CHAPTER XxX.

TraGeDIEs.—Land jumping, etc.—Experiences of other men.—More of
real life and death in the North-west.—Examples of what was trans-
piring with other people while and since I was languishing in prison
for defending my life and home against the gang.—ALL OF THESE
WERE EITHER ACQUITTED OF ANY CRIME, OR NOT EVEN INDICTED OR
TROUBLED—THE GLARING CONTRAST !—‘‘ Uneasy settlers.”—‘‘A pro-
tective association.”’—‘‘ Land Jumping.” —‘‘ Put-up jobs.”—‘* Homes
imperiled.’”’—‘‘ Shooting affair. ’—‘‘ Vigilantes. ’’—‘‘ Murderous assault
by a band of midnight assassins.”—‘‘ High handed.”—‘‘ Lynching.”
‘People arming.”—‘‘Dangerous man,”—‘‘Land_troubles.”—‘‘ A
tramp boom.”—Killed for robbing sluice boxes.—Laying in wait to
kill.—Filled with shot.—Killing three men for a few dollars, ete.—
From the Press.

Unnasy Srerrners.—Pursuant to a call, the citizens of the Western
part of Garfield County, W. T., and some from Columbia County, met at
Dry Hollow school house for the purpose of organizing a protective asso-
ciation. There was much interest taken in the matter. It was agreed
that the long continyed manipulation through [Masonic] rings and the in-
fluence of money by corporated monopolies, to secure legislation for their
own special benefit and to the detriment of the people at large, had become
a power which threatened the destruction of the best interests of the
country, and that, unless substantial reform was instituted, absolute
servitude must be endured. The settlers show a determination to
stand firm to their cause [against the gang to rob them of their
homes], that they settled in good faith and had always tried to be law-
abiding citizens; that, so far as they knew, they were entitled to all the
rights of citizens; that the settlers propose to remain settled. Temporary
officers were elected, the necessary committees were appointed to arrange
constitution and by-laws, and report the names of charter members.”

‘“Lanp Jumpinc.—A man jumped Mr. H...’s claim near Mayview
last week. He pitched his tent in the center of the waving grain and told
the owner, if he did not kick up a fuss, he might have his grain and the
ground on which the house stood. At last accounts the Jumper was
dumped, tent and all, into the road by the indignant neighbors, and a
specific time given him, in which to make himself scarce.” [The court
gang would have charged all the place was worth to settle it, and, if the
Jumper was a Mason or Odd Fellow, given him the place besides. }

‘Considerable feeling is manifested by many of our farmers, who
have settled upon [forfeited] railroad land in this vicinity, regarding the
extremely high figure at which such lands are held and the short time given
to settlers by the company [that had forfeited it] in which to make their
(427)

428 Reau Lire in THE Nortu-WEstT.

first payments. A number of petitions have been sent to Washington, and
several meetings have been held in Whitman and Columbia counties, to
devise means for self-protection. Several solid farmers were overheard on
the streets, expressing their views regarding ‘‘ Jumpers” who intended to
take advantage of the scarcity of money, and jump such land as the claim-
ant could not pay up on, reaping the benefit of the claimant's years of
hard labor in improving the places. From the expressive way in which
their lips came together, and the gleam of fire which flashed from their
eyes, knowing them to be some of our most respectable and law-abiding
citizens, we came to the conclusion that it would be extremely unhealthy
for any land shark to make such an attempt. God help the man or men
who try to rob them of their homes.”

| How ahout blackleg Governors and the gang that stund in
with and endorse the robbers ?}

“Mr, Editor.—I came into your midst to make my home for the re-
mainder of the few years Providence may have alloted to me, and settled
on a pre-emption claim. Shortly after one J. L. settled on railroad land ad-
joining and put his louse only a few yards from my line, and took parti-
cular care to find out how I held the land, how long I had been on the
land, and if I had any family or relatives living in this country. After-
wards T. E. asked me, if I had hauled a quantity of wheat out of his barn.
Denying the same, he told me that a man in J. L.’s employ had told him
he had seen me going in with a two-horse wagon and coming out loaded
with wheat sacks If J. L. and Co. had sueceeded, by such means,
to send me to States prison, J. L. would have moved his house over the
line and taken my pre-emption. Not succeeding in this, he abandoned
the land. Subsequently he told me, that he wanted my timber culture
claim, and that I could go into his pasture and select any two horses out of
his band for the same. Upon my refusing to make any such trade, he told
me that if he could not get the land from me by fair means, that he would
get it anyway, for it was necessary for him to have it. And, I believe, he
would have taken it, if he had not some respect for shooting irons........

