Newspaper Articles of General Interest

This is from THE POST, Salem, MO., July 30, 1931.
I have capitalized the surnames
CRABTREE CUT BY BUSBY IN ROW AT JOY
Injured Man in Rolla Hospital With Seventeen Slashes
     Nathan CRABTREE was possibly fatally cut Friday afternoon by Ben BUSBY at the latter's home, near Joy.  CRABTREE is now in the Rolla Hospital and BUSBY is in the county jail.
     BUSBY surrendered to Constable Wilbur WALKER and Deputy H. A. YOUNG, late
Friday night, and stated that he ated in self-defense.  He was waiting at his home when the officers went to serve a warrant and freely admitted being CRABTREE's assailant.
     CRABTREE and his wife were visiting at the BUSBY home when a quarrel arose over an old grudge held by the two men.  BUSBY claims CRABTREE struck him in the head with a rock and bruises on his head show that he received one or more blows from some instrument.
     Using a knife, Busby slashed CRABTREE in the back, side and in his chest, inflicting seventeen wounds.  Doctors at the Rolla hospital say some of the wounds entered CRABTREE's lung and that they doubtless will prove fatal.
     First aid was given CRABTREE by Dr. RANDELL of Licking and he was then removed to the hospital in the Spencer ambulance.
     BUSBY stated to officers after his arrest that both he and CRABTREE had been drinking home brew, but that neither of them was drunk.  A charge of feloneous assault with intent to kill was placed against BUSBY, but in the event the wounded man dies this charge will be changed.

On August 27, 1931, THE SALEM POST reported the following:
CRABTREE RETURNS
     Nathan CRABTREE returned Friday to his home near Montauk, after spending several weeks in the Rolla [hospital] as a result of cuts suffered in a fight with Ben BUSBY at the latter's home.  It was thought that CRABTREE would not live when he was taken to the hospital.  The trip to his home was made in the Spencer ambulance. Submitted by Sharon Owen 

From THE SALEM POST, Salem, Mo. October 22, 1931.
BILL WILLIAMS SAYS HE WAS KIDNAPPED
Reports Being Forced to Remain in Cellar from 6 O'Clock Thursday Till 3
O'Clock Friday.
     Bill WILLIAMS of Reynolds County has reported to authorities here that he was kidnapped in Salem Thursday evening and held until 3 o'clock Friday afternoon, only to be released by his captors, who allowed him to retain a small amount of money he had in his possession.
     He told Constable Wilbur WALKER and others here that he came here with his family Thursday for medical treatment for his son and while here he struck up an acquaintance with a man who offered to trade him property in St. James for his farm.  The man, whose name WILLIAMS did not know, offered  to take him to St. James to see the property, but said he could not go until evening, making an engagement with Williams for 6 o'clock.
     When WILLIAMS went to the appointed place near the Bennett Mercantile Company he found that three men were in a car.  He was told to get in the back seat and upon complying with the request was told to sit on the floor and to keep out of sight.  The request was backed up by a revolver and WILLIAMS obeyed.
     A black bag was placed over his face and his hands were tied.  After a ride of considerable length he was taken from the car and placed in a room which he discovered to be a small cellar when he managed to get the bag from his face during the night.
     Friday morning Williams' captors demanded ransom money, but he replied he had no money nor any connections whereby he could get money.  Convincing his captors they could not get any money from him, Williams was again put in the car and taken to Highway No. 19, where he was put out of the car near the Painted Orchard.  From there he walked into Salem to report his experience.
     WILLIAMS told officers he could identify two of his captors, but that he was unable to give an approximate location of the house in which he was kept.
He stated they returned the money he had in his posssession, about $3.60, which they previously had taken from him.
     Williams and his father are well known here and are regarded as reliable men.

