The Frontier
•'! ’ J*
O’NEILL, NEBRASKA, THURSDAY, MARCH 9, 1933.
VOL. LIII.
No. 42
DUFFY IS CALLED
INTO BOETTCHER
KIDNAPPING CASE
Aid of Holt County Sheriff
Asked in Reaching the
Gang’s Hide-out.
Last Sunday night Sheriff Duffy re
ceived a message from Sheriff George
Carroll, of Cheyenne, Wyoming, ask
ing him to meet him at the early
morning train at O’Neill on Monday
morning. Pete was on hand as re
quested and Sheriff Carroll got off the
train accompanied by Dective O’Don
nell of the Denver police force and
State Sheriff of Wyoming.
They informed Pete that they were
on their way to Chamberlain South
Dakota, to take into custody one of the
men who had been implicated in the
kidnapping of Charles Boettcher II,
wealthy Denver broker, for whose safe
return his father had paid the kid
napers $60,000.00. The officers had
been at Lusk, Wyoming, when they got
word that one of the men they wanted
was at or near Chamberlain, South
Dakota, and as traffic was tied up in
the hills with a snow blockade they
came down here and drove over from
here.
Sheriff Duffy took the men in his
car and they left here for South Da
kota shortly before daybreak Monday
morning. They drove to Kimball,
South Dakota, near where Sanky, who
is said to be the head of the kidnap
ping gang, own a ranch. They went
from Kimball to Chamberlain and got
the sheriff of that county to accom
pany them and they then went to the
Sanky ranch. Sanky was not at home
but they placed the man who was
there under arrest. The man arrested
was Arthur Youngberg, 37, a former
Canadian railroader. He was taken
into custody by the officers and then
the building was thoroughly searched
and the officers say they found pos
itive evidence that it was the building
in which the young Denver man had
been held during his captivity. A
cigarette hole burned in a rug and his
finger prints liberally smeared on the
walls, were found as he described
them, and the strips of wood which
were used to hold the window shades
were all found as young Boettcher de
scribed them.
As Sanky was not at home a couple
of the officers took the prisoner to
Chamberlain where he was placed in
the county jail for safe keeping. After
making the arrest one of the officers
called Denver and notified the officers
of what they had found and three
more officers from Denver flew to
Mitchell, South Dakota, by airplane
and the sheriff there took them in a
car to Chamberlain. They reached
Mitchell about 7 o’clock in the evening,
and reached Chamberlain shortly be
fore midnight. On their arrival at
Chamberlain they went to the county
jail to interview Youngberg and found
him with his face all covered with
blood, and deep gashes in his throat
and neck, that he had made with an
old safety razor blade in an attempt
to commit suicide. A physician was
called and he was patched up and a
guard placed over him. Tuesday
morning Dective Captain William J.
Armstrong, of the Denver police force,
who was one of the officers who flew
to South Dakota from Denver and
Sheriff Duffy left Chamberlain
and brought the prisoner to this
city and he was here for a
few hours that aitemoon ana was tne
center of interest. Sheriff Duffy took
the detective and his prisoner to Grand
Island Tuesday afternoon where they
caught a night train for Denver, the
Sheriff returning home Wednesday.
The officers had intended taking
Youngberg to Denver by air but after
the attempt he made upon his life they
decided they had better stay closer to
the ground with him.
It is reported that Youngberg con
fessed his part in the kidnapping to
Detective Armstrong and said that he
was Boettcher’s guard during his con
finement.
There are a half a dozen officers still
in South Dakota waiting for the re
turn of Sanky. This morning’s dailies
carried a story to the effect that a
letter had been intercepted from him
and that he was then in Minneapolis.
The officers are of the opinion that he
is trying to dispose of the ransom
moned for fear that it was marked.
A couple of women and a man in
Denver are also under arrest and
charged with having been implicated
in the kidnapping.
A $25,000 reward ha.s been offered
for the arrest and conviction of the
kidnappers and Sheriff Duffy will
probably come in for a share of this
when the division is made.
Kidnapping has been one of the
easiest ways for gangesters to get
money in recent years, and the num
ber apprehended for their crimes have
■been very few. So it is hoped that
all of those involved in the Denver
case will be speedily apprehended and
convicted.
_______
BANKS OF STATE
CLOSE FOR 5 DAYS
Hope Held For Early Im
provement In Situation.
