Hrairieland Talk
"Writes Story of O'Neill"
By ROMAINE SAUNDLrtS, 4110 South 5ist St., Lincoln 6, Nebr.
Mrs. Felts sends me from Newport, It. I.,
several pages of her type writer copy she has pre
pared for her story of O'Neill. I find them very in
teresting and so far as my knowledge of early times
of the O’Neill community goes
what she has written is the
true story of the start of things
out here. Rut why a citizen of
that little Newr England state
should tell the story. The
gifted lady has not disclosed to
me her maiden family name
I ait I take it that she was a
one time O'Neill girl. I met a
lady in East Greenwich, R. I.,
some years ago who as a girl Bomaln©
lived with her parents in At
kinson. So we Americans move Saunders
about from place to place. Mrs. Felts gives us the
history of General O’Neill and where that name
comes from, a Neil in old Ireland, and goes on with
the achievements of John O'Neill who did not attain
to a great age, passing out down at Omaha before
reaching 50. I knew his son, John, and daughter,
Kittie, well and others of the family but do not
recall having seen the general. The last I knew
Kittie O’Neill (Mrs. Dwyer) was living in San
Diego, Calif. Mrs. Felts also writes of the Me
fe,vency-1 nompson group who came to this com
munity from Wisconsin before General O’Neill
brought in a colony. That small group of first set
tlers planted themselves by the Elkhom river just
east of where O’Neill was started. Sam Thompson
of that group just out of babyhood in the 1870’s be
came a close pal of mine in the late '80’s and
early '90’s, but we grew apart as time past and in
terests in life differed. The remains of Sam, the
last of the McEvcnoy-Thompson bunch, lay under
the sod up on the hill. Mrs. Felts is doing a grand
work in getting the story of this historic spot into
readable form for publication, and every citizen of
O'Neil! here today should have a copy when her
book is published. Few communities in Nebraska
experienced the stirring events that go to make up
the story of General John O’Neill colony.
* * *
A clergyman, pastor of a church of some two
thousand members where I attend services from
time to tim >, tells me the story. His grandfather,
Hill Wells the minister gave as his grandfather’s
name, living at the time at Plattsmouth, Nebr.,
went to the Indian country north of Holt county,
what is now Boyd county then Indian country.
Grandfather Wells was called to the Indian land to
survey and lay out a Sioux Indian reservation. The
job done the surveyor learned that while away from
home his wife gave birth to a baby girl and named
the little one Rose. A human Rosebud at home, said
Father Wells, this Indian country will lie known as
the Rosebud Reservation.
A choice selection of a dozen or so old gals have
a dinner party the day this is written. And I sat for
a time waiting my chance to say a few words con
cerning business matters to that gifted old gal who
was telephoning Mary, Ann and Kate about being
ready on the noon hour for the sisters social event
of the day. They had it—plenty to eat and didn’t run
out of talk.
* * »
Sob sisters are after it, in various states they
protest the official execution of one convicted of
murder. In a state or two law making bodies are
about to pass measures doing away with capital
punishment. Substitute for the electric chair a
cushioned rocking chair, a comfortable lifetime
home and well loaded dinner table. The Creator
of we human beings declared that “Whoso shedeth
man’s blood by man shall his blood be shed.’’ The
murderer has forfeited his right to live, but in most
capital punishments the electric chair is too good
an ending.
* * *
Is it this way up in Iceland? The first few days
of March and the streets of our Capital City iced
over following a night of lightning, thunder and
rain. Citizens in the city had wished for rain to wet
up the wheat fields, much more concerned about it
than clod hoppers out on the farms. A bit of snow
as February came to a close, now showers of rain
so we head into another growing season that will
bring to prairieland the usual abundance. Look out
—don’t fall on the ice covered concrete today.
* * *
Double double toil and trouble. Yes, day by day
along the way comes toil and trouble. Toil—work
to keep us out of mischief and trouble to keep us
humble, not to swell up over our self importance.
Somehow we make it as along life’s lane we go.
