USA > South Dakota > Who's who in South Dakota, Volume II > Part 7
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Reverting to the meeting of Thielman and Hackett, at Swan Lake, on the latter's return trip from Sioux Falls, Hackett told Thielman that he did not have the money with which to buy the outfit; that his entire assets were a note of $250, given him by Taylor Brothers, of Yankton, for unpaid salary. Thielman promised to back him.
However, Hackett returned to Yankton and then went to Vermillion to bid good-bye to Bower, Burdick, and to that prince of chivalrous business men, D. M. Inman, who at the time of his sudden death a few months since, was president of the First National Bank of Vermillion, and a man whose noble
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traits, business sagacity and commercial in- stinct made him worthy to be president of any institution in our land. Inman urged Hackett to buy the "Vermillion Republican." The price seemed too high. Hackett told In- man of the Swan Lake proposition. Right then and there a Johnathan and David friendship sprang up between them.
"You're an honest young fellow," said Inman, "and the west holds more opportuni- ties for you than does the east. Go ahead and buy the plant. I'll supply the money and take for it a plain note at a low rate of interest. This is going to be a great country some day and I am anxious to see it built up with fellows like yourself."
Hackett needed $200. Inman advanced it and took Hackett's note payable in two years. Hackett rushed across the country to Swan Lake, bought the paper on October 10th; got out the first edition on October 15th and every succeeding edition to date. He boarded out some of his advertising ac- counts, apprenticed a young fellow to help him, got some badly needed new clothes, had his picture taken with the "New Era" hang- ing across his breast; lived frugally, and in eight months paid off his note to Inman- long before it was due; moved his printing plant to Parker in 1879; made frequent
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trips to Finlay, and in October, 1880, tri- umphed in one of the neatest and truest love matches ever completed within the state.
A SUCCESSFUL
Editor Hackett prospered greatly at Parker. Today he owns two fine farms in Turner county and several business blocks in the city of Parker. He has but recently moved his printing plant and the post-office into an elegant, large, new, modern building of his own. He has demonstrated, as did his contemporaries-Willey at Vermillion, Day at Sioux Falls, Bonham at Deadwood, Gossage at Rapid City, Stanley at Hot Springs, Longstaff at Huron and McLeod at Aberdeen, that there is money to be made in the printing business if it is conducted right.
Another very pertinent and noticeable thing about all of these editors, and several others not mentioned, is that they have kept out of politics quite largely and attended to business ; that is, they have not been chronic office seekers themselves.
Mr. Hackett was appointed chief en- rolling clerk of the first state legislature in 1889-90; was assistant secretary of the sec- ond state senate (these appointive positions
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pay) ; has served as clerk of the Courts in Turner county; is a Shriner, a Knight Templar, an Odd Fellow, a Mason and an A. O. U. W.
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JOY M. HACKLER
ATE JACK-RABBITS AND CUCUMBERS
The names of "Hackler" and "Rosebud" are synonymous. It took Joy Hackler, of the Gregory National bank, to develop the Rose- bud reservation, and it took the Rosebud to develop Joy Hackler. You can't separate them without spoiling both. Still, Joy is no "hackler" about rosebuds. While he en-
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"Joy" (s) them, yet sand-cherries are his choice.
Let's not hackle about this proposition, but hit the nail right square on the head at once. Joy Hackler was born five miles from Nebraska City, Nebraska, June 14, 1877. There were June rosebuds everywhere, but Joy found more "joy" among the sand- cherries on the sand dunes and sandy plains of Nebraska. At six years of age, his par- ents removed with him to Keyapha county, Nebraska. They were very poor. Here Joy and the other children attended rural school, and lived on sand-cherries and buttermilk. This diet made them poddy, or paunchy, as the typical westerner would say. Their neighbors were equally poor. Their children also washed down their sand-cherries with buttermilk. One of these children finally swelled up and died. The local doctor said its death was caused by the berries and that they were poison. Word was sent over the whole community not to eat any more of them. The Hacklers disobeyed. However, for a winter diet their food varied, and they lived mostly on jack-rabbits and cucumbers. The acid in the vinegar on the cucumbers killed the wild taste of the rabbit meat and the Hacklers lived on this diet for several
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months at a time, without even getting the scurvy.
