Nebraska Newspapers

    K,b* State Hiitorlcal Society
The Frontier
~ !■" —VU':-"- - - - . '
VOL. LVI r^T O’NEILL, NEBRASKA, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 1936. No. 39
TWO SEEK REFUGE
AT FARMS IN WORST
BLIZZARD IN YEARS
Heavy Snow And High Wind 8tops
Traffic. Trains Are Late And
Drifts Block Most Roads.
Starting last Friday the worst
storm that the middle west has
known since the eighties swept
over several middle western states,
tying up railroads, bus lines and
in many places transportation in
cities.
It started snowing Thursday
night and snowed at intervals most
of Friday. That afternoon it was
reported that a severe blizzard was
headed this way and early in the
afternoon the pupils were sent
home from the public school and
St. Mary’s academy. A real stiff
wind, of blizzard proportions,
started in early in tho afternoon
and rapidly made roads and streets
impassible, and tied up traffic in
the city as well as on all highways
leading into town.
Mrs. Florence Bergstrom, who
drives the Chambers mail, made
her usual trip last Friday morning
and was on her way home and got
as far north as William Ermer s.
By that time In tho afternoon the
storm became so bad that she de
cided to stay there. Her failure to
retui’n caused great uneasiness on
the part of her relatives, who did
not learn where she was until Mon
day morning. Sunday a party
started out from here to try and
locate her but could get only a
couple of mile south of town when
they had to return on account of
^ impassible drifts.
Gone Harty made a trip to Em
met with laundry last Friday after
noon. It was about 5:30 when he
left there for home. When a few
miles west of towu -the clutch on
his car burned out and ho was com
pelled to stay at Clarence Way
man’s during the night. As there
was no phone there his parents
here were greatly worried on. ac
y count of his non-arrival, hut it. was
' impossible to get out on the west
highway. Saturday morning he
walked to Mrs. Gray’s where he
telephoned bis folks of Mb safety.
Saturday morning it was 25 be
low zero here with a brisk wind
blowing from the, northwest and
the warmest it got during the day
was 14 below zero, and it drifted
most of the day.
The storm abated during the
night and Sunday morning broke
bright and clear with 22 degrees
below zero being recorded and it
remained below zero during the en
tire day, the highest point reached
by the thermometer being 5 degrees
below zero. It warmed up a little
Monday and crews were busy on
the main highways trying to get
them open for traffiic, and the
highways east and west were fin
ally opened for traffic Monday
afternoon.
Railroads were also blocked. The
Northwestern passenger train, due
here at 11:07 Saturday night
reached this city about 2:30 Sunday
afternoon, after a snow plow had
gone east from Long Pine, On
the Burlington the first passenger
train to reach here from Sioux City
since last Thursday night arrived
here Tuesday night. A snow plow
left Sioux City Sunday morning
and reached, this city at 0:30 Tues
day morning. They returned to
Sioux City and tho passenger came
thru nearly on time that evening,
and trains have been running near
ly on time since then. Since Mon
day night Northwestern trains
have been running about on time.
Highway 281 was blocked with
dinfts running from four to eight
feet deep. Men from here and a
bunch from Chambers opened the
highway from here to Chambers
Tuesday morning and it was the
first communication with that vil
lage since last Friday. Highway
281 south of Chambers was still
I blocked late Wednesday afternoon
* as several cars that attempted to
go south were compelled to turn
back, after they had gone as far
as Bartlett.
Rural mail carriers out of here
have been making part of their
routes about every day. They fol
low the main highway north as far
as Midway and there they are met
by some who manage to reach the
highway on horseback, and they
take the mail for their neighbors
and distribute it on the way back.
Mr. Ryan, on Route one, uses his
car south as far as Shoemakers and
then takes a horse and delivers the
rest of the mail on the south end
of his route.
If there is no more snow and. no
more drifting it will take at least
ten days to open up the east and
west i-oads in the county and many
of the county roads running north
and south arc blocked with eight
and ten feet of snow.
