The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1897-12-17
Lem ROBBERS STRIKE.
BY WARREN R. M'vEIGH.
r EN- RODER made his strike on the
/ 9Th anniversary of the settlement

of Boulder.
In those first five years OF It's lie
Boulder had managed to save the sum
of $4,000. Boulder naturally wanted TO
be the county seat of the county OF
Boulder, Ariz., andshe had starved anu
stinted herself for those five years IN
order 10 save up enough money to per-
suadc the county that she had the best
seating capacity anywhere around. we
were pleased, therefore, to call this $3,-
600 our seating fund.
jealous persons in our nearest neigh
Dor. little town known as "Hell-on-
the-Border," about 20 miles away, allied
this money our corruption fund. "a
Roder was chairman and treasurer
of the seating committeeman there
fore had charge of the fund.
The chairman and treasurer was
about as fine man as ever came over
the Rockies. If he had been hotel
keeper he would have been called That
most genial Of Bonifaces." AS he was
only Woodworking citizen like the
rest Of us, apparently wrapped up body
and soul in the success CT Boulder,
with IN honest healthy hand-siake and
a heart as large as the Great American
desert and as warm III his impulses, he
was simply, in the words of Tom
Gable, "a decent fellow"
We had the most implicit faith in
Roder. l do not know why. Certainly
he had never had chance to prove that
he was over-scrupulous about honesty,
but men who live in the open, wayfarers
in strange land, warriors of fortune,
friends of nature, grow 10 be like dogs
and little children, and them instinct
becomes so abnormally developed that
they can pick out a good man the mo-
ment they see him. However, l have
often seen a dog take decided fancy
for Bill Skies; and / have often seen
dog that wouldn't come within mile
of decent man; and then I've seen
child who would be disguised with a
clean, decent woman, and cry like all
possessed for the arms of its Wretched,
dirty, dccrepit nurse. So that do not
see, and have always refused to see,
why Boulder should be. blamed for the
implicit trust it reposed in Lem Roder.
From all of which, therefore, it is to be
inferred that Lem wasn't any better
than the rest of US, and had his price.
The only mistake that Boulder made
was in placing LENS price too high.
On the day that Lem Rcder left
Boulder the whole town turned out to
see him off, and rode WIKI him some
five miles into the desert in the direc-
ton of the nearest railroad station.
Lem was to take the train there for
Phoenix, where he was to prove our
seating capacity with that $4,000 at so
many dollars per proof. 1 have forgot
ten how many men he had to convince,
but L remember that each proof was to
be worth several hundreds of dollars.
Lem expected to be gone about two
weeks and to return with Boulder's
sprosperity in his inside pocket; for
with the county seat we know we would
get the railroad into our town. We
had not doubt of the success of the
venture, and so we gave Lem a rousing
send-off and made hero of him and a
heroine of his wife, Mrs. Lem, little
bit of woman with eyes that shone
like mica in dark canyon, and a
sweetness like a babbling spring in a
desert.
Mrs. Lem was not strong, and when
Lem kissed her fondly-the big, strong,
handsome hero and the weak, sickly,
beautiful heroine-there were tears in
our eyes, and we meant it when we told
him that we'd look out for her and the
! boy.
. The boy was Buster, four years old,
s a gallant little chap, who would fight
anything his size around, and cry when
his mother took him in her arms and
Rugged him little and looked into his
big brown eyes. Buster, you see, hadn't
< learned what words he should use to
tell his mother how much he cared for
her, and so all he could do when the
love in his heart hurt him too much
was to cry.
Mrs. Lem was something of saint
TO all of us. When she and the boy sat
down in the plaza in the afternoon the
sun used to shine upon their golden
heads, and little halos used to dance
all around them. Mrs. Lem had nursed
us when the smallpox came to town via
a COMPOUNDED greaser from Reno, and
when Buster was taken down with it
God Almighty heard some new voices
and the recording angel had to look up
glossary to translate the prayers.
So that there wasn't much that
wasn't done for her and that boy when
Lem was gone. Mrs. Lem was taken
down sick the next day, just from griev-
ing, and then we had a chance to pay
her back. Doc Sloane attended to her
night and day. There wasn't any bill
sent in, either.
''I'll take it out on the next invalid
said he.
s'If she dies I'll give her the best in
the house." said Tom Gable, the under.
taker-and he meant it, for he was a
warm-hearted fellow.
But the prospect of such a horrible
thing was too much for us, and the
Free~for-All did a great business until
we had washed down the awful fear in
our hearts.
Mrs. Lem didn't die. She was well in
a week, and when she and Buster came
out for walk the desert reechoed oui
cheers, and Mrs. Lem Rugged Buster
and Buster was so happy that he cried
Tor five minutes, and was only quoted
when he found a big dog bullying .
smaller dog, whereupon he trounced
the big dog numerically.
We had hardly taken our first drink
an hour later. to Mrs. Lem, Buster and
Boulder, when bad news came int