History of Hall County, Nebraska, Part 65

Author: Buechler, A. F. (August F.), 1869- editor
Publication date: 1920
Publisher: Lincoln, Neb., Western Pub. and Engraving Co.
Number of Pages: 1011

USA > Nebraska > Hall County > History of Hall County, Nebraska > Part 65

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HISTORY OF HALL COUNTY NEBRASKA

front of the postoffice at 7:15 P. M. sharp of the Fifth Nebraska, inspected Company Thursday, Auril 5, 1917. Tom Bradstreet, M. It is a matter of indisputable record Marshal."

Instead of a small street meeting, this event turned out to be an assembly that filled to capacity the large evangelical tabernacle. In- vocation was asked by Rev. L. A. Arthur, musiq was furnished and stirring, patriotic addresses were made by Mayor Chas. G. Ryan, Frederick Weitzer, Evangelist J. Q. A. Henry, and R. R. Horth and patriotic resolutions adopted pledging Hall County's people and re- sources to the service of America.

RED CROSS ORGANIZED

The following week the organization of the Red Cross work followed. The details of these activities will be set forth in the separate por- tion of this chapter devoted to the Hall County Red Cross.

ENLISTMENT FOR SERVICE

While Hall County already had Company M in the Fifth Nebraska National Guard, the boys whom she had been proud to send to the Mexican border and who held themselves in readiness to be mustered back into service, as they soon were, the volunteer enlistments into the regular army, navy, marine corps, and all branches of service began immediately upon the declaration of war. On April 18, four boys joined the Company M and four joined the regular army service. From that date on The Daily Independent carried a roster of en- listments in all branches of the service. From the time the Grand Island recruiting station opened until June 15, 306 men enlisted at Grand Island, 24 of them being residents of the city of Grand Island.

In a period of ten days in June the enlist- ments in this district were Omaha 138, Des Moines 101, Lincoln 51, Grand Island 35, Sioux City 32, Fort Dodge 25, Marshalltown, Ia., 21, Norfolk 9, Hastings 2, and Beatrice 2. With a population of one-fifteenth that of Omaha and a much more sparsely settled country to draw from, Grand Island station enrolled one-fourth of Omaha's total.

On June 13, Colonel H. J. Paul, commander

that the Fifth Nebraska regiment maintained an enviable record on the Mexican Border for good discipline, and it was .inspected to go back into service under the same regimental command, with Lieut, Leo G. Allen selected captain, and Ernest Meyer and Fred Schuff as lieutenants.

FIRST TRAINING CAMP

On April 27, 1917, Hon. Fred W. Ashton was appointed chairman of the Military Camps Training Association for this district, to re- ceive applications for admission to the First Officers Training Camp at Fort Snelling, to begin on May 8th. Hall County had eleven of the first 277 selected from Nebraska. These men accepted for this first camp were: Clin- ton John, Lloyd Judkins, Carl Lesher, Harold Prince, Dorsey Williams, - Lindberg, (stu- dent here from Stromsburg), E. E. Engleman, W. R. Gilchrist, E. Gabrielson, L. W. John- son, N. G. Wilson.

Six men from Hall County won commis- sions at the termination of this camp in Au- gust : Capt. L. W. Johnson, Frank B. Patter- son, first lieutenants ; Clinton John, Harold A. Prince, and E. E. Engleman and Dorsey Williams as second lieutenants.

DRIVES FAST AND FURIOUS

Early in May, Capt. J. L. Howland was appointed special chairman of a whilwind cam- paign to increase the Red Cross membership. On May 11th, the city was visited by the Union Pacific preparedness special. Prof. J. H. Frandsen and Lieut .- Gov. Edgar Howard delivered war talks to the assembled throng. This special made 153 stops before coming to Grand Island. The First Liberty Loan drive went by quietly, the quota being sub- scribed by the banks and a few business con- cerns in Grand Island.

The County Council of Defense was organ- ized. The Red Cross extended its activities to include a nursing class. The Y. M. C. A. fund, with its quota of $4,000 for Hall County out of $60,000 for the state, was pushed

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across, and the Red Cross drive for 2,000 63; Martin, 32; Mayfield Township, 64; members moved along steadily during May.

