The Bluffton news. [volume], April 24, 1941, Image 7

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THURSDAY, APRIL 24, 1941
erne
SMOKY
WN.U. SERVICE
(Continued from last week)
VHAriCK Vll
These men whom Roper now gath
ered about him hated a particular
man, not only as lawless as them
selves, but a man who was more
than one man. Ben Thorpe was a
thousand men operating under
Cleve Tanner in the south, and Walk
Lasham in the north, his innumer
able retainers filamented the plains
from the Rio Grande to the Big
Horn. That Roper’s men hated Ben
Thorpe was no coincidence Roper
had picked men of personal grudge.
Most of them had first been out
lawed because they had not suited a
single organization the organiza
tion of Ben Thorpe.
Up and down and across half of
Texas, constantly in the saddle, Bill
Roper threaded his new organiza
tion. Sometimes Dry Camp Pierce
was with him more often he trav
eled alone. These famous gunfight
ers and outlawed men whom Roper
gathered were just youngsters, most
ly. Some of them were true killers
some merely reckless kids who had
got off on the wrong foot. All of
them were badly wanted by what
little law there was.
One night in early June, Dry Camp
Pierce and Bill Roper sat in the
back room of a saloon, deep in
Texas.
“Look,” Dry Camp Pierce said.
“I’ve stole cows until I could pave
my way to hell with their hides.
But—I don’t know—to steal cows for
Dusty’s kid—”
Bill Roper’s teeth flashed clean in
his grin. “Whose cows?”
“I’ve stole cows—”
“You’re going to steal cows that
belong to me, now.”
“Figure you own these cows?”
“I’m half of King-Gordon, now
split. I’ve taken, out of King-Gor
don, seven camps without cows now
I’m claiming the cows that Thorpe
took from Dusty King. And from
some other men that we’re going to
lend a hand to, pretty soon.”
Dry Camp Pierce—he was called
that because he hated to camp too
near to water—went to work for
Bill Roper as he had never worked
before and thus the king of cow
thieves, the brand changer extraor
dinary, for once aligned on the side
of the law that was not.
Ten rustlers’ camps hooked into
Thorpe-Tanner territory
But Dry Camp also helped in oth
er ways.
A hot June dusk, five days after
the meeting at Whipper Forks, found
Bill Roper at the Dry Saddle Cross
ing, where he was to meet Lee Har
nish and this meeting, too, was ar
ranged by Dry Camp Pierce, though
by this time Pierce was already far
away.
Here ran the broad, many-chan
neled river, dividing two countries—
a river whose split wanderings made
two miles of intermittent shallows.
At this border of a vast, impercepti
bly rolling prairie stood a narrow
string of adobe shacks. That was
the Dry Saddle Crossing.
Two men—Bill Roper and Lee
Harnish—sat in front of one of those
abandoned shacks, and tried to get
together.
“I’ve always understood,” Roper
said, “that you were acquainted
some, below the line.”
Harnish’s hard eyes studied Rop
er, and for a little while nothing
could be heard except the mourn
ing of doves in the willow scrub by
the water. Next to Dry Camp Pierce,
Lee Harnish was the oldest of those
to join Roper he was twenty-eight.
He was tall and lank, sun-baked al
most to the color of an Indian his
green eyes were curiously blank, im
penetrable, and he liked to look his
man in the eye with the peculiar
fixity seen in the gaze of hawks.
“I’ve been down there some,” he
admitted. “I’ve made a few drives
into Chihuahua one drive to Mex
ico City.”
“If you had a big wet herd run
to you just below the line, would
you know ho to get rid of it?”
“I can’t make out your hand,”
Harnish said. “King-Gordon never
swung the long rope yet, that I
heard of.”
“I’m not King-Gordon now. My
stunt is to smash Cleve Tanner and
I don’t care what it costs.”
“What’s wrong with backing him
into a shoot-out, if that’s what you
want?”
