History of Custer County, Nebraska; a narrative of the past, with special emphasis upon the pioneer period of the county's history, its social, commercial, educational, religous, and civic developement from the early days to the present time, Part 15

Author: Gaston, William Levi, 1865- [from old catalog]; Humphrey, Augustin R., 1859- [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1919
Publisher: Lincoln, Neb., Western publishing and engraving company
Number of Pages: 1180

USA > Nebraska > Custer County > History of Custer County, Nebraska; a narrative of the past, with special emphasis upon the pioneer period of the county's history, its social, commercial, educational, religous, and civic developement from the early days to the present time > Part 15

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"I then knelt down and thanked Almighty God for sparing my life, as I had prayed for him to do, time and again during the past two days and nights that I had been in the well.

"But my trouble was not at an end yet. I was one and a half miles from a house, with a foot I could not step on. I cut some large weeds and made out to hobble and crawl to the road, about four rods distant, and there I lay until nearly sundown, looking for a team which never came. After getting out in the sun, I became very thirsty. At last I gave up

looking for any one and started to crawl on' my hands and knees to find a house, but I soon gave out and had to lie out another night. In the morning I felt somewhat better. Starting out again I finally arrived at the home of Charles Francis just at daylight, where I was given food and drink, after be- ing without for two days and three nights.

"My team was found the next day after I fell in the well, by a man by the name of Green, with the doubletrees and neck yoke at- tached to them. To Mr. Green great credit is due. He took them to a justice of the peace, filed an estray notice and turned them into the pasture, thus complying with the law and taking away my last chance for being dis- covered."

A THOUSAND ELK IN ONE HERD

A thousand elk in one Custer county herd - that sounds extravagant, yet State Surveyor Robert Harvey says he saw a herd that large on Victoria creek. He also notes a death battle between two elk bulls. The following is Mr. Harvey's story :

"Custer county was a magnificent game country. Antelope on the hills and deer and elk in nearly every canyon, especially where there was brush. My party was not out of fresh meat for more than a day or two at the most. Returning from the completion of the work in Custer county, we crossed the county line and traveled down the old mili- tary trail made by Lieutenant G. K. Warren, in 1855 or 1856. We noticed small bands of elk moving from the bluffs to the south across the valley, in direction of the Victoria, and when we came opposite that stream we saw perhaps a thousand elk gathered on a plat of flat, clay ground, south of the river and just east of Victoria creek, visiting, grazing, and fighting. For miles we could hear the clear ring, like bars of metal, when the horns clashed together. That was the largest herd of elk I ever saw.

"One evening while hunting in a large cedar canyon, now known as Cedar canyon, with numerous side pockets containing berries and plums, I came upon two pair of elk antlers,

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still attached to the skulls, securely locked to- gether around a small ash tree, perhaps five or six inches in diameter. They had become locked together in conflict around that tree. The sod had been worn away and was then overgrown with small weeds. They had fought up and down the tree until the bark was all peeled away as high as they could reach on their hind feet, down to the ground. Locked to the tree, they died there. I intended to have returned that day and cut the tree out at the roots, lop off the limbs and carry home the trunk with skulls and antlers still locked. as a trophy of a remarkably strange and rare occurrence. But I had lost so much time, I concluded that they could safely wait until winter, when I would be able to return. I heard that a party of Iowa hunters had found them and carried them away. I have heard or read of only one other similar occurrence and that was of two deer that became en- tangled in each others' horns."

MADE HIS OWN POWDER

Prominent among the interesting relics shown to visitors when calling upon the hos- pitable old-timer, Judge Charles R. Mathews, of New Helena, is a bottle of gun powder that the Judge keeps as a relic of former days, when ammunition was scarce and good pow- der very hard to obtain. The powder is some that he manufactured himself. He gave to his visitors in this instance a very interesting description of how the powder was manufac- tured, together with its formula, effectiveness, etc.

It is said to be a very powerful explosive. The granulation is rather coarse, and the ap- pearance almost white. It must not be imagined that because we are talking about white powder that we are giving a description of ladies' face powder, for Judge Mathews has been a bache- lor all his life and it is altogether probable that he knows nothing about the face powder in general use by the ladies. It is gun powder. pure and simple, and chickens, quail, rabbit, or any other denizen of the canyon that got in front of the Judge's gun loaded with this ex- plosive about the time he pulled the trigger,

found out what the powder was for and could generally bear witness to its effectiveness. Ac- cordingly credit the Judge with being the only manufacturer of gun powder in Custer county.

