I/V SK any painter you know, and he will tell you (hat paint
■'*' begins to deteriorate the moment the pigmeats are
mixed with the oil.
A chemical action sots in, which eventualy eats the life and
elasticity out oi the oil, nuking it worthless as a protector or
beautificr.
So that paunt to be p,ood mvist be fresh.
The paints we are offering to you this week are fresh from
the factory—mixed scarcely a fortnight ago, and are absolutely
pure.
Put up in different sized cans for your convenience.
| Sun Pi oof Paint.
Sole Pcoof Stain.
Floor Paint.
While Lead.
Darn Paint.
Porch Paint.
Varnish.
Linseed Oil.
I
I wil! have a Car Load of
Early Ohio Seed Potatoes
Raised in the Red River Valley
of Minnesota
Or Track Here April 10
J. C. HORISKEY
O'NEILL : : NEBRASKA
!
|
j Make them better ac
quainted next pay day by bring
\ ing them together into this
bank. Yom can always afford to put
’ something in the bank. Start with your
: next, pay envelope.
{NEBRASKA STATE BANK
E ./AMES F. O'DONNELL, Cashier
6 PER CENT INTEREST PAID ON TIME OEPOSITS
E l^^The depositors of this bank are protected by the deposi
E tors' guarantee fund of the state of Nebraska.
i S S. WeJpt on. President. O. F. ftiglin. Vice President
Read The Frontier; only $8.50 a year
EARLY DAYS IN O’NEILL.
Reminiscences of This City’s Pioneer
Days.
BY J. J. McCAFFERTY.
[Thirteen years ago the Ladies of
the Methodist Episcopal Church of
O’Neill, under the leadership of Mrs.
A. C. King, now of Orchard, Nebraska,
published a sixteen page edition of the
Holt County Independent, thereby ad
ding a neat little sum to the church
treasury. A few weeks ago we con
ceived the idea of again issuing a
souvenir paper and we wish here to
thank all those who have so willingly
and helpfully aided us in our plans.
We have tried to have everything of
worth represented in this issue of the
Frontier and we have words for all
from many old friends and old resi
dents of the community, and we hope
that you will find this issue of The
Frontier interesting and worth keep
ing. In the paper published by the
Ladies in 1901, J. J. McCafferty of
this city had quite an extensive article
calling up early histroy in the state,
county, and city, and he has kindly
consented to our using this article
again, with some additions.—Editors.]
Lady Editors: You impose a task
on me, in asking for the early history
of O’Neill, as I have never kept a
diary nor even a scrap book and as it
is nearly half a century since I rode
in here on James Stephenson’s buck
board, and much local history has been
i made if not written since that time.
Before coming here I read much of
• “O’Neill City” in the newspapers, so
j you may guess at my surprise when
i we drove up to the door of John T.
Prouty in the town of Rockford
; (where the Short Line roundhouse
! r.ow stands), ar.d the farfamed ‘‘city”
: was pointed out to us, consisting of
one poorly built sod shanty then de
caying into ruins, as the people who
had lived in it were living on their
farms at the time of which I write.
Holt County then had but thirty
families all told. James Ewing, C.
Gunther, John Davidson and F. Kirby
lived at Ford, the old name for Ewing.
Mr. Morrison, James McFarland, Mr.
Davis, the Judds, Joseph Leany, W. H.
Inman lived at Twin Lake. H. W.
Erving, the Sanford brothers, I. R.
Smith, E. J. Thompson,the Wolfes
(Sam and brother), Dave Wisgarver,
C. Mitchell, Frank Bitney, William
Dickinson, J. T. Prouty, Pat Hagerty,
Neil Brennan, John Grady, the Fallons
(John and Bill), Tom Cain, the two
Gallaghers (Tom and Pat), Pat
Murry, Tom Hynes, M. McGrath,
Tim Connors and Pat Hughes and Wm.
