Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, April 28, 1907, HALF-TONE SECTION, Image 19
The Omaha Sunday Bee PART III. A Prpr for th Mem THE OMAHA DEE IIALF-TOIIE SECTIQil lACE 1 TO 0 Best i". West VOL. XXXVI NO. 43. OMAHA, SUNDAY MORNING, APRIL 28, 11)07. SINGLE COPY FIVE CENTS. BRUNO TZSCHUCK WHO WON DISTINCTION IN TWO WORLDS ( How a Young Officer in the Royal Prussian Army Gave Up His Brilliant Career and Uis Title of Distinction to Become a Builder of Empire in Western Wilderness of New World Acastl: of Ne a his tlFwll CASTLE In Germany wan the boyhood home of a pioneer Nebraska and Omaha General Bruno Tzschuck. Oa high hill overlooking the town of Alsleben la the province of Saxony. Prussia, stands an ancient castle. It haa stood tbere through the centuries. From that hill It has looked down on many a bloody battle; it has seen the coming and going of generations. Through the varying fortunes of , families, partly peoples, it has stood there where the sturdy, semi-barbarous Frank erected It back in the days of the dark agqi when feudalism still existed and when men had to protect them selves by stone walls and deep moats from their fellow men. The castle Is said to have been built In the eighth century, when Charlemagne the Great ruled the empire. Twenty-five feet thick prn the foundations nnd upon them rise walls scarcely less thick at the strategic points where an enemy might use battering tarns. The walls rise to a great height and are topped with bat tlements, where, In anclrnt times, warriors stood and hurled rocks nnd shot arrows at would-be Invaders. In this historic castle lived at the beginning of the nineteenth century Ferdinand von Tzschuck, chief of Internal revenue for Prursia. with his wife, Wllhelmlna (Wiermann) von Tzschuck. They hai neveral daunhters and a Bon. The latter, born February ' 17. 1827, was destined to art la the western part of America the part his rturdy ancestors acted in Germany several centuries ago. The family cf von Tzschuck was honored and looked up to In that part of the empire. The father's position under the gov ernment brought him a good Income and the children had leisure to pursue their education In the best manner. When the boy arrived at school age, he with his slaters was put Into the charge of ;rUrte tutors, where he underwent the strenuous course of fch;oli:i2 which Is characteristic of Germany today. At the age of 13 veava 1;'? was prepared toenter the celebrated Luther col lar?, h ro.rl lusiitatlon, at Eisleben, where he studied several inert' . ";u r. Educated for Army Career I"'a el .;iMon was for the army from the first, his father being r-:;U;i.:s to gee him wearing the splendid uniform and glittering r; ailrl; of the German legions. Accordingly, he volunteered in the Prussian army at the age of 18, and was Immediately commls Bionl lieutenant. There he was associated with many member of the nobility and of royalty, his brother officer. Among these wos a handrome young fellow in whose presents" ftS Other officers took second place, no matter what their rank or ag. Thi was the crown prince, destined to become the emperor of Germany. To him von Tzschuck often spoke as an officer and they sat at the same mess table sometimes. The young man might haVe spent all his. life as a part of that great machine, the German army. But the blood of generations of warlike Franks and Saxons who built forts and castles In the dark centuries of the past and made war upon their brothers stirred his blood and gave him no peace. Trou ble was brewing between Denmark and Schleswlg-Holsteln, giving bright promise of active service. He obtained leave of absence from tlio Prussian army and betook himself to Schleswlg-Holsteln, where he enlisted to fight against the Danes. At tho battle of Idstedt. July 24 and 25, 1850. he was in the very fror.t of the flsht most of the time. His experience there was particularly trying. Ho had been officer of the day Just before , to battle nnd bad had nothing to eat. When the fighting began ho v.as coxoelUs'l to go forward aVonce, All that day he, fought L 1th nothing to cat and only some 'stagnant water to drink. The arrays slept on tho battle field, tid the flghUng began again at 3 o'clock in the morning. Von Tzschuck was In command of a company of about 400 men. In the afternoon he was struck by one of the big two-ounce bullets used then, but was saved from death by his belt buckle. The bullet struck the buckle and glanced,' grazing the skin and flying off through the side of his coat. The force of the blow, however, knocked him into a ully, where he lay stunned. He regained consciousness and retreated with his company, guarding the rear. When the battle was over he was