Before Breakfast at the Wilson Tract

Colonel Ben Turner could not be reached with a forty-foot pole this morning. There was blood on the moon, and he was swearing vengeance in three languages. The cause of his ire was that graders for the Olympia Light and Power Company got up before breakfast, and while Turner was enjoying peaceful slumbers they stole a march on him, tore down his fence, and graded through his property on the Wilson donation claim.

For some weeks he had kept a vigilant eye on his land and had placed a fence around the property for protection. At six o'clock this morning a force of graders was at work, grading through the property and making a cut of about two feet for the roadbed. The railroad builders now anticipate no further trouble.

Turner, however, is more determined. He says he proposes to learn whether he owns the property or somebody else does. "If I don't," he said, "I don't want it, and that's all about it. I would have given the company permission to go through in a day or two, and told one of the members so. All I have been waiting for is word from Hazzard Stevens. He owns an undivided half interest in the land for which he has not paid me. I was willing enough to have the road, because I know it would have enhanced the value of my property. Now I swear they won't go through at all."

Asked what he would do about it, Turner answered: "Do about it? I'm going to fence the whole business up and protect that property. They tell me Stevens has written them letters and sent them telegrams to go through, but I'm the man to talk to until Stevens pays for his half."