The Iowa plain dealer. [volume] (New Oregon, Howard County, Iowa) 1867-1895, 1888-11-29
spiracy were tenderly lifted from the

4
ground and carried to their homes.
| Lucy, with her mother and two chill.
dren-a second child. girl, having
been born to them-rcached home in
advance of those who brought her
wounded husband. They had heard
| the most terrible rlmors, and were tor.
| tured by the most horrible fears, but
were in ignorance of what had actually
occurred until men came bearing the
bleeding body with its unconscious face
and laid 1t at their feet. To those who
can not image the agony Of these low
ing hearts no description which the
writer could give would convey any
meaning whatever Erastns lived until
morning. He was unconscious during
| the whole tine. and died without 4
word or look of recognition of those
about him, while wife and mother and
children poured forth their anguish in
tears and sobs IS they watched tie
| pulsing OF the heart grow fainter and
I fainter and felt the hands which they
clasped become colder aud colder. as the
death-damp gathered upon the brow OF
him they loved.
! When he was buried these two lone
AMI widowed women. the one in the
prime of life. The other bowed aid
broken and gray with years and sorrow.
but more with sorrow than with years.
returned TO their desolate home to clasp
] two fatherless children To their breasts,
and weep and moan, living in daily
/ fear of other attempts ut eviction AMI
other tragedies until such time IS death
shall come to them, or until the whole
people shall waken from their slumbers.
throw oil the fatal spell which bns's
them, and demand that justice be done.
and PREPARATION made so far as may be.
Walking down one of the principal
streets of Chicago one day recently l
met Ensign. the husband OF Jennie Par
sons. lie was not rs well dressed IS
when last saw him, and his greeting
] had less of self confidence and manly
/ independence than formerly. In truth.
think he intended to pass without
speaking. but stopped linn and held
out my hand
How do you do said; land how
is Jennie aud the babicsa''
.They are we'll, or rs we'll as could
be expected under the circumstances,
was the reply.
j | feared that all was not exactly
right with them. hut could not well APP
pear TO be inguistive / have a high
respect for Ensign and his wife, and had
no intention of permitting them to drop
from nv list of friends. and said:
Il am coming ont To spend al cven-
ing with you before long if you viii al
, low ME. ! suppose you are still living
in the same cottage on c. street,
No." he replied, .'they forccloscd
and took that from us more than year
ago; after We had more than half pad
for it. too. You see, was thrown out
of my place by the failure of the com.
pany was at work for. and could not
! keep up the payments on the house and
lot. and so lost all we had saved since
coming here. together with whar little
we had when we came. y
And where are you living now?" l
asked.
lie hestated little and then said:
AFTER we lost our place got another
job at one OF the mills. but was sick
with the fever for time. and when
got up again could get no steady em-
ploymeni, and we were forced to rent
some rather poor rooms on - street,
fronting on the railroad track. Well,
the railroad company ella med the
ground that this building and others
stood on and wanted possession, so tley
ordered us put out without ceremony.
came home from a long tramp after
work one day and found Jennie and the
children on t e sidewalk with what few
household goods we had lett, crying
their eyes out with fear and anxiety"
And then what" | asked. seeing
that he hcsitated again.
well. | was out Of money, and rent
had to be paid in advance, and as We
.. had nothing 10 pay with, and could not
borrow. we moved into an old building
with another family down by the river,
unit can find work and rent better
place. We don't call it living; it isn't
living; its only jus: !, camping; bu. what
can fellow dos assure YOU there are
hundreds of other families in the city
who are equally bad off,
The story '.Driven from Sea to Sea-
is tinshed-no, not finished. John
Parsons and Erastus Hemingway ara
dead. One sleeps with his crippled
child upon the mountain side: one Les
buried in the valley, side by side with
his neghbors, who fell like him, the
victims of the rapacious greed of cer-
porate conspirators on that fatal no n.
ing of May, 1880; but Martha Parsons
and Lucy Hemingway s,ill live. and
living still contend with corporation
for the shelter above their heads aud
the heads of orphaned children. With
. them battle others whose homes and
? farms are in jeopardy from the same
! source.
! Occasionally some settler, driven
J from his home, made desperate by
long-continued suffering, by wrongs off
repeated, takes vengeance upon the
l immediate author of his woes; and
some man, some tool of the corpora
/, ton sent to hold possession of the land
from which the settler has been evicted
is found dead upon the spot where the
wrong was done. Even as YOU read
these lines and wonder if such tn ngs
9 are possible. honest settlers. not alone
in California, but in any of dozen diff
l ferent States, it may be, are being driven
from their homes, their affairs over
J. thrown, their household gods destroyed
I their lives sacrificed. their wives widowed
4 and their children made orphans.
5 No, the story is not yet finished; but
I, SO far as told it is a true story. All o
i the main incidents have taken place
: substantially as related. They are par
@ OF the history of our country; have oc
u Cured to our own citizens. beneath til,
shadow of our own dag
i Had it been other than true stor,
Il it might have ended with brightcl
> picture; with the brightest and best o.
= all pictures-the picture of n loving ant
u honored old couple enjoying the las
: years of their well-spent lives amids
e scenes of plenty and beauty. the worl
of nature and their own hands; witt
q loving children and laughing babies. til,
8 children of their children abou: them.
q As it is a true story it could not b,
3 told otherwise than rs it has been, ant
q if the pictures presented have been sor
n rowful instead of pleasant ones. and
e the reader has been forced TO weep
!, when, like the writer, he would pre.e
/ laughter to tears, it is not the writer
So,