Nebraska Newspapers

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VOLUME XXVII.
ALLIANCE, BOX BUTTE COUNTY, NEBRASKA; FRIDAY, AUGUST 13, 1920
No. 74
Ml
- J
ANOTHER CASE
y OF NO QUORUM
-
nig..
THE WKATHKU
Alliance and vicinity: Fair
and Saturday; warmer Sat-
west and north portion to-
lUIPP UAMTFn TO
UIIL VTHMILU IV
BUY A $100 COAT
For the Fifth Time in Three Months
the City CVmiull Fails to
Meet
I
For the fifth time In three months,
tie city council has been compelled
to postpone a regular or called meet
ing because not enough members
turned out to make a legal quorum.
Under the rules, there must be six
of the eight councilmen present or out a few definite assurances before
can adcv S sk to have an Injunc
tion filed. o City of Alliance to
prevent the. . levying taxes on
us, as we do , 4 belong to the city,
having been taken In unconstitution
ally, costs of such action to be paid
jointly buy us."
There are over fifty signatures to
the petition. Mr. Weaver had intend
ed to read this to the council and
give them an opportunity to hand
the meeting cannot start. Mayor
Rodgers last Tuesday evening did his
best to get the councilmen out, but
even with the assistance of the city
clerk and the chief of police wasn't
able to make the hill.
Undaunted, however, Mayor
Rodgers has called another meeting
tor this evening. A councilman or
two who were out of town have re
turned, and it is reasonably probable
that the legal number may be gath
ered together long enough to call the
roll. Once that is done, business can
proceed.
Tuesday a nice night for a council
meeting, too. The weather was fav
orable. Peraaps it was too favor
able. At 9 o'clock, with only five
members on deck, the recall was
sounded and the retreat began. It
was the regularly scheduled August
meeting. There were a raft of bills
to be allowed, two or three ordin
ances were up for consideration, and
a bunch of special business was due
to come up, but nearly half of the
councilmen remained away.
If a quorum had been present,
several important matters might
have been disposed of. Take the
telephone franchise, whlca has been
"hanging fire for about two years. E.
K. Haldemanf Grand Island, dis
trict commercial manager of the Ne
braska Telephone company, came
down prepared to have the agony
over. From hints that he dropped,
he was prepared to make practically
every concession the council might
desire. But, as it turned out, he
had a nice trip, all for nothing. The
mayor couldn't even guarantee aim
that he would be able to get a
quorum out the next night, or any
night this week, for that matter..
This telephone franchise has been
a regular Jonah. It expired during
the administration of Mayor P. E.
Romlg. away back In 1918. The com
pany didn't rush about getting a new
one through, and about the time t'aey
were ready with a proposed draft,
Romlg's term expired. This delay
ed matters some months. By the
time a successor had qualified, the
influenza epidemic hit Alliance, and
the city officials were
placing it In the hands of the proper
authorities.
However, all these things will
come up at some future meeting
when luck is with the mayor and the
faithful few.
YOUTHFUL R0ME0S
ARE DISCOVERED
The unhappy plight of Mr. Bill
Shakespeare s engineer, who was
"hoist with his own petard," is
brouEht to mind this week in the
embarrassing situation in which at
least two employes of the local ex
press company have found taem
selves. In this instance a crate of
peaches and some affectionate mis
sives, together with another employe
of the company, furnished the ma
terials for a Romance Gone Wrong.
It seems that some fifty Campfire
girls are camping at Belmont. It
further appears that two of these ex
press handlers don't exactly dislike
some of these same Campflro girls.
Monday morning the fond father of
some of taese girls decided to spring
a little surprise on the campers, so
he brought into the express office
some crates of peaches.
This was an opportunity for the
llomeos. They couldn't go to Bel
mont, and they couldn't get anywhere
if they did go, what with four or five
fierce guardians of the fire on the
joo. The crate of peaches gave them
an Idea. Wit a pencils poised, they
toiled for half an hour probably on
the company's time and wrote let
ters to a couple of the Campfire
queens. These they sealed in en
velopes and jarring off a board or
two, concealed them In the crate of
peaches.