However, it is from just such homes as these that the west is developing her strongest and her ablest men. The poverty of boyhood is readily superceded by the riches of manhood, and the transition is not one-tenth so much luck as it is adaptability of a man to his environment. Such a man is Joy M. Hackler. We are proud of him.
At twelve years of age, his parents re- moved with him to Springview, Nebraska, where the lad for a few years had the advan- tage of town school. He completed the grades and spent one year in the high school. This constituted his scholastic preparation for life.
However, he had gotten along far enough in his studies, so that he passed a teachers' examination in 1894 and secured a third grade certificate. On this he taught one term, for which service truly rendered,
salary of he received the magnificent
$18 per month. Out of this he paid his board and other expenses. They didn't "live around" in those days like they used to away back in the hoosier days of Indiana and the early years of Illinois.
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·COMES TO DAKOTA
In December, 1904, when the Rosebud was opened for settlement, Mr. Hackler came to Dakota and organized at Gregory the Gregory State bank, which he opened for business January 1, following. The bank had a capital of $5,000. In 1907, he increased the capital to $25,000; and in 1909, to $50,000 and made it a national bank. This institution was promptly made a United States depository. On January 22, 1913, the Corn Belt Bank and Trust company was con- solidated with it-the consolidated institu- tion retaining the name of the Gregory bank. So much for the financial achieve- ments of a self-made lad who grew up on the sand hills of Nebraska, but who has helped to develop Dakota !
MARRIES
Mr. Hackler was married on July 29, 1903-about a year and a half before he came to Dakota-to Miss Nellie Tissue, of Springview, Nebraska. She was deputy county treasurer at Springview, and as such she had acquired a practical business educa- tion. Such girls make the best mothers on earth. Hackler chose wisely. They are to- day the proud parents of a seven-year-old boy named Victor, and he bids mighty well to be a "victor" like his dad.
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JOY M. HACKLER
PUBLIC SPEAKER
Peculiarly enough, Mr. Hackler, like O. L. Branson, president of the First National Bank at Mitchell, and like Lieutenant- Governor E. L. Abel, president of the City National Bank of Huron, is a combination of business sagacity and literary instinct. He is one of the happiest after-dinner speakers in the state. Last year, while Mr. Roosevelt was prominent before the public eye, Mr. Hackler was called upon to respond to a toast at a bankers' convention held in Dallas, this state. It was such an original speech and such a witty "take off," that we have decided to use a portion of it here. The adaptation of his keen thrusts will at once be seen by all who last year were regular readers of the newspapers :
"At a banquet before the last one I at- tended, I responded to a toast, or rather I attempted to respond and immediately after- wards I declared, and made the statement that 'Under no circumstances would I again accept an invitation to speak at a banquet.' A short time after this announcement I at- tended another banquet and was called upon for a talk and referred then to my prevoius announcement and said, 'I have not changed and shall not change that decision thus an- nounced.'
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"Last evening I was urgently requested by the board of seven little governors or managers of this group to respond to the toast 'Our Association and its Social Side.' It was pointed out to me and I was clearly shown that my speech at the banquet was absolutely necessary to save the association from the domination of the bosses. I thus decided to accept the invitation and shall ad- here to that decision until my speech is com- pleted or until I am ejected from the hall.
"My 'hat is now in the ring,' and in view of this very, very urgent request of the seven little governors or managers and the com- mon bankers behind them I'm in the fight to the finish and will not stand for any crooked manipulation by the bosses.
"I will perhaps be criticized for again entering the ring since I had announced that I would not again do so, but I meant that I would not speak at two consecutive ban- quets.
"I expect to hit straight from the shoulder and will likely put you over the ropes; I may also hit below the belt, but I trust you will not squeal as you are not, or should not be, that species of animal; al- though I have heard of bankers being called names that would indicate there was some squeal in them.
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"I assume that there are no crooked bankers or politicians at the banquet board tonight as I should certainly have declined to sit with them had I known them to be such. It makes no difference to me whether or not the charge of crookedness had been proven, the charge itself is sufficient to war- rant me in saying that he or they 'are un- desirable citizens' and should be forthwith ejected.
