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THE OMAHA SUNDAY REK: SEPTEMBER 1900.
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King Ak-Sar-Ben Tells Story of the Order's Founding"
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OW Ak-Sar-Ben originated
and came to be a vital
part of the commercial
and social life of Omaha
is told In detail In the fol
lowing story by Edmund
M. Uartlett, first king of
yulvera:
'The movement which
led to the founding of Ak-Sar-Ben
resulted from the
business depression in
which this city found
Itself In 1892, after ttie real estate bubble had burst. In
the first years of the boom Omaha enjoyed unusual pros
perity. Real estate prices ent sky high lots several
miles from the city were sold at fabulous prices the
people spent their money and the city became Indepen
dent. Reports were sent out that Omaha had 140,000
Inhabitants and that It was the big city of the mid-west.
"Among the merchants of the city was no concerted
action to bring small town merchants here to trade.
There seemed to be a feeling that rarh business man
would get along by himself if he attended to his own
business and did not try to co-operate with other men.
So Independent an attitude did the people of this city as
sume that out In the state they became known as the
'Omaha hogs,' and the citizens of the smaller towns did
not feel very friendly toward our people.
"When the bottom fell out of things In 1893 the bus
iness men of this city were suddenly brought to realize
that something would have to be done to encourage trade
and instill life Into the wholesale and retail business of
Omaha. Because of the lack of attention from our busi
ness men In other year6 the merchants of the smaller
towns of the state had not come here to buy and now,
when the depression was upon us, our leading men came
to realize that some means would have to be devised to
win back the Nebraska trade. To make plans for win
ning the favor of the small towns a meeting of the Com
mercial club was called and the situation which Omaha
was up against was gone over carefully. Several ways
of promoting trade were suggested and It was finally de
cided to try to get the state fair, which then was being
held at Lincoln, transferred to this city. A committee
of the Commercial club members was selected and told
to go to Lincoln, see the board of state fair directors and
get. them to remove the fair here the next September.
"Well, the delegation visited the directors of the fair
at Lincoln, argued with them for several hours and se
cured their promise to give Omaha the fair the next year.
The committee came back from the Capital City feeling
mighty fine over the success of its trip and believing that
Omaha had found a way to deal with the commercial
stringency. The fair grounds were located four miles
L j ... '
EDMONTJ M. BARTLETT, ESQ.,
King Ak-Sar-Ben I.
west of the city and we figured that the small town vis
itors would come to Omaha, get acquainted with our peo
ple and become reconciled to the business men here. Lin
coln had each year been filled with the farmers and other
people and its merchants had been greatly benefited. But
we were to be disappointed in our expectations.
"When the fair opened the state -visitors, instead of
coming into Omaha, simply took trains that went to the
fair grounds, saw the show, ate there and then returned
to their homes w ithout coming into Omaha proper. That,
of course, was Just what we did not want; we wanted the
visitors to come into Omaha and see us. We did not
care much whether they saw the fair. Our purpose in
getting the fair here was to bring the state people to
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Omaha, and it had failed. With that situa
tion confronting us we knew we would have
to do something else, and we did.
"Another meeting of the Commercial club
was called to devise new means of winning
back the state people to our city. It was then
the spirit that was to make Omaha a very
progressive city began to show Itself. Men
In the meeting snid Omaha would forge to
the front if they had to spend all their time in
working for that end. Before the meeting
closed it was resolved to get up some kind of
a street pageant to attract visitors to Omaha,
and a committee was appointed to visit St.
Louis and New Orleans to gather Ideas from
the parades held In those cities.
"The committee was composed of William
R. Bennett, Dudley Smith and myself. Gus
Renze, an artist, was selected to accompany
us so that he might get some Ideas for deco
rating floats and advise us In matters In case
we should decide to make any purchases.
"At St. Louis we saw the system employed
for their carnival, the Veiled Prophet, and
were much Impressed. We admired their
floats and wtre greatly attracted by their ar
rangements. The Commerlcal club of that
city banqueted us and entertained us royally.