WON BY A NOSE

James Lindly, who came to Custer county in the springtime of 1880, arrived at New Helena with twenty-five cents in money and with a cheerful disposition which enabled him to over- come all difficulties and remain in the country up to the present time. The first year after his settlement in Victoria precinct he was elected justice of the peace, in which capacity he served six years. He relates the following incidents which occurred while he was ad- ministering justice in these early days, and they may not be out of place here. Upon one oc- casion two Irishmen had some difficulty about the boundary line between their claims, and the result was a collision. The one who came out second best in the row came to Mr. Lind- ly to get justice, his face covered with blood and his nose in a very demoralized condition. The justice issued a warrant for the arrest of his antagonist, handed it to him and directed him to the home of the constable. In due time the constable appeared at the home of the justice with both of the men. After reading the complaint the defendant pleaded not guilty. and a trial was had without counsel or wit- nesses, each man pleading his own case. The plaintiff alleged that defendant had come to his place and commenced the row. The defendant promptly denied that he had commenced the row, but admitted that he had gone to the plaintiff's house, and said that the plaintiff had attacked him with a pitchfork. The plaintiff then turned toward the defendant, laid his in- dex finger on his nose and asked: "How was that done?" "Ye did it yerself whin I was takin' the pitchfork away from ye," replied the defendant.

The plaintiff then offered his nose in evi- dence by turning to the court and saying : "The court knows very well that nose was chawed." And sure enough it had that ap- pearance -and well chewed at that. The plaintiff was fined one dollar and costs and the

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two departed together, apparently satisfied with the result of the suit.

A BACK-ACTING WEDDING FEE

Upon another occasion Mr. Lindly had oc- casion to go to the sod house of three bache- lors, when one of them, in a joking mood, asked him how much he would charge him to perform a marriage ceremony. Not being rushed with business of that sort, Mr. Lindly replied that he would do it for half price. The second bachelor then spoke up and wanted to know how much the justice would charge to marry him. The accommodating justice said he would marry him free. Then the third bachelor was anxious to know what the charge for marrying him would be. "O, I'll marry you for nothing, and board you and your wife free for a week," laughingly replied Mr. Lindly. The first two never called upon Mr. Lindly to assist them into wedlock, but not very long afterward number three appeared with a fair maiden and insisted that the justice fulfill his agreement, which Mr. Lindly did, and the groom being of a generous disposition, the couple boarded with the justice two weeks in- stead of one. From the small capital with which Mr. Lindly commenced business in Custer county he has accumulated an inde- pendence. He is the owner of 1,580 acres of land, 600 under cultivation, twenty acres of trees and all free from incumbrance.

A PLUCKY CUSTER COUNTY WOMAN

In the crowd that assembled to witness the execution of Haunstine for the murder of Roten and Ashley, Mrs. Roten was in the crowd. When it became known that the gov- ernor had granted a reprieve which would stay the execution for thirty days, there was con- siderable commotion in the vast assemblage and a few leaders tried to incite the mob spirit. At this time, in an excellently written account of the exciting events that followed the an- nouncement of the governor's reprieve, the State Journal thus alludes to the presence of Mrs. Roten, wife of one of the men murdered by Haunstine: "She is a splendid-looking wo- man, but twenty-six years of age, and the

mother of four children rendered fatherless by Haunstine's crime. She stood in the very midst of the thickest part of the struggle with a nerve that excited the wonder of all who witnessed the spectacle. The leaders of the mob circled around her, whispering to her for counsel, as if she were their queen, and if she had finally insisted on Haunstine's execution, no power at the command of the sheriff could have prevented them fulfilling her command. The peacemakers besought her earnestly, with every assurance of the justice of the outcome, to ask the men to disperse, but she called attention to the fiendishness of the crime and to her fatherless children as an excuse for refusing to say a word in the culprit's be- half. Failing in this aim, the peacemakers turned their endeavors toward preventing her from giving encouragement to the mob, and succeeded."

Old-timers say that the city reporters catered to the spectacular and gave their descriptions more of the thrill and red paint than the facts merited.

