The Bluffton news. [volume], April 10, 1941, Image 7

About The Bluffton news. [volume] (Bluffton, Ohio) 1875-current

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THURSDAY, APRIL 10, 1941
erne
SHOW
WN.U. SERVICE
(Continued from last week)'
"Then, by God, King-Gordon has
come to its split-up!”
Silence again before Dry Camp
said, “And I suppose I’m expected
to just kind of stand aside and stay
out of it and see how you work it
out, huh? Well, I won’t do it, Bill.”
“You’re in this. Dry Camp.”
“How am I in it?”
“I’ve got to have me an outfit.
It’s got to be made up of boys
that aren’t afraid of Ben Thorpe or
all hell boys that hav&n’t got any
thing more to lose. I’ll need near
fifty men. But to start off with I
want Lee Harnish, and Tex Daniels
and Tex Long Nate Liggett—Dave
Shannon—”
‘WVow!” said Dry Camp. “You get
those four or five in the same bunch,
they’ll eat each other alive.”
“That’s the kind I want,” Bill
Roper said. “I want a wild bunch
such as the West has never seen
before.”
“And me—what am I supposed to
do?”
“You you’re heading south.
You’re going back to Texas anef
“You’re in this, Dry Camp.’*
you’re going to start rounding ’em
in.”
“What you offering these boys?”
“Horses and grub, and what other
stuff we’ll need. Not another thing.”
They sat silent for a long time
more.
“All right,” Dry Camp said. “I’ll
go.”
In the starlight Bill Roper swung
down in front of the little shack
which served King-Gordon as a load
ing-foreman’s office at their Ogal
lala pens. Within, Bill Roper found
Lew Gordon sitting alone.
“I just talked to a man,” Roper
said, “that saw the killing.”
Gordon was instantly alert. “Who
was it?”
“He’s a man that can’t come for
ward, because he’s already an out
law in his own right. But Dusty
was killed by Ben Thorpe, and
Walk Lasham, and Cleve Tanner,
the three working together. Walk
Lasham bore down Dusty’s gun.”
They looked at each other for a
long moment.
“This man that told you this—
we’ve got to get hold of him his
story has to go to the authorities,
Bill.”
Roper shook his head. “He’ll hang
if they lay hands on him. Anyway,
nobody would believe him against
these three.”
Lew Gordon made a gesture at
once impatient and weary. “Wher
ever we turn we hit some snag
of lawlessness,” he said. “There’s
too many men afraid to stand for
ward and face out the law. Seems
like nothing is done open and above
board any more.”
“Never was, since I remember,”
Roper said. “I’ve got a couple of
ways in mind right now. I’m going
on the warpath, Lew.”
Gordon had been fiddling with a
pencil, and now he threw it on the
table in front of him. “We’re figur
ing you to take over the Crying
Wolf, Bill. Dusty’s half of King
Gordon naturally will stand in your
name now Dusty never paid any
attention to any other kin. But the
Crying Wolf was where he figured
for you to go and work and there
isn’t any call to change that, now.”
“You can count me out of the
Crying Wolf, Lew."
“What do you want to do?”
“We’re going to branch out a new
way,” Roper said. “We’re going to
have a warrior outfit. And I’m its
new boss.”
“I don’t get you.”
“We’re going to carry the war into
the other camp, Lew. For every
outfit that Ben Thorpe has grabbed
by force of arms, he’s going to lose
two for every head that has come
into his herds by rustle and raid,
tw« head of his are going to be
missing when he makes his roundup
count. First thing, I’m going to
break Cleve Tanner down in Texas.
After that—”
Lew Gordon looked Bill Roper
hard in the eye, smiled a little, and
shook his head. His voice was slow
and deep, stubbornly emphatic, as
a granite cliff is emphatic. “No.
We’ve never gone outside the law
yet, and while I live we never will.
We play the straight game always
and if we lose—that’s in the hands
of things beyond us.”
ALAN
Lemay
Bill Roper angered. “I know how
you feel about it,” he said, keeping
his voice down. “You swayed Dusty
that way always. If you’d looked
at it different, the guns would have
been out years ago—and it would
have been Ben Thorpe that went
down. As it is—Dusty King is dead.
Now you want me to drift on as we
always drifted on, and I’m supposed
to forget that Dusty’s out ther un
der a pile of stones. Well, I’m not
going to play it that way, Gordon.”
“While you’re with King-Gordon,”
Lew said slowly, “you’ll play it as
I say you’ll play it.”
