Polk County observer. (Monmouth, Polk County, Or.) 1888-1927, 1914-05-26
TALE. OLA ''fOWER
There ttIsaa t Stood fetssiiff,Rsaada sif,RsaaJ Never
NJ IodaI BeenaErected."
10 [gsE 8YB ,.isA h.0J i0NJ. q -
CLEVER EVASION 06aIHE LAW
-7NTT7 u T89ED lI9tileN sNlU.
The Curious Place Whfrs John X
Graves Turned ogt1JdAs. .Shot and
Bullets and the cehtueH ,stls Courts
Declared n iad Not {B Besis noken.

Declared Had Mot Ie esis 8roken.
The he late At, senptoFSaAA L. AAy|sAan aAAy!|Aaan whose
enjoyed halilnoira and aYg8Sd,atOry. One
day when III a reniiniSy yeRt mood Mr.
Allison narrated the RlB%fhg story,
based upon facts, whiElPdB worth a
place among tales 7ex tratfea!Mry: "
,rAlong about 1860 when the west
was yet quite new.aa n,itaBef of busi-
ness nessmeusihgDubud6eroEhceived the
idea OF idstablishingrla PANT for the
manufattute ofreshot ai4d bullets. At
the time there w;is no hct6fy of that
sort nearer than stsbDahisl and. with
aJlively demand iforojhm&uEttion, 1T
was figured, that assheA t6&er would
paySlikei a California gott1iatfhe. The
tower Dwas bnilt;otheO n&assary ma
chinery 8asAputy in iat imEn expense
and production began. u
cFor ar Zine IbusihessI Wo& quite sat
isfactory 9tbenq demand) Is f6kened, and
itsponsb beeitrne apparent fd406 the enter
prise would eyeradeEetopEhy Stand
ard Oil dividends. llAftsy aetimeJsome
of the stockholders besa4 Aisgusteda
with the whole business Sad dppracticak
ly. offered to giXe away1tAei. holdings.
y"Amopg them was Jsh6sS.' Graves,
who afterward .lbeeamedg !power in
eastern Iowa politics GhaEfh quietly
bought pR the stock as.inSSas. offered,
getting practical lNT9Hf o5dit eventually
OF, the basis Of !5rar lQdse4ts on the
dollar. qJIst whats GgaAyeS wanted this
stock for his e}sFsofsiiattes 9fit sts tRe venture
could not figure on, bbpttfAey did did. not
lose any sleep over thai nsThsE were
tickled TO- death II set ranxfftPins out of
the lHsId1 dead enterprise pr II lhlH9a, been lqs
ing money for some timf. .saw q, ~
Soon after this the var, 9yoke out
Graves instantly saw ahlssSbportunitE.
War makes great. duanfitiese'9 9pf Bullets
necessary. and he Made .9Eeparations
to'supplyo them il He ihd1 Igfh in Ger.
tain statements concerifiiis his pldns
and purposes lihAthe pfeseffse of per II
sons he knemiwould insh5afe informa,
ton to "a ST. Louis tohcSt.H,' and his
scheme worked admirably .9nTnsides Of
TIVE weeks Al man awbomidsyaVes knew
to be a representative oftitHf st. Louis
shot tower company ca ligth Upon him
and in the course of the E9Hgersation
brought up the subject ofistQck in the
Dubuque company. 4AfteNsqyeral days
Of dickering and and. ybtanteri4lgg ;frayes' un-
loaded his entire, .h9ldingss9f stock at
over fifty cents on theJ1P the Jd1PplffaJ} realizing
~By the5 terms ,qofd dew Waeareeement, re
however, Graves Legally b9ahd himself
not to- eiect@n shot towH. within a
niles Of DubudftWithln ten
years o The repfesentatkes6f the st.
Louis CONCERN. had stardeb lot beyond
sight Of Dubuque down thesitdr, until
Graves sent in in orderIfSH drompete
equipment of maehineryy fotl new
shot making, plantd qWhjId awaiting
is arrival. he ipdulged tnfs little sur
Veying. v -rr-I le.47t2 snoynr =, '-e
Dubuque is situated paGlly upon q
ofty hill or series Of hills, apd the in.
and county is extremely,rqHgh. When
among the .bgifs Graves
'ame upon the excavation of a deep |
well. Shortly afterward, there was I
activity in that vicinity {
A force Of men was. erhpi5y&d, to re t
move the debris. and the, note was en-
arged and Bricked up IA literal in
'lsion was made into thei side of the
duff. striking. the main vertical shaft =
1 hundred feet from the; snFface open. v
ng. Here a. room wasddug out and a
1riclled up and prepared f0p:the recep. k
ion of machinery BY itieatime this k
work had been. completed the outfit ar h
lived and was quickly instailed. With f
n two or three months of the time of
iisposing of the stock Of the Dubuque v
concern Graves had the new, suburban v
establishment In full II
blast, producing bullets and Shot. n
"Of course news OF the new factory o
speedily reached the st. Louis concern, c
md they sent an attorney to Dubuque
oaded with contracts and Receipts and
for making trouble. The
awyer called on Graves Ithd plainly v
old him that II he did not shut u2 {
shop he would get the la~ on him n
luick. Graves replied that he did not
understand he had violated amy law G
,r any. pledge and that be- would go n
light along making bulletSo suggesting b
o the attorney that he start proceed g
ngs. The attorney invited Graves at
ention to the bond giyen, ,hy, the latter
hat he would not epgage ,iR the manu-
'acture Of shot Or bulletIIWithin 100
niles ib 9f dubuque for ten r9IN INefrf Graves