Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1912-04-30
DONALD RILEY
WON CONTEST
LAD FROM CASS TOWNSHIP WAS
VICTOR IN COUNTY SPELLING
COMPETITION
STOOD FOR TWO HOURS
Forty-seven Rounds Of Words Needed
to Satisfy the Spelling Abilities
Of the WapeIlo County
Pupils.

Master Donald Riley of Cass town.
ship school was the winner of the first
prize in the county spelling contest
held Saturday afternoon at the high
school. He proved himself the best
speller of any of the pupils entered in
the competition. Four others won
I prizes in the contest and one of these,
Ellen Anderson, of Polk township,
stood next to Master Donald Riley
in the close of the contest,
falling on the word phosphorus,
which the winner of the contest
spelled correctly. The contest lasted
over two hours and was attended by
a large crowd. many of whom were
parents and relatives of the young
sters participating. The morning was
given over to a varied program con-
sisting of a lecture by State Superin-
tendent A. NJ Deyoe and number OF
musical selections by pupils under the
direction of Mrs. Theodosia Harrison.
The afternoon was devoted to the
contest.
The contest was not an easy affair
for the youngsters as will be seen
when the rules adhered to are under
stood. Each word that should be
capitalized had to be so stated by the
pupil in spelling and but one trial was
given a pupil to spell word. In order
to steady the nerves of the youngsters
and permit them to overcome any
stage fright they might feel, the first
ten times around the pupils were not
retired as they happened to miss, but
were scored instead. After the tenth
time around the pupils were spelled
down. The rating made during the
first ten times around was 1925 per
cent.
The words were pronounced by
Prof. F. M. Hammitt. He announced
the words for over two hours. Three
dozen pupils were entered in the con-
test and forty-seven rounds of the
pupils were made before the last was
reached. The failure to capitalize the
word "Vatican,' caused the Judges to
rule Florence Sauer Of Highland
schools out Of the race when only six
were up.
The Prizes.
The winners of the contest were:
First prize, gold medal Donald
Riley
Second prize, silver medal Ellen
Anderson
Third prize-Webster's academic
dictionary, indexed. Carrie Willard.
Fourth prize, two dollars, cash
Merle Arie.
Fifth prize, one dollar, cash-Edwin
Newquist.
The contestants follow:
Adams township-Merle Arie, 1sol
Hendrickson. Dorothy Schwartz.
Cass township - Donald Riley,
Francis Fabritz, Lora Bowen.
Columbia township Ernest New
quist, Edwin Newquist Fred Tenny-
son.
COMPETING township - Edith Syl-
vester. Ollie Sauer, Alice Sauer.
Gladys Larmore.
Center township-Garnett Gilyeart,
Harold Nelson. Clara Bradley.
Green township-Frederic Rhine.
Jessie Rhine, Jessie Kennedy.
Polk township-Ellen Anderson,
Carrie Willard, Gladys Leatherby.
Highland township - Alva Grove.
Florence Sauer, Flora McSweyn.
Richland township-Dallas Siegrist,
Irene Gilyeart, Catherine Barrett
Pleasant Observation-Disclosures Rob
erts. Marie Schaefer, Bertha STAINS
bury. Hildred Warder.
Washington township - Raymond
Hanson, Lydia Miller, Ruth O'Dean.
Dahlonega township-Lillian Denny,
Blanche McClung.