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About The Conservative (Nebraska City, Neb.) 1898-1902 | View Entire Issue (July 6, 1899)
The Conservative * AS THE YEARS GO BY. Wo miss n lovely innidon Whoso memory HO dear , so sweet , Yofc lingers like a vision Of blossom time , RO fair , so flcofc. Ah , wo remember with ft High To miss her as the years go by. So young , HO bright and joyous , So glad and true her spirit's mirth , Her life was like a Hunbeam'H That , Hitting , glimmers on the earth , A life that brightened but to die. Wo miss its light as years goby. A strain of tender music Seemed blending with her winning ways ; Her voice rang out in carols , Sweet melody ran through her days ; She echoed bird notes floating high. Wo miss the songs as years go by. So swiftly passed her morning , The golden morning time of life , Which led her to the threshold , Perchance , of sorrow or of strife. And then she went beyond the sky , Where morning time Hhall no'cr pass by. Thank God , she has not lingered In weary ways that lie below I Thank God , her sweet existence Had littln touch of human woo ! And yet our hearts must ever sigh And miss her as the years go by. If a moment from the angels God should lend her by His grace And she stood once more beside us , A smile , we think , would light her face Iii answer to our loving cry , "Wo miss theo as the years go by. " MAUY MORTON. An interesting A KELIC. monument of the very earliest administration of justice in Nebraska has fallen into THE CON SERVATIVE'S hands ; no less than a record of court business kept by a lo cal magistrate forty-three years ago , erin in the year following that in which the territories of Kansas and Nebraska were organized. It is , as an inscription on the fly-leaf recites , the "Docket of Mills S. Reeves , a Justice of the Peace of Otoe County , Nebraska. Elected No vember Cth , A. D. 1855. " This the squire wrote himself in his new book , in a hand that is a pattern of neatness , first drawing pencil-lines across the page to go by. On another page ap pears in the same elaborate script , ' 'United States of America. Nebraska Territory. Otoe County. " The book * isa slim volume with marbled sides , such as sells for about fifteen cents ; it contained 108 pages , which were supple mented , as the needs of the court re quired further room , with a quire of foolscap , carefully sewed in at the lat ter end. The record covers the period from December ? , 1855 , to October 11 , 1850. On the last day of Marriage * . January it became Justice Reeves' privilege to unite in marriage Mr. William J. Spry and Miss Elizabeth Roberts , "a of Otoe County ; " and ho started a record of such trans actions on the inside of the back cover of his book. During the time it was in use he performed six marriages , two of the other couples being residents of Kearney City , two of Camp Creek , Otoe County , and one coming across the river from Fremont County , Iowa , to obtain the benefit of his experience and skill. Besides this there is a page devoted to complicated calculations , which display a profound knowledge of the arts of multiplication and long division. Large sums are dealt with , and as that was before gold was discovered at Pike's Peak it seems likely that the squire was figuring profits on Kearney City lots ; most of his results are divided by 27 , as if there had been that number of stock holders. And ornamental designs on another page show where the baby got at the docket one day with a lead- pencil. For the most part , Justice Reeves' docket deals with the simple incidents _ . . of commerce in a JJUHlllOHH. , peaceful commun ity. The transactions of his court con sist mainly of actions for debt , on prom issory notes drawn usually at one day after date , for small amounts , but bear ing interest at from ten to twenty per cent ; of actions of assumpsit , for sheet ing at three cents a foot , lumber at thirty dollars a thousand or shingles at $3.25 ; or of replevining oak and walnut roils and similar merchandise. The record opens with a petition wherein Warren Atkins sets forth "that George Glino wrongfully detained a certain wagon from his possession. " A writ was granted and delivered to Constable N. T. Hallock for service , and the case set for hearing in one week. On the day "the Plaintiff appeared but the Defend ant came not , " as is recorded in the squire's beautiful handwriting. Further on one learns with pleasure that the custody of the wagon was awarded to Plaintiff and the costs ( amounting to $2.20) ) assessed against Defendant ; but Atkins appears to have paid them , as if he was glad to get off so easily. Possibly the defendant Glines was impressed by this exhibition of the A Litigant. power of the law , for four weeks later he in turn complains that Robert Kennedy unlawfully detains two hogs from his possession. This case was warmly contested ; no fewer than nine witnesses were summoned , and the ac tive constable was enabled to pile up fees amounting to $2.98. The hogs ap pear to have been lost sight of in the con fusion , but the costs were uuequivoo- ably laid upon the Defendant. As they came to $10.48 this was a serious mat ter for him ; but perhaps still more so for the constable and justice , for after trying to collect it for a month the exe cution was returned endorsed "No pro perty found. " Immediately thereupon Tootle & Arm strong brought suit against Glines for payment of a note of $20.65 , with 10 per cent interest. "Notice was served by leaving a copy at his residence with Indiana Gline , she being a free white person over the age of fourteen years. " And after this troubles gathered thick and fast over the unhappy Gliue , who appears as Defendant in no less than ten cases in the book ; and by October he had fallen so low as to be fined two dollars for assault and battery on the person of Robert Fox. Among other names that occur fre quently in Justice Reeves' record is that of one Charles B. Others. _ , , , Fooks , who begins by suing Mauldiug & Woods for fifteen dollars , "for ten days work in the store at posting books , " and subsequently sues many other persons on many grounds. There is also one Joel Helvy , who appears all too often as Defendant in various cases of debt. The Boul- wares , McMechaus and Nuckollses are there , of course , usually endeavoring to collect money from insolent debtors ; the attorneys who appear most fre quently are H. H. Harding and Wm. M'Lennan , who was prosecuting attor ney , and who will no doubt recall many of the incidents of the period. The only physician in evidence is Dr. Mat thew Kelly Kay , who comes in two or three times with notes which he desires to have collected. History relates , however , that the Kearney City of 1855 was not altogether the abode of peace , Ofluuscs. , . . . . . , and as a faithful record Justice Reeves' docket reveals the existence of some evil-disposed char acters within his jurisdiction. In the dead of winter , for instance , Stephen F. Nuckolls charges James Crawford with breaking his smoke house with in tent to steal. "After hearing the evi dence , " says the squire , and "duly in specting all things touching the com plaint , it appears to me that the crime of burglary or house-breaking has been committed ; " and the "culprit was held to answer for the same. " Our magis trate is as scrupulously careful in his language as in his chirography ; but there is room to suspect that in a larger sphere he would have been what is called a hanging judge , for of all the miscreants brought before him he never acquits one. There is Ambrose Beers , charged with stealing a pistol of the value of twenty dollars ; there is one Hazlerigg , accused of "finding Bank Bills and appropriating them to his own use ; " the same disturber up a short time later for "an Affray ; " all , all guilty. Some culprits would take the short course and plead guilty at once ; as Peter do Vallier , charged with as sault and battery on Prosecuting Attor ney M'Lonnan himself , and fined four dollars therefor ; and Alpheus M.Barnes , who owned up to keeping a "dram shop" and paid ton dollars for his trans gression. Others would demand a jury , and in some coses escape thus the rigor of the squire's justice. Lafayette Cowles ,