Prairieland Talk . . .
Editor Wanted Holt Sliced
By ROMAINE SAUNDERS, Retired, Former Editor The Frontier
LINCOLN— The metropolis of southeastern
Holt county, the roadside sign reading “Ewing,” as
you come up the highway, and “Ewing" in bold
letters on the North Western railroad depot con
fronting you as you roll into town on the morn
ing passenger train, receives attention from a
writer at the State Historical society in Lincoln,
Mrs. Elizabeth S. Radtke, through the medium of
the January issue of the Nebraska Newspaper, an
organ of the State Press associa
tion. She takes her readers back
to the year 1888 and escorts
them through the cowboy town
to the editorial sanctum of the
Ewing Democrat, another news
paper just added to a list of 14
then coming from Washington
hand presses in Holt county.
The Democrat, O. C. Bates
editor, an inspired pagan who
had drifted into Holt county ^
towns as a tramp printer, had’!
been launched primarily to elect Romaine
Grover Cleveland of New York Saunders
president. Bates survived the flying cowpunchers’
bullets a few months and then drifted back to O’
Neill, dividing his time between his two loves, a
case of type at the Tribune plant and a beer keg
at the Crittick saloon. Bates saw the triumph of
his political god in 1892 after defeat in 1888, but
the defeat of his scheme to divide Holt into three
slices. He set type in the basement of the First
National bank building, moved on to Atkinson and
got a job on the Graphic, then to Stuart, every
where bringing to the journalism of his day the
poetic beauty of a literary genius.
At the time the Ewing Democrat was launch
ed the town already had a paper, the Item,
Clarence Selah editor and Clyde King printer.
The Item was later moved to O’Neill.
Selah was at one time federal revenue col
lector and was serving as county judge of Holt
county when he died many years ago. Clyde King
was editor of The Frontier in the early 1890’s.
Mrs. Radtke quotes from other papers what
they had to say of the first issue of the Democrat.
Fellow editors of Holt county greeted the new
comer as follows:
Good advertising patronage.—The Frontier.
Sparkling with crystal gems of literary merit.
—The Tribune.
Chock full of spicy reading matter. O. C.
Bates, editor and publisher, is an oldtime dem
ocrat, well posted upon the issues before the peo
ple, and will place the Democrat in the front ranks
of north-Nebraska’s journals.—Stuart Ledger.
In point of typography will compare favorably
with any weekly publication in the state. We ac
cept its invitation to cooperate in all efforts for
the moral and material prosperity of the Giant
Town.:—The Item.
Politically, friend Bates is badly off, but fra
ternally, here’s our fist.—Atkinson Graphic.
* * *
Gratitude of Prairieland Talker goes across
the snow' to L. E. Downey, freight agent at Den
ver, Colo., for the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy
railroad, for one of their 1956 calendars, which
is not only one with large figures but is a work
of art as well. Lee thus remembers me each year,
and my guess is that the scenic wonders of
Colorado have not dimmed Lee’s vision of his
native prairieland and treasured memories of
life as a kid in O’NeilL
* * *
The able gentleman and one competent lady
who compose the official group directing the af
fairs of the capital city have concluded it is time
to join the procession and stick out receptive hands
for a substantial “federal grant” to finance a half
million-dollar street widening undertaking. When
O street was extended east to 48th and beyond
from side to side appeared ample. Present day
conveyances “running to and fro” make it neces
sary to rebuild the towms, as O’Neill patriots have
discovered.
The Morris and Corrigan drug stores func
tioned side-by-side some years before and for
some years after the Barret Scott lynching ruffled
the surface of community life 60 years ago. On
Douglas street a few steps from the bank corner
these two dispensaries of drugs, Hosters bitters
and licensed whiskey prescription providers were
also the social centers for the notables about town
in the evenings, such as R. R. Dickson, J. B. Mel
lor, T. V. Golden, Clyde King, Denny Cronin and
some others. Most of them had six-shooter on
them during the period of high tension growing
out of the finding of Scotty in the Niobrara riv
er. Edward Rosewater, editor of the Omaha Bee,
sent a reporter to O’Neill to write up the story
of the tragedy, with instructions to wire in what
The Frontier would say editorially. This reporter
found Clyde King at the Morris drug store, asked
to have a copy of The Frontier’s editorial estimate
of the Scott lynching. Clyde replied that he had not
written it yet but if the reporter would defer a
a few minutes from wiring in his story he would
have it for him. Stepping back to the rear of the
room, Clyde went to the prescription counter, wrote
the editorial, handed a copy to the Bee man and
the writeup appeared in both the Omaha Bee
and The Frontier.