  MEMORIALS OF ACCOMPLISHMENT
The Passing of Sligo, Once a Bee Hive of Industry When Great Smelting Furnaces Glowed in Dent County
Another Monument to Achievement or Plans Carried to Fulfillment
(Written by my grandfather, Harold DAILEY and published in the September 1930 edition of MISSOURI. My grandfather was a newspaper man who lived and worked throughout Missouri; he worked for The Salem News in 1930. Dent County surnames mentioned in this article are GOLTA, MCGINNIS and KEY. LPP)
Just as the clank of sledge and chisel, an even half century ago, heralded the construction of a magical city, from whose many furnaces for a period of forty-two years, by day and night, poured molten streams of the purest cast iron, so, today, the same noises of sledges, to which a modern era has added the hiss of acetylene torches, is writing the final chapter in the history of Sligo, Dent County's one-time famous iron city. Within a few more days' time there will be little left, other than a desolate plot of ground, to testify to its former greatness. During the past nine years, little by little, the giant furnaces, the machine shops, the charcoal kilns have been dismantled and removed from the scene of their industry, leaving a mute but undeniably striking evidence of their one-time importance.
To one who views the scene for the first time, standing amid the ruins of the once palatial home of the founder on the crest of the mountain, where, several hundred feet below, runs the course of Crooked Creek in all its beauty of crystal clearness, there comes not so much the vision of ugliness presented by the crumbling brick of the destroyed kilns, the masses of twisted and corroding irons or the oppressive emptiness of the once-humming machine shop, but rather a touch of pathos as one beholds before them the remains of what was once a mighty plan of industry, born of a great vision Sligo has been designated as a " failure," a " ghost city," but it is deserving of none of the appellations, for it does not gave the air of a thing unfinished, or ideas frustrated, but rather a plan that has been carried to completion, a cycle in the order of things that has been filled, and, as is the law of the Universe, has yielded its place. Pathos there is, but only with the knowledge that law is impeachable in its application, whether its subjects be cities, kingdoms, or mere human beings, and with the knowledge of the impossibility of escaping its inevitableness.
So, with the dismantling of the Sligo & Eastern Railroad, which was but one of the actual many industries encompassed by Sligo, but all with a single purpose in view, comes the last stroke in the work of evacuation which has been carried on more or less r egular since the last mighty bar of iron was removed from the glowing furnace in 1921. Nine years Sligo has stood off the inevitable, but the end is now in view, and soon it will become but another of the innumerable tradition s of these ancient Ozark hills.
Established in 1880 by a group of New York capitalists, headed by Edward F. GOLTA, who for many years was its superintendent and guiding genius, Sligo, lying in the almost extreme northeastern corner of Dent County, while not the first nor largest of simi lar enterprises to have been established within the confines of this and the neighboring counties, is the last to pass. There might be mentioned in this instance, Nova Scotia, founded the same year and which, one time, had the distinction of having the largest blast furnace in the United States, and a population well over three thousand; Meramec Springs, with 5,000 people; Midland, founded in 1875; Reedsville, founded in 1871; Midco- there are many, but the longest span of life of any, other than Sligo, was twenty years. Forty-two years the furnaces of the latter belched their sparks of steel from flames fed by the woods from the neighboring hillsides, and for twenty years the Sligo & Eastern, with its wood-burning locomot iv es and with drivers geared directly to the cylinders, unique specimens in the modern age of locomotive building, were used to haul that fuel, and ever and ever was it found necessary to extend its rails, as the timber supply disappeared until at this time more than thirty miles of track have been removed by the workmen.
Operating under the name of the Sligo Furnace Company, which name still appears across the front of the brick building used then as the Company store, and which is in similar use today, 72 k ilns, six rows with twelve to a row were used to transform the wood into charcoal to feed the mighty brick furnaces that, kept at a temperature of 1700 degrees Fahrenheit, turned the rude ore into the moulding beds in a golden stream of molten iron. Here it was cut into " pigs," weighing 85 pounds each, and later removed to the loading sheds where an endless procession of freight road cares carried it to the waiting factories to be made into railroad car wheels, beams or whatsoever demanded the highest grad e of material. So intense was the heat of the great furnaces, fed by the fiery breath of two giant "blow engines," that a system of circulating water was necessary to be carried through them to prevent the walls from burning through, and this same system of circulation was used to cool the " pig beds" where the molten metal cooled. This water supply came from an immense reservoir whose compression pumps drew a ten-inch stream. Whenever the 1700 degree metal cam in touch with the "cool beds"- probably hot enough at the coldest to have burned at the touch - a shower of golden sparks were sent several hundred feet into the air and were visible for several miles. Fifteen to twenty tons were turned off each eight hours, though as much as 100 tons has been pr oduced in a day, coming in as ore one day and going out the next as pig iron. About one third of the ore used was mined locally, while the other was shipped in from northern Michigan.