“If you want to buy me out,” Rop
er said, “you can do it at your
own price. Because I’m going to do
exactly what I tell you I’m going to
do I wouldn’t run a sneak on you,
Lew.”
“You figure,” Lew Gordon said in
credulously, “that you, one young
ster on horseback, can smash up
Ben Thorpe? You wouldn’t last forty
seconds longer than a celluloid col
lar on a dead gambler.”
“There'll be a few go with me,**
Roper said.
“Who?”
“Dry Camp Pierce for one Lee
Harnish, Tex Daniels, Tex Long in
all, maybe fifty men that I think I
know where to get.”
Lew Gordon looked as if he would
explode. “You’re naming the most
vicious outlaws on the plains,” he
said. “If you ever get those men
together, it will be the most infernal
wild bunch that ever—”
“By God,” paid Bill Roper, “1’11
show you how to clean a range or
break a range I’m telling you I
don’t care which.”
Lew Gordon slapped his hand on
the table it fell with a dull and
heavy wallop, but so hard, it
seemed the top of the table would
split.
“No! No, by God! Not under my
brand. Not in a hundred years .**
“Then draw up the terms of the
sale.”
Gordon was silent again, for a
long time. He seemed very old,
very tired. “Reckon you’re man
enough to make your own decisions,
Bill.”
“Thanks, Lew.”
“But do me one last favor—will
you? Don’t decide here and now.
Take a couple of days to think it
over. It’s for your own good. But
I’m asking it as a favor to me .”
Bill Roper dropped his eyes, and
for a moment or two he hesitated.
“I’ll take an hour, he decided in
compromise.
CHAPTER V
Bill Roper walked slowly to the
Gordons’ tall house, on its rise at
the edge of the town, and let him
self in softly. He wanted desperate
ly to talk to Jody Gordon but it
was nearly midnight, and he couldn’t
make up his mind to wake her.
As it happened, decision was un
necessary. In the fireplace some
lengths of cottonwood log still
burned, and before the fire Jody
lounged upon a buffalo robe, wide
awake.
“You’ve been a long time.”
“I know.” He stopped beside her,
half raised her in his arms, and
kissed her lingeringly. Her arms
and her lips clung, making it diffi
cult for him to think of the road he
had chosen. But presently he
sat beside her on the buffalo robe,
and turned his eyes to the coals.
“There’s some stuff we have to
talk about, Jody.”
“I can think of better things to
do with firelight than just talk.”
“Jody King-Gordon is splitting
up.”
Jody brought herself up on one
elbow. “Why, Bill—what eo you
mean?”
“Dusty’s rhare comes to me, as
you know. I—I’m taking it out.”
“You’re—Bill, you must be loco!”
“Maybe. I’m going against Ben
Thorpe.”
“But—but—” Jody was at a loss
for words.
“Since the trail began, he’s stood
for.everything we’re against. Four
of the biggest rustling gangs in the
country are directly hooked up with
him, if it could be proved. He’s
stopped at nothing, and where he
couldn’t force his way he’s bought
his way. But now—he’s gone too
far.”
Bill glanced at Jody, and her star
tled face was very lovely, high-light
ed by the little fire. He laced his
hand together to stop their shaking.
“Tonight I told you father what I’m
going to do. My idea is to give
Thorpe his own medicine, and force
it down him until he’s finished a
wild bunch of our own, tougher than
his, made up of men that hate him
to the ground.”
“And then—?”
“Raid and counter-raid, and what
he’s taken, take back! Until his
credit busts, and his varmints drop
from around him, and he’s just one
man, so that another man can walk
against him with a six-gun, and
know that when that’s done he’s fin
ished for sure ...”
“Bill, are you crazy? You can’t—
you can’t—”
His voice was bleak it could hard
ly be heard. He was looking at his
hands. “We’ve talked too many
years of what couldn’t be done, or
how. Until now, Dusty’s out there
tonight, under that stone pile—and
still nothing to be done. I reckon
it’s my turn to ride, now.”
“But—all his outfits—his sheriffs,
his men—”
“They’ll quit, as he breaks. I’m
going after Cleve Tanner first, in the
Big Bend and when I’m through
with him, Thorpe won’t be able to
throw a feeder herd on the trail.
Then Walk Lusham, in the north,
where they’re already hurt for lack
of the Crying Wolf—until—”
His words were monotoned, but
Jody Gordon, bred and born to the
gaunt Texan plains, knew what a
wild bunch was, and what it meant
to go against Ben Thorpe by his own
means.