Joyce and the two Tom Connallys all
lived in the O’Neill settlement, and
the Berry brothers, (Back and Tom),
the Rosses, Smiths, E. Whiting and
the Balzores lived at Paddock.
We were all on a perfect equality
then, and lived chiefly on slapjacks
and black coffee. Mush and milk was
a luxury that the writer once traveled
seven miles for a mess. We were all
neighbors and knew everyone in the
county, and in fact everybody between
here and the Black Hills.
The first wedding in the county was
that of Tom Berry to Miss Smith, and
the first marriage here was a double
one in which Sam Wolf and Neil
Mcllreavey married E. J. Thompson’s
two girls. Joe Ryan, who now buys
hogs on the O’Neill market, was the
first white child born in the com
munity. And John Grady was the first
of the O’Neill colony to get married
though William Fallon was the first
of said colony to get married here.
There were many Indian scares, but
no serious trouble ever resulted there
from, as most of them originated in
the wildest canards. In those days all
the people in this settlement got their
firewood in the canyons of the Eagle
and its tributraies, and hauled it home
with ox teams. I was then “batching”
with my friend, Mr. Hughes, and he
and I yoked up a couple of ox teams
one day and started for the Eagle for
wood; but when we got within a few
miles of camp we saw men and teams
rushing homeward in the greatest
confusion. We advanced until we met
the flying wood haulers, who informed
us that five hundred Indian braves
were on the warpath, not more than
three miles behind. We prevailed on
some of them to calmly wait and in
vestigate matters before rushing back
to the settlement with alarming news
of dismay and uncertainty. We were
on the high table land and had a com
manding view of the brakes of the
Eagle valley for miles. But after
hours of patient investigation we
failed to see any signs of the red
skinned warriers on the warpath, tho
Simon Deal and Mary Mitchell pro
tested they saw hundreds of them and
that they were so close to them that
eyes. They drove back to the settle
they could see the whites of their
ment and reported that the Indians
were in hot pursuit, and that the
people with oxen were at their mercy
(they had horses). After waiting a
short while we pushed on slowly, and
» as we saw no Indians we cut down
and loaded our logs, spent that night
in camp, (a log house), and got back
home next day to find the whole set
tlement converted into a military
camp, with Major McGrath in com
mand.
The whole scare was as follows:
Tim Connors lost his oxen, as he
neglected to picket them out on grass.
When he found them they were a
couple of miles from the place he left
them and in an unfrequented quarter
having neither wood nor trail, and
when returning to camp over one of
the high hills, against the horizen, he
and his moving oxen were mistaken
for an army of savage warriors, and
the further the news went the greater
the number of Indians was said to be.
The first dance I attended in the
settlement there was only one girl in
attendance and four at the second,
and the fellow who could engage one
of them for a future set was in high
feather; some of them were said to be
engaged for eight sets ahead.
'Twas then that the big ranches
west of us started, and for the next
few years the cowboys were the social
lions of Holt county society. About
that time Cowboy Reed killed Sheriff
B. Kearns.
Most of you knew Cy Buck, who
died some time ago. He was then a
jolly young man, light hearted and full
of fun, and was engaged in freighting
to the upper Niobrara river ranches.
He attended a dance in O’Neill one
night at which he seemed perfectly
at home. A nice young girl, blooming
into womanhood, had just come out
from the east to her folks, and it was
in honor of her the dance was given.
There was a strange, tall and
peculiar acting man there, who ap
peared in O’Neill for the first time,
and seeing the headway Mr. Buck was
making with the young folks, he
walked up to him and asked to be
introduced to the newcomer, and gave
a fictitious name and stated he was
an up-country rancher. Mr. Buck did
as requested, and the stranger danced
several times with the newly arrived
young lady, to whom he was all
attention, seemingly to the satis
faction of her parents, who a few days
after were swearing vengence
against both the stranger and Buck
when it became noised around that the
“up-country rancher” was none other
than the notorious “Doc” Middleton,
horse thief and desperado.
