The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1928-06-07
ReU1ezv Of Experiences
rs Herald Editor
By Il. VI. WeHes

CNCiyoouy ClSC, L SdLeu Ill OpGIl-
wonder at the strange
contraption. On the first exhibit
ton the machine was trundled out
in front of the grandstand where,
after several trials, the pilot man
aged to get the thing off the
ground. He just skinned the
fence in his first flight, getting up
perhaps thirty feet, flew around
"a little and then came back into
the fair grounds enclosure where
he landed, apparently thankful to
reach terra frma again with his
head on straight.
While / was in Sank Centre the
Keller wagon factory. which for
years had been and then was do
ing land office business, was to-
tally destroyed by fire. The fire
broke out about ten o'clock on an
October night and everybody
worked tooth and nail to save the
structure, but all to no avail.
had just taken The Herald back
from one Pierce to whom 1 had
leased it for a year with the idea
of taking rest. At the end of
three months, Pierce, who had
tired of his job, voluntarily sur
rendered the lease, and the Keller
fire was my journalistic ce.bap-
tism. To further enliven Inc stu
alton, in the early morning litter
the fire a man was killed on the
Great Northern tracks. Routed out
of bed at daylight, I rushed to the
viaduct at the east end Of lain
street and viewed the manglei re-
mains. These two Hurled happen
ings provided me with two rafting
good front page stories, and I
improved the opportunity. Some
of my exchanges remarked (face-
titiously or otherwise) that when
Welles got back on the job, things
began to happen. That sounds
egotistical, but it is not meant that
way. AS a result of the fire, the
Keller factory removed to Minne-
apolis. The indemnity Of the man
killed on the railroad tracks never
was established.
We had several nice little polit-
ical clashes during my residence in
Sank Centre and 1 enjoyed them
all, winning some and losing 9TH
ers. But 1 accepted results phil
osophically, realizing that it pays
to come up smiling when beaten
and that it's poor policy 20 rub it
in" on a defeated opponent. In
1912 1 went to Col. Teddy loose
welt in the Bull Moose movement,
and was a delegate to the Progress
sive convention in Chicago. It
was wonderful experience and l
have never regretted my action.
Were I called upon to say which
was the one outstanding exper-
fence of my Sank Centre resi-
dence, 1 would unhesitatingly
name the Birch Lake outings. Oh,
those summers at the lake. No 9TH
err thing so appealed to me. One
summer after another I rented a
lakeside cottage of Fred Cooper
or AL Erwin or J. w. Ward and
spent the week ends there, also
any night when I could get away,
returning in the morning fresh for
the days work. On Saturday
nights we used to assemble at the
Lyon cottage for the weekly
Bean Bake. The songs, the stories,
the jokes, the cameraderie, the
good fellowship-my, what good
times we used to have. Lyman
Kells, Gene Richards, the Coop
ers, the Wards, the Erwins, the
Jamiesons, the Gingerys- all
the rest-how well l recall their
personalities and the great scenes
around the fire in the hole in the
ground where, after the Goals were
formed, the pot containing the
!! beans was buried. One Saturday
night the late Congressman Chas.
A. Lindbergh was la Bean Bake
guest. Little did we imagine what,
in later years, would happen to
make his son the most famous
world character. Lyman Kells
had "a cottage on the west shore of
the lake and now and then invited
me out to share it with him for a
night or over Sunday. And often
the piece de resistance at the feast
was a black bass that had hooked
in the lake. Oh, those were great
days. And altho Southern Mime
sofa is the garden spot of the world
and / have achieved business sue
cess here during the past fifteen
years, yet my heart often yearns
for Ward Springs and the Bean
Bakes.
And what shall 1 say of the Sank
Centre folks? Well, they don't
make 'em better anywhere. To
single out one or more would be
unfair, for 1 hold them all my
good friends, occupying place in
my innermost heart. We didn't
always agree; in fact we had some
jolly rows; but those differences
only serve to cement the bonds of
friendship that now hold US to-
gether.
I. cannot close this somewhat
disjointed sketch without reverent-
ly alluding to that band of griz-
zled Civil War veterans who used
to make informal headquarters in
a one-story wooden building adj
joining the old Dahlem store.
There were David Cleveland, Bill
Pangburn, George Loomer, M. l..
Webb and some others whose
names / do not now recall. loved
those fine old fellows, and one of
my most priced privileges was to
drop in on them in their "roost"
to exchange greetings and swap