REGISTRATION DAY, JUNE 5, 1917

In common with every other county in the state or community in the country, June 5, 1917, will stand out as a red-letter day in the history of Hall County. Since the founda- tion of the Republic, the American people had inherited a deep-seated prejudice against anything akin to universal compulsory mili- tary service. To ask almost ten millions of men, between the ages of 21 and 31, reared and educated to the idea of absolute freedom from any form of military service except such as they might voluntarily assume, seemed to many almost a dangerous risk for the federal government to ask. But it proved decisively that this tradition was more than offset by a popular will to win the war and so imbued were the American people with the determina- tion to perpetuate their democratic ideals, and so deeply impressed were they with the know- ledge that it was not only necessary to raise an army, but to do it quickly, that the whole nation registered 9,586,508 men on that notable June. 5.

On June 5, a special demonstration was held at Grand Island in honor of the men who were registering for military service, if called. Hon. W. H. Thompson presided as chairman, and addresses were made by Mayor J. L. Cleary, Gov. O. A. Abbott and Hon. W. A. Prince.

At Wood River a splendid program of songs and recitations was carried out by the young people, Marie Sindt, Lois Wiseman, Thelma O'Kane, Kathrine Bruner, being among those participating, and an address was delivered by Judge Bayard H. Paine.

At Doniphan a program was carried out, with a boy scout's drill, and likewise at Cairo, homage was paid to those answering the call to register.

On that date Hall County registered 2,210 of her sons, the distribution by precincts, being as follows: Grand Island: First precint, 289; Second, 175; Third, 174; Fourth, 324; Fifth, 209; Sixth, 172; Alda, 42; Cameron, 70; Doni- phan, 106; Center, 51; Harrison, 71; Jackson,

Prairie Creek, 35; South Platte, 43; South Loup, 71; Washington 1, 53; Washington 2, 18; Wood River, 106.

THE EARLY SUMMER OF 1917

The month of June witnessed a steady climb upward in the Red Cross membership drive, it having passed 2,000 by June 8, and a 3,000 goal having been substituted. The Liberty Bond sale was passed and the Y. M. C. A. quota progressed. Flag Day was observed with unusual solemnity and the Fourth of July took on an added impressiveness. Early in July a ripple occurred when a leading citi- zen spied a meeting at night and reported that an aggregation of disloyalists were plotting here in Hall County. Investigation proved that the meeting so suspicioned was a regular and proper meeting of a farmer's organiza- tion and the incident passed off with a written, signed statement of apology by the citizen who made the mistake. This was perhaps the first public manifestation of a spirit of suspicion and innuendo charges that prevailed rather generally throughout the country, and while this rather severe attitude of precaution re- sulted in many injustices, yet it also brought about some good results. Throughout the na- tion there existed a cautious watchfulness for evidences of bad faith or reluctance to re- spond to proper calls for service that to a great extent aided the various governmental and civilian bodies having the various lines of war work.

On July 21, Sargent Joseph Leo of Com- pany M, whose home was at Merna, died of a hemorrhage and several other members of the company being sick at the same time, re- sulted in a temporary scare concerning the welfare of the boys, but, the scare being based on merely idle rumor, it soon passed over.

THE FIRST DRAWING

After 2,217 of Hall County's sons registered on June 5, the next step in the selection of those who should be called into actual mili- tarl service was undertaken by assigning to each registrant a number, proceeding serially

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from one upwards, the series being separate and independent for each local board area in the country. Thus each registrant in Hall County could be identified by citing his Hall County Local Board name and his Hall County serial number. The local board, by of Staff, U. S. Army, 458.

which name the Selective Service Board for the county has been commonly designated, proceeded to number the cards with red ink numbers, consequently, without regard to alphabetical arrangement. Five lists were then prepared, one retained for the records of the local board, one copy posted in a conspicuous place in the court house, one copy given out for publication by the press, and the two re- maining copies furnished to the state author- ities and the office of the provost marshal general at Washington.

In order then to designate with the utmost impartiality the sequence in which the regis- trants qualified for military service should be called as needed, a single national drawing was held on July 20, 1917, for those who had registered on June 5.

While it was held in Washington, D. C., this national drawing was a notable event in the history of the lives of so many Hall County citizens, that it becomes an incident in the history of Hall County.

Room No. 226, the public hearing room of the United States Senate Office Building, was the scene of the first drawing, ten thousand five hundred numbers were drawn, the first capsule being taken from the glass bowl at 9:30 a. m., Friday, July 20, and the last at 2:16 a. m., Saturday, July 21, 1917; elapsed time, 16 hours, 46 minutes, and during which time the numbers were telegraphed and bulletined all over the country.

