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CONTENTS:
Prefaces -acee Se Geek om. Faleats ee
Earthquake Shoe of 1909. i See ae tom blLeat .Ketlis ae ‘Hoos 3s See
Kiermiet: tyes ielrarclarcen @llailllte= es peter ras meee a Plies sand = MOsqittoeS scsi ae eee
“Otakertor- jantany 29-193? a. a5. an ae Vatermelon= Cro press - seh oes eee
New Madrid Earthquake, Bulletin 494.. 4 Typhoid Fever
SIS ales cand Saal aa eo ae Sea! “URGSinig’s kaso ce oe oe se
Comparison of San Francisco “Quake,” ihe People ay, thew perenne
“Sand Blows” with Those of New Het. Weather in: his =Commntiy:.e ee
Mardtaitdlern@ talkies rs Seen esien ca sce en eee Se, blogs Dyine “with Cholera eee
Centennial of New Madrid “Quake”’>..%-5% _What You Take tor= Chills’: 2 ta.eee
Brot vicGeEes Meredictionen is stenoses 6m, Pneumonia . knee See
Residents: Account of 1898 “Ouake”’ 26. Cold) Weathers: s0..¢> 2) ee eee
Have All Contracts Written Ones..... fa. Roclke-Road accel eee eee
‘ierers ands snakes: sn ota) fe. ee eee, SChooks pith ices ee
Farm Purchase and Gossahiggon ee 8 High Water of 1912. Panne hea oon
Trouble Weeping. Potatoes... o-2..20 On Teavy “Rains=.. 2c tcniee see ee
PinewiorkssateGhiastias = asc seen 10. Potato Bugs:and-“Ball-Nats’-s09- 2s
Gere s tatecerete aerate i Retest wig Lainie 10%. A: J. Matthews?~ Dog: Story oo. oes
Brust Deedvand-Notice of Sale? 23> al Roasting Fleas as a Pastime. owe eee
DIE Sepa tte ies Se fines oo i et cap 122 “Swamp-East’s (GRoetry): a eee
oT Too Hot for Horses.......... 1 Mrs. Studabaker’s “Chill Experience”...
yalineds Wipe vas. 3 feat ee §=Listrof Chil enics: see eee
Home of the ehattel Moutenee sik ee 13 Dredge Ditches in “Quicksands”.......
Borin cs Viathe ie te Wie eee ee eee a ae es i Seen
5 Filing’ Chattel- Mortgages. i252 snes
Soya WStemimenn ns cst eet meee juss =
CocklessB unre hee ae mee es eee a cs 13 My Visit with Mr. Amos...... eas
“Chopping (GD Ue ieee SP Rana te ee oe 14 PinarretallsBachit bites ite. ee ee
Dawn an ether Sticks erecta 14s. Appéndisxe= 2 i002 Sa ce ee
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Preface

A Little Book dedicated to those who, like
myself, are trying to better their condition—
trying to make a starting point for those of
their family that come after them, so that their
journey through life might be: made just a little
easier, so that some of the rough places might
be smoothed over and there would be a little
more -pleasure for them, while for those that
go before it is all pioneer life with its attendant
hardships. It is to save YOU from the pitfalls
that are ever spread before the newcomer, that
I am writing this booklet, and is a truthful
account of my near four years’ experience trying
to make some money in the SWAMP country of
southeast Missouri, the home of the New Madrid
Earthquake of 1811-12. Read it through carefully
—heed what I tell you—and I assure you it will
be worth $$$$$ to you, while its cost, if anything,
is a mere trifle; yet it cost me a-plenty—near
four years of the best part of my life and of
my children’s school life.
philanthropist for near
four years, of this
swamp land, I am now willing to continue to be

Compelled to be a

helping to redeem some
a philanthropist if by so doing I ean save some
other person. from a like fate. Read carefully

—read thoroughly.

Near Four Years in the Swamps of Missouri,
Which Were Made by the New Madrid
Earthquake of 1811-12.

American people have the ‘‘Hurry”’ idea; they
hurry to do this and hurry to do that, and
oftentimes they hurry into something that a
little. of the ‘“‘Stop—Look and Listen”
rightfully applied would have saved them years
of worry and this
lesson home to myself and giving it to you, that

principle

money loss. I am taking
if you want to and will you can save yourself
a like experience.

In the spring of 1909,

wonders of southeast Missouri, through our lo-

having heard of the

cal real estate agents, Messrs. Hale & Markley,
of Bluffton, Indiana,
pecting trip and spent one day,

I came here on a pros-
April 19th,
riding out into the country with Mr. J. F, Cox:

of the then C. M. Smith Bros. & Co. real estate

agency of Sikeston, Mo. It rained and hailed

that day, but I saw the country, went back

home, told the family what I had seen, read
over their profusely illustrated folder of the
country and its immense possibilities, and we
Right

decided to try it. here I should have

stopped and studied the country at greater
length. A personal friend of mine tried to head
me off, Cautioned me against collusion among

real estate agents to try and skin the unwary;
but hadn’t I

people and knew more about it than he did?

been down here and met the

' Although I was a high schoo] graduate, I did
not know of the New Madrid Earthquake and
its great extent and I did not stop to investi-
gate. Here let me call your attention to the
fact that our Government Goes all in its power
to keep its people informed, and were you
thinking of trying a new country, if you would
take up the location with the Geological Depart-
ment of the Government I am most sure you
would get information to your advantage. It
took me quite a while to learn this, and it came
about in this way: After being in this country
a while naturally I met up with and talked
conditions with the people, some of whom had
lived most all of their lives here, and the sub-
ject of the formation of the land being up, I
asked as to how all these piles of sand occurred
Then

some deeper depressions on the

and they told me they were sand blows.
there being
farm, I was informed that they were sink holes.
Well, these matters rather aroused my interest
and a further interest was awakened by the
fact that on the 23rd of October, 1909, there
was a real earthquake shock, which was felt
generally all over the country that was affected
by the earthquake of 1811-12. I give you here
what the Post-Dispatch of St. Louis said about
this shock, as they gathered their news gen-
erally all over the district affected, and what
I might say as to personal experience would

only be local.

“EARTHQUAKE DISTURBS SLUMBER
“About 1 o’Clock Saturday Morning—Felt All
Along Mississippi.

“Half the population in Alton was aroused
soon after 1 a. m. Saturday, October 23, 1909,
by an earthquake shock said to have been more
severe than that which startled St. Louis and
its vicinity several weeks ago. The earthquake
was not local, reports saying that it was felt
as far south as Paragould, Ark., and was par-
ticularly severe at Cape Girardeau, Mo., where
it was the heaviest shock felt for many years.
Heavy rumbling accompanied the quake. The
quake was felt in Cape Girardeau at 1:15 a, m.,
lasting about a minute. The vibration came
from the west. The ground seemed to undulate
and buildings rocked. Paragould reports a
shock lasting 10 seconds; at the same time
Memphis, Tenn., also felt a slight shock. At
St. Peters, Mo., in St. Charles county, the
earthquake was felt plainly by several. Alton
appears to have borne the brunt of the dis-
turbance in the vicinity of St. Louis. Many
persons declare the walls of their houses quiv-
ered perceptibly and the ground heaved. W. T.
Norton, former postmaster of Alton, said he
felt three shocks, the first of which awakened
him. The shocks were several seconds apart,
Mr. Norton said, and all of a brief duration.
They seemed to pass from west to east, but
Norton described them as being mostly up and

down.

“An alarm clock which Emil Mook, an Alton

printer, had on a table beside his bed was
shaken to the floor by the disturbance.
“Towns in southeast Missouri other than

Cape Girardeau where the shock was felt dis-
tinctly are Sikeston and Charleston. The
report from Sikeston says all the inhabitants
were aroused by the severity of the tremor,
while in Charleston many persons were
awakened, Charleston reports that the earth-
quake lasted one minute.

“Cairo, Ill., felt the shock at 1:08 a. m. for
about 15 seconds. Many persons were awakened
by the shaking of their houses and the rumbling
sound.

“Cairo, Memphis, Cape Girardeau, Charleston,
Sikeston, and Paragould are in the area chiefly
affected by the great New Madrid Harthquake
of 1811, which caused a large territory in south-
east Missouri and northeast Arkansas and
across the Mississippi to become Swamp Lands.”

Again I clipped from our paper, The Sikeston
Standard, the following item.

KENNETT HAD A CHILL.

Several in this city felt a distinct earthquake
shock Monday at 11 o’cloeck that lasted a quar-
ter of a minute. It was especially noticeable in
the brick buildings. One lady said that the
pereformance was repeated Monday night, but
few of Kennett’s people stay awake late at
night.—Kennett Democrat.

Since writing this near four years’ experience
of mine in ‘‘Swampeast’”? Missouri, the home of
the New Madrid Hearthquake of 1811-12, and
before the publication of it there has been
another quite severe earthquake shock and I
herewith give the newspaper account of it as
published by the Southeast Missourian, a paper
at Portageville, Mo.:

DID VOUSRER La lilzz

At just 5:15 o’clock Wednesday morning one
of the hardest earthquakes in a number of
years was felt by quite a number of Portage-
ville citizens. The editor can’t say truthfully
that he did not feel it because it tossed him
about in his bed, rattled the windows and mum-
bled louder than any big freight train. In Mr.
Christian’s house, we are told, it stopped his
clock. It was of a few seconds duration, but a
mighty hard spasm old mother earth had at
Portageville.’’

The date above referred to was January 29th,
1913.

These happenings so stirred my desire for
more information that I began to correspond
with leading colleges as to where I could get
full information as to the New Madrid Earth-
quake of 1811-12 and was referred to the Jour-

nal of Geology, published by the University at
Chicago Press, and in their January-February
number, 1905, I found a very complete article
by Edward M. Shephard, Springfield, Mo.; also,
in the American Geologist, published at Minne-
apolis, Minn,, I found an article by G. C. Broad-
head. Then at last I wrote the United States
Geological Survey of our Department of the
Interior, and they mailed to me BULLETIN No.
494: THE NEW MADRID EARTHQUAKE, by
Myron L. Fuller. This is a book of some 120
pages and replete with valuable information
for anyone thinking of making a home in this
“Barthquake Zone’ or of acquiring property
therein.

You owe it to yourself and your family to
know the country, as far as it is given us power
to know, the dangers that exist in that country
from forest fires, tornadoes, floods, volcanoes
and earthquakes, wherein you would take them
to live, for where you live you wish to feel as
safe and secure from these dangers as it is
possible to be—that breeds contentment and a
desire to live and build for the future, But
where dangers of floods exist—where tornadoes
and cyclones prevail to a greater extent—where
you are told by leading geologists that you are
living on one of the ‘‘Earth’s Weak Spots,” a
different feeling exists, and where these state-
mehts.are backed up by frequent ‘‘shakes,’’ as
the papers have quoted and I have copied
herein, you would do well to ‘‘Stop—Look and
Listen” before getting tied up there. I do not
wish to burden this booklet with copying much.
of detailed reports therein, like this Bulletin
494. issued by the U. S. Geological Survey, for
you can get one and study it for yourself, the
same as I have, but I will call your especial
attention to a few of the different parts of it,
by pages, so that you can readily refer to what
I think important for one to know that is figur-
ing on either buying property here or coming
to handle the plow over these ‘‘sand blows,”’
“sink-holes,’’ filled in ‘‘fissures’’ and _ other
markings of the greatest earthquake upheaval
and depression known to civilized man. Page 7
gives a location of the earthquake, which is
very important, in that it locates for you where
the earthquake did the most damage. Page 9
carries with it a map of the district and sets
out for you where the sand blows were the
most pronounced, where the greatest sinking
of the land took place and where the domes
were formed. I think this plate or map a very
valuable one for a person to have that is con-
templating settling in this country or of pur-~
chasing property here. Pages 10 and 11 give a
graphic account of the disaster and is very in-
teresting reading. I often thought that I would
be most willing to be present at a repetition
of the disaster, were it possible to do so, until
I read these accounts and thought how it would
be to be routed out about the middle of Decem-
ber, 2 a. m., and stand shivering in the cold
the rest of the night with the fear of being
swallowed up by the earth at any moment.
Page 12 gives Indian tradition of previous dis-
turbances of this country by earthquakes and
also corroborative evidence that they did occur.
Pages 14 and 15 give the location of the center
of the disturbance and locates it about 16 miles
to the west of the Mississippi River. Page 16
is a very important one in that it gives the
area of the disturbance, which of the most
marked disturbance, such as domes, sunk lands,
fissures, sinks, sand blows, landslides, etce.,
comprised from 30,000 to 50,000 square miles
and extended from a point west of Cairo on
the north to the latitude of Memphis on the
south, a distance of about 100 miles, and from
Crowley’s ridge on the west to Chickasaw Bluffs
on the east, a distance of over 50 miles, then
the area of sleight earth disturbances and also
the area of tremors, Page 17 records the “Gen-
eral Destructiveness of the Shocks’? and reads
something like a modern day write-up of a
powder mill explosion without the attendant
fatalities. On page 21 you will find what the
earthquake did to the roads of the country.
Pages 31 and 32 give accounts of the nature of
the vibrations and make very interesting read-
ing. On page 34 is given the number of re-

corded shocks as 1,874. Page 45 gives account
of odors and vapors that impregnated the air,
caused by the earthquake. Pages 47 to 52 take
up the fissuring caused by the earthquake;
and the fact that people are said to have felled
large trees to sit on when the earth waves
rolled under them and would burst, is serious
enough to make a person want to save a few
tall cypress or gum trees on their land, if for
no other reason. Pages 54 and 55 give interest-
ing data as to certain peculiar incidents caused
by the fissuring, one of which is amusing to
read, but no doubt serious enough to expe-
rience. It is related by LeSieur: It seems that
a Mr. Culberson lived on a V-shaped point in
a bend of Pemiscot River, embracing about an
acre of ground, on which his well and smoke-
house were situated, lying between the house
and the river. On the morning of the earth-
quake Mrs. Culberson started to go to the
smokehouse for meat, only to find the path
crossed by the wide stream, the smokehouse
and well being seen across the river, on the
opposite side from where they were the night
before. Page 62 speaks of where writers of the
great quake call attention to the turning back
of the Mississippi River and of the closing of

an entrance to Little River from the Mississippi .

River some three miles below New Madrid.
Pages 64 to 75 deal with the ‘‘Sunken Lands”
of this earthquake country and it ’is sure in-
teresting reading to anyone, and especially so
to anyone who has lived near four years in
this country and had an opportunity to study it
at close hand. Now page 77 gives a picture of
sand blows taken in California, which sand
blows were formed in the recent San Francisco
earthquake, and they surely look like those in
this country, of which there seems to be no
end. Pages 79 to 83:give interesting descrip-
tions of these sand blows and how in some
localities they are so thick that the edges of
one touch the other and give the country a
very sandy appearance. Pages 838 to 85 speak
on sand sloughs, pronounced ‘“‘sloos.” ‘“‘Sinks’’
are very fully described on pages 87 and 88, and
as you plow through some of these ‘‘sink holes”
in dry times you wonder how they looked and
how it was around here when they were formed.
Pages 89 to 94 give different accounts of the
action of the earthquake on the waters of the
Mississippi River and furnish very interesting
reading to one living not right in this ‘“‘Earth-
quake Zone.” Pages 95 to 99 take up the effect
the earthquake had on the forests, and from
the descriptions and the damage done you
_-wonder that there is as much timber in this
country as there is. Pages 99 and 100 treat of
the effect of the ‘‘quake’”’ on artificial structures,
and from the long continuance of this par-
ticular earthquake period it is no wonder that
there was few frame buildings left standing.
Page 101 treats of tne noises accompanying the
earthquake, and that there is I can testify to
the truth of it, for the quake of Oct. 28rd, 1909,
was accompanied by a noise like an explosion
to the west of our home. Pages 102 to 104 take
up Popular Beliefs of the Origin and Cause and
Evidence of Origin of this Harthquake, and are
very interesting. The ‘‘Ultimate Cause” of this
earthquake as written up on page 105 is well
worth reading to anyone, either living in this
affected country or contemplating living there.
Page 109 gives Contemporaneous Disturbances
and it seems that there was a-plenty doing in
the earthquake line at that time. Page 110 is
very interesting reading in that it speaks of
the probabilities of a recurrence of this earth-
quake and when, judging it by other earth-
quakes, records of which have been kept over
periods of several hundred years, and they show
that they are to be expected about every 100
years. This page also gives names of localities
that would be the ‘most affected were it to
occur again. :

This constitutes the whole of the book that
is devoted to the general description of this
great earthquake and is very fine reading and
very instructive to anyone, and especially to
parties thinking of locating in this locality for
a home or investment.

It seems that while I was hunting for news

relating to this greatest of earthquakes, that
everything most that pertained to it came
under my observation, and being the century

anniversary of it, and the only paper that had
published an account of it 100 years ago, the
St. Louis Republic, gave quite a write-up of
the catastrophe, and I here copy their account
of it:
“CENTENNIAL OF MISSOURI’S EARTH-
QUAKE.”

(St. Louis Republic of Sunday, Noy. 12th, 1911.)

“One hundred years ago this month the trap-
pers, squatters, traders and settlers down the
valley from St. Louis were listening now and
again to certain strange and portentious noises
that seemed to come from beneath the earth.
There were some timorous souls among them
who claimed to have felt the earth tremble
beneath their feet. Just as always, the doubt-
ers laughed and mocked and continued to
doubt.

“Tt was late in December that the mightiest
earthquake that ever rocked North America
struck the New Madrid country. There were
more lives lost in San Francisco, that time the
earth there shook loose from its moorings, but
the Pacific quake did not utterly change the
face of the country like this valley tremor that
lasted for days and weeks.

“It was then that the Mississippi River ran
uphill for hours. The great mass of water
hurrying toward the Gulf paused and turned
back upon itself. All the valley was a-quiver.
Great geysers opened in the good black earth
of the valley. Some of these sink-holes fumed
and murmured for years afterwards. It was in
December, 1811, that the valley found itself
being shaken as a terrier shakes a rat, The
premonitory rumblings and grumblings among
the rocks no longer frightened the valley
dwellers. They had grown used to them.

“St. Louis went to bed on Sunday night, De-
cember 15, without any apprehension, The
tremors and grumblings had not been bothering
the valley this far north. Very early in the
morning of the 16th the earth began to wabble
like a drunken man. St. Louis promptly for-
sook his bed and ran out into the streets. All
the rest of the night and till noon of Monday
the rocking, roaring and trembling was kept up
at short intervals.

“Missouri was all a-quiver. Thousands of
acres of land to the west of the river sank and
the waters of the Mississippi invaded the newly
made low grounds. Missouri taxpayers are still
paying for the damage caused during the last
days of December, 1811, and the early months
of 1812. Big Government dredges are now
rooting their way through these swamps, drain-
ing and opening them up to the belated plow.
Had it not been for this tremendous earthquake
the swamp lands of Missouri would have been
small in area.

“That earthquake has cost Missouri millions
in deferred population, lost production and the
actual cost of draining the quake-sunken lands.
The first newspaper account of the tremor,
afterwards known as the New Madrid _ earth-
quake, was published in The Missouri Gazette,
now The St. Louis Republic. This was pub-
lished on Saturday, December 21, 1811, and the
extent of the disaster was by no means known
at the time. In fact, tue greater part of the
sinking took place some time later.

“On Monday morning last,’ says the editor,
‘about a quarter past 2, St. Louis was visited
by one of the most violent shocks of earth-
quake that has been recorded since the discoy-
ery of our country. AS we were all wrapt in
sleep, each tells his story in his,own way. I
will also relate my simple tale.

“ 4t the period above mentioned I was roused
from sleep by the clamor of windows, doors and
furniture in tremendous motion, with a distant,
rumbling noise resembling a number of car-
riages passing over the pavement. In a few
seconds the motion and subterraneous thunder
increased more and more. Believing the noise
to proceed from the north or northwest, and
expecting the earth to be relieved by a vol-

canic eruption, I ran out of doors and looked
for the dreadful phenomena.

“<The agitation had now reached its utmost
violence. I entered the house to march my
family from its expected ruins, but before I
could put my designs into execution the shock
had ceased, having lasted about one and three-
quarter minutes.

““The sky was obscured by a thick, hazy
fog, without a breath of air; a Fahrenheit ther-
mometer might have stood at this time about
35 or 40 degrees. At forty-seven minutes past
2 another shock was felt, without the rumbling
noises and much less violent than the first. It
lasted over two minutes.’

“The account continues with a description of
still other shocks that kept the harassed St.
Louisans on the move till daybreak and after.

*“*The morning was very drizzly and uncom-
monly warm,’ according to the writer; ‘the roofs
and fences appeared covered with a white frost,
but on examination it was found to be vapor-

ous, not possessing the chilly cold of frost.
Indeed the morn was enshrouded in awful
gloom.’

“This was on Saturday, but nothing seems to
have been known at that time of the effects of
shocks down the valley All St. Louis was try-
ing to arrive at some explanation for the mani-
festation. In the account of the earthquake ‘it
is suggested that it must have been of volcanic
origin, as there was said to be a volcano, ex-
tinct but three years, where the river of the
Osage Indians joined the Missouri.

“Geologists would not be at all surprised if
there was a recurrence of these earthquake
shocks up and down the valley. The country
south of St. Louis and down near New Madrid
is known as a ‘weak-spot.’ It is one of three
that are known to exist in the earth’s crust on
American soil. San Francisco and vicinity has
one and the Atlantic Coast in the neighborhood
of New Jersey has the other. Seismologists
claim that sooner or later there will be a shift-
ing and a settling of the earth in these
localities.

“Never a year passes that there is not one
or more little quakes in the sunken lands of
Missouri and over in Kentucky and southern
Illinois. These no more than rattle the dishes
in the cupboards or set the chandeliers to
swinging, but they are indications that all is
not yet serene in the subterraneon depths in the
lower valley.

“Seismologists never tire of studying. the
great quake of New Madrid. Its effects are
almost as plain today as they were 100 years
ago. The sink-holes and lakes, the submerged
forests and the great cracks in the earth make
plenty of material for the student. The only
reason for the sligut loss of life was that there
were but few inhabitants in that section at the
ime.

“The earthquake was the cause, one cause at
least, of the little corner of Missouri sticking
down into what might have been Arkansas.
After the first great shakings the people fled
from the quivering neighborhood, With one ex-
ception. There was one strong-minded citizen
who refused to go, and maintained that he
wished to be considered and was in fact a
citizen of Missouri. This was at the time when
the boundary line was being fixed. He had his
way, even the compromisers who fixed the line
realizing that he was not a man with whom it
was possible to compromise.”’

Again in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch of Sun-
day, July 14th, 1912, Dr. W. J. McGee, who
foretold the San Francisco. quake and warned
Alaska EIGHT years ago of the now ACTIVE
KATMAI VOLCANO, says the GREAT NEW
MADRID QUAKE WILL RECUR. He gives
near a full page on the matter and if you care
to you can look it up. I do not wish to re-
print it all here. I only eall attention to it on
account of the prominence of the author, Prof.
MeGee having made a report for the Govern-
ie on the Charleston, 8S. C., earthquake of
1886.

