Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1908-02-20

welded, their home and furniture, for
81 900. keough is said to have paid
this sum and married the woman, when
Smith changed his mind about the rest
of the bargain and is holding the home,
Mr. and Mrs. Keough are seeking new
quarters, and the town of Hanna is torn
with dissention over the affair
Former Governor s. H. Elrod gave
out the following statement at Water
town February 49,: ITO my loyal
friends throughout the state who have
persisted that become candidate for
governor, subject to the June primaries.
and predicting victory for the Roose-
velt-Taft Kittredge supporters. / wish
to state that am not, and shall not be,
a candidate" This settles the question
as far as he is concerned. He says that
at no time since his term of office expired
has he entertained the faintest expecta-
ton or wish to fill the governors chair
again, and makes this statement as soon
as he heard of the movement among his
friends to renominate him that no time
may be lost in uniting on an eligible
candidate who will stay in the race to
win.
Because +. B. Bail, editor of the
Velance, the state university paper,
commented on "the absurdity" of the
slogan, "Vermillion, the City of No
Saloons" which 10 used continuously
In boosting the university, and said the
sentence sounded like bad joke in
view of the fact that 90 much drinking
was going on among students. Presi-
dent Gault, Friday, requested hts resig
nation a. editor-in-cnief, and upon
Balls refusal suspended him indefi-
nitely. The students generally, many
of whom say Bail was indiscreet in
writing the editorial, are indignant at
the president They claim he has
usurped authority in that the resigna-
ton is matter for the students associ-
alton to determine. They claim that
Balls assertions are borne out by facts.
The matter has stirred up much hard
feeling
One Of the most remarkable orders
ever received by the Deadwood forest
service office has just come from Wash
ington. Supervisor Hamilton has been
requested to have his rangers kill and
dress two dozen woodpeckers, selected
. from different parts of the Black Hills
: national forest. The stomachs of the
birds are to be preserved and after being
detached and given temporary treat
ment with an embalming fluid, labeled
and forwarded to Washington, where
they will be analysed and tested to find
If the birds have eaten any of the bark
beetles that have proved so destructive
in the hills. 1t is believed by the for
, estry department that the woodpeckers
are the persistent enemy of the beetle,
and IL is to probe this theory in the
interests of science that the department
has issued the order Rangers are now
carrying il into effect.
Commodore Clayton, who died at
Iona, s. D., February IL, at the age of
122 years, was doubtless the oldest
homesteader in the United States, hav-
ing taken ont claim at Iona when he
was l07 He farmed his land well,
despite his years, and until few
months Of his death was as vigorous as
a man of so Aside from being an
exceedingly odd character, his history,
which is well authenticated, was con-
nected with many historical events in
the earlier period of the nation. Mr..
tClayton was born in Tennessee in 1885,
and as boy was working on his fathers
farm when the senior Clayton was
soldier in the army of General Andrew
Jackson in the war of 1872. He was
one of the members of the Brigham
Young party of pilgrims that wandered
to Salt Lake City in 1877. Mr.. Clayton
went to Iona about fifteen years ago
and after five years proved mp on
quarter section of rich farm land His
mental faculties and eyesight were
unimpaired.
The report of the bureau of vital sta
tistics on divorces in the state shows
that 552 mismated couples were granted
legal separation by the courts of the
state in 1907. Out of the whole number
the residence of the defendant WIS given
in the state in 1873 cases, while in 800
the residence was given ia some other
state, and in forty-fOr- cases 1t was
given as unknown. Tho sum Of the
last two figures probably shows the pro-
portions of the colony" business In the
state for the year. Ont Of the total, 255
divorces sere granted on the ground Of
desertion and 1853 on pleas of cruelty.
Fifty were granted for non-support;
twenty-four for wilful neglect; thirty
for intemperance. twenty-seven for
statutory offenses, two for immoral
habits, seven for Abandonment. two for
fraud and uncomfortable temper
Minnehahe county, the home OF the
Industry" in the state. leads in the
number with 1874; Lincoln, . near
neighbor, which gets some Of the Sioux
Falls overflow, 10 next with forty-one;
Brown had thirty-four, Lawrence
tWenty-niue aud Bennington thirty.