nization of Stevens county. It was now
the legislature against the Supreme Court; for a little later the
Supreme Court declared that the organization had been made through open
fraud and by means of perjury.

"Naturally, trouble might have been expected at the fall election. There
were two centers of population, two sets of leaders, two clans,
separated by only eight miles of sand hills. There could be but one
county seat and one set of officers. Here Woodsdale began to suffer, for
her forces were divided among themselves.

"Colonel Wood, the leader of this community, had slated John M. Cross as
his candidate for sheriff. A rival for the nomination was Sam Robinson,
who owned the hotel at Woodsdale, and had invested considerable money
there. Robinson was about forty years of age, and was known to be a bad
man, credited with two or three killings elsewhere. Wood had always been
able to flatter him and handle him; but when Cross was declared as the
nominee for sheriff, Robinson became so embittered that he moved over to
Hugoton, where he was later chosen town marshal and township constable.
Hugoton men bought his hotel, leaving Robinson in the position of
holding real estate in Woodsdale without owning the improvements on it.
Hence when the town-site commissioners began to issue deeds, Robinson
was debarred from claiming a deed by reason of the hotel property having
been sold. Bert Nobel, a friend of Robinson's, sold his drug store and
moved over with Robinson to Hugoton. Hugoton bought other property of
Woodsdale malcontents, leaving the buildings standing at Woodsdale and
taking the citizens to themselves. The Hugoton men put up as their
candidate one Dalton, and declared him elected. Wood contested the
election, and finally succeeded in getting his man Cross declared as
sheriff of Stevens county.

"It was now proposed to issue bonds for a double line of railroad
across this county, such bonds amounting to eight thousand dollars per
mile. At this time, the population was largely one of adventurers, and
there was hardly a foot of deeded land in the entire county. In the
discussion over this bond election, Robinson got into trouble with the
new sheriff, in which Robinson was clearly in the wrong, as he had no
county jurisdiction, being at the time of the altercation outside of his
own township and town. Later on, a warrant for Robinson's arrest was
issued and placed in the hands of Ed Short, town marshal of Woodsdale.