A few words about Lynch law.—-Congress has enacted laws by which
individuals may get homes, provided they locate on and cultivate the land.
Shall we be bound to conform to and respect those laws, or shall we go at
the dark of night and take out a person who has availed himself of the
law, and hang him up to a tree until life is extinct ?

[If you belong to a “ charitable ” (?) brotherhood, you may
with impunity hang him up.]

Tn charity to those fifteen men who, in the dead hours of night, called
that man out, I will say, I hope by this time they have abandoned their
unlawful intentions, F, E. L.”

“Great indignation and uneasiness is everywhere manifest.
Settlers who feel that their homes are imperiled, are flocking to

Jashington, and
bia counties, to
re overheard on
vho intended to
nd as the claim-
imant’s years of
» way in which
shed from their
and law-abiding
omely unhealthy
the man or men

that stand in

home for the re-
> me, and settled
: railroad land ad-
, and took parti-
had been on the
country. After-
ut out of his barn.
yloy had told him
oming out loaded
by such means,
s house over the
his, he abandoned
y timber culture
two horses out of
ch trade, he told
ns, that he would
And, I believe, he
ing irons......+:
d laws by which
ultivate the land.
or shall we go at
ed himself of the

100d, you may

s of night, called
abandoned their
F, E. L.”
here manifest.
hre flocking to

Reat Lire 1n THE Norru-WEst. 429

town and discussing various means of protecting their rights,
and some swear, they will hang or shoot the first man or land
shark who tries to jump their lands.”

|No home-builder has any confidence in the cecret, ring-ridden
courts. |

* Shooting affair.—S... met H... and shot him in the head, which so
paralyzed him that he could scarcely speak. The skull was broken in
fragments to the extent of over one inch square. Several fragments of
bone and the bullet—in two pieces—were extracted; persons injured to
that extent very rarely recover. [But hedid.] H... had been waited
upon and ordered to leave the vicinity, because he simply desired to con-
test the rights of a piece of land.”

[S... was acquitted (in Garfield County. ]

“* Vigilantes.—-Friday night about twenty masked men gathered on the
roal leading towards H...’s house (the victim of the H... 8... tragedy),
and, meeting with the doctors in attendance upon the wounded man, gave
them a paper for H...’s brother to sign. Said document was in effect,
that H... would leave the country within forty-eight hours, or suffer the
consequences, [He left.] While the action is not to be excused, there is
a lesson which may well be taken home. It has become too common for
trials to be a travesty on justice and little better than a farce, and it is
scarcely to be wondered at, that an indignant community should lose
patience and take the law into its own hands. It is to be hoped that the
affair will serve as a lesson to law-makers [the gang], so that they will so
frame statutes that there will be more promptness and <urety in punishing
land grabbers.” [Their brethren. ]

‘* Should cease. —We mean the unlawful acts of threatening men to
leave the community before they have been found guilty of crime, for
which they cannot be made to pay the penalty according to law, on ac-
count of wincing the breaking of law by the constituted authorities. ......
Let such matters go before the proper tribunal [the court gang] for settle-
nent [at their price of a big mortgage]. If the land in dispute was not
vacant according to law, H... could not hold it as against the claim of a
bona fide settler.”

[That would depend on his influence at court, and it might
take nine years and a big mortgage to find out. And the mid-
night “ charitable ” (?) gangs are running men (who are object-
ionable to them), out of the country nearly every day, and do
so with impunity !]

“Trouble is being experienced between mil] owners and settlers along