A force of two thousand men were employed in the various occupation of wood-choppers, " mule-skinners," kiln-tenders, moulders and machinists and two shifts of twelve hours each were run. Mules were used at first to haul the wood from the forests, 227 head of these animals being housed in six large barns on the grounds, and driven in four to six to the team, with a single line. Wood-choppers were first paid at the rate of thirty-three and a third cents a cord, two cords- and they had to be full ones- being a good day\rquote s work for one man. 225,000 bushels of charcoal were used a month and called for an average of 150 cords of wood a day. The average workman, exclusive of the foremen and superintendents, received on an average about a dollar and fifty cents a day.
The entire property, residences of the workmen as well, was owned by the furnace company, and, though the contrary might be expected, there was little lawlessness, no saloons or gambling halls. There was some poker playing and crap-shooting and of course some liquor, but the superintendent was the supreme law of the camp and any man found in trouble promptly lost his job. As a result little lawlessness existed, in the open at least. A school with an enrollment of 200, and a church were maintained as was the company's own electric light plant. The laborers and employees were practically all natives of the surrounding region, but few foreigners ever coming.
The company was a beehive of industry. Tomatoes, corn, and similar canned products were received by the carload. An average stock of $40,000 worth of merchandise was carried. It was no uncommon sight to see twenty traveling salesmen awaiting their turns to sell their merchandise to the store manager.
A complete chemical laboratory was maintained, as was a plant for the making of wood alcohol and lime acetate. It was due to the working of these that an artesian well, 990 feet deep, was drilled that its flow might force off the poisonous waters that we re going into Crooked Creek and killing the fish. Its waters are still flowing from the depths of the earth in as cold and pure a stream as any man ever tasted, and probably it will long remain after the glories of Sligo have been forgotten.
The building of the Sligo & Eastern came in 1901, when it was no longer feasible to haul the fuel for the kilns by mule-power, and due to the fact that there existed seven and eight per cent grades. The four locomotives used, of 60 to 70 tons weight, wer e built for power instead of speed, the locomotion being generated by three upright cylinders placed on the side, near the cab, and to which every drive wheel, even those under the tender, on the one side were connected by cog and piston. The average speed developed was six to eight miles an hour, the maximum, eighteen. At first wood was used exclusively as fuel, but later " stone coal" was shipped in. A large hose was carried in the side of the boiler, and whenever the water level becam low, the hose was removed, slipped into a pool of water at the side of the track and the water siphoned into the boiler. The four locomotives, three cabooses, four cinder cars, 49 wood cars, a steam shovel and a clam shovel made up the rolling stock of the road. The east terminus of the road was at Rulron and the southern terminus at Buick.
Sligo became the possession of the American Car & Foundry Company in 1901, at a reputed price of $400,000, and ceased all operations November 1, 1921, probably the last charcoal furnace in the country to suspend, and it is these owners that are cutting up the locomotives, the tracks and whatever is left and se lling it for junk. The large machine shop has already been divested of its planers, trimmers, saws and the like, and this building and the old hotel, once overflowing with guests, are all of the original structures left. On the crest of the mountain ove rlooking the town, stands the ruins of the once magnificent home of the founder, and later that of the superintendents, and which is said to have cost $35,000 to construct. The foundation is comprised of " slag" or cinders from the furnaces.
Once with a population of approximately 4,000 people, Sligo has diminished into a hamlet of thirty or forty. Only two of the original men employed in the old days of Sligo are still on the payroll of the owners: H. MCGINNIS, for almost forty years master mechanic and later superintendent, and S. O. KEY, for thirty years yard foreman and roundhouse superintendent.

