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About The frontier. (O'Neill City, Holt County, Neb.) 1880-1965 | View Entire Issue (April 5, 1951)
* W&r* ***?■? . 1 ..• * *■* ** £ -i •: MJfltuifm %JLl% ' wH North-Nebraska’s Fastest-Growing Newspaper VOLUME 70._NUMBER 48. O'NEILL, NEBR.. THURSDAY, APRIL 5. 1951. PRICE: 7 CENT* TSOC ^ Father of 4 Dies When Box Falls s ^ . xxx ‘Eddie’ Seger, 34, Killed Instantly in Mishap ATKINSON — A 34-year-old Atkinson man, the father of four young children, was killed almost instantly about 10 p.m. Saturday, March 31, while working alone in the shop at the Keating Imple ., jnent store. Dead is Edward F. Seger, son jof Mr. and Mrs. F. E. Seger. * He was working on a dump truck box which was being propped up by 2x4s while un der construction. When one of the boards slipped. Seger was pinned under the box. The im pact crushed his chest and he died immediately. The surviving children are pu * pils at Atkinson public school where they range from kinder garten through the sixth grade. Funeral services were conduct j ed at 2 p.m. Tuesday, April 3, at [t>ie Presbyterian church with FTev. Orin C. Graf, church pastor, officiating. Burial was in Wood Lawn cemetery. “Eddie” Seger, as he was best known, was bom July 19, 1917, at Atkinson. On February 7, 1936, he mar ried Margaret Fullerton. They ' became the parent sof four chil , dren. Survivors include: Widow — Margaret; daughters— Margery, Mary Claire, and Lois; son — Melvin; parents—Mr. and Mrs. —Clifford, of Lincoln; Orville, of F. E. Seger, of Atkinson; brothers Chicago, 111.; Ray, Calvin, Ralph and James, all of Atkinson; sis ters — Mrs. Wallace (Margaret) Carr, Misses Maxine and Mil dred. both of Atkinson. V The late Mr. Seger had been employed by the Keating firm for about five years. He had been seen on the streets of At kinson shortly before he re turned to the shop to work on the truck box. L Mr. Seger and his family re sided at the edge of town. Pallbearers were Charles Ank ney, John Bonenberger, William Dexter, Charles Ames, John Keating and Robert Keating. Mrs. Tom McDonald ’ Atkinson, Dies * - ATKINSON — Mrs. Thomas •McDonald. 73, died at 3 a.m. Sunday, April 1, in the Stuart Community hospital where she had been a patient over a week. She had been ill, however, for some time. Funeral services were conduct ed in St. Joseph’s Catholic church in Atkinson at 10 a.m. Tuesday, April 3, with Rev. A. A. Lehman officiating. Interment was in St. Joseph’s cemetery. Rosaries were offered Sunday night and Monday night. The late Mrs. McDonald was a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Peter Ramold. She was born at Watson, Ifo' - Survivors include: Widower; •isters—Mrs. William Discher, of Nebraska City; Mrs. O. G. Nin eelsher, of Auburn; Mrs. R. H. Mallory, of Ft. Calhoun; Mrs. S. A. Silver, of. Oakland, Calif.; brothers—H. A. Ramold, of Oma | ha; Peter Ramold, of Atkinson. - Injured Man Goes Back to Gordon Walter Lefler, 59, Gordon man who was driver of a car in which Ids aunt, Mrs. Minnie Lefler, al so of Gordon, was fatally injur ed on Monday. March 26, Monday was released from O’Neill hospi 13 Mr. Lefler was in “critical Condition” for several days fol lowing the accident and he emerged from the danger stage last Thursday. He was able to make the tnp to Gordon by car. Mrs. Lefler, 75. died in an am bulance after the accident A * third occupant of the car, I Ruth Lefler, 49, was unhurt. The Lefler machine crashed into a parked truck. A coroner's jury Thursday found Harry Green, 30, of V al entine, driver of the parked truck, innocent of negligence. t irst Korean Vet Returns to O’Neill * ■ - — Pfc. Luther Larson, who has en serving with the First Ma ne division in the Korean war, rived in O’Neill Sunday and is siting his brother, Robert E. irson. and family. He was for erly from Atkinson. His father, Luther Larson, sr., Lucas. Ia., arrived Tuesday ir a visit at the Larson home. Private Larson experienced me bitter fighting against the nrth Koreans and Chinese Reds, Natives said. He