Baraboo weekly news. [volume] (Baraboo, Wis.) 1912-197?, 1917-05-24
FIFTY YEARS AGO
By N. G. ABBOTT.

back and dig up "reminiscences, for.
Z the reason, that, the average individual
is too occupied with the demands OF
society. and the never-ceasing hustle
for his daily bread to retain upon the
shelves of his memory the events OF
a half century passed, because crowd
ed aside by constantly arising new
events, or buried beneath Indifference
| to events past and gone.
That I find it easy to recalf1ncidents
F7even trifling incidents, connected with
oIGen days is, | suppose because oW-
| ing to the nature of my employment,
| large portion of my life has been
spent in comparative lonliness, with
only my own thoughts for companion
ship These thoughts have oft re-
Cured to old-time events, and thus
| have served to keep them yet stored in
my memory, and like some old we'll
thumbed volume on library shelf,
| still retain the covers and all that ever
| lay between them.
| It is with some events occurring
chiefly in Sank county, in those old
days that this sketch has to-do, and !
will begin the recital with the arrival
upon-the School Section, in West Point
| township, Columbia county, of Russell
! T. Root and family, who came from
| Ioganville, Sank county, in the fall OF
1867, having bought what was then
known as the old Bishop" Haskins
place, owned and occupied by 'sCheezy''
Smith at that time.
Will say here, to keep the record
straight, that Smith, whose rightful
name was John, though never heard
him called anything but Cheezy, moved
/ to Mats Ferry into the old Spring
| Creek hotel building and later was de-
serted by his family. After various
misadventures he drifted into Baraboo
where he took unto himself a seventh
wife, from whom he was also soon
separated, and finally died at the Sank
county poor farm. Smith Informed
me shortly before his death that the
immediate cause of his leaving his
| last wife was the dreadful fact that
his wife's boy had dug hole in the
garden, placed his, Smiths boy, in the
hole and buried him up to his neck.
But this is not fntended as a history
| of Cheezy Smith.
In 1863 Russell T. Roots nepheWs,
Gabriel Oliver and Frank Root, came
down from their home in Reedsburg,
and rented their uncle's farm in part
nership. Gabriel soon sold his interest
and Frank also sold his later, both to
oliver.
Just previous to the Fourth of July,
I was invited by Oliver and Frank, the
latter still being in West Point, to go
with them on trip to Reedsburg, the
conveyance being a Jersey wagon
drawn by a span of frisky mules, via
Mats Ferry, Baraboo and thence to
Reedsburg.
The Journey was made without in
cident worthy Of notice except that
shortly after getting away from Bara-
boo. an Indian was encountered on the
road, at whom the mules took fright
and ran away. After wild sprint or
about a mile, the mules were gotten
under control, but we were hatless and
had also lost our whip. This property
was however recovered and Reedsburg
was reached at shutdown.
Indians were quite plentiful those
days, and at Baraboo, where we
stopped for dinner, a bunch of dimin- !
native bucks were creating much en-
tertainment for a crowd of Onlookers.
on Third street, by shooting pennies
from hitching pest, with q bow and
arrow !
| found Reedsburg to be dinky lit
tie town, but full Of ginger and hustle.
The gorgeous hop-bubble, which was
soon to burst, was yet floating glor-
iously skyward, and all eyes were
fixed on it, which served to make
everyone optomistic regarding the fu- !
ture. The old sawmill down where
the wooden mill is now located, was
running night and day, and some other
mills of another kind interspersed
with numerous bowling alleys were !,
also running nearly all night and day.
The big now school house was being
built and framing of the brewery bulld-
ing was in progress.
1t was in one of these latter mills,
that / heard my first political speech.
The speaker was Well-dressedlndl-
yidual who seemed to be using great
muscular exertiOn to keep the bar
from topping over, as he shouted,
Some 70 shay Gran smokes. VIVA re
does? You smoke, | smoke. None er
worse FIJI at We know. Men agin some
70 shay Gran drinks. Wha fe does?
You drink, I drink, None er worse fu
at We know. Men again some 10 snay
Gran swears. Wha fe does. You
swear / swear. None er worse fu at
We know" From this harangue |
gathered the. idea that Grant was as
good as anyone in Reedsburg at least.
After few days in Reedsburg |
bought a lunch of smoked halibut and
crackers and set out on tramp for
Loganville to visit my two sisters
Mesdames Alonzo and Chas T.Bliven.
In the yard at Alonzo's place saw
little fawn, with broken leg done up
in splints. This fawn afterwards
grew to maturity, each year taking to
the timber and returning later with
new son or daughter by her side. Her
name was Nellie, and her only protec-
ton while at large in the timber was i
a tiny bell attached to her neck by
blue ribbon Manytimes the hunters
deadly rifle was aimed at Nellie, but
the tinkle of the bell or a sight Of the
ribbon STAYED the pressure of his fin