  DENT COUNTY OIL
(Written by my grandfather, Harold DAILEY, who worked for The Salem News in 1930. Copied from original, typed manuscript but not known if published. LPP)
The faith in the oil possibilities of these rugged Ozark hills that inspired a prominent Toledo, Ohio attorney, with more than a quarter of a century of successful law practice to his credit, to give up the environs of ease and plenty; to sever the influ ences and connections thus established and to take upon himself the hardships and uncertainties attending the life of a " wild catter" in territory that nationally known geologists have time after time pronounced as the " driest of the dry" , seems at last about to be jus tified. With each chug-chug of the gigantic steel drill as it revolves and bites away at the sand and rock nearly 1800 feet below the surface of the ground at the Hasten Well, four miles northwest of Salem, MO comes nearer and nearer the realization of the dream of a man, who, if successful - and those same skeptical geologists now acknowledge the existence of a very favorable probability for that success - will have reached the heights through his sublime confidence that "he was right and went ahead", thereby opening to the world Missouri's pioneer oil field.
Some sixteen months ago R. T. GARRISON closed his law office in Toledo, where he had mad for himself a name in the courts of his state through a period of 25 years of successful practice, and came to the Ozark hills of Dent County where his faith in the geological surveys and former drilling activities of a friend, William GEORGE, also of Toledo, indicated the existence of favorable probabilities for the elusive "black gold". That similar enterprises had been undertaken in Dent County over the period of the previous twenty years, all failing for various reasons, and that the big oil interests of the country have repeatedly passed over Missouri as " dry" - these facts and conditions did not deter the indomitable spirit of Garrison in the least. It is not so long ago that the subject of there being oil in Dent County was a standing joke among the natives, but with the advent of the energetic Toledo attorney and his resulting activities at the hasten Well, while perhaps not converting all, the joke has lost some of its zest, and the eyes of all, unbelievers as well as " those of the faith," are turned at this time upon the man who dared assert that there was oil in Dent County, and who has set about to prove his belief.
Knowing nothing of the business of " wild catting" he says so himself - he erected his derrick and drill on a wooded knoll four miles northwest of here in March 1929 and begun operations. From the beginning, misfortune has stalked and attempted to block the course of the intrepid seeker of hidden mysteries. Drills became lost in the hole, cables snapped, there were long delays in the arrival of casing and other supplies, and, finally, his wife became dangerously ill in faraway Toledo and had to be rushed to a hospital to save her life - during all of which time drilling had to be suspended. Then, this spring, an attempt was made from an unknown source, to forever wreck and block further drilling when an iron or steel object, much harder than the natural strata, had to be drilled through at a depth of 1700 feet before further progress could be made on the well.
These and countless other slaps from the hand of Fate were enough to have dismayed and discouraged even the most seasoned prospector , but not R. T. Garrison. With a confidence in his belief that oil does exist in Dent County and that the Hasten Well will be the formal announcement of that fact to the world, coupled with the confidence that he has in the men associated with him in the work- a confidence that is so powerful in its magnitude that it grasps and inspires those with whom he comes in touch - Garrison, "the wild catter extraordinaire", is, in the common belief here today, slowly, it is true, but surely arriving at his goal, a nd this little Ozark town which has heretofore depended upon lumbering and hill side farming for its livelihood, will not be greatly taken by surprise when the actual roar of the gusher breaks upon its ears.
At a depth of nearly 1800 feet, the drills are passing through a lime formation, which in the opinion of B. Livingstone, geologist and intimate friend of Garrison, and who is associated with him in this work, is just above the cap rock formation under wh ich it is believed lies the magical treasure. Already extensive showings of gas are found in each lot drawn from the hole, and the water seethes with bubbles formed by the gaseous elements as they endeavor to escape.
In the meantime, apparently unperturbed by events, Garrison continues with the directing of the activities, and prepares for the task of drilling two other test holes in nearby communities, at one of which the machinery is already on the ground, and eith er one of which, he believes, will vindicate his belief in the oil possibilities of Dent County, and reverse the decisions of those who have so surely voiced the opinions that " thar's no oil in them thar hills" .

