lit Jflrattklht tyxtss
Published every Thursday by The Franklin Press
At Franklin, North Carolina
Telephone No. 24
VOL. XLVI
BLACKBURN W. JOHNSON
Entered at the Post Office, Franklin, N. C, as second class matter.
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The Press invite it readers to express their opinions through
its columns and each week it plans to carry Letters to the Editor
on its editorial page. This newspaper is independent in its policies
and is glad to print both sides of any question. Letters to the Edi
tor should be written legibly on only one side of the paper and
should be of reasonable length. Of course, the editor reserves the
right to reject letters which are too long or violate one's better
sensibilities.
Weekly Bible
Let us hold fast to the profession
Hebrews 10:23.
Don't Gamble in Stocks
By J. E. Jones
(Washington Correspondent National Industries News Service)
AT THE end of the last calen
dar week in Junr it was com
puted that no less than seven bil
lion dollars had been added to t In
security wealth of the American
people in seven days following
.President Hoover's debt offering.
The fact that the President had
raised the hopes of the world with
a magnificent plan is a story apart
from this seven billion dollars of
fictitious "security wealth."
The stock market had "gone tip"
againfortunately in the right di
rection. , Better times had come
to Wall Street and seven billion
dollars of gambler's gold was list
ed on the books under the heading
of "security wealth."
The Weekly Business Index of
the New York Times, on the same
day that Wall Street added up its
seven billions profits, showed that
the business actibity of the nation
had dropped to a new low record
in the same period.
One of the causes for this new
dip was the further d( -predion
during the week in the steel and
motor industries.
In spite of this U. S. Steel com
mon rose xi points and General
Motors 3li points which shows
the difference between poor busi
ness in the sales manager's office
and the tale of the ticker.
American Telephone and Tele
graph is considered a tycoon of "the
stock market, but it was battered
down to $156.50 a share a few
weeks ago, and the memory of man
that runs back to the days priwr
to black October, 1929 recalls that
it was over $300 a share. Div
idends, nine dollars a share.
These arc all good . stocks, but
none of them looked good to in-
wuvu mem wneii l ic
I .1 ...i At.,
in 1929. As
T.
Number Z
EDITOR AND PUBLISHER
$1-50
$100
' -75
05
Thought
of our faith, without wavering.
says radio common "is going to a
thousand dollars a share," as he is
to believe the pessimistic custom
er's man who works in the same
broker's office, and warns you that
"radio' common isn't any good it
never paid a dividend." About the
only qualifications most of these
customer's men have is that they
are chosen for their good looks
and their glib tongues.
President Hoover's debt offer was
mttde to improve the economic con
dition of the world, but the im
mediate reaction was a dramatic
rise in stocks. Gamblers' gold be
gan to pour into Wall Street.
The one person in fifty (if that
is not an over-estimate) who knows
something about Wall Street meth
ods is apt to be guided in his judg
ment by the actual activity in the
steel industry; by the available
records concerning automobile pro
duction and sales; by statistics of
freight car. loadings and events in
railway, steamship and motor trans
porfation. If these are all down,
and if copper, silver, cotton, wheat,
livestock, employment, land and
real estate, rents, merchant sales,
wholesale prices, and the majority
of our industries and trades arc
still struggling to crawl out of
their gloomy cellars, then there is
no sane reason for getting excited
about buying stocks particularly
on speculation.
When the Public Goes Crazy
President Hoover said nothing
about stocks. But almost imme
diately the stock market began to
climb. History shows us that the
public has gone crazy over stock
speculation about every seven
years.
