Fulton County tribune. (Wauseon, Ohio) 1883-1925, 1917-06-08
CHAPTER IV-contlnued.

3
I'm afraid he'd have. to loosen up
on his record n little before we could
bring him in here. Badly as we're
needing n money man, we can hardly
afford to put a John Smith into the
saddle-at least not without knowing
what his other name used to be-"
"No; Of course not. / guess, after
all, he's only lame duck like a good
many Of the rest of them. Day before
yesterday, Burdell, the deputy sheriff,
was out at the camp looking the gangs
over for the fellow who broke into
Lannignn's place last Saturday night.
When he came into the Office Smith
was busy with an estimate, and Bur-
dell went up and touched him on the
shoulder. just to let him know that II
was time to wake up. Suffering cats
II took three Of us to keep him from
breaking Burdell in two and throwing
him out Of the windowI"
''That looks rather bad" was the
presidents comment Col. Dexter Bald.
win had been the first regularly elect.
ed sheriff of Timanyoni county in the
early days and he knew the symptoms
WAS Burdell wearing his star where
Il could be seen2"
The engineer nodded.
"What explanation did Smith maker
"Oh, he apolOglzed like a gentleman
and said he was subject to little nerv.
GUS attacks like that when anybody
touched him Unexpectedly. He took
Burdell over to Pete Simm's shack sa
loon and bought him q drink. Perkins
the timekeeper, says he's going to gel
a megaphone so he can give due notice
in advance when he wants to cal
Smiths attention.
The colonel pulled out a drawer IN
the desk, found his box Of diplomatic
cigars and passed 1t to the engineer
saying: Light up a sure-enough good
one, and tell me what you think Smith
has been doing back yonder in the
other country"
williams took the cigar but he SHE'D
at the conundrum.
"Ask me something easy" he said
1--WE stacked up a few guesses. He's
from the middle West--as the Bible
says, his speech betrayeth' him-ant
he's had a good Job of some kind; thu
kind that required him to keep abreas
of things. II there's anything in looks
you'd say he wasn't q thief or an EN-
bezzler, and yet It's pretty apparen
that he's been used to handling money
in chunks and making 1t work for it'
living. I've put 1t up that there's {
woman in 1t. Perhaps the other fel
low got In his way, or came up behlnC
him and touched him unexpectedly, o.
something Of that sort. Anyway, Tn
not going to believe he's a crooke,
crook until have to-"
Colonel Baldwin helped himself Il
one Of his own cigars, and the tall
went back TO business. In the irri
gntIon project, Williams was stock
holder Ms wen as chief Of construction
and Baldwin had more than ono
found him n safe adviser. There wa
need for counsel. The Timanyon
Ditch company was in n rather hazard
Gus condition financially. and the presi
dent and williams rarely met wlthou
coming sooner or later to a threshin
out Of the situation.
The difficulties were those which ar
apt TO confront a small and local enter
prise when it Is so unfortunate as {
get In the way of larger undertaking.
Colonel Baldwin, and a group Of hi
nelghbors on the north side of tn
river, were reformed cattlemen an
horse breeders. Instead of driftin
further west In advance Of the incon
ing tide OF population following tn
coming OF the railroad, they ha
availed themselves Of their homestea
rights and had taken up much Of tn
grass land in the favorable valleys, Il
rigatlng It at first with water take
out Of the river In private or neighbo
hood bitches.
Later on came the sheep-feedin
period, and after that the utilizatio
Of larger crop-rnlsing areas. The sma
bitches proving inadequate for thes
Colonel Baldwin had formed a stoc
company among his neighbors in th
grass lands and his friends in Brewst,
for the building Of a substantial dal
In the eastern hills. The project ho
seemed simple enough in The beginnin
The stock was sold for cash and eaC
stakeholder would be a participatir
user Of the water. Williams, who ha
been a United States reclamation ma
before he came TO the Timanyoni, hl
made careful estimates, and the stoC
subscription provided money enoui
20 cover the cost of the dam and Il
main ditch.
After some little bargaining Il
dam site and the overflow land for Il
reservoir lake had been secured, al
the work was begun. Out of a Gle
sky, however, came trouble and haras
ment. Alien holders of mining clair
in the reservoir area turned up al
demanded damages. Some few HON
steaders who had promised to sil
quitclaims changed their minds al
sued for relief, and after the work W
well under way II appeared that the
was a cloud on the title of the dam 81
itself. All of these clashings were ca
ried into court, and the rancher pl
moters found themselves confrontl
invisible enemies and obstacle-raise
at every turn.
The legal fight, as they soon foul
out, cost much money in every pha
of Il and now, when the dam W
scarcely more than half completed,
practically empty treasury was sti
ing them in the face. There was
Disgusting the fact that a crisis W
approaching, a financial crisis whi
no one among the amateur promote
was big enough to cope with.
"We've got to go In deeper, colon'
there Is nothing else to do" was {
engineers summing up of the matter
the close Of the conference. "The sn'