The Topeka state journal., 1901-02-18
Acts as Secretary For the
Strenuous Joint Smasher.
NOW LIVES AT AHOTEL
Quit Staying at the Home in
Medicine Lodge.
Mrs. Nation Is a Good Cook and
Loves FloWering Plants.

ploits when she was a school girl in Ken
lucky are being received by her neigh
bors. Mr.. Nation Is overwhelmed with
correspondence. From so to 200 letters
are received by him every day asking
all manner OF questions about his wife.
All the letters that come to Mrs. Ma
tion and others associated with her are
forwarded TO Mr.. Nation for reply. All
manner of questions are being asked and
a fresh batch of newspaper stories tell
ing how as a school girl u years of age
in Woodford county, Kentucky, she or
ganized the other school children into a
regiment and painted their faces with
pokeberTies has stimulated public curl
oslty.
Since Mrs. Nation smashed the saloon
in the Carey house at Wichita and de-
cided to exterminate all the other joints
in the state the Nation household has
abandoned house keeping. Mr.. Nation
has rented his home and is boarding at
a hotel. His life at the age of three
score years anc ten is being devoted to
telling what manner of woman Mrs. Ma
ton is.
Before she began her career of joint
smashing Mrs. Nation had read the
knew more about the Bible tIlan any
other person in the county. That is why
she is 50 bright at repartee. Whenever
anybody asks a question she can tell
D41n WndL the LORD SAID upon occasion.
Mr.. Nation insists that his wife is a
good cook. TIE neighbors bear corrob-
orative testimony. The modest cottage
owned by the Nations was always in
perfect order before Mrs Nation began
to create disorder in the state. Mrs.
Nation loved horses as ardently as any
other Kentuckian. She was fond of
HOWerS and plants and had them in
abundance. She had fruits Of all de-
scription and fairly dotted on cats. Mr..
Nation liked them. too, but the stren-
uous life now being led by the family
has forced a separation from all these
things
Mr.. Nation has four children by a
former wife. Two of his children are
living in Texas and two in Ohio. Mr..
Nation although a lawyer, has not in
recent years been physically able to ac-
lively engage in the practice Mrs Ma
ton had a license to practice medicine
as an osteopath and was quite success /
full She made enough money to keep
the family going, and rumor has it that
her funds are sufficient to enable her to |
devote the remainder of her life to joint I
smashing.
Before she became famous as a joint /
snaasher Mrs. Nation had acquired a |
local reputation for interfering in other |
peoples business She never tried to /
run her neigh hbors' domestic affairs, but |
she did not hesitate to inform men who /
smoked that they were indulging in a I
filthy habit Before she smashed any |
local joints she demonstrated with the I
jointists Before she was called a cru
sader the people called her a crank /
Medicine Lodge was inclined TO regard /
her as a nuisance. But today Medicine /
Lodge is proud of Mrs. Nation. She has
dwarfed both Jerry Simpson and Ches-
ter l. Long as public characters. The /
temperance element in Medicine Lodge 1
now refers to her as THE Women Of the
Hour Those a home who formerly T
called her a crank are now engaged in
recalling incidents which illustrate her
wit and determination.
Mrs. Nation horn in the Ken
tucky blue grass region. Her father, |
George Moore. owned, during her girl +
hood, one of the hands0nest homesteads
in that region, famous for its country
places 1t is located only three and one
half miles from Versailles and IS sur
rounded by homes famous throughout
the United States Among those Of the
greatest repute are WOODBURY. y wiley
place" and the home where Senator J.
c. s. Blackburn was born. Although
her recent history would not indicate it.
Mrs Nation was reared among Ken
tuchy's most aristocratic families, and
went to school with many of the famous
within nine miles of Lexington and
moved to Woodford county ia 1858. Mr.
Moore became quite wealthy. He mar
Fied Miss Bowman of Fayette county,
a girl of fine family. Their daughter,
Mary, was one of the bellies Of the
blue grass country. His second mar
riage was with Miss Campbell of Boyle
county, the mother of the present tenn
peTa nee crusader
Carrie Moore, with some sixty other
children in the neighborhood attended
a school taught by a certain Prof. Han
ma, who had been imported from Penn
syIyanla to teach the youth of the blue
grass country. The old stone school
house was located on hill just back
of the Moore farm, and is still standing.
Tradition has it that Carrie Moore was
unusually bright. She was likewise
mischievous and willfuI In the vicinity
of Versailles there are. scores of people
now living who went to school with her.
They are agreed as TO the character. Of
girl that Carrie was in the Sos She did
things even then She didn't study much
because she didn't have to. Her spare
time was devoted, to telling the other
children what they must and must not
do.
The most direct Testimony regarding
Carrie Moore, the school girl, comes
from Mrs. Lester Nzitherspoon who was
the farm which was the property of
George Moore when his daughter Carrie
ran things at Prof. Hanna's school This
IS the manner in which Carrie Nation
conducted herself In giTlhoods according
co the testimony of Mrs. Witherspoon.
Il went to school with Carrie Moore
during the session of 1S57-5S. She was
about II years ola and I was several
years younger She was large for Ter
age, had yellow hair and a fair COM
plexion- She was inclined to be a TOM
boy was very strong Willed and abso-
luteIy afraid Of nothing. She dominated
the school, and vas distinetively lead
ar Of both the girls and the boys. FIRE.
quently she led us younger children into
mischief I especially recall the martial
spirit. and how she used to delight m
assuming the role OF conqueror. She
would array herself ana the other chill
dren of the school in paper soldier caps, /
stain their faces with juice from the {
then armed with q wooden sword, she {
would lead US into the woods to do bat /
lie against imaginary foes.
Again, remember her leading &