Luke all new counties, we had a
scrap over the county organization,
officers and county seat, and one
pitched battle without any serious re
sult beyond a badly splintered wagon.
The Special County Clerk, W. H. H.
Inman, appointed by Governor G.
Garber, when he found he couldn’t
have everything his own way, left the
county and carried all the papers in
the case with him, so that in most
parts of the county the election was
let go by default, but some voted for
Paddock as county-seat, and it was
so declared as county seat with a full
set of officers The people of the
other parts of the county ignored the
whole business, and the controversy
finally resulted in the above men
tioned battle, in which B. Fallon was
leader on O’Neill side. To get the
tangle straightened out, the writer
rode a mule from here to Ponca to see
Judge Valentine who was at that time
holding court in Dixon county, but he
refused to act in the matter beyond
advising recognition of both officers
and seat of government and rec
tifying the wrong at the next
election.
When the fight was ended the
county seat was located in O’Neill,
and Sanford Parker, the first county
clerk, did business in a little 10x12
building of historic memory, which
stood where M. D. Long now offices
(1901), and it was also the first school
house ir^ these parts, and I think it
was in the same house that Dr.
Daggett first sold whiskey and drugs.
The settlement of all new counties
developes strange characters and
ours was no exception to the rule, as
we had several of which volumes
might be written but I will only
glance at a few. You all have heard
of Judge Malloy, who was moderately
well educated and witty beyond the
average wits, but unfortunately had
contracted a pronounced desire and
taste for strong drinks. When he
was county judge, H. M. Uttley and
G. M. Cleveland were arguing a case
before him. Uttley stopped short in
the middle of an eloquent period, and
Cleveland asked the cause of the short
stop, and Uttley said he was waiting
for the court to sober up. Then the
Judge opened his eyes and said in the
blandest manner possible that he was
not drunk but simply lost in ad
miration' of the learned Uttley’s
eloquence.
B. J. Capwell, who built the Bentley
place, ran a general store there for
years, and was prosecuted for selling
whiskey. Judge Malloy and Captain
Cassidy were brought in as unwilling
witnesses. C. C. McNish was district
attorney and J. D. Barnes, of Norfolk,
was district judge. Court was held in
the little cottage just north of the
Methodist Episcopal church, and when
the case was called and Malloy put on
the stand, McNish strove in vain to
get the old man to swear he drank
whiskey in Capwel’s. When Malloy
was closely pressed for a distinct an
swer, he said hiB people were plain
country farmers who simply taught
him the use and rule of the three R’s,
but that chemistry was not a part of
his education, and lacking the ripe and
varied experience, in drinking, of the
learned district attorney he could not
or would not swear that he drank any
whiskey there. (McNish, too, was
a free drinker), when Cassidy
was called to the witness
stand he said he didn’t like to testify,
but was told by McNish that it was
his bounden duty to do so and tell all
he knew, regardless of consequences,
to which he angrily replied that it
was an insult to his -manhood and an
indignity on clan Cassidy to even ask
him to become a spy and informer on
his friend and fellowman; and as to
him fearing consequences, he did not;
then, shaking his armless sleeve at the
prosecuting attorney, he shouted: “I
never feared, God, man nor the devil—
not even when in the forefront of the
enemy I fought “Johnny Rebs” for
four years on twenty southern battle
fields!” And he walked out of the
room. Then the prosecution collapsed
and Capwel kept open house that
night, with Judge Malloy and Captain
Cassidy holding the posts of honor.
Mr. Patrick Hagerty was O’Neill’s
first postmaster, as he was for a time
its entire population, but as the town
and settlement grew there were others
who thought they could better satisfy
the wantsf of the people and the
wishes of Uncle Sam than Mr.