News bits from ca 1875, Salem, Missouri, Western Success
W. T. Stepp, J. L. Marcy, Editors.
Date pasted at top of scraps - October 13, 1875.
 
VALEDICTORY.
     For several months past personal affairs have rendered it impossible for us to discharge the duties of an assistant editor.  It was therefore no small relief when a few days since we were informed by Capt. Stepp that he had proposals from Mr. J. L. Marcy, which we might be able to accept.
     In bidding adieu, for the present, to our readers, we cannot but express our thanks for their patronage of the SUCCESS, as well as for the extraordinary good feeling that has existed between editors and readers.
     Mr. Marcy is one of the most fluent writers engaged on the local press, and will devote his entire time to making the SUCCESS a live sheet; and we think we may expect a better paper than it has even yet been. 
     Although quitting the office for the present, my interest in the paper remains the same as heretofore.  The SUCCESS was started by a joint stock company for the purpose of publishing a live local paper in this section of Missouri, and we think it has not been materially excelled by any other paper hereabouts.  The burden of the work has fallen on Capt. Stepp for the last few months, and he has been seriously put to it at times to keep things moving.  The present arrangement, however, will lighten the work of the Captain and give the patrons a better paper.
   Hoping that the SUCCESS may become a marvel in every good work, and my grow in favor with the people, I remain,
                      Very Respectfully,
                          D. R. HENDERSON.

    
OUR GREETING
     The above valedictory from Mr. Henderson, will be read regretfully by the many patrons and friends of the SUCCESS.  In this connection with this paper, Mr. H. has been active, energetic and straightforward, and notwithstanding his flowery compliments to us, and his good opinion of us expressed to the public, we feel loth [loathe] to assume the responsibility of "standing in his shoes."  We shall, however, do our best to make the "local" department of this paper what that page in ever [every] country paper should be--a faithful chronicler of home events, and a motor for good and the advancement of home interests--and with the "Captain" for backing and heavy quilling, we believe a good thing can be made to come out of even "Nazareth."
               J. L. MARCY

