The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1890-01-17

"Well done, good and faithful servant"
the REGISTER is sure that 1t but voices
the sentiment of all law abiding citi-
Gems of the county in speaking word
of special praise In honor Of ex.sheriff,
d. d. Britton. We doubt If there has
been any successive three years in the
history of Allen county when the pub
lie welfare so imperatively required an
honest, active, level-headed intelligent
and courageous sheriff as the past
three. And Mr.. Britton has nobly met
all there requirements. OF the thou
sands of dollars that has passed
through his hands not one cent has
gone astray. His activity In the line
Of duty has stopped at no sacrifice Of
personal ease or inconvenience. In the
exercise of the large discretionary
powers given him he has acted always
with singular good sense. Aud he has
been absolutely fearless. From almost
the first day he entered his Office he
has been threatened with personal
violence II he die certain things that
lay In the line of his duty. But he
always did them. Warned time and
again, by friend as well as foe. that his
life was In danger, he has yet gone
where duty called him without hesita-
ton and without fear. Never a writ
has been put in his hands that he did
not serve it if it was within the power
of man to serve it. Never any order
given him that he did not execute.
And through it all be has borne HIM
self like the courteous, unassu ming,
manly gentleman that he lie. He re.
turns in the spring to the farm from
which the solicitations of friends uu-
willingly brought him three years ago,
and he should carry with him thither
the heartfelt thanks of every citizen
of Allen county who loves peace and
law and order.
The farther our marble find Is inves-
tigated the more valuable it appears TO
be and the more imperative becomes
the duty lola owes to herself to devel-
op:the quarry and test its worth. Mr..
Bramley has been prospecting all
around ON his own account and the
more he sees the more enthusiastic he
becomes. In regard to the value Of
the stone he says that he would greatly
prefer 1t to the Georgia marble, which
costs, laid down here, eight dollars q
cubic foot. And for many purposes he
claims it to be superior to the italian
marble which costs $40 a cubic foot,
laid down here. The only question re-
naming to be solved is; Is the stone
deposited In sufficiently large solid
blocks, without faults or seems? The
only way to answer this Question is to
open quarry. 1t has been discover
cred that the stone comes within two
or three fee. Of the surface Oh the prop
erty owned by Mr.. Kindblade, just
south Of town, SO that hundred feet or
30 could be stripped at slight expense.
Mr.. Bramley estimates that the entire
cost of opening the quarry and demon
strating beyond cavil whether the find
is valuable one or not, would not ex-
coed $500. Cannot this money be rails.
ed at once and the work begun? If
this stone Is as valuable as it appears
to be and as experts tell us it is, it is
worth more to lola than any discovery
that has ever been made here. Surely
we can afford to spend $500 or $500 to
test it. 1t occurs to us that this is a
matter in which the city council might
properly take the lead. since it concerns
the interests of the whole town. We
would suggest at least that they invite
the business men to attend their next
meeting so that the matter may be
thoroughly discussed. We ought to
be able to raise $500 with 30 flattering
a prospect before us of thereby devel-
oping an industry that shall be a
source of wealth for all time to come.
At eleven O'Clock on Wednesday
night, Mr.. Ernest Brown on his way
home discovered the house occupied
by Mr. c. Raymond, in the south east
part of town to be on fire. He inmedi.
ately gave the alarm and in q short
time large crowd had gathered. 1t
was at once seen that it would be i'm
possible to save the house, SO those on
the ground exerted themselves to save
as much of the furniture as possible.
By the time the contents Of the front
room had been carried into the street
the flames had made such Roadway
that it was impossible to again enter
the building and there was nothing 10
do but to stand helplessly by and
watch it burn. The house was on the
southwest corner Of the block and for.
tunately the wind was blowing from
the north. If the wind had been in the
other direction the house occupied by
Mr.. Joseph Swearinger would un.
doubtedly have been destroyed. AS II
was sparks were blown across the
street to the roof of Judge Christy's
house which caught fire several times
but was promptly extinguished In
regard to the origin of the fire, it seems
that the family had all attended
church early in the evening, after
which they had returned home, re.
nlaniahed the fire and then 9nna down