The first few numbers drawn were:

1. Newton D. Baker, The Secretary of War, 258.

2. Geo. E. Chamberlain, Senator from Oregon, chairman, Committee on Military Af- fairs, 2,522.

3. S. Hubert Dent, Jr., Representative from Alabama, Chairman House Committe on Military affairs, 9,613.

4. Francis E. Warren, Senator from Wyo- ming, 4,532.

5. Julius Kahn, Representative from Cali- fornia, 10,218.

6. Tasker H. Bliss, Major General, Chief

7. Enoch H. Crowder, Provost Marshal General, U. S. Army, 3,403.

8. Henry P. McCain, Adjutant General, U. S. Army, 10,015.

The first two numbers that affected Hall County men were, No. 258 draw by Secre- tary Baker, held by Roy Soderstrom, and No. 458 drawn by General Bliss, assigned to Julius Gutschow. The eight men next following, drawn from the Hall County roster were: No. 1,436, Lewis Rasmussen; 854, Blaine Bird; 1,859, Ernest Cecil. Harbert; 1,878, Ernest Abram Galbraith, 1,095, Floyd Rich Sopher; 2,022, Albert Roy Wallick; 1,455, Norman A. Samway and 783, Myrhon Kraider.

LATE SUMMER AND EARLY FALL OF 1917

During August, 1917, the Woman's Com- mittee to the County Council of Defense was organized and got under way with its work. On August 30, a farewell reception was held to 161 drafted men who were leaving for cantonments. Labor Day was celebrated with more than usual force, and Company M participated in the parade of the day. On September 13, a big meeting was held for the purpose of promoting recuiting for a second national guard company for Grand Island, to be a part of the proposed Seventh Nebraska Regiment. On September 19, a demonstra- tion was made for sixty-three men who left and the Ord boys were welcomed as they reached this county.

On September 25, the supply company for the new Seventh Regiment were mustered in, with Captain Irwin commanding and Emil Wolbach as lieutenant.

In October the Second Liberty Loan drive came on and was pushed through in a short time. The food pledge campaign followed on the heels of the second loan. Hall County

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came out second in the state in the number of food pledges, Dodge County leading, Hall the war. County securing 8,384 and Lancaster 6,206. Mrs. Chas G. Ryan, the chairman of this cam- paign conducted the work in a manner that so

won the attention of the state food adminis- . summer and fall months to call in groups of tration, that when the county chairmen were appointed for the food administration, Mrs. Ryan was the first, and for a long time the only woman chairman appointed in the state. LATE FALL AND EARLY WINTER WAR ACTIVITIES

During November, the Y. M. C. A. cam- paign came on and was pushed to a success- ful close. This was at once followed by the Knights of Columbus drive that resulted in raising over $4,600 in Grand Island and Wood River raised $1,300. During December, the tobacco kit subscription was carried on. Later in December the Red Cross seal contest came on and the various schools competed for the honor of selling the most.

December 10 was the date for the regis- trants of June 5; 1917, to begin turning in their questionaires. On December 11, Con- gressman Dan Stephens of Fremont, who had recently returned from a trip through the war zone in France gave a large Grand Island audience a first-hand account of conditions "over there." On December 13 the food administration's committee perfected a work- ing organization, and during the last part of the month the second general Red Cross drive got under way.

At the same time the annual Red Cross seal drive took place and the result may fairly be accepted as a barometer of the additional interest in all Red Cross affairs, generated be- cause of the war. About December 7 the state organization appointed A. F. Buechler as county chairman for the Christmas seal drive, from the proceeds of which special at- tention was to be given to soldiers and po- tential soldiers affected with tuberculosis. Whereas the total sale of the previous year had been slightly less than $100, the war-year drive after a two weeks' campaign scored a total of approximately $550.

mainder of 1917 after our country entered

THE QUESTIONAIRES

Following the drawing on July 20, the local selective board had proceeded during the registrants as their numbers were reached, give them a physical examination, and receive and determine upon their claims for exemp- tion upon the various grounds designated. That method of calling all men as their num- bers were reached and discharging or accept- ing rested upon the general assumption that a specific number of men were known to be needed for military service at a given time, and, therefore, enough registrants should be called by the county board in the sequence of their order numbers and selected according to the laws and reglations, until a number of qualified men has been obtained equal to the board's current quota, and the remainder dis- charged or exempted.

