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About The frontier. (O'Neill City, Holt County, Neb.) 1880-1965 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 17, 1957)
Prairieland Talk Eli Tracks Runaway Son Rr ROMA1NE SAUNDERS. Retired. Former Editor The Iron tier LINCOLN—The crimson glow of breaking day lighted up the bluffs just beyond where the troubled waters of the Niobrara flow A sleeper a mile or so to the south was roused from his lowly bed, a bed on the ground, his saddle for a pillow, saddle blanket under him and yellow slicker spread over him to protect the sleeper from the night dews, lariat rope on the *<*► ' t ^ •round forming a circle about 4_ his lodging place to keep ® open range learned that a out snakes. Riders of the rattler will not crawl over a rope. The sleeper stirred, got tip, looked the landscape over, saw what he had come there for, caughl up his bay gelding, put on the bridle and saddle, took off the hobbles Romaine and mounted, reigning his Saunders .teed in a direction that led to a covered wagon tie saw in the valley below. ‘'Hi boys!" And out popped three heads. Hay McCure, two Tierney boys and, as I recall, another youthful adventurer made up that group of kids from O’Neill homes that had ventured forth a day or two before to head for the reser vation, what is now Boyd county, and join Spot ted Trails braves and roast vension at the camp fires. The lone gent mounted on that bay geld ing was Eli Hershiser who had been hired by the McClure household to run down their runaway son. ‘‘Hitch up, boys, and head back home.” They were glad to do it, half-starved as they were for the vision of chunks of roast deer meat as they sat by camp fires had not materialized. * * ft A cargo of proposed laws float into the legislative hopper again as the unicameral got underway for the 1957 session. And amend ments to our state constitution lurk in the minds of the state’s great statesmen. Governor Ander son favors lowering the voting age to 18. I do not favor it. That's not important what a superanuated "has been" favors or does not favor. But I am a friend of youth—let them stay kids as long as they can. The responsi bility of citizen, voter, taxpayer and man of affairs comes soon enough as it Is. Let the 18 vear-olds have tlielr fun while they can. • * • Val Peterson, civil defense administrator, visions a wrecked and ruined America. He has dwelt upon the visionary need of bomb bursting shelter until it has become a horrible reality with him. The last visit I had with Mr. Peterson as he was about to fold his tent and walk out of the governor’s office at the state house, he had other visions. The call to civil life loomed be fore him when he again would be free from offi cial duties and become a private citizen out on prairieland’s velvet green. But President Eisen hower called him to the frightening job ofp repar mg us to dodge the death-dealing bombs. He says if ,i bomb strikes New York City all that will be left where now eight million Americans carry on life's activities, would be a 250-ft. crater. But will it be? Not at all likely. None of America’s en emies are so dumb but that they know what would happen to their own country if they start ed bomb warfare on us. Maybe this view of the matter is what inspired my niece who had headed the woman’s division of civil defense to quit the job and retire to peaceful farm life in southern Indiana. January 12 the Blizzard club meets in Lin- I coin, members gather at banquet tables to feed ' upon the luxuries of the day and then listen to i stories of death and survivals during prairie- I land’s greatest day, January 12, 1888. when from | somewhere out of blizzard land came the great | winter storm that the Blizzard club has now laid j upon Memory's altar one more tribute to surviv orys of that day on prairieland 69 years ago. I know a few, a very few, in the O’Neill commu nity who were there that day and year in the long ago when snow-packed clouds dropped to earth driven by violent winds, saw the morning after dead cattle strewn across the prairie and heard the stories of dead men and women found frozen. A few Blizzard club members knew the day 69 years ago in all its furry, others are keep ing the cluk> alive in memory of its founders Charley Harding, Henry Grady and Lloyd Gil lespie are three left in O’Neill who lived out that blizzard and many more in the years that fol lowed. • • • Was it yesterday I saw a little girl com* ing down the foot-worn path that led from her home on Kid Hill, the exclusive residential dis trict of O’Neill of more than 60 years ago. That little girl, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Dave Adams, came gayly down that