The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1921-11-26
Sixth District NeuOs Notes
Items and "reminiscences by An Old Timer With His
Ear to the Grass Roots.


that comes from a stove that is well
filled with the native fuel of western
Kansas at eventide when one knows
that the evening meal is being pre-
pared" This brought Trimmer around
with an experience he had on his first
visit to the old home in Pennsylvania
His son, Ernest, was then little fell
lew, and his grandmother asked him
to take the basket and get some chips
The lad had been gone sometime and
investigation showed that instead of
going to the wood yard for the chips
he had gone to the COW yard.
In the early eighties Buffalo Park,
(noW Park. in Cove county, was
known as having the crack bali team
of the western half of the state. The
members of that team went farther
and said they would put their team
against any other one, no matter what
part of the state the club hailed from.
Now when one of that pioneer team
speaks OF baseball to any old settler
he would say if the old Buffalo Blues
were on earth and going as the team
was forty years ago. they would show
the teams today some of the finer
points of the game which have long
since gone by the board. The writer
of these notes can place but few of
the members of this aggregation which
once challenged the Kansas City team
to name the size of the pot it woul1
like to wager on one game or
best two out of three. Among the
members of the Buffalo Blues was
Frank B. Strong and Lew Thomas.
now living in Cove county, Jim, Fran
els and Bill Sloey, who live in Ne
braska, while another brother, Tom,
lives in Salt Lake. Then there is Lew
Banker, one Of the big merchants of
Russell. and Jack Thomas. one of its
mainstays on the mound, who passed
Of
are scattered far and wide. Doc
Wilson is said to be a successful bust
ness man in Illinois, and Charley
Campbell is in Denver. George s.
Dryer. for years the proprietor of the
Occidental hotel in Grainfield. was
which the Buffalo Blues played. and
he was an umpire whose decisions
were rarely questioned.
Fowler. Ellsworth county. was char
tered by a town company in Decem-
Der. 1886. The capital stock was $1S,-
600. 1t must havs had a short. ex-
of the secretary of state there is writ
ten on the face of the instruments thu
word, dead. The incorporators were
E. D. Schermerhorn, J. A. Lang, NJ.
r Westfall and B. S. Westfall. of
Wilson, and w. D. Crawford. of Kan
sas City, Mo.
The Herald was the first paper
printed in Oberlin. by Humphrey &
Counter, of ReIlcville. In its issue of
June IL, 1879, the paper printed the
following extract from the Cincinnati
Times: From clean to Salamanca the
forest is almost unbrOken-here and
there a saw mill or timber chute
but for miles there were no signs of
life except a rude ark stranded in the
driftwood and tenanted by a squatters
family bound for Kansas" The muir
derous Indian raid thru Decatur coun-
ty occurred in September. 1873 when
IS or 20 settlers were killed on the
Sappa, and fully as many along the
Beaver in RawIins county. A monu-
ment has been erected in the Oberlin
cemetery, and the names of the per-
sons who were killed in Decatur coun-
ty by the Indians are inscribed on it.
In the early eighties there was a big
rush for homesteadS in Decatur and
Rawlins counties. Much of the meat
eaten was buffalo, which sold for
cents a pound, and many of the poorer
class of settlers earned their livelihood
by gathering buffalo pones and haul
ing them to the Union Pacific rail-
road where they sold them for SO a
ton. In those pioneer years the dug
out and sod house, and occasionally a
log shack were more numerous than
the frame houses. Your correspondent
has eaten many meals in them, stayed
in them overnight, and visited schools
taught in them.
Some Of the Sixth district papers
want c. E. Rarick to get into the race
for state superintendent of public in
struction. He is an educator of sew
eral years experience, and has been
superintendent of schools in several
towns in the Sixth district, where he
has made it his home for many years
If other districts in the state can't
agree on a candidate the big Sixth
will be willing to accept another state
officer.
Another Sixth district woman has
been honored. Mrs. Emma B. AIrich
of Cawker City, has been appointed by
the national president of the w r. c.,
chairman CT the bureau of correspon-
dence. She was associate editor of the
Record for 80 years. and is past presi-
dent of the department of Kansas w.
r. G. In selecting Mrs. Alrich for
this important work the national pres
ident said: 81 have chosen Won for
this particular office of organizing,
knowing that you WHY give it atten-
ton, and bring into it that which I
very much desire to accomplish, viz;
to make every me mber realize that
she is part of the great whole. and
Know the ". r. G. will realize that in
your year the office of national senior
vice president is not an empty one"