Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1905-02-02

htcKer. L copy:
Several years ago a husband and
father bought so acres of land
down near Little River and bor-
rowed an amount of money, to
secur which he pawned the land.
The man was industrious and be-
gan to dig. With his labor and
rapid increase in the value of land
in that section he could see visions
of a happy home for himself and
loved ones. But the unexpected
happened. He died about the
time swamp land vas fast climb
ing in price, leaving a wife and
five small children-one a helpless
cripple. According to the terms
of the trust deed (often called a
mortgage) the land was advertised
to sell on a certain date by the
trustee. In all such notices of
sale it reads to ''sell at the court
house door between the hours of
9 A, NJ. and 3 P. NJ" but it is the
established custom for such sales
to take place at 1 o'clock-and |
have never known of a variation
from this rule, except on this &C.
cassion. Early in the forenoon on
the day of sale appeared the trus-
tee and the creditor in Benton. 1t
may be well to explain that in
such transactions the trustee is the
"middle man" between the debtor
and creditor and holds the prop
erty in trust, pending settlement.
He is appointed by agreement and
is supposed to treat each fairly
and justly. | was told that the
trustee hesitated and acted re-
luctantly, but he offered the land
for sale at II o'clock that forenoon.
There was no one present except
the regulation crowd at the court
house, and the creditor bought the
land at his own price. On the
noon train came the widow ac-
companied by a neighbor. She
had left her five little children
one a cripple-while she came to
Benton to save the home. She
had arranged with the neighbor to
pay off the debt and take one forty,
while she would retain the other
forty as her home-free of debt!
But the land was sold! Great God!
Imagine the daggers that passed
through that mothers heart when
she realized her situation, "a child
of misfortune-driven from home"
When heard Of what had hap
pened | protested in no select
language. Others mot of the
official set, however, protested
against the outrage. Soon the
protests we're Of a nature to cause
this "Napoleon of Finance" to
partially wilt, and he gave the
widowed mother something. What
it was | did not learn-but UNDER
stood it was 800.
1t is, indeed, as I have said, a
pathetic story pretty well told.
Still, you know, there is always
some damphool not satisfied with
the narrator's effort, no matter how
lucid and interesting, and he is
prone to ask questions. In this
instance I ask, why didn't the
widow avail herself of the statute
in that case made and provided?
See Sec. 1913, Chapter 50, R. S.
Mo. 1899. 1t provides that land
sold to the creditor under deed Of
trust may be redeemed by the
party giving such deed atany time
within twelve months after sale.
Why didn't Bro. Hafner post the
widow and her friend? 1t would
have benefited her much more
than did his "protest." Because
I rather like Phil. Hafer, and wish
him to be a shining light to the
righteous, I hope there is more
real eason than this pathetic story
contains, in the other things he is
saying about Scott county's mean
people.