USA > Nebraska > Seward County > History of Seward County, Nebraska, and reminiscenses of territorial history > Part 14
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In this undertaking we had the help of sixteen young stalwart Mormons and with words of encouragement of Grandpa Imlay, a good job was done and the great train of merchandise with ninety-six great oxen landed safely on the west bank of the river. Now all was wilderness before us. Our only guide were the surveyors' stakes. We mounted the highlands just south of where the Burlington track was laid in after years, and when night overtook us we were in "L" Precinct, town 10, range one east of the sixth P. M., just a little to the east and some miles south of the present Utica. There was a boundless field of splendid grass. The day had been excessively hot, and we welcomed the shades of even ing.
A corral was formed by placing the wagons in a circle, and the cattle turned out to graze. Supper was prepared over the huge camp fire. While we were eating there were sure omens of a storm. Dark clouds were looming up in the northwest. Deep thunder tones were heard in the distance. Supper was eaten hurriedly that we might have all things in readiness for what might come. It fell to our lot to take
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a place as one of the outer pickets to guard the cattle; we went out to duty in our shirt sleeves. As dark came on a pace the heavens began to look frightful. There was peal on peal of dreadful thunder which came nearer and nearer every moment. The night was wild and drear on that lone- ly prairie. The darkness of Egypt was not a patchin to it. We were on our lonely beat perhaps from three to five hun- dred feet from the herd, when a terrific crash of thunder that was enough to scare a dead man, frightened the herd and every mother's son of them were scared at the same instant, and a stampede was on hand. and the ninety-six struck in a bee line for me. They came with all the force of a full grown cyclone. Few and short were the prayers we said and we thought not of writing these reminiscenses. We were ready to say goodbye to this old world. When fortun- ately for these reminiscenses a vivid flash of lightning came to our rescue, but oh! the ghastly sight of the demons com- ing with a thundering tread right upon us to trample us into the earth so that we would need no burial. We have always given credit to that flash of lightning and that white shirt. Possibly I ought to credit the oxen for their kind considera- tion. The oxen divided just at the right time and the ranks left me was so narrow that they almost brushed my shirt sleeves on either side. Need we tell the reader that fright effectually stopped our growth and our diminutive stature may be attributed to that night's experience.
It only took two days to get those cattle back to camp. The next morning the great level prairie was a sea of water. It was convincing proof that it did sometimes rain west of Salt creek. The cattle were found near the present city of Milford, evidently they did not go that far in search of water that night. When they were finally gotten together again we led the train to the ranch of John E. Fouse at the crossing of the Beaver at the old road and there we bade our Mormon friends adieu and turned our faces homeward. When Uncle Jake, Mr. Imlay and I got through with that Mormon train we were fully satisfied with our experience in leading trains through the wilderness and we tried it no more.
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CHAPTER XI
General advance in 1878-Improvement in city and country-Contention between U. P. and A. & N. railroads-Great mass meeting held- Election followed by an injunction -Wild excitement-Crooked work-County seal spirited away-Bonds taken out of state-In- junction made perpetual-A. & N. road swallowed up by the B. & M .- 1879 a year of prosperity-Milford bounds to the front-Staple- hurst founded-Seward is greatly stimulated-Pleasant Dale founded -Dust storms of 1880-Seward is sick-Bates murder -- A tragedy- Murder at Grover-Smallpox or itch, which ?- smallpox in "H" precinct-Patrick murder-Stormy winter -- Snow blocade-Brighter skies in 1882-Boom in 1884-The western desert vanishes-Feeding stock -- New railroad project-Jonah can't swallow the whale-Three new towns founded-Beaver Crossing comes to life- Flowing wells -Great potato field A rustling village.