WAS A JUSTICE ALL RIGHT

In the olden days T. B. Buckner, of Oconto, was a justice of the peace. A case was brought before him, and Judge Sullivan and Judge Humphrey appeared as the attorneys. At the beginning of the case Sullivan questioned the jurisdiction of Justice Buckner. "Buck" listened to the argument on both sides until weary, then pulled out a big six-shooter and laid it on the table, and said, "Gentlemen, the decision of this court is that I am a justice of the peace and a hell of a good one." The case proceeded without further interruption.

GOD AND BOBLITS

Judge Boblits, who was the first judge of Custer county, married a couple of youngsters during the first day in his office and closed the ceremony with this remark, "Whom God and Boblits hath joined together, let no man .put asunder."

A COURTSHIP IN THE COURT'S OFFICE

In the Nebraska Pioncer Reminiscences is

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found the authority for the following story:

Dates seem to be lacking. but it was prob- ably some time in the year 1888 that an at- tractive young lady who had just finished a term of school in the Berwyn district accepted a position as assistant in the office of the clerk of the court. J. J. Douglass, who was the first clerk of court in Custer county. In speaking of her four years' experience in that office the authority relates that many famous cases were tried during that time, such as the Demerritt case and the Haunstine case, and many others. She had to work in an office from the window of which she could watch the erection of the scaffold upon which Haunstine was to be exe- cuted. Relating the experience in her own words :

"As the nails were being driven into the structure. how I shuddered when I thought that a human being was to be suspended from that beam. Early in the morning on the day of the execution people began to arrive from miles around to witness the only execution that ever occurred in Custer county. My heart ached and my soul was stirred to its very depths in sympathy for a fellow-being who was so soon to pass into eternity. Yet I was utterly helpless so far as extending any aid or con- solation. And now the thought comes to me, will the day ever dawn when there will be no law in Nebraska permitting men to take the life of another man to avenge a crime?"

Notwithstanding the varied and exciting ex- periences in the clerk's office the young lady remained during the entire four years of the term, after which she and the ex-clerk were married, and they have ever since been fore- most among the prominent citizens of Cus- ter county. They have a beautiful horte in Callaway.

EXPERIENCES OF A "SCHOOL MARM"

In July. 1881, Mrs. J. J. Douglass arrived in Broken Bow. That village looked strange to her, with not a tree in sight excepting a few little cuttings of cottonwood and box- elder here and there upon the few lawns. Af- ter having lived all her life in a country where every home was surrounded by groves and or-

namental shade trees, it seemed that she was in a desert.

She had just completed a course of study in a normal school, prior to coming to Nebraska, and was worn out in mind and body, so natur- ally her first consideration was the climate of the country and its corresponding effect upon life and health. She wondered how the peo- ple stood the heat of the day, but soon dis- covered that a light breeze was blowing nearly all the time, so that the heat did not seem so intense as it did in her Iowa home.

After she had been in Broken Bow about two weeks she was offered a position in the mortgage loan office of Trefren & Hewitt. The latter was the first county clerk of Custer county. She held this position a few weeks and then resigned to take charge of the Ber- wyn school, at the request of Charles Ran- call. the county superintendent. Berwyn was a village situated ten miles east of Broken Bow. It consisted of one general merchandise store, a postoffice, depot, and a blacksmith shop. It was not daylight when the train stopped at the little depot and a feeling of loneliness came over her as she watched the train speed on its way behind the eastern hills. She found her way to the home of J. O. Taylor ( who was then living in the back end of his store building ), informed him that she was the teacher who had come to teach the school and asked him to direct her to her boarding place. Being a member of the school board, Mr. Taylor gave her the necessary in- formation and then sent his hired man with a team and buggy to take her farther east to the home of Ben Talbot, where she was to stay.

The Talbot home was a little sod house con- sisting of two small rooms. On entering she found Mrs. Talbot preparing breakfast for the family. She was given a cordial welcome, and after breakfast, started in company with Mrs. Talbot's little girl to the schoolhouse. The sense of loneliness which had taken pos- session of her on her way to this place now began to be dispelled. She found Mrs. Tal- bot to be a woman of kind heart and generous impulses, the mother of two little girls, the

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older one being of school age. She could see the schoolhouse up on the side of a hill. It was made of brush and weeds and some sod and was twelve by fifteen feet in dimensions. The roof was of brush and weeds and some sod, and she could see the blue sky by gazing up through the roof at almost any part of it. She looked out upon the hills and valleys and wondered where the pupils were to come from, as she saw no houses and no evidence of habitation anywhere excepting Mr. Talbot's home. By nine o'clock about twelve children had arrived from some place, she knew not where.