“That comes later. If I bust Tan
ner I can bust Thorpe. But if Tan
ner is gunned before he’s busted,
Thorpe will take over in Texas, and
the chance to break up his Texas
layout will be gone.”
“You ain’t going to bust him by
running off a few head of cattle.
This river crossing is slow worlt.
kid.”
“I figure to cross five thousand
head within the next three months,”
Roper told him.
“Five thousand head won’t even
scratch the hide of Thorpe and Tan
ner, son.”
“I know that as well as you. What
it will do, it’ll draw Tanner to throw
his warriors onto the border. That’s
what I want. Because by then I’ll
be working somewhere else.”
“And you want me to take ’em
on the other side—is that the idee?”
“I want three dollars a head,
American gold, paid off as the cat
tle come out of the water ...”
Ropet’s ways of gathering his wild
bunch were diverse, as diverse as
the saddle men he gathered. One
way or another, picking up a man
here, three more there, he got all
he needed, and more.
But certain other things had to be
done, In order Ta at The Vvlld bunch
would have work to do, planned in
such a way that something would
be accomplished that would stay ac-
complished.
On a steamy afternoon early in
July, Bill Roper sat in Fred Max
im’s San Antonio law office. Maxim
was an attorney who, some thought,
had worked under a different name,
somewhere before but here, assur
edly he was in no one’s pay.
“I’m not asking the likes of you
what’s what,” Bill Roper said. “I
Roper’s ways of gathering his
wild bunch were diverse.
want to know who actually owns
range rights on the Graham stand.”
The hard-bitten little man across
the desk from Roper was still cadgy.
“When it comes to ousting a man
from possession—”
“You know who ’ousted’ Bob Gra
ham and his family from possession.
Cleve Tanner took over that outfit
by main horse-and-gun power, with
out decent cause or reason. Every
body knows that. I’m asking you
now—”
“Taylor and Graves are already
doing everything that can be done
to regain possession of Graham’s
outfit,” Maxim said, smiling.
It was the smile that Roper liked.
“Suppose I hold the Bob Graham
lands, and Bob Graham’s family
are living on it.
“Bob Graham hasn’t got posses
sion,” Maxim said.
“Suppose he did have?”
“Never could happen. Ben
Thorpe”
“Shut up a minute,” Roper said.
“I’m not asking you to put Graham
back in possession of his range. I'm
not asking you to save him from
being put off again in the way he
was before. What I want to know is,
can you head off some cooked-up
legal interference with Graham, aft
er he’s in possession again?”
Fred Maxim thought it over. “I
can only promise you that I can
cause considerable delay,” he said.
“Months of delay?”
“Providing you can show posses
sion—I’ll keep you clear until hell
freezes.”
“That’s all I want ...”
Still July, at Willow Creek—
A barren range of hills, sand hills
golden in the dawm, purple in the
twilight, barren always. Beneath
them, what had been the Willow
Creek camp of the old King-Gordon.
In the bunkhouse nearest the river,
five men lounging around a little
room.
“All right, you hard guys,” Bill
Roper said “you know who told you
to come here. Dry Camp Pierce
told you to come here. Maybe he
told you what you could look for
here, huh?”
These four gunfighters who met
Roper here were none of them older
than Bill yet each was famous as a
killer in his own right. Of them all
Bill Roper alone had no name, no
reputation. Yet, in respect for the
name of Dusty King, they had come
to hear him out.
Nate Liggett, a round-faced kid
with eyelashes that looked as if they
had been powdered with white dust,
said, “Well, what seems to be your
offer?”
“I guess you already know Bob
Graham,” Roper said. “You know
how a warrior gang of Cleve Tan
ner’s jumped down on him, on some
thin excuse, and run him off his
range. They even took over his
house and his windmill and his cor
rals. Now, I aim to hand back that
range to Bob Graham he’s waiting
in Bigspring for the word. Your part
of the job is simple enough—you
just go and take it away from the
Tanner bunch.”
