Western news and the Libby times. [volume] (Libby, Mont.) 1920-1933, 1931-12-24

the prairie. fields oozed Shiny black;
oil rigs clanked; false-front wooden
shacks lined one-street village.
Dance halls. Brothels. Gunmen-
Brawls. Heat. Flies. Dirt. Crime.
The clank of machinery. The roar OF
traffic boiling over a road never meant
for more than Flooding wagon
Nitro glycerin cars bearing their dead
ly freight Overalls. corduroysv plue
prints. engines The human scum OF
each new oil town was like the scum
OF the Run. but harder. crueler, more
wolfish and degraded.
The imposing party, In high-powereo
motor cars. bumped over the terrible
roads, creating a red dust barrage
ut is all due to our rotten okla-
homa state politics." Sabra explained
to the great senator from Pennsyi-
vania who sat at her right and the
great editor from New York who sat
at her left In the big luxurious car.
"Our laws are laughed At The cap
itol Is rotten with graft Anything
goes Oklahoma is still a territory In
everything but title This town OF
Bowlegs- It's a throw-back to the
frontier days of forty years ago
and worse. It's like the old Cimar-
ron. People who have lived In Usage
all their lives don't know what goes on
out here. They don't care It's more
oil. more millions. That's all Any
one Of you men, we'll known as you
are, could come out here, put on over
alls. and be as lost as though you
had vanished in the wilderness
The Pennsylvania senator laughed a
plump laugh and with elbow nearest
Sabra made a little movement that
would have amounted to nudge-in
anyone but a senator from Pennsyl-
vania. .What they need out here Is
woman governor-er. Lippmann" to
the great editor.
Sabra said nothing.
On the drive out from Usage they
stopped for lunch In an older oil town
hotel dining room-a surprisingly good
lunch, the senators and editors were
glad to find, with a tender steak. and
little green onions, and near beer, and
cheese. and coffee served In great
thick cups. hot and strong and refresh.
ing. The waitress was def and
friendly: a tall angular woman with
something frank and engaging about
/ the two circles OF vermilion on the
| parchment OF her withered cheeks.
4How are you. Nettie7" Sabra said
to her.
I'm grand, Mis- Cravat How's all
your folks?"
The senator from Ohio winked al
Sabra. You're politician. all right"
Arrived at Bowlegs. Sabra showed
them everything, pitilessly. The dread
full town lay In the hot June sun. q
/ SCARED. thing, flies buzzing over It
/ the oil droolIng down Its face. Shiny
stream. onestreet wooden shanfy
| town. like the towns of the old terri
tory days. but more sordid a red
checked young Harvard engineer was
their official guide: an engaging boy
In bone-rimmed glasses and very
blue shirt that made his pink cheeks
pinker. That Is what wanted my
Gin to be, Sabra thought with great
wrench at her heart | mustn't think
OF that now.
The drilling OF the oil. The work
mems shanties The trial OF dance
hall girl in the one-room pine shack
that served as courtroom The charge
nonpayment of rent The little room
sitting, sinking, was already crowded
Men and women filed the doorway
lounged In the windows The judge
was q yellow-faced fellow with cue
OF tobacco in his cheek. and single
law book on q shelf as his library. /
was trial by jury. The jurors wer'
nine In number. their faces rogues
gallery. There had happened to b.
nine men loaf1ng near by. Il Nigh
have been less or more. Bowiegs Oh
not consider these fine legal points
They wore overalls and shirts. TIL
defendant was tiny rat-faced CIR
IN a soiled green dress that parodles
the fashions. pathetic green pok
bonnet, down-at-heel shoes, and grea
run In her stocking. Her friends wer
there-a dozen or more dance-hal
girls In striped overalls and locke.
caps or knee-length Bingham dresse
with sashes. Their ages ranged fron
sixteen to nineteen. perhaps. 1t wa
Incredible that life. In those few years
could have etched that look on thei
faces.
The girls were charming, hospitable
They made way for the imposing Wis
itors. Come on in.' they said. How
dot"-hke friendly children. The mid
afternoon sun was pitiless on thei
sick eyes. their bad skin, their nr
healthy hair. Clustered behind tn
rude bench on which the jury sat, tn
girls. from time to time. leaned
sociable elbow on a jurymans shou
der, occasionally enlivening the 1ud
cial proceedings by a spirited CON
oment uttered In defense Of their sister
and spoken In the nearby ear 0
aloud. for benefit Of the Chesapeake
crowd.
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