The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1890-09-05
SAVED BY A BANK BOOK
HOW A eREENHoRN CLEARED HIS
: HOMESTEAD IN FLORIDA.

His Disastrous Experience Told by the
survivor-A Committee of Crackers
Made an Important Call on the Set
tIer-His Check Book to the Rescue.
"T had been clerk in city store ever
since was old enough to work, and l was
green. There is no doubt about that in my
mind now, though I spurRed the thought
then. l had sold the stony little farm on
the bleak Vermont hillside which had
come to me after my father had worried
himself into the grave trying to get rich on
it, and had landed in Florida full of guide
book opinions Of the land of the cypress
II took up a homestead on the long, mar
row strip of land that divides the Atlantic
ocean from the Indian river. did not go
to see it before entering for it at the land
Office, because knew that was unneces-
sary.
Preached the spot by sailboat from Titus
vile, at the head of the river, and was de-
| lighted to find that had neighbors not far
away, to the north and also TO the south.
| They were crackers That is the name
which one native Floridian applies to other
native Floridians whom he does not like.
! They had orange groves, to be sure, but
they did not seem to be growing rich on
| their crops. This | attributed to their
shiftless method of agriculture. Instead
Of clearing their land of the big pine trees
/ that numbered it they merely girdled the
trees and left them standing, dead and
bare, constant menace to passers by and to
the young orange trees which were planted
among their roots, as well as an eyesore on
| the Landscape.
CLEARING UP.
CT determined to cut my trees down in
| the good old New England fashion, clear
the land thoroughly and raise vegetables
between the rows Of orange trees till they
were old enough to bear golden harvest
First set to work on the underbrush, and
then came my first experience with pal
metto roots.
"Well, by the time 1 had two acres of
! palmetto roots pulled out and a wilder
ness of big trees down on top of them my
back was almost broken, my ready money
all gone and no prospect of a crop in sight.
l had come down in the early fall and now
it was about Christmas. The season had
been a pretty dry one, and the logs looked
so full of sap that / thought they would
burn, though too green to burn fast. So
set them on fire.
''That was the most disastrous fire ever
lit. / forgot that the sap Of these trees was |
mostly resin. The way the flame crept |
along through that mass of underbrush |
and leaped up every resinous pine tree it |
met was terrific. fought it as long as |
could move limb and then dropped, ex-
hausted and despairing, and watched it |
roar off through the woods like an evil !
spirit that ! had raised and was powerless |
TO control. 1t was shutdown when 1 gave |
up the fight and could do nothing more |
that night.
'The exhaustion made me sleep far into |
the next day, and l was awakened a little /
after noon by loud knocks on my door. |
Opening it, l was confronted by five or six |
big rough men, all armed with shotguns |
and with an ominous look on their faces. |
They strobe into my cabin and shut the |
door behind them.
Stranger said the spokesman gruffly, |
you have started fire here in your darned !
Yankee ignorance of farmin' and all the |
good we've done is 20 burn the rawsun and |
the bark OF a lot Of green trees, and now
you've got lot of black logs on yer hands I
that ara derned sight meaner to handle |
than ever. But yer derned fire has spread |
into the groves Of yer neighbors, where the ,
dead trees were still a-standin', and they /
have been burned to the ground as any |
body but a natural born fool might "a
knOwed they would, and our orange trees |
is ruined with them. Such varmint as you
isn't fit to live in this country. Say yer
prayers, mister, for we're going to plant
you before we go back
CLEARING OUT.
81 was terribly frightened, for could
see they were in dead earnest. My teeth
began to chatter, but a bright thought
struck me. I had deposited some money
in bank at Jacksonville on my way down,
and had a check book with some blank
checks left in it, though the money had all
been drawn out long ago.
Gentlemen | said, 4 am clearing this
place for a northern syndicate, who are
going to make extensive plantations here,
and / can pay you on the spot for your
losses, caused by my ignorance of Florida
forests, and l assure you that such thing
VIII not happen again With this l whip |
ped out my check book, took up pencil
and prepared to write with as much show
of confidence as could muster under the
circumstances.
~ had been pretty free with the five or
six hundred dollars l had brought down
with me, and so the story of the northern
enough. The word syndicate anyway
seems to have an awe inspiring power
down there. The idea that a syndicate
might be penniless seems preposterous.
But it was the bank checks that over
whelmed them. Checks OF a real national
bank were something they had heard of,
but never handled before
''You may be sure they swindled me aw-
fully in making up the estimates of their
losses, but l was not disposed to be penuri-
Gus, merely making enough objection to
allay possible suspicion. SO drew check
for each man, big enough TO buy his farm
five times over, and they went away laugh
ing to themselves at my gQllibility.
As soon as they were out of sight !
packed into my boat all my outfit, set every
stitch Of sail and reached the nearest town
by the next night, sold my outfit for enough
to buy ticket north, and did not breathe
freely till / felt myself well beyond the
reach of those simple crackers whose
groves l had ignorantly ruined, and in
whose hands l knew my life would not be
worth an hours purchase when they dis
covered how had escaped their just in
dignation New York Tribune.
Sarcastic.