Iron County record. [volume] (Cedar City, Utah) 1893-1982, 1917-01-12
FIRST EPISODE.

uhStTupuiOuSncSS WHICH were Ills inoSt
marked characteristics. would have
won him fellowship In the company
of Cortez, Hawkins and Drake.
But instead of raiding the golden
cities of the Indies and the Spanish
Main, he raided the forests of the
American northwest. The operations
of the Northern Land Il Lumber com
pany, of which Marston was president
and whose activities he directed and
controlled, covered a quarter of the
continent. Eighty per cent OF the vast
forests of Washington. Oregon. Idaho
and California were either owned by
the company or under Its control.
When President Marston entered the
company's palatial Offices on an upper
floor of the Pioneer building in Seat
tie precisely ut ten o'clock as was his
custom, his secretary. a human auto
maton named Johnson, handed him
telegram. II was dated at lumber
town in southern Oregon and read:
Mccarthy reports Holmes hard hit
by fires and won't be able to cut over
ten million feet at outside"
The message was signed Davidson"
Marston uttered a grunt which his
secretary correctly interpreted as an
expression Of satisfaction.
Presently Mr.. Frasier. who was the
general manager of the Northern Land
Il Lumber company, and Marston's
right-hnnd man, appeared.
"Frnsler," said the president, speak
Ing with more animation than was his
wont--'I think we've at last got
Rupert Holmes where we want him."
what makes you think soT" asked
the general manager.
Il suppose you know. don't you, that
we have contract with Holmes to
deliver us 20,OOO,OO0 feet of lum-
Der by the thirteenth of next month";"
Yes" said the other. II know It."
And do you know that there have
been some bad forest fires In Oregon
while you were In the East?'
II saw something Of the sort in the
Chicago papers," replied Frasier.
But what have the fires to do with
our friend Holmesf"
'Only this" said Marston, unable
entirely to keep the elation from his
tone, they've pretty well cleaned him
out. That fellows got something that
I'd give a great deal fOr-somethlng
that we've been trying to get for years,
and 1t looks now as If this was our
chance to get It,"
'Meaning-"
"The boom rights on the Calapooia"
trapped out Marston, triumphantly.
Your plan being, 1 take It," went
on Frasier, ITO give him his choice be-
tween being sued for nonfulfillment of
contract and forced into bankruptcy
or OF handing over the boom priv
nullege2 Am l right?"
yely," said Marston. "It's go
hs easy as taking candy from
Ike my word for It. Frasler,
st got Holmes just where
m and I'll send him wire
know that we know it
Ike letter"
Rupert Holiness" dictated
'Klamath Falls, Oregon.
I'VE have learned with re-
- - snat recent forest fires have
y>cnused damage to your timber hold
lngs on the Calapooia. We trust that
your misfortune has not been extern
sive enough to interfere with the de-
livery on or before the Both prox., of
the 20,000,000 feet for which we con-
tracted with you, as your failure to do
so would cause US heavy losses In
connection with certain export orders.
In the event Of your failure TO comply
with the terms of the contract we shall
be regretfully compelled. in order TO
protect ourselves against loss, to insist
on the payment Of the penalty for non
fulfillment of contract.
"Yours very truly,
Northern Land & Lumber Company.
Per, Henry Marston, President"
In their shrewdness. their predatory
instincts, their total lack of CONNER
cial scruple and their mercllessness to-
ward all who opposed them, Henry
Marston and Rupert Holmes were
amazingly alike. But there the sim
llarity ended. Marston had taken his
degree at great eastern university.
Holmes, ON the other hand, had grad
uated from the nara Scnool OF the
northern lumber camps and 1t had
made him, both physically and moral
iy hard, hard man.
Rupert Holmes greed for wealth and
power was matched only by his long
ing for soma man child-wh6 would
inherit the fortune he dreamed of
making and who would perpetuate his
name.
Two years before this story opens
he had married young southern
schoolteaeher-a slender, dark-haired,
dark-eyed girl---and now she was about
to become the mother of his child. His
wish was to be fulfilled.
But after a summer, Of unprecedent'
ed dryness came the great forest fires,
onrnuo cautharn nrauot, In a