Write to "The Captain," Five Star Weekly, Mills Tower, Ban Francisco, California. for the North Pole passage again, but his crew didn't fsncy going with him. As a matter of fact, they took things In their own rough hands and dumped poor Henry Hudson Into a little boat with a handful of ailing sailors and Hudson's young son. (It all sounds rather like "Mutiny on the Bounty," but Hudson didn't fare so well as the wicked Captain Blythe.) He was never heard of again. The men who sent Hudson searching for a northern route to the Indies didn't give a hang about his reports of the treasures to be had In furs on the Hudson River. But many people already In America were Interested, and men from several European coun tries traded with the Indians ' there. With this going on, the Dutch did get interested enough to set tie New Amsterdam, at the moutl of the Hudson River i Then, be cause thov ivrntnl nir-e thst anything to raise augnr down Ir Guiana, they traded whnt is now New York for s m"r"hy llttN hunk of South America! ennms Anywhere In California Any Silt Send for Catalogue, &tri "ft" or. Consult Your Brokt CAUTORNIA LANDS INC. 4JI r1Mtmrr hratt PAQE SEVEN