_
Last Saturday morning the banks of
this city, as well as the banks of every
other city in the state, received a
telegram from the state department of
banking announcing that Governor
Bryan had declared a three day bank
holiday and about 11 a. m. the O’Neill
banks closed in pursuance to the order.
The banking situation in other states
made necessary a bank holiday in this
state. The holiday applies to trust
companies and safe deposit companies
as well as banks. The state holiday
began Saturday forenoon and was to
end Tuesday evening.
Then on Monday President Roose
velt declared a national banking holi
day to extend to Thursday evening,
March 9, and unless a further holiday
is declared the banks will open for
business tomorrow morning.
President Roosevelt has called con
gress together in special session, to
consider banking legislation, and they
will convene at noon today.
Many men, promnient in the finan
cial and business life of the nation are
of the opinion that the bank holiday
means the end of the depression and
that when business starts on its even
tenor that the trend will always be
upward. Among the many measures
advocated for the future of banking
is that the government guarnatee the
deposits in banks. This, many believe,
would tend to restore confidence and
bring out of hoarding thousands of
dollars that have been salted away by
people since the depression started
some three years ago.
Secretary Woods of the State bank
ing department said Saturday morn
ing that the situation in Nebraska did
not warrant the holiday, but that the
situation in other states and in re
serve bank cities had forced it upon us.
After careful consideration of the
matter as presented to him by bank
ing authorities of the state, Governor
Bryan Saturday morning issued the
following proclamation:
Proclamation
Whereas an emergency in the bank
ing situation exists that is nationwide
in its scope and
WTiereas it is necessary to protect
all business and financial institutions
in Nebraska against conditions which
have developed thru the forced sus
pension by proclamation of banks in
other states.
Now therefore I, Charles W. Bryan,
governor of Nebraska hereby proclaim
Saturday, March 4, Monday, March 6,
and Tuesday, March 7 legal holidays,
during which time it shall be man
datory that the operation of all banks
state and national, trust companies,
safe deposit companies and affiliated
institutions shall be suspended.
This order effective at once.
CHARLES W. BRYAN,
Governor.
Secretary Woods said that it should
be emphasized that without troubles
in other sections of the country and
without moratoriums affecting the city
correspondents of Nebraska banks,
this proclamation would have been un
necessary.
Inability of Nebraska banks to re
ceive support from their reserve
agencies in the larger cities, because
of holidays or restrictions on with
drawals which are general over the
east, made action in Nebraska neces
sary. The pressure of the situation
was beginning to be felt in Omaha,
Lincoln, and other Nebraska cities.
It will be noted that the proclama
tion of the governor includes all state
and national banks, trust companies,
safe deposit companies and affiliated
instituations. Similar proclamations
by governors have been issued in about
thirty states. The holiday prevails
over all the Pacific coast, many cen
tral states, and is general from Chi
cago east. In some of the states the
rule applies only to the percentage of
withdrawals, while in others the holi
day is complete.
Action in Nebraska was determined
after a conference of Nebraska bank
ers, important bank patrons and rep
resentatives of the governor. The
course as announced in the governor’s
proclamation was agreed upon after a
long Friday night session in Lincoln
and the proclamation issued by the
governor reached the newspapers at
7 a. m. Saturday.
State officials and leading bankers
expressed the belief that the Nebraska
situation will be ironed out quickly
and that a minimum of inconvenience
will result.
SENATOR HOWELL
STILL SERIOUSLY ILL
Senator R. B. Howell, of Nebraska,
is seriously ill in the Walter Reed
hospital at Washington, D. C., suf
fering from an attack of pneumonia.
AUGUST TRSHYNSKI
August Troshynski, one of the pion
eers of this county, died at his home
four and a half miles north of Emmpt.
about 11 a. m. last Tuesday morning
after an illness of several months, at
the age of 79 years, seven months and
seven days. The funeral was held this
morning from the Catholic church at
Emmet, Rev M. F. Byrne officiating
and interment in Calvary cemetery,
this city.
Deceased was born at Scrotz, Ger
many, on July 30, 1853. He grew to
manhood in his native land and then
came to America and located in In
diana where he remained for a few
years and then came to this county
the spring of 1881. After his arrival
here he took a homestead north of Em
met, where, with the exception of six
years that he lived in this city and two
years at Clearwater, he had made his
home up to the time of his death.
