Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The frontier. (O'Neill City, Holt County, Neb.) 1880-1965 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 29, 1942)
T\ ooden Sliips for Men of Iron Away out of the focus of the spotlight men are doing a job u hich, though not spectacular, is vital to the security of this nation. These are the men who are building the little wooden ships that have the hazardous job of keeping our waters clear of mines— trawlers that are manned by men of iron. At the Snow shipyards in Rockland, Me., things are humming. These pictures, made at the Snotc yards, show what goes into a wooden ship. Tuo shipwrights work on a keel here. In the background are two hidls in various stages of construction. Old-timer Howard Gordon, u ho has been a ship's carpenter since 1898. He is honing his ax to a razor edge here. Two workers "dubbing" on the outside of the hull for the ex terior planking. They work to a chalkline snapped on the ribs. WK&mn m ..v .\ . wr- v. ,.M Old-timer Ray Rubshaw is working inside the framework of a hull under construction. He is dubbing or smoothing out and lin ing up the ribs for planking, using an adz. Greasing the skids before launching a completed wooden ship. Pounds and pounds of grease are smeared on the skill to make the slide of the new craft easy and to counteract friction. Trim and clean as a hound's tooth, a new wooden ship for tha tuny takes to the water without fanfare. No time for ceremony. or THE Nothing Overlooked By JAMES FREEMAN (Associated Newspapers—WNU Service.) INSPECTOR Stephen Amsden laughed when I told him I’d been sent to get a story of his life for my paper. “Story of my life, eh? Well, that makes me feel important. Where’ll 1 begin?” He spread his hands in a gesture of helplessness. “At the beginning.” I replied. "Where were you born and when? And when did you become interest ed in police work? And what do : you consider your most important 1 case, and your most thrilling?" He grinned and answered my questions readily enough, though with a certain amount of reserve and modesty. He is quite a famous man, having solved some of the country’s greatest crime problems. He is now the oldest active mem ber on the Holcomb police force, but ; you know, looking into his clear gray eyes, that his mind is as keen as ever. "And now,” I said, when the things he told me were carefully set down, “to what do you attribute your success, Inspector?” And I warned: “This is important. There’ll be a lot of young chaps read it and heed whatever you say.” The old man sobered at this and was silent for some time. Present ly he said: "Why, I guess noticing the little things is what helped most.” "The little things?” “That’s right.” He eyed me keen ly “Doesn’t sound important to you, eh? Well, it’s what every de tective ought to pay the greatest attention to. It’s the little things that count in this work, son.” He was silent again and when I vouch safed no reply, he continued: “I’d better demonstrate what I mean. I wouldn't want you to go "What more do you want to know? 1 caught him red-handed, and that’s enough.” writing something you don’t believe in.” He stood up. “Come on. Let’s go in and see what’s doing this morning.” I followed him out into the hall and through another door into a room that was already familiar to me. A captain was seated at a desk there, questioning some prisoners. We listened while one prisoner after another answered the cap tain's questions. One in particular attracted Inspector Amsden's at tention. He had been arrested for breaking and entering and attempt ing to rob a farm house on the day before. His name, he said, was Leon Nolte. I will give you part of his story that interested Inspector Ams den the most in Nolte’s own words. “I was walking along the road in front of this farmhouse when sud denly I heard a woman calling for help. I looked around and as there wasn’t any other building visible I decided she must be inside the house. After a moment’s hesitation, I strode up the walk and knocked on the front door. No one answered and the cries continued. Uninten tionally I pushed against the door and it swung inward. I stepped in side and looked around. I heard the woman shriek again and started toward the room from where the sound seemed to come. As 1 opened the door into the dining room I heard another door slam in the rear of the house, and pretty soon a big man appeared. He asked me what I was doing and 1 told him. He became ugly and said I was trying to steal his silver. He at tacked me and the next I knew the police had arrived." Nolte finished his tale and In spector Amsden beckoned me out side. “Let’s go out and have a talk i with that farmer," he said. "The i clerk will give us his name and ad dress." j Wonderingly, I consented. To me Nolte's story had sounded pretty plausible; in fact, I felt pretty sym pathetic toward the man. We had no difficulty in locating the house. Inspector Amsden knocked and at a gruff "Come in” ! pulled open the door and we stepped inside. A big. ugly looking man arose from a table and came toward us. "Are you Oscar Rounds?" Ams den asked politely. “Well, what if I am? Who are you?” "I’m Inspector Amsden from po lice headquarters." He indicated me. “This young man is from the j Journal. We’ve come to ask you | some