"I typify and am the embodiment of the progressive banker, and it so happens that I am the only man who can represent you in the role of the 'Social and Moral Ethics of Banking. I am therefore fortunately and peculiarly adapted to the place on the pro- gram assigned me of bringing up the rear, and bringing in the sheaves, (when the sheaves constitute hot air and little thought) .
"I want it understood that I am against the bosses when they are against me and am with them when they are going my way. I have today seen committees appointed with- out the aid or consent of myself, although as a member of one committee, I could not con- trol it and 'My Policies' were not adopted in their entirety, and right here I wish to say that hereafter I propose to take my case to the common bankers and do away with the high handed methods that have prevailed in
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all bankers conventions since there were banks, and put a stop to the work of such consummate bosses as E. A. Jackson, W. S. Ayers, C. E. Burnham, et al.
"I am in favor of the recall in all its ramifications. I am in favor of not only recalling the decision, but the banker him- self who loans money for less than 12 per cent and pays higher than 6 per cent on time deposits. I am also in favor of invoking the recall where the bankers organization is dominated by the bosses and does not follow 'my policies.'
"I am opposed to arbitration and peace treaties, as they might interfere with my fighting qualities; for how would I have had a great reputation had it not been for my memorable fighting record up a certain hill in a certain southern island? I am also against arbitration, on the theory that it might interfere with my local Monroe doc- trine which is this: 'There shall be no in- fringement on our territory, nor the estab- lishment of any outside or foreign bank or banker on Rosebud soil.' And I shall fight to the last ditch to maintain that doctrine so long established and adhered to by our fore- fathers and early bankers.
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"I am indeed sorry that I cannot ad- dress you from the rear end of a special train fully equipped with everything that Har- vester and Steel Trust Money can buy. I am sorry that I can not show my teeth to better advantage, take my cowboy hat in my hand and pound it over the railing of the car, cling to the rail with the other hand and shout to the tumultuous and appreciative throng 'Back to the common people,' for I am sure I would create unbounded as well as unbalanced enthusiasm. But I must abide : by the arrangements as they have been made and I trust that the next time I am inflicted upon your good nature I will be running the executive branch of the government of the South Dakota Bankers Group No. Eleven, where my word and 'My policies' will be law, absolutely law."
(Strangely, and yet naturally, enough, Mr. Hackler, at the next session of the bank- ers in "group eleven," was elected president.)
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REV. CHARLES BADGER CLARK, D. D. THE PRAYING CHAPLAIN
Dr. and Mrs. C. B. Clark were sitting in the parlor of their cozy Deadwood home, reading. Presently, Mrs. Clark looked up and said: "I see they are going to have a chaplain at the new national sanitarium for old soldiers, in Hot Springs. I wonder if it
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would be possible for you to secure the ap- pointment."
Dr. Clark, looking up, meditatingly, re- plied : "It would be a nice position, I pre- sume. But, in a measure, the appointment will be a political one. I suspect that Con- gressman Martin will control it." (Martin was one of Dr. Clark's church members at Deadwood).
"Well, it's worth trying for, isn't it?" responded Mrs. Clark.
A letter was promptly dispatched to the active, loyal Martin. He, in turn, sent one with equal promptness to the board of con- trol. Said he : "All I want in the way of ap- pointments in the sanitarium at Hot Springs, are the chaplain and the quartermaster." His request was immediately granted; and the Reverend Dr. C. B. Clark was promptly appointed chaplain of Battle Mountain Sanitarium.
This was back in 1907, and he still holds down the job-to the satisfaction of the management and the hundreds of soldiers and sailors admitted to the institution. In fact, it would have been quite impossible to have gotten a better man for the place. Mrs. Clark's suggestion has found suitable re- ward.
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REV. CHARLES BADGER CLARK
Dr. Clark was born at Saquoit, Oneida county, New York, December 29, 1839. He came west with his parents in 1857 and entered college in Mount Pleasant, Iowa.
