Oxford eagle., 1890-02-06
CIMARR0N JOE.
His One Love Affair, and How He
Died.


\ simple story that was told By the
stove cf a country store On n winter dzy.
20 a crowd Of idle listeners. while the
wind howled outside like an unhappy
ghost I give the facts exactly a. I
heari hem. without any colorinS.
emitting the rude dialect OF the border
His name was Joe Evans and he w2s
called Cimzrron Jo-. because he was the
first settler On the Cimarrou river in
Morton County. near the south western
corner Of the State When he settled
there in iSs5. il Vas called Kansas Com
ty- bat the next Legislature changed
the name Ia Morton when Joe built
his shanty and moved On his claim il
was five miles 10 the nearest neixhbor.
hut IN i---i there was rush To that So
ton about All the land wzs taken. and
there ~as no scarcity Of neigh borS- To
L. honest ahout if there were ulor. peo-
pie in southwestern Kansas in is~s and
- than a. present A great number
have become discouraged and have
proved up their claims and moved away.
But that i 20 b. expected in all new
countries - long as the soil will not
and even luxuries of life the first set
tiers Of country TO large extent fold
their tents like the Arabs and yam
ose the ranch Il Is generally too wet
or too dry. too hot or too cold. for the first
settler. and after short soiouru he
finds out that it isn't the country he
thought II was and that Just ahead in
some unsettled locality is the true
promise land flowing with milk and
honey 20 he moves on and shortly
after better class of citizens takes his
place and the country is the gamer by
his departure. Sometimes after a few
years have gone by he returns and is a
renter on the land that he abandoned. |
have known such things to C. ccur often.
He seldom. II ever. owns home Of his
\ n and often dies in a wagon with the
promise land Just ahead. Like Moses
he wanders forty years with il almost
IN view all the time and finally dies
when he thinks the goal will soon be
reached
But this isn't telling the story Of Ci-
maroon Joe- Joe was nrst settler bu,
not Of the class mentioned above-there
are exceptions lie came To star and wen,
to work to improve his land He plow-
ed the ground. planted crops and set out
trees He was moderately successful.
Part Of his trees died and he planted
more. and by the third year he had quite
a grove where. when he commenced
operations. buffalo grass had been the
only vegetation.
In the spring of 1sssi. Mr.. Jones set
tied within two miles Of doe. and Jones
had grown daughter Emma Jones
vas eomely girl of eighteen summers.
II did not take Joe long TO get acauaint-
ed with the maiden and as usually han
pens in such cases the young nan fell
IN love IL did not seem necessary for
MIN 10 pine, for Emma smiled and an
enlargement followed Many a summer
night they stood together AZ her fathers
gate while Joe said the .'good-hve~ tha,
II generally takes from nine o'clock ill
midnight 70 utter Many a SUNDAY after
noon they visited the prairie dog town a
mile away for Emma took quite An in
terest in the cute little creaturp<- as
she called them The dogs sat on tor
OF their mounds and bzrkei: kindly
giving an opportunity TO see them 10 ad-
vantage. but she didn't give them anv
particular attention after ALL The tru.h
l. that she and Joe had something on
hand far more interesting than prairie
dog They talked OF love. the old ssorv.
that i forever new. the silliest Of ali talk
and the wisest-Silly 20 a third partv.
but profound wisdom and infinite truth
To the lovers; talk in which ererv uer<oa
who has reached maturity has INDUCED
or would have INDUCED had the rixh,
person and opportunity offered No one
foregOes love from choice. Old hzrhelc-<
and spinSters Of advanced are have
either failed to find their ideal or been
Iiited- Often Joe and Emma hunted
ag7ses BY the rfver-for such stones ~
sometimes found there-ani f-sone.rlv =
when they stopped - pick Up sup
posed gem their heads would come in
contact and-and - blushes followed
This vas at frst- afterwards il did not
need any sgates TO bring their heads
together and their lips too. for that mat
ter Coartship without kisses would b.
a. lonesome as matrimony without chill
dren-
But Joe and Emma quarreleS- IL
toesnat make any difference what il xas
about for il was tri1e: such aus--els
are usually about trifes and are gener-
ally made up and soon forgotten. This
result would probably have followed
only Joe did very foolish thing. He
went 70 johnson City. the nearest town.
seventeen miles away, and got drunk.
Then Emma said that If every other man
was dead she would neyer marry Joe
Evans- Then John Kelley saw that hi,
hour had come and at once took adysnt-
age Of the opportunity.
John Kelley was Joe's nearest uei-b-
Dor IL was only half mile from one
house 70 the other They had been good
friends but Kelley had secretly loved
Emma all along. though she had been
engaged 70 Joe when he came 70 the
country and the prospect of gaining the
plump country maiden was rather dis
eouraging. But this quarrel changed
affairs entirely. II she would never
marry Joe. why shouldn't ne win the
prize2 He would make the ehor-he
could only fail and then would be NO
worse on than At present He tried and
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