* * *
The state university promoters of sports
think they have secured the one it is going to
take to make the Cornhuskers a notable aggrega
tion in the realm of football. Coach Elliott and
wife have arrived in Lincoln, launched first on
house hunting and we trust they will be able to
make out on Mr. Elliott’s 12-thousand a year
salary.
* * *
Traffic deaths in Nebraska the past year are
said to have numbered 317, or }1 under the pre
vious year. Many of these were out-of-the-state
residents. Our straightaway, few turns highways
place Nebraska among the safest for motorists.
. . . The threet vets’ hospitals within the state are
to continue to operate. . . It was in a northern
Minnesota town—a bear, a wolf, a bobcat were
seen looking the town over, a reliable forecast—
the natives say, of an early spring. . . Out of old
Ohio comes the story that 600 citizens receiving
pensions for the blind also have driver’s licenses.
... A Lincoln widower, father of a little girl, when
acquiring wife No. 2, insists that his little daugh
ter accept the new mistress of the home as her real,
true, maternal mom come back from the dead. . .
A 92-year-old patriot is pictured standing by his
35-year-old spouse and holding a baby in his arms,
the latest addition to the household, and expresses
a desire for more. . . January 3—they’re on, Jan
uary clearance sales—what the thrifty citizen has
waited for.
* * *
I stepped out this early morning, under the sky
of burmsned gold and my heart was thrilled with
music gusmng forth with joy untold. January 1,
anouier year Degun. Prairieiand glows radiant this
sun-spiashed dawn at the beginning of the year
1956. Cloudless and cairn, ethereal blue above, city
streets and country lanes, fields and meadows and
open plains touched at dawn with light that glim
mers and glows until the gloom of night, folding all
in darkness until the glow of dawning ushers in
another morning. The days, the nights, the weeks
and months and years come and go on prairieiand
bringing joy and sorrow, smiles and tears. And
pasisng by the jungles of the crowded haunts of
men and society dames, here they take from Ne
braska prairieiand a housewife and a maid, the one
crowned as Mrs., the other Miss America.
* * *
A New York church man defmes and describes
the modern youth as having a philosophy of irre
sponsibility, disregard for discipline and an exag
gerated ego. About like kids have always been,
from which have come the Lincolns, the Jacksons,
the Washingtons, the Grants, the Roosevelts and
Eisenhowers, the Mike Harringtons and Moses P.
Kinkaid.
Editorial ....
Voiceless Majority
In the December 29 issue of The Frontier gov
ernment handouts were discussed.
We stated:
• • “Congressmen have a pet explanation for in
creased federal spending . . . saying folks at home
are ‘clamoring’ and ‘demanding’ such-and-such.
Actually,” our editorial continued, “there is no
widespread or organized demand at all for many
of these costly activities. The socalled ‘clamor’ is
simply an excuse for free spenders.”
Naturally we were gratified when the Chicago
Tribune, considered by many as the world’s great
est newspaper, this week offered this in comment
on President Eisenhower’s message to congress:
“It is true that various pressure groups are for
ever clamoring that the government do things for
them; and it is true, as a reading of Mr. Eisenhow
er’s mesasge makes evident, that politicians try to
do things that will endear them to these voting
blocs.
“But it is true to a far more impressive degree
that the vast majority of citizens want nothing
from their government except to be let alone. And
that is the one thing that government will never
do for the voiceless majority.”
Newspapers are remiss in their responsibilities
if they do not reflect the attitudes and the opinions
of the voiceless majority.
Farmers Caught in Squeeze
(The following editorial comment from the
January 5 issue of the Creighton Mews aptly
sums up the farmer’s plight as we enter the new
year.—Editor.)
Farmers in this area got caught in a double
squeeze tms year. Crops were short and the
prices of livestock have dropped. If farmers had
raised a lot of feed themselves, they could have
withstood the livestock price drop better. Cr if
the price of cattle ar.d hogs had stayed up, feed
ers could afford to buy feed and still come out
fairly well.
