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About The Norfolk weekly news-journal. (Norfolk, Neb.) 1900-19?? | View Entire Issue (Feb. 5, 1909)
THE NOKOLK. WEEKLY NEWS-JOUNAL FRIDAY FEBRUARY f > 1909 . . . . . . . . . . THE NEWEST UNITED STATES' LINDSAY DENISON. A very graphic moiy < if the rucL'iit Trli | | > county land rush , from the pen of Llndsiiy Denlsi.ii , concernIng - Ing whom Tlio News spuU'1 lust Satur- cliiy , IB iirliiUd In the Kohtiiary mini- 1)or ) of the AIIIIM lean Magazine. Be- ciuiso of "local color" the story will ho of uiumiiUl Interest In Norfolk anil throughout the norlhwusl. Numerous photographs are used. In | iart the writer says : They hroUo down the gates of the Omaha railroad station , Sunday afternoon - noon , thoHO homo-nookerst. They hroUo down the gates for the chance of rill- Ing sixty-live or seventy-live to a car there are just sixty scats in a day coach wldo uwiiko and talking corn , lolltlcs and religion for slxtuen hours through the night to a raw llttlo town out on the pralrio , there to tnako oath to tliolr signatures before a notary and wldo nwako , talking corn , politics and religion , munching tough sand wiches and drinking boor out of bottles tles go jostling each other llko steers in a cattle car , sixteen hours back to Omnha. I meandered Into It on Monday. It wasn't so bad then. The railroad people ple had begun to fool cheerfully rem iniscent about It. Hut the patched-up gates were there ; the crowd was there which was llko nothing except tlu > crowd In the Now London station after n Yale-Harvard race ; S. F. Miller , who has a railroad title n yard long In which "tralllc agent" are the most Im portant words , was there , with ten or twelve subordinate agents working like redcap ushers In more peaceful places and times : examining tickets , announcing trains , helping boost bundles aboard , assigning conductors ami brakefnen , holding the baby for ! t .minute , unlocking car doors and explaining - plaining that everybody would have to change cars at Norfolk Junction. Braden and Reynolds at Work. The journey through the night was a broadening experience. The really educational part of It didn't begin until Norfolk Junction. There were parlor cars as far as that. To bo sure there was a meat drummer from South \ Omaha who had not that regard for the dignity of the office of president of the United States which one had learned to look forward to as a pleasant cer tainty west of the Missouri ; and there was a fat farmer who disturbed one's reading constantly by the raucous as sertion that Roosevelt didn't make the corn grow , lint at Norfolk , there was S. M. Braden , who bosses as much Northwestern railroad as there Is west of the Missouri ( and that's no forty- step path from the back porch to the well ) , and C. H. Reynolds , who runs the details of things between Omaha and Pine Hill. They were both run ning details that Monday night. "Gee ! Wish you'd been with us here yester day , " they would say , "then you'd have seen something. Things are easy to night. " They amplified by explaining that Braden was going to get into a real actual bed at1 o'clock In the morning and sleep until C o'clock and that Reynolds was going to get Into the same bed when Braden got out of It and sleep until 8 o'clock. It was fun to sit on a table near the stove In the dispatcher's office and hear the two of them and the dispatcher do things first Reynolds and then Bra den reaching out In Impatience and taking the telegraph ticker thing away from the dispatcher and sending or ders by their own hands. "Here , " one of them would say , "how many did Jones and Ellsworth say they had on Second 107 ? Six hundred and fifty ? Two hundred for Dallas ? Where's Pete ? Pete ! Say , Pete , put out a call for Elmer and the rest of that crew that got In here on Third S and got up a Fourth 107 to leave here on the arrival of Second 107 about 2 o'clock. They'll want seven cars and a baggage. Now jump ! " The shack shook , there was a blind ing headlight glare in our eyes and a train rumbled past the windows and stopped. "Mr. Reynolds , what Is that ? " "I'll find out , Mr. Braden. ' "Hero's George ! Never matter. What's that just come In. George ? Fourth 19 Where's Third 19 ? " "They say the > passed her at Meadow Grove. Sir ; power busted. " "Tho deuce you say ! George , break your neck getting up ti Campbell's boarding house and tel him to ilnd a fireman and take thai switch engine from over near the wood-pile and go up there and heli 'em out. Stove ! Where's Stove ? Stove 1 thought I asked you to get mo i