PANT III.
OJlLMOnE SECTIOII
PACKS 1 T
Sunday. Bee
A Paper for the Horn
THE OMAHA DEE
Dest A". West
VOL. XXXVn-NO. 23.
OMAIIA, SUNDAY MORNING, DECEMBER 8, 1907.
SINGLE COPY FIVE CENTS.
Omaha
LEROY SVORMSTEDT ESTELLE
a Man Who Has Seen Life in the Raw and Yet Has Come to Be
Picturesque Career of
THE home of Rev. Edward Estelle, the Methodist minister
In Madlsonvllle, O., was the typically modest and quiet
home of the Tillage preacher, where the highest principles
of thought and action were taught, where peace reigned
and where all Influences were for the best
On Christmas day, 1847, a son was born into this home and the
food pastor and his wife named him LeRoy Swormstedt Estelle.
Subsequent evenU seemed to prove that this son had inherited the
pirlt of some remote soldier or adventurer ancestor. His life haa
keen one of action. But if he inherited the spirit of such an ancestor
he Inherited also his father's studlousness and love of books. The
two were a good combination and have brought him many honors
during bis life.
Young Estelle grew up in the villages where his father held pas
torates. In school he was noted for his brightness. When he was 10
Tears old a circus visited the village and he earned his way in by
carrying water for the elephants. Admiring the performance of the
crobatse went home and rigged up a trapeze for himself in the
barn. He was In the midst of a thrilling feat when one of the trunk
straps with which his trapeze was made gave way and he fell thirty
feet to the ground. He, was picked up with a paralyzed body and for
eighteen months lay unable to move a muscle. During this time he
Indulged his omnivorous appetite for reading. Sometimes his father
or mother, and sometimes boy friends, sat by the bedside and turned
the leaves for him. He read Macaulay's "Essays' and other books
seemingly beyond his years. Dickens' stories were then running "
aerially in Harper's Magazine, and these he eagerly devoured.
He could hobble about on crutches when the war broke out The
fact that he was only 13 years old and a cripple did not keep hlra
from seeing visions of the glories of the battlefield. He determined
to enlist as quickly as he could walk. The family was living la
Prankford, O., when he finally achieved the feat of walking without
a cane. This was In 1863, and he was 16 years old. One day news
came of a regiment being organized la South Salem, twelve miles
away. The next morning he left home, ostensibly for school. But
Instead of going to the quiet school room, he struck across the coun
try for South Salem, where glory beckoned. When he presented him
self before the recruiting officer he was laughed at. He returned
home. A few weeks later he determlnd to try again. Assuming as
stern and soldierly an appearance as possible, he presented himself
and was accepted, a member of the First Ohio Heavy artillery.
Navy Finally Claims Trim '
A few days later his visions of glory on the battlefield were rudely
shattered when his father arrived in the camp with a writ of habeas
corpus and took him back home. There he resumed the dull grind
of school. In 1864 his father died. A. few weeks later the young
man bade goodbye to the village, went to Cincinnati and enlisted In
the navy. He wits assigned to the patrol boat, "Curlew" commanded
by Captain Hugh Brady O'Nell. Several of the exciting Incidents
of his career occured during his life on the river. One of these was
the blowing up of the "Sultana."
"The Sultana had been anchored Just. beside the Curlew," says
Judge Estelle. "One day It cast loose and started up the river.
I stood on deck watching it as It pulled away. Suddenly I be
held the boat shattered into pieces and the next moment came to
my ears the report of a terrific explosion. Soon the victims cams
floating down the river clinging to spars and pieces of wood. We
rescued some of them, but within two minutes after we took them
oat of the water they fell dead. Many believed that, the Sultana -had
been blown up by the rebels, but this was not true. It ran on
a sandbar which tipped It over so that parts of 'Its ' hollers were "
left without water. These became heated to a high temperature and
then suddenly the vessel tipped over the other way flooding the
superheated metal With water. The result was the explosion. The
men we took out of the water had been scalded but as long as they
remained In the water they survived. When the air touched their
bodies they died In great agony."
One day while he was on the Curlew two of the men fell sick.