Reading all these accounts—descriptions of
the great quake of 1811-12, predictions of the
recurrence of it by such prominent men as

‘

Shaler and McGee,
tury, and the real demonstrations that have oc-
curred since we have been
make you feel as
on the edge of a gravel bank where they were

caving off the bank to get at the gravel and ~

some giant hand was picking away to throw the
cave—small
which would correspond to the tremors and
light shakes we have here every once

know, down goes the cave.
by several people, they had a very severe shock.
Monroe Dinkins and Samuel Marl, of Matthews,
Mo., gave me an account of their experience
with it. How it started the pumps to flowing
and the ditches running, although it was in a
very dry time. Mr. Marl told me of how he

was standing on one of these sand blows in the
along a cypress slough, and when_

east Swamp,
the large cypress trees began to thresh around
he just did not know what to expect. Mr.
Dinkins told me of how they tried driving a
team of mules about nine miles and how it
took them all day to do it, for every time the —
earth would tremble the mules would stop.
Now these are reliable people and I would sug-
gest that did you come down to this country on

-a prospecting tour that you take time to visit

with some of these older citizens that are not
interested in selling or showing lands.
Now, dear friends, it is not only earthquakes

in the country,
though you were living

particles always fall off at first,

in a
Ww rhile—but when he has enough dug out, you ~
In 1898, I am told

records of other great
quakes which show activities about every cen- —

and the history of this one that I wish to place |

before you, but my experience in this country
and with its people: and as I kept a daily
record, I feel that I
to give it to you. All the way through you
will see that I am not trying to keep you out of
this country, but trying to “impress on you the
advantage it will be to you if when you do
come that you either rent and farm for a year
or work for somebody a season.

After seeing this country for the one day—
April 19th, 1909—I returned home, to Bluffton,
Indiana, reported to the family how good the.
country looked to me and began to figure how
to get into something down here. Mr. Gabriel -
T. Markley of the firm of Hale & Markley, real
estate agents of our town, then representatives

for the Smith Bros. & Co. Land Company, of
Sikeston, Mo., made me a very good verbal
offer, that was this: if I would locate down

here and assist in getting other people to buy
here, that they would give me one-half the
commission they received on all sales they
made down here. That looked pretty good to
me, so I visited with some of the people that
I thought could be interested in lands down
here and on the 7th of June, 1909, I landed in
Sikeston and stayed unere till the afternoon of
June 8th, when IF went down to Lilbourn, twenty
miles south of Sikeston, where the real new
country is. Lilbourn at that time was the
Mecca of all newcomers, for it was and is the
geographical center of New Madrid county, and
was strongly talked of for the county seat, and
people coming in from the older northern coun-
tries know what it means to get located in the
prospective county seat. Well, I stayed here
until June 12th and visited with the people—
took walks into the country along the railroads
—too wet to get into the woods—rode up and
down Little River with a Mr. Welshans, pro-
prietor of the hotel of the town, and told him
of how I was down there looking for somethin
to do—would like to get on a farm, at whic
he laughed and told me if I wanted to farm:
that I wanted to get out of there, that it never
became dry enough in that locality to grow a
crop, and I rather believed him, and when I
told Mr. Cox, of the Smith Bros. & Co. Land
Company, that Mr. Welshans was rather knock-
ing on the country as a farming country, he
said that I ought not to pay any attention to
the hunters and fishermen, as they did not
want to see people clear up the lands around
there, for it would spoil their sport. Well that
looked reasonable to me, but I did not stay
here long. On the 12th I went back to Sikes-
ton and spent Sunday with two brothers from
our country, Messrs. Ben and Fred Moser, on

am ina very good position —

,

their farm about six miles southwest from
Sikeston on Pharris Ridge—places are located
in this country by ridges and ditches; there is
Sikeston Ridge, Big Ridge, Landers Ridge,
Couters Ridge, Round Ridge, Hurricane Ridge,
ete. ete.; and ditches either go by their num-
bers either east or west of the Sikeston Ridge
or the particular slough that they were dug to
drain, as Ash slough, Otter slough, etc. Hada
_ pleasant Sunday with the boys talking over the
farming possibilities of the country, etc.; then
the following morning across the country to
Matthews and through some very wild and new
eountry—up the Frisco railroad to Sikeston—
and wrote home of the fact that I had not as
yet found an occupation and my views of what
I thought would be profitable to work at in
connection with prospective showing of lands
as outlined with Mr. Markley; and as one of
them was keeping a hotel, and knowing that
Mrs. Welshans would sell her hotel at Lilbourn,
I decided to go back there and visit a few days
more. So on the 17th of June, 1909, I went back
to Lilbourn and wrote Mrs. Studabaker what it
would cost us to buy this hotel did we decide
to do so. I was much pleased when I received
a letter from her telling that we could get the
money to buy it, and as it figures largely in
our experience in Missouri—the fact that we
were operating on borrowed capital—I will just
explain here that Mrs. Studabaker’s brother,
H. D. Cook, secured for us what money we
needed. I insisted that Mrs. Studabaker pay
the country a visit and see the country—look
over our prospective occupation—so on the 23rd
of June, 1909, she came to Lilbourn and we
stayed here till afternoon of June 24th, when
we went to Sikeston to look over the farming
country in that locality, as Mr. Cook had ex-
pressed himself as though he would feel we
were making a safer investment if we were to
buy a farm; and although the amount of ready
money we had—$2,800—was small to think of
buying and operating a farm, yet he assured
Mrs. Studabaker that he would see us through
if we went to farming and needed more. At Sikes-
ton I arranged with the C. M. Smith Bros. &
Co. Land Company to take us out and show us
some of their land they had for sale; so on the
morning of June 25th Mr. J. F. Cox, of the then
C. M. Smith Bros. & Co. Land Company, but
now of the Hoosier Land and Investment Com-
pany, of Sikeston, Missouri, with a carriage
and two mules started out to show us the
- country and the lands they had for sale. We
drove out to Pharris Ridge, then south along
Ash slough ditch to a point about one and a
half miles south of Matthews, then we came up
out of the wilderness onto Couters Ridge, and
here he showed us the farm of 215 acres that
we afterwards contracted for. It was such-a
joy to come up out of the uncleared land to
this almost cleared farm, with a new 6-room
PAINTED house and a great deal of growing
corn that we sure thought we had found the
spot. and when we learned that we could buy
this with a payment of $2,000 down and ten
annual payments on the balance, and that if
we would purchase it before July 1Ist—this was
June 25th—that we would get this, year’s rent
(Mr. Cox said there was 200 acres of it in corn
and rented at $4 per acre), we were interested
at once and did not look any further. Mr. Cox
wanted to show us some lands in the EAST
swamp not so far out from Sikeston, but we
had heard that the east swamp overflowed
every time the Mississippi river came up and
we would not go and look at them; so we
drove back to Sikeston without looking any
further. To the hotel, and the next day Mrs.
Studabaker started back for Indiana to send
me the money to close the deal, and I went to
our friends, Mosers, and Sunday afternoon
Mr. Ben Moser and I drove over to the farm
and took another look at it. We found that at
least half of the farm was the much sought for
black land and the other was higher land with
some sand and between 10 and 20 acres of
white oak ridge clay. About 160 acres of it
was in corn; the rest was not put in, the rent-
ers said, because they just could not get to it
to do it. I took it that they meant they had

. went down to the farm,

too much work, but I afterwards learned that
it was on account of it being too wet. Well, I
still had the idea of buying the farm, for here
was a farm within a mile of an elevator—
adjoining the railroad right-of-way on the east
—half black land and half ridge—a new house—
rented, so I was informed, for $4 per acre cash
rent—could buy it on ten years’ time with
small payment of $2,000 down and, as the real
estate men held out, it was soon to go to $100
per acre—and who would want for anything
better. To Sikeston, June 28th, and on the
29th I received draft from home for $2,800, so
on June 380th, 1909, I signed up contract for the
200 acres land at $75 per acre—$2,000 down and
the balance in 10 annual payments at 6 per cent
interest, making an annual payment of about
$1,300 and interest. Looked like a person ought
to make it, but as we go along will show you
how far short I fell. Now to show you how
important it is to look after all the little things,
will right here make mention of the fact that
on or near the southeast corner of this land
there was a cemetery—I Say on or near at this
time, for land was to be surveyed and I was to
pay for just what it measured, and I made
mention to the land company that I~did not
want to pay for this cemetery if it fell within
the lands when surveyed. I did not have it

’ written in the contract and there was where I

fell down, as will be shown later on, although
I had it wunderstood—verabally—with them.
Now I had the land bought—an abstract was
to be given—the lands were rented and I bought
subject to the rental leases, none of which ex-
pired until the first of the following January,
1910, and it was up to me to get possession.

For the next several days I was busy writing
home folks and sending them circulars prepared
by the land men; also wrote the home papers.
Glad to say from reading these articles over
that I confined myself to things I had seen,
such as the raising of two crops and the long
time for planting corn. I learned more of the
country, as a farming country, from being here
and trying to make crops; also of the people
from dealing with them and seeing them deal
with other people. Down to the farm and saw
the renter and talked buying him out, so as to
get possession. In this country there seems to
be a rule if you want to get man off of a place
you must buy what junk, mules, etc., that he
has to get him to move, and sometimes it is
pretty expensive. Again on the &Sth of July I
saw the renter, Mr.
Dover, and wife; visited and talked buying
them out, but nothing doing this time; he
hadn’t found a place to go to yet and he wanted
to know where he was going before he would
talk sell.

On the 1ith of July Mr. Moser, some of his
folks and I went blackberrying, and here was
where I became acquainted with one of the
worst insect pests, as. far as humanity is con-
cerned, known to this or any other country,
and that is the chigre; most people call them ‘‘jig-
gers,’’ and they sure are. They are a little red
insect and they bury into the flesh and start
an irritation that is hard to stop. I sure caught
my Share of them that day, for I was most
laid up from the swollen and irritated condi-
tion of my limbs around my ankles. Should
you go to this country on a prospecting trip in
the spring, summer or fall of the year, you will
do well to be careful and take all precautions,
especially if you are easily poisoned.

July 12th, 1909, we measured the land—
215.04 acres—and it was HOT enough for me to
ever remember it, if for no other reason; but
there was one other, and this leads me up to
the snake question of this country—one not to
be laughed at, for you know swamps breed
snakes, and for a truth these swamps sure do
their share. I do not expect that I would have
paid so much attention to the reptile question,
for you know I was born and reared in Indiana,
said to be one of the greatest snake countries
other than India, had it not been for the sur-
veyors, but they being “Swamp-East Mis-
sourians’’—‘‘Wampus Cats’’—as all natives are
sometimes called, and side stepping the snake
homes like they did, rather bred a feeling, not

of contempt for the snakes, but of respect for
them. We were surveying along the north line
of the land, on one of the traveled ‘‘lanes’’—
roads in the North—when we came to a patch
of Jimson weeds, about waist high and cross-
ing the road either into this patch of weeds
or from it, was a snake track, which looked
like the maker of it might have been a snake
of goodly size, so as the Jine would have led
right through this weed patch, the surveyors
did not do a thing but measure over a couple
of rods, pass the obstruction and measure back
onto the line. Of course, I was interested in
the measurement of the land and I asked why
they did the side-stepping and then they told
me that they did not take any chances with
the snakes and advised me not to either. Well,
this was a new idea to me and with my pre-
vious ‘“‘jigger’’ experience, which at this time
was causing me a great deal of trouble in get-
ting around, I rather thought that probably I
had better be a little careful of Mr. Snake. I
inquired as to the kinds of snakes I was liable
to meet up with and was told of the Cotton
mouth, a very poisonous reptile, whose mouth
looks like a ball of cotton, from whence it de-

rived its name; the Water Moccasin,- also very
poisonous and an inhabitant of these or any
other swamps; the Spreading Adder, also poi-

sonous and lives mostly on uplands. We have
killed as high as six in one day in our wheat
fields; in fact, they were so thick in our up-
lands that we could not get our women folks
to cross the wheat fields until after the wheat
was cut. Then there are house snakes, chicken
snakes, garter snakes and many more too
numerous to mention. The boys and I became
so used to them that we killed and skinned
a great many and once when we had some
20 or 25 tacked up on one of the outbuildings,
Mrs. Studebaker and I were looking them over
and remarked how, had we known the place
was as thick with snakes as it was, we never
would have owned it, it would either yet be
Mr. C. D. Matthews’ or some other fellow’s.
Now while our experience with the snakes was
more amusing than serious, yet that was not
true in all cases, for I know of some cases
where children were bitten that came near
causing death.

I re-print herewith a couple of clippings from
newspapers of this community in regards to
some other people’s experiences with snakes. °
(From the Sikeston Standard of May 31st, 1912)

FARMER BITTEN IN HAND BY BIG SNAKE.
A. J. Davis Was Pulling Up Stump When Rep-
tile Jumped At Him and Held On.

A. J. Davis, who farms three miles below
Sikeston on the New Madrid road, was bitten
in the right hand by a monster black snake
last Wednesday and for several days was un-
able to go about his work with usual alacrity.
The reptile held on to his hand as if he were
going to get a week’s board at the time and
Davis had some difficulty in shaking him loose.
The snake was lodged under a stump. Davis
was out in the field plowing and when he came
to the stump, which was old and rotten, he
thought to rid the field of the obstruction to
straight plowing and laid a hand to the task.
When he pulled the stump up slightly, the
snake darted out and made one lunge, grabbing

Davis’s hand.

Knowing that a black snake is not seriously
poisonous, Davis treated his hand with perox-
ide of hydrogen. His hand and arm swelled
somewhat and some pain followed the next day.
For its pains the snake was killed.

A few days before Davis said he was driving
down the road with a team of mules when a
rattle snake over six feet long and as big around
as a fence post crawled across the road and
frightened his team until the mules ran away.
When he got them pulled down and hitched
and went back to lock for the snake, it had
disappeared in the rye field of A. A, Ebert.

Another little clipping from the Campbell
Citizen.

“Will Kendall is our authority for this snake
story, sworn to by. Bert Knotts and declared
true by several other witnesses. One morning

last week Bert stepped out into his back yard
and immediately was attacked by rattle snakes.

“He grabbed a hoe and chopped snakes for
nearly a half hour. When the battle was over
he counted 95 dead snakes.

“Mr. Knotts lives in Bray addition to Camp-
bell, but is trying to get moved right away.”

We finished the surveying and for the next
two weeks I was busy trying to buy out the
renter and get possession of the farm and
naturally while in Sikeston, and not very well
acquainted, I stayed around the Land Com-
pany’s office. On Wednesday, the 21st of July,
1909, Mr. Dover came in and we concluded a
deal for his corn and most of his farming im-
plements and stock and I was to have posses-
sion on the 15th of August. That evening Mr.
Johns, the stenographer for the Land Company,
and I drove out into the East Swamp, about
5 miles east of Sikeston to see the water from
the Mississippi River, rushing like a mill race
down one of the dredge ditches and the people,
not only of that locality but of Sikeston as
well, who owned lands bordering on this ditch,
or, in fact, in this swamp, piling sand bags
on the banks of the ditch and in the low

places trying to confine the water to the ditch |

and thereby save their growing corn. ‘This
was a case where the levee at Price’s Landing
gave way and it sure cost the farmers in the
low: lands a plenty in the loss of their crops.
At this time I was told the water also overflowed
the rock levee at Cape Girardeau and came down
through Little River in the west swamp and
did considerable damage along Little River.
Sandy land, or rather sand land, plenty of water
and a good HOT sun’is what it takes to grow
watermelons and as this country has all of
these requirements, there is lots of melons
shipped from this country. Not being able to
start my farm work for near a month, Mr. J.
F. Cox and I purchased a car of melons for
$110 and I started for Indiana to peddle them
out and try and make a little of my expenses
while waiting to get possession of the farm
bought and make Mr. Cox a little money for
his investment. Took them to Frankfort, Ko-
komo, and Marion and finally closed out at my
home town of Bluffton, but made no money
as Georgia melons were ahead and besides I
found out that Missouri melons had a bad rep-
utation for being pulled too green. Visited at
home and helped start the packing for the trip
to Missouri, till August 8th, 1909, then off for
Missouri, and landed in Sikeston, August 9th,
1909, and on the way from Bird’s Point, through
Charleston to Sikeston,-
to see the crops that were destroyed by the
recent overflow of the Mississippi River and
the scalded corn fieldS was sure a sorry sight.
Then the next day, August the 10th, 1909, Mr.
James Smith, Sr., of the Land Company, sug-
gested that we close up our real estate deal
and as I had paid down the required $2,000
when I signed the contract, I had no reason
to do otherwise, so in company with Mr. Smith,
We went to see Mr. C. D. Matthews, Sr., of
whom I purchased the land, and after intro-
ducing me to him, the land agents left me to
fight it out with the old gentleman alone as
to deal. Now here comes in the one point that
I made mention of in the first of my write-up
and that was the necessity of having every-
thing down in writing and no verbal under-
standings, as I had about my not taking the
cemetery in as a part of the land. I told Mr.
Matthews that I did not want to take in the
cemetery as a part of the farm, that I could
not farm that, and, furthermore, it was under-
stood with the Land Company that it was to
be measured out. He told me that it would
have to go in as lands here always did trade
that way and that would have to go in. Now
had I have had it in the contract—written in
—I could have recovered for the cemetery, but
as it was I could not and, furthermore, I could
not afford to throw up the deal for the sake
of a half acre of land as I had bought out the
renter and the folks were packing up prepar-
atory to moving down -and so I had to take
in the half acre of cemetery in the farm. Now
that cemetery was always there and afterwards

had a good opportunity ©

when trying to re-sell the farm, it always
showed up very prominently as it was in a
very prominent place and while I do not know
positively that it spoiled any deals, I know
how I felt about it when I had to take it as
a part of the farm and I judge that numbers
of the people that the land companies showed
this farm to looked at it in about the same
way. On the 15th of August I took possession
of the farm and as the corn would not do to
work in for two or three weeks and as it was
so fearfully HOT I had my folks wait until
the Ist of September before starting, so I spent
the time for the next two weeks ‘‘batching”’
it down on the farm and looking after the
stock. Done this so the folks would miss as
much of the HOT weather yet this fall as pos-
sible. On the 4th of September, 1909, though
they landed at Knoxall, our nearest station
stop, and the first thing they learned from a
family that they rode up the “lane’’ aways
with was about the awful number of snakes
there was in this country and when I arrived
at the home on the farm that evening they
were most scared to death over what they had
told them. Although the next day was Sun-
day, we unloaded enough of our goods to have
something to cook and eat on and a place to
sleep and the next day we finished the unload-
ing and it was well that we did for on Tues-
day the folks were initiated right to a Missouri
rain and it was lucky for us that we were
under cover for when it rains in Missouri, it
sure rains. Went to our farm work, as we
wanted to put out some wheat and began
plowing in a meadow and topping some corn
and on the 18th of September, 1909, went to
Sikeston to finish up the land deal and to see
Mr. C. D. Matthews, Sr., to sign up the notes.
Now, we had contracted for 215.04 acres of
land at $75 per acre, which amounted to $16,128,
on which we had paid $2,000, the rest to be
divided into ten equal, annual payments. Here
is where I first realized what an enormous
commission the land men were getting for
selling me this farm. The notes were made
out in eleven notes—one of $500, one of $912.80
and the other nine of $1,412.80 each. The one
of $500 going to the land men to complete their
commission of $1,075, the cash payment being
only for $2,000. Mr. Matthews would not allow
them to have all their commission in cash, so
you see I paid, or contracted to pay, and did
pay, along with a whole lot of interest, a
goodly sum to be allowed to buy a farm in
this ‘‘Harthquake Zone.’’ Now, as I had a
contract with Mr. Markley of the firm of Hale
& Markley, real estate agents of Bluffton, Ind.,
that I was to receive one-half of their com-
missions on all lands sold in this country, they
did pay to me, on my deal and the Archie
Cook deal, wherein he purchased 240 acres of
land $300. So this will give you some idea,
dear friend, what the real estate agent or
agents are to be paid for leading you down
here and locating you, if he does, of course.
There is many a slip in selling real estate and
us fellows that locate through these real estate
agencies pay many another man’s sight-seeing
expenses. Now this is one of the things that
I wish to impress upon you—how you can miss
this enormous commission and will take this
matter up at greater length when the home
man—down here—bought a farm and comes
into this write-up.

We worked on at our farm work, gathering
of the corn that I had purchased of the renter
to get possession of the land, plowed and
sowed wheat and as the fall days came, the
evening growing colder, it brought more
strongly to mind the necessity of laying in
winter supplies of vegetables, and as our fam-
ily is a potato eating family, naturally when
one of the men on the farm offered me 14 bush-
els of nice looking potatoes for 75 cents per
bushel, I bought them and stored them away
for the winter. I did not know potatoes raised
in this country would not keep, but I found it
out—paid for more experience. Well, sir, I
sorted those potatoes over several times and I
know that I threw away two-thirds of them.
I only tell you this that should you come down

here to locate that you need not make the
same mistake. Potatoes grow well in this coun-
try but they are not mealy like the potatoes
grown in the North. It seems there is too
much moisture in the ground and they are
more like what we called at home the ‘‘Muck’”’
potatoes, that was potatoes that were grown
in low, swampy places. People as a rule that
do raise a surplus of potatoes in this country
sell them at the stores just as soon as they
will do to dig and then when in need of pota-
toes buy shipped-in potatoes.

Kept on with our farm work, shucking corn
and planting wheat and finished the planting
of the wheat—65 acres—some time in Novem-
ber. Then on the 7th of December had a new
experience. Mr. C. DB. Matthews, Sr., the gen-
tleman of whom I bought this land, sent his
farm overseer or ‘rider’ as they are called
in this country, out to see me and made me
a proposition to sell real estate. It seemed,
so I was informed, that the land agencies of
Sikeston were not making what Mr. Matthews
thought the right effort to dispose of his lands.
You see, as I have shown you before, by the
commission they made off of the land that they
sold me these land agents were so to speak
“on the make,’ and as Mr. Matthews was a
large land holder and rich, he was in a posi-
tion to and did and does dictate the terms that
his lands MUST BE sold on and what the real
estate agent can have for his commission. Now
these land agents had lands that they could
sell and get more commission on—more than
the $5 per acre that they charged me and
they. did not show his $5 per acre commission
lands, so I was informed, except when they
could not sell something else, and so Mr. C.
D. Matthews, Sr., was looking for someone to
get buyers for his lands. Now, I had only been
in Missouri five months and that through the
harvest time of a fairly good crop year—had
not had time to experience the losses and dis-

‘couragements that come from the loss of some

of your mules—hogs all dying with cholera—
water flooding your lands and drowning out
your crops—dry weather stunting your corn—
smut in your wheat, etc. etc., and naturally
I was very optomistic of the outlook to sell
some lands and.thus make some ‘‘easy money,”’
and so I wrote numbers of my friends in the
North, inviting them down to see us and to
move and live down here and what I thought
they could do by buying some of this land.
I did get quite a number of people from our
country down, showed them the land told them
what it would be bought for and of the $5 per
acre commission that we were allowed for sell-
ing it to them, we would refund them $1 per
acre as they were buying it direct through us
and there would be no home land agent to pay
for getting them down here. Had quite a
number of home folks down but did not suc-
ceed in selling them a piece of ground and
now that I have lived the near four years here
and learned by experience how hard it is to
get loose from a piece of this land after you
are tied up in it, how little it advances in
price, even when you clear out the stumps and
build it up with peas, etc., as we did this farm.
We received $10 per acre more for our farm
than we paid for it. I am truly glad that I
was not instrumental in locating any one, for it
is bad enough to lose what we have to without
leading any one else into the same trap. Now
right here I am in a position to show you why
it is better to have lived here a while and then
buy, rather than to come down and purchase
direct through some of the land agencies. Mr.
Moser, a Wells County man, and who lives on
Pharris Ridge, near here, was interested with
me in trying to get buyers for lands here, and
he had a neighbor, Mr. Joseph Weedman, who
was talking of buying a farm and was over to
look at the farm north of mine. As we were
authorized to sell land by Mr. Matthews, and
as Mr. Moser and Mr. Weedman had often
talked the subject of buying a farm, Mr. Mo-
ser had no hesitancy in talking trade with
Mr. Weedman on the 207 acres adjoining me
at $75 per acre, and as it was not much -effort
to us and would have been a little “easy

money” ‘“‘picked up,’ Mr. Moser offered to re-
bate Mr. Weedman $250 of our commission if
he would let us sell him the farm. We did
not sell it to him, but he bought it through
another local firm of agents and we were in-
formed that he only paid a net price of $72
per acre for it, so you see he saved about $600
by being on the ground and acquainted and I
learned further that he only had to pay the
interest on deferred payments and taxes and
did not have to make a payment on the prin-
- cipal untii the payment due in 1913, which gave
him the use of the farm for two years by only
paying interest and taxes. Now to thoroughly
impress this upon you the advantage it would
be to live here a season before buying, if you
would only do as well as Mr. Weedman, I will
here set out what his farm cost him and what
mine cost me and you can figure it out for
yourself:

I bought 215.04 acres at $75 per acre, a total.

of $16,128.

