Tragic Ending of Barret Scott
*
♦Holt Official’s Generosity Leads to Undoing;
Mob Hangs Him on Bridge
By ROMAINE SAUNDERS
Editor-in-Chief, Diamond Jubilee Edition
Scotty was mounted on a fleet pinto. I on a bay cow pony no
less fleet in bounding over the prairie. That day we were in pur
suit of a gray prairie wolf. Others on slower horses were bring
ing up the rear. Barret and I rode close on the heels of two grey
hounds that were pressing hard upon the wolf, which suddenly
stopped, turned upon his adversaries and bared his teeth in de
fiance.
The picture today lingers of a magnificent specimen of the
wild challenging dogs and men to do their worst. And I think
Barret Scott's generous nature felt something of the emotions
of that moment that, after all. maybe we should let that noble
creature of fhe wild go.
Scotty was a leader of men, impetuous, generous and nothing
that I recall revealed his character so much as in that moment of
victory when he must have felt a little humiliated in the presence
of a lone wolf making a stand ready to defend or sacrifice its
life. Scotty was in middle life, I about to step over the threshold
and embark on life’s uncertain course. The shame of that hour in
the presence of a lone wolf standing there in defiance of six brave
horsemen and two dogs still haunts me, though it may have ling- j
♦ ered with Scotty but for a moment.
_
Some periods of local his
tory touched the heroics. Oth
ers emerge out of memory s
mists wrapped in sullen bit
terness that lead away on the
trail of tragedy. Factions, un
worthy tHe dignity of being
classed as political, were more
blighting to the county than
hot winds, raging blixxards or
any mood of the elements of
nature.
Barret Scott, of Scottville,
was elected county treasurer in
1889 with all other Republican
nominees, serving two terms or
so much of the second term as
he could hang onto after the
shortage in his office was made
a factional football and com
munity scandal. The county
board was composed of men
lacking in both experience and
ability to supervise the affairs
of the county but richly endow
ed with factional bias. Had there
been watchfulness in the inter
ests of the county and less blind
hatred of Republicans. Scott and
his bondsmen would have made
good the $32,000 a jury in dis
trict court on September 15,
1894, found to be the sum Scott
was short.
Generosity Leads to Undoing
Scotty—what was the matter
with him? Too big of heart,
generosity with no sense of cur
tailment in the interests of pub
lic welfare. Something of the
FDR lavish hand tossing out
public funds. Scotty’s father was
a little concerned over his elec
tion as county treasurer. He was
heard to say: “It wouldn’t do to
put Barret on a bread wagon in
time of famine.” And ’93 and ’94
were famine years. County
funds went, not to enrich Scotty
but to help some needy settlers
as well as this weakness of Bar
ret being taken advantage of by
unscrupulous friends.
On July 19, 1894, the county
,i»r. • • •
Groceries
Canned Fruits
Canned Vegetables
Candy
Soft Drinks
★
JOHN MELVIN
57 - STEPS
O’Neill ;
board ii^^ession, Scott offered
to turn over securities to the
amount of $50,000 and Joe Bart
ley $5,000 in cash to reimburse
the county. Mr. Harrington ad
vised the board against this and
the offer was rejected. These se
curities were considered shakey,
mostly “promises to pay” ex
ecuted by various individuals
who had obtained money from
Scott.
Court Action Not Very Clear
The record is a little hazy as
to the legal steps taken against
Scott and his bondsmen. In one
court action the presiding judge
ruled that the bond of Scott had
been invalidated by the county
board authorizing additional
signers, released the bondsmen
and entered judgment in the
sum of $76,000 against Scott.
And then on September 15 the
jury sitting on the case in the
trial of Scott for embezzlement
brought in a verdict of guilty,
setting the amount of the short
age at $32,000.
Scott, who had left the coun
ty and state, was picked up by a
sheriff in New Mexico and
brought back to O’Neill by
Frank Campbell, special agent
of Holt county. He did not like
to see things all one sided so he
brought suit against Sheriff
Cunningham, of New Mexico,
for false imprisonment. Cun
ningham had come to O’Neill to
collect the reward hung up by
the county board for the appre
hension of Scott. This was one
instance when the board rejected
the advice of Mr. Harrington to
let Scott go and acted upon the
clamoring of Judge McCutch
eon and other emotional citi
zens and went the limit to catch
the fugitive.
