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About The frontier. (O'Neill City, Holt County, Neb.) 1880-1965 | View Entire Issue (July 27, 1939)
VOL LX O’NEILL, NEBRASKA, THURSDAY, JULY 27,1939 NO. 11 WIND AND HAIL DESTROYS CORN CROP AT INMAN; TURKEYS AND CHICKENS DIE FOLLOWING DESTRUCTIVE STORM New Barn Razed and Windmill Blown Down » When Two to Six Inches of Rain Accompanied By Wind and Hail Fall in Very Short Time — Ben Franklin Store Almost Ready for Use The remodeling of the Ben Frank lin store is rapidly nearing comple tion. It is expected that all the work of redecorating will be com pleted about the first of the month. By adding the east portion of the building to the store Mr. Bowen now has more floor space than any business building in the city and he will be better able to' display his goods. HEW WPA AREA OFFICES FOR NEXT f YEAR ANNOUNCED Field Offices Closed at Norfolk, Lincoln, Grand Island and Alliance Congressional cutting of the WPA budget caused the state office to announce that administrative costs during the coming year would be reduced about $10,500 per month. Field offices at Norfolk, Lincoln, Grand Island and Alliance have been closed, reducing the personel of the other offices. Area offices under the new plan to handle all WPA business in the field will be as follows: O’Neill — Cherry, Keya Pafi'a, Brown, Rock, Holt, Boyd counties. Hartington—Knox, Cedar, Dixon, Dakota. Norfolk — Antelope, Pierce, Wayne, Madison, Stanton. Columbus—Boone, Platte, Colfax, Nance, Merrick, Polk, Butler. Blair—Cuming, Burt, Dodge, Washington, Thurston. Omaha—Douglas, Sarpy. Lincoln—Lancaster, Saunders. Nebraska City—Cass, Otoe, Nem aha, Richardson. Beatrice—Gage, Johnson, Paw nee. Grand Island — Hall, Hamilton, Adams, Clay, Webster, Nuckolls. Ord—Garfield, Valley, Wheeler, Greeley, Sherman, Howard. Kearney—Buffalo, Phelps, Kear ney, Harlan, Franklin. McCook—Chase, Hayes, Frontier, Dundy, Red Willow, Hitchcock, Gosper, Furnas. North Platte — Grant, Hooker, 4 Thomas, Blaine, Loup, Arthur, Mc Pherson, Logan, Custer, Keith, Lincoln, Dawson, Perkins. Alliance—Sioux, Dawes, Sheri dan, Box Butte, Scottsbluff, Mor rill, Garden, Banner, Kimball, Chey enne, Deuel. York—York, Seward, Fillmore, Saline, Thayer, Jeferson. Shortage of Hay Crop Expected to Boost Price Of Last Year’s Hay Farmers and stockmen living in the southern part of the county say that the hay crop this year is the lightest it has been for several years and most of them consider them selves lucky to have a large amount of last year’s crop still in the stack ► on the meadows. During the past ten days many stockmen have been purchasing stacks of last year s hay from their neighbors to augment their own supply. Last year hay was almost unsalable but the in dications are that .the crop will bring a good price within the next three or four months. Mr. and Mrs. Await Spangler, daughters, Wanda and Lavon, and son, Vernon, left last Monday for Martin, South Dakota, to spend a few days with their daughter, Mrs. Melvin Cylde. Lavon remained there to spend the rest of the sum mer with her sister. They re tdrned Tuesday nipht. Try a Frontier Want-ad. It has been hot all the past week with .83 hundredths of an inch of moisture last Monday afternoon that fell in about thirty minutes. The rain extended only six miles north of town and was very light from a couple of miles this side of Emmet west, but very heavy in the southeastern part of the county, nearly six inches falling four miles south of Inman, while in Inman the rainfall amounted to 2 inches. The country south of Inman was visited by a destructive hail and wind storm, the wind manifesting cyclonic proportions at the farm of John Sobotka, four miles south of Inman. Here the wind blew the top off his large, new barn, 30x40 feet with hay loft and then the barn collapsed. His wind mill was torn and twisted by the wind and it was blown over the foundation of the barn and also tore his cattle sheds to pieies. A very severe hail accompanied the wind and it took in a strip of territory five and one half miles long and a little over two miles wide and destroyed hundreds of acres of fine corn. So severe was the hail and its size, many of them being chunks of ice, they killed several hundred turkeys and dozens of chickens in the territory visited by the storm. The hail be ing of such size and accompanied by a heavy wind the ground was pounded to bits and hay meadows that had not been cut