nearly famished, but the doctor found him suffering with a fever, the result of exposure "and the stunning blow received from the bullet. The physician ordered him not to eat anything and all the young officer's protestations regarding his three days' fast availed him not. Thua were tragedy and comedy mixed in the oattle of Idstedt Adventure and Marriage At the battle of Mlssunda he was wounded In the left shoulder and lay In the hospital from the date of that battle, September 12, until Christmas. He had many adventure In the course of the war and remained with the troops until, In 1851 Austria and Germany stepped in and made peace between the two little coun tries. But young blooda with fever of battle In their veins were not pleased at thepaceful outlook in the Fatherland. He and three brother officers tulckly made up their minds to sail across the Atlantic and see what chance they might run upon In the great unexplored continent to the west. Captain von Tischuck'a comrades In the venture were Count Harpxberg, descendant of the famous house; Captain von Gabln and Lieutenant Schlmonsky. They left Bremen early In March, 1851, on a sailing vessel, and afUr a ttormy passage, lasting six weeks, arrived In New York and left immediately for Chicago. In Chicago they boughtvtwo horse and a wagon and st out over the trackless prairie for the tar west ' They were In search of the wilderness, they intended to find it and they did find It In Davenport, then a very small settlement, they decided to top for a time. There they separated for the four points of the compass and there the one of the quartet with whom this story has to do met his life companion. She was Miss Maria Schmidt of Davenport. They were married September 6, 1852, and started Immediately in a wagon for the still farther west. They found the Eden which the young Prussian officer had dreamed of. They found it in sight of Nebraska and only a few miles from Omaha. Here they have lived and live today when a busy city occupies the place which they once saw as a wilderness. "Uncle Billy" Snow den, Omaha's fust permanent white settler, was still lingering in the east when tLe young couple made that unique wedding jouiuey across the plains of Iowa. The country had been seen by but few whites aside from the early Spanish, French and Jesuit adven turers. One day. after two weeks of travel from Davenport, they came upon a deserted log house standing In the midst of such a wealth of verdure and beauty of landscape as they had never seen before. The birds were making merry In the woods, the sun was shining, and a short distance could be seen the gl?am of the lordly Missouri as it took its way through this beautiful country to the sea. And the young couple decided to make this their home. God seemed to have prepared even a house for them and this was a good sign. The house was In an unfinished state, but the young man with his ax and other tools soon' had it enclosed and their very scant furniture was Installed. The husband hunted and fished. They planted a garden and the first settlement was started. This house stood on the Iowa side of the river, opposite Bellevue. - Takes Up Real Life Here the Independent young man who had exchanged the glitter ing epaulet and resplendent uniform of a German officer for the rough clothe of a pioneer also dropped that part of his name which, la Germany, meant so much, and became plain Bruno Tsschuck. A mill was bring built by Wilson & Williams a short distance from the place v here the couple bad settled and there the young man found his first work. It was the construction BRUNO TZSCHUCK. of the mill race. A great deal of digging had to be done through the frozen ground and there young Tzschuck earned his first money. His wages were "five bits," about 62 cents a day, and no attention was paid to union hours either. Years later when Mr. Tzschuck had become secretary t state of Nebraska, Mr. Wilson, upon whom fortune had also smiled, called one day and the two had a good laugh over the struggles of those early days. In 'that same year fie met that earliest pioneer of Nebraska, Peter A. Sarpy. Ha had gone to one of the stores conducted by Sarpy on the Iowa side and there met blm. "He was a little man with a beard, curly dark hair and digni fied and commanding manner," says Mr. Tzschuck. "He wore a blue army overcoat and a soft hat when I first saw him there In the big log house, which was both his stotre and home. He lived up stairs with his Indian wife. He had no children. We became friends immediately. Both f us had been fairly educated and we recognized in each other kindred spirits, I think." in the fall of that year Mr. Tzschuck accepted a position from Sarpy, moved to