The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1920-04-03

IeIloW nad 10 rustic and ne was built
that way. Today he is at the head
of the Topeka Central National bank.
also an even dozen banks in northwest
Kansas. and big banking interests in
Kansas City.
Graham county will always be proud
Of two of her citizens. They located
there when the county was young. and
there they stayed and witnessed the
prosperity of towns and country. Ed.
Mullaney was reared in the county, his
father being one of the very earliest.
ID. J. Hanna located there later.
Your itemizer knew them since his
first visit to Graham county, In the
pioneer days it was poor shedding in
all the short grass counties, and so far
as the writer knows neither of them
had cash enough to go to more favored
localities. People farther east were
afraid of hot winds and thought that
section of the state was too far west
for agricultural purposes. When the
real estate boom picked up people
county was getting her share of the
immigration. New branches of bust
ness opened in Hill City and business
was active. With the boom they ac-
cumulated enough to engage in bank
ing and soon the Farmers & Mer-
chants bank was opened for business.
the oldest bank in the county. and the
two men were put at the head of it.
Hanna was more partial to politics. so
the Republicans favored him with two
legislative terms. two terms as lieu
tenant governor, and delegate TO the
national convention. in Philadelphia in
1900. In his first campaign for lieu
tenant governor he received all the
votes but one in the Sixth district. in
the state conventions Mullaney wasn't
an office-holding politician. so the
only political job he held. and under
protesta was director of the state pen
itentiary. He is wrapped up in bank
ing, and has large interests not only
in Hill City and Graham county but
in Topeka and Kansas City. He has
stuck to Graham county. and has al
ways been one of her chief promoters.
Hanna left Hill City a few years ago,
locating in Salina. Recently he made
financial investments in Los Angeles
and southern California. Mullaney is
a candidate from the Sixth district for
delegate to the national convention in
Chicago.
The names of two towns on the
north fork of the Solomon river in
1879 never found their way on the
maps. One was named Nayville, in
Phillips county, and the other was
Dunlap. in Norton county. This town
had several buildings, including
Catholic church.
Your itemizer was making the
rounds of the Sixth district in the fall
of 1887 with one of the Republican
candidates for secretary of state, who
was experimenting that year on rails
ing and feeding sheep. He had sew
eral thousand head in the herd on his
farm near Beloit. 1t was his first
trial at sheep feeding, and he could
see lots of money in the profits, as
feed was cheap and plentiful. The
candidate spent the day in Colby, get
ting acquainted, and in the early part
of the evening he made a short talk
in the armory hall, which was crowd
ed. as the people turned out to hear
the candidate. In the course of
perience the first and only time
of raising and feeding sheep. He
said his sheep were not doing well,
and he believed they were too old to
eat grass. So he put in several hours
examining their mouths, and he could
upper teeth. The problem now con-
fronted the candidate what was best
to do with his sheep, as it would be
ruinous for him to hold on to them,
for on examination he discovered his
herd had no upper teeth. So he found
a buyer and sold them at a ruinous
sacrifice. After the deal had been
completed the candidate was informed
that sheep didn't have upper teeth.
This did not beat Capt. c. A. Norton,
of Mitchell county, for the nomination.
He made a fine showing in the state
convention. and carried the Sixth dis
trict delegates almost solid.
The Thirty-ninth senatorial district
isn't going to be so easy a walkaway
with the nomination as was expected
a few weeks ago. The candidates so
far are Charles w. Miller, of Ellis
county; Alex. Showalter, Thomas;
Frank McIvor, Sheridan, and r. G.
Wolfe, Sherman. There may be other
candidates as the season advances. In
fact, another name has been sprung
in Sherman county, John Hartzler,
which makes two candidates from this
county. There are thirteen counties
in the district, and there are rumors
that some of the other counties will
have candidates.
Speaking about the chances for
wheat in Sheridan county and north
west Kansas, at this time, the Hoxie
Sentinel quotes one of the citizens of
tho town. AL. Chandler, as follows:
II drove 10 miles and more and didn't
see a field Of injured wheat In my
travel" This seems to be the general
verdict of the wheat raisers in Sheri-
dan and other northwestern Kansas
counties. The. same information
comes from Graham county, too, about
the wheat prospects. In a letter from
NJ. c. Inflow. OF Hill City, he writes
that the people of his county are tired
of hearing the reports which come
from the east part of the state that
the wheat prospects in Graham and
other western Kansas counties have
been injured by high winds or dry
weather. He goes on and says that
from Osborne county to Sherman the
wheat prospects are 90 per cent better
than in central or eastern Kansas.
Especially is this true of Graham
county, he writes, with her four foot
of subsoil moisture, and the crop a
mat of green and a month ahead in
growth of any year in the last twenty.
One OF the picturesque characters
in the Sixth district Is B. C. Decker, of
Hoxie. He is SO years old, and hale
and hearty. He came to Sheridan
county in 1878, before there was any
Hoxie, and Kenneth was the county