were ruined, the ground being chopped up as if it had been rooted by a bunch of hogs. Many hay stacks were torn to pieces and hay was scattered all over that section of the county. It was the hardest hail storm to ever visit this county, but fortunately it did not cover a very large area, but it stuck in one of the garden spots of the county and the sec tion that gave promise of having a splendid corn crop. Following is a partial list of the farmers in the territory visited by the wind and hail, who lost their en tire corn crop, and many of them lost chickens, turkeys and small pigs. Karl Keyes, Floyd Keyes, Louie Sabotka, Jim Sabotka, An thony Sabotka, John Sabotka, J. Kopecky, A. G. Clark, H. R. Rouse and A. Tomlinson. There may have been others in that section who lost by the storm but we have been unable to get their names. The hail storm did not extend very far east of Inman, but they had a good rain clear to the east end of the county, but not as heavy as the Inman vicinity. The rainfall at Ewing was one inch, with a fairly heavy wind and a little hail, but not enough to damage crops. Following is the chart for the week: H L M July 20_ 100 70 July 21_ 98 70 July 22 _ 86 73 July 23 96 61 July 24_ 94 66 .83 July 25_ 94 62 July 26 ....— 100 68 Total precipitation for July, 1.79 inches. Total precipitation since January 1, 1939, 9.90 inches.., . -*—• Marriage Licenses Harry Peter and Miss Cecelia Sladek, both of O’Neill, were grant, ed a marriage license in county court on July 22. Gail R. King and Miss Pauline Hytrek, both of Stuart, were granted a marriage license in coun ty court last Saturday. They were united in marriage in the Catholic church in Stuart on Tuesday by Father Hilt. Marvin Focken and Miss Han nah Bruan, both of Atkinson, were granted a masriage license in coun ty court last Thursday. They were united in marriage the same day in the Presbyterian Manse in this city, Rev. Bell officiating. SIMONSON FARM SOLD FOR $18 PER ACRE SATURDAY Once Finest Farm in County; Valued at $75 Per Acre 20 Years Ago Tht reduction in the price of land in this county was exemplified last Saturday at the sale of the 480 acre farm of the late Clarence J. Sim onson northeast of this city. This was a well improved place and when Mr. Simonson lived thereon he/ made a fortune from the place. At the sale the land was bid in at $18.00 per acre by R. L. George, of Ew ing. ' This is one of the nicest places in the Blackbird Valley. It is well improved, although the improve ments have been allowed to run down the past few years. Twenty years ago this place would have brought easily $76 per acre, while last Saturday it was sold for only $18.00. This is an example of what dry weather and hot winds will do for a country. New York Sheriff Lodges Prisoner Here Over Night Sheriff G. F. Brown and his dep uty, W. J. Szmanski, Batavia, N.Y., | were in O’Neill on Tuesday night on their way back home with a pris oner, who had been arrested in Basin, Wyo., and who was charged with stealing ffcOO.OO worth of merchandise in a tourist camp in New York, and shooting an officer. As the prisoner had escaped from jail in Denver, and had twice at tempted to flee from the two law officers who had him in custody here, they were taking no more chances, and had him shackled hand and foot. The prisoner spent the night in the county jail. He and his custodians left here early Wed nesday morning on the trip home. Remodeling of Bentley Building Progressing Work of remodeling the old Bent ley building on east Douglas street, now owned by Mrs. Helen Simar, is progressing rapidly. A modern up-to-date front has been installed and the interior is being redecor ated and the building will be ready for occupancy in about one wek. CITY CLERKS FILLING STATION DAMAGED BY FIRE HERE LAST FRIDAY NOON Building and Portion of Contents Covered by Insurance; Rebuilding and Renovation of Structure Started Here Today New Business Building Is Planned for Fastest Growing City in State The prospects are bright for an other new business building in this city before the snow flies. An eastern firm with a string of twen ty-seven stores in South Dakota and Iowa are negotiating with local people for the erection of a modern store building, 44x110 on Douglas street. The contract has not yet been signed but it is expected that signatures wUJ be attached thereto before the end of the week. If so work will start on the building at once and will be rushed rapidly to