left O’Neill Tuesday to visit few days in Atkinson. GRASS FIRE O’Neill firemen were summon 1 at 3:05 p.m. Wednesday to a ■ass fire at the Pete Petersen ace in West O Neill. f Edward F. ("Eddie") Seger and his wife . . . before the tragedy. (Story at left) j MRS. ANNIE HICKEY DIES IN CALIFORNIA Re s i d e s Northwest ot of O’Neill for 40 Years; Rites in Hollywood Mrs. Annie Hickey died at 10 p.m. Wednesday. March 28, at her home at 1120 N. Alexandria ave., Hollywood, Calif. She was 93-years-old. The late Mrs. Hickey had re sided in Hollywood for the past 27 years. She came to O’Neill from West Point in 1885 and spent more than 40 years on a farm north west of O’Neill. The late Mrs. Hickey was regarded as one of the early pioneers of Cuming and Holt counties. She was preceded in death by her husband, John, who died in 1920, and one daughter, Agnes. Survivors include: Sons—Em mett and Ray, both of Holly wood; Patrick V. and John W., both of O’Neill; daughters — Mary, Winnie and Loretto Hick ey, Mrs. L. A. (Catherine) Meier, and Mrs. Martin (Ann) Stanton, all of Hollywood; Miss Margaret G. Hickey, of New York City; and Mrs. Joseph (Alice) Conway, of Pender; brother — James W. Maloney, of Pender. There are 14 grandchildren and 23 great-grandchildren. Patrick V. Hickey and Mr. and Mrs. John W. Hickey left Thurs day to attend the funeral. They boarded a plane at Omaha. All of her 11 living children were present for the funeral rites held Saturday i n Hollywood. Burial was made there. Odd Fellowship Here Is 75-Years-Old ‘Borrow* Members to Found Chapter in 1876 Elkhom Valley lodge 57, of the Independent Order of Odd Fel lows recently passed its 75th birthday anniversary. The affair was formally celebrated Wednes day night, April 4, with a special program at the lodge hall. Story of the founding of the O’Neill lodge actually began be fore the Irish colony here was founded. It was in September, 1874, that Sam Wolf, David Wise garver, Wilson Hoxsie and Her man Strasburg drove to Norfolk where the four were initiated in to the newlybom Norfolk IOOF lodge. By "borrowing" the cards of six members of lodges else where. this group of 10 men founded the Ellchorn Valley chapter on March 4. 1876. Frank McEvony, Henry McEv ony and E. H. Thompson, all of Wisconsin, were three of the charter members who helped to install No. 57. Brooks Flanagan, of Norfolk, two men who op erated a sawmill at Clearwater, Jasper Evans and C. C. Evans, and O. K. Elwood supplied the remainder of the missing quota. The infant lodge was destined to hold its meetings in the upper half-story of a 1%-story building which served as the territory’s general store. The building was located on the Wilson Hoxsie farm, about 3 miles down the Elkhom from the present site of O’Neill. Before long enough resident members were initiated to enable the lodge to return its "borrow ed” members to their rightful or ganizations. From 1883 until 1924 the lodge held its meetings in the old Frontier building. When the newspaper office was destroyed by fire most of the lodge records went up in smoke. A permanent home was “born” , in March, 1902, when Samuel B. Three of the oldest members of IOOF lodge 57 are W. P, ("Pete") Curtis, Dr. L. A. Carter and L. G. Gillespie. Curtis and Gillespie joined in 1907. Carter in 1917.—The Frontier Photo. and Bridget Howard gave a war ranty deed to the lodge for the sum of $75, and O. O. Snyder, re ceiver for the Holt County bank, helped the lodge get a deed to O’Neill business property for $1,200. First floor of the present build ing was constructed in 1904. It was used for 10 years as a post office. In 1924 the second-story was added and built especially for lodge rooms. The mainfloor since 1914 has been used by gen eral merchandise firms. Today all the charter mem bers and colorful pioneer lodge builders are deceased. Frank G. Martin, who now re sides near Norton, Wyo., has been a member of No. 57 for a half-century and Mr. Martin was urged to be present Wednesday night to receive a 50-year jewel. Among the other