We decided to go on to New Orleans before
making any decision.
"At the Louisiana city we were enter
tained in a manner to rival our treatment at
St. Louis. We saw the parades of Coraus,
Troteus and Rex, all features of the Mardl
Gras carnival. Comua and Proteus are night
parades and the Rex a day parade. We were
most impressed by Rex and decided to buy the
paraphernalia of that parade. The costumes
were elegant and we felt much pleased with,
our selection. When these were brought to
Omaha the other members of the club also
thought we had made a wise choice.
"On our way home from New Orleans, however, we
met a Catholic priest from Kansas City who gave us some
very good suggestions for the ritual which we were to
adopt for Ak-Sar-Ben. This priest's name was Enrlght
Father Enright and to him Dudley Smith explained
the purpose of our enterprise and how we planned to
carry it out. It was Dudley Smith, by the way, who or
iginated the name Ak-Sar-Ben. which is Nebraska spelled
backward. He told Father Enrlght the name we had
decided upon for our carnival and that we had Improved
over the ritual of the New Orleans carnival by adding a
little horseplay to ours. He informed him that we In
tended to have W kingdom with a king who should
one year.
"Father Enright was so taken up with our Idea th.it
he suggested we follow out a scheme of making Ak-Sat-Ben
the Seven Cities of Cibola, and take, in general,
other hints from Quivera and Coronado, who sought to
discover the Seven Cities. Father Enright s suggestions
were accepted and we later adopted the idea of Seven
Cities of Cibola for our ritual.
"It was also Father Enrlght who suggested that the
three words In Ak-Sar-Ben each be recognized by its
meaning in one of thret languages. These three lan
guages were Arabic, Hebrew and Syrian. Ak Is Syrian
for head of a household, Sar is Arabic for household and
Ben Is Hebrew for brothers In the household.
"The helpful suggestions of Father Enright were ac
cepted and L. M. Rheem, who then was manager of the
local office of the American District Telegraph company
and who was prolific in thought, Incorporated them into
a completed ritual for Ak-Sar-Ben.
"Th first meeting of the Knights of Ak-Sar-Ben was
held In the old Odd Fellows' hall at Fourteenth and
Dodge streets in 1895. 1 well remember the horesplay
we had in the initiation that night. The candidates were
marched upon a drawbridge that approached a castle,
upon a hill. The railing of the bridge was lined with
wires connected to a strong battery. When the candi
dates walked upon the bridge it began to sway and they
grabbed hold of the railing tc keep from falling off. The
minute their hands came in contact with it they received
a strong current and had to let go. They then rushed
off the bridge and were greeted on the shore by several
sir knights with Inflated bladders.
"After the bladder treatment the candidates were led
before a skeleton and given a moral lecture on the path
of life. Then they were taken to a desk to sign the con
stitution. The desk collapsed and through the bottom
of the chair in which the candidate was seated several
pins came up, causing the occupant to Jump and wriggle.
"The first ball and parade of Ak-Sar-Den was held in
September, 1895. I was the first king of the carnival
and rode in the parade on a float. After the parade we
drdve to the Den, where the coronation ceremonies took
place and the ball was held. This custom was followed
for two or three years and then abandoned. The king
did not ride In the parade after the first three years and
the grand ball was set for the night following the elec
trical parade. .The forms and ceremonies adopted then
have been maintained now for thirteen years.
"But Ak-Sar-Ben accomplished the purpose for which
It was Intended. It brought thousands of Nebraska peo
ple here for the first parade and started a spirit of good
feeling toward Omaha. The state people 'began to liko
us and ceased callng us 'Omahogs.' "
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Telephones Now in Service in Oup
OIV2AHA EXCHANGE
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Have Been Added During the Past Year
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Polbipaislkai Tc3HopIfriojris (Coinmpaiimy
Call Douglas-2, Contract Department
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