For that reason this area sees the farm prob
lem as greater than in some other sections of the
nation, although all farmers have suffered by the
drop in prices without a corresponding drop in cost
of operation.
In a strictly rural community, the effect is fell
in towns, too. Stores reporting a drop in volume
cannot report a drop in cost of operation. While
indications are that only the smaller towns are suf
fering so far, it is likely that some of the larger
midwestern communities will feel the pinch, too,
if the situation continues.
There appears to be no immediate solution to
the problem. The drop in prices has been created
by a surplus production in recent years. A lot of
suggestions have been made on correcting the sit
uation. In just about every case, when the idea is
followed through to completion, a snag is struck.
Some think that the only thing needed is to get
Secretary of Agriculture Ezra Benson to resign and
by some magic prices will again soar.
We don’t pretend to be an economic expert
and don’t have an answer to the problem—but in
that respect we seem to be on a par with most
everyone.
Teaching Our Language
(Guest editorial from Omaha World-Herald)
A sorry commentary on the job some of our
secondary schools do to teach youngsters the Eng
lish language was voiced the other day by trustees
of the University of Illinois.
The university for 20 years has been shuffling
freshmen who are deficient in use of the language
into a non-credit “remedial” course. The trustees
decided to discontinue it after 1960 because the
number of incoming students needing it is increas
ing so rapidly. Last year 782 freshmen had to take
it. After 1960 incoming freshmen will have to mas
ter college English courses or flunk.
“The university can hardly ask the taxpayers
to buy again from us the sort of elementary compo
sition instruction they thought they were buying
m their tax investment in local schools,” said Eng
lish Prof. Charles A. Roberts.
A very sound poii)t, indeed.
In St. Louis the management of the municipal
zoo fired the lion tamer for failure to report for
work. It sounds a little hasty. Most people would
have had a heart-to-heart talk with the lions first.
Popular music has passed from the groaning
stage to the shrieking stage and now is headed,
it seems, for the ee-ee, oou-ah-oou level.
The intelligence rating of game birds is under
rated, unless the intelligence level of hunters
might be overrated.
JSS^LFrontTIr
CARROLL W. STEWART, Editor and Publisher
Entered at the postoffice in O’Neill, Holt coun
ty, Nebraska, as second-class mail matter under
the Act of Congress of March 3, 1879. This news
paper is a member of the Nebraska Press Associa
tion, National Editorial Association and the Audit
Bureau of Circulations.
Terms of Subscription: In Nebraska, $2.50 per
year; elsewhere in the United States, $3 per year;
rates abroad provided on request. All subscriptions
are paid in advance.
Audited (ABC) Circulation—2,530 (Sept 30, 1955)
When You and I Were Young . . .
Full Beards Are
Not So Common
Mustaches Show
Popularity
50 Years Ago
Mustaches are becoming fash
ionable. This winter has not
brought out the usual number of
full beards, but several O’Neill
men are training a stubby brush
of hair under the nose. Doctor
Gilligan and Ed Whelan will each
soon have a growth sufficient to
apply the curling iron. . . The pu
pils of the eighth grade were en
tertained at the home of Mr. and
Mrs. E. Kline, the occasion being
the 14th birthday anniversary of
their son, Otto. . . Fire broke out
in the. Wolverton restaurant and
an alarm brought the fire com
pany to the scene of smoke and
flames. Little damage was done
to the exterior of the building,
but the interior requires consid- >
erable repairing. . . B. E. Sturde
vant of Atkinson is in Washing
ton, D.C., in the interest of the
candidacy for the receivership of
the O’Neill land office. . . The
Snyder Lumber company has a
fine span of dapple grays in a new
harness hitched to one of their
coal wagons. They were feeling
so good when first hitched up
that the gait of a coal team was
too slow and they took a little
spin. The driver was knocked off
his footing and landed on the
floor of the wagon box. The horses
v/ere stopped after a two-block
run, resulting in a broken wagon
tongue.
20 Years Ago
A find that aroused intense in
terest was made below the power
dam on the Niobrara river. Wood
choppers found buffalo skulls
where a herd had died in the
quicksand. . . Mrs. Julie M.