sandwich and a pall of coffee ? So It went for three hours , unti V Fourth 107 pulled out ahead of First V Second and Third 107s for Dallas Moreover , it had been going so for a week and was to continue for a woel to come. Ten times the traffic tha the road was built to carry going on with hut a nlnglo accident , that of n drunken man falling In front of a moving train and only once In a long while a cdmplalnt or an angry word. Hut from Mr. KnlHkorn , the big boss In | Chicago , down to the ticket scllern at Dallas and O'Neill there wasn't a I ' 'whimper or a growl ; they just kept ht on getting from six to ten extra mo-passenger trains a day Into the lonebud country and getting them out. Each train had three conductors mil two extra brahomon ; one oonduc- or to run the train and the other two o celled fares and keep the peace. And that's Unllotl States railroading. There's Homo distinction In being a good railroad man out beyond Chicago. What state are we In-now ? " 1 asked at. Paul conductor coming home , You're In the state of Minnesota. " laid he with arrogant pride , "in the itato of Minnesota ! Whore they do allroadlng as Is railroading and not is though It was running a depart- iicnt store chaimo trolley. " ) But the real education came after hey had sorted the crowd on the plat- onus and had taken the O'Nolll pas- cngors off the Dallas trains , almost iy the scruffs of I heir necks , and had alien the Dallas passengers off the TNelll ( rains , had given everybody a banco to eat and had seen to it that nosl of the women passengers were ottled In the most comfortable car if the train. Just how plain , simple , one women , carrying babies , dared to go to the Rosebud opening I had not hen learned ; but they did go , bun- Ireds of thorn. The Ride Out of Norfolk. The journey out of Norfolk Into the jl''ht began with wrath and disgust , lersonal and Impersonal ; with con- empt for the shallow brutality of iiagazlno editors and self hate for avlng entered Into the quest of en- ortalnmcnt and edification of maga- Ino readers ; with utter shame for the Unking herds of humanity who were mining , like greedy cattle to the feed- ng troughs , for the very remote hance of winning a free farm. With ,11 Us selfishness and conceit , wasn't lean , leather-padded Now York better ban this ? The journey ended In that ustrous sunlight such as only a iralrlo morning knows , with n new ind healthy sense of partnership in ho ruddy , homely eagerness of true \merlcan citizenship. It isn't often hat ono is privileged , after an all- light slttiiig-up journey , to find him- elf wider awake than when ho started , t is nevertheless a cheering expert- mce. In the first place one with even the udlnients of a sense of humor cannot eng support himself In despising fcl- ow mortals for grimy hands and bvlously unclean linen and porsplra- lon when one knows that ho Is himself list as filthy. Moreover , good nature s the great grouch solvent , after all : et the men around you be altogether ; lad of living , let them be persistently , mlslly glad , and in time you will be glad too. And at last , despite your- elf. a lllckor of a smile escapes from ho corner of your mouth and then he big Swede opposite , whose knees mvo been crowding you all night , jursts Into a roar of delight and tells on the joke about his wife and Eck- trom , who Is sitting beside you. It Is Shakespearean but altogether a joy. \nd you laugh so loud and so long hat the whole car-load of sixty they've all been vaguely wondering vhat has been the matter with you ) crowds over the backs and the arms of the seats and demands to be let In the joke. And you laugh again , vlth them , until the tears make white channels down through the coal dust ) ii your checks. "HI ! hi ! George ! " shouts an aged irother with tobacco bedraggled whiskers , "here's a feller from Now \ ork. Now ask him what he thinks of your fool guarantee for bank deposits. \sk him , I dare ye ! " "You ask him low ho votes , " pipes up George , whose whiskers are longer and there fore have lodged more tobacco juice , and then I'll tell ye what he's going to say. " Once more joy is uncon- nned. The tumult of corn , politics and religion rages again. There were 114- 000 of us going out , hundreds of miles , to register ; only one In twenty-three of us could possibly win ; the other : wenty-two would feel mighty sheep Ish when It was all over ; wo all knew It. So , whenever we passed another tralnload , or drew Into a station be side another train , every man on both trains stuck his head out of the win dow and bawled : "Suck-or'r'rs ! ' ' " roared with Sucker'r'rs ! and then laughter when the other train whooped the gibe back. But through it all there is one ring Ing , singing overtone , clear and thrill ing as the strains of The Star Span gled Banner : "We are the United States , thank God ! " Don't laugh , you from east of the Mis sourl. You would have heard It too had you been thoro. It was Irreslst Ible , and must have reached you. And you-from-tho-other-sldo , you need no warning against scoffing. You know the song. It Is In your free clean air In your star-sprinkled nights. In your big winds , and In the drumming of your horses' hoofs. But that big free rich note never booms out as clear and as unmistakable as when thou sands of you are gathered together era a half serious , half reckless holiday such as was the last Rosebud lam opening. What the Crowd Was Gathering For As to the land opening itself , every body who reads newspapers is casilj to bo reminded of It Tripp county South Dakota , comprising about one- third of the old Rosebud Sioux Indian reservation , had been practically cleared for white settlement. The Rosebud Slon.v who wanted to become far morn In Trip ] ) county made their choices a year or more ago and farms were allotted to them. Those who did not want Trlpp county farms moved over Into Meyer county , further west. This Isn't brutal they moved , they were not moved the Sioux of this generation Is more of a farmer , at last , than a nomad. About 5.0001 farms of KiO acres each were left vacant In Trlpp county. The land he-j longed to the Sioux , but they were neither capable of occupying It nor of directing Its occupation. The gov ernment , by act of congress , opened the county for settlement by home steaders , reiinlrlng the usual condi tions of many months' continuous rest-1 deuce , a certain area of cultivation , the digging of a well , the erection of a permanent habitation anil the payment - mont of an equitable sum of money to the government as trustees for tho1 Rosebud Sioux. There are almost a million people In this country today who want farms. There are rather over eighty millions of people who waul something ( whether It Is a farm' or a pair of shoo laces ) for nothing , There were only 5,000 farms In Trlp'p' county and many of them arc far' better than others. So there had to bo a drawing. It was the only fair way. An auction or any competition other than that of luck would have meant that a free and equal chance was denied to those who needed the farms most the farmers' sons and daughters who had been crowded olT the farms Into the cities as clerks or school teachers , or bartenders , or worse God save the mark ! Nevertheless there was a con- dltion of the drawing which was nee- essarlly unfair. The applicant had to find the means of getting to Chamberlain - lain , Prcsho , O'Neill , Valentino , Greg-1 , ory or Dallas , all towns near the boundaries of Trlpp county. A perfectly - fectly square dual would have pro- vlded just as cheat ) an opportunity for the Hungarian in the cellar of a Now York tenement or the Tuakegee graduate - ate of Georgia as for the farmer boy of Bonesteel. The round trip fare from Omaha to O'Neill , which was the j ' most popular registry town , because It was the cheapest to reach , was $7.50 . ' ' The writer heard this sum referred to frequently as "the ante , ' ' but was un- , jable to Ilnd the signification of the' ' ' erm. The requirement of personal at-1' ( cndancc on the borders of the land , i lowever , served the purpose of a ' juaranteo of good faith and also was i jased on the presumption that the vonld-bo settler must desire to look at'1 I ' ho land before applying for his farm , ' i 'tulge ' Wltton , the representative of the ; ' Jnlted States land office at the draw- , ng , tried to devise a plan for draw- [ ' ngs in all the cities of the country , nit the expense and general compllca- lens of the scheme caused him to be iverruled at Washington. In future Irawings , It is likely that a worked out elaboration of his original plan vlll bo followed with a provision that he winning applicants shall make a considerable cash deposit immediate- y after the drawing , in order to show jood faith. There are bankers In ilenty In the west who will make such i plan practicable. And then , whether rom the west or east , every land- usher faced this affidavit : I of lostolfico , aged. . . .years , height 'cot. . . .inches , weight. . . .pounds , In support of this , my application for egistralion for the next land open- ng to bo hold after the date hereof , lo solemnly swear that I am a citizen of