The Meeker herald., 1916-09-16
Jumping an
Oil Claim
D, ALAN HlNsDALE


It Is hard to tell just how 4 man
will act when called upon to display
nerve and resource. sometimes one
who has been accustomed to q rough
life. under such circumstances. will
fail. while another will succeed.
Henderson had been a hardworking
man all his life. most Of the e,re OH
the frontier. where II any on. . ait is
developed 1t Is courage. When Hen
derson was fifty he found himself In
possession of some wild land that WINS
not worth a dollar an acre. and his
title to that was imperfect for the
want of certain name on the deed.
One day somebody struck oil in the
ueighborhocd Of Henderson's property
About that time Ernest Deering. .
young recent graduate of 4 mining
school. came along on his way to In
vestigate some property for parties In
the east He stayed overnight At
Henderson's house and was about to
proceed in the morning when Hender-
son told him Of his oil land. Deerfne
had inherited some money \ year be-
fore. and Henderson offered him half
interest In his land II be would fur
nish q boring outfit with which to dig
for oil. Deering concluded to invest In
the enterprise. provided Henderson
would get the missing signature to bis
title.
Henderson sent his daughter Marga-
ret of to hunt for the party and secure
the signature. Deering attended to the
work he had come west to do and re-
turned to Henderson's. Margaret
wrote that she was on the track Of
the party and expected surely to sue
coed in perfectins the title to the land
Meanwhile Henderson had ordered the
boring outfit on credit
One day a man rode up to where the
work was going on and claimed the
property. producing an old deed that
had been superseded by the one Hen
derson held. Henderson ordered him
OF the premises. He went away.
threa tening to return with force suf-
ficiently strong to drive away what he
called the jumpers Of his property.
The force engaged was Henderson.
Deering and three hired men. They
were absolutely without arms. and II
attacked the person who proposed to
dispossess them would be well pro-
vided with weapons. And there was
NO doubt that the attempt would be
made. The ownership to the property
depended on Margaret Henderson se-
curing the missing signature. Mean
while everything depended upon hold
ing the well and especially the machin-
cry used in boring It
Owing to the lack Of arms Hendef-
son saw NO possibility Of holding the
property. He told Deerin4 that II the
Jumpers came down ON them In sum
cient force and well armed he saw NO
way but for them to surrender. The
hired men looked upon Henderson as
able. II any one was, to assume the
leadership and were not anxious to be
shot down In defense Of property be-
longing to others. Deering was 4 deli
cate little fellow. and no one thought
Of him in the matter Of defense. though
he had Endorsed Henderson's notes for
the machinery. and II 1t passed Into
other hands he would be the loser.
But in that delicate body were both
courage and resource. and these go far
to make up natural leadership. He
told Henderson that be was going to
make a defense. Henderson refused
to consent to a defense under the cir.
cumstances. but he would not desert
the others. Deering offered the men a
goodly reward II they would put them
selves under his command and outlined
his plan OF defense to them. They
agreed to stand by him.
Deering ordered them to throw up
the enrth In a circle surrounding the
boiler that produced the power for the
drilling. They made an embankment
five feet high in circle about twenty
feet in diameter. This having been &C.
complished. what wood and iron ar
ticles as were at hnnd were piled on
the parapet In such fashion ms to form
apertures here and there In lieu of loop
holes. This was all the preparation
that was made for defense. and when
1t was completed the boring recon-
menced.
The next day half dozen men were
seen approaching the well Some OF
them had guns. while the others were
armed with revolvers. Deering told
Henderson and the men that since
there was only one weapon for de-
Tense and he could handle that him
self. they were at liberty to retreat II
they liked. They chose to remain. as
sorting that 1t might be necessary for
one or more Of them to take his place.
When the approaching party saw the
earthworks they stopped for confer
ence. then advanced again. and one OF
them called out a demand for a sur
render. Deering replied that he was
hard Of hearing and asked them to
come nearer. At this every man lower
ed his rife from his shoulder or drew
his revolver. and they advanced in a
body. When they had reached a point