Sheridan County Newspapers & Publications
Echoes of the Past
July 23, 2003
by Helen Selee
100 Years Ago -1903
A promiscuous cat with lovely stripes down its back and a bushy tail, showing commend-able perseverance, has been making nightly visits to a chicken house belonging to one of Gordon’s citizens. Talk about a gatlin gun, but did you ever notice the effect produced by a common shotgun loaded for skunk? It has the effect of a hail-storm, a flood and a cyclone, all combined. It is needless to say, however, that Mr. Skunk is still at large.
Last Saturday we were informed of a marriage that took place on the reservation not long ago. The contracting parties were Miss Ruby Corbin, daughter of Mr. Corbin, the school teacher on Notlesh Creek and Mr. Wm. Higgs, the mail-carrier from Merriman to Kyle. They were married at the Episcopal church by Rev. Amos Ross and were the recipients of a number of presents.
Ben Tibbets started out from Gordon on Wednesday of last week with a bran new buggy and before he got home his team ran away and completely ruined the buggy, so the report comes to us. Mrs. Tibbets was injured some but did not seem anything serious.
The private telephone line of the Maverick Loan & Trust Company was hooked up with Central on Tuesday.
John Crowder came in from Bordeaux Wednesday evening. He says the flood did great damage. Seven of the restaurants and stand buildings, including Frank Sasenbery’s, have been entirely swept away. All the other buildings were moved more or less from their proper places and badly damaged. The seats, bridges, etc., are all gone. It surely would have proved a sad affair had the flood come a few days earlier, when several thousand people were on the Bordeaux grounds.
A boy always feel like he has done a great thing when he fishes for the first time. Henry Rye, Jr. had such a climax in his life Wednesday down on Antelope Creek, and brought in a string of fourteen of the finny tribe.
Al and Will Metzger were driving home Friday and had a narrow escape while fording the river. A heavy rain had raised the river so that it washed them down stream, broke the buggy and washed their coats and grips away, but they saved their team.
Mrs. Sam Goucher, with two small children, while driving home Monday had a runaway and all three were thrown out. The children escaped injury but Mrs. Goucher was thrown under the wagon and was hurt internally. Dr. McDowell was called, but at present writing can’t tell how badly she is hurt.
Many people have tried the new food Grape-Nuts simply with the idea of avoiding the trouble of cooking food in the hot months. All of these have found something besides the ready cooked food idea, for Grape-Nuts is a scientific food that tones up and restores a sick stomach as well as repairs the waste tissue in the brain and nerve center. Produced by the Postum Co. of Battle Creek, Mich., the cereal is receiving raves from all over the country, some claiming healing qualities as well as ease and good taste.
Miss Leota Laurels, age 14 years, has written an article to a paper telling of the inborn right a woman has to her husband’s pocketbook and just how to manipulate that peculiar creature known under the guise of man. We are not happy in saying that when Leota (and that’s a sweet little name) runs up against the real thing, she will then be as full of sorrow as she is now of prunes, and while she seems to have a mind of her own, she may at some time find a man having a mind that he will insist belongs to him. Leota at her age of 14 knows a blamed sight more about bossing a man than she will at 44 after she has had two or three, for unless she changes a part of her ideas, no man will be able to camp with her very long.
From a report to the Omaha Bee: The question of the right of widows and orphans to assign to third parties their right to make original or additional entries to government land has been decided. When the matter was first investigated the attorneys for the cattle men who had secured the land and for the widows, advanced the proposition that the widows had a right to assign their claims to the land to third parties, and held that decisions of the US Supreme Court and of a lower federal court sustained this proposition, as well as decisions of the general land office. After an investigation, the department now indicates that the decisions of the general land office upon which the claimants to the land relied are erroneous and that the widow does not succeed to the full right of the deceased soldier, but only to certain parts of that right, and that she must reside upon the land.
75 Years Ago - 1928
Ralph Otis has installed on his place a milking machine capable of caring for four cows at one time. He is now milking 30 cows and believes this machine will be a real economy. It is a DeLaval, purchased from the Dempster-O’Connell Hardware company. Mr. Otis recently installed an electric light plant and uses that power to operate the milking machine.
