Northern Oklahoma College - Roundup Yearbook (Tonkawa, OK)

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l:Q.,..w !eM t t, 1,3 ,jg M W Rg0QH?t,g1ggF1l:1?1fuZst?OfE1 fi? gofglilger one of you, Graymore snapped out angrily, I I reckon youire right. Gra more' we'r W - . , , , ye see' t-here ain't enough in it to pay: an' sg lloziiglals bfiitlziagg f?g,11?li,Ogl1ta0l2,n' job-thank ye. Ye see I feel sort of ticklish about spilin' the county records an' asyNii'f said, Jim C1a5'bUm'S 3 DUTACY good old chap. No, a hundred won't make a eo and th-E IS an were get to Sayf ainvt it Nik!- Bob Dawson turned to see what lis partner thought. ix Well, how much dO You 'think You're goin' to get out of me for this deal Gray- more growled out. ' KWVEILU DZUVSOH 2U1SW6T'Gd. seein' as how you want the job done so' bad an' as how We Hindi S0 OVST Darticler. we'll just take a cool thousand, Boss. 7 V A thousand dollarsif' 'G-raymore echoed, astonished. Why, that's ridiculous! NI won t pa.y that! I wouldn't have any profits left at all. All right, boss, we ain't worryin' none, ye See we ain't over anxious. H If YOU think T11 pay that you're-but wait, don't go-I'Ve got to win this fight!+ yes, I'll pay itg if only to beat Jim Clayburn. I'll show that up-start of a half-breed who he's trifflin, with. Go do- the work. I'1l pay you the thousand. We'll have to have a written order before we do the work, Graymoi-e, Xig Jack- son spoke up. Business is business ye know, an' we know yer ways. I guess if were got the paper to show, ye'll have to cough up 'the dough. When the deal was made, Dawson stuffed into his pocket a small piece of paper. which slipped through a hole and fell unobserved to the floor, and on which was write ten. If you two men will destroy the court house in Old Kay I agree to pay you one thousand dollars .-W. Graymore. If yo-u can explain what it was that caused Dora Graymore to go inside the olrl cabin the next day, as' she was out riding, you can beat any of us folks of I-Iill Springs for wits. Anyway, she did go in, and she found the note her father had written for Dawson lying on the cabin floor. After carrying it around all day, trying to think what was best to do, she marched right over to Old Kay, her pretty face as white as 21 sheet, and her merry blue eyes full of tears, saying over and over to herself, -:qt jS11't for .Iim Clayburn's sake that I'm doing this, it's' because right is right, and gave the note to Clayburng told him where she had found it and surprised him by asking: What had we- better do first? We? Clayburnts eyes expressed surprise. 1 Yes, 'wel I'ni going to help you. I know I'm going against my people but- but you would too+if-if they-7' Y-es, I know-poor little girl! And we surely need all the help we can get, What would you Say about placing guards around the court ho-use? Clayburn's eyes were more than kind. It woudn't do at all, Dora answered matter-of-factly, you don't know those men! They never give up till they've wo-n a thing, and you COu1dn't guard It forever. I think there is something better to do. What? Hide the records-slip them out from the vault, and after the house has been burned. use the note to force them to your terms. In the meantime the records would b saf . , , B t'Beut I can't, the records are guarded by H County 0ff1C1f11 and We Canyt get 300955 to them Pooh! only Mrs. Morrison, Dora answered, and I can coax her away while you and Tony take 'them from the vault and hide Weill 1111 the ' By Jove that isn't a. bad id-ea! But Dora, to 195119 hand had found the girl's- Why are You define tins' , ,, d 't believe in the methods of m3-0f- cellar of his store. -and somehow C'layburn's Why--er-because I on , Yes but Dora is there no other reason? Do you think you could-I mean, would vou-er 'that is- Y Flavburn didn't know that his eyes were sayingill that his lips refused to say, but his heart leaped lrigh asrliora answered. Softly! .., , - - fl , --. in . NO' I don t think I kuov mu C t ll about the records they were to ,- cstatic moments they forgo 21 I In the next few Zined re-enfo-rcementienough to enable him to conquer the world. 159 save: but .Tim had g