“Simple, huh? Just how do you
figure this simple trick is to be
done?”
“A lawyer in San Antonio kept
the Rangers off when Tanner
jumped Graham. Now we’ve got an
other better lawyer in San Antonio
to keep them off when Graham
jumps Tanner. The only question is,
who’s got enough salt to grab that
range—and then hang onto it?”
“And what do we get out of all
this?”
“Graham takes over the outfit and
runs it. You hang around and help
him, and see that he doesn’t get
run off again. For that you get a
half interest in the outfit. You split
it among you any way you see fit.
I’ll back Graham with cattle, and
what other stuff he needs.”
Nate Liggett said, “Bill, I don’t
see where we come in for no ad
vantage.”
“If you’re satisfied with the lone
wolf stuff you’ve been pulling, I
haven’t got anything to offer you,”
Roper admitted. “But I’ll tell you
this—the boys that string with me
now will see the day when they’ll
run Texas and Cleve Tanner, and
Ben Thorpe, too, will be busted up
and forgot!”
“It’s a hefty order!”
“Maybe it is. This Graham bus),
pess is a kind of experiment it’ll
work if you make it work. But if
it goes through okay—it’s only the
beginning, you h^ar me? You string
with me a little while and maybe,
by God, we’ll show a couple of peo
pie something ...”
CHAPTER VIII
Hot, dry days of early August—
As the first sun struck with a rec
heat across the plains, the Tanne:
men who held the Graham ranch
were already saddling. All ovei
Texas, cowmen were throwing to
gether the last trail herds of the
year it was time for these Tanner
men to roll their chuck wagon*
again, to round up the last of th*
trail-fit stock that remained in the
herds which had belonged to Boh
Graham.
Out from what had been the Gra
ham corral, three riders swept
through the dusty dawn but they
had hardly left the pole fences be
hind when six other riders confront
ed them, rising into their saddles
like Comanches, out of the brush.
The strangers closed in a semi-cir
cle, unhurriedly, their carbines in
their hands. In another minute oz
two the three Tanner riders wer*
grouped in a defensive knot, while
from the semi-circle of the raiders
Nate Liggett jogged forward to talk
it over.
“I don’t think you want to go on,”
he said. “I don’t even think you
want to work for this outfit any
more.”
Tuo nights later, one hundred and fifty
miles away—
With the approach of dusk, a pe
culiar light lay upon the valley of
the Potreros. In a reach of open
grass a herd of five hundred head
bunched loosely—tame, heavy cat
tle, already well removed by breed
ing from the old, wild, long-horn
strain. But they had not bunched
voluntarily. They shuffled restless
ly, watching the brush! something
was happening around them that
they did no# understand.
As the light failed, the figures o!
horsemen emerged from the brush,
cutting mile-long shadows into the
flat rays of sunset the huge, heavy
shouldered man who signaled to his
spread-out cowboys by turning his
horse this way or that, in Indian
horse language, was Dave Shannon.
They did not harass the cattle.
Only, between sunset and the next
daylight, no cow took a step other
than in the direction of th* Mexi
can border
Dry-grass season Texas scorched by
the hot winds—
All across the southern ranges a
peculiar thing was happening. As
word spread from twenty points of
disturbance, certain of the older cat
tlemen began to sense that there
was a curious, almost systematic
order to what in itself seemed a
widespread disruption. All over the
Big Bend country, eastward almost
to the well settled Nueces, west
ward beyond the barren Pecos,
northward to the fever line, was
breaking a spotty wave of raids of
an unparalleled boldness. Far apart,
but almost simultaneously, hell had
busted loose in a great number of
places, covering more than half of
Texas.
Presently it began to appear that
the tough, notoriously trouble-mak
ing outfits under Cleve Tanner were
not holding together as they always
had before. Here and there men
were beginning to desert the Tanner
outfits sometimes fired because
they had failed, sometimes volun
tarily deserting to the ranks of the
raiders who were now almost open
ly punishing the Thorpe-Tanner
holdings.
