The Liberal democrat. [volume] (Liberal, Kan.) 1911-1924, 1913-09-26
SHERIFF KATE ALLEN
BY IZoLA FORESTER.


reason to Silver City why 1t should not
elect woman sheriff If it saw fit.
1t was thoroughly up to date and in
harmony with the spirit of progress.
1t had library in one side of the
drug store and soda fountains scat
tered promiscuously over territory
once dedicated to the demon rum, as
Hank Holmes gracefully put it
Hank felt that in a way he stood
sponsor for Silver City; also, he now
stood sponsor for Kate Allen. the new
sheriff.
There had been a time when Silver
City was waste spot on the side Of
the Sweetwater range. Hank had wan
dered with a bunch of cattle down
toward Omaha. One day his pony had
missed its footing and crashed into q
badger hole. After Hank had extri-
Gated himself and the pony had limped
away. Hank had remained squatted
there by the hole, whlstling softly and
turning a piece of rock over in his
hand.
That was the beginning OF Silver
City.
After the rush, Hank still found him
self owning the biggest parcel of land.
and general arbiter of things munich.
pal.
Even when the wild days became
memory and Silver City Joined the
west in its upward march toward
peaceful civic conditions, Hank still
chung to the old forcible and swift
methods of Justice, but the railroad
came through and the states attorney
began to take a personal interest in
things down that way, 80 Hank for
sock his vigilant ethics and settled
down to a quiet life as hotel keeper
and political referee of the town.
Kate Allen had been the first to open
his eyes to the feminist movement.
Vaguely Hank knew Of the suffraglsts.
One Of his favorite evening talks was
on their tactics of warfare.
Boys" he'd say, tilted back in his
chair outside the hotel, there amt
woman in the world but gets her rights
II she really wants them. Look at
Mary Burke. Stood for Tommy's doings
of and on for 20 years, and one day
comes down here and gets him by one
ear and swears out warrant for him
for chronic intemperance and personal
abuse and incompatibility and nonsup-
port. Yes sir! And got it, Come
throuuh with tho handu nIaUinU Got
ting 500 a month alimony, and Tommy
working himself to a shadder keeping
her in luxury. A man amt got bit
Of chance these days once the women
take 1t into their heads to rise and
rebel And why! Boys, | speak
as man and brother, but it's the Cos
pei truth. Because they've been in
wrong from the start, and they amt
had square deal. Take 1t from me,
they amt had square deal"
'Mary'd never have stood up for
her rights If Kate Allen hadn't but
ted in and told her where she
was at" mentioned a bystander.
Hank smiled thoughtfully. Miss AL
len is a farseeing and a clever wom-
an" he answered slowly. Il firmly be-
lieve she could have anything in this
whole blame town she took a notion
to. / know she could have this hotel,
and the Shooting Star mine. and me,
II she'd speak up louder"
Kate did speak up louder, but not
for Hank and his accessories. When
election time drew near, the year aft
er the state passed its suffrage amend
ment, she announced her candidacy
for sheriff. She had been school
teacher first, and then clerk In the
county treasurer's office. Step by
step she had mastered politics as Sill
yer City understood them, and she be-
gan to see places where the town
needed strong treatment.
1T isn't right for Hank Holmes to
hold the town In one hand and squeeze
it whenever he likes for jobs for his
friends" she said.
He's running for representative
next year, Kate. Maybe II you'd be a
nice, good little girl, you could marry
him, and go down to the capital in an
automobile"
Kate smiled at the speaker, Mary
Burke. Mary lived three miles up in
the hills. and rode down horseback to
talk with her after supper in the cool
summer evenings
I'm going to run for sheriff, Mary,
just so l can step up to Hank Holmes
whenever he comes over from the ho-
tel to say how the governments to
be run, and tell him where he's at"
Innocently and with alteration in his
eyes every time he saw her trim, girl
ish figure nearing him, Hank helped
her win her race. Then came the day
when he was the first to congratulate
her on her success, the first day she
took the oak swivel chair at the sher-
iff's desk. Hank leaned over the top
of it and approached her as a political
friend.
There amt much work to do in this
job nowadays" he said. I'VE don't
have hanging once in three years,
and no criminals allowed in Dugnald
county If know It,"