The Goodland republic. [volume] (Goodland, Kan.) 1891-1907, 1905-08-11

sharon springs Editor SAYS Curt
Article ATonstrous IfbeI.
From Sharon SPRINGS Times.


From Sharon springs Times
william E Curtis, a special CORE
spOndent Of the Chicago Record
Herald. a high-priced man travelling
in special car, with ali the luxuries
Of a prince, recently made a trip
through Kansas, Oklahoma and Colo
RADIO. for the purpose Of writing up
the country. He did so, but the bosh
he handed the effete fasteners would
turn the stomach Of a Kansas coyote.
Curtis is heralded far and wide as
the silk-tiled correspondent Of high
class newspaper, but on the contrary
he is a jackass among the very mon
greis Of the breed. He wrote Inter
esting stories that were circulated
far and wide. They were stories
that struck the fancy Of Curtis and
would serve to appease the appetite
OF an ignorant reading public But
they were libels upon the intelligence
Of the people OF Kansas and a fraud
perpetrated upon the innocent and
unsuspecting readers OF the Chicago
Record-Herald. Curtis should be
branded and turned out to Craze with
animals Of his class. As a sample Of
the rot dished up to the Recorder
aid readers, we reprint a story Curtis
sent in about the town Of Wallace,
so far from the truth and so utterly
at variance with decency and com
mon sense, that Curtis is at once
branded a liar. The story follows:
Some places, however, are not so
piOus. At Wallace a destrted town
several miles on the other side Of the
l Kansas line, the entire community
once united in a scheme which did
them no credit. Wallace was former
| " a military post, used for keeping
/ the Indians in order. When the SOL
diers were withdrawn and the post
was abandoned the town collapsed,
and is now a desolate collection Of
/ empty and dilapidated houses II is
not notable, in a small way, as SOdOm
and GOmOrrah. II persisted doubt
| Iess) because OF the sins OF its peO-
pie The removal Of the military post
was only an accident
/ Everybody at Wallace was a
/ homesteader in the early times, and
/ for that reason there was no one to
/ pay taxes except the railroad COM
pany. Some depraved creature in the
| community suppose he must have
l been a lawyer or a real estate dealer
invented what was considered z
| clever scheme to stick the railroad
| company. The inhabitants had few
i children Of their own-not enough all
/ told to I'LL the legal requirements for
Il the organization of a school district.
/ So they went to the trouble Of send
| ing back to their former homes and
| borrowing from friends and relatives
| enough 10 make UP the required num-
Il Der Then they. organized a district
1 and voted to issue $4,000 in bonds
| to pay for a school house.
| THE railroad company, which u as
Il the only taxpayer and was coase-
Il quently stuck for both the principal
1 and interest, made a remonstrance,
Il but it did no good. The bonds were
| sold to innocent purchasers, the
4 school house was built and furnished
in a most elaborate manner. A school
| teacher was hired for one year and
/ enough fuel for the season was pur-
/ chased, but the building was never
| used for school purposes; no roll was
1 ever called; no class ever recited-
l The teacher held a sinecure and the
1 building was used for dances and
| other social functions. Then it was
1 turned over to tramps. The towns
| people helped themselves to the fuel
/ and the furniture; they stole the
Il doors and windows and even tore up
/ the flooring, until the entire school
/ building disappeared, having been
/ carried away in small installments.
/ The debt still hangs over the country
1 like a curse. The railroad company
has refused to pay it, and the pres
| ent county officials will not be able
/ to borrow any more money until il is
4 settled