Mid-August, in the season of driest
heat—
Into the Potreros, by a little used
trail, a black-sombreroed horseman
rode. He was a tested gunman, a
proved man whose name was known
and feared half the length of the
Great Trail. Trouble-shooting for
Cleve Tanner now, he was moving
into the Potreros to find out what had
gone wrong with some of Tanner’s
choicest herds. He had come fast,
changing horses frequently, riding
far into the night.
Loping down the almost invisible
trail through the dark, his horse sud
denly dropped from under him, head
long into nothingness. The pony
might have stepped into a prairie
dog hole—or it could have been the
loop of a rope. But as the dazed
rider struggled up, his mouth full
of dirt, a rifle was prodding his bel
ly, and a voice was sayirX “Don’t
you think you might have took the
wrong way? .”
West Texas, far up the lonely Pecos—
One of Cleve Tanner’s outfit bosses
was talking to the Ranger stationed
at Mustang Point.
“Such a damn’ outbust of lawless
ness has cut loose here as I never
seen before,” he said.
The ranger here was Vai McDon
ald. He had gone out nineteen times
in battle, sometimes against Mexi
cans, sometimes against the Coman
ches, and he had hunted white ren
egades galore.
“Awfully tough,” he said in his
own sympathetic way.
The foreman of the outfit that was
busted up was fit to be tied. “I
tell you, we’re being stolen blind,”
he raved. “Not just a calf here
and there, either—they take ’em in
swoops and bunches. It’s the bold
est thing I’ve ever seen. Even when
there’s no chance of getting clear
with any cattle, they’re game to
stampede a cut herd that it’s took
weeks to round up, and scatter it
from hell to—”
THE BLUFFTON NEWS, BLUFFTON, OHIO
“This is one of Ben Thorpe’s out
fits? No?”
“Does that mean—”
“Well? How many times has Cleve
Tanner passed out the word, ‘The
Rangers be damned?’ He’s put more
obstructions in the way of things
wo was trying to do than any other
one man. Who was it had the legis
lature cut down our pay until we
practically ride for nothing, and fur
nish all our own stuff?”
“The question here is whether
we’re going to have any law, or are
we going to have—”
“From what I heard,” McDonald
said, “Cleve Tanner has left it be
known that he’s the biggest end of
the law himself. Go talk to Cleve
Tanner if you want law*.”
“My understanding is,” the fore
man argued, “that the Rangers are
supposed to—”
“I’ll move out and straighten up
your little old range,” McDonald
said. “I’ll be glad to. Just as soon
as I get orders from headquarters.
I’m waiting for them right orders
now!”
But the weeks rolled by, and head
quarters was curiously still ...
End of summer a welcome end—
Cleve Tanner himself, the Cleve
Tanner who represented Ben Thorpe
in the south, master of breeding
grounds, the man who controlled the
roots of all Ben Thorpe’s plains or
ganization, was talking to the Unit
ed States Marshal at San Antonio.
“There hasn’t been such a wave of
outlawry since the horse Indians
was put down. Damnation, man!
It’s set us back ten years ... I
know what your policy has been.
Your idea is to let us fight it out for
ourselves, against Mexico, against
the Indians, against all hell. But I
tell you, this thing comes from in
side this thing might be something
that I couldn’t beat without help.”
The United States Marshal at San
Antonio smiled to himself a little
smile and he said, “Seems like this
must be a terrible bad thing for you,
Cleve?”
“I’m telling you—”
“Go ahead and tell me. You’re a
Ben Thorpe man, ain’t you? A right
leading Ben Thorpe man. Well—
maybe I’ll tell you a couple of
things, some day .”
There was law in Texas, even in
those days but there was no such
law as could stand against the com
bined renegades of the long trail,
with behind them a lawyer who
could delay forever in the courts
and a reckless expenditure of mon
ey, the sohree of which some sus
pected, but which was not definitely
known.