oldest mem bers are L. G. Gillespie and W. P. ("Pete”) Curtis, who joined together in a class of 13 in 1907. Dr. L. A. Carter became an Odd Fellow in 1903, joining up at Randall, Kans. .Later he belong ed at Tryon and transferred to No. 57 in 1917. M. P. Kinkaid, colorful U.S. congressman and author of the Kinkaid act, was an early mem ber. Barrett Scott, Holt county treasurer, was a member until vigilantes took his life in a his toric episode. The late R. R. Dick son, prominent judge, was a long time member of the chapter. Floyd E. Keyes, now a member of the Inman lodge, joined here in 1905. Leon M. Sargent became a member in 1912; A. E. Bowen, 1917; Ira H. Moss. 1923; Arthur Rouse, 1925, and Elmer R. Bow en. 1925. Two members of the lodge at tained the Nebraska grand mas tership—O. O. Snyder, who serv ed from 1899 to 1900 and the late J. C. Hamish, who served from 1914 to 1915. Both served for ma ny years as members of the home j (Continued on page 4.) Frank G. Martin, of Nor ton. Wyo. ... a member of the O'Neill IOOF lodge for half a century. 1,467 MUSICIANS WILL BE HEARD No Ratings i n This Year’s Prep Music Festival The O’Neill music festival will be held on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, April 11, 12 and 13. The piano entries will be heard on Wednesday, April 11, com mencing at 3 p.m. James Rei strup, chairman of the piano de partment, Momingside college, Sioux City, will be the critic. All class C and D schools will be heard on Thursday, April 12. The instrumental solos and small group events will be heard in the public school auditorium begin ning at 8 p.m. on Thursday. Three class D bands will perform from 10:30 a.m. until noon and three more beginning at 1 p.m. Class C girls’ glee clubs will appear at the public school audi torium from 2:30 until 5:15 p.m., when the class D boys’ glee clubs will finish the afternoon perform ance at the auditorium. In the evening five class C bands will make up the program from 7 until 9:30 p.m. The vocal performances for Thursday will be held in St. Ma rv’s auditorium and in the St. Mary’s recreation room. Eighty seven vocal solos and 43 vocal small groups will be heard until 4 p.m., when the class D girls’ glee club and mixed chorus will perform. There will be no pro gram at St. Mary’s academy on Thursday evening. All class B events will be heard on Friday as follows: Instrumental solos and small groups, at the O’Neill high school auditorium, 8 a.m. until 10:30 a.m. Vocal soloists will appear at St. Mary’s auditorium, 10:30 a.m. until noon. In the afternoon, vocal small groups will perform until 3 o’ clock, after which the class. B glee clubs will appear at the high school auditorium. The evening performance will consist of five class B bands. Continued on page 8.) McDonald’s Store Is Redecorated The J. M. McDonald company store this week completed an in terior decoration project, it was announced by Manager Joe Stutz. Local contractors did the work, including repainting of the entire interior. Frontier for printing! f ) 1 CAMERA DODGER . . . Don ald L. Hines, 20-year-old In man youth who successfully ducked cameras previously, was “caught” by The Frontier’s photographer as he emerged from the Holt county court room Wednesday, March 29. Already two years in the men’s reformatory for Antelope coun ty burglaries, Hines’ sentence was increased to three years. His burglarizing companions, Gene W. (“Red”) and Richard D. (“Slim”) Roberts, O’Neill brothers, also had their sen tences increased. John Carl Held Following Fight John Carl, about 45, of O’Neill, was lodged in the Holt county jail about 1 a.m. Tuesday following an incident at the comer of Fourth and Douglas streets. He was detained by State Pa trolmen Frank Dineen and ar rested by Assistant Police Chief Walt Calkins. Billy Mohr, of O’Neill, was admitted to O’Neill hospital to receive treatment for facial in juries. Hospital attendants said Wednesday he was “resting com fortably.” Worst wounds were a round the eyes. County Attorney William W. Griffin said