A. & N. RAIL ROAD
Eighteen hundred and seventy-eight was a year of gen- eral advancement, in a quiet sort of a way. in both country and city. Many new farms were opened in all parts of the county and several new business blocks were added to the city. Norval block and also the Goehner block were erected. Crops were fairly good and people were generally prosperous. At this time the people began to feel the need
of another rail road in the county. There were two pro- jects on foot and each seemed plausable to many people. One of these projects was to hold out the proper induce- ment to the Union Pacific company to build a branch from Brainard to the Republican Valley line, now occupied by the Northwestern, to Seward and the south or southwest. This problem was championed by Claudius Jones of Seward, and was urged with much energy, and it had much to recom- mend it as it would bring the great U. P. road in direct com- petition with the Burlington system. In Seward it had many friends but in the county it did not find much favor. Negotiations were opened with the managers of the At-
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chison and Nebraska people, who proposed to build a line connecting with their road from Atchison, Kansas, to Lin- coln and Columbus, Nebraska, via. Middle Creek, Milford, Seward, Ulysses and David City to Columbus. The Milford people had been suddenly converted from their old notion of repudiating all bond propositions from "principle" and like most new converts they were most decidedly enthusias- tic. The adhérents of each proposition in the city of Se- ward was most determined. It was a subject of warm discus- sion as to which proposition should be accepted.
A great mass meeting was called in the spring of 1879 to determine which of the two schemes the people would most heartily endorse. The public square of Seward was filled with people. Hon. S. B. Galey, of Lincoln, assisted by Judge O. P. Mason, represented the A. & N. road, and Claudius Jones, of Seward, the U. P. Excitement ran high that day and there were some scenes enacted that were not very creditable to our people.
Unfortunately the person representing the U. P. inter- ests did not enjoy the full confidence of the people, and they looked at the rail road through the man, and unwisely re- fused to listen to his proposition, but hooted him down and caricatured him most scandalously, even carrying the joke so far as to bring the matter up in the Fourth of July cele- bration and representing him in a hoodlum procession as a mammoth hog.
The pressure was so very great that commissioners and all were swept along without let or hindrance, and the prop- osition in favor of the A. & N. Co. was submitted under the corporate name of Lincoln and Northwestern. The amount of bonds asked for was seventy-five thousand dollars in county and precinct bonds, divided up in a satisfactory manner between the county and C, G, J, O, P, and I pro- cincts. The propositions were carried in the county and all the six precincts by good majorities. The rail road was speedily constructed and the cars rolled up the beautiful valley to Seward early in October, when there was general rejoicing all along the line. Milford was now happy, as she was connected with the outside world in general, and with the county-seat in particular, by rail. There were enemies
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of the road steadily and persistently at work. however. We will not attempt to divine their motives. It may have been the dear people that they were interested in, or it may have been spite work. Be that as it was, an injunction suit was commenced against the issuing and delivering the county bonds, and also those of C, G, J, and O precincts, leaving I to look out for itself.
It was the undoubted right of a citizen and tax payer in the county, or any precinct thereof, to commence an in- junction suit, and have all matters thoroughly sifted in the courts as to the legality of the proposition, and also the legality of election and the returns, and it was without ques- tion the duty of all officers, having the custody of the bonds, to obey the order of the courts, and let consequences take care of themselves; but in this case there was some trickery that will hardly bear the light of day. It seems that the county clerk, Thomas Graham, was away from home, and the business of the office was left in the hands of his deputy. Perhaps it is not expedient to state all we know, yet it seems clearly proper that these historical sketches should be true, and we can hardly pass over this important matter without relating the whole truth so far as we know it.
It seems that there was an inordinate desire on the part of the deputy clerk (Ed O'Keefe) and the board of county commissioners to evade the injunction, and in the night- time these persons took the seal of the county, and slipped away to David City in Butler county, and signed and placed the seal of the county upon the bonds there, and then re- turned to Seward and made their record of their proceedings as if all had been regular. What motives prompted these gentlemen to perform the important duty of their office in Butler county, the reader may judge for himself. It is suf- ficient to say that they left the way open for censure, and accomplished nothing but a long lawsuit, in which the in- junction was made perpetual. There was talk that bribes had been used with certain parties, and that attempts were made to induce other prominent men to help along this bond scheme by large bribes. In fact, some individuals have told us that they had been approached by offers of large amounts
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if they would assist in carrying the scheme through to a suc- cessful termination.