(To be continued)
Armorsville
Mr. and Mrs. Henry Grismore and
family were Sunday visitors at the
0. P. Hartman home.
Mr.and Mrs. Harry Moore and
family, Mr. and Mrs. Sypherd, all
of Detroit, Mr. and Mrs. Charles
Hall and family of Carey spent Sun
day at the W. I. Moore home.
Mrs. Elizabeth Hosafros, Mr. and
Mrs. Homer Arras and son Joe and
daughter Joan of Findlay took Sun
day evening dinner with Mr. and
Mrs. Lawrence Hosafros.
Mrs. Virgil Cribley and daughter
Virginia spent Sunday afternoon at
the Owens home.
Mr. and Mrs. Carl McCafferty
spent Sunday afternoon with Mr.
and Mrs. Mrs. Guy Fleming and
family of Ada.
Mr. and Mrs. Roily Moser and son
were Sunday dinner guests at the
Levi Hauenstein home.
Mr. and Mrs. L. A. Klingler of
Findlay, Mr. and Mrs. C. E. Kling
ler called Sunday afternoon on Mr.
and Mrs. I. A. Klingler.
Rev. Cole of Holgate called Wed
nesday at the Levi Hauenstein home.
Mr. and Mrs. C. E. Klingler
called at the W. I. More home Sun
day evening.
Mrs. Charles Montgomery and
daughter Sue and Mrs. C. E. Kling
ler were Lima callers, Monday.
Fulton county, Ohio, has been se
lected as an additional area to which
the government’s food order stamp
plan for distributing surplus agricul
tural commodities will be extended.
Operation of the plan is expected to
begin early in May.
NOTICE OF APPOINTMENT
The State of Ohio,
Allen County, s».
Estate of Bessie N. Ixmgadorf, 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,
Probate Judge
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Bluffton, Ohio
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include meat in your menu.
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Beaverdam
The Loyal Berean S. S. class of the
Church of Christ held their April
meeting Thursday evening at the
home of Mrs. Myra Yant. Attending
were Mrs. Pearl Vertner, Mrs. Ar
minta Dal'y, Mrs. Auneata Lenney,
Mrs. Hazel Green, Mrs. Cora Barber
and Mrs. Mildred Varve!.
Mr. and Mrs. Dode Ramsey and
family of Buckland were Sunday din
ner guests of Mr. and Mrs. James
Ramsey and daughter Linda Lou.
Lewis Bailey of Camp Shelby, Miss,
is spending the week with his moth
er, Mrs. Bailey and sister, Miss Lou
ella Bailey.
Mrs. Mary Zeiders returned Sat
urday after spending several months
with Mr. and Mrs. Print Kilgore in
Columbus.
Dr. W. C. Lacock of Fort Braggs,
N. C. is spending several days with
Mrs. W. Lacock and family.
The Homebuilders S. S. class of
the Church of Christ met at the home
of Mr. and Mrs. Marvin Reigle. At
tending were Mr. and Mrs. Willard
Cherry and son Park, Mrs. Cleda
Gratz, Mrs. Oral Fett and son Harry,
Mr. and Mrs. Grant Barber, Mr. and
Mrs. Lawrence Yant, Mr. and Mrs.
Merrill Arnold, Mr. and Mrs. Carl
Amstutz and daughters, Mr. and Mrs.
Kent Amstutz and daughter, Mr. and
Mrs. Lewis Van Meter, Mr. and Mrs.
CharlesLewis.
Mr. and Mrs. Randall Skinner and
son of Dayton were recent visitors of
F. C. Skinner.
An Operetta, “Ask the Professor,”
will be presented by the High School,
Friday evening, April 25th in the
auditorium.
Mr. and Mrs. John Lenney, Sr., en
tertained with a Sunday dinner the
following guests: Dr. Geo. B. Roth
of Washington, D. C., Mr. and Mrs.