After awhile there will be the
6, 7, 8 and even the 10 million
share days. These great days are
on the way, and following them
newspapers will carry the re
any times seven billion
'Investment wealth
view it as
:hing
of
O
J 1 ,a'S " S
t '.. II
TV
4X
- (Continued from last week)
One thing rankled deep, Yancey
had been urged to accept the of
fice of territorial delegate to con
gress (without vote) and had re
fused. All sorts of territorial po
litical positions were held out to
him. The city of Guthrie, capital
of the territory, wooed him in
vain. He laughed at political po
sition, rejected all offers of public
nature. Now he was being offered
the position of governor of the
territory. His oratory, his dramatic
quality, his., record in many affairs,
including the Pegler murder and
the shootng of the Kid, had spread
his fame even beyond the South
west. "Oh, Yancey!" Sabra thought of
the Venables, 4he Marcys, the
Vians, the Goforths. At last her
choice of a mate was to be vindi
cated. Governor.
But Yancey shook his great head.
There was no moving him.. He
would go on the stump to make
others congressmen and governors,
but he himself wuldiKt take of
fice. "Palavering to a lot of greasy
office seekers and panhandlers!
Dancing to the tune of that gang
in Washington! I know the whole
dirty lot of them."
Restless., Moody. Irritable. Rid
ing out into the prairies to be gone
for days. Coming back to regale
Cim with stories of evenings spent
on this or that far off reservation,
smoking and talking with Chief
Big Horse of the Cherokees,. with
Chief Buffalo Hide of the Chicka
saws, with old Black Kettle of the
Osages. . ' . '
But he was not always like this
There were times when his old
fiery spirit took possession. He
entered the fight, for the statehood
of Oklahoma territory, and here he
encountered opposition enough even
for him. He was for the consolida
tion of the Oklahoma territory and
the Indian territory under single
statehood. The thousands who were
opposed to the Indians who looked
upn them as savages totally unfit
for citizenship fought him. A
year after t! eir coming to Okla
homa the land had been divided
into two territories one owned
and occupied by the Indian tribes,
the other owned by the whites.
Here the Cravats hve(L on the bor
der line. And here was . Yancey,
fighting week after wipek, in the
editorial and news columns of the
Oklahoma Wigwam, fo the rights
of the Indians; for the consolida
tion of the two halye's as Vne state
Vet, unreasonably' enough, he sym
pathized with fthe' Five Civilized
Tribes in their efforts to retain
their tribal lafvys in place of the
ited State! court laws which
Deinj .forced upon them, lie
thousand bitter enemies.
the Indians themselves
him. These were
hood for the In-
n
"7 I
EdnctFcrbor
Illustration bi
dian territory, the state to be
known as Sequoyah, after the great
Cherokee leader of that name.
Sabra, who at first had paid lit
tle heed to these political problems,
discovered that she must know
something of them as - protection
against those--' times (increasingly
frequent) when Yancey was absent
and she must get out the paper
with only the uncertain aid of
Jesse Rickey.
Sabra came home one atternoon
from a successful and stirring
meeting of the Twentieth Century
Philomathean Culture club (the two
had now formed a pleasing whole)
at which she had read a paper
entitled, "Whither Oklahoma?" . It
had been received with much ap
plause on the part of Osage's
twenty most exclusive ladeis, who
had heard scarcely a word of it,
their minds being intent on Sabra s
new dress. She had worn it for
the first time at the club mectnig,
and it was a bombshell far exceed
ing any tumult that her paper
might create.
Her wealthy Cousin Bella French
Vian, visiting the World's fair in
Chicago, had sent it. It consisted
of a blue scrge.skirt, cut wide andj
flaring at the hem but snug at the
hips; a waist-length blue serge
Eton jacket trimmed with black
soutache braid; and a garment call
ed a shirtwaist to be worn be
neath the jacket. But astonishing
revolutionary as all this was, it
was not the thing that caused the
eyes of feminine Osage to bulge
with envy and despair. The sleeves !
The sleeves riveted the attention
of those present, to -the utter neg
lect of "Whither Oklahoma?" The
balloon sleeve now appeared for
the first time in the Oklahoma
territory, sponsored by Mrs. Yan
cey Cravat. They were bouffant,
enormous; a yard of material at
least had gone into each of them.
Every woman present was, in her
mind, tearing to rag strips, bit by
bit, every gown in her own scanty
wardrobe.
