The Coeur d'Alene press. (Coeur d'Alene, Idaho) 1892-1907, 1892-08-20
SAVED BY A BANK BOOK
HOW A 0REEhHoRN CLEARED HIS
HOMESTEAD m FLORIDA.

His Disastrous Experience Told by this
Survivors, COMMITTEES Of "Craekers''
Made nm Important Call ON the Set
tier-His Check Book to the Rescue.
II had been clerk in u city store ever
since was old enough to work, and / was
green. There II TO doubt about that In my
mind now. though spurned the thought
then. 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
1t. and had landed In Florida full of guide
book opinions Of the land Of the cypress
II took up homestead on the long, mar
row strip of land that divides the Atlantic
ocean from the Indian river did not 20
to see IL before entering for it at the land
Office. because knew that was unneces-
sary.
II reached 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 ii they merely girdled the
trees and left them standing, dead aud
bare, constant menace to passers by and to
the young orange trees which were planted
among their roots. as well rs AL eyesore on
the landscape
CLEARING UP.
.I.sz
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 Sc; to work on the underbrush, and
then came my first experience with pal.
metto roots.
well, by the time ! had two acres OF
palmetto roots pulled out and a wilder
hess OF big trees down or top OF them my
back was almost broken. my ready money
all gone and no prospect Of a crop in sight.
] had come down In the early fall and now
il was about Christmas The season had
been pretty dry one. and the logs looked
so full of sap that thought they would
burn. though too green 10 burn fast So
50, them on fire.
That WAS the most disast ruus fire ever
lit forgot that the sap of these trees was
mostly resin The way the fame crept
along through that mass OF underbrush
and leaped up every resinons pine tree il
met VIVA terrific. Tough, il rs long as
could move n limb and then dropped. ex-
hausted and despairing. aud watched il
roar oil through the woods like an evil
spirit that had raised and was powerless
10 control. IL WAS shutdown when | gave
up the fight aud could do nothing more
that night
The exhaustion made the sleep far into
the next day, and was awakened n little
after noon by loud knocks on my door
OpeniD~ IL, Was confronted by five or six
big, rough men, all armed with sbo,guns
and with an ofninous look on their faces
They s;rude into my cabin and shut the
door behind them.
Stranger, said the spokes man grufiy,
you have started fire here in your darnea
Yankee ignorance of farmin'. and all the
good we've done is to burn the rawsun and
the bark OF lot of green trees and now
you've got II lot Of black logs on yer hands
tina; are a derned sight nneaner to handle
than ever. But yer derned fire has spread
into the groves OF yer neighbors, where the
dead trees were still a-standiu', aud they
have besn burned to the ground as any.
body but a natural born fool Nigh, "a
kpowed they would, and our orange trees
Is ruinei with them Such varnint as you
isn't fit TO live in this country Say yer
prayers, mister, for we're going TO plan,
you before we go back
CLEARING OFT.
Il was terribly frightened, for could
see they were in dead earnest Ny teeth
beP1 10 chatter, but bright thought
struck me. had deposited some money
in a bank At jacksonville on my WAY down,
and had check book with some blank
checks lief, in il, though the money had all
been drawn out long ago.
Gentlemen ! said, ! am clearing this
place for n northern syndicate, who are
going TO make extensive plantations here,
and ] can pay you on the spo, for your
losses, caused by my ignorance Of Florida
forests. and assure you that such a thing
will not happen again With this whip
ped out my check book, took up a pencil!
and prepared TO write with as much show
OF confidence as I could muster under the
circumstances.
IL had been pretty free with the five or
six hundred dollars had brought, down
with me. and 30 the story OF the northern
syndicate seemed to them TO tie likely
enough. The word syndicate anyway
seems TO have an awe inspiring power
down there The idea that a syndicate
might he penniless seems prepos,erous.
But II was the bank checks that over
whelmed them. Checks on "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 was not disposed to Ire penuri.
Gus, merely making enough objection to
allay possible suspicion. SO drew a check
for each man, big enough to buy his farm
Eve times over, aud they went away laugh.
ing To themselves a, my gullibility.
as soon as they were out Of sight !
packed into my boat all NY outfit, set every
stitch OF sail and reached the nearest town
M The next nj bit, sold my outfit for enough
buy a ticket north, and did not breathe
sheslly till l felt myself well beyond the
Of tAh Of those simple CRACKERS whose
enot-es ! had ignorantly ruined, and In
sc hands knew my life would not be
'1ayth an hours purchase when they dis
"a bred how had escaped their just in
ation."-New York Tribune.