The doctor examined them and ordered a quarantine. Then the
awful word .went roundthat they had yellow fever. For a time it
seemed there would be a panlo. Some of the men Jumped overboard
and swam ashore. .But most of them remained at their posts in
spite of the fact that others were taken sick daily. Young Estelle
assisted la nursing. When the number of sick had reached fifty
they were transferred to the hospital ship. Red-Rover and Estelle
was sent along as a nurse. He was tireless In this arduous and
dangerous work. The result was that he was taken sick -with the
dread malady. He hovered for days on the brink of death, but was
saved, the credit for which he declares was due to the devotion and
unselfish care given him by his nurse, a Sister of Charity.
Saved by Bill Canada
While on the Curlew Estelle was sent with a message to another
boat, the Antlers. The rebel forces opened an attack on the Antlers
while he was aboard with such vigor that they sunk it Estelle swam
ashore though it was in December and the water icy cold. He reached
th bank exhausted only to find It steep and crumbling and the cur
rent swift He was -ready to sink when a hand reached over the bank
and a voice commanded him to take hold. He did so and was pulled
to terra flrma and safety. He found his savior was a confederate
, aptaln, but did not learn his name. Twenty years later a party of
congenial spirits in Omaha were swapping stories of the war. Wil
liam T. Canada, now head of the Union Pacific secret service, told of
saving a poor Yankee from drowning In the Tennessee river at the
time his forces sunk a boat called the Antlers. When Mr. Canada
had finished his tale he was surprised to find Judge Estelle shaking
his hand. They had lived together in Omaha many years as close
"friend", never recognizing each other as an actor In that little scene
en the Tennessee river.
At the close of the war the young man took his discharge and
returned to Ohio. In Bainbridge. Ross county, he entered the office
f, A. O. Hewitt and read law, teaching school and doing other work
to pay expenses. He was admitted to the bar. practiced in Baln
.brldge for a short time and then decided to come to Nebraska. He
went by rill as far as Harvard, which was the end of the Burlington
road at that time. Thence he walked. In company with Dr. Isaac
Tulley and C. L. Mather, to Red Cloud, about eighty miles. They
arrived there and took up quarters In the public dugout. This had
been the first residence of Covernor Qarber. Mr. Gar her. however,
was then the aristocrat of the town, for he' lived in the new log
hotel. The dugout was the free publlcv hostlery.
Mr. Estelle deposited the three worn volumes which constituted
his law library In a corner, of the dugout and Immediately set about
getting acquainted, which was no difficult matter considering the
population of the settlement Impeachment proceedings had Just
been begun against T. B. Williams, the county clerk,' and Estelle
was appointed to defend him. Williams was. acquitted. For winning
this legal victory the young lawyer was rewarded by being given
the Job of flagman with the county surveyor."
SOLDIER SAILOR JURIST
ft Torce in the Tenderer and Higher Phases of Human Existence.
Once a Journalist
fie held this position only a few weeks, as there were bigger
things waiting for htm. He was Elected assistant secretary of the
state senate in 1873. After the session of that year he determined
to launch a little craft into the journalistic sea. He bough the outfit
of the Plattsmouth Herald, moved It tp Red Cloud and on July 3,
1873, the Red Cloud Chief was born. Judge Estelle being father of
the same, and C. L. Mather acting as godfather and editor.
He held a claim near Red Cloud and lived for a time in a dugout
there. He went through the grasshopper siege and saw a ten-acre
field of beautiful corn Just maturing destroyed in less than an hour
by the insect army. He recalls a Fourth of July celebration In Red
Cloud that was broken up In an odd manner. Just as the festivities
were at their height, a cloud of dust was seen on the horizon. In
dians? The people watched while some went tor their rifles. As
V
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LEROY J SWORMSTEDT ESTELLE.
the cloud approached It was seen to be buffaloes. The animals
rushed blindly Into the town. There they were shot down, which
sport afforded, perhaps, as great -diversion as anything that could
have been devised.
