The Falls City tribune., 1909-07-30
The Election Tragedy and After.

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of Rulo and Falls City that bid fair
to end in a general pitched battle.
Both sides were in a boiling rage and
threats of dire vengeance were indulg-
ed in everywhere. No further VOL
ence however occurred, but when
the result of the election was officially
declared and it was found that Falls
City and Rulo We're the two highest
on the poll, and that the final strug-
gle for the much coveted prize. the
seat of government of the county,
must be fought out between those two
towns, nothing less than an all
around western mix-up in a free-for-all
fight was expected at the next cleo
ton, then soon to be held.
1t is said there is but a step from
the sublime to the ridiculous. and
similarly, that tragedy and comedy
are equally near n%eighbors, in fact
they are so intimately blended in the
lives OF men that if eliminated-sup-
posing that to be possible-nothing
Is left. Something of the truth of
these ethical postulates was demon
strated in the subsequent develop
ments following the bloody denoue-
ment of the 10Th of April in the hotel
Minnick. We of the prairie town
were certain that Rulo would besiege
us with her whole fighting population,
and to prepare for the anticipated
attack an edict went forth hat every
body with his gun meet in the old
Broad Axe" office at a given time
to take stock of our in the
way of fighting men, guns, ammuni-
ton, and other war like material.
The meeting was held as advertised,
reminding me of the stories | had
heard and read of the gathering of
the clans in the highlands of old Scot
land for war or defense, when the
cry of the clouted gillie went forth
"Dinna we hear the %slogan?" answer
ing to the "a tocsin of their more CIV
ilized neighbors south of the Tweed,
and at an early hour in the evening
the whole of the able bodied male
population of our little burg were on
hand in full fighting panoply. /
have a strong suspician that we pre-
sented a comical appearance. though
a more earnest and determined set
of fellows were never assembled to
devise ways and means to meet a
threatened hostile attack from an en-
envy. Among them was a long, slim
warrior who looked like he had
started to grow in one direction and
had suddenly changed his mind and
took another track, and continued
to vacillate in his building plans, till
his altitude of six feet some was at
tanned, when a line drawn from his
place on the ground to the top of his
head in the upper air, would have
cut MIN in two at least twice, stalk
ed into out midst carrying the longest
gun l ever saw, and signified his
readiness for business whenever
"shootin' commenced" This may
be a slight exaggeration, but it is in
the experience of everyone that a
very tall tree, or one that is gnarled
or m~isshapen, will attract more atten-
ton than a hundred straight, trim
made denizens of the forest, and that
an attempt to describe one of such, a
long time after, is usually attended
with much that is faulty in matters
of detail. This is doubtless true of
my remembrance of the man with the
long gun, but as he is still in both
the flesh and the country, if he hap
pens to see this, and is disposed to
demur at my description, / will, if he
suggests the propriety, take a kink
or two out of his body as pictured
here. l have little doubt but. that in
common with the other fellows who
composed that council of war, l was
as much an object of ridicule as any
of them, and that as a whole, view
ed from this distant standpoint, we
were engaged in an enterprise, the
absurdity of which would be diff
cult to overstate. The truth of the
matter is, we were pretty badly
scared and so were the people OF
Rulo; and that was what saved both
towns from making greater fools OF
themselves than they did, and that
is not saying much either.
The time for tragedy however, had
passed, and the time for comedy had
arrived, but it was a long time be-,
fore the actors themselves knew what
a roaring farce they had been playing.
Well, the county commissioners call
ed the last of the series of elections
provided for the locating of the coun-
ty seat, and fixed the time early In
May following. The result OF the
last election put the final contest be-