The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1921-06-10
BRECKENRIDGE WAS OUTPOST
OF CIVILIZATION WHEN
PIONEER ATTORNEY AR
RIVED IN SEVENTIES

4 i /.
| If ! knew another such country as
Breckenridge was thirty five or forty
Years ago. ] would go to it. 1t would
| be a land Of placid contentment, a
land Of hardships, a land where every
man was honest and ready, nay eager,
to help his neighbor, the hurly burly Of
the modern city with every mans hand
turned against every other man would
not be there. A friend would be a
friend, and no dishonest man could
stay. That, my friends, was the con-
dition Of Breckenridge and Stephens
county when ! came here in 1876"
1t was Senator Sebastian speaking.
He had yielded to the pleadings Of d
newspaper man to speak Of those
things that are buried with the dead or
live only in the breast Of the few who
have not been given the call and
passed to the other side.
At first he was hesitant; but when
certain subjects were mentioned the
flood gates of his memory opened and
through them, to younger genera
tion at least, flowed thrilling episodes
of the years that have gone.
Borrowing Votes
With chuckle he told how Steph-
ems county was organized at time
when even the $50 votes required |
could not be had. Nobody ever
knew, he declared, chat part Of J
those votes came from Prlo Pinto
county. The organization came in i
1776. In 1883 we built the present
court horse. For it we spent $4,000,
a magnificent sum in those days. It's
stone came from our own quarry" AS
he spoke the pride of his own town
came into the Senator's eyes and those
who listened doubted that the state
ment was really meant that he would
go to some other country if he knew
another like the Breckenridge of the
sos. The thing man has helped to
build he does not leave so easily.
As the interview continued the sena-
tor became more and more alive to
MS memories and touched on many {
.hings, things that were vital to the
Breckenridge of that age.
l..
eve carried our corn to Donnelly's |
mill. The place is now known as
Gliasville-but then it was Donnelly's
mill. The lumber in my office came !,
rom Fl. Worth; it was hauled by OK !
N and it took month to make the :
rip"
He wandered off on his personal ex- a
'eriences as an attorney as he talked, =
nd one wondered how the pioneers =
TODD the strain of building such :
ountry for the heritage of the pres =
mt generation. !,
Pioneer Courts
"When the courts would sit" he de- "
Jared, "the members of the bar would o.
lake the circuits with the Judge. / o
ave travelled as far south as Gates cl
lille to try case and as far north as pi
hrockmorton. In Shackford county, m
lie court house was of logs stuck into b
lie ground, with adobe roof over it."
From ais personal experiences, the G
,eaker switched to the honesty of the
erson who lived during those years, is
I'd to them he paid a, handsome eu-
gy. .
at was not an unusual thing, he +,
ated, "for one man to buy a thou al
md head Of steers from another and r
1t mention pay until he had driven !"
EN- to Fort Dodge, Kansas. To ask te
friend for note was to offer an in Il
It," To write on paper those things 5!
which the senator spoke is impos- III
1le--hnt IN tho Iirtopat, ba ,,,olo Al