the United Stales , or have declared ny Intention to become such ; that I am not the owner of more than ICO icres of land , and have nol heretofore undo any entry or acquired any tllle : o public lands which disqualifies mo from making homestead entry ; that I lionestly desire to enter public lands for my own personal use as a home uid for settlement and cultivation , and not for speculation or In the in- lorosl of some other person ; that I present this application for that pur- Dose only , nnd have not presented and will not present any other affidavit of this kind. The foregoing was subscribed and sworn to before me , after It was read to or by affidavit , this day of 19. . . at This application must be sworn teat at one of the places named in the proclamation. This matter of raising your right hand and swearing that the facts in this affidavit are true Is ordinarily easy enough. Wo do It , within reach of the Atlantic breezes , every little while , and think no more about it. But even in the clamor and tumult of O'Neill and Dallas , there was that ac cented clause : "that I honestly desire to enter public lands for my own per sonal use as a homo and for settlement and cultivation , and not for specula tion or In the interest of some other person ; that I present this application for that purpose only. " It stared you In the eye. It was perjury not to mean It the perjury that could never be proved , because you could always say you had changed your mind since you swore to it. But something had broken through into your conscience and understanding since Omaha and 1 Norfolk Junction , If you were a real American. It gave pause. Then , as In the rush of emotion that comes up behind your eyes sometimes and makes everything n llttlo bleary for a minute , the truth was made to shlno on you : Hero , after all , was the United States , the heart of them. Hero was everything from Lexington and Hunker Hill to El Caney ; everything - thing fioin the Boston Tea Party to the unpleasantness between Kcnowiw l.andls and Standard Oil ; everything that Is the essence of this nation , no matter how thoroughly that essence was disguised elsewhere or how freshly It reeked In Dallas. It would he worth while to live out hero on 'the ' pralrio in heat and In snow , in ( dust and In wet gumbo for fourteen 'months ' ; lo know neighbors who were . nearer to you fifty miles away than 'tho ' folks up-oiu'-fllght-front In your New York flat. And you gulped a llt tlo and you mild to yourself : "By George Washington. Abraham Lincoln and the Fourth of July. I DO mean It ! " And out loud you said , raising your hand : "I do ! " I The mere incident that they drew 'six ' thousand names out of the heap after that and never found yours among i them Is Immaterial and Irrele vant. You had found your citizenship. 'After ' that you were eager and alive to your country for a while. Your eyes ' were free from tiie scales for a little. ' These observations are merely , a ' collection of memoranda of the ' glimpses ' which came in that period of Illumination. I ' "Billy the Owl" and "Crook Nose ' Jake. " j First of all , Dalian and the drawing at ' Dallas were clean. This was partly duo ' to Judge Wltton. partly to the Jacksons of whom much more here after ' but most of all to the sort of thing ' which made you stop and count a hundred before yon signed that af fidavit. There was a public conscience at ' largo in the Trlpp county opening. Not ' everybody had it ; to some it came as an alien and disagreeable shock. So it came to Billy the Owl and Crook ( Nose Jake , for Instance. If ever ( you encountered a long-beaked In dividual ( with a mole over his right eyebrow , , like a slnlsterly elevated second eyebrow , and soon thereafter wore , jostled and lost your scarf-pin or your pocketbook , you nave met Billy the j Owl. In traveling across the country ( with campaigning politicians I have | seen Billy the Owl culled out of crowds < and hustled away by the police - lice 1 of a score of cities. Ho loves crowds < , especially holiday crowds. It 'was < without any perceptible shock therefore I that I recognized Billy the Owl i and a few retainers on the Dallas train. I One of the companions , though I 1 did not know It until later , was Crook 'Nose ' Jake. Their eyes fairly shone ; one ' could almost imagine that they I' were ' drooling at the corners of their mouths ' as they looked over the possi bilities ' of the harvest as It was man- fested ' by the carload of prosperous merry countrymen about them. Tnoy j' alighted ' at the Dallas station and be- ' part of the swirling torrent that was making up the street to the regis- 'tration ] offices. Coming down against the current was a fat , genial little man who is hero to be called Mac the agency which employs him deprecates self exploitation by Its operators. His face was alight with pleasure when he saw the Owl and his company. He fairly dove through the crowd at them , hands extended In welcome. "Hollo. Mac , " said they , "what you doing here ? " "Police , " said Mac , broadly smiling still. "Is the graft good ? " Inquired the Owl. This was merely a perfunctory question. Nobody could look at that crowd without knowing how good the graft might be. 