his store and took charge" of his books. In the spring of 1853 'the store Vas moved to St. Mary, a short distance below Bellevue on the Iowa side. The store was a busy place In those days. It was the gathering point for the men who had taken Novelties in Season's Wall Paper A FAMOUS woman mathematician once said that her first Interest in the study of mathematics was aroused by the geometrical figures on the wall paper of her room when she was a child and that to that papering she attributed her following of the science. Not many of us can attribute an Interest in anything so worth while as mathematics to (he Influence of our wall papering, but we can at least trace nightmares and shudders to the awful sc tolls and monotonous figures that used to climb over the walls of the rooms in which we had our being a children. Some of those paperlngs we used to have to live with day after day and stare at drearily through spells of mumps and fever were a weariness and affliction to the eye. Now we are be ginning to know better and to use more dis criminating taate in choosing our wall paper. The child's nursery of today has papering In soft, harmonious tones with borders of Mother Goose pictures or fascinating friezes that tell stories. We no longer choose our wall papering from' a sample book of fifty or a hundred bits of garlBh, heavy patterns that the paint dealer keeps on hand. There haa beeq a revolution in the wall paper busi ness. Men of -artistic training and good taste and judgment have 'gone into the trade and they have Introduced the best things from abroad, reviving fashions of decora tion centuries old, introducing softer tones, fewer, better colors, monotones, and repro ducing in paper, frescoes, tapestries and painting from the palace and great bouses of Europe. Every distributer now has at hand sam ples of a wide stock he can order Immedi ately from the large central distributing houses. We have borrowed the best things that other countries had to offer in the way of ideas and have originated some of our own that compare creditably with those im ported from Europe. Arxut two years ago a young dealer with ideas of Ms own evolved the plan of cutting out borders from fldwered or figured paper an applicoelng them oa solid or monotoned parriuge, The other dealers stood by and laughed at the experiment considering it radical and impractical, but it caught the lie Jul popular favor and now the style is in great voguo anri popularity. The original plan Las been varied and changed In different way i end some beautiful effects have been achieved. - The new thing this year Is to cut out the design, both top and bottom,' which gives more the effect" of a fresco. In the earlier patterns the design was cut out only around the bottom, so that the- appearance was much more like wall paper than painting, a the newer treatment suggests. One of the best designs- In this style of paper that is shown is a paper In dull red with monotone figures and a Navajo border representing an Indian shawl, festooned at intervals and caught with shields, spears and feathers. At the bottom 1b also a small border intro ducing the same colors as the top border. This is one of the new ideas in papers, to use a border at the bottom as well as at the top, giving a better finish to the room. Where there are flower borders at the top the effect Is that of a few scattered flowers having fallen from the garlands above. There has just been Imported from Fiance special designs in sections, repre stntlng baskets and delicate festoons of flow ers in an embossed papier mache effect that Is to be applied to any kind of solid wall. The colors are very delicate and soft and suggestive of French taste. An exquisite paper designed especially for a boudoir la In pale blue satin strip and has about the top a border of flying cuplds and garlands of pink rosebuds that has the perfection of a painting. It is only this year that machines have been devised that could reproduce figures. Until now the machines a ere not steady enough to print the figure perfectly and a strange looking effect was obtained, but with the new process the figure is reproduced with all the exactness of a painting. The kindergarten Idea haa entered largely into the nursery paperlngs and the most delightful e'cti have been produred. Chickens and birds and dogs and all kinds of animals and figures are cut out and ap plied at Intervals to the walls, usually so as to tell a story and appeal to the imagination of the child. The dog is represented chasing th6 cat from the bird it is about to swoop down upon, or a hen is pictured saving her little chicks from a rabbit Sometimes the story Is told only once or Is repeated so sel dom as