He bought 207 acres at $72 per acre, a total
of $14,904,

He saved $3 per acre on 207 acres, a total
of $621 dollars, besides he did not have to meet
any payments on the principal for two years.
Then there is various other reasons why it is
better to have lived here for a season at least
before getting tied up—you can study the dif-
ferent locations and see for yourself where
people are raising enough to have a hope of
paying out some day—you can better select a
good neighborhood and that is easily worth $10
per acre on a piece of land as to who you are
located up against. In some localities people
take advantage of the stock law and let their
mules, hogs, cattle, farm implements, in fact,
everything run out on the road and down our
lane.’”’ If you wanted to drive after night it
was necessary for one to go ahead and carry
a lantern to keep from running over a piece
of farm machinery or a mule or a bunch of
eattle or hogs. Worse than just letting them
run out, some of them don’t feed their stock,
expecting them to get their living off the range,
which in settled communities like ours, means
the highways or ‘“‘lanes,’’ as they say. Now,
you know and so do I that when you do not
feed a hog or cow brute that it is not hard
work for them to become breechy and I expect
we would, most any of us, climb through the
fifth wire in a barb wire fence if we thought
we could get something to eat.on the other
side.

I hardly know how to make it strong enough
to thoroughly impress it upon you the AD-
VANTAGE to be gained, by you, in either
farming here a Season on a rental proposition
or of working for some one before investing
your money in land, but as we branched out
in the neighborhood and met other people and
listened to their experiences ‘“‘in these here
swamps,’ as they would say, it began to dawn
more and more on us that we were either up
against a hard proposition or else there was
some of the awfulest liars down here that ever
lived, and now looking back upon OUR expe-
rience of near four years, my sympathies are
entirely with those that are tied here and
can’t get away and it is for that reason I am
trying to make this statement to you so that
you will Stop, Look and Listen before it is
too late. On the evening of December 23d,
1909, Mrs. Studabaker went with me to a neigh-
bors—Mr. Dubois—to see about getting a corn
sheller, to shell our corn and only natural that
we would stop and visit awhile, and Mr. Du-
bois began to tell of how he had been farming
in this section of the country for- a number
of years and how Mr. C. D. Matthews had been
at him to buy the farm that we had bought
and how that he was afraid to do it because
crops were not sure in these swamps—might
look ever so nice today and within ten days
would be drowned out and then Mr. Matthews
would have your little roll, whatever you had
paid down and there you was. Told me of
how Mr, Dover, the renter that I had bought
out, had never made the rent off of any of the
black land that I had bought—had drowned out
every year. Well, my wife and I had plenty

10

»

of food for thought on our way home.
Dubois had told her of how when she came
down into these swamps she was a well woman
and had rosy cheeks just like our daughters,
but look at me now,
has about killed me,
looked the part.
a say down here,
all
to make it pay and trust to the real estate
men to get as big if not a bigger sucker than
we were—as to how well they succeeded, read
on,

But we were
“we'd done bought” and

AS you go into a new country or a location ~

where the customs are much different from
where you were living, they seem very odd to
you and what impressed us as one of the
strangest things was the shooting of fireworks
at Christimas time. The merchants lay in

their stock of fireworks for Christmas just as —

Mrs.

this malaria and chills |
and sure enough she
in. for. it, asice

we could do was to fix up the’ land, try —

our northern merchants would buy for the 4th

of July.

Taxes in this country, as I suppose it is all —

over Missouri, are paid but once a year and
any time up till the first of the new year, so
on the 31st of December, 1909, I went to New
Madrid to pay the taxes as it was agreed when
I bought the land as I received the rental for
the year I was to pay the 1909 taxes.. When I
asked the tax collector, Mr. Henry E. Brough-

ton, who is serving, as I am told, his twenty- — ~
what my taxes.

second year as tax collector, ‘
were, he told me $159. I was surprised at the
amount and asked
much as I was told that the ditch tax on my
land would only be 50 cents an acre and at
that amount it would be over 70 cents.
asked me who told me they would not be over

50 cents and when I told him the real estate’

agents through whom I had purchased the
land, he smiled and replied, ‘‘Oh, they are liable
to tell you anything.” Now taxes do not seem
to me to be distributed rightfully in this coun-
try. I will give you the idea I have gained of
them and it might help you to decide, should
you come to this country to make your home
or purchase a piece of property as an invest-
ment. Property on the Sikeston Ridge, as I
understand it, pays no ditch tax, but the water
that falls on this land either runs off direetly
into the swamp lands on either side of the
ridge, where the owners of these swamp lands
have to care for it, or it sinks down into the
earth and seeps out in these swamp lands
where the owners of the swamp lands must diteh
it off. With me at this time to pay taxes, De-
cember 31st, 1909, was a Mr. Tuxhorn, of near
Springfield, Ill., who owns something like 440
acres of Sikeston Ridge land lying in See. 29,
Twp. 25, R. 14, I believe, and he paid his taxes
at the same time I did mine and his entire
tax on something like 440 acres was about $72,

while my tax on 215 acres—less than half the

amount of his land—was $159, which as you
see was more than twice the amount of his
taxes, making my total taxes at the rate of
$4.as to his one. Now it is a fact that this
land in these swamps would not be worth any-

thing, you could not even try to farm it were

it not ditched. Notice I say try to farm it,
but where the man owning the low lands has
to care for all the water that falls on the just
or unjust, it does not seem right. I always
thought that the tax proposition was one rea-
son that the large land holders on the Sikeston
Ridge did not care to sell their farms.
Through the months of January and Febru-
ary of 1910, was busy with Mr. Moser, show-
ing lands in our immediate vicinity and made
some near deals, but did
although it hurt at that time, yet now I am
twice glad that none of our prospective cus-
tomers bought. One party, a Mr. Glenn Gourley,
would have purchased but he was told that you
could not raise potatoes in this country and
that if you did raise any you could not keep
them; so he backed out. Two young men,
Messrs. Roy Wilborn and William Crosbie, con-
tracted for 80 acres
they would have to give a TRUST deed to

secure the deferred payments they would not ~

take the land and here I wish to explain the

him what made them so

He

not sell any and

but when they learned ~

able,

Trust deed matter so that you may understand
it. I will start by copying the trust deed I
gave for the lands I bought, which is as follows,
to-wit:

REED TOR uRUSi.

This Deed made and entered into this 380th
day of June, Nineteen Hundred and Nine, by

and between Hugh D. Studabaker and Mary R..

Studabaker,
Madrid, State of

his wife, of the County of New
Missouri, parties of the
DeSta part. 90. (C--- Phillips. of. thes -Coun=
ty of New Madrid, State of Missouri, party
of the second part, and Charles D, Matthews
of the County of Scott, State of Missouri, party
of the third part:

Witnesseth that the said parties of the first

part, in consideration of the debt and trust
hereinafter mentioned and created, and the
sum of one dollar to them paid by the said

party of the second part, the receipt of which
is hereby acknowledged, do by these presents,
grant, bargain and sell, convey and confirm
unto the said party of the second part the fol-
lowing described real estate, situate, lying and
being in the County of New Madrid and State
of Missouri, to-wit:

“All of that part of section seven, township
twenty-four, range fourteen, as is lying west
of the right of way of-the St. Louis & San
Francisco Railroad, and containing two hun-
dred and fifteen and four-one hundredths acres
measured. This Deed of Trust given to secure
the balance of purchase money for lands here-
in described.”

To have and to hold the same, with the
appurtenances to the party of the second part
and to his successor or successors in this Trust,
and to him and his grantees and assigns for-
ever. IN TRUST, HOWEVER for the follow-
ing purposes:

Whereas, Hugh D. Studabaker and Mary Stu-
dabaker, the said parties of the first part, have
this day made, executed and delivered to the
said party of the third part, their eleven prom-
issory notes of even date herewith, by which
they promise to pay to the said Chas. D. Mat-
thews, or order, for value received, fourteen
thousand, one hundred twenty-eight dollars.
Agreeable to eleven notes, as follows: One note
for $500 due one year after date; one note for
$912.80 due one year after date; one note for
$1,412.80, due two years after date; one note for
$1,412.80, due three years after date; one note
for $1.412.80, due four years after date; one
note for $1,412.80, due five years after date;
one note for $1,412.80, due six years after date;

,one note for $1,412.80, due seven years after

date; one note for $1,412.80, due eight years
after date; one note for $1,412.80, due nine years
after date; one note for $1,412.80, due ten years
after date. All above notes bearing 6 per cent
interest per annum from date. All the interest
to be due and payable annually and if not so
paid to become as principal and bear same
rate of interest. Parties of first part reserve
the privilege of paying part or all of the notes,
not due, at any interest paying time, which
privilege is granted by third party.

Now, therefore, if the said parties of the first
part, or any one for them, shall well and truly
pay off and discharge the debt and interest
expressed in the said notes and every part
thereof when the same becomes due and pay-
according to the true tenor, date and
effect of said notes, THEN THIS DEED shall
be void, and the property hereinbefore conveyed
shall be released at the cost of the said parties
in the first part, but should the said first parties
fail or refuse to pay the said debt, or the said
interest, or any part thereof, when the same
or any part théreof shall become due and pay-
able, according to the true tenor, date and
effect of said notes, then the whole shall be-
come due and payable, and this DHED shall
remain in force, and the said party of the sec-
ond part, or in case of his absence, death, re-
fusal to act, or disability in any wise, the
(then) acting sheriff of New Madrid County,
Missouri, at the request of the legal holder of

said notes may proceed to sell the property -

hereinbefore described or any part thereof at

11

public vendue, to the highest bidder, at the
Court House door in the city of New Madrid,
New Madrid County, Missouri, for cash, first
giving 25 days’ publie notice of the time, terms
and place of sale, and the property to be sold,
by advertisement in some newspaper printed
and published in the county of New Madrid
and upon such sale shall execute -and deliver
a DEED in FEE SIMPLE of the property sold,
to the purchaser or purchasers thereof, and re-
ceive the proceeds of said sale; and any state-
ment of facts or recital by the said trustee in
relation to the non-payment of the money se-
cured to be paid, the advertisement, sale, re-
ceipt of the money, and the execution of the
deed to the purchaser, shall be received as
PRIMA FACIE evidence of such fact; and such
trustee shall out of the proceeds of said sale,
pay, first, the cost and expenses of executing
this trust, including legal compensation to the
trustee for his services; and next he shall ap-
ply the proceeds remaining over to the pay-
ment of said debt and interest, or so much
thereof as remains unpaid; and the remainder,
if any, shall be paid to the said parties of the
first part, or their legal representatives.

And the said party of the second part cove-
nant faithfully to perform and fulfill the trust
herein created, not being liable or responsible
for any mischance occasioned by others.

In witness whereof, the said parties here-
unto set their hands and seals the day and year
first above written. ‘

Hugh D. Studabaker.
Mary R. Studabaker.

State of Missouri, County of Scott: SS: On
this 18th day of September, 1909, before me
personally appeared Hugh D. Studabaker, Mary
R. Studabaker, his wife, to me known to be
the persons described in and who executed the
foregoing instrument, and acknowledged that
they executed the same as their free act and
deed,

IN TESTIMONY WHEREOF, I have hereunto
set my hand and affixed my official seal, at
my office in Sikeston, Mo., the day and year
first above written.

A. J. Moore, Notary Public.

State of Missouri, County of New Madrid:
SS: In the recorder’s office, I, ——————, re-
corder of said county, do hereby certify that
the within instrument of writing, was, on the
20th day of September, A. D. 1909, at 9 o’clock
and minute A. M. duly filed for record in
this office, and is recorded in the records of
this office in book 8 at page 542.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto
set my hand and affixed my Official seal this
day of ———, ——, J. W. Jackson, re-

eorder.

Now this is a very radical change from what
the rule is in securing deferred payments where
these young men and I came from in Indiana.
There you secure deferred payments by mort-
gage on the property sold and in the event of
a foreclosure, you have a year’s time in which
to redeem, in fact you have a little chance for
your life, so to speak, but under a trust deed,
as you will notice from careful reading—a few
notices—a sale and it is all over. I herewith
copy an advertisement for a sale under a trust
deed which will show at a glance what an in-
ability to meet an obligation brought to the
people giving it.

TRUSTEE’S SALE.

Whereas, — and —, his wife, by
their certain deed of trust dated on the
day of May, 1911, and duly acknowledged and
recorded in the recorder’s office in Scott Coun-
ty, Missouri, in book , page ——, the same
being one of the land records of said county,
conveyed to the undersigned trustee the follow-
ing described real estate, to-wit: (Here follows
a copy of the description of the real estate.)

When said conveyance was made to secure
the payment of ——— promissory notes spe-
cially described in said deed of trust and which
notes are past due and unpaid.

Now, therefore, at the request of the legal
holder of said notes and in conformity with the
provisions of said deed of trust, I, the under-

signed trustee, will on —— day of , be-
tween the hours of 9 o’clock in the forenoon
and 5 o’clock in the afternoon, of said day, at
the east door of the court house, in the town
of Benton, Scott County, Missouri, sell at pub-
lic auction to the highest bidder for cash, the
above described real estate to satisfy said debt
together with interest and cost of the execu-
tion of this trust. Dated this day of

—, trustee.

Inability to meet your payments under either
mortgage or trust deed are wholly bad, for the
minute you cannot come up with the cash you
are under obligations to the other fellow and
while my trust deed was never enforced against
me, yet I had to put up good, hard cash to
keep from it, or in other words, I had to put
up more interest than called for in said deed
of trust to keep it from being enforced against
me.

Now, Mr. Moser and I were attempting to
work directly with our home people in the
North and trying to get them located here as
cheaply as possible, and as I have said before,
instead of offering some agent back in their
home country a dollar an acre or more to get
them down here, we told them we would rebate
them that dollar an acre on any property we
might sell them and so Messrs. W. P. Chipman
& Son, who were wanting to buy a certain piece
of property on what was known as Big Ridge,
came to see us and wanted us to sell it to them
and in order to do so, I went to see the owner,
Mr. A. J. Matthews, at Sikeston, Missouri, but
he could not let me sell them this land as
another agent had the control of it and if I did
sell it I would have to make arrangements
through him, but he offered me the privilege
of showing them lands in the East Swamp.
Knowing that these lands were subject to over-
flow and also that I had refused to even con-
sider a farm in this locality when I came to
this country, I told Mr. Matthews that I would
not offer to sell a man a piece of land that I
would not live on myself. These lands I am
informed were all under water this last spring
—the spring of 1912—and some under as much
as eight feet of water.

On the 6th of March, 1910, Mr. Moser and I
decided to go to Steelville, Ill., and see the
Messrs, Stahlberg Bros., if they would put a
price on the some 830 acres of land they owned
about one mile west of my home, as there was
a party of several friends of Mr. Moser that
wanted to buy it if we could get it for them
cheap enough, so we went from Matthews to
Sikeston and while changing from one depot
to the other met up with Mr. J. F. Cox, now of
the Hoosier Land & Investment Company of
Sikeston, and as he had some clover seed for
sale and Mr. Moser and I both wished to sow
some that spring, we talked with him about
the purchase of it. Now, as I was short of
money and had purchased my land through
their real estate agency, I had no hesitancy of
asking him to sell me the seed on credit until
after wheat harvest and was very much set
back when he informed me that I would have
to secure him in some way. Of course, friend,
that was a safe way to do business and if
YOU come to this country and attempt to do
any business you will find that most of these
people have no fear of asking you for a chat-
tel mortgage for anything you: may wish to
buy of them, but it was quite a surprise to me
to meet up with it right at this time and from
this man, Mr. J. F. Cox, of whom I had pur-
chased the farm, putting their firm in a line
to get a commission of $1,075, less what they
paid their foreign agents to get me down here
and besides the other people that I might bring
and who did come from our community and
purchased land through their company. Now,
they were paid all of the above commission
on my land—$1,075—and the credit I asked for
was an amount less than $30. It is needless
to say that I never asked Mr. Cox for any fur-
ther credit.

On the 26th of March, 1910, we sowed some
oats to make early hay. It does not pay to
srow oats as a crop, that is to let them mature

and thresh them same as you would in the
North, because the HOT weather of the sum-
mer comes on before they are ripe and blasts
them. Of course, should you do as I suggest,
that is come down and farm a season before
investing in lands, you can find cut the truth
of this statement by trying a small acreage. }
Now farming down in these low lands where
they are partly cleared and a great many dead

trees yet standing, is called farming in the
‘sticks’ and it is something like that I am
sure. I mention this to show you that here is

quite an opportunity to lose some of your stock
for these ‘‘sticks’’ are usually in a clearing and
when fire is put out they catch and some of
them burn off, or burn off a limb, which in
falling are liable to and often do kill an animal.
On the 26th of March, 1910, we lost a fine
young Herford heifer in this way, and in a
financial sense I was glad it was not a mule.
This country has a very low altitude, Cairo
being 332 feet above sea level, and while the

country we came from, Bluffton, Ind., has an
elevation of only 775 feet. We blamed the low
altitude for Mrs. Studabaker’s severe head-

aches, yet we were to find out different and
that was she was just beginning to feel the
effects of the malarial climate..

As to giving you this next statement I have
debated it with myself a good deal, whether
to give it to you or not, but as I am trying to
help you in every way possible to avoid the
losses I met up with, will trouble you to read
it over and while it may appear to you that
it was mismanagement on-my part, yet you
will have the chance to avoid a like mistake.
We were needing more power on the farm to
care for the crop. We did not have an over-
abundance of money to procure animals with’
and seeing the advertisements in the St. Louis
papers of sales of horses very cheap, decided
to try and get a couple of teams of mares from
there, so with the assistance of my friend, Mr.
Moser, borrowed $300 of Mr. C. D. Matthews
and off to St. Louis to get them. Now, I was
told that horses would not live in this country,
that the summers were too hot for them, but
as this came from people who were directly
interested in selling mules, I did not believe
it, but I found out different. The summers
are too hot for horses and it cost me three of
the four that I bought the first summer. Still,
as I had only a comparatively small amount
invested in them, as I would had I bought four
mules, yet it was a loss to us, both in money
direct and loss of production. Don’t make the
same mistake; buy mules if you want work
animals, for horses cannot stand the heat.

Wells County, Indiana, people still kept com-
ing to see us and the country, and on the 28th
of April, 1910, Mr. Herman Wiecking of Bluff-
ton, Ind., dropped into Sikeston and the wide-
awake real estate agent scenting a _ possible
purchaser of lands, when he asked of them
a way to get out to Hugh Studabaker’s said
they would drive him out and incidentally took
him around past some new lands they had for
sale. It was a little muddy out in this country
at the time and it was amusing to hear Mr.
Wiecking tell of their getting stuck in the mud.
They were coming east on the Canalou-Mat-
thews road and just east of the third diteh the
mules pulled the tongue from the wagon and
left them there in the mud, but Mr. Lindley,
who was driving, just backed them up to the
wagon and wired the tongue in place and on
they went. I told Mr. Wiecking that that was
nothing and he said, ‘‘No, I guess not, for the
fellow just gathered up the wire out of the

wagon. Seemed like he went prepared for
trouble like that.’ I told Mr. Wiecking that
we all did.

A Mr. Rathert, who is farming with Dr. Dun-
away, a new member of the Hoosier Land &
Investment Company, had a more amusing ex-
perience with the mud than Mr. Wiecking. Mr.
Rathert had been located here a few weeks—
this was in 1912, however—and one Sunday he
determined to drive down in the “SWAMPS”
and see some of the country, so arrayed in his

-Sunday clothes and with the old gray mare

12

hitched to the light, single buggy, he started.

out and had just left the foot of the hill on
the road leading down into the swamps west
from Knoxall, when he drove into a mud hole
of large proportions and as his animal was
hitched to the vehicle with breast harness and
they were not stout enough for these Swamp-
east Missouri roads, the old gray mare just
went on and left Mr. Rathert sitting there 30
feet at least from either. solid or dry land—
_there he was, there was the old, gray mare,
he had on his best bib and tucker and there
was only one thing to do, off came the pants
and he waded around there in the mud on that
bright Sunday morning and coupled the power
to the vehicle and came out. The best way
to go sight-seeing in a muddy time down here
is astride a good mule.

I would not speak of giving chattel mort-
gages to secure accounts for supplies as.I don’t
think it more than right that a man protect
himself when he can, but as it figures out in
the general summary of my experience with
the people down here, I only think it right to
mention the fact here as I go along, that on
the 29th of April, 1910, I was called in by Mr.
Cc. D. Matthews to secure him for my grocery
account and did so by giving him a chattel
- mortgage on my wheat crop.

On the 24th of May, 1910, lost a mule, dropped
dead, but that is the way it goes; quite a loss
to us but we had to stand it. Now in digging
the grave to bury her learned something of
the nature of the black lands. After about
one spade down we ran into what seemed to
be a species of iron ore and it really is. It is
this material that gives the water of these low
lands such a sulphur taste, in fact, there is
a scum raises on most all the water of this
country if you let it stand for a little while,
se it looks to you as though you were drink-
ing oil. It is this scum on the water in the
ditches and sloughs that fools people into
thinking this an oil country and this some of
the oil that has seeped through and come to
the top. At least there has been no oil found
yet in the several attempts to locate it.

This sulphate of iron in the water might not
hurt you but it gets most of the. people and I
know of several cases where people that left
the country claimed that their worst objection
was their inability to drink the water.

I give you herewith a clipping from the Sikes-
ton Standard of December 12th, 1912, that bears
right on the above point.

KEWANEE FARMERS LEAVING, TAKING
WATER.

Take Precautions Against Fever to Get Back
to the Swamps.