He went back to Columbus, O., in the spring of 1874 and on
March 4 married Miss Mary Belle Bradley. Returning to Red Cloud,
he built the second frame dwelling in the town and occupied It
He came to Omaha again in September of that year to take a
position la the railway mall service. The service, was not such a
prosalo occupation in those days, when bad men still Infested the
west and often undertook to tamper: with Uncle Sam's malls. Es
telle often had to go out among this class on business connected
with the department. An encounter with "Big Nose George," the
famous desperado, occurred on one of these trips In the spring of
1875. Estelle left the train at Rawlins and took the stage for Hel
ena. Mike Tovey and John Brandt were "shotgun messengers" on
the stage. They guarded the steel chest In which bullion and cur
rency were transported. On the evening of arriving in Helena Es
telle had an engaement to meet a man in a saloon. He entered the
place and found a number of the town's bad charcters there! In
accordance with western etiquette he Invited all to step up and have
some "nose paint" at his expense. "Big Nose George," who had a
special grudge against agents of Uncle Sam, declared he wouldn't
drink with any man that "side-kicked" with Mike Tovey and Johnny
Brandt. '
"I was scared," says Judge Estelle. "He started to come for me.
I had unwittfngly put myself quite a way from thsl front door.
There was a back door and I decided to make for that. Several pool
tables stood In the rear of the room and we began dodging around
them.' I'll never forget the look on that man's face. I didn't dare to
shoot him because his pals there would have made mincemeat of me.
I finally reached the door and was about to pull it open when I
found there was a big bar across It 'Big Nose George' took advant
age of that lost instant and was on top of me. I struck 'him on the
head with the butt of my revolver. Then I struck again and dazed
him. Another belt on the side of the head laid him out.
"I saw' George next about three months ' later. I was going
through Rawlins on a postal route when some of the boys asked me
to come down the traok, saying 'Big Nose George' wanted to see
me. I told them to bring him up and lei him look at me. But they
smiled and said he couldn't come. So I Jumped out and they led me
through the darkness down the track. Something struck against my
cheek, and I looked up to see a human body dangling. I was 'Big
Nose George,' who had JuBt pulled off the last of his crimes and been
lynched for it"
e
At a Bannock City Ball
One evening Estelle entered the dining- room of a hotel in Ban
nock City. Noticing a chair of vast proportions next to bis own he
Inquired whether It was for a loving bridal couple. The waiter
smiled and bade'hlm wait. .
"Presently a man of immense size came into the room," he says,
"and I was introduced to Fred Peck, the biggest man in the west,
if not the country. He was six feet eight inches tall and weighed
more than 500 pounds. He was a most good-natured man. He sat
down In his specially constructed chair and was soon telling me
about a dance which was to be held that evening. He asked me to
go with him and I did so. A big room with a bar along one Bide
was the hall. All the girls and cowboys had come from miles
around. The fiddler was an old man of benign countenance and
long, white hair. The music struck up. Peck introduced me to
a man named Stapleton. He was a member of a good eastern fam
ily and a graduate of Harvard. But drink had sent him wrong and
he had come west to hide the disgrace. Peck told me he was a
dangerous man. The music was at Its liveliest and the boys were
literally throwing the girls up Into the air and catching them as
they whirled in the dance, when suddenly a shot rang out Every
thing Stopped in an instant. There were more shots and I looked
over at the bar, where I saw this man Stapleton leaning on it with
a smoking revolver In his hand. Oa his face was a look of cynical
disgust and utter recklessness Buch as I had never seen before. Big,
fat Peck dodged behind the bar and the rest of us got behind such
shelter as we could. It seemed there was to be a real gun play
and nothing could save it from a riot, when suddenly the strains of
"Home, Sweet Home" were waited o us. The effect was magical.
I saw Stapleton's face grow pale and then he collapsed on the bar
and his body was shaken with sobs. The dance broke up. It was
a remarkable exhibition of the power of music."
Into His Life Work '
In 1882 Judge Estelle went to Blair and engaged in the practice
of law in the firm of Osborna. Estelle & Farnsworth. He was
elected district attorney in 1884 and was prosecutor In some of the
most noted murder cases of the day, including those of John Lauer
and Tom Ballard. At the end of his term he engaged again In gen
eral practice. He gained an enviable reputation as a criminal law
yer. He has been engaged In the trials of more than forty cases
for murder. He was appointed Judge of the district court la 1891
by Governor Boyd, but was defeated at the election that fall. He
was appointed assistant city attorney by Mayor Broatch In 1896.
