Mexico Missouri message. (Mexico, Audrain County, Mo.) 1899-1918, 1915-03-04

his finger on section 1913.
There's the rub,p he protested, read
ing aloud: 1.-The military shall be at
all times, and in all cases, in strict
subordinatlon to the civil power"
The governor glanced down to the
next paragraph and read in part:
The governor may direct the COM
manding officer Of the military force
to report to any one of the following
named officers Of the district in which
the said force is employed: Mayor of
a city, sheriff, jailer or marshall"
Which list" stormed Callomb, els
the honor roll of the assassins."
AT all events"-the governor had
derived from Callomb much informa-
ton as to Samson South which the
mountaineer himself had modestly
withheld-"South gets his pardon.
That is only a step. l wish / could
make him satrap over his province,
and provide him with troops to rule it.
Unfortunately, our form of govern.
ment has its drawbacks"
ut might be possible" ventured the
attorney general, ito impeach the
sheriff, and appoint this or some other
suitable man to fill the vacancy until
the next election
The legislature doesn't meet until
next winter" objected Callomb. There
is one chance. The sheriff down there
| is a sick man. Let us hope he may
die"
! One day, the HiXon conclave met in
| the room over Hollman's Mammoth
Department store, and with much pro-
family read a communication from
Frankfort, announcing the pardon OF
| Samson South. In that episode, they
foresaw the beginning of the end for
their dynasty. The outside world was
looking on, and their regime could not
survive the spotlight of law-loving
scrutiny.
The fust thing" declared Judge
HOLMAN, CURLY, lis to get rid of these
damned soldiers. Well attend to our
own business later, and we don't want
| them watchin' US. Just now, we want
to lie mighty quiet for a spell-tee!
totally quiet until / pass the word"
Samson had won back the conf
dence of his tribe, and enlisted the
faith of the state administration. He
had been authorized to organize a
local militia company, and to drill
them, provided he could stand answer
able for their conduct. The younger
Souths took gleefully to that idea. The
mountain boy makes a good soldier,
once he has grasped the idea of dis
cipline. For ten weeks, they drilled
daily in squads and weekly in platoons.
Then. the fortuitous came to pass.
Sheriff Forbin died, leaving behind him
an unexpired term of two years, and.
Samson was summoned hastily to
Frankfort. He returned, bearing his
commission as high sheriff, though,
when the news reached Hixon, there
were few men who envied him his
post, and none who cared to bet that
he would live to take his oath of Office.
That August court day was a mem
orable one in Hixon. Samson South
was coming to town to take up his
duties. Every one recognized it as the
day of final issue, and one that could
hardly pass without bloodshed. The
Hollmans, standing in their last
trench, saw only the blunt question of
Hollman-South supremacy. For years,
the feud had flared and slept and
broken again into eruptions, but never
before had a South sought to throw
his outposts of power across the wa
tiers of Crippleshin, and into the coun-
ty seat That the present South came
bearing commission as an officer of
the law only made his effrontery the
more uncomfortable.
Samson had not called for outside
troops. The drilling and disciplining
of his own company had progressed in
silence along the waters of Misery.
They were a slouching, unmilitary
band of uniformed vagabonds, but they
were longing to fight, and Callomb had
been with them, tirelessly whipping
them into rudimentary shape. After
all, they were as much partisans as
, they had been before they were issued
state rifles. The battle, if it came,
, would be as factional as the fight of rs
( years ago, when the Hollmans held
[ the store and the Souths the court
l house, But back of all that lay one es-
2 sential difference, and it was this diff
, ference that had urged the governor
to stretch the forms of law and put
t such dangerous power into the hands
= of one man. That difference was the
4 man himself. He was to take drastic
: steps, but he was to take them under
= the forms of law, and the state execu
tive believed that, having gone through
+, worse to better, he would maintain the
S improved condition.
Early that morning, men began K
d assemble along the streets of Hixoni
). and to congregate into sullen clump'
;. with set faces that denoted grim
n unsmiling determination. Not only thu
g Hollmans from the town and immedi
/ ate neighborhood were there, but thei
ii Ehappipr fiarnar hrafbraO from remote