Jim Followell and John Hale loaded their
household goods, live stock and chickens this
week and with their families move to Keys-
ville, Crawford County, where they will build
homes for themselves. They owned no land
here. They filled their water kegs with good
swamp water and placed them safely in the
car so as to have some of the life-giving H20
to take at times when they feel the ties that
bind to the swamps tightening upon them. It
is said that once a person drinks of this swamp
water and get their feet wet they are sure to
come back. So these fellows are taking pre-
cautions.

Now, friend, there are numerous cures of-
fered for home-sickness, but these fellows cer-
tainly took the remedy with them to kill all
of those kind of microbes that might awake
in their system.

To -come into this country from some distance
like we did naturally you are a stranger to
the people and the country, its ways and its
people’s ways, but if you will start in to farm-
ing and are trying to get along on small cap-
ital you will soon. meet up with a very dis-
gusting practice that seems to be capitalized
to the fullness of its possibilities and that is
—I have no better name to call it by—the spy
system. Everybody around you keeps tab on
you and if you meet up with some misfor-
tune, such as the loss of a horse or a pig, they
have business in town the next day, if not the

13

same, to inform any one and every one that
might have an interest in your success or fail-
ure of the fact. While to the west of us lived
tenants on W. A. White’s farm, who is now
president of the Hoosier Land & Investment
Company, to the north of us a Mr. Joe Weed-
mand, yet to the east of us lived Mr. Jimmy
Smith, a boyhood friend of Mr. C. D. Matthews,
and it was no unsual sight to see Mr. Smith
walking around and across our farm the day
before his town days and of course we felt that
Mr. Matthews would be informed as to how
we were progressing whether we went to town
or not. As to whether these people were paid
anything for this service or not I never learned,
but all the large landlords of this country have
regularly paid riders to keep a tab on the rent-
ers and their. progress either forward or back-
ward.

No
burrs;

doubt where you live there are cockle

I never heard of a country where they
did not grow, but down here I learned of a
new use for them. You know a cockle burr
when it sprouts carries the burr up with it and
thus tops out, so to speak, the little green plant,
stock coming along and especially little pigs,
gathering everything that is green, eat plant
and burr. The burr being too hard a fibre for
the little pig to digest and equipped with the
hard projections that they are, set up an irri-
tation that kills lots of pigs. We lost several
in the month of June and in trying to account
for it were informed by the natives of the
cause. Now when you come to this country to
farm and grow pigs, that is a good thing for
you to look out for.

In the North when a person stuck in the
mud they usually spoke of it as mireing down,
but here when you, your animal, wagon, corn
plow, binder or anything sinks down, they
speak of it as ‘“‘mireing up,’’ just why they
use the expression I never learned, but that
you do ‘‘mire up” there is no getting away
from the fact. On our farm we had all the
necessary kinds of-land or soil for all the dif-
ferent kinds of mireing up, such, as in the
sloughs, in the quicksand deposits, in the sand
blows, and sink holes. In the ‘sloughs’? you
could mire up most any time, in fact, it had
to be an awfully dry time when a team or
wagon could not find a place to sink down a
ways. On our farm there is about 15 or 20
acres of land that look like plate ‘“B,’’ page
81 of the New Madrid Earthquake Bulletin,
issued by the U. S. Geological Survey, little
basins that hold water with an impervious
soil between so that the water usually has to
evaporate to get away. Now, around some of
them there is an outcropping of the quicksand
and when it is the least bit wet in this field it
is no trouble at all to get a team ‘‘mired up,”
in fact, in plowing we would find patches of
one-eighth of an acre in extent that we could
neither get the. teams to plow through or would
we try after finding out they were too soft.
But mireing up cutting wheat was the hardest
thing for me to understand when people told
me they had seen Dover work for a half day
to get his binder going again after mireing up.
The only idea I had of mireing up was from
wet weather and like the Yankee I would not
show my ignorance by asking questions, but I
found out all right when we went to cutting
wheat. The sand blows, being composed of
almost pure sand, offers no foundation to pull
a machine on and run the machinery, and the
team simply drags the machine down into the
sand. You can throw it out of gear and yet
the weight of it will in some sand blows sink
it down until it is hard to get through one of
them of an acre in extent. Now right here I
want to call your attention to the fact that
this is one of the worst drawbacks to steam
plowing in this country and were you expect-
ing to bring a gang outfit: with you, as I have
heard some prospectors talk, it would be well
for you to farm here a season before investing
in either gang plow or land. Still I have seen
it wet enough in cutting wheat to ‘“‘mire up’’
not only in the ‘‘sand blows,’ but in the low
spots in- the wheat field. We had such an ex-
perience cutting wheat in 1912 and when we

were done cutting the dry and high spots out
of 100 acres we had to back over and cut out
better than 15 acres of low spots where we for
sure ‘mired up’ in the straight cutting.

To make a crop—‘‘crap they call it here—a
person will, if he has the least bit of energy
left, put forth all kinds of efforts and when
the ground is too wet to plow your corn, the
next best thing is the hoe and this is sure the
country of the hoe. ‘‘Chopping out” is usually
the way it is spoken of and is one of
dreaded jobs on the farm, for it cannot be done
with a team or a riding corn cultivator, but
must be done with the strong arm and down
in these bottom or ‘‘swamp’’ lands where the
cockleburrs grow apace, the sprouts do like-
wise and if you do not want to clear the land
next year, if you want to try and raise some
corn this year, you must chop it out. Then
it is a better way to get close to the stumps
and cut out the weeds, and with the thermome-
ter around the 100 mark it is for sure a HOT
- job. Try it a season before you get tied up so
that you have to stay with it until you are
able to sell out. ;

I mentioned about the ‘‘sticks’’ a few pages
back and there is one thing that these ‘‘sticks”
effectually do and that is to hide the view for
any distance and I was much amused at the
father-in-law of Mr. Arch Cooks, Mr. Charles
C. Sixbey. He had been down for a week vis-
iting the folks, hoed a few rows of corn and
sweat like all of the natives do and when he
started for home I was joking him about leay-
ing so soon. He said he was going where he
could see something more than the clouds go
by and when you are back in the “swamps”
that is really about all you do see.

I have called your attention to a number of
insects but I do not believe that I have out-
lined the pestiferous flea to you in all the glory
that they get out of their life and yours down
here. One thing that brings them to my mind
at this particular stage of ‘my history is that
I recorded in my daily record the loss of sleep
that we were experiencing from their following
their avocation so assiduously. They sure are
the busy insects—work in relays and never lose
a minute. The country of the fuli grown flea.
Here they grow large enough that you do not
have to take a microscope to see them. The
seasons of the year are long and so is the work-
ing period of the flea. Some people try shak-
ing insect powder in the beds to drive them
out. Few people keep anything on the floors
in which they can hide, but I think you will
agree with me, if you follow my instruction,
to try it a season down here before investing
in any property that the best way to get rid
of them is to move out of the country. See if
I’m not right. .

July 20th, 1910, one of my mares died; also
threshing wheat this day and when in town
the next day one of the Land Company people
asked me about the loss of the animal. Some-
body had reported it all right.

July 25th, 1910, we lost a fine sow from the
heat; a neighbor, Mr. James Midget, lost some-
thing like ten head. Pretty hot when hogs die
right out in the open. Thermometer registered
95 in the shade at noon and 103 in the sun.
These are the kind of days that ‘‘boil you out,”
so to speak, and when the following wintry
weather comes vou sure feel the cold.

Now, I was led to believe that flies were not
bothersome in this country, that they did not
trouble the stock like in the North and after I
had been down here a season, found out that
it was not the case. One of the reasons I
think that people do not consider the flies so
bad is that there is so many other pestiferous
insects that are worse that it rather detracts
from the glory of the fly. You come down here
and live a season and see for yourself if this
is not about the case. Locate along one of
these “lanes’’ that lead from the ‘‘swamps’’ up
on the higher ground, where the poor, dumb
brutes that have to hunt through the wild lands
for their food come to spend the nights away
from the “swamp” insects as far as they can
get and see from the myriads of flies that they

the |

leave at your homes as they pass
not true. I know it to be so and haye no
hesitancy in ‘putting you next,’’ so to speak,
and if you do not believe it. just come down
and see. Another thing right here as to the
insects in the swamps, especially the mosqui-
toes. You can go to these swamp lands and find
a tight barn and its use is to house the mules
in, in the summer time, to keep the mosquitoes
from eating them up at nights.

August 13th, 1910, helped my friend, Moser,
thresh his wheat and such a lot of smutty
wheat as there was in this country this season
and as smut, you know, injures the berry for
flour purposes, the milling companies were com-
pelled to and did cut the prices on this dam-
aged wheat from five to fifteen cents per
bushel. Then treating the seed wheat that fall”
for smut was tried by numerous farmers, which
was followed up by most everybody in the fall
of 1911 and as the wheat crop of 1912 was not
over a half crop, there was a great deal of
comment as to whether the treatment hurt or
did not.

Had five acres of watermelons out this year
and as we could not eat them all, tried selling
some of them.
tract with a Mr. Stubbs of the Sikeston Mer-
ecantile Company to load him a ear of Monte
Cristoes at Matthews, for which I was to re-
ceive $70. I had to load them four tiers deep
and I put 1,670 melons in the car. Notified
Mr. Stubbs that the car was loaded and in
about five days I received a remittance from
the Humphreys Produce Company of St. Louis
for $33.75 This is all I received off of my five
acres of melons, other than the few we had to
eat. Try it and see if you can figure any profit
out of it at those figures. I never saw and
talked to Mr. Stubbs about it as I supposed he
knew what he was doing and although I could
have used the difference between $70 and $33.75.
yet I did not think it would make Mr. Stubbs
rich. I never raised any more melons, and if
IT were you and went down into this country
to farm I would go easy on the melons.

August 18th, 1910, lost another one of my
mares. Them that has must lose you know.

August 20th, 1910. Along about this time
there was a dissolution in the Messrs. Smith
Bros. & Co. Land Company, the Messrs. Smith
Bros, continuing on by themselves and Messrs.
W. A. White, W. P. Lindley, J. EF. Cox and
E. J. Keith retiring and organizing a company
by themselves and under the name of the
Hoosier Land & Investment Company. I men-
tion this at this time, for up to this time I

was only tied up with one company and from

14

now on until I succeeded in getting out of
Missouri I was being looked after by two com-
panies and they sure did it.

Sickness, how next to death it is the great-
est source of anxiety and worry that comes to
the human family: So far our family, fresh
from the North had had not much cause to
even consider it in our daily life, though we
were ever mindful of our eating good food,
sanitary surroundings and everything that we
thought of to ward-against disease, but we were
not to escape. Though it is represented to
you or was to us that there is seldom if ever
a ease of typhoid fever in this country, vet
on the 24th of August, 1910, our daughter, Mil-
dred, began to have a fever and as it was yet
in a seeming mild stage, and wanting to know
what to do for her and save the expense of a
visit of a doctor from Sikeston—they charged
$12 a trip to our house—on the 25th of August,
Mrs. Studabaker took her to Sikeston and Dr.
Otis Miller pronounced it bordering on typhoid
fever. Gave her medicine and instructions how
to possibly evade it and for the next four days
we cared for her and gave her -the treatment
prescribed, but on the 29th of August we had
him call and so -we were in for a siege of it
and for the next month we were running a
miniature hospital with her mamma and I tak-
ing turns at nursing, and when they tell you
that typhoid fever seldom if ever occurs in this
country owing to the good water supply, that
is if they do tell you as they did us, just re--
member our case and the picture of clippings

if this is .

Hard to sell but at last did con- -

that I have cut from the home papers here fields, rotted the down corn in the fields and

ana had this plate made from. in many ways added to the farmer’s loss ac-

I am more than pleased to record here that count. The corn in our low land fields was in
the daughter: was allowed to get well, but be- water up to the ears and that we did not lose
fore she was able to be up we were destined more than we did was a wonder. This sure

to meet up with a loss by death that had more gave numbers of the newcomers the blues and
to do with our financial outcome in Missouri a Mr. Waite who had been holding out for $88

than at first glance it would seem possible for per acre for his land, dropped to $80 very
it to. That was on the 21st of September, 1910, quickly.

a.telegram was received telling of the death of Had to record the loss of another of my
Mr. H. D. Cook in the interurban wreck at horses this day.

Kingsland, Ind., where scme other forty persons October 5th, 1910. To the southwest cf our

Mr. and Mrs. Marcus Sutton of Miner’ i i i et :
, . sSu Mine Jim Lee who was threatened with ty-|f§( 2. A. Feetinburgher {s sick this
Spltch have a little girl five years old of! hoid fever has recovered and is again| @WC°k with typhoid fever. se
1/ who is seriously ill with noma of the! fF this lege at his restaurant. ‘

mouth while convalescing from typhoid. |

; F J. W. Snively, who farmed fi i
Willian Kindied. a fa.nier living 1 south of Sikeston, died of typhoid taver

Sikeston, has been iil for sometime f Re + Tuesda ahi ;
2 “phoi ver, is if d fi pues y an 1s remains were sent t
gear el! Ave eee ay in| IVA KELLER, 12, DIED Paes an ior Hal Wednesday.
bed che lust few weeks, one of the Hadbeenl ners ee and two children.
chldren haying typhoid also. Two OF TYPHOID }) : our years and wasaes-:
deos diited the duty of attending TUES AY : poe gentleman He was 37° years |
the several patients. Ty oaee 3

3 Remains Taken To Washington,

Protect yourself from typhoid Ind., Por Burial--Short Illness. _ Miss Ida Holley who has been yery
by drinking Limeade at THE : = : ill with typhoid fever for the last
BLIOU 0. Greta ~ G-2~ "12. Iva Keller, the twelve-year-old daugh-,ijmg two weeks is much better at this ee

K a de ter of J. M. Keller, the well known ing.

farmer living west of Sikeston four

Seer weddle, who 1s now recovering miles,-died ‘Tuesday night at 10 o’clock. : . 3
from a seige of typl.oid fever, will re- Typhoid fever was the cause of death. cation 4 ty
sume his work with Chesley Cement She had been ill only a few days when :

9 5 4 Mrs. F. M. T: aby w ser-
Construction company. This company the end came to the great sorrow of S rent and baby were se1
{

\ Ret uarentlmaiia L iously ill last week with typhoid feyer
is building up the burn out whie Baca the little e vee ge ende te ybut are improving at this writing.
Bloomfield suffered a year ago. pices 3 a
comfield s Ae Keller and his family moved to :
this country some few years ago from
? Mrs. Oella Caudry of Gillispie, 1II | . Indiana and have establi ivi
fl ie, ‘4 ished them- Mrs Leo Dumey, livin
Easved home last week to visit her | Sedtiselves as among .the most reliable and miles west of aa d = sae ea
ister, Miss Maud Wilson, who is re- . _ , fonscientious farmers who have come A a nee pi Catenion
cuperating f A for Jrom the older states to make the new are in critical condition from a serious
; soil of this country produce its bounte- attack of typhoid fever. There issome
: : wa crops. Mr. Kéller is most favorably ‘i |doubt of their complete recovery at
The daughter of Mr. and Mrs. James Pacer ee ek Me ue ret Cian:
‘ ts . et ie
Cutrell. who live south of Sikeston, is his family is suffered by many others
reenvering from a five weeks’ seige of than his immediate family. ; : Several Are Ill. ;

typhoid. +

Miss Pauline Dumey, who has been

Miss Maud Wilson ds again experi- waiting on the sick at her brother Leo’s,
encing fever, after having all but re- : apie : all ™ ever since the death of his wife, is now
covered from her siege of typhoid. + : tohis bed the lust week with typhoid gf in bed at hor mother’s, Mrs. Magda-
fever. lena Dumey, here in town, with a
: severe attack of typhoid fever.

Ps : SES
George Greathouse has been confined |

q
ank Lemley, 15, died Sunday noon
Sephaid fyeenna was buried Monday.1|

fF} The 18-months old boy of Mr. and
(Mrs. John Crosno died Wednesday } Elza Bi
Jesse Greer who has been scriously €’and will be buried today ‘Typhoid, Me b
ill of typhoid fever is still confined to AN) fever was the cause of death. s
his bed. ’ x- | =
M. Buhne a » Miss Madge Davis was able to start
‘4 facreS CaN aged Ries has ASN. to school this week after a six weeks’
+ The little sonof H. G. Kaiser whofe ered from a siege of typhoid feve ilIness of typhoi
has typhoid is getting along very nicel and will attend school next week. + ‘ =
ely, P . - 3
ate — : : t at Pipi ies recovered from
_ : Re Pore D g typhoia far enough to permit of his
Joe Twiddle of Bebe, Ark., who was | Jim‘Lee, proprietor of the Southside | returning to Bloomfield the latter par
taken down with typhoid fever suet Cafe, is ill at home threatened with of this wel.
visiting te far, i improving now 204\ MMM yphoid fever 2 |
at Mrs. Scott’s, % < --%%-// /% we

Some Typhoid Fever Clippings.

lost their lives, and, as he was the brother of home there was a cypress slough and the big
Mrs. Studabaker, she left at once to attend the rain sure filled it to overflowing and awakened
funeral. As I mentioned in the beginning of all the frog population. Hearing such a noise
this Se ee that Mr. Fi. D. Cook had made it on the morning of this date in that direction
eee okay, Sit ee ae paaiineters 4 we could not make out what it was and I went
being necessary for us to close up our venture, to investigate, with the results that 1 found it
as it was, virtually, a partnership affair. How was made by the thousands of frogs in the

we succeeded and the help we had will appear slough.

as we go along. A gentleman who was working for us in the
October 3d, 1910, we had one of those rains fall of 1912 and who had been at work on one

that the old timers like to remember and talk of the dredge boats, Mr. J. T. Scott, tells a

about and real estate agents and land men like frog story that has a good deal of bearing on

to forget. Records from Cape Girardeau give this country. We were speaking of the malaria
it as nine inches—local people gave it as Six and chill conditions living on one of these
and eight inches. Anyhow, it was lots of water dredge boats and naturally being in the swamps
and it put most everything afloat. It sure all the time and he said, ‘‘Yes,; there was lots

spoiled all the pea hay that was curing in-the of malaria and chills down-there, for three frogs

=
on

could not live a year there, unless two of them
were doctors.”

On the 27th of October, 1910, the Smith Bros.
Land Company of Sikeston had a prospective
buyer here for the farm and they asked him
3110 per acre for it. (Note the price asked.)

On the 30th of October, 1910, the Smith Bros.
Land Company had a prospective buyer here in
the person of a Mr. Emerick of Casey, Ill., and
Mr. Emerick stopped at Matthews and besides
looking over the lands in this community, he
worked on several of the farms around in this
neighborhood, learned what they were making
in the way of crops, what the owners were to
get for their lands and what the real estate
agents were to get for them. To the best of
my knowledge, Mr. Emerick, or his father, who
visited the country some time in the following
year, never bought any southeast Missouri
lands. Don’t forget what I have been telling
you all along, before you buy in this country
either farm a year on a rental proposition or
work for someone a season.

December 4th, 1910, Mr. W, A. White of the
Hoosier Land & Improvement Company brought
a Mr. Bond, said to be from near Memphis, to
see the farm and Mr. White was afraid before
they started out to look at it that Mr. Bond
would not buy as there was so much SAND
on the farm and Mr. Bond was afraid of sand
land. Mr. Bond did not buy.

December 20th, 1910, sold corn for 40 cents
per bushel and not very much of a crop at
that. Will give complete gross receipts in gen-
eral summary at end of booklet.

December 31st, 1910. Boy home from helping
a neighbor haul off corn laid up with boils,
“risings” they call them in this country, and
I guess the name fits all right. While I have
not had the chills myself in this country, I
have shed enough poison by the “rising’’ way
to suit most anybody. You see you cannot help
breathing this malarial poison in the air and
drinking it in the water and you must get it
out of your system some way, if not by taking
its antidotes such as quinine, strychnine and
arsenie or their combinations as put up in the
many different brands of chill tonics that are
sold in this country you get rid of it by boils
or as they say “risings’ and many do the
people have. One Indiana person, Ben Prouty,
told me in the fall of 1912 he had had 56.

January 7th, 1911. A wet time. Our boys
with the Narx boys, who were working for us,
went to town and laid in a supply of gum
boots. Twenty-three dollars’ worth.

January 12th, 1911. Smallpox in the com-
munity. Our nearest neighbors, Samuel Green-
lee and family, had the smallpox and such a
thing as health officer, quarantine, ete., is not
known down here in the country districts. We
quarantined ourselves and glad to say we
passed through the epidemic and have no marks
to show for it.

Now, a railroad stock that does not pay a
dividend, a business that cannot meet its run-
ning expenses and show a little interest on the
investment and a farm that will not pay its
taxes, the living of the man that works it and
at least a fair portion of the interest on the
mortgage, or I should say in this country, the
trust deed that is held against it, is a bad thing
to be tied up to, well, we were tied up to the
latter and trying to get loose, but while trying
to get loose the above enumerated expenses
had to be met and right along about now,
February, 1911, the man that held the TRUST
deed, Mr. C. D. Matthews, was getting rather
insistent about that interest. He knew that
our backer, Mr. H. D. Cook, had been taken
away by that Kingsland Interurban horror,
that we were working overtime with the real

estate agents to try and dispose of the property

for us and let us out with a little something,
but get the interest and finally we did suc-
ceed in getting the folks back home to put
up $550 more for us and so we were given a
little longer lease of life, and with the $111.42
that I had left from the proceeds of the farm
from the crop year of 1910, after paying the
taxes and running expenses, making a_ total
payment at this time, February 7th, 1911, on

interest of $661.42. I will give a summary by
years in the back of the booklet of the gross
receipts, taxes, running expenses, etc.

Now, don’t forget as you read along that if
you follow my suggestion you will either rent
for a season down here or work for somebody
before you invest your ‘‘little roll” or big one,
for that matter. Should you fall in love with
the country, there will be yet time to pick one
of the many bargains in land and should your
experience be somtewhat like mine, you will be
yet untied and ready to travel.

On the 5th of March, Messrs. Smith Bros.
had a party of land men to see the farm and
they talked and acted as though they were well
pleased with the land and might buy. So, when
Messrs. Smith Bros. sent out for Mrs. Studa-
baker and I to come in the following evening
and sign up a contract, to say that we were
happy hardly expresses it. We went in with
one of their firm ready to sign the contract but
we found it was an option that they wanted
signed. They just wanted us to put them ina
position so that they could close up the deal
in case these parties did buy. I will here in-_

corporate the contract and you can read it
as well as I,
“Sikeston, Missouri, March ‘6th, 1911. This

is to certify that we the undersigned, Hugh D.
Studabaker and Mary R. Studabaker, his wife,
of their own free will and accord do this day
option to C, M. Smith Bros. & Co., of Sikeston,
Scott County, Missouri, all of our following de-
scribed real estate lying, being and situated in
New Madrid County, Missouri, upon the follow-
ing conditions, to-wit: That said C. M. Smith
Bros. & Co. push the sale of our land so as
to net us Highty-five ($85) Dollars per acre,
and it is further agreed that said C. M. Smith
Bros. & Co. pay all their own expenses while
pushing the sale of our lands, free of charge
to us. We also further agree and do hereby
bind ourselves to make warranty deed and fur-
nish perfect abstracts for whatever amount the
said C. M. Smith Bros. & Co. sells our lands for
over the Highty-five ($85) Dollars per acre net
to us. We also agree to accept one-half (%)
cash, balance on terms to suit the purchaser
with six per cent interest from date of the
deferred payments as set out in the deed of
trust. Said land is described as follows: All
that part of the south half of Section 7, Town-
ship 24, Range 14, as is lying west of the right”
of way of the St. Louis & San Francisco Rail-
road, and containing Two Hundred and Fifteen
and Four One-Hundredths measured acres.
And it is further agreed that C. M. Smith Bros.
& Co. have-their purchasers to pay all taxes,
ditch taxes and special assessments falling due
against all of the above described land for the
year of 1911 and thereafter. And it is further
agreed and understood that we the undersigned,
Hugh D. Studabaker and Mary R. Studabaker,
his wife, are to pay Six ($6) Dollars per acre
cash rental for the year of 1911 on the entire
above tract of 215.04 acres for the use and rent
of same for year of 1911. Should C. M. Smith
Bros. & Co, sell this land during the life of
this contract, which is ninety (90) days from
this date, or until June 6th, 1911, at 7:30 p. m.
of that day said $1,290.24 cash rental is to be
discounted. at six per cent interest for the un-
earned rent to January ist, 1912, and is to be
deducted from the above $1,290.24 and the bal-
ance applied on the purchase price of said land
herein described.