* * *
Just across the street south of the Hotel Golden
the old building stands today housing other than
banking interests. Dave Adams and Dave Darr
closed the door on a busted bank and walked away
many years ago. My poor mother lost her bit,
something over $200, when the Holt County Bank
failed, and 70 years ago 200 dollars was some
money. Then the next to try banking in that build
ing was Pat Hagerty and Barney McGreevy. They
loo closed up and walked away. One of them was
caught and jailed for a time, the other never seen
again in O’Neill. Then for the third time another
financial concern got going in the old building only
to follow the other two to the wall. And the next
building to the south is a bank, and just across the
street west of the hotel is the community’s oldest
banking institution. O’Neill has today two banks of
many years service to the county, both well
managed and financially sound.
Editorial
Job Killer Bill
Will the proposed minimum wage increase (up
to $1.25 an hour) hurt the ones it’s supposed to
help? Let's dig a bit.
Sure, we favor everyone getting a fair shake
on the job. But since when did raising the cost of
labor increase the number of job opportunities?
"We’ve always found the reverse to be true.
Recently, a determined man took this minimum
wage bit in his teeth and appeared before the House
special subcommittee on labor. Said George Hage
dom, research director of the National Association
of Manufacturers:
’’The wage proposal would have an especially
severe impact on the employment opportunities of
the very groups who presently have the most
trouble finding jobs—the unskilled, the older workers
and the very young.”
Hagedom contended that the direct and im
mediate impact of those proposed measures would
be on the cost of hiring those who are at the lower
fringe of the wage scale—the very people among
whom unemployment rates have been highest.
Then Hagedom added this kicker:
“If the standard of living could be raised by
placing legal floors under w'age rates, then the
backward nations of the world could have as high
a standard of living as this country does, since they
are as free as we are to take such action.”
Let’s get on writh the real cures for rolling back
the recession.
To Save Our Own
What are an American's most cherished posses
sions? We would say his home; his position as
breadwinner for his family; his opportunity to gain
financial security through his own efforts—and,
standing above everything else, his individual free
dom of body and spirit and the hope of such free
dom for his children.
These possessions of the average, everyday
American are in jeopardy. They have been placed in
jeopardy by the policies of those who want more
government, bigger government, costlier govern
ment.
Too many of us have sat idly by—uninformed oi
indifferent—while those whose philosophy would
destroy what all Americans hold dear have beer
working with dedicated zeal to forward their Mis
taken ideas.
We, the people have been to largely inarticulate
We have not made our case sufficiently understood
We have been “too busy” to give up time for mis
sionary work on behalf of freedom.
Too many of us have failed to iinform ourselves
— much less inform anyone else—about the issue:
and principles that are at stake. The facts are or
our side—on the side of freedom. But we have al
lowed the facts to be obscured by the clouds o
misinformation thrown up by the Mistaken.
We have been guilty of negligence. We hav<
l een inattentive to the protection of our birthright
The Mistaken, while holding out the gaud}
promise of something for nothing, have been digging
a grave for the personal enterprise system. Th«
I i’ber.re~s at the funeral, if the trend continues
v.-i'l be the invasion of states’ rights, the habit o
(b f- t spending, enormous and unnecessary govern
m nt subsidies, burdensome taxes, stringent govern
ment controls, and the empty belief that security
can be found somewhere other than within one’s
self.
The trend can never be reversed if we “take it
easy” and let someone else do the worrying. This is
a job for all who believe in freedom, for all who
are willing to become missionaries for the solid
American ideals.
Writing in the Oregon Voter, Ralph T. Moore
recently said: “When our social security system
was originated there was no thought of subsidizing
deliberate idleness nor the begetting of illegitimate
children to increase the monthly stipend. But it
finances a great deal of this sort of thing at pre
sent and no one seems to be able to come up with a
solution. And let this writer make it clear that he
includes unemployment compensation as a part of
the general social security program. The results,
therefor, of this massive effort, largely political in
inspiration, to bridge such universal crises in the
lives of just about everybody have been more to
prolong the trouble than to alleviate it.”
fatunoD siip pouo.103 ui appje ue oj Sutpjooov
has the youngest average marrying age in the
Western world. In a late year, for instance, 40 per
cent of all brides were teenagers. A result: couples
where bride and groom are under 20 at the time of
marriage have a 20 per cent divorce rate, highest
for any age group.
me American ivieaicai Association rsews re
ports on a New York State study showing that in
juries and deaths were 60 per cent lower in 400
accidents involving people using seat belts than in
400 similar accidents where seat belts were not
used. And the U. S. Forest Service says that seat
belts have saved at least 100 of its employees from
death or serious injury.