not to become monotonous. There are all kinds of good borders in poster effect, the goodnight border showing a procession of small girls and boys in their nlghtTetibearing their candles on the way to bed; the playtime border, showing children In various attitudes of play. The factories and designers have man aged these borders bo that the same idea is not reepated at the monotonously short in terval that It used to be In all wall papers. Frequently there Is anhaterval of eighteen or twenty feet before the same figure is 're peated and often in a whole room there Is not repeated a the monotonously short in variety of good designs. The hunting scene borders have had a great vogue, especially for country clubs and hunting lodges. There is a marine border that is one of 'the best of the newer border designs, showing a sweep of the sea, the rocky shore and a few ships, the effect being that of a tapestry or fresco. One of the roost attractive things in the new designs that an exclusive dealer In wall papers is showing is a metallic-looking em bossed Viking border in bronze and bronzes, a copy of an old English tapestry. This de sign is only for those who can Indulge their taste In decorative art, for the price is $10 a yard. It has1 been chosen for entrance balls and libraries of several country homes. A border papering designed especially for the young boy's room, the boy whose love of Indians 'and prairie life Is at Its height. Is a Remington frieze representing an Indian fight, with all the life, action and good color of the Remington pictures repro duced In the frieze of paper. The border la meant for a room with walls In burlap or burlap effect and the side walls are sepa rated from the border by a black tape stud ded with brass tacks. The Tekko paper, a lustrous paper that (Continued on Page Four.) the hides of animals from all' over the northwest and It was the Wall street, so to speak, of that vast territory. Down the Mis souri river the Mackinaw boats would come In the spring and the men who had spent the year out in the .wild would bargain with the great Frenchman for the stocks of hides.' Often there were plied in Sarpy's warehouses 5,000 to 7,000 bales of buffalo hides, and each hide was worth from $5 to $10. Every spring Sarpy would go to St. Louis and purchase bis stock of goods, which was shipped up the river by steamer, the same steamer taking the hides back. Mr. Tzschuck remembers Sarpy with a feeling of real affection. Sarpy's Vision of Future "He was a great man," he says. "He saw the future of this western country with the vividness of a picture. He could do f.c'ihe it In grand language, too. I know he wore a ' diamond v.ich he said he received from his mother In the following man ner: He was on a trip to St. Ixiuis one spring, when his brothel told him that the cemetery where his mother was burled would have to be vacated to make room for the growing city. Thej went out and dug up the dorajed coffin and, looking Into It, Sarpj saw something gleaming there. It was a diamond which Tin mother had worn. He reached in and took It out and wore It His eyes used to fill with tca,rs as he told me this nnd then he would go on and picture the future, when he should be burled with the diamond and sometime the people would dig up his body and remove it to another place and make room for civilization to spreaclts buildings and institutions. And he pictured to himself vividly how someone else would reach In and from his crumbling dust take the diamond and wear it until the wearer, too, should be laid away and dug up and removed and the diamond should go on and on to other bands, while the grout civilization spread and cities and towns sprang up upon the broad plains. This was a gentle and poetic side of Sarpy that few people saw and few today know about." Courage and craftiness were also part of Sarpy's nature as Mr. Tzschuck shows by this story: "The Sioux came down and drove the Omahaa to a refuge among the willows along the river bank In the winter of 1853-54. Word came to Sarpy that there was danger that the trading post which he conducted on the Nebraska side would bo attacked. He de termined y go over and protect It. He knew no fear. Well, I -said I wouldn't let him go alone and I went with him. It was night when we got to the other side and left our boat. We had to go through the underbrush by a path quite a distance and we didn't know where the Indians might jump on us. Old man Sarpy ran ahead quite a way and would keep talking to me In English, raising his voice high. I couldn't understand this action. I thought he must be crazy. But I found later that ho did this to letthe Indians know that we were white men. They did not attack us. The