The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1912-08-08

We left the next forenoon for
Trenton via rail, arriving there at
1884 p. m. Here we made another
detour going to Modena by the way
of Tindall and Spickardsville. We
were met at Trenton by nine cars
of Spicards good roads enthusiasts,
among them being J. w. Wilson,
DR.. Ed w. Ewing, Will Ashbrook,
P. G. Weld, George Reid, Otto Ham
ilton, Perry Schooler, DR.. w. T. Pitt
man, Shelby Spickard, Jack Nichols,
J. B. Keith, Art Vaughn, T. S. Will
son, D. G. Dennis, T. M. Ewing, R.
M. Moore, M. D. Brown, Henry Mont
gomery, Charles Cook, Henry Keith,
H. B. Ramsey, Henry Franklin,
Charles Kingcade, Richard Cush,
Albert Cooper, DR.. Lyons, DR.. Camp
bell, John Mathey, j. M. Bennett,
j. r. Austin, J. D. Wilson and H. w.
Huschberger.
The people of spickards were
among the most jealous we saw on
the entire trip, and without any
question the roads from Trenton to
Spickards and from Spickards on
west were the very best we saw on
the entire route, except that, as we
so often find in Missouri, a dilapi-
dated bridge or rotten culvert
dumped into good strip of road.
In this respect Decatur county beats
any part of Missouri the writer ever
saw. A number of the Spickards
people accompanied us to Modena,
where we babe good bye to all Mis-
sourians, including Charley Davis,
the genial manager of the associa-
ton. From MOdena we made a
straight rapid shoot for home, stop
ping only at the home of M. I.
Bosher, brother of Robert Bosher,
who lives few miles north of Mo-
dena. We arrived in Leon about 1880
Thursday night, tired and dusty, but
having thoroughly enjoyed our trip
and with lasting memories of the far
famed Missouri hospitality, for more
particular description of which see
Uncle Robert Bowsher, who can
give very apt description of Mis-
souri, hospitality in. few words.
At each of the stops we made
short talks were made by ]. r. Bow
sher and Geo. E. Hurst, of Leon,
Charley Davis, the Missouri mana
ger, H. G. Riggs and Judge Perry, of
the Quincy Chamber of Commerce,
H. NJ. Wheeler, the editor of the
Quincy Journal and Thomas Carlin,
of the Rushville-Quincy Trail Asso-
citation. Too much credit cannot be
given to Judge Perry. His talks
were an inspiration, dwelling on the
cooperative features of the scheme
between the merchants and farmer,
and always aroused the audience to
high degree of interest, and fitted
in we'll with the forceful presenta-
ton of the facts made by Mr.. Bow
sher, Mr.. Hurst and others.
One cannot help but notice how
much better situated our farmes
are in Decatur county than in the
in the way of crops, and especially
corn. From Kirksville to Taylor the
corn is very poor, but from Taylor
in to Quincy, across the Mississippi
bottom, the corn is unequalled.
Small grains seem to have done
pretty we'll, but threshing seems
only to have begun. Mr.. Wheeler's
paper, the Quincy Daily Journal, has
this to say of the crops in it's Thurs
days issue:-
The crops along the way have
been good. There has been a bump
er crop of oats and a good crop of
hay harvested. The corn needs rain
very much. Early corn has been
hurt beyond recovery. Late corn,
if it can get rain, will come out all
right. In many places the early
corn is quite badly fired. What we
need in all this country is a good,
long, steady, soaking rain.
At Edna we met Fritz McCul-
Tough, democratic delegate to the
Baltimore convention, who made
Bryan so mad by grabbing the ban
ner upon which was printed Bryan's
strong endorsement of Champ Clark
and carrying it down to where Bryan
sat. He looked the part.
We heard considerable of the
strength of the bull moose party in
Missouri, but it was nearly always
over in the next county," The only
visible sign of it we met was at La
Belle, where little Samuel David
Mattingly, the four-year-old grand
son of S. D. Mattingly, one of La
Belle good road boosters, declared
that he was for Roosevelt because he
was "alright.'
The Quincy Optic says: "When
it comes to describing Missouri hos
pitality, we'll back Uncle Bob Bow
sher, of Leon, Iowa, against the
world
We note that some of the streets
in Quincy, La Grange and other
towns are sprinkled with oil. 1t
was told us that the oil is put on not
to exceed twice during the season,
and that it is cheaper than water
sprinkling. Leon might consider
that.
Mr.. Thomas Carlin, wha has
charge of the 81 miles of trail be-
tween Quincy and Rushville, esti-
mates the cost of keeping up the
road, including dragging, repairs
and everything, is three dollars per
mile per year.
A Bad Accident.