The Washburn leader. [volume] (Washburn, McLean County, N.D.) 1890-1986, 1916-01-14
SANDY BEND
IN PERIL
By M. QUAD
Copyright, 1915. by Mcclure News
paper Syndicate.

When the constable at Judge Hoke's
pourt had cried Hear We" three times
the Judge arose and said:
Men of Sandy Bend, II l speak in
a broken voice and my chin quivers
when l talk 1t is because l am feelin'
such eminent emotions as ! have not
felt in twenty years before.
why this emotion? Why do l stand
here with the tears ready to fall at
any minute?
Il will tell you what is the matter.
though you know as well as / do. We
have been fightin' civilization for thir-
ty years, and at last We are licked.
Yes, my friends, l hate to say the
word. but we are licked.
what was that which awOke Sandy
Bend from its happy sleep at daylight
the other mornin'? What was that
noise that jumped us out Of u blan-
kets and caused us to look at each
land?
"'Toot! loot! loot!
Eyes, great hevvings, it was the toot
of a locomotive on the new railroad,
only five miles away, which is to run
into Sandy Bend next week. Think
Of tia railroad into Sandy Bend:
That's one of the p'ints we have been
licked N. 1t has wanted to come here
for the last fifteen years. but our guns
have kept it away.
Eyes, my tears fall and my chin
wabbles as l talk Of civilization COM
in to this happy community. W. have
hung horse thieves, about one a week,
for years past. About once a week
also some man has been shot for hold
in five aces at poker.
"My tears fall afresh as l realize
Sandy Bend has been Il little paradise
on earth. And now it is to be crushed.
wrecked. ruined forever as the right
kind of a town to live in. Why, the
Chinymen will make their skiddoo, and
the dogs will run away from it! Since
that foot of the locomotive the other
to see about a street car line. A street
car line for Sandy Bend to take the
place Of the cayuse!
"And along comes a man who says
Sandy Bend orter have waterworks.
Is it any wonder that three Or four
men tainted away on hearin' Of it?
"And along comes another man and
says we are to have gas works.
Hasn't Sandy Bend got along with
tallow candles and kerosene torches
all this time, and has anybody kicked
about it?
Here is a most beautiful and happy
spot. There are mountains all around.
In the mountains grows the grizzly
bear, and the wild Indian hunts for the
there. There are no spring floods. The
winter don't freeze q man to death.
The birds twitter, the jack rabbits play
about like lambkins, and there is jest
shootin' enough to keep the blood in
good circulation.
"And all this Is to be wrecked and
ruined and brung low! What for?
That the thing called civilization may
move from east to west and gObble
up everything In its path.
And what do we get by the change?
We get the plug hat and cane; we get
the tan shoes and red neckties; We get
the dress coat and the %eyeglass; we
get the poodle dog and the class of
men who are not much better.
"If we remain here amid all these
changes we have got to dress differ
ent. live different, act different. And
how many days do you think the Lord
will give us? Why, Wen begin to die
off like flies In a hailstOrm. and inside
of six months the toughest of us will
be laid low. Civilization won't even
let US be buried with our friends up on
the hillside. but the newcomers will
start what they Gull a cemetery and
sell the land of at $40 a lot and make
a law that anybody who dies has got
to be buried there.
Nov, about myself. AS a court Of
jestice l haven't given you much law.
but I have given you jestice as I un-
derstood it. If l have made any error
it was an error of judgment and not of
the heart. There will come along in a
few weeks a man to take. my place.
He will run this court accordin' to law.
There will be a dozen lawyers in the
room. and no dogs admitted. One law
yer after another will get up and CAB:
one witness after another will tell the
truth or lie about 1t. 1t will take that
thar court a whole day to try q case
that you have heard me decide in FIVE
| minutes.
1.-The question is being asked on ev.
cry side. What kin be done? Kin any
thing be done? doubt it very much.
but we will hold a public meetin' to-
morrer. II we kin raise a hundred
men to go out to the e railroad and
shoot of the hundred men workin'
there mebbe we can hold civilization
back a ycar or two longer or alt0geth-
er. Let every man in Sandy Bend Ike
at the meetin' tomorrer with two guns
and q determination to defend .
rights or perish in the attempt.
THAR is a case here before this
court 1t Is that of Bill Savage agin
Ace High. the Chinyman who does u
washee. They got into a squabble
about an old shirt and drew their guns