 
     --Harry Kirk, our enterprising tobacco man, is keeping a bachelor's hall now.  Mrs. K. is spending a few weeks with her relatives in St. Louis and consequently Thompson don't [won't?] feel so lonesome.
    --We desire to call the attention of the public to the fact that Miss Kate O'Brien is an accomplished musician and that parents will do well to entrust her with the instruction of their children in that branch...
     --"Solid Business" made a terribly reckless invasion of the post-office the other day, and after a few abortive struggles succeeded in getting atop of the cage and delivering his letter into the official hand.  If this thing "intinues" the postmarm will have to get a big dog.
     --Mr. and Mrs. Withaup, Mr. Kirk, Miss O'Brien, Mrs. Pellett and the Junior spent a very pleasant Evening at the residence of Mr. Zehners, the fore part of this week.
     --Mrs. Brandow had the misfortune to lose a valuable plain gold ring last Saturday evening.  The finder will be suitable rewarded on returning it to the owner.
     --The "first nine" met last Friday evening at the residence of Mr. and Mrs. M. L. Bates near the depot.  A general jollification was the consequence.
     --Miss Kate O'Brien desires to announce to her numerous friends that she will be pleased to organize a larger class of pupils in music.  All who desire to arrange with her for instruction during the evening term, will find her at home at the Withaup House.  Terms made known on interview.
     --Last Saturday Evening the Salem acquaitances [acquaintances] of "Jim Livingstone" assembled by his invitation partook of a "frugal meal" and a glass of water at his hotel.  The company united in lauding the High Priestess of the culinary department and that lady returned the compliment by declaring it to be the worst rowdy crowd she ever saw.  The way they played "high Jinks" was a caution to peddlars [peddlers], Good music, fancy dancing, "brilliant speeches," toasts, ballads, operas, chin, and the decoration of each other's faces with flour and blacking, was indulged in till the glaring contrasts became monstrous.  The ladies then secured themselves as they supposed, in the parlor and had a "doe dance."  One of them is a good violinist.  Salah.
     --Mr. J. N. Zehner had the misfortune to be taken seriously ill while in St. Louis last week and returned home in a very enfeebled condition.  He has been confined to his house every [ever] since, but under the prompt and effectual ministrations of Doctor Thompson, he is rapidly [?] his wonted vigor.  
     --Somebody overheard Captain Kenamore telling the postmarm that he was to be married next Sunday to Mrs. Lizzie Durham at the school house about one mile and a-half from the residence of App Young, in the country.  Rev. Ed. Jones, is to be the officiating clergyman.  Kenamore also says that the statement concerning his wearing his wedding suit to Rolla last week is false in every particular.  The widows of Salem are about to hold an indignation meeting and propose to adopt resolutions of general dissatisfaction.
     --Dr. Young and Milo Bates took the ladies out for an airing last Sunday, and in order to combine business with pleasure, they took baskets also and looked for grapes.  On their return they reported the grape crop a failure, but the Dr. was staggering--yes, actually staggering, under two bushels of walnuts which they had stolen from some horny-handed son of toil.  The doctor declares that he never could have walked those two miles with such a load if the sweet smiles and loving comments of the ladies hadn't buoyed him--after the manner of gas in a balloon.
     --Poor Harry Kirk is getting sadly demoralized with so many drummers to contend with.  We hope he will reform soon.
     --Tuesday evening's performance at the Withaup House, stands unrivaled in the history of Salem. Hilton, Taylor, Kirk, Young and Zehner, also Miss O'Brien, favored the crowded saloons of the hotel with good music.  It was a time such as defies the descriptive powers of our old goose-quill, but let it suffice to say that the law-abiding citizens of Salem are in no manner responsible.  It was "them blasted drummers!"
     --Last Friday night, in company with a few kindred spirits, we spent a pleasant evening at Harry Kirk's bachelor establishment.  No cards.  Oysters were in order and Kirk, Clark, Thompson, Carrol, of St. Louis, Hill, Lynch, Ware and the Jr. struggled outside of a dozen cans in true epicurean style.

 
"A HARD CROWD.”
     Last Tuesday when we went to our hotel for the purpose of incorporating into our system our customary allowance of good grub, we were surprised to find all the available chairs occupied by a rather genteel looking crowd of strangers, but whom we afterward learned to be drummers.  St. Louis must have taken an overdose of Hilton's samples, and this large emetic was the result.
     We found in that crown, Mr. Henry T. Vogel, (with C. W. Gauss, & son), W. D. Parrish, (with Lamoureaux, Dreas & Co), P. D. Woodlock, (with B. & J. F. Slevin, & Co.), T. J. Vimont, (with Crow, Hargadine & Co.), Lewis R. Hilton, the "August Flower," (with James, McDonald & Co., Rome, Ga.), Mark Taylor, (with Edward A. Filley), Harry Kirk, (with Clark Bros. & Kirk, of Salem), and Doctor Young, (with Bates, O'Brine & Co., grape hunters).  We were soon made acquainted with those of the party whom we did not know, throrgh [through] the kindness of Mr. Kirk.  Mr. Vogel is a portly and popular boot and shoe man (but he needn't boot us) who has excellent success in dealing with the ladies (though we believe the whole party is up to that.)  Mr. Parrish is perhaps the nicest man in the crowd--at any rate he is a good dancer as he proved afterwards.  Mr. Woodlock--but we needn't waste any of our lead pencil on Woodlock; the girls all know him now.  Messrs. Vimont, Hilton and Taylor, also Kirk and Dock Young are married men and don't claim to be anything else, but if you wish any skeins held or pocket-knives presented to you, ladies just let one of them know it.  When that party all meet again in one place it will be time to bring all sublinary matters to an abrupt close. Blow yer trump, Gabe.  We don't want to stay.