So far, all was well. They forgot,
however, what they should have re
membered. Express handlers don't
deal quite as ungently with the stuff
in taeir care as do the baggage
smashers, but they don't use gloves
all the time. Some other employes
were detailed to put the crates on
One Tiling I-cd to Another, and Llllo
O'Neal, tVdored, lxt Her
Have It
Llllo O'Neal, colored, was given
the minimum fine of $5 and costs by
Judge Tash in county court Tuesday
afternoon when he pleaded guilty to
striking 'Us wife, Mrs. May O'Neal,
on the Jaw, Jarring loose "a toot"
as well as inflicting a bruise or two.
Arter talking the matter over with
the warring couple, the Judge was
convinced that it was only a slight
domestic tiff, and on O'Neal's
promise to refrain from emphasizing
his complaints In the future, the cul
prit was let off with light punish
ment. Complaint was entered by Mrs
May on Tuesday morning, the chief
charge being that aer husband had
"knocked out a toof." She admitted
that It was a rotten toof, and prob
ably should have come out anyway,
but she objected to his careless
methods of dentistry. Tuesday aft
ernoon Lillo, looking sheepish, ac
companled the sheriff into the court
room. The complaint was read to
him. and the judge asked him to
plead guilty or not guilty. And In
tils wise Llllo made his plea:
"Jedge, Use a wukkln foh de rail
road. I gets $160 a month and we
pay $23 a month foh rent, and about
fohty dollars foh groceries. It takes
about all the money I gets to pay the
bills. She's been wantln to buy a
hundred dollah coat for de las three
weeks. She keeps talkln' about It
ERNEST CHARLES
SENT BACK TO K. C.
Man Arretted on l)ruikennen
Charge Turned Out to He a
lMalii Nut
Erne.i Charles Henry Stevens,
alias Lemuel Johnson, alias Franklin
Gerard Jackson, alias any other name
that happens to come Into his head,
is again occupying apartments at the
city bastlle. Ernest Charles was
picked up by a special Burlington
officer last Tuesday morning. He
was discovered sleeping sweetly
somwhere on the right-of-way. At
the city Jail, als ailment was diag
nosed by the city physician as an
over Indulgence In lemon extract and
Jamaica ginger, but It seems that this
diagnosis was all too kind.
Friday morning Chief of Tollce
Reed made arrangements to return
Mr. Stevens to Kansas City, procur
ing from the Burlington a charity
pass for that purpose. SteveiiB will
be placed in charge of a conductor
and passed along the line until he
is handed back to the Greer labor
agency, perhaps, to have the Insanity
board hold a hearing on the case and
commit aim to a slate Institution, but
such a procedure would set the coun
ty back several hundred dollars, to
say nothing of the expense of keeping
him in the hospital, which Is also
charged to the county In such cases
It is perfectly true that Ernest
Charles has been Indulging In stlmu
lanta any kind that has a kick.
While employed at the Lee McFall
ranca, east of Alliance, he got on
several gorgeous sprees. It is a
till the vacancy In the board waich
arose through the resignation of J.
V. Guthrie, who was made secretary
of the organization.
The board will sponsor a booster
trip to Crawford during the Trl-State
fair, which comes the: first of next
month. During the late race meet,
th' Crawford gang came over In
force and three or frur decorated
automobiles, and Alliance will re
turn the favor.
Tie directors discussed at some
length the settlement of the Anltoch
road squabble, and possible addition
al road projects. There Is still $60.-
000 of federal and state road funds
to be expended In Box Butte coun
ty, and a committee consisting of
President Glen Miller, Secretary
Guthrie and Charles Brlttan was ap
pointed to meet with the connty com
missioners and urge that I lie Chad
ron road be completed.
1 done tole her so. We been a-arry
fylng about It, but I couldn't con
vince her."