Bill Cash of Batesland was laid up several days as a result of having a horse fall on him.
Mrs. Richard Thornton of Chicago, is in Gordon visiting her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Alex Skanadore. Under the stage name of “Marie De Coy”, this talented Gordon girl won fame in the east as a dancer. A few years ago, she graciously took part in an entertainment here.
Mr. A.L. Davis had a valuable horse killed by lightning last Thursday night.
Etta O’Neil of Irwin, who was seriously injured in an auto accident last week, was taken to an Omaha hospital Monday night. She is in very serious condition caused by internal injuries.
Hog cholera has again been discovered in this vicinity, this time on the Jim Webster place on the edge of Gordon. Jim has had to burn about a hundred head of hogs and has had the balance vaccinated. All of the veterinarians in the area who were called in stated that it was undoubtedly cholera. Hog raiser who have studied this situation believe that the only sure way to stop this disease is for people to vaccinate. To allow it to spread will only cause greater loss to everyone. Jos. McGaughey and Wm. Kayton have had their herds vaccinated.
Barney Burg is said to be one of the best known drivers in the world and who holds the world’s time record of 174 hours continuous driving without sleep, will soon begin a 5,000 mile endurance through this section of the country in connection with the Black Hills Overland company and the Gordon Overland company. Burg is training now and expects to begin the drive on July 23. He expects to go through Gordon on July 24. The drive will be at least 150 hours running time during which he will be handcuffed to the wheel and watched by uninterested judges to prove he does not sleep. He will drive a Whippet tour sport roadster in an attempt to establish a new world’s record of 5,000 in 150 hours. The present record for distance and speed is held by Cannon Ball Baker. The Black Hills and Northwestern Nebraska territory was chosen, it was said, because the hills and the winding roads will be a test to both car and man. Burg is to be followed by a company driver, Jim Conway, accomplished member of the Black Hills Overland company.
[Last minute news was received by W.G. Moss, of the Gordon Overland company, that Burg was taken to a hospital Saturday morning for an operation on his appendix and the drive will be accomplished as soon as he recovers sufficiently to do so.]
Mr. and Mrs. Alfred Fitch are the parents of a baby girl born July 20th. They have named her “Ila May.”
A little daughter of Lester Hatch broke her arm in a fall from a horse the first of the week.
Mr. and Mrs. Willard Hess are rejoicing over the arrival of a son who came July 23rd. He has been named “Dillon LeRoy.”
A nine-pound boy, named Ernest Roy, came to live with Mr. and Mrs. Howard Hill.
Miss Caroline Sandoz returned to her home in the Hills last Saturday after attending summer school at Chadron.
Claude H. Greenwood and Miss Mary Bourne, popular young people living north of Rushville, were married at Chadron on July 14th, and after a trip through the Black Hills, will be at home on Mr. Greenwood’s farm up in Extension precinct. The bride is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. R.H. Bourne and has been one of Sheridan county’s best school teachers. Mr. Green-wood is an energetic young man and the young couple are more than ordinarily fitted for the journey through life.
Baseball fans desiring to see the real “battle of the century” will have two opportunities during the coming week. On Friday afternoon of this week, at 4 o’clock, at the Fairgrounds, the Gordon boys’ team will take on the Kiwanis team. This is billed as a “Father and Son” affair, and it is reported that the “Young” Versaw and the “Old Man” Versaw will oppose each other on the mound. Anyway, the boys are making their plans to give the oldtimers a good beating, and a large crowd is expected to enjoy the fun. On Wednesday afternoon of next week, the Kiwanis Club and the Firemen will tangle. The Kiwanis feel that they are sure of victory except for the fact that they may not have their wind back from the game with the boys on Friday. Both of these teams, in fact, are getting a flock of alibis ready, and the game should furnish a lot of amusement.