path many times. And it was for that little girl, Dave Adams stopped at the Bentley store and got a whole quarter's worth of candy to take home. No, it was not just yesterday but many yesterdays, many years ago that I saw little Constance Adams coming down the path. She grew to womanhood, became a wife and mother, the wife of a native son, Frank Biglin, who laid dowm his life a few years ago. Now Constance, a native daughter, has gone the last mile. And so another who had spent her days on earth where she had been born has stepped into the shadows of life’s sunset. * * * • Pioneer patriots early felt that they should organize and elect county officers, so on August 26, 1876, an election was held.. This election was declared invalid by special commissioners. Then on December 27 that year they went at it again, coming up with the following set of county officers: James Ewing, Harry Spindler and H. W. Haines, commissioners; John Cronin, judge; J. T. Prouty, clerk; J. L. Smith, treasurer; J. B. Torbet, surveyor; I. R. Smith, sheriff; Joseph Estep, coroner; E. L. Whiting, school superintend ent. By 1881 the taxable property of the county was listed as real estate $53,124, personal pro perty (mostly livestock) $363,090, money and cre dits $6,468. To organize as a county the pioneers had to show that there were 200 citizens free holders in the county which at that time was mostly government land. • * * Marian Anderson, the great Negro that rose out of proverty in a neglected section of Phila delphia to become the country’s greatest soprano singer, was nee asked by a newspaper reportei what had been the greatest moment in her life. She had many great moments meeting the great of earth, great moments singing before vast au diences in the great cities of America and abroad. My greatest moment, replied that humble Negro woman, was when I had reached to where my earnings were such that I could go home and tell my mother she need not take in washings any longer. A great moment! And I knew a lad in the long ago that told his widowed mother when he got a five-dollar-a-week job she need not go out to work now. The great moments— they come in the lives of all! Editorial Not Time for Defeatism The cynic and the defeatist is having a field day as he scans the headlines of the news papers. There is so much to give him reason to say “what's the use—why should I plan ahead— this world is. going to go up in smoke and H bomb blasts?" It's true that there is much for discourage ment as we face the new year. We cannot know what is ahead and for many reasons it is a good tiring we cannot know. Those who die a thousand deaths on their knees of anticipation find little to cheer about. One doesn’t have to be a defeatist to realize that the world is walking a tight wire above -complete disaster, 14 stories up and no net beneath to save us—as we tread a razor edge line between peace and war. Trouble in Egypt. Trouble in Hungary. Po tential trouble in Poland and East Germany with the knowledge that the rulers of the Kremlin would be willing to risk pulling the world down in total disaster if they and their own regime are threatened. But history was ever thus. History reveals in almost unbroken record of continuous conflict and peril. There have been few “eras when pros pects weren’t frightening.” There have been few '‘eras of normalcy." And, we wonder how many •would be content to go back to the “good old days" when life flowed on in what the old-timers regarded as a placid calm. These are days when we must walk with faith and confidence. We cannot live one year at a time but by a day at a time. We must live as every day was our last on -earth and try to make that day the happiest and brightest and most fruitful ever. This should be the day of the optimist and nal the defeatist No Drouth-Breaker (Guest editorial from The Lincoln Star) Nebraska, it seems, weathered its first cold wave of the New Year without serious loss and some gain. The Arctic bulge that pushed deep south of Nebraska before it lost its force and into America’s heartland, even several states retreated, left a general mantle of snow. . In terms of moisture, any amount of it, no matter how little is welcome. The first snow fall of 1957 was not a drought breaker but it was a help. It was worth the discomfort. It was welcome in other ways. It was accompanied by a maximum amount of loss and no notable ex amples of privation or tragedy. But it must remain for later winter storms to fullfilL, if they will, this area’s great need for moisture. Nebraska’s entry into 1957 is not yet guaranteed as a normal crop production year. It will take another 60 to 80 days to spell out spring crop prospects. Meantime, interest