completion. MILITARY SERVICES HELD FOR WORLD WAR VETERAN The following was clipped from the Covert (S.D.) Advance of July 13, 1939. Over the telephone line Monday forenoon came a message of ex treme sadness, “Martin Blomberg is dead.” Heart failure had claimed one of our best beloved neighbors and friends. A few days ago Martin and his family went to O’Neill, Nebr. to visit his wife’s father, R. H. Mur ray, and other relatives and were about to start home when a heart attack ended his life. His body lies at rest in the Catho lic cemetery at Sturgis. He was a Veteran of Foreign Wars having served his country two years, most of that time over seas. A military funeral was held for him. Even though the writer was present at the services at St. Mar tin’s Chapel and at the grave side a short distanct away, it is difficult to realize that we will never feel the warm, firm hand clasp of Mar tin Blomberg, who has been so kind to us through the years of our resi dence here. The World War pallbearers were Arthur Flagg, C. C. Gullickson, Otto Jensen, J. E. Griggs, Carl Eil ers and John Brown. Honorary pall bearers were Geo. M. Filing, Hugo Jensen, Louie Frandsen, N. S. Vroman, A. C. Thybo and O. F. Slott. To the bereaved ones goes out heartfelt sympathies. Lyle Johnson, of Omaha, arrived in O’Neill on Wednesday to spend a few days here visiting his brother, I. W. Johnson, and his family. Fire last Friday, shortly after noon, destroyed the filling station in the west end of town operated by Chauncey Porter. The fire started about 12:30 and was a roaring inferno In a little while. Mr. Porter was at lunch at the time and Harold Lindberg, who is connected with Mr. Porter in the ownership of the station was also at home and the man in charge of the station at the time of the fire had no ided of just how the fire started. The man in charge was in the tire room on the west side of the building and when he noticed the fire which was in the other room it had a good start. The alarm was sounded immediately and soon the department was on hand and extinguished the flames, but not until considerable damage had been done to the building and con tents. Mr. Porter did not carry any insurance on the tires and ac cessories that he carried in stock, while Harold Lindberg carried |500 insurance on oil and tires that he carried in the building. The building is owned by E. J. Eby, now living at Stuart but form erly of this city, and he carried $2, 500 insurance on the building. In surance adjusters were in the city on Tuesday and Wednesday and the losses were adjusted and work of repairing the building was started this morning. Chauncey Porter, with permission of the insurance company, connected his pumps and was back in business again on Mon day morning, after an enforced ab sence of three days. This station has enjoyed a good business and citizens of the com munity generally sympathize with the boys on the loss they sustained by the fire. Summer Project Meeting To Be Held in O’Neill The summer project club meet ing which is conducted by Miss Jessie Baldwin for presidents, music leaders and reading leaders of both this year and last year, will be held at the O’Neill High School on Fri day, August 4. This meeting will start at 10:00 a.m. and finish at 4:00 p.m. A covered dish luncheon is planned for noon. Mrs. T. O. Miller, of Lusk, Wyo., arrived here Saturday to visit at the homes of Mr. and Mrs. R. L. Arbuthnot and Mrs. Dave Stan nard. Mrs. John Robinson, of Ham den, Iowa, who has been here vis iting relatives for the past month, returned to her home Friday. Jim mie Golden accompanied her back and will be *here for a few weeks. BROWN-MC DONALD APPOINTS NEW MANAGER HERE R. E. Armburster, of McPherson, Kansas, arrived in the city last Monday afternoon and took over the management of the Brown-Mc Donald store here, succeeding Char les Yarna'l, who has been the man ager for the past six years. Mr. Armburster, was born and raised at Stanton, Nebr., and has oeen en gaged in the mercantile business all his life. For several years he has been stationed in Kansas. He is married and is the father of a son, twenty months old. Mrs. Arm burster and son came with him and they are now looking for a home in the fastest growing city in the state. Mr. Yarnall, who has been the efficient and capable manager of the store for several years, has not decided what he will do in the fu ture, but would like to remain a resident of this city. During