Wednesday that Carl had been in trouble on previous occasions and he planned to press charges. Write-In Move Fails; New Fire Truck OK'd - XXX $15,000 Bond Issue Gets Necessary Margin O’Neill voters liked the idea of a new fire truck and gave the 15-thousand-dollar bond propos- j al emphatic approval. There were 570 votes “for” the | truck, 311 “aga'ast” Bids will be accepted on the 1 truck at a future date. Fire de partment officials say they need j a modern truck equipped with a j pump capable of producing about | 750-gallons of water per minute. Booster tanks on the two pres ent trucks — both relics of the 1930s—are rated at 80- and 100 gallon capacities. Booster tank on the new truck will be in the neighborhood of 300 gallons. Fire Chief G. E. Miles said Wednesday that when the fleet of trucks is increased to three the oldest truck might be modified for special duty. Caywood Goes Fishing; Spring Must Be Here— Another sign of spring: Char les Caywood, ONeill fixture who does not allow a cane to spoil his fun, sampled spring fishing on the Blackbird and Redbird creeks on Tuesday. Results: “Not so good.” City Election Table For Board of Ed.— For 3-Yr. Term— 1st 2d 3d—Tot. Moss _ 192 158 153—503 Cronin _ 197 147 164—508 Schaffer 119 94 189—402 For 2-Yr. Term — Lohaus _ 200 151 143—494 Culver _ 93 95 163—331 Fire Truck Issue— For _ 201 175 194—570 Against _ 85 83 143—311 For City Council— Golden_187 —187 Bowen_120 —120 Johnson 250 —250 Uhl 255—255 Gillespie _ 113—113 For City Treas.— Bright . 145 228 259—632 ★ ★ ★ Election Sidelights The “Voice of The Frontier” turned in its customary post election performance. The “Voice” went on the air (WJAG, Norfolk) at 9:45 a.m. Wednesday with final unofficial tallies on the balloting at O’Neill, Atkinson, Lynch, Stuart, Emmet, Page, (Continued on page 4.) I Amelia Woman, 27, Is Polio Fatality AMELIA—Holt county has re corded its first infantile paralysis death for 1951. Miss Hazel Dexter, about 27, died in an ambulance late Fri day, March 30, enroute to a Grand Island hospital She had been stricken several hours ear lier with bulbar type polio, which had settled in her respiratory system, according to her attend ing physician, Dr. Roy S. Cramm, of Burwell. Miss Dexter, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Will Dexter, of the Bailagh community, was at the Dexter ranch alone when she was stricken. She was found unconscious about 9:30 a.m. by ; her brother, Raymond. He placed her in his car and rushed her to Doctor Cramm at Burwell, arriving there about 11 a.m. Miss Dexter was kept alive for about five hours by a respirator. A mobile respirator unit was summoned from Grand Island. The ambulance was only five miles out of Burwell enroute to a Grand Island hospital when Miss Dexter died. Doctor Cramm believes Miss Dexter may have been afflicted for a time but was not aware of her disease. The day before she had driven a tractor while her brother, Ray mond loaded hay. There were in dications in the kitchen she had prepared her own breakfast that morning and had eaten a pan cake. Her parents were at Chadron helping build a cabin camp which Hazel, together with her sister. Opal, and her brother, Rolland, planned to operate. Funeral services were held Monday, April 2, at the Methodist church in Burwell. Survivors include: Parents; brothers— Raymond, Rolland, Leonard and Donald; sisters — Mrs. Owen Moses and Miss Opal. The late Miss Dexter had taught school at Burwell for sev eral years. GLEN EATON, 63, DIES AT NORFOLK Glen Eaton, 63-year-old farm- I er residing in the Stafford com munity, between Inman and Ew ing, died at 10:15 p.m. Sunday, April 1, in a Norfolk hospital. Death was attributed to a heart affliction. He had been ill one month. Funeral services will be held today (Thursday) at 10 a.m. in I St. Peter's Catholic church at Ewing and burial will be in Calvary cemetery at O'Neill. Rev. Peter Burke, pastor of St. Peter's church, will officiate. Pallbearers chosen are Charles Regan, John Walker, John Ruth er, Arthur Spittler, Arthur Ru