On November 3, 1886, he was united
in marriage to Miss Leopoltine Stes
kal at Atkinson, Nebraska. To this
union eleven children were born, ten
of whom are living, seven sons and
three daughters who, with their moth,
er are left to mourn the death of a
kind and loving husband and father.
The children are: Sister Mary Jolem/v*
O’Neill; John J., August A., Thomas
T., Henry L., William V., Daniel G.,
Michael A. and Helen K. of Atkinson,
and sister Mary Antonella, of Eggert
ville, New York.
August Troshynski was a good cit
izen and one of this county’s most suc
cessful farmers. He came to this
county when it was a barren plain and
started in to make a home for himself
and his loved ones in the land of his
adoption. He endured all the hard
ships and privations of the early
pioneers and success crowned his
efforts and his last years were passed
in ease and comfort surrounded by his
loved ones and with the respect and
love of his neighbors and friends. The
many friends of the family extend
their sympathy to the family in their
hour of sorrow.
The funeral this morning was very
largely atended, old time settlers from
various parts of the county being in
attendance to pay their last respects
to their departed friend. Seven of the
stalwart sons of the deceased acted as
pallbearers.
THEIVES STEAL GASOLINE
AND AUTO ACCESSORIES
There has been a lot of petty theiv
ing going on in this city during the
past week. Last Thursday evening,
during a party at the residence of Dr.
and Mrs. Burgess, a lot of the cars of
their guests, that were parked around
the house, were opened and property
taken from the cars. Most of the
cars had all the gasoline drained from
them and a robe was taken from the
car of Dr. Brown and one from the
car of H. J. Birmingham. Last Sat
urday evening they took the heater
from the car of Arthut Ryan, that
was parked in his garage, and took a
robe and a pair of horse blankets
from the barn of George McNally.
Will Martin lost all the gas out of his
car and two blankets. The cars of
C. D. Mullen and P. C. Donohoe were
also drained while standing in their
garages and a rim and spare tire was
storen from the car of J. P. Gallagher.
There has been so much of this pilfer
ing going on that it has become a
nuisance and drastic measures of re
prisal will be taken by any one who
catches any one pilfering from cars or
attempting to drain them.
Several of the local lovers of basket
ball went over to Butte last Friday
and Saturday nights to host the Card
inal basket ball team in their contest
for the champion ship of this district.
O’Neill people say that in the final
game between Niobrara and St. Mary’s
that the latter team had most of the
crowd boosting for them and their
victory was a popular one.
I
BRIEFLY STATED
"
H. H. Haffner was up from Norfolk
last Sunday.
L. C. Cain went to Omaha the first
part of the week to enter a hospital
for treatment.
Mrs. John Lydon and daughter are
spending the week visiting relatives
at Plainview.
Mr. and Mrs. Glenn Hough visited
relatives and friends at Norfolk the
latter part of last week.
Mrs. George Agnes entertained four
couples with a bridge party at her
home last Sunday evening.
Ervin Sanders went down to Omaha
last Wednesday morning where he
will enter the University Hospital for
medical treatment.
A new front is bing placed in the
Mellor building, in preparation for the
new hardware store which will be
opened therein in a few weeks.
Mrs. C. F. McKenna entertained the
Martez Club last Tuesday evening.
Mrs. John McManus, Mrs. F. N. Cron
in and Mrs. Ira Moss were the even
ing’s prize winners.
It is reported that one of the large
chain stores of the country are dicker
ing for the rental of the Gilligan
building with the intention of estab
lishing a 5, 10, 25 and $1.00 store.
Howard Bauman, who went to
Lincoln last week to enter the Veter
an’s Hospital for treatment expects to
have an operation for the removal of
his tonsils some time within the next
few days.
Mr. and Mrs. D. H. Cronin enter
tained a few friends with a pinochle
party at their home last Sunday even
ing. Mr. and Mrs. Harry Reardon
won first prize while Dr. and Mrs.
Brown took the booby prize.
Mr. and Mrs. Dean Streeter were
called to Brunswick, Nebr., last Fri
day, due the illness of Mr. Streeter’s
father. They returned home Tuesday
morning. Mr. Streeter reports that
his father’s condition has improved.
G. A. Herrick, of Waterbury, Nebr.,
passed away at his home Sunday,
March 5th. He was well known to
many O’Neill people, having visited
frequently at the home of his daughter
Mrs. Elmer Surber, a former resident
here, now living at Lincoln, Nebraska.