'Lots of chance for it , " said Mac. 'What's the best hotel here ? " asked Jake. "The Dallas , right up at the top of the hill lo Iho loft , " said Mac. "Good hotel ? " "Fine ! Live there myself , " said Mac. Then there caino a sudden but inex pressible change in his tone. "Sorry you fellows can't see it. " "How you moan ? " The Owl was obviously a lllllo dazed. "Because there's a train for Omaha going out In ten minutes and you're going out on It. " The crooks looked stupidly at Mac for a full half minute. He meant it. An impassable blank wall had risen between them and thu Promised Land. Ono by one , without the courlesy of a good-by , they picked up their bags ind turned their faces to the railroad stallon , muttering bitter curses to one another as they went. Keeping Straight for Fear of "Mac. " It was also part of the scheme of llilngs that homescekers should go away with pleasant memories of Dal las and without regrets for waslo and shame. The town was "clean. " There wore some gambling tables , to be sure ; public sentiment demanded them ; but they were so carefully su pervised that there was practically no "trimming" of drunkards or boys. Philanthropists who aeslrcd to force you to accept a complete set of collar butlons and sluds , as good as gold and much more duraulo , or the best razor In the world and a handsome scarf pin all for thirty-five cents , flourished on every corner. But the chuck-a-luck and spindle abominations on the open street , the slolght-of-hnnd making of hort change and all the vllo nnd slimy excrescences of n rush camp , llttlo and big Ihoso wore suppressed as fast as they appeared. Every night there was a march by Mac around through the back streets nnd the unclean ones w.oro' marshaled to the station and turned over to Iho baggage man with the direction : "Seo they don't get off this side of Norfolk Junction. ' There was a Jail ; on occasional vlsils 1 found It occupied ; the prisoners were usually thieves who had at tempted to plunder chock rooms or I who wore arrested by request of the 1 onlclnls of other states or towns ; they ] i wore a cowed and tame lot. On one ; call 1 found that the warden had gone over to Main Hired for breakfast and Idt Ihe criminals In marge of bin black-and-white sheep dog. Of what use was It for them lo break out ? I'hey couldn't get anywhere. But nobody saw an n crust made , There wan no brawling. If you .stood too long on one spot listening to a mercenary orator , a quid spoken man in ordinary clothes came up lo you and gently called your attention to the tact thai Ihere wore a lot of other - I plo In town and you weio blocking Iho sidewalks ; won hi you mind moving ? "Now , suppose , " I said to one ot them Just an though In earnest , "I didn't move. Suppose 1 wan unreasonable and ugly about It. What would you do ? " "Why , " said he , looking mo level In the eye , "there ain't been many sucii cases. But If wo get up against one , i we kind of shoulder him oil' down a nldo street and persuade him to good and if ho won't be persuaded | there's usually enough of un around lo can him.Vllh modestly apparent un- Intention he'disclosed a glimpse of a silver star on bin waistcoat. "I just wauled to know , " said I. "There's quite a number took with the same curiosity , " said he , unmolll- lled , and wo drifted apart , to mod again in Noise Thompson's cliibroom late that night , with Noise to explain things and make un shako hands and uo friends and laugh over It. A Gentle Reminder of Breakfast. The plan did not stop with the pro- tecllng and cherishing of the registering - ing visitor. Three well graded roads wore built out across Trlpp county , all converging at Dallas : tills , lest other border towns , north , west or south , might by accident become the center for the trade of the 5,000 now fanners. Trunk telephone lines wore erected , with Dallas as "central. " Artesian wells were sunk , In plenty. A reser voir was built ( cheerfully known