The Wenatchee daily world. [volume] (Wenatchee, Wash.) 1905-1971, 1909-01-11

VI da. His ranch. the Bar One,
~ stretched for miles up and down
the Sweetwater valley. Rounded OH
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.
Eorthward was the home ranch OF the
lazy K. an Ishmaelitish outfit. ever
ut petty war with the other settlers In
the district. II was a miscellaneous
Md constantly changing crowd recruit
sd from rustlers from Wyoming. gam
blers from California. half breed out
laws from the Indian Territory-in
short. bad men" from every section
81 the western country. They had a
t,ecial grudee against Allen and Pay.
DON, whom they held to be accountable
for. the sudden disappearance About, d
yehr before Of their leader, Buck Nc
Zee. half breed from the Cherokee
strip. However, no other leader had
arisen equal to that masterful spirit,
and their enmity expressed itself only
ihasuch petty depredations as chang
Ing brands on 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 and az a result be
disbwned by their mothers. whereupon
the Lazy X outfit would slap its brand
on them as mavericks. ~
Allen was a Kentuckian who had
yo1 fn hn Ne TO
Of ,Morgan's raiders and 80 had re-
ceited 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
inine artifice of weeping. In the days
OF her youth and beauty this had been
very effective. but now that these had
passed 1t was productive only Of good
hundred railleryi from him and mirth
froh the bystanders.
"No wonder Jim has the finest ranch
IN Arizony." the cowboys were wont
to say. with Josephine a-irrigatin' It
all }be time"
Alien Hacienda was certainly a
garden spot in that desert country
The. building was of the old Mexican
stylA. an architecture found by cen
turi}s Of experience to be suited best
to the climate and the materials Of
the land. The house was only one
story in height The rooms and out
BUILDING spraw led over a wide expanse
Of ground. The walls were Of native
stone and adobe clay. Over them clam
bered grapevines. In front OF the
home Mrs. Allen had planted gar
deni 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 top
Of the barrier. Latticework support
ing grapevine formed. with a girder.
a gateway through which one could
catch from the piazza a view Of
second cultivated plot Palms and
Towering cactuses added color and life
to the near prospect. Through the
arbor a glimpse of the Tortilla noun
tains. forty miles away. held the eye,
The Sweetwater, its path across the
plains outlined by the trees fringing
its banks, flowed past the ranch Yuc-
ca palms and sahuaros threw scanty
shade over the garden.
Shortly after the arrival of the Al.