· At the breaking out of the Civil War he enlisted in the 25th Iowa Volunteer In- fantry and after serving one year was wounded in the first attack on Vicksburg and at the same time lost the hearing of his right ear by the concussion of heavy artillery. He lay in the hospital until discharged for dis- ability from his wound. On his return to Mount Pleasant he re-entered college, but his health had been so shattered by army service that he was obliged to give up the completion of his university course.
He entered the ministry of the Metho- dist Episcopal church in 1864 and became a member of the Iowa conference, where he completed the four years' study course pre- scribed by the church. His first appointment in southern Iowa contained twelve preaching places, so far apart that in order to encom- pass the circuit he rode one hundred miles and regularly preached three times each Sunday. The outdoor life was beneficial to his health and from the very first his minis- try met with success. The "boy preacher," as he was generally called, succeeded in ad- ding a hundred and fifty people to the mem-
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bership of his circuit in his first year, and he so enlarged the work that the conference divided his circuit, giving to him what was known as the Cincinnati division and the brick church. The next year was wonder- fully fruitful in his endeavors, and two hun- dred and fifty people were brought into the church.
Feeling well established in his life work, he went back to Mount Pleasant and married Miss Mary Cleaver, who proved to be, in the highest sense, a helpmeet, not only in the home but in the work of the church. After being ordained as deacon and elder he was sent to the larger stations of the conference, filling the pulpits of Pella, Newton, Oska- loosa, Burlington and Ottumwa. At the last place, after building a large church, costing $35,000, his nerve force being exhausted by nineteen years of strenuous and unbroken service his physician peremptorily ordered a change of climate and occupation.
In 1883 he moved, with his wife and children, to South Dakota and settled on a homestead near Plankinton. The freedom and wholesome outdoor life of the farm re- stored his health and he was very happy in his new situation, but the authorities of his church soon "found him out" and he was persuaded to resume his life work at the end
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of two years of farming, taking the pastor- ate of the First M. E. church at Mitchell. After two years here he served a full term of six years as Presiding Elder of the Mitchell District and enjoyed the love and fellowship of the twenty-two preachers under his charge. During his years at Mitchell he was particularly happy in his relation to the then newly-established Dakota university, and he was one of the first trustees of that institution. It was as a representative of this college that his gifted son, Fred (de- ceased), won the state oratorical contest at the age of seventeen, while still in the pre- paratory department.
At the end of his presiding eldership he was called to the pastorate at Huron, where he spent five years and completed the term of his labors in the "East-of-the-River" country. These were all glorious years in the youthful days of the new state and Doctor Clark often recalls them with deep pleasure.
By an unmistakable call of Providence he became the pastor of the First M. E. church in Deadwood in 1897 and moved to the Black Hills. He served this station four years and was then appointed superinten- dent of the Black Hills M. E. Mission, which he held for the regular term of six years. During his first year in Deadwood he lost
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his wife, the devoted mother of his four children, two of whom had preceded her to the other home. Three years later he mar- ried Miss R. Anna Morris, of Cleveland, Ohio, who has proven a most worthy com- panion and assistant in his work.
During forty-nine years of strenuous service for his church, Dr. Clark has re- ceived over two thousand persons into the church fellowship; and he has officiated in hundreds of marriages, funerals, and other occasions of joy or sorrow, close to the hearts of thousands, both in and out of the church. August, 1914, marked the golden anniversary of his entry into the ministry. While Dr. Clark has a long past to look back upon he is by no means ready to stop growing mentally, and the present has no more interested spectator then he. He has fond memories of the "good old times" but is of the declared opinion that the new times are as good or better. He often quotes
" 'Tis an age on ages turning, To be living is sublime,"
Brownings lines,
"God's in His heaven, All's right with the world,"
which are favorites of his, come near ex- pressing his optimistic faith in the present and the future. "The voice of the church of Christ in these days," he says, "is as the
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voice of many waters. One mighty impulse pervades the Christian nations and it is en- circling the globe with the message that Jesus saves."
Dr. Clark's interest and influence have always been wider than his own town or his own church. In 1892 and 1896 he was sent as a delegate from the Dakota conference to the great general conference of his church.