 
Found -- On Colorado Central railway train during the Boulder Fair, a crystal watch charm, containing two photographs.  The owner can have same on application to L. R. O'Brien, Hatten House, and paying charges.

 
---Please pass the "soldier buttons."

 
ANNIE.--There is no use in taking the measure of it with a "yard stick."  If it is long enough to contain him comfortably you may be certain it will not be too short for you.  Go at him.  Its [It's] soon coming leap-year.
KATE.-- Yes, the North Pacific R. R. is very dangerous in the winter, and we should advise you and Mr. B. to postpone your tour until spring.  We advise you also to go to "Keokurk."
HARRY.-- "There is no use crying over spilt milk."  You are doubtless penitent, but your repentance is ineffectual.  You never should have deviated so far from the path of rectitude. The only course left you now is to petition to the Throne of Grace for more strength of character.  Get her the dress and belt of course, if you promised to, and then discard her forever.  You will doubtless be forgiven this time.
POSTMARM.-- We should certainly council you not to take the step without great deliberation.  Wait until you know something more about him.  If he is as must smitten as you say, he will certainly be patient.  Remember that "Jake" worked fourteen years for "Rache," and her folks thought it wasn't a very good match then.  You say he is forty years old, bald and brassy.  Now ascertain if he plays billiards or has corns or is the least bit given to quoting poetry.  If he is, "shake" him.  We don't admire the color of his nose anyhow, and are of the opinion that he's the wrong style of a "hair-pin."
MISS G.-- The duties of a school-marm are certainly arduous.  We think that the young man you speak of is decidedly too fresh.  He should understand the relative positions of teacher and pupil better than to show his preferences for you to the other scholars.
DOCTOR.-- You should have taken your boots before climbing in.  The marks of your toes on the siding is probably what led the landlady to suspicion that you came in late.
FERDINAND.-- Never try it again in public.  Not many Salem girls are willing to be squeezed right before folks.  If she had plunged that case-knife into your pericardium you couldn't have recovered a cent, besides, such demonstrations of regard are liable to be misconstrued and would form a very good basis for a breach of promise suit.
DRUGGIST.-- You can't very well object to paying her board when you consider that you were responsible for the detention and also the number of gate hinges you have ruined during the fiscal year.  Yes, by all means, pay it.
THOMPSON.-- Don't do anything to aggravate him more and you may escape; but should he challenge you, have your second arrange the meeting five miles in the country at sunrise, on Monday.  That'll "get him down" for he can't get up Monday before noon.
MILO.-- If she will persist in haunting you, sending boquets [bouquets] and writing you poetry, and you can't snub her with cool courtesy, eat onions.  If that don't knock the romance all out of her, wear a smallpox badge.  If you can't head her that way, leave the country, and don't tell where you are going.
LANDLADY.-- Check it by all means.  Some of those drummers are young and susceptible, and if you allow [your?] lady boarders to flirt with [them?] [you?] may cause them to build up.....

 
--The following named parties was [were] installed as officers of the order of Good Templars at this place on Tuesday evening, 2d inst:
W T Stepp, W C T., Miss May E Goseline W V T, G A Kenamore P W C T, W McDonald W Sec, J M Bohannon W T, R S Brown W F S, Rev. W D Solomon W Chaplain, Sol Slater W M, Miss Belle Cornwall W I G, Riley Love W O G, M J Bates W A S, Mrs S Slater W D M, Miss Maggie Williams W R H S, Mrs C I Seaman W L H S.

