The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1910-12-01

- will III IuS Ill
town; got the field to himself, Dough,
$1,000 worth of new equipment for
his own print shop: and was doing
fine MATHEMATICIAN of Il sudden, it
leased % rain.
None of us who w~eathered. through
the dry a of 1889 and 1890 in
Dakota. will ever forget them. Hot!
One pioneer in Faulk county swore he
had to soak his hogs to make them
hold swill. Another sturdy pioneer ad-
dressing an old settlers picnic in
Beadle county, a few years since, had
just declared with considerable en-
phasis that he had to feed his hens
cracked ice to keep them from laying
boiled eggs, when he was interrupted
by a rugged, sun-burned gentleman
in the audience, who had passed
through the same ordeal, with the
query, When in hell did you get
the ice?"
Hot! The creeks and lakes all
dried up; birds lying dead by thou
sands along the roadsides and in the
old lake-beds; snakes by the half
million in the small pools that We're
left; horses dropping dead every
where in the fields; roadways along
the railroads white from early morn
ing until late at night with one con
tinuous chain OF covered immigrant
wa]gonspeople driving out OF the
dreadful place, taking with them ev-
erNthing-eXcept their land which
would not produce the taxes.
Hot! The buffalo grass was dry
as gun powder. How the great fires
used to sweep down from the north
west, driven at from forty to seventy
miles an hour by the awful winds;
before them, vast droyes OF fleeing,
hungry wolves, jack-rabbits, and 9TH
er wild animals; behind them, dead
bodies burden to crisps, remnants Of
charred homes, an endless black veil,
%desolation.
Cold! The winters We're the oppo-
site extreme. How we'll we all re-
member the big b1izzard'' of 'SS.
Wha a dismal task Tor the ensuing
week, going over great snow banks
hither and thither, hunting for burial
the hundreds that persisted in that
awful storm, before the surviving
wolves should devour them. Will
any of us ever forget it?
This depression, and the incorpora-
ton herein of the misfortunes of the
latter sos, is made intentionally
to show that any man in business who
might fail in times likes these is not
to blame. Editor Downey was in the
newspaper business. Business men
could not afford to advertise. Sub
scrihers could no. and would not pay
their subscriptions (they don't al
ways pay. even during good. times).
There was not much left at Ashton
but ~"ash"-es. Mr.. Downey was fore
ed to pack up his outfit and go south.
He stopped in The older portion of
the state-the southeast part-and
settled at Bere sford. where he un-
packed his portable print shop, es-
tablished, the "Beresford Sentinel"
and got out the first issue of the pa
per in December. 1890.
things good come to them that wait"
He decided to Stick" In the midst
Of all this adversely. he took unto
himself a bride.
"Foolish man." you say. No; not
at all. Some wives are a burden,
some are not. Mrs. Downey at once
learned the type-case, took her place
in the print shop, helped her young
husband, and thereby saved the ex-
pense of a hired man.
At the end of six months he solo
the "Sentinel;" he and his his iwfe
travelled around for a few months
looking for a suitable location, anG
finally settled in Mitchell in 1891
where Mr.. Downey accepted a posi-
ton as foreman in the newsroom o.
the Mitchell Daily Republican" II
May, 1892, the company made hin
city editor; and when the prolifi,
Ralph Wheslock sold his interests il
the plant in August, 1894, Mr.. Dow
ney not only succeeded him as editor
OF the paper but kept up the loca
work as we'll. thereby shouldering til,
responsibility which two men hat
previously carried.
1t will thus be seen that Mr.. Dow
ney is not only an editor, but an all
round printer as we'll. This expert
ence makes his services valuable tt
his employers. During the printers
strike in 1905 when the entire fore,
of the Mitchell Printing Co. wake,
out Of the office M Monday morn
ing, Editor Downey. for two days
wrote all of the news, set it w
). pIOOl-iedu MS own WOTk, ruu III
press, and did a large part of tn
job wok. For three days more, afte
some %non-union help had arrived, h
made up the forms in addition to hi
other work.
Again, on top of all these othe
a~nxieties. Editor Downey has for tn
past fifteen years correspondent 10
nine outside daily newspapers an
he has placed Mitchell on the for
eign map as we'll. Each year h
sends a four-page article with illus
%trations of the Corn Palace at Nit
chell. to the Worldwide Maya
zine and other material to tn
metropolitan press.
Two Glasses OF Editors.
With editors as with all other peo
pie, there are but two general class
es-pessimists and optimists. TIL
former curse heir race, the latte
bless it. With what b%rotherly pit.
We all remember the fate of a for
mer newspaper man who lived il
south-central South Dakota; how b
left his home town, after a residenc'
therein of some nine years, friend
less; how he established himself il
another nearby town and after a res
idence there OF some ten or clever
years, left for another city not ia:
away, and what a public Qualification
meeting was held by his townsme,
when he left. how ar the his D1act