Monday night, O'Neal came home
after a hard day's work. He mad
t
all de time. We caln't afford It. endi habit with him. Since ais arrest he
the varnished cars. And they de-
busy, along iiVrpl the unods in a characteristic
witn every other citizen. In caring nianner. And this same crate of
Tor the sick. Along in the spring of nenrhea wa smashed to smithereens.
1919, the company again brought up! night on top of the wreckage were
ine question, dui tae council was j two letters.
Dusy in a mass of paving and storm j Their fellow employes broke the
sewer aata, ana the company felt sacred seal and read the screeds.
mere reaiiy wasn i mucn need of i that thpv were too eood to
uy tne time It had operated keen. Other employes at the express
office were let in on the secret. The
girls clerks were the worst, they tell
us
If your expressman, when you look
at him steadily for half a minute
should blush clear behind the ears
you can draw your own conclusions.
Incidentally, we understand that
there are two express employes who
now 'aandle every package as though
It contained dyr.cr.ilte. It's too bad
that more of them weren't Interested
"MOLLIE AND I" AT
IMPERIAL TONIGHT
hurry
to ra year without a franchise, how
ever, the Nebraska Telephone com
pany got on the Job In earnest. An
ordinance was drafted and given to
the council for approval.
Taen the real fun began. The
council appointed City Attorney Metz
and II. A. Johnston to draft a sub
stitute, and they framed a franchise
that has kept three or four telephone
company officials on the anxious seat
ever since. No less than half a dozen
times have officials of the company I ln tne Campfire girls.
come to Alliance, eitner to meet the
cold shoulder or to argue to deaf
ears. And now. when the comnanv
Is ready to make almost any coneea-
slon in order to gain a franchise taat
the council is ready to grant, when
the tracks are fairly well greased for
Its passage and everything is logely,
It's Impossible to get out a quorum.
Mayor Rodgers and several of the
council members who have been
coming out regularly are beginning
to feel peevish. Some of them sug
gested that councilmen who couldn't
attend the regular meetings might be
given hints that they didn't have to
hang on to the Jobs and that reslg'
nations had been accepted.
The telephone franchise wasn't the
only Interesting matter that would
have come up at the Tuesday even
ing meeting. J. M. Weaver, who rep
resents a bunch of irate east elders,
was on deck with a petition that was
almost a yard long. It was signed
by east side residents who are weary
of waiting for water and other Im
provements that have been slow In
comlnr. Mr. Wearer once told the
council that this section of the city
would up and withdraw from the cor
poration unless some heed was given
to their pleas, and he had the pet
tlon with him to show that he wasn't
alone In this attitude.
This petition, dated August 10
reads as follows: "We. the under-
- signed residents of Belmont and Dun
has been entertaining the city hall oc
cupants. He sings "Sweet Marie,"
ln a way that brings tears to tae
eyes.
Ernest Charles, bright and early
lucid in-
m : TV t n A ,i r niniMin(r h a rl a
i f Aumi on hA trtirf rito rrnrf rr l uai nuaj uiui miihi
nquiring about supper. Something . lervai. lie spoae 10 i,n.ei eu .
n his tone angered his wife. Sh.a pieasani way, truing nun iui u
showed her resentment in a char- naa ueen orunK, dui was men uun,
acterlstlc way. and "I slapped her and that if released he would leave
and broke that ole rotten toof out." town on the next rattler headed else
O'Neal concluded. .where. This line of talk sounded
At this Juncture P. E. Romlg. at- K1 to the calef. and the cell doors
torney, appeared and Informed the opened ror f.rnesi unanes.
court that hp wa nrpaont a O'tJpnl'a : Once outside, however, Ernest
representative. The Judge Informed . Charles changed hla mind. On second
him that he was-a trifle late,' inas-" mghtt the rods looked Jea Invlt-
ROTARY CLUB TALKS
OF C1TYCOMMISSI0N
The Rotary club, at Its regular
weekly meeting at the Alliance hotel
Wednesday evening, again discussed
the city commission form of govern
ment, and by unanimous vote the
members recorded themselves In
favor of the flvo-commlssloner plan
Under the statute, a city of this class
adopting the commission form is
given two alternative plans. Under
one, three commissioners are elected
one of whim Is made mayor. Under
this plan the commissioners each
draw a salary somewaere near com
mensurate with the work they do.