This particular section of the
state has suffered the severest
weather it has known probably
since the eighties. For six straight
days, from Feb, 4 to Feb. 9, 288
hours, the thermometer never went
above zero, the closest being on
Feb. 5 and 6 when it registered 1
degree below. The warmest on
Saturday, Feb. 8, was 14 below.
Wednesday night made the 24th
consecutive night that the therm
ometer registered below zero. For
the past thirty nights, since Jan.
16, it has registered below zero on
every night except two, Jan. 17,
when it was 6 above and Jan. 21,
when it was 1 above.
If the old timers want to beat
that record we are of the opinion
they will have to hunt a long, long
time. In Omaha all records have
been broken. The only record that
they have that anyway approaches
the severity of the past three weeks
was in 1884, and according to the
record this winter has set that old
record in the background.
Jan. 16 . 13 —7
Jan. 17 . 9 5
Jan. 18 . 6 —12
| Jan. 19 . 2 —10
Jan. 20 _ 15 —14
i Jan. 21.. 33 1
Jan. 22 ._. 33 —18
Jan. 23 . 9 —17
Jan. 24 . 9 —7
Jan. 25 . —4 —17
Jan. 26 _ 4 —19
Jan. 27 . 7 —22
Jan. 28 . 12 —2
Jan. 29 . 14 —16
Jan. 30 .i. 10 —10
Jan. 81 . 12 —9
Feb. 1 . 10 —13
Feb. 2 . 8 —4 .06
Feb. 3 . 10 —7 .39
Feb. 4 .- —4 —22
Feb. 17 ..—l —21
Feb. 6 ^.. —1 —28 .16
Feb. 7 . . —10 —14 .13
Feb. 8 —14 —25
Feb. 9 . —5 - 22
Feb. 10 .. 9 —19
Feb. 11 4 —13
Feb. 12 ... . —1 —15 .06
Feb. 13 _ ... —14
The above record of the moisture
is complete only from Jan. 31 to
date, and does not include the snow
of Thursday, Feb. 13, as it was still
snowing as this is written.
Thinks We Need More
Snow And Less Cold To
Match Winter of 1915
George Syfie came in from Phoe
nix Tuesday. He has been a resident
of that part of the county for over
thirty years and says that this is
the second hardest winter that he
has encountered during his resid
ence here. He says that the winter
of 1914-15 there was more snow on
the ground than there is now, but
that it was not near as cold as it
has been the past three weeks.
When George came in Tuesday he
said he walked part of the way and
rode in r wagon part of the way
over prairies, meadows and corn
fields, as the roads in that section
are impassible.
1936 Pasture Contest
Is Open To Farmers
Nebraska’s 1936pasture improve
ment contest, in which $1,500 in
prizes go to winners, was announc
ed here today by Agricultural Ag
ent F. M. Reece. All Holt county
farmers are eligible to participate.
Again designed to show the way
to better pasture and grazing land
mangement, the 193G contest is
sponsored by the Nebraska College
of Agriculture, the Agricultural
College Extension Service, the Om
aha Chamber of Commerce, Ne
braska Crop Growers’ Association
and the Nebraska Livestock Breed
ers’ Association.
A state committee composed of
P. H. Stewart, Elvin F. Frolik, F.
D. Keim, W. W. Derrick, M. N.
Lawritson, Val Kuska and D. L.
Gross is to act in an advisory cap
' acity on the contest details and
procedure. Stewart is chairman
of the group. Frolik will supervise
the state contest for the committee.
Pasture committees will be set
!up in each county which will have
charge of all local details. The
county agricultural agent in each
instance will serve as secretary of
the group.
Trophies, ribbons and cash prizes
go to the winners. The ten highest
ranking contestants in the state get
i cash awards of $50, $40, $30, $20,
$10, and five prizes of five dollars
each. A silver trophy goes to the
highest ranking contestant in each
county finishing ten or more con
testants. A special trophy goes to
the Nebraska pasture champion.
Counties finishing 10 or more con
testants get additional cash awards.
Holt county farmers have until
April 1 to file their entry in the
statewide contest. The 1936 con
i test is not divided into three div
isions as last year but rather all
participants compete in one class.