roede and Lloyd Angus. The late Mr. Eaton was bom at Harlan, la., on July 22, 1887, a son of Escar E. and Phoebe Os trander Eaton. On February 13, 1926, he mar ried Jaunita Sydow at Burke, S. D. The late Mr. Eaton came to Holt county in 1939 from Chey enne, Wyo. Survivors include: Widow; sons—C. J. Eaton, of Laurel; Os car and Robert Eaton, both of Inman; and William Eaton, of Aurora; daughters — Mrs. Roy Daniels, of Trenton, and Mrs. George Fick, of Inman. Mrs. Dale Fetrow and children went to Norfolk this week to see Mr. and Mrs. Melvin Lorenz and new baby daughter. Voter* Return Mois, Cronin to School Board O’Neill’s municipal electlpn Tuesday had a whirlwind finish. A late write-in campaign devel oped to unseat two incumbent members of the board of educ tion. who were candidates ftr reelection, and another person, who was a candidate for a two year vacancy. The write-in move fell short —but not unlil the second greatest voter turnout in the history of the city had been recorded. Total unofficial bal lots cast were 1,013 with 20 mail votes yet to be tabulated. Ira H. Moss, veteran secretary of the board, and F. N. Cronin outdistanced Mrs. Elizabeth Schaffer by a 5-4 ratio. Mrjt Schaffer was a write-in candidate for either of the two three-year terms. Both Moss and Cronin were pe tition candidates and their names were on the ballots. Henry J. Lohaus, also a peti tion candidate, was opposed fey Lowell Culver for the two-year vacancy created by the resigna tion of George Shoemaker. Lo haus defeatd his write-in oppo nent by a long 4-3 ratio. M. J. ("Max”) Golden turned back A. E. (“Archie”) Bowen, 187-120, for the First ward seat on the city council. The incum bent, A. W. Carroll, was not a candidate for reelection. Marvin Johnson was unopposed in tlse Second ward for a council po$t, succeeding J. L. MeCarville, Sf., likewise not a candidate for re election. Norbert Uhl. incumbent, suc cessfully won hie candidacy for reelection, rapping W. & ("Ben") Gillespie. 255-113. By virtue of Tuesday’s results, the new council will lineup like this: Mayor J. E. Davis; councilman —First ward—M. J. Golden and a vacancy (for L. M. Diehlman, resigned); Second—Tony Asimfls and Marvin Johnson; Third e— Norbert Uhl and C. E. Jones. The school board lineup: Pres ident— L. A. Burgess; secretary —Ira H. Moss; members—F. K. Cronin, Dr. H. L. Bennett, Mfis Anna O’Donnell, Henry J. Tjd haus. Liquor by Drink Flatly Rejected— ^ EWING—Voters here gave the liquor by the drink a resounding reejction Tuesday. One hundred sixty-two persons said "no": gtt voted "yes." ** Liquor by the package atrwtfy is sold in the town of Ewftjg, but the “by the drink” meaRure on the ballot was flatly turncjl down. Results of the Ewing village board election follow: R. H. Shain and Waldo Da$s were the successful Candida® with 130 votes each. John Walk er received 88, Julian Sojka, 75. Davis and Walker were incum bents. For the village board one-ye&r term, L. D. Brenneman defeated R. G. Rockey, 94-85. L. W. Gunter and J. L. Pruden were successful in their candidb ey for the Ewing board of educa tion Gunter collected 132 votcsL Pi uden 108. The unsuccessful candidates were Edgar Jensen, 97, and R. G. Rockey, 92. A total of 224 voters went to the polls at Ewing. The election was enlivened with the liquor is sue. Venerable Doctor Get* Hi* With— PAGE—Dr. E. J. Bild, 75, vet eran Page town official, receiv ed his wish. In an interview with The Frontier last week, he hop ed and he begged that he’d be relieved from his duties as mem ber of the town board. Doctor Bild wanted “younger men in the town to take over.” By ope vote, the old doctor was defeat ed—and that’s the way he want ed it. The election Tuesday was quiet at Page. Gerald La mason and Anton Nissen were reelected to the vil lage board. Lamason got 48 votes; Nissen, 28; Bild, 27; H. F. Har per, 22, and H. J. Stevens, 21. The incum/bents were Lama son, Nissen and BikL Lloyd Fusselman was the suc cessful candidate for the one year term on the Page village (Continued on page 4.)