Omaha daily bee., 1883-02-15
CITY AND COUNTY.
Their Alleged History in the
Form OF a Ten DOllir
Book.
The Good and Bad Streake
Found Between the Lids.

IL Co., n is being distributed mere
to subscribers, not all of whom seem
as ready to take the book and pay the
$40 asked for it, as they were to sub
scribe for 1t on the promise of what It
was to be, IS pictured by glib .tongued
%canvassers.
The volume as 1t appears in fact
does not seem co meet the expectations
Of some of the subscribers either In
quantity or quality. Perhaps they
expected too much. The book In fact
is of royal octave sIze, containing
GAL pages, of which 1854 are given TO
the history of this city and county and
277 pages to biographical sketches.
The book seems to be well
bound, the paper good, and the
typographical appearance quite favor
able. Even at a glance m finds some
typographical errors which ought not
to be found in q work supposed to BE-
go carefully prepared, the words, Sat
torner" instead Of "attorney,"
"stanch, " "aiso" for "also," "ex6n
sively, "sings" for "signS," etc. Ia
many places matters Of an entirely
different nature are run together in
the same paragraph, giving u gentle
start to the innocent reader, who
without the slightest warning finds an
account OF DR.. Jeffris' lottery scheme
running into a statement of the pub
lie schools, and the statement of the
action taken for the relief of sufferers
by the Chicago fire closing with an
obituary notice of q worthy citizen.
There surely cannot be the excus
of hasty preparation in a work of this
kind.
The illustrations In this work ara
quite good, but they are not very nu-
merous. There are portraits of N. j.
Bond, p. 7. Bresee, A. S. Bryant, j.
P. Cassidy, e Clayton, b. b. Clay.
ton, G M, Dodge, j, A. Jackson,
John Keller, Joseph Kootts, DR.. Ma.
crse, and George F. Wright, while
there is but one city building and one
country dwelling given a place. Only
twelve men In the whole county, and
two buildings worthy of being shown
up! Alas for Pottawattamie county!
A glance through the history proper
shows that much interesting reading
matter and many valuable facts have
been thus gathered and placed in per.
manent form. The history of this city
has been written by Colonel j. III.
Keatley, and the chapter penned by
him seem worthy of much praise, the
material having been well eelectedand
well handled. The colonel is q grace
full writer, and he has given the work
a number Of very interesting chapters.
Az already stated, a large portion of
the book Is devoted to Geographical
sketches"--so called. Like most works
of the kind, this portion of the book
impresses one as consisting of a ness
of praise and advertisements for pat.
rons of the book, without regard to
the prominence or record of the per-
sons 40 selected. There are some
biographies which seem Justly entitled
to q place in a $40 book of this dig.
nifty and Importance, but many which
are not. In this volume there la one
noticeable omission of many OF the
really prominent men and old s~sttlers
of the city and county, while many
given space whose names are quite I'M
heard of outside of a limited circle Of
business and friendship.
There are many ludicrous features
in the biographical portion of. the
work. OF one mau 1t records the
startling fact that he keeps n fine
stock of furniture, crockery and glass.
ware, and 'his family are all at home"
Biographical sketches are given of a
bank and of several grocery stores,
millinery shops, livery stables, etc.
OF N doctor it is stated that, she
Is now permanently located in Council
Bluffs, with the intention OF going to
Omaea in course of one year to make
that his headquarters.
One attorney is given the credit of
being at present ''editor.in. chief of
The Daily Monitor, a republican or
gan recently founded In Council
Bluffs" What the "Monitor" Is, or
where or how 1t ever came into life, no
one here Is able to say. Such a paper
being a myth.
Ono grocery house is given a pecul.
lar biographical sketch. The house
has since failed. Perhaps tho thought
of such q sketch killed 1t. Perhaps
the business policy indicated In the
| aketch did tho wOrk II raads GU
now carries about So, 900 worth OF
stock, and from present prospects his
annual sales for the present year will
amount to about $1,000, 900. He en-.
pioys three men in his establishment,
and keeps nine men on the road, ano
expects soon to increase his force OF
travelling men,"
Such are the samples cleaned by 8
hasty glance at this $40 book, anG
many more could be culled by leisure
With the exception of the few chap
ters by Col. Keatley the book will
probably dlsappoint those who have
expected much of this work.
1t Is we'll that 30 much valuable his
torical matter has been preserved In
|, book form, but 1t Ia to be regretted
that there was not more and bette,
material to fill its pages. 1t is also t.
be regretted that 80 much of the bool
is taken up with "slush," and that 8,
many pages bear the marks Of havip,
! been devoted to puid advertisements
masquerading in the garb of history