Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1910-07-16


toned to any sort Of Indifference In
men, his spiritless demeanor put her
on her mettle, yet all to no avail; she
could not And seam In that mask
OF listless abstraction. At last he
spoke Of his own accord:
"You said those watchmen have In
structions not to harbor travellers.
Why Is that
It is the policy Of the companies.
They are afraid somebody will dis
cover gold around here"
"Yes?"
"You see. this is the greatest sal
mon river in the world; the run IS
tremendous, and seems to be unfail-
ing; hence the cannery people wish
to keep it all to themselves.
"I don't quite understand"
"It is simple enough. Kalvik Is SO
isolated and the fishing season Is so
short that the companies have to send
their crews in from the states ana
take them out again every summer.
Now, If gold were discovered here
abouts, the fishermen would all quit
and follow the strike which would
mean the ruin of the years catch ana
the loss of many hundreds OF tnou-
sands of dollars, for there is no way
of importing new help during the short
summer months. Why, this village
would become city in no time II
such thing were to happen; che
whole region would fill up with miners,
and not only would labor conditions
be entirely upset for years, but the
eyes of the world, being turned this
way. other people might go into the
fishing business and create q compe-
tition which would both influence
prices and deplete the supply OF fish
in the Kalvik river. So you see there
are many reasons why this region Is
forbidden to miners.
II see.''
"You couldn't buy a pound Of 1000
nor get lodging here for king s
ransom. The watchman's Jobs depend
upon their unbrolSen bond OF limos.
pltality, and the Indians dare not sell
you anything. not even a dogfsn, I'M
der penalty of starvation, for they are
dependent upon the companies
stores"
$50 that is why you have established
a trading post of your own?'
ooh, dear no. This isn't store.
This food is for my men,"
''Your men,"
eyes. I have a crew out in the hills
on a grub stake This Is our cache.
While they prospect for gold. I stand
guard over the provisions"
Fraser chuckled softly. Then you
are bucking the Salmon Trust?'
"After a fashion, yes. I knew this
country had never been gone over, SO
/ staked six men, chartered schooner
and came down here from Nome In the
early spring, We stood off the watch
men and when the supply ships az
rived, we had these houses com
pleted. and my men were out In the
hills where 1t was hard to follow them
I STAYED behind, and stood the brunt
of things"
4 {"But surely they didn't undertake to
iniure you?' said Emerson, now
thoroughly interested In this ex-
traordinary young woman.
"Oh. didn't they!" she answered.
with a peculiar laugh. "You don't ap-
preciate the character OF these pep
pie. When man fights for money,
Just plain, sordid money, ne loses al
sense of honor, chivalry, and decency'
he employs any means that come
handy. There is no real code OF imam
cial morality, and the battle for dol
lars is the bitterest OF all contests. ~
course, being woman, they couldn,t
very we'll attack me personally, put
they tried everything except pnyslcal
violence, and don't know now long
they will refrain from that. These
plants are owned separately, but they
operate under an agreement, with one
man at the head. His name Is Marsh
Willis Marsh, and, OF course, mes
not my friend"
sort Of United we stand, dlVldeu
we fall"
EXACTLY. That spreads the respon-
sibility. and seems to leave nobody
guilty fer their evil deeds. The flrst
thing they did was to sink my
schooner-in the morning you will see
her spars sticking up through the ice
out in front there. One OF their tugs
accidentally ran her down, although
she was at anchor fully 300 feet inside
the channel line Then Marsh actuaiiy
had the effrontery to come here per
sonally and demand damages Tor the
injury to his towboat, claiming there
were no lights on the schooner"
Cherry Malotte's eyes grew dark
with indignation as she continued:
"Nobody thinks of hanging lanterns
to little crafts like her at anchor I'M
der such conditions. Having allowed
me to taste his power, that man firstt
threatened me covertly, and then pro-
ceeded to persecute me in more open
manner When l still remained Cd
durate, he-he"--she paused. You
may have heard Of it. He killed one
of my men"
..Impossible!' CALCULATED Boyd.
ooh. but 1t isn't impossible. Any
thing is possible with INSCRIPTIONS
men where there is no law; they halt
at nothing when in chase Of money.
They are different from women IN
that / never heard Of a woman doing
murder for money"
WAS it really muEder?"
Judge for yourself. Ny man came
down for supplies. and they got MIN
drunk-he was drinking man-then
they stabbed him. They said a China
man did it in a brawl, but Willis