Uecker, 83, died at her home af
ter an illness of several months.
. . . Paddy, a little over one-year
old, a squat, flat, small, white dog
owned by Cecelia Edwards, be
lieves in armament and has arm
.ored himself with one horn on
the right side of his head at the
point where cattle grow horns.
Those who have seen it wonder if
the under dog is preparing for
war. , . A young couple strolled
into the county court here recent
ly and asked the price of a mar
riage license. Informed it was $2,
the girl pulled out a fruit jar full
of pennies. The county treasurer
counted out 200 of them. . . Char
lies Fox gave the eighth grade
exams at the Meek school.
10 Years Ago
Ernie Weller of Atkinson has
purchased the O’Neill Livestock
Market. . . Signalman Bill Grady
left for Philadelphia, Pa., after a
visit with relatives. . . Josiah
Starr Noble died at the O’Neill
hospital following a brief illness.
. . . Miss Ardith Roth and Elwyn
Robertson, both of Chambers,
were married by Rev. Lloyd Mul
lis at the Methodist church in
Chambers. . . The Bid or Bye
club met with Mrs. Frank Cronk
at Page. . . A stranger with a
patched chin, broken teeth, blood
spots on his. clothes, a bit bleary
eyed from tarrying at the bar,
talked of an automobile crackup
in language neither picturesque
nor refined. . . Charles McEvony
of Athabasca, Al., Can., has been
visitng in O’Neill. Mr. McEvony
was a settler in Swan precinct
under the section homestead act,
One Year Ago
The United Lutheran church of
Spencer will dedicate its new or
gan which was recently purchas
ed and installed. . . Frank Cronk
of Page has been reelected chair
man of the Holt county board of
supervisors. . . Construction of the
O’Neill public school’s new ele
mentary grade school building is
progressing at a rapid rate. . . Fol
lowing a report by Harvey Way
man and Homer Mullen, in which
they said they spotted a mountain
lion asleep in a ditch near the
road within a mile of the city,
considerable curiosity has been
aroused. . . A 13-year-old girl,
Beverly Anderson, daughter of
Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Anderson of
Bristow, was taken by ambulance
to Omaha, having been injured in
a two-car accident near Bristow.
. . . Holt county relatives still are
without details of the violent
death of Emma Schaaf, 44, native
of the Stuart and Atkinson com
munities, who was murdered at
Paradise, Calif.
r/
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— WEST O’NEILL —
Returns to Scott
A3/c Walter D. Rutherford
(above), son of Mr. and Mrs.
Homer Rutherford of Page, last
week returned to Scott air force
base near Bellville, 111., where
he is attending radio mainten
ance school. He spent the holi
days with his parents.
Weather Circuit
Adds Three Cities
Nebraska’s department of aero
nautics has announced that a new
link has been added to" the state
system of air navigation aids with
the connection of Beatrice, Kear
ney and McCook with the wea
ther bureau at Omaha. Connected
earlier were Alliance, Norfolk and
Ainsworth.
Pilots can have complete and
up-to-date weather information
by contacting by radio or phone
one of the stations.
O’Neill’s municipal airport is
under study as a possible location
of a similar weather installation.
Officers Installed—
Installation services were held
Friday evening at the meeting of
Eden Rebekah lodge. Thirty-one
were present including Grace Lu_
ben of Inman, district deputy
president, and her staff. The In
man staff installed the Eden of
ficers.
Former Gov. McKelvie
Expires in Arizona
VALENTINE—Sam R. McKel
vie, 74, twice governor of Nebras
ka and one of the state’ greatest
exponents for upgrading the cat
tle industry, died Friday after
noon, January 6, in Mesa, Ariz.
He was born at Fairfield April
15, 1881, married Flossie Fellers
June 18, 1904, in 1905 became
editor of the Nebraska Farmer.
He published the farm magazine
until his death.
As governor he authorized first
appropriations for Nebraska’s fa
mous capitol, revamped the
state’s administrative setup, de
clined the post of United States
secretary of agriculture, and he
made famous his sandhills ranch
near Valentine. The place is
known as the By-the-Way ranch.
He was a Methodist.