As time rolled on, it developed that the people had been victimized, and that they had given seventy-five thousand dollars, or at least they had agreed by their votes to give that amount to another B. & M. R. R. For a few months only did the A. & N. maintain control of the road when it had passed in its checks, and we awoke to find ourselves sold, and with two B. & M. roads on our hands.
The competition given our people during the fall and winter of 1879-80 was noticeable, and a great benetit to the farmers. The markets of Seward county that winter were about the best in the state. This had the effect of stimulat- ing the business of the city, and a rapid growth was the im- mediate result. Scores of new buildings went up and all went merry as a marriage bell in the spring of 1880. But when it became known that the B. & M. had swallowed its competitor, we all heard something drop, and it hurt most fearfully. One noticeable effect was that it reduced sudden- ly the number of grain dealers from about a full dozen to two, and the competition in the grain trade of Seward be- came a thing of the past.
Seward became deathly sick, nigh unto death. This change fell like a dead weight on all interests. Unfortun- ately just at the critical moment, when level heads were much needed, the bond injunction case was inaugurated by Claudius Jones. The county clerk, Thos. Graham, was sud- denly called to his old home in the East on account of sick- ness in the family. Ed O'Keefe was his deputy left in charge. This gentleman was in close sympathy with railroad people, and so were the county commissioners, Messrs. Hul- burt, Mckay and Bates. The strong current had swept sheriff Sullivan off his feet. Popular sentiment was so very strong in favor of the company that it was exceedingly hard to withstand the pressure, and people that were favorable to the injunction proceedings were looked upon as public enemies. It was urged that the people had, by overwhelm- ing majorities, voted the bonds, and that the effort to de- feat their getting them, now that the road was built, was
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considered an insult to the good people of the county as well as a great wrong to the company.
Jones, through his attorneys, was doing his best to thwart the commissioners in their determination to sign and deliver the bonds. They were equally determined to carry out, so far as they could, the will of the people. Find- ing their every movement was closely watched by spies, (there were little games played on the part of both parties that they would hardly care to see paraded in print.) The commissioners, fearing every moment that the injunction papers would be served, authentic report has it that the de- puty clerk took the county seal one dark night and met the commissioners at David City where the bonds were signed with the intention of delivering them over to the attorneys of the company. In the meantime the injunction papers were secured and the sheriff was requested to serve the no- tice upon the Board, which he refused to do. when Hon. R. S. Norval, one of the attorneys for plaintiff, read the notice to them and warned them of the danger in store for them if they disobeyed its mandates. The commissioners were somewhat scared just then and concluded not to pass the bonds into the hands of the company, but under the advice of Attorney S. B. Galey, they determined to get the bonds far out of reach and beyond the jurisdiction of the court. So the chairman, Mr. G. F. Hulburt, jumped on a locomo- tive with the bonds and hurried to Kansas City, Missouri; and deposited them in a bank for safe keeping. When the case came up for a hearing. the learned Judge considered this next a kin to contempt, and the commissioners and the at- torneys of the rail-road here ordered to immediately place those bonds within the court's jurisdiction before they could have any chance to plead to the complaint. The bonds were brought from Kansas City and placed in a bank vault at York, Nebraska, pending the trial.
The grounds upon which the plaintiff claimed the injunc- tion was that the bond prospositions were for the Lincoln and Northwestern Rail Road Company or the Blue valley and Northwestern railroad company. The proposition in this form was submitted to the county also to C, G, J, O, and P precincts. It was yet uncertain whether the road would come
HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 173
up the valley from Crete or up middle creek from Lincoln. So they innocently got Blue valley in the proposition to catch P precinct, but in the proposition submitted to I precinct it was simply the Lincoln and Northwestern company. The court held that double-headers would not do, but that so far as I precinct was concerned that the proposition was proper and legal and that they were fully entitled to the privilege of paying their little three thousand dollars and they have en- joyed the privilege of taxing themselves through the years to pay the interest and principal. The case was appealed, but the supreme court affirmed the judgment of the court below, but inasmuch as there were seven distinct propositions, one for the county and one for each of six precincts and that the bonds were held good as against one precinct, one sev- enth part of all the costs were charged up to the Plaintiff, Claudius Jones, viz: $45.07, the whole costs in the case being $315.49.