will *ot lag in the development of Nebraska irrigation. If there is a silver lining in this recent and perhaps continuing dry period it is the impetus ft has given to agriculture to seek more security in ever-normal production, to trust more in man’s * ' | management of water. Nebraska will emerge from its weather experience a more stable and more productive state. Lowly Nickel to Rise Again! Lo and behold the nickel! To what lowly depths it sank as the inflationary spiral rose and it wouldn’t even buy a telephone call across the street, a good cigar, or a fat candy bar. It seemed that the dime was destined for great things as the universal medium of minor exchange. The nickel was relegated to one hour in the parking meter—nay, even a half hour in some places. What a comedown from the days when a nickel would buy a violent-colored bottle of sarsaparilla! But now the United States post-office may be coming to the rescue of humbled nickle. Re ports come that Postmaster General Arthur Summerfield is talking seriously of raising the postage rate on letters from three to five cents. He has a deficit he isn’t proud of, and feels that a rehabilitated nickel may be the answer. No better news for nickel enthusiasts has come out of Washington in years. Now appears a prospect of redeemed prestige and new glory. So nickel lovers, unite! You have nothing to lose but two cents on every letter. A scientist says the world would be better off if four little boys named Eden, Nasser, Kru shchev and Dulles had buddied around together when young. But would it really make interna tional conferences any more harmonious if all four participants addressed one another as Stinky? The first hurricane of the 1957 season will be named Audrey, and it’s pretty hard to worry about her, but says the Kansas City Star’s Bill Vaughan, look out for Number 2—called Bertha. Meal time is that time of day when the kids sit down to continue eating. New Year’s resolutions should be taken with a grain of salt—and two aspirins. Every minority has a tendency to blame the majority for its own mistakes. ! CARROLL W STEWART. Editor and Publisher ARTHUR J. NOECKER and ESTHER M. ASHER, Associate Publishers 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—2,559 (March 31, 1958 When You and I Were Young . . . Editor Provides Puzzle for Readers Rosier Markets Two Hogs for $48 50 Years Ago Here is a puzzle: Take the number of your living brothers, double the amount, add to it three, multiply by five, add to it your living sister's, multiply the result by 10, add the number of deaths of brothers and sisters, and then subtract 150 from the result. The right figure will be the number of deaths, the middle figure will be the number of living sisters and the left fig- i ure will be the number of living brothers. Try it and see. . . H. W. McCUire of Sioux City formerly of O’Neill, died. . . Judge Malone married Joseph Eppenbaugh of Minneola and Myrtle E. Moore of Star, and Charles J. Dougherty of Venus and Minnie Huston of Middle branch. . . Henry Rosier sold twro hogs that were a little over a year old to John O’Malley for $48 20 Year* Ago S W. Schaaf of Atkinson "froze to the controls” of an auto when the motor exploded and the fly- j wheel zoomed through the floor ! boards. The blow fanned the cuffs of his trousers and lodged in the back of the car. He was j unhurt. . . Les Hough and Charles Richardson of S e d r o Woolly, Wash., former residents, visited old friends for a week. . . J C. Stein was elected chairman of the j Holt county supervisors. . . C. D. Keyes of Inman, who has been in an Omaha hospital where he had major surgery, has a serious case of the flu. . . Mary Lou, infant daughter of Mr. and Mr. John Conard of Emmet, was baptized. I . . . Loyal Hull of Meek is home [ from the Lynch hospital. 10 Years Ago Deaths: Joseph McNichols, 63, father of four daughters; Mrs. Fred I. Carey, 61, mother of nine children. . . Coyne Hardware was damaged by fire. . . Lt. Freeman j Lee Knight, USNR, has received a! citation for the air medal. . . Lit- j tlo Connie Jo Bazelman has been ill the past several weeks. . . j 9FF winners were Mrs. Harrison Bridge, Mrs. Dean Reed, Mrs. R. j E. Evans. . . Mrs. Stanley Holly I is entertaining Mrs. Marjorie Thacker of Omaha. . . Mrs. R. R. Morrison, Mrs. Edward Campbell and Evelyn Stannard were win ners at Martez club. . . L. B. Price celebrated their 25th wedding an niversary. One Year Ago Leona Baumeister, 17, of Butte, was killed in a car-truck accident. . . . Deaths: Anna J. Ahle, 63, of Atkinson; Mary MacAuley, 90, of Clearwater; Mrs Marlin R. Mar lott, 78, of Spencer; Mrs, Nora McNally, 73, the former Nora O’ Malley. in Chicago. . . Mrs Ed ward M. Gleeson suffered a neck fracture in Sioux City in a car accident. Wayman with Engineer Unit at Belvoir— Army Pvt. Ivan L. Wayman, whose wife, Iona, and parents, Mr. and Mrs Ed E. Waymn, live in O’Neill, recently was assign ed to the 79th engineer group at Ft. Belvoir, Va. Wayman, a member of head quarters and service company of the group’s 588th engineer bat talion. entered the army in Sep tember. 