#8 of a series

From the Past

All information which appears here is attributed to The Louisburg Herald. This issue is about events occurring in the years 1907 and 1934.

1907
Many times I have heard people make fun of the format of small-town newspapers, ridiculing the so and so was an afternoon guest of so and so type of news item typically found in them. In 1907, Charles E. Hind was the editor of The Louisburg Herald. The format he used was quite different; there isnt a single item of local news on the front page and not a great deal of it on the inside pages. Whether this format was typical of his predecessors is not known but Mr. Hind was the editor for only one year. In 1908, the Herald was bought by one of its employees, Adna White, who became one of the most widely known and longest tenured Herald editors since its founding in 1876. August 22, 1907 An announcement from Louisburgs four barbers appears. Presenting a united front, James Overby, P. J. (Phin)Hennigh, J. C. McGuirk and A. Williams announce they will all charge extra for shaving the neck and will close promptly at 8:00 oclock excepting Saturdays. No fewer than nine fraternal organizations publish meeting notices. Meeting places include the M.W.A. (Woodmen) Hall, the K. P. Hall, the Odd Fellows Hall, and the I.O.O. Hall. Joe Dauwe advertises that he has returned to Louisburg and has opened a shop known as Joe, the Tinner, in the Simmons building. Upcoming Base-Ball (with the hyphen) games featuring the Louisburg Athletics against La Cygne on August 25th and the Commercial Nationals of Kansas City, KS, on Labor Day, September 2nd, are announced. Attorney Frank M. Sheridan has an advertisement for legal services. Mr. Sheridan would become known later as one of the defense attorneys in the 1912 McElheny murder case. Death notices include Lula (Cook) Stowers and George B. Breckenridge. Both are buried in the Louisburg cemetery. Mr. Breckenridge, age 37, was killed in a railroad accident between Ottawa and Pomona. (Note: The circumstances of his death, as told in the newspaper article, leave a lot to be desired in the way of credibility. Its hard to imagine that a person could fall so soundly asleep that an approaching steam locomotive would not wake him up in time to move out of its way. In fact, there may have been further investigations into Mr. Breckenridges death as his great-granddaughter was told by her grandmother that foul play may have been involved. I will have to see if I can find more information about this.)

#8 of a series

#8 of a series August 29, 1907 Again, the front page contains nary a local news item. Virtually any other subject one could wish to see appears, from How to Care for Shade Trees to Bible stories about David at Ziklag and the worldwide search for new platinum mines, but no items of local interest. On the inside pages, lots of recognizable names are mentioned:

#8 of a series

#8 of a series

#8 of a series

1934
February 8, 1934 If you zoom this page to about 250%, you should be able to read it. Peter Goebel was a German immigrant who came to the Wea and Louisburg community at age 14, made a fortune and rose to national prominence in the banking industry.

#8 of a series May 24, 1934 A local farmer, Bernard Alonzo (Barney) Morgan, 54, was fatally injured when kicked in the abdomen by a mule. (Note: Barney was the husband of Zina Morgan, a neighbor of my parents who lived in a small house on the southeast corner of what is now S. Broadway and 8th Street. Eddie Perdue built a new house there.) Coleman Wade Truitt, 41, a Louisburg pipeline welder and painter, was killed when the scaffold he was using to paint a 30 ft tall gasoline tank collapsed. A fellow Louisburg man, Jim Stark, was not injured. As Memorial Day was near, a list of veterans buried in the local cemeteries appears. (At least one name was omittedmy great-grandfather Thomas Morgan, a Civil War veteran, buried in the Cashman cemetery.)

#8 of a series Local news tidbits: