Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1914-04-02
May Elect Braoe Woman
as Gouernor of Oregon
Bravery of Miss Fern Hobbs in Taking Message to Out
law Camp Has Made Her Champions Hail Her as New
Joan of Arc.

How shall Oregon honor the little
woman who only a few years ago
was helping her mother in the kitch-
en-, who has just carried the COVER
nor's message into the lair of the
gamblers and saloon keepers and is
now being talked of as the next gov
ernor of Oregon, is the question be-
ing asked today by every Oregonian
and millions of others throughout
the country.
That little woman is Miss Fern
Hobbs, private secretary to Governor
West, of Oregon. She weighs less
than 100 pounds and loves all the
things dear to woman, but when
called by her employer to go into
the heart of a wild country, into
pocket of the earth, cut off from civ
ilization, where the men are said to
be large and strong and rough, and
were said to be waiting and armed
for any one who dared to intrude
in their internal disputes, and to tell
them they must quit their lawless-
ness, she did not falter, but imme-
diately replied in her modest way, Il
am ready
Into the mountainous wilderness
did she go and performed her duty
so well that when she returned
to Salem, the State capitol, she
was surprised with the knowledge
that her name was being heard in
all parts of Oregon as possible
candidate for Governor when the
people of the State choose their
chief executive to succeed her en-
ployer, next November.
Some were calling her the Joan
of Arc, because of her brave crusade,
while others compared her with Car
RE Nation, because OF the result of
her mission, all the gambling devices
were destroyed and liquor and sa-
loon fixtures were confiscated by the
state. Her work also resulted in re-
form and two of the saloon-keepers
declared that they had quit business
for good, while others said they
might.
COpperfieId. Town without the Law.
1t all happened because in the little
town of Copperffeld, Ore, there was
serious dispute among the men
there. Saloon men in control of the
Town Council were granting licenses
to themselves, while other saloon
men wanted to do business. Out of
this war came to the outside world
stories of shooting, of incendiary
fires and general hatred.
Copperfeld is set In a canyon sur
rounded by high mountains and Is
shut off from the world. There are
only two entrances to the place, one
at each end, and these are SO small
that a few men could guard 1t
against outsiders. This made life
free and easy in Copperfield and
those who went there took a chance.
When the railroad was finished and
the tunneling of the OK Bow COM
pleted the workers drifted away to
more lucrative fields. The saloon
men stayed. however, hoping that the
OK Bow project would resume and
the town would thrive again. The
only business was that done by the
saloonkeepers and by the gamblers
and by the few merchants who sold
to them.
Then the men began to rave at fate
and finally at each other. Necessity
made them selfish and grasping and
soon internal war in this bowl of ma
ture with no one outside to fear or
care broke out.
Who Would Take tho MESSAGE
County Prosecutor C. r. Goodwin
was called from the county seat at
Baker, 100 miles away, but he found
such wrangling and such counter ac-
cusations that he could not get stable
evidence.
Then they called Sheriff Rand.
Rand is feet 6 and weighs over 200
pounds. He used to work in lumber
camp and is all muscle, but even
their respect for his strength and de-
termination would not scare the war
ring factions into giving him a CO.
herent story, and he left in disgust.
Then Governor West called on
~
Sheriff Rand to remove the men
from office. The two county officials
asked how to do it, because they
could find no handle to use in a legal
way.
"If you don't, I will" said the
Governor, and he sought for a way
to make those men, in that cup of
dregs, 450 miles from the State CAPT
tai, to behave or get out. He would
first send personal message telling
them to quit. But how to get that
message to them was the problem.
If he sent it by mail no attention
would be paid to it. II he sent a
man the man might not come back
to tell the tale. If he sent soldiers
their fate might be the same.
Fern Hobbs is only a frail, litHe
woman, not out OF her twenties She
is five feet tall and a quiet little
person who had served faithfully at
the typewriter and at the files with
always a happy smile but with little
to say She was "too busy to talk
because she was so buried in her
work.
Governor West knew that he could
trust her. He preached the subject
to her and she simply said: 81 am
ready" The message was given her
and she started with her woman's
message to Garcia.
Bayonets Behind Her.
On second thought, 1t is said Gov
ernor West saw that the test, while
sure to be done well as far as Miss
Hobbs was concerned, was possibly
too strong for his gallantry.
He quietly ordered Colonel B. K.
Lawson, superintendent of the State
nenitentiary. to take members of the