The Falls City tribune., 1909-10-08
The Broad Axe, Falls City's First
Newspaper

Burbank ana SeWcIl R.Jameson start
ed a newspaper at Falls City. II
was called THE Broad Axe" and
was a sort of continuation Of enc
they had operated at Centeryille,
Ind. the former residence of the Bur
banks and Jameson. They had a
small hand press and some type, and
jameson being a practical printer the
enterprise was set on foot to help
Falls City, and to amuse, If not in
struct, the people in this part of
the new political community of Ne
braska. About the same time 4. d.
Kirk started one at Rulo, which he
called THE Rulo Guide and it was
not long before a fierce newspaper
wal broke out between them of IA
grossly personal character.
From a dog fight TO n newspaper
war. or any other conflict, great or
small, in which prowess, valor, grit.
and %gallantry may be displayed, the
%sympathies and partizan zeal of the
Anglo-Saxon are sure TO be enlisted,
and If he can in any way get into
the row himself, he will be all the
better pleased. This republic is one
hundred and thirty-three years old.
and in that time has fought success
fully five wars,t two with the parent
nation. England, one with Mexico,
one with Spain, and II with the
Filipinos ON the other side of the
earth; and for three hundred years
has carried ON an almost continuous
war with the native Indian tribes
found in possession Of the North
American continent when discovered
by the Italian navigator. Columbus,
in the closing years of the fifteenth
century.
Besides these five foreign wars,
and the long drawn out Indian wars,
there was fought another In the de-
cade of 1860, that out-ranks all others
in the matter of the destruction of
life and property, in the long history
of the world. 1t was that one pre-
cipitated by the secession of most of
the slaye-holding states from the
American Union, and the attempt to
set up a new republic out of the ter
ritory of the old one. But this was
a family fight between people of the
same blood and from n common an
cestry. 1t was Anglo-Sax-
on against Anglo-Saxon, but the
established government with its SUI
perior resources, and commanding
influence among the nations of the
earth, prevailed in the end and the
Union remained intact.
This DEPRESSION aside, | remark
that the newspaper controversy
principally about nothing-between
those papers. ultimately drew the peo-
pie of the two towns into it, and the
sentiment of place hatred between
them. became intensely bitter and
remained so for many years after
wards. The ancient wars between
the old-time Scottish clans were no
more vengeful in the hearts of their
people, than il was among the inhab-
itants of the two hamlets whose riv-
airy had immediate respect only, to
which could show the greatest popu-
lation, and in time to come be select
ed as the seat of government of the
county. | have already told in another
paper in this series, what followed
the election in April, 1860. which fin
ally resulted in giving the county seat
to Falls City. and l need say no more
on that head.
The row between the BROAD Axe"
and the "Rulo Guide" was like most
other shindys on the frontier, ride
ulously absurd, senseless in its con
duct, and superbly indecent, not to
say downright obscene, in the genre
al matter contained in both. The pub
lie taste being in keeping with the
low %yelgarity INDUCED in by those
paper-wad champions, rather relish
ed the weekly showers of mud and
filth they threw at each other, as in
h public estimate the battle of the
rival towns was supposed to be in
volved in the issue-and besides they
liked the fun. In all essential res
poets the contest was not unlike a
similar m recorded by that inimit-
able caricaturist, Charles Dickens. in
the Pickwick Papers, over an cleo
ton at Eatanswill, between Pott of
the Eatanswill Gazette and Slurk of
the Eatanswill Independent, but /
lack the powers of description in a
sufficient degree to present those Ne
braska inky belligerents and their
tempest in a teapot, as the great
Englishman pictured the two Eatan-
swil social scabs, and clothed them
with his own mantle of deathless