Financial columnist Sylvia Porter writes:
“ . . . . our economy has entered the toughest,
roughest, phase of competition in modern times—
and in this era the businessman who doesn’t re
cognize what he is facing or know how to fight com
petition successfully is going under. He can’t bail
himself out by price hikes as he could in the first
postwar years and through most of the ’50’s. He
can’t get by with shoddy merchandise, shabby ser
vice, sloppy salesmanship. We are into a real
buyer’s market—and the seller who can’t sell simply
won’t survive.”
One of the major problems facing atomic energy
developers in this country is quite non-technical,
according to The Exchange magazine. It is public
, concern about radiation. But that concern is un
founded. The Edison Electric Institute reports that
“the relatively insignificant radiation coming from
luminous dials and television sets will probably be
greater than the average radiation from nuclear
power operations in the United States during the
: next several decades.” It adds that even if world
1 atomic operations increase rapidly, their average
radiation will be far less than from natural sources,
such as cosmic rays and minerals in the earth, and
■ much less than radiation from medical and dental
procedures.
Frontiers
Ago
50 YEARS AGO
Drama presented by students
of St. Mary’s academy including
Myrtle Fisher, Mary Brayton,
Eula Stilson, Lutie Barto, Fran
ces Daly, Lizzie Wild, Ruth
Gaines, Martha Briddle, Frances
Lewis, Mary Gallagher and
Grace Hammond. . .Rosa Huds
peth, formerly in newspaper busi
ness at Stuart dies of quick con
sumption at Lincoln.
25 YEARS AGO
During the month of February
21 new automobiles were licensed
in the office of the county trea
surer. . .George L. Smith of
Chambers and Loraine Ennis of
O’Neill united in marriage March
4. . .Third annual meeting of the
Fifteenth Judicial District Bar
association held in O’Neill with
W. J. Hammond elected as presi
dent and D. R. Mounts, as vice
president.
10 YEARS AGO
Mrs. Vera Barnes has moved
from a farm near Atkinson to the
place formerly occupied by
James Regal at Emmet. . A fam
ily gathering was held at the
home of Mr. and Mrs. L. A. Ott
March 4. . .Dr. J. C. Ramsey is
new Stuart physician. . .First Lt.
John Lee Baker, O’Neill jet pilot,
receives Distinguished Flying
Cross.
5 YEARS AGO
Three locations studied for
Guard Armory. . .H. J. Lohaus
is elected president of O’Neill
Country club. . .Vote is called on
$20,000 bond issue for construc
tion of new fire station. . .Helen
N. Knudsen succumbs at Page
March 6. . .Ami McManus, dies
March 2 after illness of several
years. . .Mr. and Mrs. Frank Mott
celebrate golden wedding anniver
sary March 12 at Spencer.
The Long Ago
At Chambers
50 YEARS AGO
The Hub advertises 100 lbs of
sugar at $5.93 and 5 lbs of Old
Crop Rio coffee $1. . .Mr. and
Mrs. Ernest Majors is moving on
to the Herb Kemp place. . .Horse
thieves March 11 stole a team of
horses and then set the barn on
fire, burning two other teams at
the farm of Percy Jones, north
east of Neligh five and one-half1
miles.
25 YEARS AGO
Please note change of dates—
Inaugration day has been chang
ed from March 4 to January 20. .
.Abbie Platt has finished her
Beauty School course in Lincoln
and has received her license. . .
A large crowd gathered at the
Seymore Harkins home to chari
vari newlyweds, Mr. and Mrs.
Albert Harkins. . .Work was re
sumed this week on the Metho-1
dist parsonage after storm pass
es.
■
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O'Neill, Nebr.
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Emmet
And Community
Dolores Tunender
Word was received of the death
of the infant son of Mr. and Mrs.