Last week R. M. Sauers purchased
the H. H. Haffner residence on west
Douglas street. As Mr. Sauers owns
the home in which he lives, the Haffner
home was purchased as an investment
as he has faith in the future advance
ment and prosperity of this city and
county.
The Emmet Skillet Sisters Club met
at the Wayman home last Thursday
afternoon with all members present
and four visitors. The main topic was
making cheese. Mrs. Ben Wayman
made a two pound cheese which will
be sampled at the next meeting. Love
ly refreshments were served.
The Tilden Bakery has rented the
Naylor building, just east of Melvin’s
store, and will open a store therein
on March 15th for the sale of their
bakery goods. They operate a large
bakery at Tilden and will do the bak
ing there and deliver their products to
the store here every morning.
Ben Harty has rented the Zimmer
man building on east Douglas street
and will move his laundry there about
the middle of the month. Mr. Harty
informs us that he has purchased some
new and modern machinery which will
be installed in the new building and
when he gets started up in his new
location will have as well equipped a
laundry as there is in this section of
the 3tate.
This section was visited with a nice
wet snow the latter part of last wrcek.
About six inches of snow fell, a lot of
it last Saturday melting as it fell.
Weather Observer Bowen says that
there was seventy hundreth inches
of moisture as a result of the snow.
West of here the snow was much
heavier, snow to the depth of several
feet falling in certain parts of Wyom
ing and western South Dakota. Farm
ers say the snow fall here will be of
much benefit to fall grains and it will
put the ground in fairly good shape
for spring planting.
CHICAGO MAYOR DIES
Mayor Anton J. Cerniak, who was
shot at Miami, Florida, some three
weeks ago by Giuseppe Zangara, while
the latter was attempting to assassin
ate President-elect Roosevelt, died at
Miami last Monday morning.
Ten hours after the death of Cer
mak Zangara had been indicted by
the grand jury for the first degree
murder of Mayor Cermak.
ST. MARY’S TEAM
WINS TOURNAMENT
Cardinals to Play Oakdale
at Norfolk Next Week.
The basket ball conference games
for this district were played at Butte
last Friday and Saturday and at the
end of the games the St. Mary’s Car
dinals emerged with the conference
championship.
On Friday evening they played
Bristow and emerged victorious with
a score of 28 to 11.
On Saturday afternoon they played
Lynch and were again victorious with
a score of 37 to 12.
The finals were played Saturday
night and St. Mary’s was pitted
against Niobrara. It was a nip and
tuck game. At the start the boys
from O'Neill seemed to be scared and
at the end of the first quarter they
seemed to be outclassed, but shortly
after the opening of the second quart
er they regained their courage and
shot basket after basket until they had
secured a good lead, which they main
tained to the end, the game ending
with a score of 29 to 26 in favor of
St. Mary’s.
Next week they go to Norfolk where
they will play Oakdale and the win
ners of this battle will represent this
section of the state at the annual
tournament at Lincoln. Oakdale has
a good strong team and they have not
been defeated for the past three years,
but the members of the Cardinals are
of the opinion that the Antelope
county team will not have an unde
feated record after the tangle with the
Cardinals next week.
At the conclusion of the games a
conference team was selected and the
St. Mary’s team won two members on
this team. Bennet Grady was the con
ference choice for center and Frances
Soukup was the conference choice for
forward on the all star team. On the
second conference team Gene Gallagher
of St. Mary’s was selected to the
'guard position.
BIRTHDAY PARTY
Little Shirley Mae Claussen cele
brated her sixth birtday Saturday,
March 4, 1933, at the home of her
parents, Mr. and Mrs. Otto Claussen,
by inviting 25 of her little friends and
school mates to celebrate with her.
They played games and enjoyed
themselves for several hours, after
which she gave them all a treat, then
the birthday cake was brought out
and lit, and her little friends all joined
in by singing happy birthday to Shir
ley Mae. The cake was then cut and
all were given a piece. They are all
wishing Shirley Mae many more
happy birthday’s.
r iinm nunici nuni^r.11
The farm home on the farm of Levi
Hull, one and a half miles west of the
Midway garage, burned to the ground
last Wednesday afternoon. Earl Kuhns
had been living on the place and had
moved out that morning and Mr. Hull
had intended moving into the house
today. At the time of the fire, Mr.