It is proper to say that Mr. Hulburt denies that the seal was taken to Butler county or that the commissioners met there and signed the bonds, but somehow evidence was pretty plain as other people understood it that they did "all the same." Mr. Hulburt also claims that he personally saved the bonds from falling into the railroad company's hands. We don't just understand how he could dare do otherwise af- ter the injunction was served. Mr. Hulburt does not ex- plain what motives he had in riding a locomotive all the way to Kansas City with the bonds, and leaving them there out of the jurisdiction of the Nebraska courts.
It seems that the injunction was sustained by a legal technicality, but in view of the fact that it proved to be built in the interest of the B.& M. company, there were few tears shed by our people that the matter turned as it did. How- ever the railroad was a good thing for those sections of the county that had no outlet. While "I" precinct paid for the whistle yet it was worth to its people many times its cost. It has proved a blessing to Milford and the Blue valley out- side the immediate vicinity of Seward. It is questionable as to whether it was a blessing or a detriment to Seward. One thing is certain it gave us about thirty miles of road to tax. It gives many people facilities for travel and transportation
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of freight that they could not have without it. It gave Sew- ard people a double track to Lincoln and extra facilities to get there and back again and it also brings us into much closer relations with the people both north and south. It has helped to develop Seward county and that is a most important point, even if it does not afford any competition in business. It caused the building two neat little towns, viz: Pleasant Dale and Staplehurst and gives a shipping station at Ruby and it infused such new life into Milford that it is one of the best towns of its size in the state. It seems a little rough on "I" precinct that she is called upon to pay all the bonds for the thirty miles of road that benefits so many other localities equally with herself.
The year 1879 was a prosperous one. The building of thirty miles of new railroad gave an impetus to business and in city and county things moved. The corn crop was excel- lent, and brought a fair price. Farmers were prosperous, and made valuable improvements. The city improved under the stimulus of a new road and the promise of better freight rates. Milford sprang forward with a bound, being awakened from her stupor by the sound of the locomotive whistle The new town of Staplehurst was founded and also Pleasant Dale, and all was going merry as a marriage bell until the spring of 1880, when calamities came thick and fast upon us. The winter had been a dry one and the earth had be- come a bed of dust. The freezing and thawing of the fields without any moisture had made it into a vast bed of loose dust, and as the wind sometimes blows in the spring time in Nebraska this proved a favorable time to make a reputation.
Most of the spring wheat had been sown (up to this time spring wheat was our most staple production) when the wind began to blow a gale from the north and it kept the atmosphere black with fine dust for some days. It became so terrific that man or beast could hardly withstand it. We were reminded of the stories of the sand storms of the desert. The fine dust found a way into the best of the houses, so that they became almost untenable and would have been de- serted if the poor distracted inmates had known where to go, but they just had to grin and bear it. There was no escape. The dust as fine as powder was piled up along hedge rows
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and other obstructions like great snow drifts. Some places it was from three to four feet high, (some say drifts were five feet high).
Thousands of bushels of sown wheat went south, the Lord only knows how far, without bills of lading attached. Many places the fields that had been plowed were stripped of the soil as deep as it had been plowed. This condition did not augur well for the wheat crop. The spring and summer was dry, and all crops were short. Just now while our people were laboring under the fearful forebodings of drouth the news came to us that the Lincoln and Northwestern railroad had thrown up the sponge and had passed into the hands of the B. & M. Company. This made Seward sick. She had so much doted on competition in freights. Now her hopes were blasted and she was clothed in sackcloth and rolling in the dust. The Windsor house had been commenced before the depression had fairly set in and was finished during the year, but stood idle a solid year before parties could be in- duced to open it. All business languished, farm lands were a drug in the market and the only sales were made by the sheriff.