as "Lake Dallas" and covering about three acres ) . It was all clear United States. It may not have been as sanctified as some of us would like to sec a now town bul there wore some others of us who would have liked it far rougher. It was a town built to order for the host of the people who came to it the biggest blessing an American could well gather unlo himself in Ibis gen- orallon was to mix in and surge around with them , arguing , laughing , swap ping slorics. Everyoody was every other body's brother until ho was proved unworthy and was glad of it. Even the racket of it was a stimula tion. Every few hours , perhaps at twelve noon and perhaps at throe in tno morning , ono of those looming trains came hooting into town. From every front door came the megaphoned howls. There was one follow who woke mo at two-hour Intervals every night for a week ; his voice made the windows ratllo , and in that climate his subject was every bit as entrancing as the clink of silver and glass that greets ono at tho/loor of Dolmonico's : "Breakfast waiting for you here . . . Consisting of ( long pause ) oatmeal . . . . baked apple . . . hot rolls . . . hot cakes AND syrup . . . . Fried hlcken ( very long pause ) . . . pork gravy ( still longer pause ) . . . AND lotaloes . . . with coffee . . . like nether . . . used . . . to . . . make ! This was for breakfast and nil for hirty-flvo cents ! ' * The band was alwnys blaring some- vhero. Bert Morphy , a little Irish- nan , who sings ( see posters ) "to beat bo band" In the open air , was lending ils melodies first to gather a crowd in rent of one tent and then in front of mother. The notaries had barkers out ranged four deep across the sidewalk every ten steps. Picture poslal cards were spread fan like before your eyes f you paused for a second. Hambur ger sandwich men throw an affec- lionale arm across your shoulder and explained thai you couid got 'cm wither or without onions , but always hot and for just ono dime , ten cents. There was a noisy exultation about it all. Some folks were making money , to be sure but whether the coins were lingling In Iho cash boxes or not , everybody was having a good time and mighty glad to let the whole world know It. "I'm Down and Out , " Said One. The writer was around aiding and abetting when Frederic Thompson nnd the lamented Elmer S. Dandy were In venting the new Coney Island , the ype of all the amusement trolley parks across this country now. Superttcially , Dallas may seem to have been some thing like that : but If It does not seem to have been something more , then what is written hero is a failure. For there was more. This was not a more Jaunl or an excuse for laughing and forgetting toll and sorrow for a night. Those thousands were hunger ing for homos and soil of their own , they were longing for the chance to dig in it , sweat over it and make the land fat ; and , being of us , being t'lilted States , they went Into the of. fort to realize this longing with a cheerful understanding that the chance was small eager , but resolved lo make the host of disappointment re solved to squeal and growl not at all but to laugh and to try again some other way nnd some other day. Some woman ( I think It was the ever blessed Mrs. Callemlor ) who was nur.slng r sick man across the hall , gave mo UK keynote , ono night. Ho was a gambler blor ; ho was dead broke , deserted b > the other gamblers who were alsc broke and could only leave bin twenty-one dollars ; ho was 111 almost o death with pneumonia and every * ) ody was taking turns sitting up will 'him. ' Ills was about the only audible voice of misery I heard In Dalian. "I'm down and out , " 1 heard him groan i ; "Ihere's no use being good to me. i Let me die ! " "Now , Mr. Connors , " the woman's voice i answered , gently , "lhat'H no way to t talk al all. Not heio In Dallas. Act j i llko I a winner , oven when you think j you're ; not. " j A / Great Piece of Luck for Another Old Boy. No , It wan not the only voice of mhv ery. ( There wan a big old man with eyes llko a Newfoundland do'g and close clipped hair , lie caino up to me , as everybody who knew the sight of another man'H face came up to everybody body- between train times , "Drawn yet , brother ? " he asked. O course 1 hadn't. "Too bad , " be trnld "hut I ain't neither , deal game tt watch , though , ain't It ? " Ills hand was shaking pitifully. Ills lips 1 wore dry and cracked. Ills voice it trembled. He was on the very odgt of < i going all to pieces , with almost m chance of recovery. He Haw that 1 saw and started away. "You bettor come o\er lo Noise's with me , " I said , lie grabbed my arm. 