The Conquest: The Story of a Negro PioneerMicheaux, Oscar
General
The Conquest: The Story of a Negro Pioneer
Micheaux, Oscar
African American pioneers -- Fiction; Autobiographical fiction; South Dakota -- Fiction; Western stories
But a shrewd person, at that very time, had control of machinery that
would cause a radical change in this community, and in a very short time
too. This man was Ernest Nicholson, and referring to his return, I was
at the depot in Oristown the day he arrived. There he boarded an auto
and went west to Megory. On his arrival there, he ordered John Nogden to
proceed to Calias, load the bank building, get all the horses
obtainable, and proceed at once to haul the building to--no, not to
Megory--this is what the Megoryites thought, when, with seventy-six head
of horses hitched to it, they saw the bank of Calias coming toward
Megory. But when it got to within half a mile of the south side,
swerved off to the west. About six that evening, when the sun went down,
the Bank of Calias was sitting on the side of a hill that sloped to the
north, near the end of the survey.
Now what did it mean? That was the question that everybody began asking
everybody else. What was up? Why was Ernest Nicholson moving the bank of
Calias five miles west of Megory and setting it down on or near the end
of the survey? There were so many questions being asked with no one to
answer, that it amused me. Then someone suggested that it might be the
same old game, and here would come a pause, then the question, "What old
game?" "Why, another Calias?"--some bait to make money. Then, "Oh, I
see," said the wise town dads, just a hoax. That answered the question,
just a snare to catch the unwary. Tell them that the railroad would
build to the Tipp County line. Sell them some lots, for that is what the
"bluff" meant. Get their good money and then, Oh, Ha! Ha! Ha! it was too
funny when one saw the joke, and Megoryites continued to laugh. Had not
Nicholson Brothers said a whole lot about getting the railroad; and that
it was sure coming up the Monca. It had come, had it not. Haw! Haw! Haw!
Ho! Ho! Ho! just another Nicholson stall, Haw! Haw! Haw! and Nicholsons
got the laugh again. The railroad is in Megory, and here it will stop
for ten years. One hundred thousand people will come to Megory to
register for Tipp County lands, and "Watch Megory grow" was all that
could be heard.
Ernest would come to Megory, have a pleasant chat, treat the boys, tell
a funny story, and be off. Nobody was mean enough or bold enough to tell
him to his face any of the things they told to his back.
Ernest was never known to say anything about it. His scheme simply kept
John Nogden moving buildings. He wrote checks in payment, that the bank
of Calias cashed, for it was open for business the next day after it had
been moved out on the prairie, five miles west of Megory.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account