New Officers Takes
Posts in Club—
The Martha Citizenship club
met Friday, January 6. The new
ly-elected officers took charge of
the 'meeting. Officers included:
Roberta Klabenes, president;
Sheila Hertel, vice - president;
Jeanette Klabenes, secretary; Su
san LaRue, news reporter, and
Kathy Farrier, treasurer.
In order to hold an office,
members must have a C average.
The next meeting will be held
Friday, January 20. — By Susan
LaRue, newsreporter.
GRANDFATHER DIES
, Mr. and Mrs. Gerry Nordmeyer
went to Gresham Sunday to at
tend the funeral of her grand
; father. George Pollock, 91, who
i died Thursday at Gresham. Mr.
Nordmeyer was a pallbearer.
Attend Conference—
Mrs. Carrie Borg, Rev. and Mrs.
Duane Lauber, Mrs. Nancy Her
mann, Rev. C. P. Turner, Mrs. Ed
na Huebert and Mrs. Roy Cole
attended a Wesleyan Methodist
prayer conference Saturday at Ni
obrara.
Capt. and Mrs. H. M. Christen
son and family, Mrs. Nellie Ma
loney and Mrs. Edna Coyne vis
ited Sunday at the Mrs. Lawrence
O’Malley home in Chambers.
WSCS Plans to Buy
New Dining Tables
STUART—The Woman’s soci
ety of the Community church met
recently in the church basement
with 21 members present. Mrs. C.
R. Myers and Mrs. Ora Yarges
led the devotional program. Re
ports of the circles were given.
It was voted to continue the
three circles which had been in
stituted on a trial basis during
the past year.
A committee composed of Mrs.
George Keidel, Mrs. C. R. Myers
and Mrs. Joy Greenfield was
named to investigate prices and
types of tables to be .purchased
for the church dining room.
Rev. D. D. Su was in charge of
installation of the officers for
1956. They are: Mrs. Berlin
Mitchell, president; Mrs. Goerge
Keidel, vice-president; Mrs. Ray
Greenfield, secretary, and Mrs.
Wilbur Moon, treasurer.
CDA in Session—
The Catholic Daughters of Am
erica held a business meeting on
Tuesday night, January 3, at the
Knights of Columbus hall. Mrs.
Mark Schelkopf was chairman
Mrs. Mike London won high; Mrs.
Grover Shaw, low, and Mrs. An
thony Stanton, door prize. A
luncheon was served by the com
mittee.
Visit Merriman Home—
Mrs. J. J. Jesse and son, John,
of Omaha arrived Tuesday, Janu
ary 3, to spend a day with the L.
M. Merrimans.
• New NATIONAL HOMES available in O’Neill’s North
Heights addition, or on your own town or country lot any
where in the area. Numerous floor plans and designs from
which to choose. Low monthly payments.
NORTH-NEBRASKA BUILDERS
FRANCIS GILG — HARRY E. RESSEL
Phone 150 Phone 548-M
P ' ’.• • .* • .’ •
I __. I
— - -
Notice of Change
Beginning with January , J 956, the Holt
County Board of Supervisors will meet the
middle of each month to allow claims.
Other county business will be taken care of
at the meetings at the end of each month.
Please file claims by the 1 5th of each
month. Claims filed after the 1 5th will be
held until the following month. Warrants
payable on the last day of each month as
has been before.
Kenneth Waring
County Clerk
. •• - .
The car says GO and the price won't stop yon!
get a Bonus in Go f
You can buy it on its name alone—
this big, high-powered ’56 Pontiac—
and be safe in the knowledge that
you couldn’t have made a better
investment in years of dependable,
carefree motoring.
The good things you’ve been hear
ing about Pontiac for years assure
you that.
But “go” is the word for ’56! Per
formance so new and dramatic it
must be experienced to be believed!
A short spell behind the wheel will
nail that statement down as a fact.
Come along for a drive and see.
Waiting for the light to change,
you can’t hear the engine. But touch
your toe to the accelerator and in a
split second there’s a torrent of
power, sparked by the most advanced
engine of them all—the blazing 227
h.p. Strato-Streak V-8.
Team this terrific power plant
with Pontiac’s all-new Strato-Flight
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And remember—this easy han
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More than that—it’s the greatest
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•An extra-cost option.
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305 W. Douglas_O’Neill, Nebr.