'I'll do that , son , " ho said , "and thank you. Itut just one condition. I used o have a picture of myself home , when had a home. And It looked Home- .hlng llko you. It was took before 1 tnow what booze was. I'll go ovoi here with you if you'll drink Mass sarsaparllla ) yourself. If you'll do hat and tell me you think I can get over it , I'll go you ! " One of the altogether delight fill " nomorles of a lifetime Is the way the ° ld boy came piling down the street to ntoh mo Just as I was leaving Dallas , ind ( free from shivers or the smell of vhiskoy ) told mo thai he had drawn a claim and that ho was going to pick a arm twenty miles from any town and send for his wlfo and kids and start ) vor acaln. Where Jealousy Played a Part. Nor was It all good-natured ; that vould hnvo been fatuous and silly. Now towns cannot grow In a now country without rivalry. And there vas all the bitterness of strife which H In the story of Bay City and Sagl- mw , St. Paul and Minneapolis , Taconm uid Sentllo , San Francisco and Oak- and , Beally , Rhyollle and Bullfrog. Gregory was the town that wo In Dallas hoard most about , though O'Neill was no friend of ours. Wo cackled spontaneously when wo hoard hat O'Neill had sent a kick into Chicago cage to the effect that Braden and loynolds had boon moving their trains n and out of O'Neill so fast thai the registralors hadn't any time to spend nonoy in the town. It was signed 'Business men of O'Neill" and there WAS humor in It , wasn't there ? Dallas also caused to be printed irciilars , to bo distributed nt Norfolk , extolling the economic advantages of Jallas. O'NoI. imiud circulars , do- oled to O'Neill. Gregory sent barkers lown the line ; they spoke almost ex clusively of Gregory. When the irairio flro rolled up on Dallas and icarly licked it off the face of the earth , Gregory sent men and wagons oaded with barrels of water over to lelp Dallas make its light for salva- lon , and Dallas sent the band and Morphy down lo Iho junction , 120 nlles , lo make noise and proclam that Dallas was all there and more ready linn ever to receive guests. The Winners and Their Excitement. Of the drawing , of Judge Wilton's mtienco and tact , of the two tiny ; lrls , Dema Rose ( the real Rose of he Rosebud ) and Virginia Wagner , vho kicked up the 11-1,000 sealed appli cations with their feet and picked out the first winners , and the two small joys , Wesley Tenth and David Haley , who relieved them for the last two days , Ihe dally newspapers have lold. Hit some of us , who stayed over to see what Dallas would bo like when .ho drawings wore finished , saw the icst things of nil , and the saddest. We saw some of Iho winners come jack. The names of Iho winners wore [ irlntcd in about all the newspapers within 300 miles of Dallas. So those ivho had gone homo after registering their applications did not have to wait 'or the government notification. It ivas one who had drawn along In the SO's who appeared first He caino In on an almosl empty train. He was big : md red cheeked and ho wore his trousers inside his boot legs. He had orought his wife with him from away east in Iowa somewhere. She was plump and red cheeked and broadly smiling , too. . Every ten paces or so he set her up against a doorway and rushed at somebody on ono or the other side of the broad street. "Hey ! " ho shouted , "my name is An derson. I won Number Eighly-bhink. You come up on the same train with mo. I think j on give mo luck. I want to shako hands. " Then he charged back at his wife and led her ton stops more , until ho had exchanged felicita tions with the notary who had sworn him In , with the restaurant waiter who had sold him his first Dallas sandwich , with the newsboy who sold him his first paper , with Alico-Whero-Art-Thou , the chambermaid at the hotel , and with everybody else who looked like somebody ho had soon before and with lots of people who didn't. Ho couldn't tell you why h ) had come back for the farms are not to allotted until spring except that ho "wanted the oh : woman to see that It was all true ! " The Losers and How They Kept on Hoping , There wore a lot of these. And there were the others the losers They were cheerful enough by day , as von met them around town ; cheerfu even as you and 1. But long after mid night , there wax a constant lighting o matches , or the bobbing light-point ot a i lantern out by the shed where the typewritten announcementH of the ru- milts of the drawing were ponied Thin lasted for three days after the last name was drawn ; betokening one af ter