Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The frontier. (O'Neill City, Holt County, Neb.) 1880-1965 | View Entire Issue (June 8, 1939)
Great Lakes Raider DURING the Civil war David H. Ross, an 18-year-old cadet in the Georgia guards, was captured and sent to a Union prison camp on Lake Erie. He escaped and made his way to Canada, reporting to Capt. John Yeates Beall, a Confed erate agent. Ross Joined Beall in a plan to take possession of the Philo Par sons, a lake steamer, and with it capture the Michigan, a Union war ship. use that to attack Ft. Johnson at Sandusky and release 1,000 Con federates there. On the morning of September 19, 1864, the Philo Parsons stopped at Sandwich, Ont., to take on a party of 20 men. At Malden, a few miles farther, 20 more came aboard. After several more stops, the crew and the other passengers found them selves looking into the muzzles of pistols. The captain relinquished com mand and Beall took over with Ross as first mate. And then the S. S. Island Queen with 170 Federal sol diers aboard, pulled alongside. No one knows why the soldiers permit ted it, but after firing a few shots, Beall and Ross leaped aboard with a handful of men and captured the crew which was too astonished to resist. They sailed on with their 170 Un ion soldiers in tow, but the S. S. Michigan commander was ready for them. Seeing the ship coming to ward them, the Philo Parsons turned about and fled, docking in the Detroit river where the raiders fled to safety. Ross, the 18-year-old cadet, who had been first mate on the wild voy age, managed to get to Wilmington, N. C., where he was made a captain in the secret service. General Grant, during his second presidential ad ministration, issued a pardon re lieving Ross of the charges of pi racy. * • w Rebel Against Rebellion A T THE outbreak of the Civil war a band of about 100 citizens of Jones county, Mississippi, refused to identify themselves with the Confed eracy. Under the leadership of one Newt Knight, they took refuge in Leaf River swamp where they de fied all efforts to make them fight under the Stars and Bars. By 1864 they had complete con trol of the county and out of that fact grew the story that this "rebel lion within a rebellion” resulted in forming a "Republic of Jones” with Knight as its head. Mississippians declare, however, that there is no official record of any such "repub lic” ever having been launched and they refer to these "seceders from secession” as the “Newt Knight band of deserters.” When the war was over and Con federate army veterans returned, they induced the legislature to change the name of the county from "Jones” to "Davis,” because they said the conduct of Knight had made its name “a badge of ignom iny and a term of reproach.” Knight always denied that he was a deserter but tried to get a pension from the federal government He was unsuccessful because the rec ords at Washington failed to show his name enrolled in the Union army. However, there was some compensation for him in the fact that until his death in 1923, he was widely known as the "founder of the Republic of Jones.” • * * 20 Thrill-Packed Years HEN Lewis Littlepage of Fredericksburg. Va., went to Spain as an attache to the American embassy, he was only 18 but already famous as a poet Next he served in the Spanish and French armies and became a friend of Lafayette. Made a chevalier of France, he returned to America to fight in the Revolution but was thwarted in that ambition. In 1786 he accompanied the young Polish patriot, Kosciusko, to Warsaw where King Stanislaus made him a baron at the age of 24! He was sent to make a treaty with Empress Catherine of Russia, who became very fond of him. When the war between Russia and Turkey started, she commissioned him a major-general in her army and he later served under the ad miral of her fleet, John Paul Jones. He remained at the Russian court until 1791, then returned to Warsaw where he was made a major-general in the Polish army. When the Polish rebellion against Russia failed, Kosciusko and Little page went to Paris to try to rescue their friend, Lafayette, imprisoned during the Reign of Terror. They failed and Kosciusko returned to Warsaw to try again to win freedom for Poland. Littlepage joined him and was wounded in the battle in which Kosciusko fell. Littlepage then returned to Amer ica and retired to his home in Fred ericksburg where he was later vis ited by his old friend, Lafayette. H« was only 38 when he died in 1801 bu1 into that short span of years he had packed a whole lifetime of danger and thrills. <i Western Newspaper Union. • - ' > ■■ m, m, — m — . ■ . —' '■ ■ i n i - i — ■ ' ——— — —i — Another Deluge? It Won't Bother Ark Owner - - - 'OMMarm ’.nk. ^ ivr w^ — One of the famous landmarks at Olympia, Washington’s state capital, is the