In 1899 he was elected Judge of the district court and this fall he
was re-elected to his third term on that bench, being the nominee of
both parties. , -
He was one of the organizers of ttfe Nebraska Grand Army of
the Republic and has held all offices in the local camp, besides being
state commander in 1903 and inspector general on the staff of Commander-in-Chief
W. W. Blackmar in 1905. He is an Elk and has
held all offices in that order except that of exalted ruler, which he
declined. He Is also a Mason and a member of the Red men.
- v Judgo Estelle has one great hobby. It is children and Juvenile
,wrk. His. first marriage was childless, but be and his wife were
foster father and mother to a score of homeless and friendless ones.
Whenever the Judge found a waif that had nowhere to go he took it
home and kept it and clothed and fed it and sent it to school. Some
times. he had twelve children at one time in his household. Some
were there for years. His first wife died In 1896 and In 1899 he
married Miss Christie B. Scull at Pine Bluff, Ark. They have three
as pretty children as could be Imagined, aged 6, -4 and 2 years re
spectively. If you get the Judge started to talking about these he
probably won't stop for anything less than a fire in the building.
But his Interest in children extends to the. whole tribe of Juve
niles. He is a leader in the modern method of dealing with and
saving the delinquent child, the method of prevention rather than of
attempted cure. "I sent six children to the reform school while I
was district attorney and lived to see five of them graduate into the
penitentiary." says the Judge. "And long before the general move
ment toward saving the children started I was pulling In that direc
tion. . Society gains much more by helping the delinquent than by
punishing him."
Judge Estelle has been advancing his views for years before
church and charitable bodies and in the Chautauqua field. He Is a
telling, orator and his powers In both pathos and humor are admira
bly used In recounting the many Instances which have come under
his personal observation during many years dealing with children
Recollections and Incidents of the Panic of 1837
T
HOSE who have experienced inconveni
ence or loss in the financial difficul
ties of the present may take heart by
comparing them with the conditions
which prevailed in President Jackson's
time, when the United States went through its
first serious money crisis.
While the trouble was at its height the genial
Captain Marryat of sea story fame paid the coun
try a visit, landing In New York on May 4, 1837.
Some of the incidents and atmosphere of the
period are recorded In "A Diary in America," pub
lished two years later, and have the advantage of
expressing the viewpoint of an impartial observer
who could look at the situation uninfluenced by
personal interest I
For this reason, perhaps, Capaln Marryat
took a Hghter view of events than those whom
they more closely affected, but his analysis of the
causes of the trouble and remarks thereon show
that in 6plte of his humorous comment he looked
beneath the surface. -
"All the banks have stopped payment In specie,
and there is not a dollar to be had," remarks Cap-,
tain Marryat of his first experiences. "I walked
down Wall street and had a convincing proof of
the great demand for money, for somebody picked
my pocket .'
"Two hundred and sixty houses have already
failed, and no one knows where it Is to end. Sus
picion, fear and misfortune have taken possession
of the city. Had I not been aware of the cause,
I should have imagined that the plague was rag
ing, and I had the description of Defoe before me."
Captain Marryat did not fall to notice and
comment on the characteristic American spirit
which was able to enjoy the humor of the situa
tion, even at its own expense, and in the midst of
disaster to lay plans for a new start.
"The militia are under arms, as riots are ex
pected," he writes. "The banks in the country
and other towns have followed the example of
New York, and thus has General Jackson's cur
rency bill beea repealed without the aid' of con
gress. Affairs are now at their worst, and now
that such Is the case, the New Yorkers appear to
recover their spirits. One of The newspapers
humorously observes: 'AH Broadway is like unto
a new-made widow and doesn't know whether to
laugh or cry.'
"There certainly is a very remarkable energy
In the American disposition; if they fall, they
bound up again. Somebody has observed that the
New York merchants are' of that elastic nature,
and that, when fit for nothing else, they might be
converted into coach springs, and such really ap
pears to be their character."
" 'They may say the times are bad,' said a
young American to me, 'but I think that they are
excellent. A twenty-dollar note used to last me
but a week, but now it is as good as Fortunatus'
purse, which was never empty. I eat my dinner
at the hotel, and show them my twenty-dollar
note. The landlord turns away from it, as if it
were the head of Medusa, and begs that I will pay
another time. I 'buy everything that I want, and
I have only to offer my twenty-dollar note In pay
ment, and my credit is unbounded that Is, for
any sum under twenty dollars. If they ever do
give change again In New York it will mak a very
unfortunate change In my affairs.' "
In that day the importation of gold was slower
and more difficult, and currency, it appears, was
not to be had even at a premium.