Under the five-commissioner plan
the salaries of the commissioners are
nominal, and a city manager Is
chosen. The Rotary club, which does
not pretend to speak for the entire
city, will sponsor the latter plan, and
presumably will see to It that It Is
put up to the voters.
City Attorney Metz, president o
the club, explained the two plans to
the membership. Taere were some
who expressed themselves In favor of
having but three commissioners, pro
vlded the city manager could be had
under this form.
much as 'als client has Just pleaded
guilty.
Whereupon, after discussing the
matter with husband and wife, the
Judge decided to let the defendant
off with a light fine, Llllo promising
faithfully to confine his argument to
mere words. The Judge delivered a
ing, and the city appealed to him.
lie was hungry, and so he dropped
in at the Mooney bakery. Here he
purchased three jelly rolls, two Jars
of jam, a sackfull of cookies, two
loaves of bread, a pie or two and a
few other taings that would appeal
: to a hungry man. He wrote out a
MAYOR AND COUNCIL
MAKE GOOD RECORD
lecture on the best way to preserve ! check for ten d"a on the Alliance
domestic refee. and the couple left
the hall of justice arm In arm.
WANTS NEIGHBOR PUT
UNDER A PEACE BOND
The feature at the Imperial to
night is "Mollie asd I." in which
Shirley Mason, the youthful star,
akes the leading part. The story is
one which tne press agents say ap
peals to husbands, wives and sweet
hearts, with a diqerent thrill for
each. A Billy West comedy and tae
latest current events complete an en
joyable program.
A Bill Hart photoplay, "The Ban
dit and the Preacher." is the Satur
day attraction, and It Is one of the
most interesting of the Hart produc
tlon. Hart's sweetheart. Rhea
Mitchell. Is a dance hall girl. The
mannerisms and traits of the new
Preacher, Robert Edeson, attract her,
though at first tfae ridicules him
Later, however, through his teach'
ings. she reforms, and their assocla
tlon gives birth to love for each
other, resulting ln their marriage,
The bandit, who is also In love with
her, nevertheless becomes tie
Preacher's friend, and ln a series of
thrilling incidents protect his wife
through some very trying situations
Frank Matousek, who lives some
forty-two miles northwest of Al
liance, Tuesday afternoon swore out
a complaint against a neighbor,
Albert Hovorka, charging him with
using threatening language, and ask
ing that he be placed under bonds
to keep the peace.
Matousek has a homestead up near
the edge of the county. His nearest
neighbor is Hovorka. In fact,
Iiovorka'a land practically surrounds
the Matousek plantation. In order to
get to Alliance, It is necessary for
Matousek to cross this land. There
are no established roads In that part
of the county, and this Is the best
and only thoroughfare.
Several times during the past few
weeks, Mr. Matousek says, Hovorka
has Intercepted him while he was
driving across the latter's land, and
has used language unbecoming a
good neighbor. On Tuesday, when
Mr. Matousek was bringing a small
daughter to Alliance for medical
treatment, the complaint alleges that
Hovorka met them at a gate, held
them up for some time, abusing Ma
tousek and frightening the little girl
who is afflicted with infantile paraly
sis.
Mr. Hovorka will be brought Into
county court and Judge Tash will,
if the circumstances warrant, take
appropriate action.
National, received his change, and
left. Then there came to him the
thought that he needed a haircut and
shave. He cashed another ten dol
lar caeck at the Nation barber shop,
after having been given nearly every
thing on the card except a bath.
Ernest Charles next was traced to
Uoy Beckwith's establishment. Here
he placed an order for a suit of
clothes, thoughtfully ordering a
second pair of trousers; he selected
three silk shirts, a few neckties and
some silk collars. Again he produc
ed his handy checkbook but tain
time he met with failure. They tie
clined to honor it. He moved on
and the police were notified. They
took him in tow about 4 o'clock.