Irvin Kloppenborg of Cozad Sat
urday. Those attending the fun
eral Sunday were Mr. and Mrs.
Henry Kloppenborg of Emmet,
Mr. and Mrs. Norman Wayman
and E. Kloppenborg of O’Neill.
Ray Pettinger visited Mr. and
Mrs. Joe Pongratz Wednesday
afternoon.
A number of people around Em
met attended the Grand Ole Op
rey Show Sunday at O’Neill.
Delores Pettinger visited Mrs.
Joe Pongratz Thursday after
school.
Mr. and Mrs. Joe Pongratz
visited Mrs. Arthur Givens at the
Atkinson hospital Thursday after
noon. Mr. and Mrs. George Pon
gratz, Mr. and Mrs. Dan Troshyn
ski and Mrs. Paul Kramer also
visited Mrs. Givens last week.
Sunday dinner guests of Mr.
and Mrs. Al Havranek were Mr.
and Mrs. Jim Havranek sr. of
Atkinson, Mrs. Barbara Davorak
and Kenny Fuhrer of Lincoln.
Jim Keim of Chadron was a
weekend guest of Mr. and Mrs.
Dean Perry and family of Em
met.
Mr. and Mrs. Bernard Pongratz
visited Mrs. Arthur Givens Mon
day at Atkinson Memorial hos
pital.
Mr. and Mrs. Jim Havranek
sr. and Mr. and Mrs. Al Havran
ek were supper guests of Mr.
and Mrs. Louis Havranek Thurs
day in honor of their 13th wedding
anniversary.
Mr. and Mrs. Bernard Pogratz
called at the home of Evelyn
Ernst of O’Neill Wednesday.
Mr. and Mrs. Leon Beckwith
called at the home of Mr. agd
Mrs. Gains Rzeszotarski Friday
night.
A birthday party was held for
Wendell Babl Monday night.
Those present were Mr. and
Mrs. Leonard Dusatko. Mr. and
Mrs. Oscar Hansen, Emil and
Albert Ileeb, Mr. and Mrs. Ed
Thomas, Mr. and Mrs. Bill
Grothe, Mr. and Mrs. Fred
Grothe and Carl Hoppe.
Don and Bob Pettinger visited
Mr. and Mrs. Joe Pongratz Sun
day and Gene Pettinger visited
th-m Saturday.
Mr. and Mrs. Elmer Steskal
and family called at the home of
Mr. and Mrs. Pete Farewell and
Judy Monday night.
Mrs. Joe Ramold sr., and Hu
bert visited the home ol Mr. and
Mrs. Charles Deermer and fam
ily Monday night.
Mr. and Mrs. Joe Ramold jr.
and family called at the home of
Mr. and Mrs. Ray Tunender and
family Thursday night.
Mrs. Joe Pongratz called at the
home of Mrs. Bob Cole Friday
evening.
Mrs. Ed Winkler was a visitor
at the home of her mother, Mrs.
Joe Bruder of Atkinson Friday.
Mr. and Mrs. Bob Miksch of
Stuart were tanner guests at the
home of Mr. and Mrs. Tom Welsh
and Tom Sunday.
Mr. and Mrs. Raymond Schaaf
and family and Mr. and Mrs.
Ray Timmerman and family vis
ited at the home of Mrs. Joe Ra
mold sr. Sunday afternoon.
Mr. and Mrs. Donald Marcel
lus and family and Mr. and Mrs.
Fred McCarty and family called
at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Joe
Soukup Saturday night.
Mrs. Walter Pease, the teacher
of District 159, stayed during the
week at the home of Mr. and
Mrs. Donald Marcellus and fam
ily.
The Marcellus family were din
ner guests at the home of Mr.
and Mrs. Jim Havranek and fam
ily of O’Neill Sunday and at the
home of Mr. and Mrs. D. B. Mar
cellus of Stuart Friday.
Inman News
By Mrs. James McMahan
Mr. and Mrs. Earl Watson left
Saturday morning for Borger,
Tex. where they will visit their
son-in-law and daughter, Mr. and
Mrs. Richard Perry and daugh
ter.