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,,,gpf ,. . . , 'ii ,, '12:.,,g: isgm ' .gg ac- .Ll,...,.-.1 '- 'ha When Kay Was the Stakes Ruth Muskrat '17 It would have been humorous to us people ot Hill Springs, if we had not been too sore to see the humorous side of anything, when nature chose to play a trick, and the site of the new town was surveyed on Clayburn's land instead of Graymores, Wl1e1'l: 1.-ve1'ybody expected it would be. Maybe some of us did laugh in our sleeves, for we had a special grouch against Graymore, and we were glad to see him get left for once. You see, it was Graymore who started all this county-seat trouble, and it was 'Gfraymorc who was most instrumental in taking the countv-seat away from Hill Springs and . D moving it twelve imiles in the hills, away off from nowhere, to the center of the county- His object was as plain as the nose on your face to' a cool-headed fellow' He wanted the new site placed on his land so the price would increase to a nice little slice, but more important still, he wanted to carry on his bootle0'0'in0' business in his own 11tt DD D lu town to suit himself. He wasn't called the whiskey king for nothing The question ol' moving the county-seat was agitated night and day, and finally, through Graymores influence, bribes, cigars and whiskey, it was moved to the center of the county, within fifty yards of Gray1nore's tract, and the new town was called Kay. Clayburn .was a half-breed Cherokee-one of these tall, straight, handsome fellows that the mixing of the two races often produce-frank-facecl-well educated-but juS'f il young, happy-go-lucky sort off chap and we didn't expect him to put up much of at fiol t. 0 - ' ' ' gi Imagine, then, our surprise when we heard that he had refused Graymore's handsome offer for his sixty acres of hills and rocks, includino' new Kay. Those of us D . who knew Graymore, knew that such a refusal could only mean a fight to the finishg so w ' 't ' ' ' OW ' ' ' e, as ci mens of Hills Springs, straightened up to watch the scrap. Graymore made the first move-he always did, and usually the last too! He staked out his lots: named his town New Kayg erected a stone court house and offered it to the' county- free gratis-only to be declined-with thanksg while only a hundred yards away, in old Kay, the county was busy constructing, because of lack of funds, only a frame build- ing to shelter their records. Each town tried to out-rival the other in building new stores, hotels, cafes and the like. The fi Kay, stuffing the boys with booze. Jim Clayburn politely pulled out a gun and told him to get out and stay o-ut. Then folks began to line-up. The Cherokees, who com- prised a large part of the population, and a number of other people who weren't dazzled by lGraym0re'S 1T1iUi011S', Were with Clayburng while on the othe' h l G2 ' lc ' - 1 ana i iymoie l'lIl a large number on his side, who stuck fo-r various reasons. There was onlv one per- son of th tv f t' . e X o l ac ions who dared to come and go as she pleased, and that was Dora, Graymores gay little step-daughter, whom everybody, on both sides' loredg and who was, as so-me one from Hill Springs expressed it, Jim Clayburn's best friend. Graymore fought with a bull dog's tenacity, but he seemed to be loosing ground, and then came the time he played his biggest card. The night he chose for his meet- ing was as bad as the work he had to dog a dark scowly night -so black you coulcln't see your hand before your face. The two men who met him at the old log cabin were the usual reprobates who did his dirty jobs for him. They were there when he arrived. slouching around the old table which, with the exception of a long bench and a broken backed chair, was the only furniture in the room. A dirty black cloth hung over the o-ne little window to hide from any chance passerby the feeble light of the smoke blackened lamp on the table. Graymore entered with a bustle, tgok the chair and at oncf: began business. ght began in earnest one day when Graymore was polknosing around in Old I asked you boys here tonight to do a piece of work for me I want you to burn that courthouse in Old Kay. There's a hundred apiece in it. What do you -say ?'f Nothin' doin', Graymore,'i Nig Jackson answered. 'tthe jobts too dirty for that, YJ' know, an' besides, I like .lim Clayburn better than a hundred dollars. If you thought there was enough in it, dirty job, or no- dirty job, Jim Clayburn or 158

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- li A .5 V ' au We .P ,-E The next night the Court house in Old Kay burned to the ground, blighting the spirits of the people until they learned that Clayburn had saved the records of the countyg then there was a general air of rejoicing, cheering fort Clayburn, and Crys for revenge on the ones who had set the building afire. ' The evening after the building had burned, Graymore sat in his home in New Kay, his head on the tableg the setting sun streaming through the window across his gray hairg a trunk and traveling bag packed and strapped near byg and in his hand he clasped the following letter: Perhaps you have already learned that the records were saved from the recent fire, and that plansafor a fire-proof building are being made. Enclosed you will flllfl the duplicate of a note that I now hold in my possession. I would suggest that yo.1 leave the town immediately, for the people are already beginning to guess who was at the bottom of the burning of the court house. I make you an offer of ten dollars an acre for your land surrounding New Kay. Yo-ur daughter has promised soon to be my wife and for her sake I will not press the matter further.-Jim Clayburn. And over in Old Kay, Clayburn and Dora were Walking arm in arm, toward the setting sun: and Clayburn was whispering softly: I played the game my level best and won, dear, when Kay was the stakes, but l have won something even greater than these, 'for I have you. . ' 160 l