Omaha daily bee., 1914-10-04


fore interesting. Its story is as varied
as the lives Of those who come and go.
Within It's gates you may find the salt
Of the earth, and some who may have
lost their SAVIOR. on the surface u is not
unlike the typical western town. You
have the residential section with its tidy
American homes and we'll kept lawns
You have the churches and the schools,
and the fresh baked brick Of its building
blocks. Step across a street, 60 around
a corner and you are in the midst of an
allen land, thousands Of miles away from
America
So with the men you meet there The
! twang of the Yankee and the drawl Of
the southerner is there. The quick wit
and the merry laugh Of the Irishman is
frequent The jovial German and the
musical children Of Queen Garments land
commingie with the EARRING discord of the
northern tribes. and the strangeness OF
the oriental tongues. And with all the
strangeness Of the lingual discord is not
more strange than the story OF South
Omaha, its ups and downs and the his
tory OF its early days.
| Tales of Days Gone By.
The pioneers will tell you strange
things Of the early days in South Omaha
Politically for instance they'll tell you OF
the first mayor of South Omaha, Colonel
ID. p. Savage. Colonel Savage had a way
of marshaling his forces not strictly in
accord with Roberts Rules of Order"
1t IL said of him that he once convened
a county convention vi ct armis When
the convention grew FESTIVE the doughty
colonel numbered a healthy pair of
'forty-fives" and advised the convention
delegates that It would be dangerous TO
leave the assembly. Nobody left.
Lu Gibson. who ls now one OF the lead
ing real estate men Of this section, was
also witness Of some of the early doings
In South Omaha. When Lu first came 10
South Omaha Daniel OConnell was justice
} OF the peace and incidentally held his
court back of saloon. In those days
the saloons closed only to give the bar
keep few minutes nap. OConnell one
day had q bad man UP before him. He
J sentenced the man to thirty days in the
county jail, holding gun In the prisoner
face the while he imposed the sentence.
The prisoner vilified the Judge and dared
J him to increase the penalty. OConnell
made 1t sixty days, and under continued
provocation raised the limit until he had
imposed a sentence OF one year Still he
kept his man covered. Then a lawyer
came In and got the culprit released upon
habeas corpus proceedings because the
, judge had exceeded the speed limit in inn
| posing sentence.
; One of John Briggs Experiences.
In the early days the police we're not
: always above suspicion. Chief Briggs tells
| a story OF his early days In South Omaha.
? Il was on my wey home one night"
! said Briggs. when heard someone fol-
lowing me. / did not carry a gun, but /
was pretty handy with my fists.
, stopped down to tie my shoe and so
, caught sight OF two men. The star on
> one of them told me 1t was the police
= They halted me and wanted to go through
! me. Then there was a fight. That night
= did not go home, but walked around
> town hunting policemen. They were
: scarce after the two would-be holdups
\ had been hauled into the police station.
; Another time caught a policeman
: robbins q poor blind man near Twenty.
= fifth and u streets. 1 butted in and the cor
{ called out the police force TO trim me.
: told them they could lock me up IL they
s wanted to but they could not beat me oil
= Colonel Savage as an administrator wal
. there all the time. Once he sent for tn,
police and gave this order: when
4 send you to arrest a man I expect yol
: to bring him In. Bring him in alive 81
v you can but-bring him in"
n How Tom Hector Won.
d Tom Hector can also tell some few
y yarns of South Omaha when he will. Fo
g instance Hector was once nominated to
e city clerk his first office. He was gun
y shy" so TO speak. His opponent for tn
IS nomination an older man, was making tn
e usual speech replete with promises OF tn
n millennium II he should happen TO b
Is elected. Hector was at the meeting ant
e while his opponent was making his speed
is Hector thought OF a funny story whIcl
3 set him laughing. The crowd called OF
b. him for a speech and he told the story
> The crowd liked II and Hector was nomi
D. mated
- Newspaper Men of Old Days,
10 Another South Omaha man who couI
70 tell OF the early days b Bruce McCulloch
editor OF the Stockman-Journal and tn
story teller par excellence OF the Magi
ID City McCulloch has watched the cit
ID grow from a way station 20 a metropoli,
y He knew and can tell you OF ever
At character worth knowing In the Magi
Is City, He. with Gene Mayfield, Jesse Gllcl
e, John NJ Tanner. Samuel p. Brigham, ]
- b. MacMurphy Henry Richmond. ]. T
Is Erion. W. C. Root and Henry Murph