We also agree to pay all ditch taxes and all
special assessments against all of the above
land for the year 1910 and all prior years there-
to. We also agree to give C. M. Smith Bros. &
Co. ALL over the Highty-five ($85) Dollars per
acre net to us which they sell our land for.
Witness our hands:

Hugh D. Studabaker.
Mary R. Studabaker,
Cc. M. Smith Bros. & Co.

By J. E. Smith, Sr. Manager.
Now, you have no doubt read the contract
and you will wonder why we would offer to
take $85 per acre and then be dissatisfied with
our deal. To fully appreciate our position, of
course, you would have to have experienced it.

We did not want to take less than $90 net to
us when called upon to sign the above option
but it was held out to us by this land company
that they could not get more for us, but if
they had it at that price without a doubt they
could close at once with their customer that
they had just had out there and WE wanted
to close up the matter and get out and so we
signed at the $85, and as to what good it done
us signing up will develop as we go along.

On the 8th of March I received a letter from
the Farmers’ Supply Company to come in and
secure them for my store account, and on the
next day I went in; you see, Mr. C. D.
Matthews takes no chances on a loss, for, as
he says, -‘‘You might die, you know,’’ and if
he has your realty safely tied up with a TRUST
deed and a CHATTEL MORTGAGE on ALL
your personal property there is not much chance
that should you die that your family will get
away with anything. Well, as I said, I went in,
and about the first question asked was, ‘‘How’s
your wheat?’’ and then, as I had no objections
to protecting him fully—not meaning to TRY
to beat anyone—I gave him chattel mortgage
on wheat crop, what mules that were not al-
ready under mortgage and the corn crop that
we hoped to grow this season, and all to pro-
tect his store for what supplies I might need.

Now in this country there is a fashion to
have the private offices of the bank out in the
front lobby, and as Mr. Matthews is rather
hard of hearing it is necessary to talk rather
loud to him in making a deal, and everyone
that comes in HAS to hear your business,
whether you want them to or not, and it is
rich food for the curious ones; and I remember
that on this particular occasion I was very

‘“‘Mired Up.’’

much put out that I had to talk my affairs
before some very curious people that were not
slow in talking it over the country. I was
not ashamed that I had to borrow money, but
you know that as a rule you do not care to put
your financial affairs in the daily papers.

As I have shown you, I purchased this farm
of Mr. C. D. Matthews, Sr., and I bought my
supplies at the Farmers’ Supply Company,
which was his store. I sold my grain to the
Scott County Milling Company, in which I was
informed he owned the controlling interest, and
as he said to me at one time we were in part-
nership on that deal down there—meaning the
farm—and now as I needed: some more mules
on the farm he handed me over to his nephew,
Mr. A. J. Matthews, to supply that need, as
Mr. A. J. Matthews was a mule dealer. Then
on the 1st of April, 1911; I purchased of Mr.

17

A. J, Matthews a team of mules for $450, giving
as surety them and another team worth as
much. From all this you will see that in a
business sense I was in with the Matthews.

When you first come into this country from
a northern country it is usually a season before
the malaria begins to affect you, and when it
does begin on you it is usually with a dull head-
ache, which was particularly true in Mrs.
Studabaker’s ease, and from a headache once
in a while they soon multiplied until if she es-
caped a week without a severe headache she
thought she was fortunate.

April 15, 1911.—Along about this time the
roads were particularlv bad, and while the
picture of our being ‘‘mired up” on the 18th of
July with a small load of groceries explains in
a way the BAD condition of the roads, yet
there are other things t.at concern the roads
that I mention here. The roads or “lanes’’ of
this country are what you might call a kind of
“catchall.’’” Uusally if there are any stumps in
the field that you don’t have the time to make
into a heap and burn, or if you are not dis-
posed to burn them, haul them to the fence and
throw them over into the road. If there is
a wet spot in the field and it is at all possi-
ble to drain it into the road, do it.

Should the waters in the road show a tend-
ency to run into your field, levee them out.
Turn your stock into the roads—leave your
farm implements set out in the road, but in no
way ever improve them. The last year I was
in this country—1912—I took it upon myself
to look into the road improvement work of the
country. There were some very bad mud-
holes in our vicinity and my boys and I re-
paired them, did what would have cost about
$17.00 to fill them up, and, not wanting to look

small, I did not at once file any bill for the
work until I was informed that I would be
taxed for road improvement, so when I paid

my land tax I asked the Tax Collector if I
was assessed a road tax, and he informed me
that I had to pay about $15.50 road tax. I paid
it and then filed my bill with the Road District
Commissioners for my labor, but as yet have
not received it. There is a wonderful oppor-
tunity for road improvement in this country,
and if you go down there either for a season
or to locate permanently you can be of a great
service to the whole people by repairing and
building and draining roads.

No better practical illustration of the fact

that ‘‘The People Pay the Freight’ could be
set before you than this showing and selling
of real estate as carried out in this ‘“‘New

Madrid Earthquake Zone of 1811-’12.’’ Drop
off in any of these towns down here—drop a
word about buying land, and you are whirled
out to see several pieces of it.

Some of these parties are sincere—some of
them are out for a rest at other people’s ex-
pense, and some of them, so it appeared to
us, were out on their honeymoon trip. Of
course they would be brought to the home on
the land that was being shown you and you
would be allowed—or rather expected—to tell
your little story of the country and how well
you liked it, etc., but—(then why you wanted
to sell). Now if you go to this country and
take a part in this sightseeing and buy through
any of these agencies, you can rest assured
that you are not only paying for your ride, but
your proportionate share of all the other fel-
lows, and if you take my advice and either rent
in this country for a season or work for some
one before dealing for land you will have the
opportunity of seeing that what I outline to
you is true.

The upkeep of automobiles is immense, and
in this country, owing to road conditions, both
kinds of conveyances have to be kept, which
practically doubles the expense, and—‘‘The Peo-
ple Pay It.” Try and dodge it.

May 14, 1911.—Along about this
financial condition was seemingly the talk of
the country. We wanted to sell out and save
our little ‘‘roll,’”’ if possible. The real estate
agencies wanted to sell it and make their $10
to $20 per acre commission; they were showing
up the farm quite often. This naturally had

time OUR

the subject in our immediate neighborhood at
fever heat, and as Mr. White, President of the
Hoosier Land and Investment Company of
Sikeston, controlled the farm to the west of us,
when he called to sée about the progress of the
work here he talked our conditions over with
his tenants there, and they had the nerve to
take exceptions to our ways of doing, even to
telling us why we did not succeed, as Mr. White

said ‘“‘We would never be able to pay out on
the farm if we had to dig it all out of the
land; that the way they met their payments,

they sold lands and made it out of their com-
missions.”

Now if you are figuring on locating in this
country to make money on either a limited
eapital or a large capital, it might be well
for you to make a careful investigation before
so doing. Take this little work as a guide; if
you find it true, then I have done you some
good; if you find it otherwise, I trust you will
feel that I only delayed you a little. ’

May 28, 1911.—Thermometer showed at noon
100 degrees in the shade, at 1 p. m. 103 in the
shade and 113 in the sun, and in this low alti-
tude, 332 feet above sea level and such a
humid atmosphere, it was almost unbearable.
Then we had these HOT spells numerous times
throughout the season, for on the 4th of June
it was 100 degrees in the shade, on July 2d it
was 101 degrees, July 3d 101, and July 4th
104; on Aug. 8th it was 100 in the shade and,
while the temperatures did not run this high
in the meantime, yet it was awfully hot and
dry weather. I note on the 17th of June we
had the first real rain for 48 days, so when
anyone tells you that the heat is never ex-
cessive, that there are always rains when need-
ed, just remember this part of my record, for
I Kept it day by day for my own satisfaction,
and now I am giving it to you without any

great cost to you, trusting you will profit
thereby.
June 2, 1911.—Now I know that hogs die

with hog cholera wherever hogs are raised, but
what makes the disease more easily communi-
cated in this country is the fact that, owing to
the stock laws permitting all stock to run at
large, the sick hogs wander up and down your
‘Jane’ and, while you may be ever so careful
to keep your stock up and feed it, yet the
danger exists from the animals in the lanes,
and on this date I first heard of the disease
being in the neighborhood. And on the 23d of
June I lost my first hog out of a bunch of 45
and until the 15th of September buried 36,
leaving, me 9 hogs. It was general over the
community. You might wonder why there were
not some of us advanced enough to try vaccina-
tion, but to get the serum was the question.

It is the pride of most every farmer in
“Swamp-east,’’ or was, that he is never both-
ered with clods, but this conceit, if that is
the right name for it, was all taken out in
this corn season—that is, the corn.season of
1911—when clods was the prevailing condition
of the land.

June 6th, 1911, rolled around, but we were
still the possessors, or in charge of the farm.
The Smith Land Co.’s contract expired this
day, and, while they had led us to believe that
we would be sold out sure by this time, yet
such was not the case, and we had many anx-
ious moments before we were.

June 8, 1911.—To Sikeston and made settle-
ments. Sure, there was a lot covered by that
short, terse statement. To make settlements,
as a rule, you must have some money, and to
get that money to make settlements we had to

and did make some real sacrifices. Before
coming to Missouri we had invested a sum
in a hotel property in a northern Indiana

city and it gave promise of large returns, but
we had to and did sell it to get money to pro-
tect our Missouri investment, and, while it did
give us a longer lease of life on our invest-
ment down there, yet it cut us off from par-
ticipating in the “cutting of the watermelon,”’
se to speak, in connection with the other in-
vestment. Now, what were these accounts in
Sikeston that were so troublesome? Well, one
was brought about in this way: I bought a

“ce

18

team of mules—old ones—of Mr, E. J. Keith of
the Hoosier Land and Investment Company;
one of them died and I sold the other one
back to Mr. Keith, leaving me owing him about
$45, for which I gave him my note and a chat-
tel mortgage on a cow. The note was due.
Mr. Keith, needing his money for house fur-
nishings, had traded the note to the Way Fur-
niture Company, and Mr. Way was going to
collect it, and I was mighty glad to be able to
get the money to pay it without further costs.

Another pressing claim was my grocery ac-
count—now, mind you, I was doing my dealing
ALL with the Farmers’ Supply Co., and they
held a mortgage against all my crops, and I
was fully tied. Now, you cannot run a farm
without supplies. I was paying my help in
groceries and we needed a few for ourselves
also, and this was an ideal time to try a fel-
low out to see if he could raise any funds, and
I was mighty glad I could raise them, even if
I did have to sacrifice to do it, and by paying
a part of my grocery account and leaving the
chattel mortgage stand against all I hoped to
raise this season, I was able to continue to get
supplies. Now, read this over again, friend,
and when you go to ‘‘Swamp-east” Missouri to
farm on limited capital remember what I have
here told you and be careful how you tie your-
self up, for your best friends and business part-
ners (Mr. Matthews had called it a partner-
ship between us) sometimes will try to settle
with you when you are close up.

July 25, 1911.—Right on threshing day our
eldest boy took sick with malarial fever and,
besides his suffering and care to nurse him, was
deprived of his help at this, the busiest time of
the season’s work. Called doctor from Sikeston,
and they sure know how to charge $12 a visit.

In going into a new country, did you give
yourself a chance to observe their ways and
customs, hear their conversations among them-
selves, you will learn more than it would be
possible for anyone to tell you, no matter how
hard you were trying to find out everything
to your advantage. ;

I have in mind a conversation that took place
between a couple of tenants’ families one morn-
ing and will give it here, just as I heard it,
other than different personal names.

At this time of year—August 1lst—just when
malaria, chills and fever are getting a real good
hold for the season, as a rule, then such con-
versations as this are quite common, and they
do not confine themselves just to the tenants
on the farms, either.

“Hello, Mame, how’s th’ old man?”

“Oh, he’s all right.’’

“How’s the rest of th’ folks?”

“Oh, they’re all right. How’re yure folks?”

nine they’re all kicking, but Mam’s got th’ir
chills.”’

“That's tew bad; is she doing enything fur
7em?”’

“Yep, she’s gittin’ better naow, since she’s
take’n Thedford’s Black Draught for the Liver.’’

Malaria, chills and ague, as we all know, are
products of swamps, stagnant water and poor
or insufficient drainage, and I fear will be a
prime asset of this country for years to come.

Until a way is found to keep the old Missis-
sippi from covering this country, in part, at
least, once or twice each year with back water
and the sloughs and other low places drained
other than by evaporation, a person or family to
stand this climate needs either to be immune
to the malarial, ague or chill germ, or able to
withstand the effect on their constitutions of
the many antidotes for those poisons, such as
arsenic, strychnine, quinine or their many com-
binations.

Aug. 7, 1911.—Just to show you the wide
range of prices that a farm can be bought at
in this country, Mr. Matthews informed me that |
he had tried to sell my farm to a gentleman—
Wade Sitz—for $80 per acre. Now, we had cut
our expectations down to $85 per acre net to us,
so that the land companies might be able ta
find a buyer for the property, and they were
wanting and asking all the way up to $105
per acre for it, and here was Mr. Matthews
himself offering the farm to a prospective buyer

v

for $80, which price, had he taken it, would
have allowed us $5 per acre for all the work
we had put on the land.

Aug. 31, 1911.—The poisons taken into the
system in this malarious country manifest
themselves in very different ways. Some peo-

ple shed this poison by the real malarial fever
and some lose it by ‘‘risings”’
“chills and fever,’ and that is the way our
youngest boy decided to pass his off, and on
this day he shook and shook like a miniature
earthquake, and no amount of covers seemed
to check the ‘“‘shakes.’’ His antidote for the
poison was quinine and calomel, and by ‘‘a
round of medicine’ he succeeded. in getting
over the chills for a time.

~ Sept. 2, 1911.—As I have spoken several times
in this narrative, stock run at large in this
country, and to tell yours from other people’s
you: are expected to mark them and register
your mark. The gentleman—Mr, Japer Dover—
whom I bought out sold me some cattle and
hogs, and as they were marked by his mark
I asked him to explain it to me, and for your
benefit, in case you go to ‘‘Swamp-east,” I
will give it to you here, and a number of other
marks that I took off the register at the county
seat, and if you do not know all about marking
animals you can study up on them and not
have to show as much ignorance on the subject
as I did. Mr. Dover’s mark was ‘a swallow
fork and under-bit in the right and a slit and
overslope in the left.’’ Now, as to other mark-
ings, they are practically a variation of the
above.

October 5, 1911.—To show you the great care
some people will take to see that they lose
nothing, and especially was this true with Mr.
Cc. D. Matthews, on the above date he called
me in to talk over my financial affairs with
him, and as I had a very good prospect for
eorn, more possibly than my store account
would amount to, and to make himself sure
that he would get all of it applied on his ac-
counts, he requested me to and I did sign a
note and chattel mortgage to him for $1,200

~ against my corn crop for the interest due on

the land notes. This satisfied him, and as
I was not on the beat I had no objections to
giving it.

October 28, 1911.—It seems in this country
that there are more pests work on the crops
than in more northern climates—for instance,
there is a silk worm that works on the corn
that spoils a great deal of the corn. We have
so much worm-eaten corn, and naturally spoiled
grains which animals eat, and doctors say that
is the cause of ‘“‘pellagra,’ that causes the
death of numbers of animals in this country;
and right along at this time my neighbors lost
several valuable horses from this disease or
from the actions of the animal when sick, which
staggers around seemingly unable to see where
it is going, and they call it “‘blind staggers,”’
and when once afflicted with the ‘blind stag-
gers’’ they seldom, if ever, recover.

Dec. 8, 1911.—We thought sure that the out-
come of this day’s work would be the beginning
of the end of our stay in Missouri, for early

-in the day I received word from the Smith
Bros. & Co. Land Co. that ere the day passed
Mr. C. M. Smith, Sr., with a gentleman by
the name of F. B. Harcourt of Rochester, IIl.,
would be out to look over the farm and that
I should stick to the price of $100 per acre if
I was asked what I wanted for the land. They
came and we looked over the land, had dinner
and visited together, and when they left Mr. Har-
court had the understanding that whatever he
eared to do about the: purchase of the farm
that he could arrange with Messrs. Smith Bros.
& Co. Land Co. Well, he went away without
making a deal for the property, and a short
time after I received the following letter from

Mr. Harcourt:
“Rochester, Ill., 1/8/1912.
“H. Sturdebaker, Matthews, Mo.

“Dear Sir—Mr. Smith of Sikeston was here
last Monday and I asked him if your land could
_be bought for even money, $20,000, and he said
he had quoted lowest price.

“If you should care to take less than $97.50

,

and some by.

at any time before March,
and if I have not purchased
we might trade. Yours,

“Be.

please
in the

advise me
meantime

B:

HARCOURT.

“Pp. S.—We have cold weather here at pres-
ent; 22 below yesterday a. m. ald

Now, friend, you will no doubt gather from
the above what there would have been in it
for the Smith Bros. & Co. Land Co. had they

been able to close the deal with Mr. Harcourt
At $97.50 to them and $85 net to us they would
have made $12.50 per acre, while we would
have had $10 per acre for our cleaning up the
farm and getting it in shape for sale. $!0 per
acre on 215 would be $2,150; $12.50 per avre on
215 would have been $2,687.50 for selling it,
to which add the commission I paid of $1,075
for being shown to the farm, would have made
$3,762.50 that this farm had paid in commis:
sions in a little over three years. But this deal
did not go through, and if you are not weary
of this narrative by this time read on and I
will show you how this farm paid a greater
Se uigsien than the above when it did pass
title.

Dec. .10, 1911.—This is no country for pul-
monary troubles, tuberculosis, or in plain lan-
guage consumption, and on this date a young
man, Gus Albright, a neighbor, passed away
with it, and this leads up to the custom yet

-in vogue in this country of taking the corpse

19

to the cemetery in a farm wagon. Of course
it does not matter with us when we are dead
as to how we are taken or even laid away, but
it does look hard to haul off your friend, broth-
er or relative to their last resting place just as
you would any of the stock on the farm.

Dec. 30, 1911.—Now for your benefit, friend,
not mine, will show you how my business part-
ner, Mr. C. D. Matthews, held me up when he
was fully aware that I was in his power. Hav-
ing sold my corn and going in with him to
settle, I turned over all I had and did not have
enough to comply with my contract. Now to
make it plain to you just what I mean when I
say I was held up, I will enter into a little
detail of my deal so you will know the facts as
well as I.

I bought this 215.04 acres of land of Mr.
Matthews at $75 per acre on the 30th of June,
1909, and on the 30th of June, 1910, was to pay
interest on the deferred payments—I paid $2,000
down—at the rate of 6 per cent and pay 1/10
of the amount due on the farm. Well, I was
not able to make this payment, and in fact not
near all of the interest, and at this time—Dec.
30, 1911—I had had a very fair crop and was
able to take up a little more than this year’s
interest, then to pay him for not closing in
on me, which he could do in 25 days under
the Trust Deed, he demanded an extra 2 per
cent on all back payments due and unpaid in-
terest, so instead of paying 6 per cent, as I
had bargained in the contract and Trust Deed,
to keep from being closed out I was compelled
to and did pay this extra 2 per cent interest,
amounting to at this time about $30.00.

Now by the sale of this land to me and my
working it, Mr. Matthews changed a property
that was paying him $3.50 an acre gross rental
on whatever the tenant succeeded in getting in
to $4.50 an acre NET rental on the entire acre-,.
age. He was relieved of the expense of look-
ing after it, of the depreciation of the improve-
ments on it. Being an owner and wanting to
make the farm do all it would, I cleared off
the timber and removed at least a thousand
stumps; gave him all my store business, even
buying the groceries for my help at ‘his store;
sold ‘his milling company all my grain and
paid him the interest on all the mone¥ I needed
to finance my crop, and for the privilege of
being able to continue this arrangement to his
benefit until I might succeed in getting some
one to take it off my hands, at this installment
he took-something like $30 away from me. This
was just a starter, though, as I found out later
on, and if you continue to read this sketch of
my experiences in the New Madrid Earthquake
Country you will find out.

Jan. 2, 1912.—On the ist of January, 1912, I
had a mule note due for $469.50, given to the

Grant estate for mules I had purchased at the
public sale held by the administrator of this
estate in April, 1911, and when I was settling
with Mr. C. D. Matthews he asked me what
else I had to meet besides his claims, and I
told him nothing but this mule note and the
one I owed A. J, Matthews, and that I would
expect him to help me care for it when they
became due, to which he made me no answer,
but as we were ‘‘partners,” as he had said, and

I had made a very fair crop and turned him
over all the proceeds of it, I did not think
there would be any difficulty in raising the

money to care for this paper, as I would still

have the stock to offer as security. Well, on
this date, Jan. 2, 1912, I went in to see Mr.

Matthews about it, and imagine my surprise and
feelings when he told me he could not do it, as
he had no money to loan. Now, I had paid

y ACENBERGER CHILD
en DIED OF PNEUMON'A
iy S—-Stanja rin 13
- Escaped Diphiherin Andina!
):atety Contracted Pneumonia _
l'aken To Tennessee.

hes
to

| hs
e
pot
43 and
with v
time. 6

Little, Myrtle. Virginia: Ieenberge
daughter of Mr. and Mrs. H. G. Inen. |
berger, of Friscatown neighborhood. | |
died Wednesday morning at £:300'clock.
Pneumonia was the cause of death
which came only after the chi'd was
saved from diphtheria, only to be taken! .°f Our eoy

n with pnenmonia. ‘The little girl | Poeuy F
was two years, three months. and }4\° monia,
days of age. ‘The remains were taken, Pe
to Union City, -Tenn., for interment.
Mr. aid Mrs. -Ieenberger came to this |
ae re Ce some few mortths |

- C. C. Icenbergor. rothe
the girl's father ree tat teat
bourn Sunday.

Heze Ozement,
pneumonia.

Dr; J. @., Ti
1| 400, one of,

ue

Orval
County,
* c monia,
» came up from L: +} Morley cemetery
; NG

s

Will Brown, a farm hand about 30
Iyears of age, married, died Tuesday
night at Bertrand on the farm sen
}by John Lett. Brown had just recent! ]
moved to the farm and was taken down
with pneumonia. He was buried yester-

morning at 4 a. m.
headache
which

Mi pannette Jansen 6 noon at 2.30.

Robert Hilleman was with his gemctery.