At the jaii he is pleasant enough
'The "audit of the Books of the city
treasurer and city clerk, filed thl
week, emphasizes the fact that tb
past year has been a successful one
from the standpoint of the mayor
and city council, who have been kept
busy trying to make both ends meet.
They met with hard luck at the first
of the year, for the city's property
valuation failed to come up to the
amount estimated by nearly a qunr-
ter of a million dollars, which cut
down revenue from taxation considerably.
The audit, which was made by
Wiggins & Babcock of Lincoln, dis
closes the fact that for the second
time In years and years, the council
ends the year with a balance on
hand. There was $300.22 left over
after all txpenses were paid, which
amount has been transferred to th
general fund. This Is over 150,000
lee; than two years ago, when It was
necessary to float bonds to wipe out
the deficit left at the close of the
fiscal rear.
The only other time when this
sort of a record was made was in
1913 and 1914, during a previous '.n
lie Buffers from all sorts of delusions cumbency of Mayor Rodgers. At the
Silk and Cotton Hosiery at 20
discount at Hlghland-Holloway Co.
the chief one being that he is being
starved. Each visitor is told taat he
has been given no food and that th
chief won't even come across with
a match so he can smoke. One of
these visitors, a girl reporter, was so
touched by the recital of his suffer
ings that she went over to Harvey's
restaurant and procured him a whop
ping big dinner and had just shoved
tae last plate between the bars when
the chief appeared. Ernest Charles
time Mr. Rodgers entered upon his
duties in 1913, the council was faced
with a deficit of over $21,000. At
the close of the administration,
twenty-three months later, there was
a balance of $7,500 to the good.
ALLIANCE IlKIKFS
Bill Reed, a young man employed
on the Rice ranch, was severely in-: missed
Jurcd Monday when hi shorse be-
then acted as though he Intended to came frightened and ran away. Mr.
throw the plates at his benefactress, Reed was driving a rake, and when
the horses ran they dragged him.
The rake ran over 'aim lacerating
his right cheek. He was brought
to Alliance and Dr. Hersaman took
several stitches to close the wound.
hasty
CUSTER COUNTY FAIK A BIQ ONE
Wednesday, Thursday and Friday,
August 25-28-27 afe the dates of the
fair at Broken Bow, and it's a big
one. Grand racing events. Splendid
free open air attractions. The Pat
terson-Kline Show, with a special
train of twenty ears will be a big
feature. A mammoth display of firs
works every night. This will be tae
best county fair ln Nebraska. Every
day will be a Big One, and It's too
good to miss. 75
and the girl reporter beat a
retreat.
He is under the impression that
he has been robbed of a couple of
drafts for a thousand dollars each,
and blames two negroes. He says
ae was hit on the head by a coupling
pin, and exhibits some bruises. He
appears to be in pretty bad physical
condition, and admits that booze did
the damage. Chief Reed's suggestion
that he was a dope fiend as well
brought forth an Indignant denial.
1ARD JOLT FROM
CENSUS BUREAU
District 8iiervior Henda In "Un-
orlUlal" In formation Ooiicern
Ing Alliance llecount
Like a clap of thunder from a clear
sky, a letter arrived at the chamber
of commerce office Thursday morning
which fairly took away Secretary
Guthrie's breath. The secretary has
been working night and day organis
ing the city Into districts and secur
ing volunteers to take a census re
count. Two weeks ago the count was
completed, showing nearly seven
hundred more citizens taan the gov-
rnment enumeration gave us credit
for. Mr. Guthrie wired to Washing
ton to get details concerning the
proper procedure to get the recount
officially recognized, and rushed up
the typing of the list to send ln to
headquarters. Everything looked
rosy, and everyone concerned was
feeling cheerful over a difficult Job
well done.