Jody said, “And—what about us?”
“Jody, I was hoping—I was hop
ing you’d swing with me.”
“What way is there for me to
swing with you?”
“This may take a long time but
it won’t take forever. Some day
all these war clouds will be cleared
away. And—if you could see it my
way, maybe you’d let me come back
to you then.”
There seemed to be no breath in
Jody’s voice. “I’m spposed to wait
around, and think well of you, while
you gang with the wild bunch in a
crazy, useless feud that you can’t
win?”
In the uncertain light of the fire
Bill Roper’s eyes could not Be seen
his face was a mask painted by the
embers. He found nothing that he
could say.
Suddenly Jody flared up. Her eyes
blazed, and her hair streamed back
from her face as she sat up, as if
she rode in the wind.
“You can’t, you can’t! I won’t
let you—it isn’t fair, ndr right, nor
decent—”
“It’s what I have to do.”
Jody stopped as if she had been
struck. When she spoke again her
voice was low and even, and so
stony hard that he would not have
recognized it.
“I don’t believe you. I think to
morrow you’ll be telling me that all
this isn’t so. But if you do mean it
—if you go on and do as you say
—then you and I are through, and I
don’t want to see you again, or
hear your voice. We—we had ev
erything and you’re throwing it all
away ...”
The firelight caught the glint of her
tears, and she turned away, head
up, with a toss of her hair so that
its brown mist hid her face from
him.
Bill didn’t say anything. He had
turned gray-faced, and he stared into
the coals. Presently, as he watched
the fire, he saw again a rift of brush,
in which a little boy hid like a rab
bit and a gently grinning face, that
was through with grinning now. He
thought of Dry Camp’s story:
“Seemed like he’d never fall ...”
Roper got up silently, and went
out of the house.
Lew Gordon was playing solitaire
when Bill Roper got back to the
little shack by the loading pens.
Roper took off his hat, tossed it
aside, and sat down.
“We can just as well figure up the
terms of the split.”
“What did Jody say?”
“She’s quitting me, Lew.”
“What the devil else can you ex
pect her to do, if you go on with
this wild, stubborn—”
“I couldn’t expect anything else.”
Lew Gordon looked baffled obvi
ously he had counted on Jody to
turn back Bill Roper.
“You ready to draw up the
terms?”
“Hardly seems it can be done in
a
minute. It’ll take a few days to—”
“I’m leaving in the morning. My
terms are few and simple. You
can work out the details any way
that suits yourself.”
“Let’s hear your idea of it.”
“I don’t figure to take much with
me,” Roper said. “But there are
some things I need. First thing, I
want seven of our camps in Texas.”
Lew Gordon stared at the table,
picked up a pencil, fidgeted with it.
“Which ones?”
“I want the Pot Hook camp and
the winter camp of the Three Bar,
and the southwest outpost of the
old Bar-Circle.' I want two of the
border camps Willow Crick will do
for one, and the Dry Saddle Cross
ing will do for the other. I want the
new Bull Wagon camp, and the K-G
horse ranch at Stillwater.”
“The brands are going to be ter
rible mixed up,” Gordon said.
“I’m only taking such cattle as
are running under odd brands all
our regular brands stay with you.
I’ve placed my camps so that your
stock can be worked as before.
Except maybe the Pot Hook, and
we’ll come to some special deal—”
Gordon threw his pencil down.
“You’re not getting anything out of
this that anybody can use,” he de
clared.
“I think I’ll know how to use it.
Later on I’ll send you a list of the
I LOCAL AND LONG
DISTANCE HAULING
Every Load Insured
I STAGER BROS.
Bluffton, Ohio
B............................ .............................
THE BLUFFTON NEWS, BLUFFTON, OHIO
Agricultural Limestone
from Piqua, Ohio
ARTIFICIALLY DRIED IN BAGS OR BULK
DELIVERED TO FARM
CLYDE WARREN
Phone 546-R Bluffton, Ohio
WANTED—DEAD STOCK
WE PAY TOP CASH PRICES
Horses $4.00 Cows $2.00
Small Stock removed free of charge.
Quick Service
Telephone Findlay, MAIN 475, Reverse Charges
BUCKEYE REDUCTION COMPANY, Findlay, Ohio
fi “Branch, Fostoria Animal Products, Inc.”
northern camps 1 want they'Tl
amount to about the same as the
ones I want in Texas.”