Mechanics and labors deserted the city and there were more idle houses than in any time of her history. Under the stimulus of a railroad for which the people in the north and south parts of the county that had waited so long kept up their courage pretty well and did not suffer as did Seward. Poor Seward had hoped for so much and had got let down so hard that for a time she was dazed and almost ready to give up the ghost. During these financial troubles we were doomed to other serious experience. For the third time our community was startled by the news of a murder. This time it was of the nature of a bloody tragedy. It is not a pleasant duty for a historian to relate such outrageous horrors yet it appears to be his duty. About six miles north and east of Seward at what was known as the Bates school house there was a protracted meeting being held, and at this meeting was the scene of one of the most desperate tragedies that has blackened the pages of Nebraska history. In the month of March 1880, in "B" precinct just south of the present village of Bee a congregation of the citizens was gathered for the
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purpose of worship. There were a number of young men in the neighborhood that had not received the proper training, else they had forgotten that one of the chief corner stones of our government is that every individual shall have the right to worship God according to the dictates of his own con- science and that no man may molest or make them afraid or in any way interfere with these sacred rights. These young- sters had on several occasions molested these meetings and seemed incorrigible in their efforts to break up the meetings and, as the sequel proves, they were not met by the church people in that Christian spirit, so ably set forth by the great apostle where he warned his people that the better way was to "overcome evil with good" If this mandate had been fol- lowed to the letter on that dreadful night instead of the hor- rid tragedy some good might have been accomplished.
The row had been fully contempted by both the roughs and the church people. The rowdies went fully armed and intent on mischief. It was fully expected that there would be trouble, and the church people prepared themselves in the wrong way to defend their rights, they provided themselves clubs and one at least Wm. Bates, a most worthy and re- spectable citizen, so far forgot himself as to carry a revolver. There was little doubt, but the church people had endured much by the wreckless fellows coming there and disturbing the meetings, but they greatly erred in judgment in trying to take the law into their own hands. There was no proper excuse for carrying clubs or revolvers into church at that late day in our land of law. The roughs came as was ex- pected, and were ready and anxious to get into trouble and when people are looking for trouble they can usually find it. The belligerent feelings soon found vent in hot words which were quickly followed by blows. It is not definitely known who or which party struck the first blow. Soon revolvers were brought into play and carnage began in earnest. The scene was revolting in the extreme resulting in the killing outright of William Bates that had always been considered a most excellent citizen. Hillard Thomas was so severely wounded that he died of his injuries. James Thomas re- ceived a serious flesh wound in the hip. Israel Bates had a flesh wound on the thigh and Luther Bates got a severe
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cut on the head with a spade or shovel. It seems that the Bates family and the Thomas family had had personal trouble for some time previous, but it is not known who may have been most to blame, but in this horrible tragedy it is evident that both parties were in a degree to blame.
As before stated the Bates were people of good repute, one of them had been a County Commissioner. They were zealous church members, but they had the one weakness of letting rash tempers get the better of them and were quick to resent an insult or injury; rather too much so for followers of Him who taught us to do good to those who despitefully use us. They did wrong in carrying clubs or revolvers into a religious meeting in our land of law and order. They had no right to do it. It was unlawful, un-Christian and unneces- sary. If the unruly persons had shown themselves incorig- able so that kind words and Christian courtesy could not reach their case it would have been easy to obtain the help of peace officers. Of the Thomas family we know personal- ly, but little, but we can make no possible excuse for any party that will go into a religious meeting for the purpose of disturbing it. Personal enmity of certain members of the congregation is no valid excuse for such outlawry and how- ever much the Bates family may have erred in their rash- ness, still it must be the just judgment of an unprejudiced world that the Thomas family and their abettors were the cause of this fearful catastrophy.
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