Sabra returned home, flushed,
elated. She entered by way of the
newspaper office, seeking Yancey's
approval. Curtseying and dimpling
she stood before him. She wanted
him to see the new costume before
slip must thriftily take it off for
the preparation, of supper. Yan
cey's comment, as she pirouetted
for his approval, infuriated her.
"Good G d ! Sleeves Let the
squaws see those and they'll be
throwing away their papoose boards
and using the new fashion for car
rying their babies, one in each
sleeve."
"They're .the very latest thing in
Chicago. Cousin Bella French Vian
wrote that they'll be even fuller
than this, by autumn." '
"By autumn," echoed Yancey. He
held in his hand a slip of paper.
Later she knew that it was a tele
gramone of the-1" few telegraphic
u
.. .
Ground the World
COBB
ed labor
Vsitting
Vthey
a , t r
somewhat sketchy service received.
"Listen, sugar, President Cleve
land's just issued a proclamation
setting September sixteenth for the
opening of the Cherokee strip."
"Cherokee strip?"
"Six million, three hundred thous
and acres of Oklahoma land to be
opened for white settlement. The
government has bought iffrom the
Chexokces. It was all to be theirs
all Oklahoma. Now they's push
ing them farther and farther out."
"Good thing," snapped Sabra, still
cross about the matter of Yancey's
indifference to her costume. In
dians. Who cared! She raised her
arms to unpin her hat.,'
Yancey rose from his desk. He
turned his rare full gaze on " her,
his handsome eyes aglow. "Honey,
let's get out of this. Clubs, sleeves,
church suppers Cd ! Lcf s get
our hundred and sixty acre allot
ment of Cherokee strip land and
start a ranch raise cattle live in
the open ride-this town life is no
good it s hideous.
Her arms fell, leaden, to her
side. "Ranch? Where?"
"You're not listening. , There's to
be a new Run. The Cherokee strip
opening. You know. Let's go,
babra. Its the biggest thing1 yet.
The 1889 Run was nothing com
pared to it. Sell the Wigwam,
take , the children, make the Run,
get our hundred and sixty, start
a ranch, stock up with cattle and
horses, build a ranch house and
patio;. in the saddle all day"
"Never!" screamed Sabra. Her
face was distorted. Her hands
were clutching the "air, as though
she Would tear ;to bits this plan
oi. h'a for the future "I won't.
I won't go. I'd rather die first.
Youll never make me go. Til stay
here with my children and run the
paper. Mother! Cim! Donna!"
She had a rare and violent fit of
hysterics, after which Yancey di
vested her of the new finery, quiet
ed the now screaming children, and
finally restored to a semblance "of
supper-time order the household
into which he . had hurled such a
bomb. Felice Venablc herself, in
her heyday, could not have given
a finer exhibition of Marcy tern
perament. Yancey was properly
solicitous, tender, charming as only
he could be. From the shelter
of her husband's arms Sabra look
ed about the .cozy room, smiled
wanly upon her children. "That,"
she thought to herself, bathing her
eyes, smoothing her hair, and com
ing pale and wistful to the tabic,
her lip quivering with sr final ef
fective sigh, "settles that."
But it did not... September ac
tually saw Yancey making ready to
go. Nothing that Sabra could say,
nothing that she could do, served
to stop him. She even negotiated
for a little strip of farm land out
side of 'the town of Osage and man
aged to get Yancey to make
payment ' on it, in -the hope that
this would keep him from the Run
"If it's land you want you can stay
here and farm the piece at Tuska
mingo. You can raise cattle on it.
You can breed horses on it.'
Yancey shook his head. He took
no interest in the farm. Septem
ber, the month of 4he opening of
the vast Cherokee strip, saw him
well on his way. Cim howled to
be taken along, and would not be.
consoled for- days,
Sabra's iarewell was intended to
be cold. Her heart, she told her
self, was breaking". .The change
that these list four yearrhad made
in her never was more apparent
than now,
"You felt the same way when I
went off to the first Run," Yancey
reminded her. "Remember? -You
carried on just one degree less than
your mother. And if I hadn't gone
you'd still be living in the house
in Wichita, with your family smoth
ermg you in Southern fried chick
en and advice." There was much
truth in this, she had to admit
She melted; clung to him.