{ thothers Mrs. Louisa Hilleman, of II1-}
mo, a couple of days recently. She
has pneumonia. ¥ C --/-24- '/3

7 = A \jarst named, W

A} J: 'N, Heney, age ‘54, died at!|\Hamburg. The

Elvins, Jan. 19; of pneumonia. ° He

had been, deputy marsha}, of Elvins dne)
a,number of times. , § -2- 77

* . a u 45%

”

‘of her brother’ ROB.

lasted only a

floral offerin from fri
day at Oak Grove cemetery. Sunday schooners ene and
By 4 wm rl A fe

es from the M. E. church Monda

Geo. Hahn and his
‘| and Charles Hahn,
eral of Albert Habn,

Donal Ozement, son of Mr. and Mrs.
is seriously

took place a

Miss Emma Heuchan died at the home |

Interment at

Heuchan, Sunda
She took with a
and developed pneumonia
few days.

attended 3
a nephew

ay at Old
ho died Monday was

did get a little concession in the same, as I
had the right to sell the farm myself, which

I did not have in former contract. At last,
after a couple of weeks of worry and effort, I
had gained, as the prisoner would say, a post-
ponement of my execution, and so I returned
to the farm to recuperate and continue to await
and try to help bring about the time when
that other fellow would come along and relieve
me of my burden.

Now, I have shown you that it does get HOT
down in this country, and as I kept the daily
weather record all the time I am in a position
to and will show you that it sure does get
cold in this country also. Jan. 6, 1912, ther-
mometer showed a temperature of 38 degrees
below zero and snow on the ground, just like
a northern country. Jan. 7th at 6 a. m., 15
degrees below zero; 7 p. m., 3 degrees below.

aa

x 1 >
>usly all wit)

seric S458
with Pneumonia
————

with 0

ill

years,
eveniDg: ;
Sco], Y0BD Albert Lee

pneu- | Lee, is sick with al
t me PDeumoniag,

»80n of Rud

ight attack of
Jicolm bas
r. P.M. Us Hu ¥
\ with lagripP ‘her seige
ae better a daughter 8m a
. e ’e je
moni, 2nd own with lagriPP
have #® 7.
The pss SE
the | & (~ pg ABN
Funeral Sane. don Ss
after: ee little daughter of Riley Meson, a
ak Dale ere Hh Bure. and two children
a ais rs. strong, a widow,
sons, L le ill this week with pheumoniaes sia pee
he fun-

{ Mrs. P.M. Malcolm has been seri-
ously ill this week. with pneumonia.

young man

twenty years of abe, 4”
2 pneumonia. re)

Don Welle is reported
weil of puocunwuia,

His death was
His ted

Frank Fon

Sunday, Febr Bey died at Flat River

uary 2, of
* »? ° Pneumonia.

getting |

Some Pneumonia Clippings.

him every cent I had realized from my crop,
not even retaining enough to meet the interest
on these mule notes, and then to be thrown
down this way at this time did not seem right,
but he would not let me have the money, so
Mr. Moser and I started out to find it some
place else, as he was on the nanrer with me
to the Grant estate, and neither one of us
wanted to be sued. I went to the People’s
Bank and explained the situation, offering the
mules and Mr. Moser, who was well worth sev-
eral thousand dollars, as security, but when
they found out I was farming a farm bought of
Cc. D. Matthews and did all my trading with
him they sidestepped the accommodation by
saying they did not have the money. Then Mr.
Moser took a hand, and he found the money
for me of C. M. Smith & Bro.; also they had

me renew their option for sale of farm, but I

20

above; Jan. 11th, 10 de-
an awful wind, in fact
Jan. 12th; 6 a> mi.,7.3 7de=
inches of snow on ground;
Jan. 13th, 6 a. m., 12 degrees below and 4
inches of snow; Jan. 15th, 7 p. m., 2 degrees
above; Jan. 16th, 4:30 a. m., 4 degrees above;
Jan. 19th, 7 a. m., 20 degrees above; Feb. 34d,
7:30 p. m., 10 degrees above, snowing and blow-
ing a gale; Feb. 4th, 6:30 a. m., 3 degrees be-
low; Feb. 5th, 6 a. m., 15 degrees above; Feb.
6th, 5:30 a. m., 15 degrees above; Feb. 10th,
5:30 a. m., 7 degrees above. AS a matter of
course there was a slight rise in temperature
between these dates, but it was real wintry
weather, and how the people—tenants on some
of the farms—in the straight up and down
board shacks, as well as the stock in the fields,
did suffer.

Jan. 9th, 5 degrees
grees above, snowing
a regular blizzard;
grees below and 3

Jan. 19, 1912.—Roads—Highways—‘‘Lanes.”’—
IT have had a good deal to say about in this
booklet, and pardon me coming back to the
subject, but if you go down there to live for
a season, or work for some one a year, as I
have suggested to you that you do before in-
vesting in a piece of land, you will not wonder
that they are on my mind to such an extent
that I can hardly forget them.

Well, us Northern people had taken so many
exceptions to the horrible conditions of the
roads, and how a Northern farmer who had
been used to gravel or stone roads would pay
more for lands did he have a good road to
travel over, and this seemed to break through
the moss, and so along the King’s Highway for
a distance of 10 miles and 1,000 feet south of
Sikeston they organized a Road District for
the improvement of this historic ‘‘Lane’’ with
a stone road. I do not wish to enter here—to
burden this booklet with a long-drawn-out de-
scription of how the specifications were pre-
pared or what they were—how that to file a
bid you had to put up a large certified check
as a forfeit—how that the contract was to be
let as one entire contract—how the _ success-
ful bidder had to give a $50,000 bond, ete.—but
it is sufficient to say that on the above date—
Feb. 5th, 1912—the contract was awarded to
the Murray Construction Company of Sikes-
ton, Mo., who was composed of, as it was gen-
- erally known, Mr. A. J. Matthews & Sons, and
- M.S. Murray, Civil Engineer, Surveyor of Scott
- County, of Sikeston, Mo., at a bid of $88,000,
which would make, as you will see, $8,000 a
mile cost of construction. Now, should this
contract be carried out and this road mac-
adamized—it has been in litigation ever since
the awarding of the contract to determine the
legality of the building of it and issuing of
bonds—you ought to ride over an excellent road
for that money, as you farmers who live in a
macadamized road country no doubt know. I
hope they get the improvement, for if ever a
country needed roads, “‘Swamp-east’ surely
does.

Schools.—No doubt should you go down to
this country on a prospecting tour your atten-
tion will be called to the school buildings of
Sikeston, and I will admit they are good, but
get out in the country and study the school
condition among the people that are not able
to and in many cases too indifferent to care
about theirm children’s education.

Out in the ‘‘swamps,’’ where you will live
should you buy some of this new land and move
on to it yourself.

Mrs. Studabaker and I counted up one day

the children in our community that we knew of
school age and were not going to school and
we had 15, and among them we knew of one
girl 14 years of age who did. not know her
A, B. C’s, so we were informed.
Took well into the school facilities of the
community where you expect to locate before
you do, and on this point the trying out of
the country, so to speak, as I have all along
suggested, by going down there and either rent-
ing a piece of land for a year or working for
somebody will give you that much desired op-
portunity.

It seemed to us that the matter of educating
the rising generation was not so much of a
public question as it ought to be—that is, it
looked as though the people that had this
eare of the future men and women were in-
different as to whether they could read or
write, just so they were able to drive a team
of mules or do the housework in a way was
-all that was going to be required. Other peo-
ple would do the figuring for them.

Jan. 20, 1912.—On this date I called at the
Bank of Sikeston—that is, Mr. C. D. Matthews’
bank—for my abstract of title of my farm, as
I wished to make a copy of it to send Mrs.
Studabaker’s relatives at Bluffton, Ind., who
were trying to find the money to’ help me carry
the proposition until I could sell it. I had left
the abstract here for safe keeping, but it could
not be found, and I was compelled to and did
go away without it being found, with the un-
derstanding that I come in again in a few

21

days, and when I did return in a few days 1
was informed that it was in the hands of the
C. M. Smith Bros. & Co. Land Co. Now, when
I wanted it incorporated in the renewal of my
option to this company to sell my farm that I
wanted the right to sell my land myself, there
were strenuous objections raised, but it was
granted, and to come in here and find my ab-
stract in their hands did not look right to me,
for to go and get it would at once notify them
that something was doing. I passed up get-
ting the abstract and my Bluffton, Indiana,
friends did not get me any relief; and I merely
put this in to suggest to you that in case you
go down into this country and have any papers
pertaining to the title of your property and that
are rightfully yours, and to which you may
want to refer to most any time, that you keep
them in your own immediate possession.

Feb. 3, 1912.—Lost another mule with ‘blind
staggers.’’

Feb. 18.—Along about this date there was a
gentleman by the name of Joseph Schencks of
Cypress, Indiana, visiting his old friends and
neighbors in this community by the name of
George Greig and Augustus Gable, and they
were trying to get him interested in our farm
and he had been here several times to see the
land and talk with me about it. I asked him
$90 per acre for it, as we were anxious to get
all we could for the land, and besides, the
land company had the farm for sale at $85 net
to us, and if we offered it at the same price
they would have a just complaint against us for
so doing. Finally on the morning of the 20th
of February Mr. Schenck called at the house
and asked me if I would take $85 for the land,
and I told him I could not afford to. He went
away- without buying anything in the com-
munity, and in talking with Mr. Greig and Mr.
Gable about the matter afterward they told
me that the reason Schencks would not buy
the farm at $90 was that Mr. J. F. Cox of the
Hoosier Land and Investment Company had
told him that he could buy the farm for $85.
Mr. Greig told me that he was present when
Mr. Cox told him that. You can readily see,
friend, why they would make such a statement,
for should I have sold the land direct to Mr.
Schencks they would not have been entitled to
a commission and, so far as caring if I ever
did succeed in selling out at a profit, I don’t
think any of the real estate men that were
instrumental in getting me to make this deal
ever lost any sleep over it.

Feb. 22.—In to see Mr. C. D. Matthews and
give him a note and chattel mortgage for $1,200
against my wheat crop, $400 of which was to
be credited to me in the store, so that I could
trade against it, and the remainder—$800—was
to be held in trust until I paid the note out of
wheat crop, when it was to be credited on my
land notes. You will notice from this that Mr.
Matthews was taking no chances that any of
the proceeds derived from the sale of crops
was wrongfully applied as this was arranged-
for and applied four months before crop was
made.

Feb, 23, 1912.—As I have shown and told you.
under my contract of sale of farm, or option
as they termed it, with the C. M. Smith Bros.
& Co. Land Company I had the right to sell
farm myself, but did not dare to allow any
other firm or real estate agent to act as agent
for me, So when the Hoosier Land & Investment
Company asked me about showing up my farm
I told them of the contract I had with the
Smith people but as I had the right to sell the
farm myself, I also told them that any time
that they wanted to buy the farm to come and
see me and I would sell it to them, and acting
upon this they never had any hesitancy in
showing up the land, relying upon the fact that
should they find someone that wanted the place
they would come and buy it of me and then
sell it to the other party. Well, on this date, Mr.
E. J. Keith of the Hoosier Land & Investment
Company called at our home and told me that
he thought without a doubt they would want
us to deed the farm to him before night; that
he would like for us to be at home in case
they wanted to see us, but not to come around

where they were should they come down in
that part of the country with strange people
that day. Well, we did not give the people any
chance to talk to us and they never bought the
farm.

Feb. 25, 1912.—We had one of the rains that
you read about and the whole country seemed
to be afloat.

March 238, 1912.—Papers over the country be-

a

ov es oi |

Back water from the Mississippi River, 12 Miles
South of Sikeston on the King’s Highway.

gan to note general high waters and from this
date on till near the last of April we were
mueh worried from this cause. On the 27th
of the month we went to New Madrid, the
eounty seat of New Madrid County, which is
situated on the banks of the Mississippi River
near the site of the other New Madrid that

The Rapids.

sank into the Mississippi River at the time of
the great earthquake in 1-12, and the water
had just began to come up into the streets and
on the 30th it was three feet deep in the
streets, then on the 81st it was so high that

22

traffic on the Frisco Railroad was stopped—all
but a little local traffic from Chaffee to Kewa-
nee. which condition existed until near the last
of April. On the 8d and 4th of April was down
below Kewanee where the back waters from
the Mississippi broke through the railroad grade
and never had I expected to see anything so
near like the rapids at Niagara Falls as I saw
here. We took Kodak views of it, one of which
is reproduced here, and it is much more pleas-
ure to look at this picture now than it was the
real waters. You see we lived west of- this
great Sikeston Ridge and thought we were high-
water-proof, but when it broke through here
and began to inundate this west swamp, we
did not know so much about it. ‘The water
was also beginning to seep across the Ridge
in several other places farther north and while
it brought death, loss and disaster to the in-
habitants of the country that was protected by
the Reelfoot Lake levee on the other side of
the Mississippi River, yet it was a Godsend -
to us when that levee broke, for the water
around New Madrid and to the east of us fell
six inches in the one night and gave us the
relief that we had to have to keep us fron.
being drowned out. Friend, you may have reae
of this FLOOD in the papers, or you may have
had a friend or relative in this district,
but to you who never heard of it, should you
be contemplating buying property along this
great river, take my advice and be sure to live
a year either as a tenant or a hand in the
country wherein you expect to purchase before
you do, for it will give you a chance to learn
all about the country and its possibility of
overflowing and drowning you out before you
are tied up.

March 24, 1911.—Our youngest boy had a chill
today and it took lots of hot water, covers
and Jamaica Ginger to warm him up.

While this sandy land will stand a great
quantity of water and yet you can work it, yet
it seemed it would never let us get at our field
work this spring. I give you a list of the days
that it rained and they sure were a plenty.
March 2d, snow storm that was a snow storm
March 5th, snow, high wind, ete. March 11th,
sleeted all night. March 12th, cold, drizzling
rain from northwest. March 14th, rained like
fury this day. March 15th, misting all day.
March 21st, cold rain from northwest with a_
29 degree temperature, turned to sleet and ice.
March 23d, rained all afternoon. March 24th, ©
rained, turning to snow. March 28th, rained
all day. April 1st, rained all day. April 6th,
raining again. April 9th, raining. April 10th,
raining. April 12th, a heavy rain storm. April
13th, rained more today. April 15th, rained
and hailed some. April 17th, more rain. April
19th, more rain. April 21st, more rain. April
22d, rained hard in the night. April 25th, rain-
ing off and on since 2 p. m. April 26th, rained
awfully hard all night and very high wind.
April 28th, another very hard rain with some
hail. April 29th, a very hard rain last night;
there is a great amount of water on the ground.
We had no more hard rain from April 29th
until May 10th, but during all this time the
ground would no more than get so that we
thought we could plow when another rain and
we began to wonder if we were going to be
allowed to plant any crops at all.

On the 15th of April our youngest boy had
another very hard chill. ;

On the 2d of May worked some in our potato
patch, most of the time killing bugs. This is”
certainly potato bug paradise, for the weed
known as ‘‘Bull Nettles’ has a jelly leaf very
similar. to a potato plant leaf, so, therefore, Mr. .
Beetle is not entirely dependent on the potato
patches for the continuance of his family, and
it matters not where you make your potato
patch with reference to where it was last year
you will find that Mr. Potato Bug and family
will be there to keep you and the other pests
company.

There is another pest in this country known
as the “Bull Nats’’ that are about as trouble-
some as anything and they affect not only your-
self but your animals and they frequently cause
the death of your animals by getting into their

nostrils in great numbers. If you go down
there to work a season you will get acquainted
with them, all right.

June 7, 1912.—To town for groceries and it
was on the trip home that furnished me with
the opportunity for the opposite picture. The
roads or ‘“‘lanes’’ of this country are very nar-
row—need the ground to farm—and when a
mud hole is developed it is not long until it
is a case of go through it and here on the 7th
of June stuck in the mud with less than 800
pounds of a load.

July 12, 1912.—Wheat threshed and while we
were expecting a good yield of from 25 to 30
bushels to the acre, as the straw was _ there,
yet we had to take 11 bushels and a reduction
of 15 bushels to the acre on 120 acres rather
hurt my paying posvers for the year’s work.

This was a loss to us of right at $1,800 and
you know what that means, especially when
you are already close up.

Aug. Z, 1912.—For some time I had been run-
ning along under no special option or contract
with the Smith Bros. & Co. Land Company
other than the fact that they carried my note
of $500 on iand commission of $1,075 that 1
had not been able as yet to pay the interest on
and the further loan of $500 to take up the
mule note of Grant estate, which was made in
the form of a one-day note and it looked to
me as though any day that I showed a ten-
dency to jump sidewise it would be like my
trust deed on the land—made effective.

Well, on this date they called me in and 1]
follow with the new contract or option that
I signed.

“Sikeston, Mo., Aug. 2, 1912.—This is to cer-
tify, the undersigned, Hugh D. Studabaker of
New Madrid County, Missouri, does this day
option to C. M. SMITH BROS. & CO. of Sikes-
ton, Scott County, Missouri, all of my following
described real estate, lying, being and situate
in New Madrid County, Missouri, upon the fol-
lowing conditions, to-wit:

“That said C. M. SMITH BROS. & CO. push
the sale of my land so as to net me $85 per acre,
paying all their own expenses while showing
and trying to sell my land to their prospective
land buyers, free of expenses to me.

“T also further agree to accent half cash,
balance on terms to suit the purchaser, bearing
six per cent (6%) interest from date of deferred
payments as set out in the DEED OF TRUST
Ws the purchaser of C. M. SMITH BROS. &

“And:I also agree to give C. M. SMITH
BROS. & CO all over $85 per acre net to me for
their commission and services rendered me in
the selling the land herein described, free of
expenses to me.

“Said land is described as follows:

“All that part of the south half of section 7,
township 24, range 14, lying west of the right
of way of the St. Louis & San Francisco Rail-
road, containing 215.04 measured acres.

“And it is further agreed by the undersigned,
Hugh D. Studabaker, am to have the right to
sell the above described land myself but not
through any other agents or real estate agency,
except C. M. SMITH BROS. & CO., who are
my sole acting real estate agents.

“T also agree to pro rate the corn rent with
said purchaser of C. M. Smith Bros. & Co., at
the rate of one-third delivered to market or
$6 per acre cash rent, either way said pur-
chaser may elect at date of his purchase.

“This option to expire January 1st, 1913, at
seven-thirty p. m., on that date, and ‘shall re-
AY in full force and effect until said above
ate.

“Hugh D, Studabaker,
“C. M. Smith Bros. & Co.
SH) BA CA PeI ORNS oaitt) clpetst deme Fem cue

You will notice from the above contract that
I had ‘the right to sell this land myself, BUT
not through any other agent or agents. Still
it does not specify just who I dared to Sell it to.

In to see Mr. A. J. Matthews and Mr. Mat-
thews gave me his views on life’s trials and
sucesses—not very many successes but mostly
trials. We talked on general topics for a while
and finally he took up the above topic and

23

likened our success in life to the feeding of
your little dog ‘‘Towser’’ Now, as he said,
Towser was a good dog and you thought lots
of him but when you came to feed him you
could not resist the temptation to have a little
fun with him. You would take a piece of meat
and hold it up and say, ‘‘Come, Towser, let’s
see how high you can jump,’ and when Towser,
who was yet active and able to jump, was
about to get his breakfast you would. hold it

just a little-higher. Trying him out, so to
speak. Well, I could not help but apply it

locally and wherein he was doing the holding
up of the ‘‘meat’’ he would not have to stand
up on the rounds of a chair to get it out of
most any fellow’s reach as Mr. A. J. Matthews
is a very tall man.

Now, if you go down to this country, as I
have been suggesting all along and try rent-
ing for a season or work for somebody before
investing ‘‘your little roll.” You can make the
acquaintance of Mr. A. J. Matthews and learn
to know him as I know him, yourself.

On the 5th of August, 1912, Mr. A. J. Mat-
thews and his son, Emory, came out in their
automobile and teok a look at our farm. Com-
plained that I had the farm mostly in peas
instead of clover and as I told the folks I sus-
nect that had J had the land mostly in clover
they would have suggested that it would have
been better had I had it mostly in peas, for at
this time of the year peas show up by far the
best. Well, the upshot of their visit was that
they offered me $80 per acre for the farm.
After our near four years’ work, cleaning up the
farm, building it up with pease and as North-
erners said, making it look like an_ Indiana
farm, they would offer me only $80 per acre
for it. I told them I trusted I would not have
to take that for it and while I did finally sell
it for $85 per acre to W. P. Lindley of the
Hoosier Land & Investment Company, yet the
conditions they compelled me to sell to them
under, as I will show you when I get to it,
did not make me much more than that.

Now, most of the land in our immediate
neighborhood was on the market and my neigh-
bor to the north, Joe Weedman, had his farm
on the market. Joe was great on “share crop-
pin’,”’ as they say down here, and one of his
share croppers had a very poor piece of corn.
It was ‘‘some yaller,’’ it did not look good to
a native and you might imagine how bad it
would look to a prospective land buyer. Well,
as Joe was going to sow wheat here, anyhow,
he plowed it under.

Aug. 9, 1912.—Had a rain and hail storm that
did a great deal of damage to the corn.

Aug. 19, 1912.—Rode to Matthews with Frank
Parsons and another one of Mr. Twitty’s help,
who are all from Indiana and their experience
with the chills and fever had them very much
discouraged, Mr. Parsons being almost blind
from taking quinine.

Aue 20) 1912 Vir Ce ME Smithy srs and
party of land men hung up in mud hole and
worked quite a time to get out. Boys and I

then hunted up some scrapers and filled up the
holes gratuitously.

Just to show vou or rather emphasize what
I told you earlier in this booklet, if you would
come here for a season and rent or work for
someone before tying yourself up, you might
miss getting tied up along side of some neigh-
bor that was like my nearest one. Now this
was in August, about the HOTTEST time of
the vear here or anywhere else, and a large
sow belonging to this neighbor died within 200
feet of his front door and do you think he
would make an effort to dispose of the carcass?

No, sir, it layed there and decayed away,
chickens picked it to pieces and the wind
blowed the red hair and bristles out into the

road; the dogs carried the bones away and, say,
we were some happy people when the odor was

gone as it was most impossible for us to get
our mules past.

Aug. 26, 1912.—A Mr. A. J. Woolington of
Champaign, Ill., had written Mr. C. D. Mat-

thews, wanting to buy my farm and that of
my nearest neighbor, Mr. Joe Weedman, and
Mr. Matthews had turned over the correspond-

ence to me, so I wrote Mr. Woolington to come
down and I would sell him my farm, and on
this date he arrived. I told him to come in on
the night train, gave him the directions how
to reach my place so he would not have to
make any inquiries and thus reveal where he
was going and what for, so that no real estate
agent would get hold of him and possibly tell
him what a poor, old, sand farm I had, or in
other ways discourage him, and he followed
my instructions except he brought a Mr. White
with him and when I found out that he was
trying to interest Mr. White in my farm 1 told
him of my contract with the C. M. Smith Bros.
& Co. Land Company and how under it [ could
only sell the farm to him, that I would not
dare to let him sell it to Mr. White or any
other person and so he went back home to get
the money to buy the farm, but JI sold out to
W. P. Lindley before he was able to make the
raise.

Aug. 30, 1912.—To Matthews to meet the night
train and here met Mr. J. McConn and wife
with their child that she was taking back to
Indiana to try and miss a siege of typhoid
fever.