Jesse Clements, Mr. and Mrs. Charles
Lenney of Van Wert, Mrs. Maude
Lenney of Lima, Mr. and Mrs. John
Lenney, Jr., and son Marion.
Mr. and Mrs. C. E. Kramer spent
last week end with Mr. and Mrs. J.
C. Ewing at Columbus.
John Moore of Lima was Sunday
visitor of his mother, Mrs. Sadie
Moore.
Mr. and Mrs. Wm. Fensler of To
ledo, Mrs. Mabel Hollman of Auburn,
Ind., Mr. and Mrs. Dale Spencer and
son Duglas of Toledo were Sunday
guests of Mrs. Carrie Durkee and
daughter Ruth.
Rev. and Mrs. J. Arthur attended
a District Meeting of the Women’s
Society of Christion Service at Spen
cerville, Thursday.
The Win One S. S. class of the
Methodist church were entertained at
the home of Mr. and Mrs. Carl Hau
enstein at Lima, Wednesday evening.
i Those enjoying the affair were Mr.
and Mrs. Charles Hall and children,
Mr. and Mrs. Ray Zimmerman and
family, Mr. and Mrs. Edd Herr and
sons, Mrs. Daniel Younkman, Mrs.
Donald Michael, Mrs. RusseH Augs
burger, and Mrs. Dwight Baughman.
Mr. and Mrs. Ed Bassett of Ft.
Wayne were week end visitors of Mr.
and Mrs. Loren Bassett and family.
Mr. and Mrs. Wm. Ryan and dau
ghters of Ada were Sunday guests
of Mr. and Mrs. W. R. Dally.
__________
WHY
Elrose
Mr. and Mrs. Howard Nonnamak
er and sons Harold and Dean were
Sunday dinner guests at the Ami
Nonnamaker home.
Rev. Herbert Graham and wife,
and son David of Rushsylvania
spent several days last week at the
D. D. Williamson home.
J. O. Koontz spent Saturday
night and Sunday at the A. J. Non
namaker and Anna Koontz home.
Mr. and Mrs. Howard Stauffer
were Sunday dinner guests at the
Lendon Basinger and Emaline Non
namaker home.
Union prayer services at Bethesda
Thursday evening.
Ami Nonnamaker, Mr. and Mrs.
H. E. Nonnamaker called at the
John Agin home in Bluffton Sunday
afternoon.
Mrs. Purl Hartman is on the sick
list.
Mumps and measles are in evi
dence in this section of the country.
George Griswack, former resident
of this place, died at his home in
Bradner, Saturday.
Mrs. Lulu Koontz and son Robert
spent Sunday at the J. R. Fisher
home.
Bernard Christman and lady
friend of South Bend, Ind., Miss
Bessie Arnold. Mrs. Anna Koontz,
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Kaye Nonnamaker, Ruth Steinman,
J. 0. Koontz, Mr. and Mrs. W’right
Klingler and little son Don Ray
were callers at the M. J. Stratton
home last week.
Rawson
June and Margaret Miller of near
McComb spent a few days last week
with Mr. and Mrs. Harley House.
Mary Lou Keller spent Sunday
with Marybelle Shaw.
Mr. Sid Morse of Oak Harbor and
Elva Arnold of Toledo were recent
dinner guests of Mr. and Mrs.
Wright Hughes.
Mrs. Jack Carrick and daughter
Lila spent the week end with rel
atives at Ft. Wayne.
Mr. and Mrs. William Veach of
Continental spent Sunday with Mrs.
M. L. Crist.
Mr. and Mrs. Raymond Dear and
family of Findlay were recent call
ers on Mrs. Mabel Lootens and
family.
Mr. and Mrs. Harley House were
Saturday evening supper guests of
Mr. and Mrs. Guy Miller and family
of near McComb.
Mr. and Mrs. Charles Knepper of
Toledo were Saturday evening call
ers on Mr. and Mrs. Dale Wilson
and family.
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