craft known as “Noah’s Ark No. 2,’’ which serves as the home of William Greenwood, who built It. Greenwood is convinced that the end of the world is coming, and Is prepared for a second deluge. At the left, Greenwood in one of his many “suits,” looking like a combination of Buffalo Bill and Bo jangles of Harlem. Right: The ark owner dreams up a few hot licks on a rather dilapidated organ In his homemade boat. It is only one of the “19 musics,” as ’je calls them, that he can play. Hritish Army Shows Strength in Mimic Warfare An anti-tank gun crew in action during recent exercises of the tank division at Aldershot, England, which were witnessed by many high-ranking army commanders. The exercises were part of mimic warfare games held recently to gauge army strength and to demonstrate preparedness. Other branches of the army dem onstrated their might before British dignitaries. Mailman May Ask Bird-Housing Project Tony Plummer, Newport-Balboa, Calif., mailman, peruses his postal guide for the answer to a very baffling question. In a mailbox on his route a mother linnet is rearing four babies. Postal regulations specify that rural carriers must, during the winter, carry ample provisions to feed birds on their routes. But the rules say nothing about housing. Tony has been forced to ring the doorbell and deliver the mail in person, but is thinking of applying for a federal housing project for the youngsters. Darkhorse Captures First Duck Derby These Arcadia, Calif., ducks, under the supervision of their attractive trainers, were part of a large field of entries at the first annual duck race at Santa Anita racetrack recently. Members of this feathered quar* tet were heavy favorites when thof waddled to the post, but none of them finished in the money. HERO HONORED The Distinguished service medal was presented recently to Lieut. Ar thur F. Anders, right, hero of the bombing of the U. S. gunboat Panay on the Yangtze river in China last year. The award was made by Vice Admiral John W. Greenslade, com mander of U. S. battleships. FLAYS INTOLERANCE Chairman John D. M. Hamilton, of the Republican national c#mmit tee, pictured as he appeared recent ly before the house committee on un-American activities where he denounced religious and racial In tolerance. He denied knowledge of operations of alleged sponsors of an anti-racial propaganda campaign in this country. Youth Gets Close-Up View of England’s Rulers An admirer of the royal couple made sure bis little son would get a view of King George and Queen Eliza beth as they drove through the streets of Ottawa in an open carriage. He broke through the ever-present guard and lifted the lad carriage-high so he might better see the empire’s rulers. Thousands of wildly cheer ing citizens acclaimed the king and queen wherever they visited. This is the first time England’s monarchs have visited either Canada or the United States. Crown Prince Olav Close Second in Yacht Race Completely democratic, Crown Prince Olav of Norway, left, chats with Captain Stanley Barrows following a 10!i-mile yacht race in San Francisco bay. Prince Olav, in a borrowed boat and over a strange course, skippered his boat to second place behind Captain Barrows. Right: A close race throughout, the prince was slightly in the lead when this picture was taken. Puzzle: Find Your Congressman Members ot congress are typical New York World’s fair-goers if this picture of more than 100 representatives and their families is evi dence. They held a “special session” in a fair stadium to goggle at the daredevil demonstrations of Jimmie Lynch and his automobile death dodgers. The camera wielding congressman at the left is not reporting for the Congressional Record. | First Close-Up Picture of Giant Mirror For the first time since work started on the 200-inch mirror for the giant Mount Palomar telescope, a photographer gained admission to the lens room at the California Institute of Technology and obtained this striking “close-up” of the huge mirror. Center of the mirror shows a 404-inch hole through the glass, plugged temporarily for polishing con i venlence, through which the gathered light may be reflected from an | auxiliary mirror to the Cassegrain focus beneath the 200-incb mirror. RESCUE CHIEF Admiral C. W. Cole, commandant of the Portsmouth, N. H., navy yard, ordered the submarine Sculpln to try to make the first contact with the submerged Squalus when it went down with 62 men off White island on the New Hampshire coast. The Sculpin discovered a red smoke dis tress signal on the water’s surfaoe. CONSUMER’S VIEWPOINT The laywoman’s point of view was expressed to the national economic committee in Washington recently by Mrs. Alice S. Belester, Chicago housewife, who testified regarding kinds of advertising which would best suit the interests of consumers.