St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-05-20
JUMPER BILL.
A California Episode With q
Young Girl as Chief Actor.
BY SAN MARCO.

BY SAN MARCO.
"Reckon ye've decided to locate out
Byer?" said the driver, who was taking
Eithe three Norrises to their claim among
1.-THE foothills.
s Eyes" Mrs. Norris replied, 81 have
I filed my application In the land Office
/ ard we are going out to begin work"
The driver was very friendly and So
[ ciable. and he liked these three Eastern
people; but there was something about
/ the situation which seemed to am1se
him, for he spent some time in chuck
! ling over this reply.
.'Hev We plenty o. shotguns?" he
asked at length.
year-Old man of the family, who an
gswered this question.
"No," he said, II didn't bring any
j gun along this time. You see, won't
have much time for hunting just yet"
''Wall, yell need about three guns
apiece, an mebbe cannon or two
thrOwed In" responded the driver, with
a chuckle.
.sWhy. is there so much game, and
does it insist on being shot?'' Kate Nor
ris asked, with much animation.
She was two years younger than her
brother George, but she had quite as
much pleasure as he In the prospective
delights of this life in the wilderness.
EFF We calls Jumper Bill game. yell
hev plenty o. him." said the driver.
laughing outright:
Then his friendly interest in these
hi Gyv,A n ne 4 I
trouble before them made him grave,
and he went on seriously enough.
I'VE See." he said, this here Bill
Buckley-.Jumper Bill,' we calls him
he has his eye on all this region. an he
don't low to hev no hOmesteaders
a-comin' in here to interfere. You hev
your claim all right in the land Office. /
make no doubt, but he lays out to stab
lish shotgun claim that'll jest make
every hOmeSteader SICK"
"But surely the law will protect u.s."
was the troubled answer of Mrs. Norris.
''P'raps it will eft We lives to git to the
court house and hez money enough to
fight the hull length o. the law. Ye
see, Bill an them that's in with him
kin straddle the top rail o. the law
bout ez well ez anybody. You jest git
a twenty-four-pouud cannon an then
git the drop on Jumper Bill. and ye're
all right. That's yer best holt"
A short time before this friendly but
rather disturbing advise was given, the
United States government had been de-
clared the owner of a large tract of
land in the San Joaquin valley in Cali
fornia. The courts had set aside the
doubtful title claimed under a Span
ish grant" which did not exist; and the
government had at once declared the
land open for settlement under the
homestead laws.
When this fact was published, the
Norris family had temporary home in
San Francisco. There had been four
members of the family when the Penn
sylvania home was given up for the al
lurements of the California climate.
But the invalid husband and father, for
whose sake the change had been made,
found that he had come too late. He
died soon after reaching the Sunset
state, and only few months before the
opening of this story.
But little wealth was left for the wife
and children, but Mrs. Norris was
George and Kate had their full share of
the same qualities. They all liked Cal
if0rnia, and they determined to make
home for themselves there.
When the land in the San Joaquin
valley was opened for settlement, Mrs.
Norris was one of the first to locate
claim there under the homestead laws.
She choose her t'quarter sectiOno among
the foothills on the San Joaquin river.
and determined to establish vineyard
and perhaps an orange grove and an al
mOnd orchard there.
She filed her claim In the. land Office
at Sacramento, and supposed that all
difficulties had been disposed of, save
such difficulties as had to be conquered
by all pioneers everywhere. The re-
marks of the driver who took them to
their claim when they went there to
begin their work of home-making was
the first intination that any of them
had of the troubles which settlers in
California some years ago had to fear
from s'claim jumpers"
The troubles which these men caused
were many and various. Their general
plan of operations was to drive away
the legal settler on any desirable tract
of ground, and CLAIM the owner Ship of
it themselves, apprOpriating all the inn
provements the rightful owner might
have made. Sometimes violence was
used, and sometimes the poor settler
was ''flozen out" by means of expen-
sive litigation and perJured testimony.
At first the members of the Norris
family were much disturbed by what
their friend the driver had said. They
were not of the kind to retreat from a
trouble not yet in sight, however. and
they went bravely on with the work
they had laid out.
requirements of the indulgent climate
ynoc yyf nm 10 d vuoc hrn boz on rrn %
vines and some orange trees were set
out; irrigation bitches were constructed,
and the improvements required by the
low and by their own plans were indus
triOusly carried forward. And still no
signs of trouble appeared.
THAT fellow didn't know what he
was talking about" George declared
one day when they were recalling the
drivers warning.
II am not sure of that" his mother
replied. 81 suspect he knew a good
deal more than we did or do:
HE was just trying to scare US,
mamma, DEAR" George declared with
the superiority of seventeen masculine
years. '.If Jumper Bill' had any mis-
chief in him it would have shown itself
before nOwP'
IT Jumper Bill wants the land
and suspect he dOeS-he shows very
good judgment in waiting until we've
made it still better worth having. ]
am by no means sure that we will not
hear from the gymnastic William .yet!'
was the rather grave reply of Mrs. Nor
riS.
And sure enough. the very. next day
the mischief in Jumper Bil1'' made it.
self manifest. A formidable looking
legal envelope was handed TO Mrs.
Norris, and it was found to contain
still more fOrmidable-loo legal
document. signed William Buckley. In
this document Mr.. Buckley set forth, in
effect, the interesting statement that he