his residence here he has made many friends among the people of the city and county and they are all hoping that he will continue to remain a resident of the Emerald Tinted city. O’Neill Couple Married In Ceremony at St. Patrick’s Church Tues. Miss Cecilia Sladek, daughter of Mrs .Julia Sladek, and Harry Peter, youngest son of James Peter, both of this city, were united in marriage at St. Patrick’s Catholic church on Tuesday morning by the Rev. Msgr. McNamara. The bride was attired in a blue dress, street length, and carried a bouquet of red roses, while her at tendant, Miss Marie Sladek, wore a dress of old rose, also street length. The bridegroom was at tended by his brother, John Peter, both wore the conventional dark suits. Harry Peter is a graduate of the O’Neill Public High School, being a member of the class of 1928, while the bride attended the Verdigre High Schol, from which commun ity her family moved to this city several years ago. Immediately following the wed ding, an informal breakfast was served to the bridal party at the home of the bridegroom’s sister, Mrs. Harold Wicr, and a wedding dinner was served to all of the bridal party and relatives at the home of the bride’s mother, Mrs. Julia Sladek. The young couple will reside at the home of his father, south of O’Neill, where the groom, his broth er, John, and father are engaged in the business of farming. The Frontier joins with the many friends of the young couple in wishing them a long and prosper ous wedded life. 15th Annual Meeting To Be Held North of O’Neill Sunday, August 4th The Fifteenth Annual Holt Coun ty Sunday School Group-Gathering will be held next Sunday, July 30, in a very shady spot on the Mrs. Johnson farm, twelve miles north of O’Neill and one mile east of the Spencer highway. An invitation is extended to all who care to come to share in the good music, songs and messages that will be heard that day. The first session begins at 10:00 a.m. Basket dinner at noon and the after-noon session starting at 1:30. In All Fairness Board Should Select Supervisor Says County Pioneer Carl Holz, one of the pioneers of the southeastern part of the coun ty, and an old time reader of the Frontier, was in the city Monday and made this office a pleasant call. Carl is of the opinion that his sec tion of the county is not being very well treated by the County Board as they are without representation thereon, on account of the inability of the county board to get together on a successor to Louis W. Roimers who resigned on his selection to the position of county judge. ELECTROCUTION FOLLOWS CRASH WHEN IOWAN'S AUTO COLLIDES WITH LIGHT POLE AT DANCELAND CORNER WED. Auto Shears Double Light Pole Carrying 22,000 Volts After Leaving Road and Traveling 168 Ft. In Ditch and Into Fence; Victim Operated Plumbing Establishment in Charter Oak, Iowa Lucky Ticket Gives Oppen Free Telephone Talk to Sister at Frisco Fair Aa one of the attractions at the World’s Fairs, being held in New York, and San Francisco, the Bell Telephone Company have installed booths, where the people attending the fairs are invited to witness the procedure which follows a long dis tance telephone call. Every night, at both of these fairs, the specta tors present are given a number, and the holder of the winning num ber is entitled to a free long dist ance call anywhere in the United States. Last Tuesday night, Mr. and Mrs. Sidney Johnson, of Oak land, California, were present at the fair, in San Francisco, and Mjs. Johnson was the holder of the ticket, so she called her brother, Ralph Oppen of this city. The call came through about eleven o’clock, and both Mr. Oppen and his wife, and Mrs. C. B. Scott talked to Mr. and Mrs. Johnson. VARIED PROGRAM ARRANGED BY BAND FOR SAT. CONCERT Talented Soloist and Music Student Will Render Number The audience at the band concert to be given next Saturday night have in store an especial treat. The vocal soloist for this week is Miss Mary Kathryn Coyne. For the past year she has been a stu dent in the school of music. Univers ity of Minnesota, located at Minne apolis. She plans to return to the school of musii in September and complete her work for a Bachelor of Music Degree during the ensu ing school year. The program is as follows: March—“Invirrtible U.S.A.” _Myers March—“Triumph,” .... King Selections—“Song of the White Spot,” Mrs. Cora Abart,, Bas sett, Nebr. Novelty—“The Man on the Fly ing Trapeve,” .. O’Keefe Vocal solo—“ ‘Tis the Last Rose of Summer”—Moore . Miss Mary Kathryn Coyne March—“Barnum and Bailey’s Favorite,”_ King Concert Waltz—“Alpine Sunset,” _King Cowboy Song—“Home on the Range,” arranged by DeLama ter. Hymn—“Onward Christian Sol diers” Sullivan “America” and “Taps,” —Smith Ermand Keyes Wed Here By Rev. Conrad Wed. On Wednesday evening, July 19, 1939, at 8 o’clock, Mr. Ermand Keyes, son of Mr. and Mrs. F. E. Keyes, of Inman, and Miss Ruth Hamilton, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. R. P. Hamilton, of Spencer, were united in marriage at the Con rad home in O’Neill. Rev. D. S. Conrad officiating. The bridal couple were attended by Lorin Keyes, brother of the bridegroom and Miss Truby Ray mer, friend of the bride. The bride wore a medium blue lace dress over rose colored satin, with white accessories and car ried a bouquet of pink and white garden flowers tied with white silk ribbon. The bouquet was presented to the bride by Mrs. J. J. Harring ton, of O’Neill. The maid of honor was dressed in a pink lace dress over rose colored satin. This worthy young couple have the best wishes and congratula tions of a host of friends. W. A. Christiansen, 50, of Charter Oak, Iowa, met instant death on highway No. 20 about 7:10 last evening, when his car left the pav ing and ran along in the ditch and crashed into an electric light pole about one block west of the Dance land corner, breaking the pole in two and stripping the wire, so that he was electrocuted. The high line carried 22,000 volts of elec tricity. When found his body was partially on the ground and one foot was caught in the door of the car, with one wire over the top of the car and tjie other over the fen ders and the top of the door on the left hand side of the car. The body was brought to this city after it had been viewed by the county attorney and coroner, J. D. Cronin, and taken to Biglin’s undertaking parlors. Local of ficials got in touch with his rela tives at Charter Oak and this morn ing, about 4:30, the undertaker from that city, accompanied by a brother of the deceased, a brother in-law and a friend arrived and took the body back to Charter Oak leaving here about 9 o’clock this morning, where the funeral ser vices will be held. The deceased operated a plumb ing establishment in Charter Oak and was a married man with two children, both boys, aged 10 and 1 years. He also leaves one brother and one sister. He had been in Valentine at the bedside of an uncle who is quite seriously ill and was on his way home when the acci dent occurred. The car was not so badly wrecked in the crash, but was not in condition to drive. The right side of the car was badly scratched, showing where he had run along side of the wire fence on the south side of the road when he went into the ditch. He hit the telephone pole between the left front wheel and the edge of the radiator and the force of the impact could be plain ly seen on the car, as the connec tion with the axle was broken off. From appearances it seems that he was thrown from the car at the time of the impact; had he been able to remain in the car he would probably have escaped injury. This is the senond fatality that has ol curred near this corner in the past three months. Poultry Demonstration Team to World’s Poultry Congress Marvin Stauffer and Margery Rees* of the Page 4-H poultry club left Wednesday morning for Cleve land, Ohio, where they will repre sent Nebraska at the World’s Poul try • Congress. The demonstration team, each member of which has won numerous 4-H awards in both this county and state, were sent to Cleveland through the contribu tions of the business men’s organi zations in the towns in this county. The Page Poultry Club of which this team are members has been led for the last seven years by Mrs. Edgar Stauffer who coached the demonstration. The mixing of the 8-S all purpose mash which is recommended by the Nebraska college of agricutlure will be demonstrated when this team competes against 27 other states in Cleveland. Those who seen this team give their demonstration have agreed that they are well prepared and through having spent much time in preparation are very deserving of the honor of representing Ne braska. Holt County can be very proud of the reputation its young people are making for themselves. Merle and Weimar Spangler, Dale Matschullet, Pat Gamble and Dale Smith left last Thursday for Min nesota where they expect to find work in the harvest fields.