It Was Goodbye, Scotty
Nearing the midnight hour of
the dying year of 1894, Mrs.
Scott arrived in town to tell the
story of her husband being
taken from her side by masked
men and doubtless led to his
doom. Mr. and Mrs. Scott, with
their little daughter and a niece,
Miss McWhorter, and Henry
Schmidt, were driving in from
the Scottville community when
they were held up by masked
men lying in wait behind sod
walls at a point known as Par
ker, some 12 miles Northeast of
town.
Shots were fired, the Scott
team was killed and a bullet
struck the steel stay of Miss
McWhorter's corset. Barret
was dragged from the buggy,
loaded into a wagon and
bound securely with ropes.
This occurred at 2 p. m.
Alarmed, with heavy hearts the
others of the party made their
weary way into town.
Scott was hung from the Whit
ing bridge over the Niobrara, j
the troubled waters of that
stream closing over his lifeless
body. The debt of Scotty to
Holt county had been liquidat
ed.
Body Recovered
And those troubled waters
gave up their dead 19 days lat- j
WE ESTEEM IT A PRIVILEGE
on This 75th Anniversary
of the Founding of O’Neill
to Join the Community in Paying
Tribute to the Memory
of the Pioneers.
MR. AND MRS. D. H. CLAUSON
BARRET SCOTT ... As a Holt county treasurer he was a lead
er of men, impetuous, generous. His death became a legend.
(Photograph above as he appeared as Holt official.)
er. On January 19, at 9:15 p. m.,
a searching party from O’Neill
was rewarded by recovering
the body of Scotty through a
hole in the ice, 120 feet below
the bridge and 10 feet from the
North shore. A few feet of rope
clung to the broken neck, arms
and legs bound about with
ropes and fully clothed the body
of Barret Scott was laid out on
the ice while brave men sat
down on the bank of the river
and wept and the silent stars
looked down upon the scene.
For half a century Summer .
bloom and Winter snows have
left their tribute over a little
mound up on the hill where
repose the bones of a once ac
tive, warm hearted citizen
whose misguided generosity
made him the victim of unre
strained passion.
A coroner’s jury was selected
from the young county of Boyd
composed of the following: J. F.
Wood, J. C. Harvey, Cal Moffit,
Wm. Powell, B. F. Loucks and
R. P. Stearns. Indictments were
brought against George D. Mul
lihan, Mose Elliot, Mert Roy
‘‘and others”. Mullihan was the
only one to be brought to trial.
Attorneys and other attaches of
the court were armed with six
shooters during the trial, which
resulted in acquittal of Mulli
han.
A committee of the Rebekah
lodge was appointed and drafted
resolutions of sympathy for Mrs.
Scott and daughter. Alberta Ut
tley, Cora Meredith and May
belle Corbett composed this
committee. J. P. Gilligan, E. E.
Evans and E. M. Grady were the
committee of the Knights of
Pythias to write the resolution
of that order.
Searching Parly
The strangest New Year gath
ering ever held anywhere was at
the midnight hour of December
31, 1894. At that hour a nine
year-old boy was awakened in
his room upstairs by voices in
the room below in earnest con
versation. That was at the home
of Mr. and Mrs. J. H. Meredith.
The boy was their son, Owen,
who got out of bed and went
down stairs clad in his night
gown to find Mrs. Scott with her
daughter, Fanny, there, his fath
er and mother and all under
high tension. Mrs. Scott had
come at that midnight hour to
tell what had happened to them.
Mr. Meredith left the house be
fore daylight, aroused several
citizens and the searching party
left town. The Meredith family
did not see Mr. Meredith again
until he came in with the party
that brought the body of Scott.
Henry Tomlinson supplies us
with the following concerning
the recovery of Scott’s body. In
addition to those he mentions
Clyde King and Jake Hershiser
were with the searching party.
“The body of Scott was found
by Bill Hudson, who was a mem
ber of the old Mineola ball team.
He was directed in his search by
S. J. Weekes. Bill was kneeling
ciown on the ice and had a long
• n rod with a hook on the end.
Weekes told Bill to explore over
in the edge of an eddy, which
had not frozen over. Bill fished
there and his hook caught some
thing. He gave a good hard jerk
and Scott’s body came right up
in his face. I saw him two days
later and he looked like he had
been through a sick spell. I
think Sanford Parker was there
too for the Odd Fellows had of
fered a two hundred dollar re
ward. Hudson brought suit
against the lodge for the re
ward money. The lodge claimed
it on the grounds that Parker,
ane of the lodge members, had
found him.”