Thursday morning, however, there
arrived a letter from W. M. Stewart,
nsststant director, bringing the news
that J. J. Tooley of Broken Bow,
supervisor of the census for the Sixta
Nebraska district, had been "unoffi
cially" advised that the Alliance re
count showed a gain of an even
dozen. The bureau figures It all out
neatly that If this Is correct, a re
count would not be worth the ex
pense, inasmuch as the possible gain
would amount to only a trifle mora
than one-fourths of one per cent.
Somewhere In the woodpile is a
gentleman of color. Mr. Guthrie s
original telegram to tae director of
the census gave actual facts and
figures which, to anyone, with an
ounce of Intelligence, would Indicate
that the gain shown by the recount
was not twelve, but very close to six
hundred. The bureau, however,
overlooks this telegram and Its defi
nite statement and on tne basis of
the rumor that Mr. Tooley 'aas for
warded, assumes that the chamber of
commerce has decided to drop the
matter.
Mr. Stewart's letter follows: ,
Gentlemen:
Referring to your telegram of
July 29 and to the Bureau's tele
graphic reply of the same date, con
firmed by letter of July 80.
The Bureau has been Informed by '
Mr. J. J. Tooley, supervisor of census
for the sixth district or NeDrasica,
that he has been unofficially advised
that your special canvass of Alliance
saowed a total only 12 greater than
the total officially enumerated In
January. If this information ts
correct, the Bureau will not consider
Itself under any oblleatln to take
further action in th mMfr. 'nce
the difference between vonr count
and the official count would ""mint
to only a trifle more than one-fourth
of one per cent.
Since no reply has heon rHv"!
to he Tturepn'" """ T'" '9
and letter of Julv t l .umd
that you hv ''' '-'o the
matter. W. M. STEWART. -Assistant
piretor.
Secretary Guthrie has Bent tele
grams to Senators Hitchcock and
NorrlB. and to Congressman Ktnkaid
apprising them of tae new develop
ments and requesting their assisi-
. . . . m .1 ,1
ance. me nsis were lurwmucu iv
Washington some days ago, and have
probably been received by this time.
Under the procedure laid down
by the department, a comparison of
the names taken In the regular cen
sus and those taken In the recount
will be made ln the office of the dis
trict supervisor. If a comparison
shows that sue six hundred names
are largely additional to taose taken
by the government enumerators, or
ders will be given to make a special
enumeration of those who were
If the two lists show too
many dinereni names, me nuiem
ment will refuse to concede that the
census was taken as of January 1.
and the recount will not be recog
nized.
Suit was filed ln county court
Tuesday afternoon by Dr. Everett B.
O'Keefe against Simon Spry to col
lect the sum of $120 for a certain
amount of dental surgery. Hearing
has been set for 10 a. m. on August
18.
Burlington section hands working
on the tracks between Aahby and
Hyannis Taursday morning came
upon a body from which the head
had been severed, by a freight train.
A letter ln the clothing was address
ed to Clarence Conklin, and was from
a sister ln Des Moines, la., who has
directors of the Alliance chamber of I been notified. It Is believed that
commerce, at a special meeting held I Conklin had fallen from the train
Wednesday evening. Mr. Oants will I on which he was borrowing a ride.
H. E. GANTZ CHOSEN
TO FILL YACANCY
Attorney H. E. Oants was select
ed as a member of the board of
HAVIXOCK TEAM TO
PLAY HERE SUNDAY
The Alliance baseball team will
meet the fast Havelock aggregation
at the fair grounds next Sunday aft
ernoon, and one of the best engage
ments of the season Is expected. The
Havelock nine holds the champion
slip of the Lincoln city league to
date, not a single defeat marring
their record.
The Alliance team has been doing
excellent work since the reorganisa
tion. It will cost a raft of money
to bring the Havelock boys here, and
It Is up to the local fans to tarn out
In large enough numbers to prevent
the possibility of a deficit. Save a
four-bit piece for the game Sunday
and turn out and enjoy yourself
rooting for the home team.