The Clio messenger. (Clio, Mich.) 1907-current, 1914-09-25
MADE ROCKY FORD
MELON FAMOUS
Wonderful Career Of Hiram
Woods, the Merry King
of CantaI0upeS.
CREATED A GREAT INDUSTRY
Trying To Save HE Gambling Bush
ness, He Became Interested In
"Netted oems"-G~ew Wealthy
and Disappeared.
BY RICHARD SPfLLANE.

ny Ofb6GS<sNt--
OF those who enter the port
Of missing men few emerge. The
harbors are deep and dark. They
hide the living and shruud the dead.
They draw In the rich and the poor.
the clever and the dull. The port war
den keeps no records, asks no Quee-
tons, gives no information
Wonderful stories some Of those
who sail into the port leave behind.
tales Of adventure. tales Of tragedy,
tales Of passion and tales Of disaster.
Rarely has there entered the port o
voyaseur with stranger story than
Hiram Woods. From the Atlantic to
the Pacific the man Is known. From
ditch digger he rose to wealth and
power. With little education and bur-
dened somewhat with record as a
gambler he promoted a small agri-
cultural experiment into a great in
dustry. Then. one day, he asked his
wife, with whom he was attending
theatrical performance In Chicago.
to excuse him a few minutes. He
pocket and entered the port Of missing
men.
On farm near Plattsburg. Mo-.
Hiram Woods was born about forty
years ago. He might never have been
heard from outside the Piattsburg
neighborhood but for the fact that his
lungs were weak and he had to go to
Colorado. Leadville is high and dry
and someone recommended that city
as a good place to live in He bad
little money and could get no other
work. so he took job with pick and
shovel working in the streets 1t was
frightfully hard for youth who
ooughed a good deal and who weighed
only 120 or 100 pounds. but what be
lacked in strength he made up IN de-
termination. SO he stuck to It did
his share Of the labor and when he
got his pay he held on to a portion OF
Il.
In leadviIle and Denver.
Leadville always has been free and
easy. The men are reckless They
we're more reckless In the days when
Woods was ditch digger than they
are in these times. Occasionally they
got embarrassed for money. Somehow
It became known that the little lung
er" who was working in the ditch had
cash. A man with fair hole in the
ground. one in sight and reputation
for honesty could borrow from Woods.
The Missouri boy charged a stiff in
terest, but that did not matter. It
was not much that he had to lend, but
he was able, after a time, through the
interest and through his profits in
buying ore from small miners or high
graders to stop the hard and back
breaking work Of pick and shovel.
He got tired Of Leadville and moved
on to Denver. He wanted to be out
in the open as much as possible to
heal his lungs, 80 he started little
fruit stand In Curtis street. 1t was
very small and the stock he carried
represented less than 500, but he did
fair business. The profits Of the
fruit stand were not sufficient to sat
isfy him. He had sporting streak
through him. He liked good clothes
and jeweiry. He liked to drop into
the gambling houses.
It was early In the '90's when Woods
foated into Denver. He had only about
$500 when he arrived. but within six
months, in addition to his fruit stand.
he bad an interest in kepo game.
Interference With Keno Game.
Woods health improved, his two
businesses prospered and life was get
ting to be reasonably easy for him
when a most distressing thing hap
pened. Some interfering persons start
ed an agitation to put an end to open
gambling In Colorado. Everything had
been wide open, the gamblers had
been in clover and, naturally, the keep
ers of the faro games. the stud estab-
lishments. the keno room and such
were Mortified. II meant O serious cur
tailment Of their profits II measure
before the legislature happened to
pass They made a secret canvass Of
the legislature and found that the
vote was going to be very close.
One OF the doubtful members was
farmer who had bit OF land down La
Junta way. Woods was In the gam
blers' conference when this farmers
name was mentioned The keno man.
who b q bundle OF nerves, quick OF
speech and quick OF thought, said he
thought he could handle that member.
He's eo< bug ON a new kind OF
melon" he said "rve been handling
some Of his melons. I'm the only one
that has handled the stun. II you fell
lows WILL stand the expense, I'll go
down there and talk melons TO him
and when I've got him all worked up
It Won't be difficult TO get him to vote
right ON our bill"
swdnk and the "Netted oem.r
Woods went down to Rocky Ford,
one of the first places extensively irri-
gated In Colorado. That was the place
the melon man hailed from. A man
named Swfnk had been experimenting
with various cantaloupes, He had