questions, about the attempt j «d robbery out here yesterday." Our host glowered "What more do you want to know? I caught him red-handed, and that’s enough! He oughta get a ten-year stretch!” Inspector Amsden smiled. “You’re j not a very sympathetic man." r "You bet I ain’t. Trouble with j this country today is that the crooks don't get what’s coming to ’em." "They do if we can prove they’re : crooks. Nolte says he heard a woman calling for help and came to her assistance. He claims he’s not guilty." "I know what he claims, but he’s a liar! I caught him with some of our silver in his hands.” Inspector Amsden nodded indif ferently and looked about the room. “Was that the door Nolte came through?" he asked, pointing to one through which we had just entered. Oscar Rounds snarled his reply. "That guy never come in through no door. He jimmied a window. The door was locked.” The Inspector looked at me. "Well," he asked, "have you notic^l?” "Noticed what?” I asked blankly. And Inspector Amsden smiled. "Why, the little thing. The minor detail in Nolte’s tale that will prac tically convict him." I thought back over Nolte’s story and shook my head. The thing had me completely bewildered. Inspector Amsden turned to the farmer. "Have you a telephone here?” "Sure. In there.” He jerked a thumb toward an open door. Amsden nodded and disappeared into the other room. I heard him calling headquarters and heard him give instructions to hold Nolte. But it wasn’t until we were on our way back to town that he explained about the little detail. “Remember,” he said, "when Nolte told about knocking and no one replied. He declared he unin tentionally pushed against the door. I pulled it outward. Get it?" He grinned at my amazement. "Well, I’m a son-of-a-gun!” I exclaimed. "Say, that’s a fact, isn’t it? How the dickens did you hap pen to notice?" “I always notice," Amsden re plied, "such things as details. A de tective has to. That’s his job." He chuckled. “Now when you write that story, don’t neglect to mention the importance of paying heed to the little things.” "Don’t worry," I promised, shak ing my head. "I won’t.” Makes Dinosaurs ‘Work’ for Him; Farm ‘Products’ Carlton S. Nash of South Hadley, Mass., Is known in scientific circles throughout the world. Visitors from 39 states and many foreign coun tries have made pilgrimages to his home to see the unusual products of his “farm” for he has the world’s most bountiful crop of dinosaur tracks. Deeply imbedded in layers of shale on his two acres are the im prints of hundreds of dinosaurs of all sizes, from little fellows no larg er than a chicken to mammoth 30 and 40 tonners who roamed through the Connecticut valley in prehistoric times. There is even an imprint of the tail of one weary old dinosaur who sat down to rest, a prehistoric item authenticated by the late Professor Loomis of Amherst college. Nash values this particular track at $6,000. Formerly available only to mu seums and educational institutions, the dinosaur tracks on Nash’s “farm" are so numerous and va ried that he now sells them to indi viduals throughout the world who use them for stepping stones, door steps, novel book ends and fireplace decorations. He does not know how deep the ledge of shale imprints extends al though to date 16 layers of imprints have been uncovered, the shale con taining each track varying in thickness from a half to five inches. “The tracks were made by dino saurs in mud millions of years ago,” Nash explains. “They were petri fied due to the clayish iron cement texture of the mud and compaction of the earth's weight. They are found in outcroppings of sandstone which seldom project above the sur face of the earth. These layers of sandstone were originally mud flats which later were covered with gla cial deposits from the North, slow ly hardened into stone and eventu ally, from the earth’s warping, vol canic action and erosion, were ex posed.” Undoubtedly many people have wandered over what is now the “Nash Dinosaur Footprint Quarry" for years without paying much at tention to the queer imprints in the shale. -4 Oldest School in Maryland St. John's college at Annapolis, the oldest educational institution in Maryland and one of the oldest col leges in the United States, was es tablished in 1696 as King William’s school; it became a college in 1784. This private non-sectarian institu tion requires each of its students to read the 100 books which have been selected as classics. It is noted in history for the visit of Lafayette in 1824. I I A Near-President A FTER years of neglect, tardy .honors at last have been paid to a great American—a man who served his country as United States senator, minister to France, secre tary of war and secretary of the treasury, a statesman who just missed being President! From At lanta, Ga., recently came word that the restoration of the burial place of William Harris Crawford had been completed. . Crawford was a native of Am herst county, Va., where he was born February 24, 1772. His par ents moved to Georgia and there the father died in 1768, leaving his 16-year-old son to become the prin cipal support ef the family by teach ing school. Meanwhile he was studying law and in 1798 he was admitted to the bar. From the law to politics was a logical step and in 1803 Crawford was elected to the state legislature