next morning we found two Sioux braves who had been scalped during the night" Some .Frontier Experience Narrow escapes were the rule rather than the exception la those days, and young Tzschuck had his share of them. Once he was nearly burned up in a prairie fire. It was in 1855. He had led a party from Bellevue to thesElkhorn river, A. D. Jones leading another party at the same time from Council Bluffs, the object being to see which was the best route. Mr. Tzschuck arrived with his party on the steep bluffs , overlooking the Elkhorn late one afternoon. He and some others started along the bluff to find the bes( place of descent, and while' the others were thus oc cupied darkness descended and they were unable to find their way back. They accordingly lay down wrapped In their blankets and slept. Mr. Tzschuck was awakened by something cold in his face. It might have been the muzzle of some animal. He was wide awake In an instant, looked about and was' dropping asleep again when he felt a hot breath of something sweeping from windward. At the same moment he saw a red glow and was horrified to see a prairie flro sweeping down upon them and less than a mile off. With a shout he aroused his companions and at the same time lighted the grass around them in several places. It burned rap idly, but the great fire waa approaching more swiftly. It was a race that lnvolvedv their lives. The breath of the approaching fire grew almost unbearable aa they secured the horses, blindfolded them and got Into the space which Mr. Tzschuck had burned off. There they crouched close to the ground, while the flames swept roaring over them. What it was that awakened him Mr. Tzschuck does noj know. Late In 1855, the territory of Nebraska being open for settle ment, Mr. Tzschuck left the employ of Sarpy and took up a farm on the Nebraska side of the river. There he lived for twenty-flva-years, made many Improvements and had it in the highest state of cultivation when, in 1880, the Missouri river took a fancy to It for a river bed and In a short time had swept It away. Mr. Tzschuck then moved to Omaha, where he has resided ever since. He made frequent trips to Omaha when It was first settled. On one of theRe trips In 1856 he took out his papers of citizenship. Judge Fenner Ferguson represented the United States here then. To him Mr. Tzschuck went. He opened his court room, purposely for this sudden rush of business. The papers were duly made out, signed, witnessed and sealed. Mr. Tzschuck was the first man to receive his citizen's papers in an Omaha court. When the civil war broke out Mr. Tzschuck offered his services and was appointed can tain f engineers on the staff of General Fremont. He was stationed In St Louis for a year after his ap pointment, serving also on the staff of General Halleck. At the end of that time, congress having failed to make any provision for the payment of engineers in the army, he resigned and returned to his farm. Activity in Politics He has always been active in politics and a power therein. He was elected to the legislature In 1873 as a representative at large, his district covering more than half of the state. His op ponent at that time was Experience Estubrook. In 1875 he waa elected secretary of state, which office he held two terms and filled with ability and judgment. While secretary of state he also became adjutant general. He was acting governor during a considerable part of his .term as secretary of state owing to the absence or Illness of Governor Garber. There was no lieutenant governor at that time. General Tzschuck was supervisor of the national census In Ne braska In 1880. He was appointed United States consul to Vera Cruz, Mexico, In 1882, by President Garfield. The appointment was made just before the president's assassination and was ratified by President Arthur. He was elected state senator from Douglas county In 1886N Four of the children of General and Mrs. Tzschuck are living and all reside in Omaha. Theyare George B. Tzschuck, treasurer of The Bee Publishing company; Mrs. A. L. Meyer, Miss Agnes Tzschuck and Mrs. C. H. Gerber. General Tzschuck still receives a pension from the German gov ernment in recognition of his services back In the '40s. He be longs to sn association of officers wbo took part In that war. Out of 1,700 only twenty-two were still living In January, 1906. General Tzfchuek Is still In excellent mental health, though his physical being Is sometimes racked by the pains of gout and rheumatism. He sees and bears us well as any young man and his memory of events, dates and names is truly remarkable. At their home, lit South Twenty-fifth street, he and Mrs. Tzschuck celebrated their golden wedding anniversary In 1902.