Sept. 2, 1912.—This day happened what proved
to be the beginning of the end of our stay in
Missouri. Messrs. White, Cox, Dunaway, Amos
and another man out going over the farm. Dr.
Dunaway came hurrying to the house for a
spade and asked me to help them all I could
to get this man Amos interested in the farm
and they sure would do right by me. I told
him that I dared not let them sell this farm
to anyone as my contract with the Smith peo-
ple was such that while I had the right to sell
the farm myself, yet I did not dare to let them
sell it to anyone for me. Well, they looked
the farm over and went away and the next day
Mr. Cox of the Hoosiers came by and asked me
to go to Sikeston with him as they wanted to
try and buy my farm. I went along and we
partly agreed upon a contract and so I went
back the next day and entered into the follow-
ing contract with Mr. Lindley for the sale and
purchase of my farm.

‘Sikeston, Mo., Sept. 4, 1912.

“Tt is agreed and entered into this day, Sept.
4, 1912, by and between Hugh D. Studabaker
of New Madrid County, Missouri, party of the
first part, and William P. Lindley of Scott
County, Missouri, party of the second part.

“In consideration of Eleven Hundred Twenty-
five Dollars ($1,125), the receipt of which is
hereby acknowledged paid to Hugh D. Studa-
baker by William P. Lindley for the purpose
of paying one $500 note given by said Studa-
baker to Chas. D. Matthews and interest there-
on, and one $500 note given by said Studabaker
to Smith Bros. Realty Co. and interest thereon
and other considerations hereinafter named.

Nine promissory notes of $1,412.80 each given
by said Studabaker to Charles D. Matthews
June 30, 1909, are to be assumed by the said
Lindley as part payment on the herein de-
scribed land (said Studabaker to pay all interest
on said notes up to and including December
31st, 1912). :

The balance due said Studabaker is to be
paid in a promissory note dated October Ist,
1912, and to be due January Ist, 1913, bearing
interest at the rate of 6 per cent per annum.
This note to be less whatever amount said
Studabaker owes A. J. Matthews.

Making a total consideration of eighteen
thousand two hundred _ seventy-five dollars
($18,275.00) to be paid as above set out for
215.04 acres of laid, said land described as
follows, to-wit:

All of that part of the south half (west -of
the Frisco Railroad right of way) of Sec. seven
(7), Twp. twenty-four (24), Range fourteen (14),
New Madrid County, Missouri.

In consideration of the above the said Studa-
baker agrees to deed by warranty deed, free
and clear of all liens and encumbrances (except
Geed of trust notes held by Charles D. Mat-
thews, and interest thereon to and including
December 31st, 1912. Said Studabaker to pay
up all interest to January ist, 1913. Studabaker
to pay all taxes and assessments falling due

24

in the year of 1912 and prior years.). Said
Lindley to pay all taxes and assessments falling
due in the year of 1913 and thereafter.

Said Studabaker is to furnish abstract on or
before fifteen days from date of this contract,
showing good merchantable title to the herein
described lands, and said Lindley is to have
fifteen days after receiving abstract to approve
same. In the event said Studabaker fails to
deliver an abstract showing a good merchant-
able title, then the $1,125 is to be refunded to
the said Lindley.

The said Studabaker agrees to pay to the said
Lindley $150 as rent on the herein described
land for the year 1912, but is to have all of the
balance of crops grown during said year.

It is further understood that the said Lindley
is to have possession of all lands not now in
corn, on or before October 10th, 1912, for the
purpose of sowing same to wheat. And is to
have possession of all of the rest of the farm
and buildings not later than the 15th of Febru-
ary, 1913,

The said Studabaker is to execute warranty
deed, properly signed by himself and wife,
and place same with copy of this contract in
the Citizens Bank, in Sikeston, Mo., to be held
in escrow by said bank with instructions that
when the conditions in this contract are ful-
filled then said warranty deed is to be turned
over to said Lindley, and whatever. balance is
due said Studabaker (after deed of trust notes
and interest computed to January Ist, 1913,
as given in promissory note dated October 1st,
1912, and due January 1st, 1913, bearing interest
at the rate of 6 per cent, payable annually)
turned over to said Studabaker.

HUGH D. STUDABAKER.
WILLIAM P. LINDLEY.

Now this contract was the source and be-
ginning of lots of trouble. I did not want to
give that rent of $150, and neither did I think
it right that I shouid be compelled to pay
interest on all his paper until the first of
January, 19138, but. Mr. White told me plainly
that they would not make the deal unless I did,
telling me that, while they expected to use
the farm in a trade with a Mr. Amos of West
Lebanon, Ind., wherein they were going to put
the farm in at $125 per acre and take an
elevator at $10,000, yet they could not make this
deal unless I would either give them one-third
of the corn or $150 in cash, and pay this interest
from Ist of October to 1st of January next, a
period of three months. For, while they wished
to buy the farm of me and let me out, yet
they were not going to take any chances of
losing money on it, and I did want to get out,
so I signed the contract, took the money and
went around to the Smith Bros. & Co. Land Co.,
took up the two notes they held against me,
and they turned over the abstract that I left
with the Bank of Sikeston, as I explained to
you a while ago. ;

Now I had my suspicions about that corn
rental and extra interest, but was not in a
position to gratify my curiosity at that time,
as I had my personal property yet to dispose of,
but the minute I was cleaned up in Missouri
IT went straight to West Lebanon and saw Mr.
Amos, and the gist of our
eve you when I get to that point in my narra-
ive.

September 7th, 1912.—Our oldest boy, “puny,”’
as they say, with chills and malarial fever
working on him.

September 16th, 1912.—In Sikeston and in con-
versation with the vresident of the Hoosier
Land & Investment Company, Mr. W. A. White,
he told me of the Smith Bros. & Co. Land Co.,
calling over Dr. Dunaway of their firm and
going to whip him for his part in the sale of
my farm, adding further that he had adjusted
the matter, however, by going over that even-
ing and agreeing to pay them a _ commission.
if the deal went through, so that I would not
need have any fear—that was, if I had any—
of the Smith Bros. & Co. Land Co. making a
demand on me for their commission under my
contract. ;

Now, as you_ possibly
along in this* deal,
real money, just

have noticed reading
we had not received any
been changing our indebted-

conversation will ©

upon an experiment. I took my underwear and,

ness, so to speak, yet- Mr. Lindley did advance
placing it in a-large pan, placed another over

me $50 on the sale, but we needed a little more

ready money, and Mrs. Studabaker going to it, then put it in the stove oven and left it
town, I told her just to step into the Bank ot there until I thought it was heated through;
Sikeston and see Mr. C. D. Matthews and get then took them out and shook them over a
$50, and she was very much wrought up when newspaper and counted the_ results. [ had
Mr. Matthews would not let her have it. Well, thirty-tour. Should you go down there for a
in a few days I went in and saw him myself. season you might try it. Lots of fun.

He told me of Mrs. Studabaker being in for livery country has its peculiar songs, say-
some money and wanted to know if we _ still ings, etc., and from them you get a very good
wanted it. I told him the needs still existed idea of the country. Never was this more
that we wished it for; then he took up the truthfully given than. in the following tew
matter of my selling out and told me that the verses, which show up the credit class—and it
Hoosier Land Company would not figure up certainly is right:

the interest at a greater rate than 6 per cent, vex dt ” :

and that if I expected him to let the deal go It’s “Charge It” on McFarlin Farm.
through I would have to stand for the extra It’s over the hill, across the knob;

2 per cent he had spoken about to me. As | Go to McFarlin’s to get you a job.

could not help myself, I could do nothing else It’s hard times on McFarlin farm—

than comply, and here I gave up another $84 Hard times, my boy.

and some odd cents to keep from losing all,

which, with the $28 I showed up as a starter, Go to MeFarlin’s to get you a job, he'd push
I in all paid about $112 to keep from having back his hat and say,

the trust deed provisions executed against me. “Yes, by golly, I'll work you a while.”

Now friend, if you want to you can get a It’s hard times on McFarlin farm—

VERY cheap lesson from this experience of Hard times, my boy.

- 7 e of Matt ews,
Mra, HD ‘Studebal oa farmer)
Swift sata waa brought baittotey)
Hunter, of yurshall Tuesday A eM She
hs been il] der the ¢ te Ot Sah malaria fever
re Visiting | b®5 beep su jed accurate car
unter’s ra te very

~ PLANTATION CHILL CURE

Yor 2D
IS GUARANTEED.

Benton, Mo.
J.
Who hay
1 fever, a
of Mr. H
they hop,

Mr. anda
a Mrs.
Hollywood, ¥
ae malaria
at the home
ents, where :
1eir hes * Dove
health. chinghe lage”€r he
trq 80d p, vee) bi

hack. “pen
a
arg

°o,
Hep, as ef

Acts on the liver and removes]}
the cause of chilis All dealers|/
will refund the money on any
case it fails to cure if used as per
printed directions. Sold by lead-
ing grocers and druggists of
Sikeston and Scott and New):
Madrid counties.

Hoeen very uth with

Shetley Lee has .
Sricue ind the few case

t ora week
alae suffering 42 a result of his
absence There hasnt been a “new
frround special’ aro ind the place since
he was taken ill

y at,
toy Barrett has been Site
oe drug store for a

ma Mother Of Family Succumbs Té
Malaria —Child Dies Of

Dysentery

Mrs KE. McBride, wife of S: H. Mc-
Bride, died at the country home about
three miles west of Sikeston Wednes-
day afternoon, at the age of 38 years,
from a chronic case of malaria. She
leaves a family of severa) children.

The funeral was held from the home
to the Hart cemetery Thursday after-
noon, ,

E. D. Upton has been iil Tor Some . _
time with melignuane

Pennessce

tnonths ago in public,
cital m the city hall
the .
1

~ EARLY THIS WEEK

Little Lucille Baughn, daughter of
-|Mr. and Mrs. FD. Baughn of Canalou,
died at 2 o’clack a. m, Monday from
illness of several days’ duration. She
was four vears, seven months, and six
days of age and was a general favorite
not only in her family but with all the |
neighbors. While she was lying ill in|
bed her little brother Leonard, six |
years of age, was in the next room suf-
fering with miler rien eSetr bel :
* | distress the little gir 0 ad beenhe i
: Reaable fayTntees Besides her ir] Little Ear) Henson who was seri usly
parents two brothers and two sisters), | jl last week with malaria meningitis |
~ | mourned herdeath. A large crowd of |P) i, siowly improving this week. His)
5 ere seen they fonetele fone recovery is expected. oS
= amin

will give a res]

ovember 18 under

of the Young Women’s
Mr. Rook’s

Mrs. John

her bed with Stall is a

= prt. Vv. Miller made + ein
i e Di nda:

: Jobbs Mo!

at i ath aight attack of malaria.

suffering

R4in confined “tp

John Sutton have #| Re

with malaria this week. :

Mr.,and Mrs

child very ill

Clippings of Chills, Fevers and Cures.

mine. Well, I secured this extra 2 per cent— Mr. McFarlin claims to be boss—

what I was back in the store—and the $50 Barrelful of money, but won’t come across.
eash that we needed, and had to have with a Hard times on McFarlin farm—

chattel mortgage on all our personal property Hard times, my boy.

that was worth anything and not under cover

already. 1 had to pay $1 for that mortgage, Mr. McFarlin pays his hands in the fall
also, and will explain that fully when I come And some of his hands he don’t pay at all.

to it, z It’s ‘‘charge it’? on McFarlin farm;
September 22d, 1912.—Well, we had our amus- It's “charge it,’’ my boy.

ing experiences as weli as our serious ones.
Fleas were quite bad at this time. Do most

anything you wanted to, you could not get

Mrs. McFarlin,.she wants a new dress.
She'll go to the counter and pick out the best.

rid of them, and, knowing that extreme heat,
rightfully applied, would pacify them, I decided

25

And it’s ‘charge it’ on McFarlin farm;
It’s ‘‘charge it,’’ my boy.

Well, if you want a pair of shoes,

It’s go get an order from A. J. Matthews.
And it’s ‘charge it,”’ my boy;

It's ‘‘charge it,’’ my boy.

O soupy! O soupy! without any beans—
O meaty. O meaty! without any lean.
And it’s ‘charge it’ on McFarlin farm;

It’s ‘‘eharge it,’’ my boy.
Well, Mr. McFarlin, he thought he was rich,
So he ran his old thresher off into the ditch,

And it’s ‘‘charge it,’’ my boy;
It’s ‘charge it,’’ my boy.

About everything among these ‘‘shear crop-
pers’ is set to the above lines of expression
in the way of rhyme, and if you are here for
a while you will learn that there is more truth
than fiction in it.

October 10th, 1912.—It seems that our eldest
boy was not to get off with chills and malaria,

but must shed some of his poison via the
“rising’’ route.

October 20th, 1912.—So far, Mrs. Studabaker’s
affection from the climate had been confined
to headaches and light fevers, but this day
she was taken with a regular chill, and her
constitution was so affected by it—her fever

an hour her circulation
Such cases need heroie

going to 105—that for
was hardly noticeable.

DER.A: -ARMISTEAD’S.

AGUE “TONIC

PLEASANT TO TAKE
T HARM. THE’ MOST DE

arid WILL, ‘CHILD.

Cait
- THEDFOROS
BLACK DRAUGHT

-FOR ae ei

| TASTELESS

‘CHILL TONIC’

MW INTERSHIE MUU

MALARIA

HILL T

Fence and Tree Decorations,

treatment and as quickly as we could she was
taken to Hotel Marshall in Sikeston, where,
under the careful treatment of Dr. T. V. Miller
and a trained nurse, Mrs. Carroll, after one

more chill the chills were checked, and in just
a week she was able to return home again.

Now we were more than thankful that we
were in a position to, and could do this, but
did you have a good crop on your farm and
were able to make money out of the land, you
would dislike to have to pay it out for outings
of that nature. Her week’s treatment cost
about one hundred dollars. You can hardly
realize how pleased we all were that our days
in this malarious climate were numbered, and
from this time till our public sale, January
30th, 1913, I had Mrs. Studabaker stay in the
north all that I could.

November 18th, 1912.—Naturally, enterprising
medicine companies advertise their wares, and,
as this is the country where malaria and chills
exist to a greater or less extent, and general
stores. drug stores and doctors have sale for
any thing that looks like it might be good for
the “shakes,” it is not to be wondered at that
signs like in the picture that I hand you here-
with appear on the fences, buildings, trees, etc.,
and that is not a beginning of the chill tonics
prepared and sold and, for your _ selection,
should you care to lay in a supply before going,
if you are interested in a drug store or have
a friend that is, I print you a list that are
manufactured and sold, I am informed:

List of chill tonics that you might wish to
select from:

CHILL-T-TONIC. s

ARMISTEAD’S AGUE TONIC.

ASPINWALL’S FEVER AND AGUE TONIC,

CRABBE’S CEHLE TONIC.

FORD’S CHILL AND, FEVER TONIC.

GREER’S CHILL TONIC.

GRANGER’S AROMATIC CHILL TONIC.

GROVE’S CHILL TONIC.

HILL CITY CHILL TONIC.

HOWELL’S CHILL AND FEVER TONIC.

JOHNSON'S CHILL TONIC.

KIDD’S CHILL TONIC.

KNOX’S CHILL TONIC.

LEONARD'S TASTELESS CHILL AND IRON
TONIC.

LILLYBECK’S “TW0O-BIT”” CHILL TONIC.

LOXA BARK CHILL TONIC.

MENDENHALL’S CHILL AND FEVER
TONIC.

PLANTATION CHILL TONIC.

PLANTER’S TASTELESS CHILL TONIC;

PLATT’S CHILL TONIC. 2

DR. PYNES’ CHILL AND FEVER TONIC.

RED RIVER CHILL TONIC.

RICH’S TASTELESS CHILL TONIC.

SCHAAP’S LAXATIVE CHILL TONIC.

SIMON’S TASTELESS CHILL TONIC.

SMITH’S CHILL AND FEVER TONIC.
OME TASTELESS CHILL AND FEVER

yt oe

ST. JOSEPH’S CHILL TONIC.

UCATAN TASTELESS CHILL TFONIC.

UNCLE SAM’S CHILL TONIC.
ba vies LACTATED CHILL TASTELESS

oO :

WINTERSMITH’S CHILL TONIC.

WOOD'S CHILL TONIC.

REXALL CHILL BREAKER.

November 21st, 1912.—Our eldest boy and I.
went pecan hunting in what is known as the
St. John’s bayou country and camped in this
earthquake-torn-up country on the banks of
this bayou where the water was said to be
forty feet deep during the high waters of last
spring.

November 25d, 1912.—As I have been showing
you all along, this country is mostly inhabited
by the tenant class, and they have city folks
“beat a block’? when it comes to moving around.
Some of them stay a week in a place and
some a little longer, and, in fact, it seems to
you that the country is always on the move.
We saw the section wherein we lived changed
completely, other than ourselves, for we were
safely tied, you know, three times within the
near four years we lived there.

December 6th, 1912.—While in St. Louis with
some live stock, I met Mr. J. F. Cox of the-
Hoosier Land & Investment Company, and in
talking over the progress of my _ settlement
with them on land that I sold to Mr. inaley:
he told me if I would call at the office when I

returned to Sikeston that the boys would settie
up with ine in full, as they had the money to
do it witn. Now, to make my point clear on
this, will have to tell you in regards to their
renting the farm to a Mr. Gable, which was,
cr ought to have been, subject to my contract
that I sold out under in which I stated I was to
have possession of the ground and buildings
where we lived, and the cornstalk land, until
February 15th, 1913, and it seems that Mr. Gable
was not made aware of this fact; at least they
were trying to get me to give up possession
and board with Gable, and let him have the
farm. To make it real effective, Mr. White
told me that they would pay me my money
if I would consent to do this. Now imagine
the situation, if you can—this family moving
in with you in a home that had not proven
any too large for your own family, and all tu
get a settlement that was due you anyhow.
I told Mr. White I could wait, and when he
saw that his bluff would not work he told me
to come in the first of the week and they woulda
see if they could raise the money. I am only
putting you wise, so to speak, for, should you
go down to this country to live, you will run
up against some of these people and, while they
might not treat you that way, yet you will be
posted as to the fact of the way they treated
me,

December 11th and 14th, 1912.—In the rec-
lamation of this ‘““‘“SWAMP” country the great
thing is the ditches and their permanency, fo!
these ditches have to be made and paid for,
and the land has to do this out of the crops.

Now this country is underlaid with a bod)
of sand of a very fine nature; in fact, it is so
washy that it is spoken of generally as ‘‘quick-
sand,’ and, whether that is right or wrong,
scientifically speaking, yet it does not have
much stability to it, especially when immersed
in water, and when, in digging one of these
ditches through this sand, it is not long in
filling up to whatever depth you find the sand
under the top soil, so when I speak of not being
able to maintain a ditch deeper than to where
you strike this sand vein, you will understand
what is meant. Now I was here long enough
to see the harm done your land and crops by
impossibility of water to get off in time after
one of these very heavy rains—to see some of
these old ditches recleaned, ete. One I will
speak of in particular was just one mile to
the west of our home, |lnown as Ash slough
or Second ditch, and in the summer of 1911
it was redug and made considerably wider and
to a depth of ten feet. Wanting to give facts
as to the filling up of this ditch, on the 11th
of December, 1912, I went to> this ditch at a
point where the section line between Sections
12 and 13 crosses the same, and as there was
a small lateral ditch dug into Ash slough here,
I went a few rods up the ditch so as to not be
too close to the inflow of this lateral, and
here measured it as to depth and found it to
be forty-four: inches to the water, and water
eighteen inches deep, or a total depth of five
feet and two inches, and this after it had been
dug only about one year and six months, and
the end of the filling up is not yet, for the
banks are still caving. Then I went to the
Bank ditch, which ran through my farm, and
measured this as to depth and found it was
three feet to water, and water eight inches
deep, or a total depth of forty-four inches.
Measured it about five rods south of where
my north line crosses this ditch. Now, as to
my method of measuring, I, drove stakes in the
ground at a natural level and from their tops
drew a string taut, and then measured from
the point on the stakes where it was tied to
the ground, and then at the banks of the ditch
measured down from the string to get the
original level of the ground, and then drew a
string taut across the ditch and from the level
of this string measured the depth. You see,
when you ride across one of these dredged
ditches, or along them, you look down at the
water and are apt to think and remark as to
how deep they are, never taking a thought to
look down on the other side of the dump as
to how far it is down to the ground.

Now I contend that they will never be able to

27

maintain a depth of drainage in this country
unless they find a way to keep this ‘‘quick
sand” from undermining the banks of the ditch
and filling it up. In a conversation with Mr.
Murry, surveyor of Scott County and head of
the Murry Construction Company of Sikeston,
he bears me out in this, and added further that
the only way to do it suecessfully would be to
concrete the bottoms of them, which any good
thinking person will see at a glance is im-
praeticable, not to say impossible.

I had come to the conclusion, and I believe
you will also, once you go to this country and
study the proposition carefully, that the only
time that you will get a crop in this country
is when it is an ordinary dry year.

December 17th, 1912.—Into Sikeston, and,
even if Mr. White could not get me to give
Mr. Gable a room in the house to live in and

allow him to bring over his chickens, they paid
me what was coming, as shown by note on
the land deal, and I immediately made settle-
ments where I had accounts, and in taking up
the note given Mr. Matthews, to. protect store
account, and the extra 2 per cent interest he
charged me for allowing me to sell out as I did,
and here I want to elaborate a little on the
interest question. A part of this note was
given for extra interest on interest, and on
top of that I paid interest on it and also the
store account. At other times I did not have
to always pay interest on store account, but
this was the last chance, so it Seemed to me.

December 30th, 1912.—Went down to New
Madrid to pay taxes and on the way went
west of Kewanee to take another picture of
the land that I took picture of this spring,
intending to show you how effectually a crop
of corn hid from view the stumps in a field,
but, sorry to say, the field I took picture of

Field.

“Cleared’”’

A

this spring, which is reproduced here, they were
not able to get in, as the back waters from
the Mississippi and the local rains kept it
wet too long, even, if it was only a quarter of a
mile from a dredged ditch.

If you come to this country to buy land
when the crop is on, don’t be afraid to care-
fully go through the field and gain a very good
idea YOURSELF as to how many stumps there
is in it, because these stumps take up room,
or they take time and money to get them out,
and you can very easily buy up a big job and
you are liable to regret it, once the crop is off
and you see how you were STUNG!

On down the Frisco right of way, to a point
as they mark it, 182-10, where the picture of
the ‘“‘RAPIDS’’ was taken last spring, and the

effects of them are still here. Ballast all over

the land for quite a _ distance—gullys, ete.,
washed out, and, in fact, numbers of acres
simply destroyed as far as farming is con-

cerned, without a large amount of work.

December 31st, 1912.—While Mrs. Studabaker
thoaght she was to get out of Missouri without
any further malarial troubles, yet in this she
was disappointed, for she had another chill
this day, and it was more strychnine and
arsenic, because she could not take quinine.

January 1st, 1913.—I thought that I was going
to escape any of the other than ordinary ills
incident to a change ot climate like coming to
Missouri, but in this I was to be fooled, for at
this time I began getting boils—‘‘risings’’—on
my neck, and say, I had some “risings”’ that
was “‘risings’’ within the next thirty days, but
I had to keep at it, for the public sale was to
come off the 30th and things had to be looked
after, and I sure kept at it, ‘‘risings’’ or no
“risings.”’