“It sure sounds to me like you’re
wanting me to buy you out in cash,”
Gordon said. “And if that s what's
“The brands are going to be ter
rible mixed up,” Gordon said.
in your mind—I can’t do it, Bill.
There just ain’t the money.”
“There won’t be any trouble about
that. In Texas I may need up to
fifty thousand dollars but I don’t
have to have it all at once. It’ll
work out easy enough, Lew.”
Even the rough provisional terms
that they were noting here provided
innumerable complications. In the
next few hours, as they worked it
out, many a consideration came up
that Bill Roper hadn’t thought of.
It was near morning before Roper
left to seek out Dry Camp Pierce
to complete his plans.
(To be continued)
LEGAL NOTICE
IN THE PROBATE COURT. ALLEN
COUNTY, OHIO
Maurice R. Kohli, Administrator
of the Estate of Christina Kohli,
deceased,
Plaintiff,
vs.
Florence Burkholder, et al..
Defendant ■«.
Case No. 20655
ACTION TO SELL REAL ESTATE
The following persons, defendants in the
above entitled cause: Florence Burkholder
and Monroe Burkholder, whose last Known
place of residence was 1519 7 th Avenue.
South, Nampa, Idaho: Verna Patterson and
Dale Patterson whose last known place of
residence was Caldwell. Idaho Eulala Bixel
and Waldo Bixel, whose last known place of
residence was Eugene, Oregon Armin Kohli
and Vanda Kohli, whose last known place of
residence was Decatur, Illinois Caroline
Leigh and Horace Leigh, whose last known
place of residence was 639 Li I liebridge, De
troit, Michigan Elbert Kohli, a minor,
whose last known place of residence was
999 Marietta Street, Decatur, Illinois, will
take notice that on the 17th day of Decem
ber, A. D., 1940, Maurice R. Kohli, admin
istrator of the estate of Christina Kohli,
deceased, tiled his petition in the Probate
Court ot Allen County, Ohio, in Case No.
20655, against the above named defendants,
praying for an order to sell the real estate
belonging to said Christina Kohli, deceased,
for the purpose of paying the debts of said
estate, said real estate being described as
follows:
Being Northwest one-half of Lot
Number one (1) of Peter Diller’s Subdivision
of Outlota to the Village of Bluffton, Allen
County, Ohio.
That said real estate was appraised by
the appraisers of the estate of said deceased
for the sum of Twelve Hundred (11200.00)
Dollars.
Said parties are required to answer on or
before the 26th day of April, A. D., 1941.
MAURICE R. KOHLI.
Administrator of the Estate
of Christina Kohli, Deceased.
By Dan R. Trippiehorn, bls attorney. 50
NOTICE
To Whom It May Concern:
The petition of Alfred Muller and Kermit
Kibele for the annexation of certain lots and
lands in the Alfred Muller Addition to the
Village of Bluffton, Ohio, is set for hearing on
the 7th day of May, 1941, at 10:00 o’clock A.
M., at the Office of the County Commission
ers of Allen County, Ohio, in the Court
House at Lima. Ohio.
Any parties having any objection shall ap
pear at that time to enter their protest.
FRANCIS W. DURBIN,
City Solicitor of Bluffton, Ohio.
50 and Agent of said Petitioners.
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FRANCIS W. DURBIN,
City Solicitor of Bluffton, Ohio.
50 and Agent of said Petitioners.
NOTICE OF APPOINTMENT
The State Ohio,
Allen County, ss.
Estate of Bessie N. Longsdorf, Deceased.
A. J. B. Longsdorf of Bluffton. Ohio, has
been appointed and qualified as executor of
the estate of Bessie N. Longsdorf. late of
Allen County, Ohio, deceased.
Dated this 5th day of April. 1941.
RAYMOND P. SMITH,
52 Probate Judge
NOTICE OF APPOINTMENT
State of Ohio.
Allen County, ss.
Estate of Marian Tschiegg, Deceased.
Eldon Tschiegg. of Bluffton, and Jacob
Tschiegg of Orrville, Ohio, have been ap
pointed and qualified as executors of the
estate of Marian Tschiegg, late of Allen
County, Ohio, deceased.
Dated this 20th day of March, 1941.
RAYMOND P. SMITH.
50 Probate Judge
Money invested in clover or al
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AMERICANS ARE FREE TO
EXPRESS THEIR BELIEFS AND
PURSUE THEIR. ASPIRATIONS.
OUR PIONEER AND FRONTIER TRADITION IS TO WORK
TO EARN, TO SAVE BUT ALSO TO GIVE THE OTHER
FELLOW THE CHANCE TO DO THE SAME.
