The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.
Compiled and Edited by Virginia Ross
Registrar for Daniel McMillan Chapter, N.S.D.A.R.1918
Stronghurst Graphic, March 28, 1918
April 1st DEADLINE FOR FILING: April 1, 1918 is the final day allowed under the federal income tax law for the filing of federal income tax returns. Persons who are required to file under the provisions of law and who fail to get their returns in on time are subject to severe penalties.
C.E.FORT RESIGNS: C.E.Fort tendered his resignation as postmaster at Stronghurst. Mr. Fort has held the position for the past two years, succeeding J.Mains in April 1916. His son John has been his assistant, but John now accepted the position of assistant cashier of a bank at Dallas City and his father wishes to devote his entire time to his farming and stock business. All post offices are now under civil service and an examination will be held soon for applicants for the place. (Previously, political clout got you the job as postmaster.)
James Marshall and his brother Glenn, who was his substitute as rural carrier, have tendered their resignations which will require an examination for rural carriers to fill the vacancy. Miss Mary Morgan has been called into service as clerk for W.C.Ivins, who is organizing the county for the third liberty loan campaign and Miss Mary Gross has taken her place temporarily in the post office.
1893 GRAPHIC: County Assessor J.M. Lukens appointed Ira Putney as deputy assessor for Stronghurst, Olena, Decorra and Hoppers Mills. A new residence for the McQuown sisters was in the being constructed in the village and the foundation for another new residence to be occupied by John Bennington was being laid. Traffic on the Santa Fe was delayed for several hours on March 28 by a bad freight train wreck near Decorra. The first petition for incorporation of the village had been recalled and another, specifying different boundaries and containing one hundred signatures, substituted. Mrs. Martha Graham, wife of Andrew Graham, died at her home near South Henderson church on March 24th.
HENDERSON COUNTY HAPPENINGS: GLADSTONE: Will Brainard moved from the country to Gus Begemans house in town. The Woodmen lodge initiated 26 new members. A social dance was held at the hall with Burlington orchestra giving the music. Messrs George, Will and Marcellus Galbraith were out to Omaha, Neb., looking up some cattle to buy. The lecture at the hall was given by a lady on the Liberty loan question. Greenie Jacobs was able to return home, but must walk on crutches. Mr. Arthur Gray and daughter, Miss Gladys, went to Oklahoma to visit her brothers, Tom and George Roberts.
SMITHSHIRE: A fine big daughter was born to Mr. and Mrs. Alfred Brown on March 25th. Registration Day in town and Ellison township passed without a single sensational incident. Everybody seemed loyal and eager to show it and consequently no excitement. The tabulation is being made by the secretary of the local organization, Mr. L.O.Tinsman and some assistants, and when it is finished, a complete record of who is who and what is what will be a handy reference for the future use. (During WWI, people were asked to sign a loyalty oath.) The minstrel entertainment at the hall realized $22.00a good house. Don McCartney, the garage man, has employed a mechanic to assist him. (More and more people were buying cars.) The depot and section foremans house were painted and greatly improved their appearance. Frank Staley and his man are busily engaged in excavating a basement for a fine new residence to be erected in the spring.
STRONGHURST AREA: A.E.Jones, Del and Joe Dixson are all driving new Buick cars. Theodore Knutstrom went to Chicago to bring home four more cars he has just sold. Red Walker of Camp Cody, Deming, New Mexico, was called home due to the illness of his mother. Charles Kirby is making arrangements to spend the summer in Minnesota in hopes that a change of climate will benefit his asthma. George Widney and wife, who have just completed a theatrical engagement in Chicago, are spending two weeks with his parents. At last accounts Frank Murphy was still detained at St.Paul, waiting for the necessary papers to permit him to proceed to Alberta, Canada, with the shipment of cattle in his care.
The 20 year old charter under which the LaHarpe State Bank was organized expired and it was reorganized with a new 99 year charter; the capital stock remains at $25,000. J.W.Rankin is confined to his home with an attack of rheumatism. Miss Ethel Brokaw, who is attending Monmouth College, left for Chicago to spend the Easter vacation with her friend, Lillian Stevenson, and to hear Evangelist Sunday. W.E.Hurd received a message that his son, Emerald, had undergone an operation for appendicitis at the military hospital at Camp Dodge; his condition was regarded as satisfactory. Earl Colburt of Monmouth went to Peoria to have some work done on his wooden leg. Since then not a word has been heard from him and the police have concluded that he was murdered. Being a cripple and in poor circumstances, his church friends at Monmouth raised a purse of $150 to aid him and it is supposed that he was murdered for his money. He has a wife and seven children in Monmouth.
Charles Kirby has sold his farm to Mrs. Kirbys brother, Mr. Fritz Dannenburg; the couple will move to Carman. In Media the E.G.Lewis Seed Co. are making a tennis court north of the Meloan Building that they recently purchased. It is to be used by the young people in the town.
A LARGE ENTERPRISE: Will Allison of Butler, Mo. was home after an absent of several months and reports quite a serious time with scarlet fever during the winter. His son Harold and the two children of his brother Ed went through a siege of the disease and Harold's case was one of unusual severity. All have now recovered their ususal health. Will, his brother Ed and C.G.Richey are carrying on a big farming enterprise at Butler, which is about 75 miles south of Kansas City. They have 250 acres in fall wheat and have just put in 50 acres of oats. They are preparing to plant 150 acres of corn making a total of 450 acres in crop. Their land is in the Missouri River bottoms and they are doing some extensive work in the line of drainage. Will had just come from Chicago where he purchased a ditching machine for putting in long lines of tile. Large levees are being built and when this work is done, they will have a farm of 815 acres of fertile land that will be wonderfully productive.
SHIPPED MORE CATTLE: William Miller, a ranchman from Meade, Kansas, purchased about 70 head of registered Hereford cattle. From H.A.Adair and T.R Johnson he secured 28 head; from Ed Links, 18 herd cows and 8 calves; from Ed Stine 10 head; from Frank Painter, 3; from Norton Park, 2. Mr. Miller owns a ranch at Meade and shipped the cattle there in charge of Peter Voorhees.