According to the Cherry county Assessor’s records, there are 10,000 fewer cattle in the county this year than there were in 1927. You don’t imagine that the fact that they are assessed higher this year had anything to do with that, do you? As for freakish assessments, we read the other day that in North Platte the assessor found the value of dogs there to be about 20 thousand dollars, while the value of all jewelry reported was only 9 thousand dollars. Is it any wonder that people are dissatis-fied with our taxing system?
Everyone is waiting expectantly for the new paper money which, we are informed in dispatches from Washington, will be standardized in design and about two-thirds the size of the present currency. Standardiz-ing the designs will also be a help to the public. For instance, there are now five different kinds of ten-dollar bills. Under the new system of currency there will be but one kind and it will be easily distinguished. The one dollar bill will have a design entirely different from the designs of the higher denomi-nations, and will be recognizable at a glance. The one dollar bill will carry George Washington’s face and the $100 bill will have Franklin’s photograph on the front with an entirely different design from the one dollar bill on the back. Each of the eleven different denominations to be printed will have the face of a different patriot on the front and a separate and easily distinguish-able design on the back. The change will mark the passing of the yellow back bill as the issues will all be green backs. As soon as you learn which picture appears on the different denomi-nations of bills it will be almost impossible to short change you unless you are half asleep.
On Monday afternoon, July 23rd, in Omaha, occurred the marriage of Miss Julia Janda and Mr. Brewer Margrave, son of Mr. and Mrs. Fred Margrave of Gordon. Mr. Margrave graduated last month from the Dental College of Creighton University and expects to pract-ice in Montana, in which state he has passed the examinations of their state dental board. He became acquainted with his bride while attending school.
Hugo Hoppe came up from Texas last week to look after business interests here and states that he plans to remain until the weather gets cooler down there. He reports much Hoover sentiment among Texas demo-crats.
50 Years Ago - 1953
The first load of new wheat to reach Gordon elevators was reported last Wednesday, July 15 by the Farmers Co-op. Brought in by Milton Burleigh of southwest of Gordon, the wheat weighed 62 ˝ pounds with 12.60 moisture. A 30 bushel to the acre yield was estimated. The Krause elevator reports 83 loads, some 21,870 bushels, received Monday and 94 loads, 22,522 bushels on Tuesday. Mr. Krause said he expected the elevator to be filled to capacity by today (Wednesday). Although feeling the pinch of the box car shortage, the Magowan elevator will be able to accept grain for the remainder of the week.
The newest addition to the Gordon business district is Otto’s Drive-Inn which opened to the public last week. The café is equipped to serve customers in their cars, or indoors if they prefer. The café, operated by Mr. and Mrs. Otto Roberts is located on the south side of Highway 20, east of the Main street intersection.
Pfc. and Mrs. Freeman J. Petersen, Camp Pendleton, Calif., arrived in Gordon Sunday to spend a 24-day leave with their parents, Mr. and Mrs. Vincent Skanadore and Mr. and Mrs. John Petersen. Freeman will ten go to Hastings where he will be stationed until released from the armed forces.
Births: *Mr. and Mrs. Delbert Votruba, a son, William Leroy, July 16, 1953.
*Mr. and Mrs. Robert Jaggers, a daughter, Marilyn Jean, July 17, 1953.
*Mr. and Mrs. George Addie, a son, David Leslie, July 19,1953.
*Mr. and Mrs. Bruce Moore, a son, Patrick Bruce, July 20, 1953.
Jerome Kruger of Gordon has been newly appointed to the local selective service board, replacing Clint Bartow as the Gordon member. A veteran of World War II, Mr. Kruger is also district commander of the American Legion. Mr. Bartow, who has served on the local board for several years, resigned due to lack of time, as he is also a county commissioner in addition to being engaged actively in farming.
Marvin Porath, city water commissioner for the last three years, has resigned here to accept a similar position in Valentine, his home town. His resignation becomes effective August 1. Taking over as Gordon’s water commissioner will be a local man, Elmer “Bill” Davis.