"Nobody refuses to take the paper) of the New
York banks," writes Captain Marryat, in describ
ing conditions, "although they virtually have
stopped payment they never refuse anything in
New .York but nobody will give specie In change,
.and great distress is occasioned by this want of a
circulating medium. Some of the shopkeepers
told me that they had been obliged to turn away
$100 a day, and many a southerner, who has. come
up with a large supply of southern notes, has
found himself a pauper, and has been Indebted to
a friend for a few dollars In specie to get home
again.
"The distress for change has produced a curi
ous remedy. Every man Is now his own banker.
Co to the theaters and places of public amuse
ment and, instead of change, you receive an
L O. U. from the treasury. At the hotels and oys
ter cellars it is the same thing. Call for a glass
of brandy and water, and the change Is fifteen
tickets, each 'good for one glass of brandy , and
water.' At an oyster shop, eat a plate of oysters
and you have in return seven tickets, good for
one plate of oysters each.
"It Is the same everywhere. The barbers
give you tickets good for so many shaves; and
were there beggars In the street I presume they
would give you tickets in change, good for so
much philanthropy. Dealers In general give out
their own bank notes, or, as they are called here,
shin plasters, which are good for 1, and from
that down to 2 cents, all of which are redeem
able only upon a general return to cash payments.
"Hence arises another variety of exchange In
Wall street.
" 'Tom, do you want any oysters for lunch to
day?' " 'Yes.' . -
" 'Then here's a ticket, and give me two shaves
in return. " ' -
Commenting on the reason for the financial
difficulties of those days, Captain Marryat Bays:
"If anyone will look back upon the commercial
history of these last fifty, years he will perceive
that the system of credit Is always attended with
a periodical ' blow-up; in England, perhaps, once
in twenty years; in America, once In from seven
to ten. This arises from there being no safety
valve no check which can be put to It by mutual
consent of all parties.
"The most prominent causes of this convulsion
have already been laid before the English public;
but there is one that of speculating ia land
which has not been sufficiently dwelt updn, nor
has the Importance been given to It which it de
serves; as, perhaps, next to the losses occasioned
by the great fire, it led. more than any other
species of over-speculation and over-trading, to
the distress which has ensued.
"Not but that the event must have taken place
in the usual course of things. Cash payments
produce sure but small returns; but no commerce
can be carried, on by this means on any extended
scale. Credit, as long as It Is good. Is so much
extra capital, in itself nomlnl and nonexistent, but
producing real returns." '
In spite of the example of disaster Incident to
the use of credit. Captain Marryat does not, on
that account, go to the extreme of condemning
the system. . ,
"The facility of credit," he explains, "enablea
those who obtain It to embark In other specula
tions, foreign to their business; for credit thus
becomes extra capital, which they do not know
how to employ. Such has been the case In the
present instance; but this is no reason for the
credit system not being continued. These occa
sional explouions act as warnings, and. for the
time, people are more cautious; they stop for a
while to repair damages and recover from their
consternation; and when they go ahead again It Is
not quite so fast
"The loss is severely felt because people are
not prepared to meet it; but If all the profits of
the years of healthy credit were added up and the
balance struck between that and the loss at the
explosion, the advantage gained by the credit sys
tem would still be found to be great The ad
vancement of America, depends wholly upon It
It is by credit alone that It has made such rapid
strides, and It is by credit alone that It can con
tinue to flourish, at the same time that It enriches
those who trade with It
"In this latter crisis there was more blame to
be attached to the English houses,' who forced
their credit upon the Americans, than to the
Americans, who, having such unlimited credit,
thought that they mlgh advantageously speculate
with the capital of others. '
"One of the most singular affections of the
human mind is a proneness to excessive specula
tion,' and It may here be noticed that the disease
(for such it may be termed) Is peculiarly English
and American. Men, in their race for gain, ap
pear, like horses that have run away, to have
been blinded by the rapidity of their own motion. '
It almost amounts to an epidemic, and is infec
tious the wise and the foolish being equally lia
ble to the disease. New York Evening Post