another of Iho bitterly disappoint * ed , going out secretly lo look Iho whole UHI over again to make Hiiro that there had not been HOIIIO over looked name If was so easy ( o lultw one name In six thousand. ( They drew n thousand extra mimes to pro vide for forfeitures. ) These forlornly hopeful people made i cluster about the shed all day long , too all the more pltlfurbocuiiHo every ) tie In Dallas who mid won a dmncu uiiew of It , within ten minutes after ho name was announced. The newu traveled like a light flash. It was nil good , Iho bitter and the sweol together. \ \ o may be belter ban our fathers wore , some of IIH. I'ho best that was In the inthcrH. hough , Is with us yet. It In a mighty United Stales- and healthy. Along between Cleveland and Buf- 'alo on the way back to New York hero came a time In the lounging ar of the Limited when It necim-d an hough the man sitting opposite wan IK lonely and as unoccupied as I wan iiywlf. And so I went over and wit leslile him and began telling him some things about Dalian and the ) allan people , what the big Swede told ibont ICckntrom , and I lie rest. He wan lollte. Hut when I paused for breath , ho , < said , "Really , how singular" and ho \ licked up a newspaper and turned so that ( Inflight would fall on it prop- rly and no thai his back would bo ownrd me. There wan really nothing to bo ingry about. After two weeks in Iho { osebud country , I had forgotten my vist-oMho-MIssoiirl mannorn. That van all. Railroad News. Humphrey Democrat : J. Greena- vnlt of Hralnard , has become agent for the Northwestern al thin place In ilnco of Frank Flick who Is now at 'etorshiirg temporarily as relief agenl. Mr. Grconawalt was here some tlmo igo as relief agent. Ho Is a man of iloanlnp ; personality and wo hope ho vlll find Humphrey a congenial place n which to live and do business. Fremont Tribune : In order that a Yemeni surgeon could gel aboard it it hurry to the bedside of a patient , ho Northwostorn'.s evening 'northwest- jound train wan hold twelve minutes at the union passenger station Dr. I. II. Tthodcn had been summoned to ) orform a surgical operation as a last esort in heroic efforts to save the llfo it' a man who resides near Scrlbner. The operation pna performed. S. B. Lopp , who has boon a brake- nan on Iho Burlington between South Sioux City and O'Neill , successfully mssed the examination of that road ind also of the Omaha , and Is now a conductor. Conductor Lopp has a run between Sioux City and O'Neill. Exeter Enterprise : E. S. Agur linn icon promoted to the joint agency of ho Northwestern and Santa Fe at Su- icrlor. Ho has been one of the lead ers In n long list of popular railroad non who have boon stationed In Exe- er during the lant twenty-five years. He will bo chocked In about the first of February. Conductor O'Neill , the old-tlmo Northwestern passenger man between Lincoln and Missouri Valley , has been ibsenl Horn his run for several days in accomil of illness. Ho has been aid up al his home in Missouri Val- ey. Conductor Biamln , also of Mis souri Valley , is on Mr. O'NelU's run luring Iho latter's absence. estimate of Expenses. Stale of Nebraska , county of Madison ss. This is to certify that at a meeting of the board of county commissioners , leld'at the court house in Madison , Nebraska , on the l th day of1 January , A. D. 1901) ) , that being the first regu lar meeting of said board In the nontli of January , j909 , the following estimate of expenses of Madison county for the year 190 ! ) was pre pared and , on motion , the same was adopted. County bridges ? 25,500.00 County roads 10,000.00 General Fund Items. Hlprapplng streams 3.000.00 bounty Institute- 10ooO ! County printing l.COfhOO County attorney's salary 1.000.00 Care of paupers IJ.000.00 Fuel , postage and expense. . . 1,500.00 Books , stationery and sup- "Hes 1,500.00 Election expenses 3,000.00 Salary county assessor and deputies 3.500.00 Soldiers' relief 800.00 Poor farm expenses l.OOoioo County superintendent's sal- nr > ' 1,000.00 Salary clerk of board 500.00 County commissioners' salar- los 3.000.00 Bounty on wild animals 500.00 Jailor's foes 1,500.00 Janitor's salary and ox- peuses 1,500.00 District court , Jurors' nnd county officers' foes 7.000.00 Insanity commission 1,200.00 Aid to agricultural soclo- tlos coo.oo Furniture and repairs to court liouso. nnd Insurance 1,500.00 Clerk of the district court's B"lnry 500.00 Salary of she-riff and assis tants 2,110000 Witness my signature nnd the seal of said county this llth day of Jan- uary. A. D. 1909. George E. Richardson. ( Seal. ) County Clerk.