She found in that little, obscure schoolhouse some of the brightest and best boys and girls it was ever her good fortune to meet. There soon sprang between them a bond of sym- pathy. She sympathized with them in their al- most total isolation from the world, and they in turn sympathized with her in her loneliness and homesickness.

On opening her school that first morning, great was her surprise to learn how well those children could sing. She had never been in a school where there were so many sweet voices. Her attention was particularly directed to the voices of two little girls, as they seemed remarkable for children of their years. She often recalled one bright. sunny evening after she had dismissed school and stood watching the pupils starting out in various directions for their homes, her attention was called to a path that led down the valley through the long grass. She heard singing and at once recognized the voices of these two little girls. The song was a favorite of Mrs. Douglass and she could hear those sweet tones long after the children were out of sight in the tall grass. She will never forget how charmingly sweet that music seemed to her.

LIFE TOO SHORT FOR A SOD ROOF

The roofs on the early sod houses were made by putting up small logs for ridgepoles to support cross poles and upon these was placed a thatch of brush and hay and then over the hay. a layer of sod or clay. This kind of a roof was often open to both storm and

criticism. Mrs. H. C. Stuckey relates her experience :

"From hardly any rain we soon had more than we needed. Our roof would not stand the heavy downpours that sometimes continued for days at a time, and it would leak from one end to the other. We could keep our beds comparatively dry by drawing them into the middle of the room directly under the peak of the roof. Sometimes the water would drip on the stove while I was cooking, and I would have to keep tight lids on the skillets to pre- vent the mud from the roof falling into the food. With my dress pinned up, and rubbers on my feet. I waded around until the clouds rolled by. Then we would clean house. Al- most everything had to be moved outdoors to dry in the sun. But I never complained much. It has been said that a spirit was given us to stand all these trials - for they were indeed trials, and hard ones, too. Would I again go through with what I then did? No, indeed ! A thousand times, no! Life is too short to be spent under a sod roof."

ENTERTAINED THE PAWNEES

On one occasion the home of H. C. Stuckey and wife was visited by a band of Pawnee Indians. Mrs. Stuckey gives the following ac- count of the way they entertained them :

"We had but one Indian scare. One day fourteen big, ugly fellows came in, squatted down on the floor, and, as usual, wanted some- thing to eat. We stirred up corn dodgers for them and gave them syrup. I can see them yet, licking and daubing their corn cakes with many grunts of satisfaction. They played with my baby and called him 'heap good papoose.' I was very much frightened and could stand their presence no longer, so I took my baby and went into the other room and got a large revolver and held it in my hand until they went away. I do not know what I intended to do with the revolver. The Indians were Pawnees and very peaceful. They were on a hunting trip, and before leaving showed my husband a piece of well worn, dirty paper, written at the reservation and signed by the agent, requesting settlers to

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give the Indians food,- dead dogs and chick- ens, or anything else that would serve to fill up their capacious stomachs. These were the only Indians that ever came to our ranch."

ALL READY FOR INDIANS

In the fall of 1878, while Uncle Swain Finch and John Finch were at Brady Island, on the Platte, after supplies for their South Loup ranch, a dispatch came from the commander at Fort McPherson that three hundred well mounted Cheyenne Indians had broken away from the southern reservation and were headed north, and that having barely enough soldiers to protect the fort, the settlers would have to. look out for themselves. From the way the Indians were headed it was thought they would probably cross the Platte river at the old Indian crossing east of Brady Island. The boys had no arms with them except one rifle, which Uncle Swain generously left with the little settlement of four familie's at Brady Is- land with which to protect themselves in case the savages came upon them. Shortly after diark they started out for their home on the Loup, thirty-five miles across the prairie, with- ont even a trail to go by. It was intensely dark, and raining a part of the time, but oc- casionally a little patch of blue sky, with a star or two shining through it, could be dis- cerned. When about eighteen miles out, the darkness increased and the rain also, until the travelers began to think they had lost their course. John asked Uncle Swain if he thought they were on the right track.

"Well, I don't know, boy ; it's so dog-goned dark I cain't tell if we are right or not ; but if we are we ought to come to the water hole where old Sailor died, about half a mile ahead."