That plan was necessarily adopted for the early stage of the war, and proved effective for the purpose, whether in all instances ab- solutely fair to all concerned or not. But experience was showing that it was wasteful, and would grow more ineffective as the quotas grew larger and speed became more necessary in meeting the quotas. So late in the year of 1917 a new method was worked out by the authorities of the war department. This be- came effective on December 15, 1917, at which time the first call for 687,000 men had been more than filled by local boards and a lull in the work presented the opportunity for chang- ing the plan.

The essential change was this: that the physical examination followed, instead of pre- ceding, the determination of the claim for dis- charge or exemption. Second, the registrant was required to fill out a document that will always occupy a historical place in American life hereafter, the questionaire.

The questionaire was a document of some twenty pages which included lists of questions that all registrants must fill out; others that needed only be answered to constitute the

This review marks the main points of the war service activities at home during the re- proof for filling a claim for discharge or ex-

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emption; and the whole document covered inspection of government purchased horses every angle of the classification system, for ,was resumed at that time. which it was the basis of information and proof. This work occupied over three weeks and called for the assistance of not only the regular legal advisory board, appointed by the governor for Hall County, but a large num- ber of associate members of the legal advisory board.

THE LEGAL ADVISORY BOARD

The legal advisory board appointed by Governor Neville for Hall County was com- posed of J. L. Cleary, Benjamin J. Cunning- ham and Judge Joseph H. Mullin. Assisting this board during the questionaire season were associate members F. W. Ashton, C. J. South- ard, G. N. Hale, A. C. Mayer, Wm. Suhr, Chas. G. Ryan, W. H. Thompson, Judge J. R. Hanna, W. A. Prince, T. O. C. Harrison, R. R. Horth, H. A. Edwards, H. E. Clifford, E. G. Kroger, J. H. Wooley, O. A. Abbott. Jr., A. L. Joseph, Judge Bayard H. Paine, and Dale P. Stough, members of the Hall County bar, and to carry on the work in the other towns of the county when the questionaires were taken there, W. L. Sprague, H. S. Eaton, D. D. O'Kane, O. M. Quackenbush, Wood River ; John Thomssen, W. L. Kelly, Alda ; C. M. Carlson, C. M. Redman, Doniphan; G. C. Raven, G. W. Wingert, Cairo.

These same members and associate members acted throughout the balance of the war, with a few exceptions. At the time Mr. Cunning- tam was called for service in the fall of 1917, he resigned and Wm. Suhr was made I member of the legal advisory board, just xefore the signing of the armistice.

DURING THE EARLY PART OF 1918

The questionaire work and its resulting leavy burden of classification reached over ato 1918 and took.up part of January. On January 3, the railroad administration of the government which was now operating the Union Pacific, the St. Joe & G. I., and the Burlington issued an order combining all of he switching work at Grand Island, under he charge of the Union Pacific division. The

On January 18, Sergeant Joe Martin one of Hall County's own boys, came up from Camp Funston, delegated to raise a fund of $2,000 for a gymnasium at the camp. He was as- signed Grand Island, Hastings and Kearney, and presented the matter to a public meeting of Grand Island citizens, with the view of rais- ing $1,000 of this fund in Hall County. This meeting organized for that campaign, of which president Chester Pederson of the Grand Is- land Home Guards took charge, and also or- ganized the War Activities committee, of which more will be said in a separate part of the chapter assigned to that work.

During the month previous, in December, 1917, S. N. Wolbach had been appointed chairman of the War Savings Stamp Cam- paign for Hall County. In January he appointed his various assistants and began the educational feature and preliminary drive of the campaign.

During January, 1918, the food administra- tor began the daily publication of a weekly schedule of fair prices on approximately thirty staple articles of food, affected by govern- . ment regulations. In February an investiga- tion was made by the food administration of violation of the flour allowance regulations ,and action taken. On February 12 an investi- gation was made by the Council of Defense of rather severe and serious rumors which a cer- tain party was circulating against the fuel and food administrators, Mr. and Mrs. Chas. G. Ryan, and which proved to be absolutely -

without foundation.

It is not within the province of this histor- ical presentation of the war activities of Hall County to go into detail as to the many groundless and false rumors that sprang up: on the one hand about almost every person who was active in war activities and concern- ing many of whom it was thought they might be more active in various war projects and, on the other hand, about almost every person whose name indicated that he was of German birth or ancestry, regardless of the fealty to

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the country's cause shown by the object of of the industrial and commercial proportions such calumies, further than to say it took up of Grand Island. a great deal of time and energy of the council On April 19, 1918, the community of Grand Island was saddened by the burial of Private Benjamin Deuel, of the 127th Field Artillery, Camp Deming, New Mexico. of defense and other civilian organizations to investigate these and ascertain the merit in them. In some instances, the very investi- gation acted as an incentive to other results that did materially aid the various campaigns. In other instances such investigations acted as a check against division and discord re- sulting from false accusation.