January 14th, 1913.—While in New Madrid a
short time before this date and copying our
trust deed from the records, I heard one of
the deputies remark that she had an awful
amount of work to do that had just come in,
and she said A. J. Matthews had just filed
fifty chattel mortgages, and this party sald.
“Oh, that won’t amount to much, as you will
only have to register them, as he only files his
mortgages.’’ I inquired what was meant by
“only filing mortgages,’’ and it was explained in
this way: When a mortgage is spread of record
it costs a dollar, but when a mortgage or copy
is filed it only costs ten cents. This was a new
one on me, and as I had been giving Mr. C. D.
Matthews several mortgages and paying $1.00
each for them, I was curious to know how he
eared for his mortgages, and I looked them up
and found that he filed his chattel mortgages
and that I had given him seven (7) at a total
cost to myself of $7.00 and a cost to himself for
filing of 70 cents. Of course I gave these mort-
gages to protect Mr. C. D. Matthews in selling
me goods on credit, and I merely recite these
matters to you, dear reader, that when you go
to Missouri to work for a season or make a
crop and have to have credit you can be in a
position to know exactly what other people
make off of your needing and accepting their
assistance.

Jan. 30th, 1913. Public Sale Day. I was so
determined to get out of this country that in-
stead of renting farm when I sold land and
trusting to following the usual custom of this
country of “selling out rental proposition and
your farm implements and other personal prop-
erty,’ I decided to make a long story short and
have a public sale, and so from generous ad-
vertising and a very good day as to weather
I had a fair crowd and things sold fairly well.
I would not advise anyone, however, to run
against the usual custom of a country, as you
are more than apt to lose out.

February 5th, 1913. While my sale ad read
that all goods were to be settled for before being
moved, yet where people were supposed to be
as good as A. J. Matthews, or his sons, Lyman,
in particular, I did not enforce the rule, and by
so doing I lost out to the extent of about $12.
I had sorted the corn that I had—it being
Johnson County White—of a very pure breed—
and in order that people might bid on it in
small quantities I made 14 piles of about 12
bushels each and so informed the auctioneer,
Mr. A. A. Ebert, of Sikeston, Mo., that he should
sell one pile with the privilege of taking as
many as they wanted, and that each pile was
supposed to contain about 12 bushels. Well, I
was not present when he made the statement
to the people as to the amount of each pile, but
was there in time to hear Lyman Matthews bid
off one pile at $4.00, and when Mr. Ebert asked
him how many he wanted, said he would take
them all, which made this corn bring about 33
cents per bushel, which was less than the feed
corn, Which was the inferior grades out of this
same corn, brought. Well, I could not object
to the bidding of it off, neither did I try to, but
Lyman did not settle for it that day, and when
I had the clerks, Messrs. Deane and Case, eall
him up over the ’phone about it, he made <all

28

kinds of apologies, so they said, and agreed to
remit for it at once. Waited the next day for
cheek to come and it did not, so as I had busi-
ness in Sikeston the next day, I told Messrs.
Deane and Case that I would call at their office,
office of A. J. Matthews & Sons, and see Lyman
and settle with him there, and as that was on
my road to leave Missouri, I did go to Sikeston
the next day and to their offices and when I
spoke of corn settlement, he told me that they
had taken the corn home and weighed it and it
fell short quite a number of bushels, and as Mr.
Ebert had guaranteed it to be 12 bushels to the
pile that was all they would settle for. Now
Mr. Ebert had not been authorized by me to
GUARANTEE amount, giving an amount of 12
bushels as an approximate amount for people
to figure from, telling how we had arrived at
that amount, but here I was—ready to leave
the country—all settlements made but this one
—didn’t know where Mr. Ebert was—corn had
been weighed by one of their tenants out in
the country, just how and where I did not know,
so I let it go and settled with them at the
reduced amount by which I lost at least $12
on A No. 1 seed corn that they had already
bought at the ridiculously low price of about
33 cents per bushel, and then as Mr. Lyman
Matthews had said that the check was in the
mails I waited for Messrs. Deane and Case to
report it, so about 7 p. m. that evening they
came driving in from Matthews with the letter
but no check, and had to insist on Messrs.
Matthews & Sons giving a check for it—the
reduced amount—so that I might not be delayed
in my getting away the next day, for the boys
trip in—trying to help me and getting a Settle-
ment out of these people on this small matter I
paid them an extra $4. Didn’t get much for
that seed corn, did I? Now a word to the wise
is sufficient, and I trust, friend, you will profit
by my experience. .

February 7th, 1913. From Sikeston I went
direct to West Lebanon, Ind., and here met Mr.
Charles Amos, who said he was the party that
had bought land of Mr. Lindley that I used to
own, and I told him as I was on my way to
Chicago I thought I would come by and see
what kind of a talk he had had with the boys.
and: asked him if he received either directly or —
indirectly any benefit from the fact that I gave
up to Mr. Lindley $150 rental on the land and
he said he had not. Then I told him that while
it was not in my contract, yet Mr. White and
I had talked the deal over and he told me that
they did not wish to buy my farm unless they
could resell it and that they could not resell it
unless they could get $150 out of the rental for
this year and | would have to pay the interest
until the Ist of January, 1913, on the back notes.
Well, Mr. Amos and I went to the bank where
he was cashier and he read over his contract
and told me that he did not receive the $150
rental, and he had to begin paying interest on
the deferred payments from October 1, 1912, so,
reader, you can see that in addition to many
other things there was at least a conflict of
statements on this matter, while in truth there ©
was two statements—separate contracts—and it
was all right for there to be, for I sold the land
to W. P. Lindley, and Mr. Amos bought it of
Mr. Lindley, and in my contract they had me
paying interest on about $14,000 from October
1, 1912; to January 1; 1913: and-at- the ratesanu
6 per cent interest to Mr. C. D. Matthews, and
on top of this Mr. C. D. Matthews had me pay-
ing an extra 2 per cent for accommodation—
not enforcing the provisions of the trust deed-
—and on the other hand Mr. Lindley had Mr.
Amos paying 6 per cent on I suppose a like
amount, from October 1, 1912, to January ‘1,
1913, and also that $150 rental on farm was lost
somewhere. Now I did not want to create a
feeling with Mr. Amos that he had _ been
skinned, but I could see that he was leaning
that way, and in our talk I asked him what they
had done with the elevator they had traded
for and he told me they had resold it and he did
not know just exactly what they had received
for it, but it was either $5,000 or more. -Now I
had asked Dr. Dunaway what they received for
elevator and he said $4,000 and then I asked |
Mr. White and he told me a little more than

$5,000, so there are two people that mention
the amount of $5,000 and we will figure up com-
missions from that amount. The farm was to
be put in at $125 per acre, and there being 215.04
acres, we have a totaj amount for farm of $26,-
880, then the elevator was to be put in at $10,-
000, which would leave the farm at a cost of
$16,880. Now I received $18,275 for the farm,
and the difference between $18,275 and $16,880 is
$1,395. Take this amount from what the ele-
vator was sold for and you have approximately
what the Hoosier Land and Investment Com-
pany received for their work in buying me out
and getting Mr. Charles Amos of West Lebanon
interested in ‘‘Swamp-East’”’ Mo. farm lands. Of
course you will have to add the little perquisi-
tes that they gathered up along the way, such
as the $150 EXTRA _ rental on lands—that
doubling up of interest on the deferred pay-
ments that somebody paid, and just to get a
clearer idea of the amount will set it out in
figures, which, as I said above, are approxi-
mately correct.

Taking it that the elevator was sold for $5,-
000, we will take the differences between what
Mr. Lindley paid me for the farm ($18,275) and
what he sold it to Mr. Amos for in the trade
($16,880), which is $1,395, leaves them a margin
f $3,605.00

150.00

210.00

Add to this that interest for 3 months
on $14,000 at.6 per cent

in all that time it has not paid anything like a
profit.

Now, friend, the most striking lesson to be
learned from my booklet is right here, and as I
told Mr. Amos had he come down to Missouri
and investigated the farming land proposition
DIRECT, even had he stayed around there a
season or worked for somebody he could not
have made greater money, for as I showed him
if he would have paid me $1,395 more for my
farm than I received he could not only have
had my farm but retained the elevator himself
as well, as it is he has a farm at $40 more per
acre than I asked for it and the real estate
Se business has been wonderfully encour-
aged.

That there are numerous real estate agents in
southeast, or more familiarly known as ‘‘swamp-
east’’ Missouri, is not to be wondered at. I
see in the Sikeston Directory that there are 17,
that is in Sikeston alone, and you know where
they live, in the best of homes—have automo-
biles, etc., that some one has to pay the freight.
I herewith reproduce a picture of the fine home2
of James Smith, Sr., said to have cost $20,000
or more, and also a picture of the automobiles
of the Hoosier Land and Investment Company.
The upkeep of things of this nature is immense,
as no doubt you can imagine if you do not
know, and it is necessary to be turning this
swamp land over pretty often to provide the
revenue, so if you are contemplating going down

ae
iH TW HE

|i x

THNecg eT ETETE

This

Now there was some commission that
they tried, that is, Mr. Amos said Dr.
Dunaway tried to collect off him for
sale of elevator, but which he did not
pay.

NPL ME OMISSION: OLF ao afe.c¥e's sieve sone vie $3,965.00

Very near $4,000, is it not? Well, of course
they had some expense in this matter, but you
can figure that at whatever you wish to.

Now I trust I have made this clear to you,
friend, as I have been telling you all along I
would show you how there was LARGER FISH
in the DITCH than I was. Now to recapitulate
and show how this poor old piece of swamp land
is Commission ridden, will add to the above the
$1,075 that I contracted to and had to pay and
you will have a grand total of $5,040 that has
been saddled upon it in less than 4 years, and

29

IS a Very Fine Home.

here for either an investment or a home, better
go down awhile first and study the situation
and see whether or not you wish to contribute
to the above needed revenue. You might want
a little for yourseif, and I have tried my best to
call your attention to a way formyou to reserve
it unto yourself.

Now I expect there will be affidavits taken
of people to show you that I have misrepre-
sented things and all that kind of work, but
will say to you, find out the party that made
the affidavit, study his interests in this country,
and what you would do under the _ circum-
stances. I will say to you truthfully that I
was so anxious to get out that I would have
almost made an affidavit that black was white
had I been asked to.

Now, in ending up this little booklet let me
lead you along a short review of my rubbing

these several parties and what “it
in real money and worry and I
do not much wonder that men go to pieces
like ‘‘Whistling’’ Tom Meyers and end it all.
The first I met up with was the Smith Bros.
& Co. Land Co.
they had associated with
members of the Hoosier
Co. They sold me a farm of 215.04 acres of
land at $75 per acre and afterwards when :t
develops that I could not pay out they tell me
that I should not have overbought myself, and
thinking they will nossibly tell you thé same,
will say that at the time I purchased this farm
my brother-in-law, Mr. H. D. Cook, was living
and as he was worth some $50,000 and had fur-
nished me the money to make my first payment
and had assured me he would see me through
on the deal, I expect you would have been like
me and went ahead. The real troubie came
when he was killed and it was a case of close
up the proposition. The Smith Bros. & Co.
Land Co. carried my land note for $500 that
was given them as a part of the commission,

against
cost me both

up

them the first four
Land and Investment

and in addition to this furnished me with $500

and this was at a time when”

anywhere from $2,150 to $4,300, had they moved
the property. oa

Mr. C. D. Matthews, who furnished the land
for the deal with me as I have previously shown
you, had a tract of land where I bought the
first out of, of near 1,100 acres that he had not
been able to get the land companies to sell,
and my purchase and efforts to sell more of it
caused it all to be soon closed out, and from
a proposition of getting about $3.50 per acre
rental GROSS on whatever the renter would
get in, to a sure return of $4.50 per acre NET
on whatever acreage was sold and whatever
improvements were made on the property, also
the profit he made off my trade, off of what-
ever accommodations he would show me in his
bank, off of whatever grain I raised on the
farm that I always sold to the Milling Com-
pany that he was the heaviest stockholder in,
and in return for all this, or rather I should
say on top of all this change of. investment
to the profit side of the ledger, because I had
to have accommodations, he charged me $1.00
per chattel mortgage, when he filed them for 10
cents, compelled me to pay him an extra 2

ry

The Upkeep is

more on A No. 1 security to take up a mule
note, and I was fast getting into their hands,
for these accommodations I gave them options
on my land for all they could get over $85 net
to us, trusting that they would make the prop-
erty move. Crops were poor. I was not mak-
ing hardly the interest and taxes off the land.
to say nothing about the payments. They
claimed to be at the outs with the Hoosier
Land and Investment Company and with A. J.

Matthews, but they could sell land for them,
but while they had unlimited sway with my
property yet they could not sell me out. They
were asking all kinds of prices for the farm,
while Mr. C. D. Matthews, who held the trust
deed, was offering it at $80, and Mr. A. J.
Matthews was out and offered me $80, so JI
did not know for a truth where it was going
to end. The Smith Company offered to stand

between me and the Matthews people, but what
was the use; they did not move the property
now in most two years and at the rate it was
eating itself up, soon there would be nothing
to sell and I was really getting desperate. I
would not object to, did not object to, a com-
mission of any amount most, but wanted out,
and no one was happier than I when I did get
out. They received their money, advanced with
full interest, and the opportunity of making

ae
o0

What Hurts.

per cent on whatever amounts I could, not meet
when due, which amounted to about $112.00,
so that he would not enforce the conditions of
the DEED OF TRUST.

The Hoosier Land and Investment Company
at the time of their organization was composed
of Wm. A. White, W. P. Lindley, E. J. Keith.
J. F. Cox and interests were afterward sold to
Dr. Dunaway of West Lebanon, Ind., and J. W.
Black of Indiana, and my dealings with the
firm began when they were yet interested with
the Smith Bros. & Co. Land Company, in fact
Mr. Cox showed us the farm that we afterward
purchased and Mr. White drew up the con-
tracts. Then when they withdrew from the
parent company, and at a time when I was not
tied up with the Smiths they had my land for
sale, but at that time they could not, or at
least did not, sell it, although they sold several
pieces of land in my neighborhood. When they
knew I was SAFELY tied up with the Smith
Land Co. they were talking to me a number of
times about what they could do for me if I was
only loose. That the Smiths were only using
my farm to show and convince people what
other lands would look like once they were put
up in shape like ours, ete., and finally I did
get a clause inserted in my contract with the
Smiths that I had the right to sell land myself,

and then Mr. Lindley of the Hoosiers bought
the farm of me as I have shown you in the last
few pages. ao p

I have shown you that my trip to Missourt
was a very expensive one to me and in my
tabulated receipt and expenditure account that
follows you will notice amounts of my store
account with the Farmers’ Supply Co. of
Sikeston, and without a doubt it will be told
to you that we were a very extravagant fam-
ily. If you care to and will look that part of it
up I would be pleased to have you eall on the
Farmers’ Supply Company and look over the
{itemized statement of our account that they
kept, and if you find extravagant purchases
there write me about them.

Summing it all up, friend, remember what I
have told you, should you go down to this coun-
try and it looks*good to you don’t fall in. Ar-
range your affairs so that you can either go
down there and farm for a season on a rental
proposition or work for somebody a year, and
IT speak from experience when I say I know
that you will profit greatly by it.

The matters that I have set out in this book
are all true. Just as they happened to me, and
the parties that I have spoken of lived at the
places that I speak of at the time I went
through this experience with them. Go down
there if you wish to. Don’t let my experience
keep you from it, BUT PROFIT BY IT.

APPENDIX.
To you, Mr. Banker, trusted man of your
community, to whom I have mailed this little

booklet, full of safeguards for your friends, I
trust you will be interested enough to read it
and see to it that it gets to the parties that
ean and WILL profit by it when they read it
and have the opportunity to PROFIT by it.
You know and I know that a spirit of unrest is
always present in some of the people of each
community, and it is only natural that they
go to the country that is represented to them
to be one flowing with milk and honey, and to
eall their attention before it is too late. Give
that railroad sign a chance to act—STOP—
LOOK—LISTEN—and you will not regret it.

I have prepared this book with a purpose in
view of trying to save other enthusiastic people
from falling into the same trap that I did, and
as you will see from my financial statement
filed herewith what it cost me to go down to
this country for near four years, both in finance
and my children’s school life, and while I am
anxious and willing to do this service, still
I must ask you to help a little, and that is remit
me 25 cents each for all numbers of this booklet
you can vse. Should you not desire to hand
the booklets out to your friends that are con-
templating moving to a new country and would
like for them to have a copy, mail me a list of
addresses that you wish them sent to and a
remittance of 25 cents each to cover the same
and I will take pleasure in mailing them the
booklets. As to my responsibility and honesty
I would refer you to any of the bankers of my
former home town, Bluffton, Ind. These book-
lets will only cost you a quarter apiece and it
might be the cause of saving some of your
friends. Well, figure up what I would have
saved had I not gone to Missouri, and besides,
it would impress upon them the advisability of
staying where they know the people and who
they are dealing with. I think I have made it
clear enough in_the foregoing pages that there
are people in “Old Swamp-East’’ Missouri that
are on the make, and are not particular who
they make it off of.

Please do not throw this in the waste basket,
as it is a product of my lost efforts in this
malarious country. Give it to some one that
can profit by it, and if they do not heed they
will have opportunity to compare accounts
some time in the future.

FINANCIAL EXHIBIT.
1909.

Received from sale of corn.....
Received from rent of land....
ECT OPLACUN I wachsic ic sate cbeitiorie ace
LCM GEES. choke ths Wralctaies ac

$1,825.00
525.00

Interest on Investment to Jan.

TSP TO ese Saye letieteiaiere lps) iaeninse ms 483.84
Living expenses from June 380
to Jan. 1, 1910, moving, ete.,
ADO Ute a ton eran rare a Pickard Wa 600.00
SG ames wile a eimiaeac tere sls saa net nett 100.00
Help taking off corn crop and
putting out wheat, about... 300.00
$2,869.84 $2,350.00
Short for year 909..0..... 519.84
1910. Z
From sale of wheat..........-- $ 972.43
From sale of corn...........-+> 541.27
From sale of hoOgs.ic.......-..- : 294.12
Short for year 1909......-.....-- $ 519.84
Interest on investment to Jan.
ADs iN er iepecnaatararcvere: Medsieami tars fesauane 967.68
Lg Mets (akc) 9 ER Role SUT ACU i oOo 164.44
Loss by death of animals...... 280.00
SfOre VAC GOUME sie cree «eesti oc ee 746.10
Extra help and threshing ac- A
GOUT a eee chee ets oa le iets wie 127.14
$2,805.20 $1,807.82
Short for year Eas Sahicacste 997.38
le
From sale of wheat............ $1,056.00
Erom Sale: Of COMM: c.ccees+ + os. = 1,748.00
From sale of pea hay.....-...-- ; 155.00
Short for year 1910. ...5....5..- $ 997.38
Interest on investment till Jan. <
th TE Se a ocr cee aero eS 967.68
A Nin eke) tone ni DIO Cini OME OOS 206.00
xtra help clearing land....... 150.00
SEO ReUaAGCOUMUL. a atiactta:. <aniaeraeis 846.70
STOLE aiccOUMbeessiaeas facies «eis 91.64
Extra help and expense of
ENTOSWMIE Seog ce clei wet = ole es ore 141.82
Extra help in taking off corn
crop and shelling.........-..- cow
$3,514.53 $2,959.00
SHOT Ve aE aL LO) ie.co we evensle: oie ne 445.53
1912.
From sale of wheat.....5....... $ 835.00
From sale of cow peas.......-.. 140.00
Short-for year 19... cee. lee $ 445.53
Interest on investment to Jan.
ita TOK A een yn eeieiot ont reams 967.68
I AGE SaaS eeanye che be utiiane pha <li claire, oe itd 190.36
Hulling peas and baling pea
hay, also threshing wheat
and extra -help......--........ 258.65
Farmers’ Supply Co. (store ac-
count), not in following
TRO Caen Woe eee fetes aves, «8h ea vagenoashoge cots 265.80
Farmers’ Supply Co. note,
which -includes about $200
worth of farm machinery.... 400.00
$2,525.02 $ 975.00
Short at time of farm sale
and _ sale of personal
PYOPCULY irc ees 1,550.02
1972.
Received from sale of farm—
original investment ........-. $2,000.00
Received from sale of farm— fats
increase in valuation......... 2,150.00
Received from sale of personal
DEODE GLY eines tee cele agers -loiele stays 2,310.00
Short at time of farm sale and
personal property ......:... 1,550.02
Paid commission note of $500
and interest $101.95 to C. M.
Smith Bros. & Co. Land Co.. 601.95
Paid to C. M. Smith Bros. & j
Co. Land Co. for money ad-
vanced to take up mule note 525.77
Note of C. D. Matthews cov-
ering store account and part
of the extra 2% interest
GENE BOE oar beet cian, «ie winger tas alata an eae 517.00
Mrs. Studabaker’s malarial
SUCISTLGS Sey resavetcrare eedaiey epetal slate cinta ote 87.40
Baling and threshing pea hay. 110.00
Horse note and interest to C.
He WET oN ale hiss bewouelcue oeroie tromenac 339.00
Farmers’ Supply Co., store ac- \
COU Titer eaters! b atcastiteaet etal oeauels ts 73.68
B. Moser, for cash loaned and
ITNECR OST oe rte ctet meceeecete cs visi aau rere 124.00

31

W. M. Busby, store account,
3 0/01 SO ath het a OOS Oka Sereno
Remitted Studabaker Bank on
Original Oana’. mie coments srt
ES SIMONSEN, DCAIS.-1.. 0 cate aterehe cles ws
tepairs for machinery, wag-
ons, blacksmith bill and
goods of Farmers’ Supply Co.
ANT. UN OVGIDCIo cisusetet crs vlsiterele ©
Advertising sale and expense
OLUPOSTING CLG isch sc sottene
ANTE LION GENE coc js seins velaelee eieliers
Remitted Studabaker Bank on
orizinalsloane Antec «tele
@lerkataits Sale tice. civlece cts
Expense loading car, freight,
GEC aiccrate te sha Peet ovoe cased jovnie a eelnieite
Farmers’ Supply Co. for ac-
count imeDecember ...i2.5 ssie sen
Cash spent as shown by in-
dividual cash account from
Sept. 1, 1912, to Feb. 1, 1913,
and not included in above....

MAY 3 1913

Short at closing of account. 500.18

No doubt the reader will have noticed that
the revenues I have accounted for were de-
rived from either the products of the farm or
the sale of the farm and personal property, and
according to the above I come out $500.18 in
debt. Now to this I must add a difference of
what my original investment was—$2,800—and
what I paid~on it—$2,200—an amount of $600,
making a total of approximately $1,100.00. These
extra amounts being secured from friends in
Bluffton. I also used some $500 derived from
the sale of my hotel stock to carry the invest-
mene along which I have not included in the
above.

Take it all in all I am right at $2,000 behind
on the deal, so I trust, friend, you will be very
careful in taking up a farming proposition in
“Swamp-East’’ Missouri and follow my advice
to either try a rental proposition for a year or
work for somebody else a season.

With every best wish that your experience
may be the direct opposite of mine, I remain,

Respectfully yours,
HUGH D. STUDABAKER.

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

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