We had a shindig at the ranch recently in celebration of our 125th. The year 1888 must of been a progressive one as we share the anniversary with the Nebraska Cattlemen, the closest “metropolis” (Alliance), National Geographic and Limited Edition Bourbon. Dealing with family for a year or two can be a headache; but a 125 years (?!?!), it definitely provided an excuse for a big party.
The evening was perfect, and it was great to hear some of the old stories that were being told. One of the gifts we received was a copy of a letter that my great great grandfather had written in 1918. The story was that there were some individuals that were wanting to divide Sheridan County into north and south. My great great grandfather AM Wilson, was admittedly against it and got into a wordsmanship game with the editor of the Antioch News. Editorial titles of “County Division Propaganda a Myth Advocated by Mythicals for Selfish Purposes Only” and “Hear the Mad Bull Bellow” were entertaining and effective as the county decided not to divide. I included a copy of one of the editorials by AM.
Editor Rushville Standard:
Dear Sir: Kaiser Broom of the Antioch News seems to have been frosted a little following my letter to your paper a short time ago, expressing my views in regard to dividing the county. I tried to state the facts as they actually exist. I hadn’t intended to start a mudslinging game, but as the New editor has made some statements which are the blackest kind of lies, I will try to correct them.
First he says: ” Do we want old fossils and stiffs to dominate?” No, Mr. Broom, certainly not. The county affairs should not be trusted with the property owners and tax payers, but should be taken over by office seekers, hoodwinkers and rotten political shysters of Mr. Broom’s calibre, who would like to hold down a cushioned chair and do the wind work while the old stiffs go down in their pockets to carry out his own selfish schemes. Indeed it would be lovely for the old fossils to empty their pockets into his-he might flop his wings harder in the 400 class. He likes to do the dominating himself, but wouldn’t soil his white hands to help make those good roads he speaks of. I, with my men and teams, have been out doing road work while perhaps this popular Broom was guzzling down beer or playing a game of poker or perhaps was in the Times office in Alliance begging the editor not to publish his name when he and his poker friends “got pinched.” I advocate good roads and bridges across the streams but I believe in using a little judgment in building them. We can’t expect to have macadamized roads in the sand hills, but the man who says I am afraid to spend a few dollars for modern and progressive improvements is only wasting gas. Talk about progressiveness, a $5000.00 court house would certainly denote it. It would be a disgrace to the country. Also the sand hill towns have nothing to do with the value of ranch land, the valuation depending largely on the demand for our products in the east and foreign countries. The News editor also states the almighty dollar is my ideal and the statement is pretty far fetched when he refers to family affairs, and I will be explicit enough to say my family comes as near to having what they want as any family in the county and I may also add when my family asks for Mr. Broom’s sympathy along those lines will be plenty soon enough for him to grant it. The News editor refers to me as an old stiff. I wonder if the dear boy really knows what he’s talking about? In the hospitals they call the “dead ones” stiffs but, my dear Mr. Broome, I’m a very lively corpse yet and as for my being an old fossil, unpatriotic and unprogressive, I’ll show the stubs to my checks to the Red Cross and Liberty Loan alongside of his any time.
-AM Wilson
They sure don’t write like they use to!