Soon they stopped, and while John held the horses, Uncle Swain felt around in the dark- ness and a few moments later returned with some of old Sailor's bones in his hand. Old Sailor was a dog belonging to Uncle Swain which had died there a year before, while chasing a deer, and this incident shows with what unerring accuracy an old frontiersman could find his way over these trackless plains,

even in the darkness. They had proceeded about five miles further, and were on what is now known as Tallin Table, when they saw a flickering light some distance ahead of them. They halted, held a council, and decided to steer clear of the light, as there was no telling whether the makers of the fire were friends or enemies. The detour which they were obliged to make in order to avoid the light threw them off their bearings and bewildered them to such a degree that they thought it best to stop and wait until the morning began to dawn. As soon as it was light enough for them to get the direction they resumed their journey and arrived at the ranch before any of the occupants were astir. The boys at the ranch were immediately routed out of bed and set to work molding bullets and loading cart- ridges, while Uncle Swain and John lay down to snatch a little sleep. A few minutes later John Woods, who had been outside of the ranch house trying to see if he could discern any Indians, came rushing in, his hair on end, and his face as white as a sheet, shout- ing: "The Indians are coming! The Indians are coming !" It is needless to say that Uncle Swain and John were soon out of bed and that the whole ranch was in a commotion; but as the moments passed away without any blood-curdling war whoop, they began to feel a little easier and sent a scout out to recon- noitre. He reported that it was a false alarm. Woods had seen a bunch of cattle coming out of the hills single file and his excited imagina- tion had formed them into Indians. The re- lief, however, was but temporary. The In- dians would no doubt be along sooner or later, and all went to work to prepare for the worst. The horses were rounded up in a log corral, and a rifle pit dug, in which John and his uncle David slept to watch the horses, while Uncle Swain and Woods guarded the house. John was only eighteen years of age at that time and very averse to having his hair cut by the red devils, an operation which he felt, however, was likely to be performed at any time. While he and Woods were digging the rifle pit he remarked to the old man: "I wouldn't be surprised if we were diggin' our

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graves." The old man replied, "Well, John, I have been thinkin' the same thing."

Fortunately no Indians troubled them. They really experienced a sense of disappointment and were inclined to regret that the affair had ended so tamely.

MYSTERIOUS DEATH OF A TRAPPER

In 1875 a trapper by the name of Bly came over from North Platte into Custer county to ply his vocation. One day an Indian outfit of cattle came to his camp and he bought some animals that were sore-footed and not able to travel. After a while the cattle became rested and ran away, followed by a yoke of oxen belonging to the trapper. Bly took after them on foot, having no horse, but after pur- suing them over the prairie for a day he gave up the chase. He came over to the South Loup, striking the river at the Lovell and Sheety beef camp, near where Arnold now stands. This outfit had moved further down the river, and had sent John Finch and E. S. Slater, two boys, up to the old camp after a rawhide rope that had been left behind. While the boys were at the old camp they saw Bly approaching in the distance, and as he was dressed in moccasins and leggings and had a red blanket over his head they took him for an Indian. They hid their ponies, got behind an old dugout, and waited for him to come up, which he did, the boys discover- ing their mistake before he reached them. Bly cooked his breakfast and ate it. He then went on down to the new camp, where he bought a horse, after which he returned and rounded up his straying stock. He then worked for the Lovell and Sheety outfit until August, 1876, when he left to go to North Platte to visit his family, driving his yoke' of oxen, which were hitched to a wagon. He stopped the first night at the ranch of Swain Finch. Among other things he told Mr. Finch that he had sold his rim-fire Winchester for twen- ty-three dollars in cash and that he was going to buy a new gun when he got to the Platte. He resumed his journey in the morning, but was never afterward seen alive.

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History of Custer County, Nebraska; a narrative of the past, with special emphasis upon the pioneer period of the county's history, its social, commercial, educational, religous, and civic developement from the early days to the present time, Part 15

Author: Gaston, William Levi, 1865- [from old catalog]; Humphrey, Augustin R., 1859- [from old catalog] Publication date: 1919 Publisher: Lincoln, Neb., Western publishing and engraving company Number of Pages: 1180

Author: Gaston, William Levi, 1865- [from old catalog]; Humphrey, Augustin R., 1859- [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1919
Publisher: Lincoln, Neb., Western publishing and engraving company
Number of Pages: 1180