In 1897 he was elected department com- mander of the G. A. R. of this state, and has lectured in dozens of conventions and chau- tauquas. He has always taken an earnest interest in politics, and in 1900 he nominated E. W. Martin for congress the first time at the state republican convention in Sioux Falls.
Probably the main elements of success in Dr. Clark's career have been his magnetic eloquence as a speaker and his no less mag- netic kindliness of heart. He is and always has been a brotherly man, not only to his fellow Methodists and fellow Christians but to every human creature whom he meets. From the tenderness and inspiration of his public prayers he is sometimes called the "Praying Chaplain." He is now seventy- five years old, and is yet in remarkably good health. In his present position he com-
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bines his devoted Christian life with his ar- dent patriotism, and serves the church and the country, both of which have honored him, and both of which he has loved and honored, throughout his long life.
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W. A. MORRIS
OUR CITIZEN SOLDIER
"Whom shall I appoint adjutant gen- eral" asked Governor Byrne of Representa- tive W. A. Morris of Redfield, whom he had summoned to his executive chamber for con- sultation.
"I really don't know," replied Mr. Mor- ris, "just how you will settle that dispute."
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"Well, sir," said Governor Byrne, "I have been thinking of appointing you."
"Appointing me!" ejaculated Morris.
"Yes; you !" declared the governor. And the appointment was promptly made.
It was this way: Mr. Morris as the re- elected house member from Spink county, was a candidate for speaker of our last legis- lature. Dean Thomas Sterling of his home city was a candidate for the United States senate. Many of those who were backing Mr. Morris for speaker were opposing Mr. Sterling for the senate. Noses were counted; it was ascertained that Mr. Morris, by a collusion of democrats and republicans, had enough votes to be elected. It was at this critical moment that his warmest supporters put him on the mat and asked him whom he intended to favor for the United States senate, if they "put him over" as speaker. . Mr. Morris had two cards to play : one was politics; the other, loyalty to a friend. If he had chosen to play his political cards, he could have been elected. On the other hand, he had studied law under Dean Ster- ling. They had also been law partners, and they were, in a measure, fellow townsmen. Morris said, "I'm going to stand by Ster- ling." That settled it! Morris was prompt- ly defeated. But "the administration," of
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which Dean Sterling was a component part, decided that Mr. Morris, because of this sacrifice, must be "taken care of," and he : was; hence, his appointment to the adjutant generalship.
But, from the standpoint of efficiency, the appointment was wisely placed. It doesn't take a man versed in military tech- nique to be a competent adjutant general. If a man has this knowledge, it is, of course, an asset, but it is not an indispensable nec- essity. This is abundantly demonstrated by the secretary of war and the secretary of the navy. Neither of them know the man-
. ual of arms. They are selected for their judgment, their probity and their business sagacity. However, General Morris was not without military experience. He had for- merly served in the Wisconsin militia, and he was captain of the Redfield company, S. D. N. G., for two years. In addition there- to, he possessed the poise, the tact and the business instinct necessary to handle the work most successfully. So that, aside from politics, the appointment was well placed. The past four months have already attested this.
His promotion of Majors Wales and Hazle to colonel and lieutenant-colonel, re- spectively, was a master stroke of military
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genius. There are in the state enough com- petent Spanish war veterans to officer the entire regiment, but more particularly to complete the complement above the line of- ficers. On this basis-merit, instead of poli- tics-General Morris started out well. His military school called at Redfield, the same year of his appointment, showed his tact and his determination to make the regiment a twentieth century force.
General Morris was born on a farm south of Mt. Carroll, Illinois, December 13, 1864. He spent his boyhood on the farm, working hard during the summer months, and attending country school during the winter. Finally, he entered the Northern Illinois college at Fulton, Ill., and took his law course, graduating with the class of 1884, while yet but twenty years of age.
After graduation, he engaged in the mercantile business at Fulton. Later he re- moved to Darlington, Wis., where he con- tinued the mercantile business for awhile. In the fall of 1888, he came to Dakota; set- tled at Doland where he was elected principal of schools; was admitted to the state bar the following June, worked in Dean Ster- ling's law office during vacation, but con- tinued his school work at Doland on through the second year until January 1, 1890, when
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