Hull was in this city. It is not known
how the fire started. The other build
ings on the place were saved. The
house was partly covered by insurance.
The James Moore public sale, which
was to have been held on March 14th,
has been postponed until March 21st.
The Mrs. George Simpson sale, which
was to have been held next Thursday,
has been postponed for one week, until
Thursday, March 23rd.
NEW ELEVATOR IS
NEARING COMPLETION
E. D. Leach, whose elevator, which
was located near the Northwestern
depot, and which was destroyed by
fire on the 31st day of last December,
is having a new elevator erected on the
Burlington Tracks. Work was com
menced on the new elevator a week
ago last Saturday and last Saturday
the building was so far advanced that
a load of corn was placed therein. The
new building is 18x28 with 18 foot
posts. E. D. Cornelieus, local carpent3
er, had the contract for the erection
of the building.
FARMERS’ HOLIDAY
ASS’N IS ORGANIZED
IN HOLT COUNTY
Organization Formed at a
Meeting Held in District
Court Room Tuesday.
Memories of the early nineties were
brought vividly to mind last Tuesday
afternoon at the court house while we
listened to an address delivered by a
Mr. Green of Madison county, an or
ganizer for the Farmers Holiday As
sociation, who delivered an address of
a couple of hours to a crowd of farm
ers that filled the court room, prelim
inary to the organization of a county
unit of the organization.
Anton Soukup, of Page, was chair
man of the meeting and introduced the
speaker.
Memories of the early days were
brought to mind when Mr. Green
mentioned the crime of ’73, which in
the nineties was claimed to be respons
ible for all the ills that the people
were then suffering from and the
times then were even worse than they
ure today. In the old days they
claimed that it would be impossible
to have any prosperity in this country
without the remonization of silver bat
we all know now that since that time
we have had more prosperous times
than ever before seen in this country,
or any other.
During the course of his address he
cited the various acts of the different
administrations which he claimed had
led to the final climax and the hard
times which we are suffering from to
day. As the orators of old he laid
the blame for all our ills upon the
bankers of Wall street. He thought
that a remedy would be for the gov
ernment to issue bonds to the value of
several million dollars and then issue
paper money to the amount of the
bonds and put the money in circulation.
This he thought would quickly produce
prosperous times. As the govern
ment is now considering the issuance
of script it might be that this system
will be given a trial.
Mr. Green was given careful atten
tion throughout his address and was
liberally applauded.
Many of the statements he made
would be approved by every citizen
of the state. There is no question but
what the farmers of Nebraska, as well
as every other state in the union, will
have to receive higher prices for their
products if they make both ends meet.
For several years the farmers of the
west have advocated higher prices for
farm products but many in the manu
facturing states of the east were of
the opinion that the farmers could be
left to shift for themselves but to
protect the large manufacturing cent
ers. Now they realize that if the
farmers are not prosperous no one is
and we are looking forward to a
brighter future for the farmers of the
nation.
I he speaker saul that it was the aim
of their membership to settle all dif
ficulties of their members, as well as
others, by arbitration and not by sub
mitting them to the courts of the state.
Arbitration is a good way to settle
differences of opinion, if both sides
will submit to arbitration and there is
nothing compulsory about it. When
force is used then they infringe on
a man’s constitutional rights and
violate the laws of the state. He
stated that the people were the law.
They are to a certain extent. That is
the people elect the men who make the
laws and they are to be obeyed and
, enforced until the people want them
changed when they will elect men for
the lawmaking positions that will vote
to change the laws of the state. In
j this way we will have law observance
and the people will rule.
At the conclusion of the address a
county organization was formed by
the election of Fred Richter, of Op
portunity, as chaiman and Chris. Sor
enson, secretary treasurer. The fol
lowing were elected as members of
the grievance committee: Fred Rich
ter, James Van Every, O’Neill; Emil
Block, Walnut; Roy Bain, O’Neill and
Bob Tomlinson, Opportunity.
THE BRIDGE TOURNAMENT
At the bridge tournament at the
Golden Hotel last Monday night Mrs.
P. B. Harty and Mrs. C. F. McKenna
, were the winners on one side and Roy
Griffin and J. D. Cronin the winners on
the other side. The tournament con
tinues to hold the attention of all the
lovers of the game, in fact seems to
become more popular as the tourna
ment continues.