Winners will be named on the basis
of their pasture pi*ogram and de
tailed plans submitted, a report of
pasture operations and mangement
and actual results of their pasture
programs.
Last year John Kollman of Stu
art placed second in the permanent
pasture division. Entry blanks will
be in the hands of Agricultural
Agent F. M. Reece soon.
I ONGRESS I
AS SEEN .
BY A NEBRASKAN
By Karl Stefan
The government machinery is
working at high speed to get ready
to pay the so called soldiers bonus.
Over three million application
forms have been placed in the mail
and it will take 8,000 additional
employees by the. Veterans admin
istration and treasury department
to handle this rush job. One guess
is that it will be about July 1, be
fore the bonus will reach the vet
erans because of the interest cal
culations necessary.
Practically all of the bills on gen
j eral consent calendar which would
! grant the Indians permission to go
to the Court of Claims to seek jus
tice were objected to yesterday by
a determined bloc of Congressmen
•who want all of these bills off the
calendar because of a new ruling by
the Comptroller General. This bloc
was successful in their campaign,
and many of these bills which af
fect Indians in Nebraska will have
to be started all over again.
There seems to be a determined
effort on the part of many mem
bers to cut ruthless appropriations.
This was shown yesterday when
the House defeated a bill backed by
California boosters to invite for
eign countries to attend the open
ing of the Boulder Dam. The bill
in question carried no appropria
tion. Merely an invitation to the
foreign countries to come over here
and help celebrate the opening of
the big dam, but the debate dis
closed that another bill was all
ready to follow' that bill and it
asked for about three million dol
lars to entertain these foreigners
when they did come over. Those
opposing the bill made it plain that
if the foreign countries would pay
the United States w'hat they owed
us in war debts, they would be
more friendly. The fact that the
government has already spent mil
lions of dollars for expositions in
San Francisco, San Diego and Los
Angeles also helped to defeat this
bill. -
The House voted fuvorably yes
terday to appropriate forty million
dollars to provide loans for farm
ers for seed, during the year 1936.
The Senate bill is for sixty million
dollars. Those oposing this bill
stated that it cost about five mil
lion dollars a year to run the set-up
but those who said that the seed
loans must be made immediately
showed that a large amount of this
money is being paid back, and they
predicted that practically all of it
would be paid back and the govern
ment would not be out very much.
Many farmers have written that
they are unable to pay their feed
and seed loans but the committee
and the administration is not al
lowing the various relief bills to
come up. Some of these bills call
for the repayment of these feed and
seed loans in kind bushel for bush
el. The farmers borrowed at a
time when the seed was very high
and they have to pay back when
the grain is comparatively low.
| They would be glad to pay back
. bushel for bushel in kind. The
I forty million dollar feed and seed
loan bill passed the house.
’
The young men and women who
work for the government here say
they are having a hard time of it.
They say they can’t make both
ends meet, altho they receive sal
aries of around twelve hundred
Wc are putting out
only 4 pages this week
as our feature pages
have not arrived and
we have word they
will not be here. You
will get eight pages
next week if trains
can get thru. The in
stallment of the story
for this week will ap
pear next week.
1935 CORN-HOG CONTRACTS
WILL BE COMPLETED
County Agricultural Agent F. M.
Reece notified this office late this
afternoon that he had been instruc
ted from Lincoln to complete the
1936 corn-hog contracts and send
them in. Tliis means that the
farmers of the country will receive
the balance coming to them on
their 1936 corn-hog contracts with
in a short time.
Barber Unable To Work
Due To Frozen Hands
While coming ijp to work last
Saturday morning Dean Streetei
froze the fingors on both hands
badly, which will cause him to re
frain from attending to his duties
in his barber shop for ten days or
two weeks. Dean was carrying a
coal oil can in one hand and with
the other was holding his coat col
lar closed and protecting his face
against the frigid blasts from the
northwest. After reaching the
shop he noticed that his hands were
frozen and first aid was administer
ed. After trying to get rid of the
frost bite for a couple of hours he
finally decided to go home and he
has remained there since, nursing
[badly swollen fingers.