Hagerty, and Dennis Daily, who or
ganized the first republican club in the
county, went after the office and got
it, too, but didn’t hold it very long,
as it was said he forged names to his
petition in order to get it. Hagerty
got a copy of Daly’s petition and when
examined it was signed by nearly
every name in the settlement. One
old farmer out north went after
Daily pretty hard for using his name
without authority, and when out of
breath by calling him all the names
he could think of, Daly turned around
and asked him if he had a patent
on his name.
right on his name, and cooly stated
that the signer of that name was an
emigrant on his way to the Black
Hills.
The next claimant for the office was
Doc Matthews, the present editor
(1901) of the Little Rock, Arkansas,
Republican, another gentleman of
shifty principals and easy morals. He
got it, and Hagerty sent two prom
inent citizens (then and now) of
O’Neill to look after his interests.
Either Matthews or Daily, or both,
warned the Washington detectives
that two dangerous cranks had left
O’Neill bound for the national capital,
with the desire and purpose of killing
the president and other government
officials. Their photos were sent.
The detectives lay in wait at the depot
till the O’Neill citizens landed, then
told them they were wanted at the
central station, and were conducting
them there to, when they met E. K.
Valentine, the big congressman from
the big Third Nebraska district, who
explained the situation to the satis
faction of all except the practical
joker, who was foiled. But Matthews
continued to write “P. M. of O’Neill”
after his name for a long time.
Patrick Hagerty was O’Neill’s first
resident, merchant and postmaster.
Brennan and McCafferty were the first
hardware and furniture dealers and
undertakers; Dr. Daggett was the
first druggist and Dr. Shore the first
physician. Murphy and Kearns and
John P. O’Donnell were the first hotel
keepers, Mike Tierney the first black
smith, C. C. Millard the first livery
man, John Mayberry and John
McBride and Darwin Sparks were the
first carpenters and builders; Joe Hall
was the first saloonist and Noah
Gwinn was the pioneer watch maker.
John Mann and W. Dahly were the first
harness makers. Mrs. N. Martin was
the first milliner and dressmaker.
Millard and Toohill were the first ex
clusive flour and feed dealers and the
Ellisses were the first butchers. The
Wilcox Brothers were the first lumber
dealers and Conrad Mitchell the first
exclusive coal dealer, and Martin
Farrell was pioneer drayman. Cheney
and Adams started the first bank and
G. W. Palmanteer the first National
bank. The Holt County Record was
O’Neill’s first newspaper and thefirst
west of Neligh. Miss Ellen O’Sullivan,
now Mrs. A. Barrett, was O’Neill’s
first school teacher. Kate Mann was
teacher when the school was graded
and John Bland was the first principal
of O’Neill’s High school, and S. J.
Weekes was its first graduate.
Father J. T. Smith was O’Neill’s
first Catholic priest. Rev. Bartley
Blain was the first Methodist prer.cher
and N. S. Lowry the first Presbyterian
minister, three of nature’s noble men.
William Nolkamper built Holt county’s
first grist mill and the Van
valkenberg Brothers started the
County’s first creamery and pressed
the County’s first baled hay. T. V.
Golden and Company were the
County’s first abstracters of land
titles and T. N. J. Hynes was O’Neill’s
and the County’s first notary public.
Ed Moffit, Sr., was the first justice of
the peace of the community.
James Ryan, Sr., was the first of
the O’Neill colony to go into the cattle
business and his son Joe was the first
exclusive hay buyer, tho Frank
Shoemaker bought some hay on the
O’Neill market before Joe started.
William Fallon was the first cattle
buyer and Frank Toohill was the pio
neer hog buyer and shipper. H. M.
Uttlfey was the first lawyer. Patrick
Brennan was the town’s first shoe
maker, tho M. M. Sullivan made some
shoes out in the country before
Brennan started up in town and John
Hunt was the pioneer plasterer and
cement man, and the writer of these
notes sowed the first blue grass in
Holt county, planted the first apple
trees and Jack pines in O’Neill and
was the first licensed embalmer in
northwestern Nebraska west of Fre
mont. John Smoot was O’Neill’s first
barber and the writer was the first
man he shaved, which was on the
night before 1 was married. Conrad
Reka introduced O’Neill’s first auto
mobile; Clark Hough opened the first
restaurant and John McBride was the
city’s first Mayor, though O. F. Biglin
was first chairman of the O’Neill
town council.
