Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1909-02-09
CHAPTER III.

and proprietor of Allen Hacien
RI da. His ranch, the Bar One,
~ stretched for miles up and down
the Sweetwater valley. Bounded on
the east and west by the foothills, the
tract was one of the garden spots Of
Arizona Southwark lay the Sweetwa-
ter ranch, owned by Jack Payson
Northward was the home ranch Of the
Lazy X, all Ishmaelitish outfit, ever
Mt petty war with the other settlers in
the district. 1t was miscellaneous
and constantly changing crowd recruit
ed from rustlers from Wyoming, gam
blers from California. half breed out
laws from the Indian Territory-in
short. bad men" from every section
of the western country. They had a
special grudge against Allen and Pay
son, whom they held to be accountable
for the sudden disappearance about
year before of their leader, Buck Nc
Kee. Il half breed from the Cherokee
strip However, no other leader had
arisen equal to that m;lsterful spirit,
and their enmity expressed itself only
In such petty depredations as chang
ing brands OH stray cattle from the
Bar One and SWeetwater ranches and
the Sitting of the tongues of young
calves So that these would be unable
to feed properly ard as result be
the Lazy IL outfit woull slap its brand
on them as mavericks.
Allen was Il kentnckian who had
served in the Confederate army as one
Of Morgan's understand SO had re-
ceived by popular brevet the title of
colonel. At the close Of the war he
had come to Arizona with his young
wife. Josephine. and had founded a
home on the Sweetwater. He was
now one Of the cattle barons Of the
great southwest. Prosperity had not
spoiled him. Careless in his attire,
cordial in his manner. he was a man
who was loved and respected by his
men from the newest tenderfoot to the
veteran of the bunk house. His wife,
however, was not so highly regarded,
for she. had never been able to recog-
nize changes in time or location and so
was in perpetual conflict with her en-
vironment She attempted to make the
free and independent cowboys of the
Arizona plains stand around" like the
house servants of the Kentucky blue
grass. and she persisted in the effort
to manage her husband by the fem
mime artifice of weeping In the days
of her youth and beauty this had been
very effective. but row that these had
passed it was productive only Of good
hundred raillery from him and mirtll
from the bvstanGers
'.No wonder jim has the finest ranch
in Arizony." the cowboys We're wont
to say. with Josephine a-irrigatin' II
all the time"
Allen Hacienda was certainly q
garden spot in that desert country
The building was Of the old Mexican
style. an nrchite; tura found by cen
turtles of experience to be suited best
to the climate and the materials OF
the land The heuse was only one
story in hei hi Tic rooms and out
building spra wled over wide eXpanse
of ground The walls We're Of native
stone and adobe clay. Over them clam
home Mrs. Allen had planted gar
den. A 'dobe wall cut off the house
from the corral and the bunk house
A heavy girder spanned the dis
lance from the low roof to the tol
of the barrier. I.atti"ework support
ing grapevine formed. with girder
gateway through which one coult
catch from the piazza view of !
second cultivated plot. Palms ant
Towering cactuses added color and lif
to the near prospect Through tn
arbor glimpse Of the Tortilla noun
tains, forty miles away. held the eye
The Sweetwater, its path across tn
plains outlined by the trees fringini
its banks, flowed past the ranch inc
ca palms and sahuaros threw scant.
shade over the garden
Shortly after the arrival of the Al