where he served until 1807. Elected to the United States senate in 1809, he made an even more brilliant record as a legislator there and from March, 1812, to 1813 he was president pro tern of the upper house. At the end of Crawford’s term in the senate, President Madison of fered him the post of secretary of war, but he declined. However, he did accept an appointment as min ister to France and in Paris he re ceived a warm reception. When Napoleon was overthrown in 1815, Crawford returned to the United States where Madison again offered him the post of secretary of war. This time he accepted and held the position until 1816 when he became secretary of the treasury. During that period in our history Presidents were nominated by con V I gressional caucus and as Madison’s term drew to a close his secretary of the treasury was the favorite to succeed him. However, when the vote was Anally taken, James Mon roe received 65 votes to Crawford’s 54. The new President asked his rival to continue as secretary of the treasury and Crawford consented. He served until 1825. When it came time to select a presidential nominee in 1824, Craw ford's name was again prominently mentioned. In fact, he was the con gressional caucus nominee, although there were only 66 out of 216 mem bers of his party present when the vote was taken. By this time the caucus method of choosing a Presi dent had fallen into disrepute and three other candidates entered the contest. They were John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson and Henry Clay. When the electoral votes were counted it was found that Jackson had received 91 votes, Adams 84, Crawford 41 and Clay 37. Since none of the candidates had a ma jority of all the votes cast, the elec tion was thrown into the house of representatives, which was to ballot on the three high men. There Hen ry Clay threw his strength to Ad ams and the New Englander was elected President. After Adams was inaugurated, he asked Crawford to continue as sec retary of the treasury, but the Geor gian pleading ill health—he had suf fered a stroke of paralysis in 1824— declined the honor and returned to his home in Georgia. However, by 1827 is health was good enough so that he was able to take on the duties of a circuit judge and he continued in this office until he died at Elberton, Ga., on September 15, 1834. His death was a Atting conclusion to his active life for he literally "died in the har ness." He was away from home on the circuit, fulAlling his judicial du ties, when the end came. Few men have ever Ailed the post of secretary of treasury more capably than Crawford. As a mem ber of the senate he had done much to bring about the reincorporation of the Bank of the United States and because of this Madison Arst offered him the treasury portfolio. This proved to be a wise choice, for Crawford, taking over the tangled Anancial affairs of the nation at the close of the War of 1812, handled the situation with extraordinary skill and was able to turn the treasury over to his successor with its Anan ces on a sound basis. ITERNS SEWDNG CBIKCLE LJ ERE is an adorable new fash *■ *■ ion idea for little two to six ers! A simple, princess jumper topped with a gay bolero! Thus it is a frock to wear any season, any day—and a charming style too for all little figures. For outdoor play, in warmer seasons, the bo lero may be removed. So simple Westminster Abbey Only three Americans have been honored by the British with a memorial in Westminster Abbey— James Russell Lowell with a stained - glass window, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow with a bust and Walter Hines Page with a marble tablet. to make that you can finish it in a few hours, here is an outfit to add to your daughter’s collection of frocks. Plain or printed fabrics may be used. • • • Pattern No. 8080 Is designed for sizes 2. 3, 4, 5 and 6 years. Size 3 ensemble takes 2 yards 36-lnch material, 3',a yards ric-rac. For this attractive pattern, send your order to: SEWING CIRCLE PATTERN DEPT. Room 1324 311 W. Wacker Dr. Chicago Enclose 15 cents in coins for Pattern No.Size. Name . Address ..., ^VtorkwdUte. Were too hungry. Normal itomachs are elighUy add, but hurried eating, when ex hausted, can cauae EXCESS acid. ADLA Tableta contain Biimuth and Carbonate* for QUICK relief. Aik druggist for ADLA. Maidens’ Desire The desire to please everything having eyes seems inborn in maidens.—Salomon Gessner. Education a Debt Education — a debt due from present to future generations.— George Peabody. TRADt^jCTME When a cough due to a cold drives you mad, look to Smith Brothers Cough Drops ior s-o-o-t-h-i-n-g, pleasant relief. Two kinds... both delicious... Black or Menthol. Still cost only a nickel. Why pay more? SMITH BROS. COUGH C3CFS ^ BLACK OR MENTHOL MAR* Words Are Signs We should have a great many fewer disputes in the world if words were taken for what they are, the signs of our ideas only, and not for things themselves. A CYCLE OF HUMAN BETTERMENT Advertising gives you new ideas, /\ and also makes them available to you at economical cost. As these new ideas become more accepted, prices go down. As prices go down, more persons enjoy new ideas. It is a cycle of human betterment, and it starts with the printed words of a newspaper advertisement. JOIN THE CIRCLE Q READ THE ADS A