THE O’NEILL PUBLIC SCHOOL
(Continued from page one.)
mestic science, including sewing and
cookery, and a business course of two
years.
The boys and girls who graduate
from this institution are either
equipped with a college entrance card
and teachers’ certificate, or with skill
of hand and training of mind to earn
a livelihood and to make an intelli- '
gent home.
A high standard of morals is main
tained. The civic virtues of honesty,
truth, loyalty and self control, and
the business virtues of punctuality,
industry, obedience and courtesy are
insisted upon, and are secured to an
encouraging degree.
The school by maintaining Normal
Training and agriculture receives an
extra state apportionment annually
of $1,000.00 and, also, receives tuition
to the amount of $500.00.
The money invested in schools is
transmutted by divine alchemy of
teaching into the immortality of char
acter. It makes the community more
desirable to live in, it enhances the
value of property and is the richest
paying investment of money wisely
expended. The citizens of O’Neill
have proven their business astuteness
in the erection of such a school plant,
and the maintenance of a school of
this standard.
ST. MARY’S ACADEMY.
(Continued form page one.)
Teresa Ketterer, Pierce, Neb.
Sophia Valla, O’Neill, Neb.
William Abbott, Okreek, S. D.
Liguori Abbott, Okreek, S. D.
Maurice Bates, Gordon, Neb.
Edmund Flannigan, Burton, Neb.
Robert Neiter, Sheridan, Wyoming.
Joseph Peters, O’Neill, Neb.
Edmund Sattler, Norfolk, Neb.
George Ketterer, Pierce, Neb.
Maurice Ketterer, Pierce, Neb.
The Alumnae Association.
The Alumnae Association of St.
Mary’s Academy was organized June
11, 1908. The objection of the asso
ciation as embodied in its constitution
is “to promote friendly relations
among the Alumnae of the Academy
and to further the interests of Alma
Mater in such ways as may be con
sidered best.” The annual reunion
and banquet occurs the last Thursday
in June. Each graduate of St. Mary’s
is required to secure a first grade
county certificate before graduation
and, in consequence, eighty of the one
hundred twenty-four graduates who
have gone forth from St. Mary’s are en
gaged in the profession of teaching.
One is at present member of the
faculty of the O’Neill Public School.
Two are teaching in the Public schools
of Seattle, Washington. One is
a teacher in the Butte, Montana High
School. Four are teaching at At
kinson, Nebraska one in Sargent, Ne
braska, and so on to the end of the
list. One is an efficient member of
the corps of workers in the State
Superintendent’s office in Lincoln.
Several have entered higher institu
tions of learning, while eleven are
laboring in the vineyard of the Lord.
Each one has made a marked success
of her work and each has been true
to the teachings of her Alma Mater,
thus adding to the name and fame of
St. Mary’s.
The above is, in brief, the history
and description of the present St.
Mary’s Academy, which has risen
from the ashes of the old. Its rise,
its growth has been a steady, health
ful one. Solitary have been its be
quests, but it has spread its confines
through enthusiasm and sterling
worth. There has been no faltering
on the way, and it may be said, that
“St. Mary’s has but fairly begun as
the great educational institution for
which Almighty God has designed it.”
Special attention is called to the
many recipes published in this issue
of the Frontier. The recipes are
“true and tried” and many delicious
dainties will be found among them.
We have the privilege of including in
the list or.e for “Creamed Oysters,”
by Mrs. L. B. Messacar, formerly
Miss Fannie Millard. This recipe won
the $2.00 prize offered recently by the
Omaha Bee. Try it.