BQHB3
IN SETTLING AND DEVELOPING A WILD
CONTINENT WE FACED DISASTER AFTER DISASTER.
AMERICANS COME THROUGH EACH CRISIS WITH A SMILE.
NOTICE
To Whom It May Concern:
The petition of Paul W. Stauffer Evelyn
Grata Stauffer. C. W. Elliott. Vera Kohler
Elliott and Arden R. Baker for the annex
ation of certain lots and lands in Trip
lett Addition to the Village of Bluffton. Ohio,
is set for hearing on the 7th day of May.
1941, at 10:00 o’clock A. M., at the office of
the County Commissioners of Allen County,
Ohio, in the Court House at Lima, Ohio.
Any parties having any objections shall ap
Iear at that time to enter their protest.
Rawson
Mr. and Mrs. Herbert McCoy and
family of Findlay were Tuesday
evening callers on Mr. and Mrs.
W. A. Otto.
Mrs. Louise Nolan of Dayton was
a Saturday night guest of Mrs. H.
S. Weldon.
Mrs. Stolzer of Findlay spent Sun
day with her parents, Mr. and Mrs.
Sandy Beltz.
Mrs. H. W. Brickman and Mrs.
Paul Brickman and daughter Connie
Jeanne of McComb were Wednesday
afternoon callers on Mr. and Mrs.
W. A. Otto.
Mrs. Luther Romick and daughter
were Saturday evening callers on
Mr. and Mrs. Dale Wilson and
family.
Mrs. Harold Smith spent the past
week with her parents, Mr. and
Mrs. Henry Beach of Erie, Mich.
Mrs. James Sommer and daugh
ter Ann of Pandora spent Thursday
with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. W.
A. Otto.
Mr. and Mrs. Richard Pope and
daughter Jill Ann of Lima were
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PAGE SEVEN
Sunday dinner guests of Mr. and
Mrs. Henry Little and son Paul.
Afternoon callers were Mr. and Mrs.
L. Bratchi of Toledo.
Mr. and Mrs. H. S. Weldon and
daughter Barbara left Sunday for a
three weeks’ stay in Milwaukee,
Wis., while there they will visit
their son Barney at the Shriners
hospital in Chicago.
Mr. and Mrs. Leland Hauman of
Findlay were recent callers on Mr.
and Mrs. George Crozier.
Mrs. R. G. Meyers and Mrs.
Maude Sweet spent Friday in
Toledo.
Mrs. David El sea and son Larry
David of Eagle township spent Fri
day with Mrs. Luther McClelland.
Mr. and Mrs. George Coffman and
son of Findlay were Sunday after
noon callers on Mrs. M. L. Crist.
Mr. and Mrs. Carl Henrich and
daughter Marjorie of Bowling Green
were Wednesday evening callers on
Mrs. Mabie Lootens and family.
Mrs. Morris Hopkins was a Mon
day evening caller on Mr. and Mrs.
W. A. Otto.
Pleasant View
Mr. and Mrs. Charles Stewart
spent Sunday with Mr. and Mrs.
Steven Morvay of Pandora.
Mr. and Mrs. Clarence Fridley
and family were Lima shoppers,
Saturday.
Merritt Green was moved from
the Bluffton hospital to the Scott
Clymer home last week.
The Young people of Rawson
charge will hold a Sunrise service at
the Olive Branch church Easter
morning at 6:30.
Mr. and Mrs. George Ridge and
family, Mr. and Mrs. Rex Ridge and
D. E. Ridge, all of Benton Ridge,
were Sunday dinner guests of Mr.
and Mrs. Donald Harris.
Mr. and Mrs. Robert Nonnamaker
and family of the Dixie highway
were Sunday guests in the home of
Mr. and Mrs. Dwight Frantz.
Mr. and Mrs. Donald Harris and
Mr. and Mrs. Rex Ridge of Benton
Ridge were Sunday evening dinner
guests in the I. R. Harris home.
Mr. and Mrs. Sam
Badertscher
and son, Mr. and Mrs. Wilmer
Badertscher, Mr. and Mrs. Harold
Badertscher, Mr. and Mrs. Wayne
Zimmerman and daughter, all of
Richland Center Miss Alberta Dilts
of Ada and Mrs. E. Y. Frantz were
Friday evening guests of Mr. and
Mrs. Dwight Frantz and daughter
Carol Jean.
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growers taken out more wheat crop
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