"Yancey! Yancey!"
"Smile, sugar. Wait till you see
Ctm and Donna, five years from
now, riding the Cravat acres."
After all, a hundred other men in
I Osage were going to make the
Cherokee Strip Run. The town
the whole territory had talked of
nothing else for months.
She dried her : eyes. She even
managed a watery smile. He was
making the Run on a brillaint,
wild-eyed mare named Cimarron,
with a strain of Spanish in her for
speed and grace, and a strain of
American mustang for endurance.
The start was made Shortly after
sunrise so as to make progress be
the heat of the day. But a
alcade awoke them before dawn
.h a rat-a tat-tat of six-shooters
a blood-curdling series of
y yips, the escort rode with
and the others for a dis
t on the plains. Sabra. at
minute, had the family
td to the buggy, bundled
mna in with Jier.vand
ig on behind some
in little vehicle burnt)
J its way over the
? the wake of the
turers.
wa threw the reins
jrom the bpggy,
pulled up his
ar over in his
in one great
mcssata-s wiucn tne wigwams
jore
Yv
N
,5U3T nu;.mr:.i
I Vj i ' V, -ft F 7 $ J
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1 ft I W
1.
tm
ml XM .
i
I ,v I : J I
i Got Insomnia, Officer."
"Well, You Co Home an' Sleep It QSfr
arm, held her close while he kissed
Her long and hard.
"Sabra, come with me. Let's get
clear away from this."
You've gone crazy! The chil
dren!"
' "The children, top. All of us.
Come on. Now." His eyes were
blazing. She saw that he actually
meant it. A sudden premonition
shook her. .
"Where are you going? Where
are you going?"
He set her down gently and was
off, turned halfway in his saddle
to fade her, hir white sombrero
held aloft in his hand,, his curling
black locks tossing in .the Okla
homa breeze.
Five years passed before she saw
him again.
CHAPTER VIII -
Dixie Lee's girls were riding bv
on their daily afternoon parade.
Sabra glanced up as they drove by.
She was seated at her desk by
the window in the front office of
the Oklahoma Wigwam.
Her face darkened now as she
saw them drivine slowlv bv. Dixie
Lee never drove with them. .Sabra
knew where she was this after
noon. She was down in the back
room of the Osage First National
bank talking business to the presi
dent, Murch Rankin. The business
men of the town were negotiating
for the bringing of the packing
house and a plow works and a
watch factory to Osage. Any one'
of these .industries required a sub
stantial bonus. The spirit of the
day was the boom spirit. Boom
the town of Osage. Dixie Lee was
essentially a commercial woman-
shrewd, clear headed. . She had
made a great success of her busi
ness. She was a personage in the
town. Visitors came to her house
now from the cities and Counties
round about. -She had built for
herself and her thriving business
the iirst brick structure in the
wooden town; a square, solid, and
imposing two-story house, its
bricks formed from the native Ok
lahoma red clay. The house had
been opened with a celebration
the like of which" had never been
seen in the Southwest. Sabra
Cravat, mentioning no names, had
had an editorial about it in which
the phrases "insult to the fair wo
manhood of America" and "orgy
rivaling the Bacchanalian revels of
history" (Yancey's . library stood
ucr iu goou sieao tnese days;
figured prominently.
It was this red' brick brothel
less sinister than these good and
innocent women suspected. Dixie
Lee, now a woman of thirtv or
more, ruled it with an iron hand.
Within it obtained certain laws
and rules of conduct-so ricrid as
to be almost prim. , It was, in a
way, a club, a rendezvous, a salon.