Paul Bittner went to Grand
Island Sunday evening to meet
his sister, Mrs. Leo Mossman,
who was returning from a few
months visit at Santa Ana, Calif,
where she visited her son Robert
Mossman and family.
Mr. and Mrs. Larry Sawyer
and family of Atkinson visited
Mr. and Mrs. Clifford Sawyer
and Mick Sunday.
Mr. and Mrs. Albert Reynolds
and family were Sunday dinner
guests of Mr. and Mrs. Gay Hull
and family at Redbird. The occa
sion was the birthday of Mr.
Hull.
Mrs. Albert Anthony accompa
nied her parents, Mr. and Mrs.
Otto Matschullat of Page, to Nor
folk Friday.
Mr. and Mrs. Bill Butterfield
and family visited Mr. and Mrs.
Eldon Stevens and family at Nor
folk Sunday.
DeWayne and Eldon Stevens
of Norfolk visited Mr. and Mrs.
Bill Butterfield and family Thurs
day evening.
Mr. and Mrs. Milo Gorgen re
turned recently from Idaho
where they spent a few days
visiting.
Mr. and Mrs. Eldon Stevens
and family of Norfolk were In
man visitors Friday afternoon.
James Kelley went to Omaha
Sunday.
Ralph Sholes, who is employed
near Fremont, visited his moth
er, Mrs. Violet Sholes, over the
weekend.
Robert Ruther, Bill DeLong
and Lyle Gillogly, who attend
school at Grand Island, spent the
weekend in the homes of Mr. and
Mrs. Robert Ruther, Mr. and
Mrs. Merle DeLong and Mr. and
Mrs. Glenn Gillogly.
Mr. and Mrs. Floyd DeLong
left Saturday for Omaha where
they will spend a few days visit
ing their son and daughter-in
law, Mr. and Mrs. Dean Delxmg
and family.
Mrs. James Coventry, Mrs.
James McMahan, Mrs. Kenneth
Coventry and Mrs. John Mattson
attended a party at the home of
Mrs. Louis Vitt of O’Neill Thurs
day afternoon.
Mr. and Mrs. Vaden Kivett
and Kieth, Mr. and Mrs. Albert
Anthony and family, Mr. and
Mrs. James Coventry and Bill
were Tuesday evening dinner
guests of Mr. and Mrs. James
Sobotka.
Mrs. James McMahan attend
ed a meeting of Symphony Chap
ter, OES, Thursday evening at
O’Neill.
Margaret Pruss of Clearwater
spent the weekend with her par
ents, Mr. and Mrs. Henry Pruss.
A Poem
From Mrs. Eby...
—Answers My Soul—
When I see the wounds in His
nail-torn hands,
And know they were pierced for
me;
When 1 see the love-look in His
eyes that wept in Gethsemane;
When I view the thorns on His
Kingly head,that calvary’s vic
tory won,
Ah then shall my heart with an
guish break o’er the little I
have done?
Will He answer me in that day
of days, when I seek on His
right to stand,
’’Have ye sought my sheep on
the desert hare, with a tender,
rescuing hand?
Can I show Him then one scar
of pain that I wear for His dear
name?
Can I there unfold to His Shep
herd-gaze one single bleating
lamb?
Shall I fall at His feet, His bruis
ed feet and plead as I’ve oft
done here,
“I had no time to seek Thy sheep
afar on the desert drear;
My hours were full, I could not
go,” while I love with remorse
ful tears,
Those feet that trod the pain
strewed way to save me from
death’s strong fears?
Can I bear it then when He takes
the crown that was woven in
love for me.
And places it on a comrade’s
head Blood-stained from Cal
vary?
Can I bear it, soul, when I hear
the groans of the heathen in
their woe,
And know they are perishing for
the bread I withheld from them
below?
Can I bear it, Ah, to lx? turned
away in sight of the gates of
gold,
My Savior ’s face no more to see,
and barred from the Shep
herd’s fold?
Dear Christ, I fall at Thy blood
stained cross - Oh, nail me
there, I pray!
For Thee I will search the ut
most wilds and return with Thy
lambs astray!
(Clara M. Brooks)
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