County’s Roads An*
Completely Blocked By
Huge Drifts of Snow
Norb Uhl, W. J. Biglin and Leo
Mullen drove down to Inman Wed
nesday afternoon for the body of
George Geary, who died at his
home six miles south of Inman
yesterday morning. The boys drove
to within two miles of the Geary
home where they were met by
some neighbors, driving a four
horse team and sled with the body
of Mr. Geary. They say all roads
except highway 20 are impassible
and that you have to drive thru
fences, over meadows and pastures
in order to get anywhere and then
had to shovel out several times be
fore they got back. Bill and Leo
say that Norb is a fine snow shovel
er, but he had experience in shovel
ing his way from Grand Island to
O’Neill last week.
dollars a year. Every department
has it’s society which holds weekly
social functions and these young
men and women say that they have
to dress up to standard and huve to
pay back their social obligations
which costs them a lot of money.
One young man who is going back
to a farm in Nebraska, says he can
live better at home on the farm for
a few dollars a month than he can
in Washington for $1,200 a year.
Another new bill which will be
introduced with a view of helping
cooperative creameries, is one to
eliminate the three cent charge on
each check which drivers deliver to
fanners from whom they collect
milk and cream. The postofiice de
partment rule is that in case these
creameries have their independent
drivers deliver checks with any
written information thereon they
must pay three cents for each
check. One Iowa Congressman
tells us that this has already cost
one of his small creameries $2,000
a year.
There is every indication that if
the new soil erosion farm program
goes thru both houses and becomes
a law there will be no delay in
carrying out this program. In
dications are that the agriculture
department has anticipated the
success of it’s program, by making
advance preparations. One girl
who works in the dairjc division of
the AAA says that during the past
week there has been much activity
in her department. All week, she
says, they have been installing new
telephones and new desks.
DEATH TAKES ONE
MORE OF COUNTY’S
EARLY PIONEERS
—
George Geary Dies At 82 Years,
On His Original Homestead
Located South of Inman.
George Geary, one of the pioneer
residents of Inman township, died
at his home six miles south of In
man last Wednesday morning, after
an illness of several weeks of ail
ments due to old age, at the ad
vanced age of 82 years. The date
of the funeral has not been set but
he will be buried in the Inman
cemetery as soon as the weather
moderates and the roads are pass
able.
Deceased was born in England
and came to America when a young
man and shortly thereafter came to
Nebraska. He located in Washing
ton county, Nebraska, and came to
Holt county in 1884 and took a
homestead six miles south of In
man where he lived up to the time
of his death. He leaves his wife
and four children, one daughter,
Jessie Hartigan, and three sons, Cal,
R. B. and G.H. Geary, all of Inman,
to mourn the passing of a kind and
affectionate husband and. father.
Holt County Schools
Take Part In High
way Safety Campaign
By County Superintendent
We are pleased to know that
, Governor Cochran is promoting a
drive on highwuy safety. All of
our civic organizations and schools
have been asked to contribute their
support to this all important enter,
prise. The State of Nebraska has
already shown a large decrease in
car accidents, despite unfavorable
weather conditions.
Wc spend large sums of money
educating our children ami taking
precautions in regard to their
health, yet little money is spent to
educate them against some of the
dangers that they must encounter.
I am having a large number of
safety posters printed and each
school will be furnished with one
poster. Safety rules will be printed
on each poster and posters are to
be placed in a conspicious place.
If we are to minimize read accid
ents, we must first do away with
the cause. Parents can lend us
their assistance in cautioning child
ren of some the the dangers of the
road.
O’Neill PC A Meeting
Indefinitely Postponed
Due to the severe cold weather,
and impassable condition of the
roads, it has been found advisable
to postpone the Annual Meeting of
the stockholders of the O’Neill
Production Credit association which
was scheduled for Feb. 12th, until
a later date. A date for the post
poned meeting lias not yet been set,
but will be announced later.
James W. Rooney, Sec. Treas.