For hundreds "of men who tame
there it was all thev had ver
known of richness, of color, of
luxury. Here they . lolled, sunk
deeo inrosv comfort, while thev
talked territory politics, swapped
yarns oi me oia cattle oays, play
ed cards, drank. wines which tasted
like sweet prickling, water to their
whisky-scarred palates. " They kiss
ed these women, thought tenderly
of many of them, and frequently
married them ; and these women,
once married, settled down" con
tentedly to an almost slavish do
mesticity... - ;"
A hard woman, Dixie Lee; a bad
woman. Sabra was morally 'right
in her attitude toward her. Yet
this woman, as well as Sabra, filled
her place-in the early Jife of the
territory.
The Oklahoma Wigwam had
flourished in these last five years of
Sabra's proprietorship. - She . was
thinking seriously of making it a
daily instead of a weekly; of. using
v v .'
?
I
the entire building "on Pawhuska
avenue . for - the newspaper ; plant
and building a proper house for
herself and the two children on
one of the residence streets newly
sprung up streets that boasted
neatly painted houses and elm and
Cottonwood trees in the front yards.
Someone came up the -steps of
the little porch and into the office.
It was Mfs. Wyatt. "Weill" she
exclaimed, simply, but managing to
nut-ennrmnnti hit and sitmifiranrA -
into the mono-syllable. Her glance
followed Sabra's. Together the two
women, tight lipped, condemnatory,
watched the gay parade of Dixie
Lee's girls go by.
The flashing company disappear-
ed. A whiff of patchouli floated
back to the two women standing by
the open window, their nostrils
lifted in disdain. The sound of the
horses' hoofs grew fainter. " '
"It's a disgrace to the commun
ity" Mrs? Wyatt's voice took on
its platform note "and an insult
to every 'wife and mother in-the
territory. -There ought- to be a
law." t '
Sabra turned away from 4he win
dow. Her eyes sought the orderly ,
row? of books, bound neatly in tan
and red Yancey V law boolts, so
long unused now, except, perhaps,
for o casional newspaper reference..
Her I ice set itself in lines pf re
solve. "Perhaps there 'is."-
A m n like Yancey Cravat spec
tacular, dramatic, impulsive has a
thousand critics, scores of bitter
enemies. As the weeks had gone
by and Yancey failed to return
had failed to write rumor, clouded
by scandal, leaped like prairie fire
from house to houes in Osage.,
from town to town in the Okla
homa country, over the Southwest
indeed. All the old stories were
revived, and their ugly red tongue
licked a sordid path through the
newly opened land.
They say he is living with 'the
Cherokee squaw who is really his
wife.
They say' he was seen making
the Run in the Kickapoo land
opening in-1895.
They say he killed a man in the
Cherokee Strip Run and was cauehL
by a posse and hung.
They say he got a section of
land, sold it at a high figure, and
was seen lording it around the bar
of the " Brown Palace hotel in
Denver, in his white sombrero and!
his Prince Albert coat. -
They say Dixie Lee is his real
wife, and he left her when she
was seventeen, came to Wichita,."
and married Sabra Venable; and"
he 'is the one who has set Dixie:
up in the brick houses
They $Xy he-drank five quarts
of -whisky one night 'and died andi
is buried in an unmarked- grave in
Horseshoe ranch, where the Doolira
gang held forth. . - ,
They say he is really the leader
of the Doolin gang. They say.
lheysay. They say.
c 14 is impossible to know how
Sabra survived those first terrible
weeks that lengthened nito months
that lengthened into years. There
was in her the wiry4 .endurance f
the French Marcys; the pride of
the southern Venables. She told
herself that Yancey was dead. She
told the world that he-was dead.
She ;knew, by some deep and un
errinll!,stinct. that he was alive.
. f '(.Continued next week) '
BpfrmTfaI. went to a fellow
yesteltay who by feeling the
bumpon my headjold me what
kind of V man I was.
Solasido-Yeah? Well, I can tell
by feeling the bumps on your head
jum wnai Kind, of a woman your
wife is. PATHFINDER, "