Mr. and Mrs. Harry Holsinger entertained Sunday with a picnic in the City park in honor of Glen Holsinger, who has recently returned from Korea, and Mrs. Louis Elkamp of Burbank, Calif. Those present were Mr. and Mrs. George Glover, Mrs. Luzetta Holsinger, Mr. and Mrs. Ray Wheeler and daughter, Mr. and Mrs. Derwin Holsinger and son, Mr. and Mrs. Glen Holsinger and the hosts.
Mr. and Mrs. Leonard Galyen of Fall Brook, Calif., arrived here Friday morning. They will visit at the Keith McCray home and Leonard will assist his father at the farm for a while as Mr. Galyen is in poor health. Leonard is stationed in California with the US marines.
Little Billie Bob Hatch was placed in a cast on Saturday for a hip injury. He is getting along as well as he can at this time.
25 Years Ago - 1978
Mr. and Mrs. Duane Cerny of Gordon announce the engage-ment of their daughter Kathryn to Don Glassgow, son of Mr. and Mrs. Harold Glassgow, also of Gordon. Kathryn is a 1977 graduate of Rushville high school, and Don is a 1976 graduate of Gordon high. An Aug. 26 wedding is being planned.
August 12 is the wedding date selected by Sharon Schacher and Ken Moreland, both of Merri-man. Mr. and Mrs. Lowell Schacher of Columbus are the parents of the future bride, who teaches first and second and is the head teacher at Merriman Elementary School. Ken is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Stan More-land of Merriman. He ranches with his father in the Merriman area.
Mr. and Mrs. Lester Hess returned Saturday from a 3-week trip to eastern states that took them to the east coast and into Canada. Leaving the morning after Gordon was hit by the tornado, they drove to Cumberland, Md., where they joined their daughter Jeanette and son-in-law Bill Tucker for a tour of important historical points in and around Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, New York City, Hartford, Conn., and Niagara Falls. While in New York, they visited three Hess cousins that Lester had never seen, and then went to Ft. Wayne, Ind., where their son Martin is a pastor. Returning to Nebraska, they attended Lester’s school reunion (class of 1921) in Lincoln. Lester was awarded the prize for the one “in Nebraska” coming the farthest.
Richard Kimball of Pleasant Hill received his discharge from the army and arrived home on Monday. He, Carolyn and Lucas moved to Scottsbluff to live.
10 Years Ago - 1993
Tony Hindman, a Hay Springs man, has recently accepted the position of Extension assistant at the Sheridan County Extension office. Tony is a Rushville high school in mechanized agricult-ure from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in Dec. 1991. Since his graduation from college he has been helping his father on the farm. Tony’s parents are Delmer and Florence Hindman of Hay Springs.
Captain Wynn L. Coon, Supply Corps, U.S. Navy, has been awarded a Second Meritorious Service Medal by the President of the United States. The medal was awarded on July 7, 1993, onboard the USS Enterprise. Wynn is the son of Wayne and Ila Mae Coon and the son-in-law of Marion Sloyer, all of Gordon. Wynn, his wife
Wenda and their children live in Yorktown, VA.
A number of former residents returned to Rushville Friday evening, July 16, to be part of the retirement party for Fritz Wefso. Among those in attendance were Ret. General Charles Brown of Alexandria, VA; his sister Charlene Bowliare and her husband Chuck, of Albuquerque, NM; Dick and Ruth Ziegler, of Clarks Max and Rita Staman from Mitchell and Max Dykes of Ogallala. Also present for the party was Fritz’s brother Bob, of Pebble Beach, CA. Surprising Fritz with unexpected visits were World Herald publisher, John Gottschalk and his wife Carmen; Bob and Helen Jensen of Omaha and Barb Stephenson from Lincoln. Fritz’s daughter Claire Matt, of Omaha, was unable to attend the party but sent a poem recalling her memories of using the drug store for a playground while she and her friends were growing up. The evening concluded with dancing to the music of Donna Milburn at the keyboard.
This page was last
updated on
Tuesday, 10-Mar-2009 20:00:04 MDT
submitted by Helen Selee
Copyright © 2003 Sheridan Co.
NEGenWeb