1956. and completed basic training at Ft. Chaffee, .Ark Bick Assigned to Far East HQ— Army Pvt. Clifford R. Dick. 22, son of Mr. and Mrs. John F Dick of O’Neill, recently was assigned to headquarters, army forces, Far East, and Eighth army, in Korea. Dick, an administrative spe cialist, entered the army last January and completed basic training at Ft. Hood, Tex. He was graduated from O’Neill high school in 1951. Bake Sale a Success— CHAMBERS—A bake sale for the benefit of polio was held Saturday, January 12 at Dobbs store. The proceeds amounted to $46.50 A moters’ march for polio is planned for this week. Echoes from the Valley Winning Spurs on Trail By >IKS. MERRILL ANDERSON Let's talk about the famous sandhills—today one of the most important cattle areas in the Uni ted States. The hills originally were looked upon as nothing but a death trap. The first cattle were brought here from Texas, The eastern cities provided the best markets for the Texas ranch ers, therefore they drove their cattle to shipping points on the Union Pacific. Ogallala was the mod important of the early Ne braska "cow towns”. It was as the northern end of the famous Chis holm trail which started at Ban dera, Tex., and extended through Dodge City, Kans. The long drive provided exciting work, even though filled with hardships. Many a tenderfoot won his spurs between Bandera and Ogallala, thus the cowboy has afforded a colorful background for innumer able Western stories and pictures. O' ye, lands of furtile prairie, Blest abode for both great and small, In thy majesty surrenders; Offering fortitude to all. O’Neill News Mr. and Mrs. Don Peterson and children spent Sunday in Lake Andes. S. D. with her par ents, Mr, and Mrs. George Pad rnos. They also took Dana Peter son to Armour, S. D. where he will be employed. Mr. and Mrs. Reg Pinker man and children were supper guests of his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Veldon Pinkerman of Red bird on Sunday. Mr. and Mrs. Reg. Pinker man and children were Sunday dinner guests of her parents, Mr and Mrs. Vigo Christensen of Monowi. Her sister, Kay Christiansen, of Monowi spent the weekend with them. Mr. and Mrs. L. Tenborg were Sunday ainner guests of Mr. and Mrs. Gerald Embody. Peter Walnofer of Atkinson visited his daughter and family. Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Tooker from Thursday until Saturday. Dr. and Mrs. W. D. Backe j derg and daughter, Beverly of Winner, S. D. called on Mr. and i Mrs. Paul Shierli Friday on their ; way to Omaha. Mr. and Mrs. A1 Gowler and I daughter of Columbus, and Mrs. Mae Knapp of Orchard, were Sunday dinner guests of Mr. and Mrs. Earl Smith. Dedication of Klee trie Organ— CHAMBERS—A service ded icating the electric organ recent ly' purchased by the Methodist church was held Sunday evening. January 13 Duane Mattson of Bloomfield, gave an organ re cital. This was in connection with family night About 75 persons from Cham bers and Amelia we.re present. Lunch was served. Leave for Lincoln— Mr. and Mrs, Guy Cole de parted Monday for _ Lincoln where their daughter. Miss Jeanne, is a student at the Uni versity of Nebraska. They also plan to go to Kansas. i i i i i i i i i i ..DANCE.. American Legion Ball Room — O’Neill — Saturday, January 19 Music by Johnny Hider Orchestra Famous Recording: Band From Mandan, N I). Admission $1.00 MIDWEST FURNITURE and Appliance Co. Annual Store Wide Clearance Sale STILL IN PROGRESS REAL SAVINGS From 40% to 70% TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THESE MIDWEST FURNITURE and Appliance Co. Phone 346-J — West O’Neill A record 40,000 Big M's being built in January... a 43% increase over December. A Mercury a minute, every minute of the day and night! AU Mercury assembly plants are working overtime with the largest work force in Mercury history to meet the tremendous buyer demand. The landslide swing to Mercury is solid evidence that the new Big M is the most exciting car value of 1957. Never before has so much bigness and luxury cost so little. Prices for America's most beautiful and advanced car are just an easy step above the low-price three. MERCURY for ’57 with DREAM-CAR DESIGN Don’t miss the big television hit, “THE ED SULLIVAN SHOW,” Sunday evening, 9:30 p.m. KTIV, Channel 4 TONY ASIMUS _125 WEST DOUGLAS O’NEILL, NEBR.