The War Savings campaign progressed throughout February and until March 22, when the quota was subscribed. On February 28 the citizens of Hall County received another . oportunity to listen to first-hand accounts of conditions across the water, when President Ray Lyman Wilbur of Leland Stanford Uni- .versity, Senator Everett Colby of New Jersey and Mrs. Max Meyer of Iowa visited Grand Island, representing Herbert C. Hoover and the food administration.

DURING THE SPRING OF 1918

It was during the Third Liberty Bond drive, in March, that the dark, dismal days came over the whole world as the Germans were .advancing toward Paris at a startling speed. This German drive began on March 21, and continued for weeks until the tide turned in May, at Chauteau Thierry. Dur- ing the first week of April a very successful fair was held on behalf of the Red Cross, at the new Glass-Evans building. On April 12 Hall County received a genuine treat on the occasion of a visit from the 355th Regi- mental Band of Camp Funston, of which Reed L. Harrison, a Hall County boy, was assistant band leader.

Early in April, 1918, publication was made of the fact that out of 2,208 men who regis .. tered on June 5, 1917, only seventy-nine had been delinquent in returning their question- aires, or appearing for examination upon call. In a few days this number was reduced to sixty-eight, a rather small percentage, con- sidering the number of transients and tem- porary residents who would register in a city

On April 27 the county council of defense held a very strenuous session at which an investigation was made of charges against a certain citizen. The result was that this party was induced to purchase $500 in Liberty Bonds and market 300 bushels of wheat he had been withholding in defiance of the re- quest of the government through the food ad- ministration. Another hearing was set for the following Saturday. Mention is made of one or two of these instances merely to direct attention to one of the disagreeable features of the war activities that some civilian organi- zation had to undertake, not only in Hall- County, but in all communities throughout the country, as a matter of precaution, and in County the burden of this task fell upon the county council of defense. That this work could be handled so quietly and expeditiously, as in a general way, it was handled, speaks well for the general patriotic response that the citizens' of the county as a whole tendered during the war period.

, On May 3 twenty-seven men departed for camp, with Oscar F. Roeser in charge. Many groups and detachments left for camps and cantonments during the nineteen months of active participation in the war, but it probably fell to the lot of this first group of men who left each county in the early part of May to be switched into camp, and hardly given time to become accustomed to camp or cantonment life, before they were moved to embarkation ports, hurried to France and used to fill in depleted or short regiments and hurried into action, all within a period of time varying from a month to six weeks of the time they left home. Instances may be found of many men enlisted and got into action as quickly, but the contingents that went early in May. from Nebraska, became a part of the 89th Division. That division eventually attained 1

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a record for participation in battles, in num- part offset for Hall County by liberal increases ber and ferocity, eclipsed by not more than a half a dozen divisions of the American army in France.

During May the home guards were meet- ing with good success on their presentation fund and managed to meet the trains that took away boys who were leaving and present them with some useful token of the departure.

May 13 the high school of Grand Island dedicated a service flag with 112 stars, and listened to addresses by Mayor Cleary, Hon.

in the pay of railroad employees. who form a noticeable percentage of the population of Grand Island.

THE LAST LAP

On September 28 the Fourth Liberty Loan drive was opened. On October 7 the Fourth Liberty Loan Special visited Grand Island and a vast concourse of people listened to ad- dresses by Ex-Senator Norris Brown, and direct appeals by an American sergeant who

DONIPHAN

C. G. Ryan and Judge Bayard H. Paine. On had sustained the loss of a limb in the St. June 2d, as a result of prior steps volun- Mihiel sector, and a British lieutenant who had been through campaigns for four years. tarily taken, the Liederkranz Society of Grand Island met, changed its constitution, dropped the German as its official language and adopted THE FOURTH REGISTRATION the American tongue for all phases of its activities.

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History of Hall County, Nebraska, Part 65

Author: Buechler, A. F. (August F.), 1869- editor Publication date: 1920 Publisher: Lincoln, Neb., Western Pub. and Engraving Co. Number of Pages: 1011

Author: Buechler, A. F. (August F.), 1869- editor
Publication date: 1920
Publisher: Lincoln, Neb., Western Pub. and Engraving Co.
Number of Pages: 1011