Modem sealing wax contains
lo wax.
Local Artisans
Builders of City
Houses, barns, store build
ngs, churches, banks, mills and
shops that went to make up the
:ollection of habitations and
business places of a primative
D’Neill were the work of local
artisans. Some of these are here
called to mind:
Mullen Brothers, Alex Boyd,
George Triggs, Owen Davidson,
John McBride, Sam Wolf and a
dark-haired slight-built man
whose name I have forgotten,
who lived in a house that was
moved away to make room for
the Short Line on the Southwest
edge of town, were among the
early day carpenters.
The brick masons and plaster
ers inculded George Clark, who
was also a printer, John Triggs,
John and Den 'Hunt and a pa- I
triot holding down a claim out
on Dry Creek by the name of
Mason.
John Haloran, of Inman, and
George Cross painted the town.
Interior decorations were omit
ted or put on by the homefolks.
Judicial Convention
of Fusionisis Held —
The fusion judicial convention
was held at Valentine Tuesday,
47 years ago, Judge W. H. West
over, of Crawford, and Judge J.
J. Harrington, of O’Neill, being
renominated without opposition.
The delegation attending from
Holt county was composed of: A.
F. Mullen, John Fisher, F. C.
Gatz, M. R. Sullivan, M. M. Sul
livan, J. M. Morgan, Frank
Campbell, S. M. Wagers, T. V.
Golden, E. H. Whelan, Tom
Coyne, P. J. and J. F. O’Don
nell, O. F. Biglin, S. F. McNich
ols, Steve McGinnis and Pat
Kelly, all of O’Neill; Frank Rei
burg, of Atkinson, Levi van
Valkenburg, of Inman, James
Mullen, of Page.
Rancher Shot Down —
An 1899 tragedy was thus
briefly told: H. Blenkiron, a cat
tle man owning a ranch down
near Amelia, was shot and in
stantly killed at Belden last
Sunday evening by C. S. Harris
editor of the Belden News. An
article appeared in the News to
which Blenkiron took exceptions
and he called upon Harris in
the latter’s office for the pur
pose of getting him to retract it.
The argument waxed warm and
H-irris savs Blenkiron started
fo? him to do him up when he
shot him, claiming to have done
so in self defense. Self defense
was the verdict of the coroner’s
jury. __
A Stag Party —
A half-century ago R. R.
Dickson entertained a number
of young friends at his resi
dence Tuesday evening by giv
ing a Halloween party. Those;
who attended enjoy§d the event
very much. The rooms were
tastefully decorated with chry
santhemums, fragrant roses and
waving ferns, and lighted only
by candles and Chinese lan
terns e>‘ bountiful lunch was
served and the whole evening’s
iov reflected much credit to the
ability of the host to plan and
entertain.
A. Marriage Recorded —
Calmer Simonson, of Agee,
and Miss Gertrude Leeper of
Omaha, were married by Judge
Selah yesterday morning, said
rhe Frontier some 50 years ago.
Mr. Simonson is a son of Thom
as Simonson, of Agee, and is one
Df the prosperous young farm
»rs of Shields township. The
bride is a daughter of J W.
Leeper. who removed from Agee
to Omaha last Spring, and is a
/oung lady esteemed and belov
ed by all her acquaintances. The
Frontier extends congratula
tions.
★
I
HEADQUARTERS FOR
>
Clothing...
Men’s Furnishings
A Complete Line of SHOES
for Men, Women and
C hildren!
★
Style-Quality--Value
★
O’Neill, Nebraska
■> :
c • - -*• *rl fi -<
of McCafferty’s
Opry House and
a “Wild Evening”
of Parchesi...
. . . insurance was something
that few people carried, and
the policies were very limit
ed in their coverage.
TODAY, INSURANCE has gone just as modern as the
radio and the fancy motor cars. No matter what the
risk, we can write it. If you wish to build your estate and
provide for old age, insurance will do it. If you’re with
out ample coverage on your automobile, your livestock,
your crops or your household goods, we can provide you
the coverage you need with proper and adequate insurance
at nominal cpst.
If You Have an Insurance Problem
We Would Be Happy to Talk It Over
with You.
O’Neill Insurance Agency
BEN OETTER Phone 434 WOODY GRIM