Meat Dealer’s Course
In an effort to stimulate meat
consumption in Nebraska and sur
rounding states by improvement
of retailing tile product, the third
annual short course for retail meat
dealers of Nebraska will be held at
tho college of agriculture in Lin
coln, Feb. 24 and 25.
Agricultural Agent F. M. Reece
was notified of the plans for the
| event this week by Prof. Wm. J.
Loeffel, prominent meats authority
at the college of agriculture who is
arranging the short course. All
Holt county retail meat dealers are
I being urged to attend.
Among the topics to be discussed
are methods of selling slow mov
ing cuts, new meat cuts and how
! to make them, Belling meat by
; telephone, preventing meat shrink
; age, utilization of waste products
I from the small retail shop, and
I means of conducting meat cutting
! tests.
-—->
Murray-Breiner
William Murray, of O’Neill, and
Miss Yvonne Breiner, of Atkinson,
were united in marriage at Emmet
last Thursday morning, Rev. M. F.
j Byrne officiating, in the presence
of a few of the relatives and im
mediate friends of the contracting
parties.
These young people are members
| of prominent pioneer families of
the county and have a host of
j friends who wish them a long and
I happy life on the matrimonial seas.
Hospital Notes
Born to Mr. and Mrs. Harold
Shaw, of Atkinson, Sunday, Feb. 9,
at 8 a. m., a son, weighing seven
and one-half pounds. Named War
ren Richard. All doing fine.
Mrs. Maurice Cavanaugh went
to her home Sunday evening Feb. 9.
Miss Edith Castleman was brot
in Sunday evening, Feb. 9, suffer
ing from a severe throat infection.
She is much better at present.
Martin Wright, of Ewing, was
brot in Tuesday afternon with a
severe heart attack. He gave no
response to treatment and died a
few hours later.
People Caught Out In The
Cold Suffer of Frost Bite
Another blizzard reached here
about 2 o’clock Thursday afternoon.
Some snow and a hard wind from
the north soon made all roads im
passible. This (Friday) morning it
was 2G degrees below zero. No
trains in or out of O'Neill last
night, no busses running and all
roads are blocked.
Charles Adams, about 65, repre
senting a Lincoln firm, left O’Neill
about 1:30 yesterday afternoon for
Spencer. When about 12 miles
north he found the roads impassible
and started back. He had not
gone very far when he tore the rear
end out of his car and he was left
helpless on the road. About 3:30
John Dailey and Joe Connolly came
along, on their return home from a
trip to Butte and Spencer, and they
helped him to the home of Emil
Noelle, on the old Wettlauffer
place about 10 miles north. Adams
was badly chilled and had to have
help to get to the house. Medical
| aid was summoned from this city
and Dr. Brown tried to make the
trip out there, but was forced to
abandon it on account of the drift
ed roads. Reports from there this
morning arc to the effect that Mr.
Adams is all right.
John Dailey and Joe Connolly
were forced to put up for the night
at the Matthews home, just this
side of Noelle’s and John is re
ported to be walking in this morn
ing. Both he and Connolly suffer
ed frosted cheeks and fingers.
All three snow plows, attached
to the local state garage, are stuck
in snow drifts, north, east and
south of town and two more plows
are coming down from Ainsworth
and are expected here early this
afternoon.
Deputy Sheriff Bergstrom had
both of his legs frosted while at
tempting to serve papers in the
Amelia vicinity the first of the
week. He was using u horse to
get over the enow covered ground.
—
1 Will Form Townsend
Club In This City
John Gaughenbnugh, who is one
of the active leaders of the Town
send old age pension advocates in
the city, says they arc going to
organize a club in this city and he
says that the number of members
they get will be a surprise to the
average citizen. He says they are
going to have Terry Carpenter,
who has filed for the democratic
nomination for United States Sen
ator and who has endorsed the
Townsend plan, in the city in the
near future to address the people
of this city and explain the work
ings of the plan. If weather per
mits they expect to have the meet
ing next week.
