Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-11-07

They all had their hammers out that Win
fer in Buena Vista 1t seemed, too, as II
Providence had Joined the knockers ana
was using a sledge Only a few steadfast
souls like the able and conservative edltor
of the Evening Journal remained firm IN
every issue. editorially, he advocated nope
unity and progression in one column Whiie
in the next he chastised with singing ao-
jectives the president of the railroad WIN
had ordered the shops moved away.
Ruena Vista was railroad town. -Four
long slender lines of steel gllsteheu
through It's suburbs. met in its heart dh'
led away toward the points of the compass
over the billowy praires that touched 'he
vague hOrizon-in summer a blending green
and blue in winter merging brown anu
gray. The shops were the life of II; all al-
visions centered there and every TWO men
in three had something to do with tue Tn I
road Round about it lay the most leruie
agricultural land that God had set DOWN III
the center Of the state men had named MIS-
Old Gen Gordon de Smet, coming back
from the Mexican war, had camped on d
sloring green. and. with poetcal FANCY +,
called it Buena Nis,a-Good View. IWeh'E
miles away he had seen herd OF ante!ope
that furnished supper for ms camp. I'LL
l.ying argonauts had stumbled INTO lrlnsc
d a
stream and they called 1t Silver river Inere
they stayed The soldier, the goldseeker'
the natural-born farmer from HTsiil, ,.
agreed that heaven smiled quite JoyouSiy
on them. and so, happily one morning the
SIM rose on a row of low, wooden houses
where the night before 1t had set on Il
struggling group of tents Ana bueIia
Vista was on the map. Ihen CAME INC
railroad and the town grew.
None remember why 1t was. and Few
scarcely recall when 1t was. but magnate
whose name two decades ago was the oes |
known in Wall street swore vengeance
against the town.
ssI shall make the grass grow In your
streets" he said, and left the council of
citizens in towering rage. His name ana
his sons name daily appear in the second
column on the editorial page OF the Even
ing Jorunal From that day the prosperity
of the thriving city of twenty thousand be-
gan to wane. Even the able ana conserVa-
tive editor of the Evening formal, While
advocating hope. unity and progression
publicly in his columns. privately admitted
that 1t looked blue for Buena Vista. With
a stanch few he organized BUSINESS Men
Club knocks for Knockers was their
motto-"We must get manufactures, their
watChword
I'VE have depended altogether too long
on the railroad for our prosperity, an ar
ticle read in the Journal after the first meet
ing of the club. Let us now turn our at
teution to something more substantial We
have coal and water here in abundance and
our natural resources should be developed
So it came to pass that much correspond
ence with commercial centerS near and far
began to attract notice to the advantages
of Buena Vista as an admirable site for
factories.
There was no surprise, therefore, when
one fine April morning an unpretentiouS
and husiness-like stranger called upon Ma
tor William Turner. the oldest real estate
dealer in Buena Vista, and extended card
by way of introduction. 1t read, "Benja-
min y. Audrey. Buffalo, n. Y" Mr.. Au-
drey asked a great many questions about
property values and spent three days very
pleasantly the guest Of members of the real
ty-dealing fraternity, who saw that he
dined regularly, drank at moderate inter-
walls and rode behind good horses over all
the suburbs and vacant places
Within week Mr.. Audrey of Buffalo had
properly drawn options on every one of
the dozen choicest building sites in the
town. He wore a very cheerful look as he
bade his new-made friends au revoir.
you will hear from me SOON he said to
the little group of real estate men on the
station platform.
Now as things We're seemingly taking a
more rose3te color the ancient enmities of
the prosperous days were revived, and
hen the erstwhile friends of Mr.. Audrey
OF Buffalo looked after the departing train,
in the mind of each one thought was upper
most-that deal must be mine. AS nat
ural consequence there was growing red