The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1920-05-14
MANKATO BOY WON
NICOLLET CONTEST
PAUL. LARSON AT HEAD
Successful Event Held At st.
Peter Last Evening; Many
Participated
From Saturdays Daily.
Especial to The Free Press.l

Especial to The Free Press.1
. st. Peter, Mimi, May S.-Paul Lar
son son of Mr.. and Mrs. John Larsul
OF SOB Wheeler avenue, North Man
kato, was declared the winner in the
annual Nicollet county spelling match
which took place at the opera house
last night. Second prize was awarded
to Vervol Miller of District No. %,
Brighton township. Third place was
awarded to George Rice of st. Pet
er's Catholic Parochial school of this
city; Howard M. Hanson, District No.
4, Lake Prairie township, won fourth
place, and Bernice Berg of the con-
solidated school at Nicollet won fifth.
Forty schools of the county were
represented at the contest. Judging
from the contestants present, the
girls proved more successful in the
elimination matches, as there were
20 who took part against II boys.
-. The deciding word of the contest
stationary" which eliminated the
second and third prize winners, and
which Paul Larson spelled correctly.
"Hemorrhage" proved too much for
necessary to give them all another
chance in order to pick the winner.
The first contestant to take the
back row was boy who failed on the
word population" "catarrh" and
superintendent" defeated the second
and third which were girls. The sew
enth loser failed to spell the name
of her county correctly. None failed
until the fourth round Other words
which proved difficult were; sigma
ture, appreciable, absence, discipline,
noticing, equilateral, attorney, weight,
receipt, preliminary" Two failed to
spell "liquefy'' correctly, two failed on
Souvenir" and four were eliminated
on .inadequately."
After the regular list had been
spelled, the words from the 1919 seal
ed list were read. Four contestants
took the county on this list. When the
sealed list was produced, there were
Is contestants still standing, but
these were quickly simmered down to
the winners on such words as: ''mul-
tiply, coinage. peninsula, besiege,
The boys proved to have the best
endurance, as, considering their
smaller number, more of them re-
manned in the ring toward the final
list than the girls The ages of the
contestants ranged from nine to fif-
teen years, the younger children pre-
dominating five contestants were alb :
sent.
Following the contest, each child
was presented with a box of candy
stead. The prizes of $40, $3.50, IS, and
$3.50 were also distributed among
the winners.
Superintendent Holmstead had
charge of the spelling match The
words were pronounced by Prof. Mel
vile R. Davis of the Kasota schools,
and the following were the judges:
Mrs. Berthe WeibeZahn, Mile Mall
gren and G. H. Towley. ..
Contest Was Successful.
The contest proved to be one of the
most successful ever held in this
county. More than 1900 people were
present, and fully 100 were forced to
resort to standing room. The excel
lent condition of the roads, enabled a
large delegation from North Mankato
and from the extreme western end of
the county to be present who hereto
fore have been unable to attend. Pre-
ceding the spelling match motion
picture program was given by the
management of the opera house.
The names Of the contestants and
the districts they represented, are:
Verna Kretschmer. 1: Myrtle West
man, 8; Howard Hanson, 4; Walter
Michels, 8; Irene Hahn, 10: Pearl
WenQelSchaefer, 10; Arthur Borchert,
ID; Leona Strate, 16; Clarence
Schwartz, II: Bernice Berg, IS; Lucy
Zins, 20; Isabel Fox, 20: Myrtle Ras-
mussen. rs; Florence Spoffregen. q;
Verna Miller, %; Mabel Compart, 80:
Daisy DeHeer, 32: Lucille Erickson,
81; Ruth Larson. SO: Helen Kloco,
40; Edward Mans, AZ: Harry Meichel,
A: Verna LaFramboise, As: Con-
stance Swenson, 46: Anna PETERSON,
80: Alice Altman, 81: Ralph Juber-
ian, So; Laura Meyer. "a: Paul Lar
son, CO.: Herbert Gran,. So: Florence
Lindquist, GA; Theresa Peterson, 65;
Leona Carlson, Sc: Mary r. Bastian,
81: Esther Menk. So; Clara Schultz,
German Lutheran Parochial school,
st. Peter; Lucille Wolfe, St. Mary's
school and George Rice, st. Peters
school.