O’Neill Workers Club
The O’Neill Workers club met at
the home of Mrs. T. M. Harrington
Tuesday evening. Demonstrations
were given in needlework. Several
fine pieces of fancy work were dis
played. A delicious lunch was
served by Mrs. Clodo Johnson and
Mrs. T. M. Harrington. Owing to
the weather conditions there was a
very good attendance, only three
being absent.
Ewing Man Dies Here
Following Heart Attack
Martin Wright, of Ewing, was
taken to the local hospital Tuesday
afternoon suffering from a severe
heart attack. He sank gradually
until evening when he passed
away. He was about 62 years of
age and had lived in the vicinity of
Ewing for two years. He i6 sur
vived by two sisters and one broth
er. Weather permitting, the funer
al will be held Friday afternoon
services in the Biglin Chapel, Rev.
A. J. May officiating and burial in
I Prospect Hill cemetery.
FROZEN MAINS AND
LEAD-INS REPORTED
IN SEVERAL PLACES
A Crew From Power Company Put
To Work By The City On
Restoring Service.
The severe weather of the past
month has made a lot of work for
the plumbers of the city as well as
the city officials, responding to
calls from residents of the city on
account of frozen water pipes. A
main in the western part of the
city was also frozen and the city
officials employed the Interstate
Power company to thaw it out as
well as the pipes leading into var
ious residences in the city. The
main in the west end of town was
frozen Tuesday and men worked
on the main all Tuesday night,
Wednesday and Wednesday night,
and this morning at 11 o’clock they
reported that they had about over
come the difficulty and expected to
have the water flowing freely in a
very short time.
According to Mayor Kersenbrock
about twenty-five residents of the
city were suffering from frozen
water pipes and the number is in
creasing hourly. The State Gar
age was one of the first to report
frozen pipes and they were thawed,
out Tuesday and froze up again
Tuesday night. The following are
among the residents of the city
who have reported frozen water
pipes to the Mayor within the past
three days: C. W. Porter, Dr. Wilk
inson, Ray Osborne, Three Kubit
schek houses, Cob Olson, George
McCarthy, Ugo Williamson, James
Oppen and C. E. Gatz.
Cattle Testing In The
County Discontinued
Tho state veterinarians who
have been in the county for several
months vesting Holt county herds
for tuberculosis have been trans
ferred to other points in the state
and tho work in this county has
been halted temporarily, on account
of the condition of the roads and
the weather. Dr. Crumpacker, who
has been the supervisor in charge
of the force in this county, has been
transferred to Seward; Dr. Duff
has been transferred to Lancaster
county, and Dr. Jackson and Dr.
Wiswell have been transferred to
Wilbur.
At the time of their departure
the work in this county had been
about completed, as we understand,
that there are but twelve herds in
the county that have not been
tested. When the weather moder
ates and the roads arc again pass
able some of them will probably
return and complete the work.
Filings For Office Light
March 5, 1936, is the last day
that candidates for office at the
coming primary election can file,
and to date there has not been a
great rush of applicants to get
their names on the ballot. So far
there have been but three candid
ates filed for office in this county,
the three being candidates for sup
ervisors. They are: J. H. Gibson,
of Chambers, who has filed for the
democratic nomination for super
visor from thdteffth district, raw
being held by J. W. Walters by
appointment; J. H. Carson, present
supervisor from the Second dis
trict, has filed as a candidate for
renomination on the republican
ticket; Robert Tomlinson has filed
as a candidate for the democratic
nomination in the same district.
Cattle Pulling Thru Nicely
Altho the weather has been very
severe the past month farmers say
that cattle are doing nicely, despite
the severe weather. There is lots
of feed this year, and with a little
shelter the cattle will make it thru
in fine shape. What a blessing wo
did not have this kind of winter
last year or there would hardly
have been a head of livestock left
alive in the county.
Ashes Start Fire At Hotel
The fire alarm shrieked its shrill
warning last Saturday evening
about 6:10 with the thermometer
several degrees below zero and a
fierce blast blowing from the north
west. Some ashes dumped near
some boards in the furnace room
of the Golden hotel caused the
smoke and incipient fire. It was
quickly extinguished without dam
age except smoke.