 
--We desire to call the attention of our readers to the stock and business fixtures of our friends the Zehners.  Mr. J. N. Zehner, who has so long and faithfully served the public in the capacity of jeweler, has now passed the vigorous prime of manhood, and though still sound, hale and hearty, he prefers to spend the remainder of his days more tranquilly.  To that end he has enstalled [installed] an active partner in the person of his son, Mr. Ferdinand Zehner, an artist of experience and good taste who has spent years in perfecting his knowledge of the jewelry business, in the largest establishments of the United States.  We have no hesitation in recommending both the senior and junior to our liberal patronage as honorable dealers and competent workmen.  Their stock of watches, clocks, jewelry &c., is large, well-selected and comprehensive.  It is warranted to be just what is claimed for it, and no cheap gew-gaws are palmed off for valuables.  The business will be carried on regularly hereafter and you will always find an obliging gentleman there to wait upon you.

 
--We are pleased to be able to chronicle a visit to our office from Mrs. L. W. Miller, Miss Fannie Mantz and Miss Kate OBrien [O'Brien].  They were attracted by a slight curiosity to see some of Mr. and Mrs. Herndon's wedding cake, also to taste thereof and to take some home to dream over, and not as has been alleged, to see Milo Bates "stick type."
--We have formed in Salem an amateur class of lady printers.  The class consists at present of three members, who are already apt press-women.  All ladies desiring to be enstalled [installed] as members of this class will please call and have their names placed upon the class-book.
--Dock Young says he's been insulted by the impudent, the ignorant and the avaricious many a time, but when a young lady brings him he [the] back piece of an old comb and wants a new set of teeth inserted, just because it was a present from her beau, its [it's] time for him to go west.
--Last Wednesday evening a pleasant company assembled at the Withaup House for a sociable time and an oyster supper; both of which were had in the most exquisite style of the art.  Besides the party who generally participate, we were much pleased to note the presence of Mr. and Mrs. L. W. Miller, Mr. Small, of Washington, D. C., and Mr. Dye, of Eminence.  Nothing of consequence occurred to mar the occasion and a pleasant evening was the unanimous verdict.
--It is amusing to watch the ingenuous expression of countenance the young man assumes when he comes down to a very cold breakfast and the landlady anxiously enquires [inquires] if he was up late.  Oh, no, he "was in bed at 9 o'clock;" when he knows that she has evidence that he slid in at daybreak.
--Doctor Young received a gaudy little charm or vest-chain ornament from an unknown friend.  It came in a neat little package, addressed to him and the joke of the matter is he don't [doesn't] know who sent it.

 
Capt. Kenamore says, that, if it is so great a wonder to Marcy how such a plain man as he could secure so pretty a wife, as he is now a benadiet [?] and has no further use for the art, he will, if Marcy has the necessary cash, learn it to him.  But there is one thing requisite in the make up of the applicant, and that is a good supply of common sense, which he fears will forever barr [bar] the junior editor of the Success.

 
WOODEN WEDDING.
Last Thursday evening our young people prepared a pleasant surprise for Mr. and Mrs. L. W. Miller, in the shape of a party to celebrate the fifth anniversary of their nuptials.  Of course the offerings were wood manufactured into some useful article, and some of them were very suggestive.  For instance: Mr. Lowe presented the little boy a shrill whistle, and his pa instructed him to get on Mr. L's lap and blow it all the evening. Miss Kate O'B. tendered a pair of stout switches with the label, "Let us have peace," and a bundle of kindling.  The switches were for Mr. and Mrs. M. to use on each other.  Mr. A. Clark offered a pair of lasts and a pint of shoe pegs; Mr. Milo Bates, a washboard; Mrs. Pellett, a wooden pipe and a sawdust spitoon [spittoon]; Mrs. Zehner, a water-pail, and the Jr., a base ball bat.  We can't recollect all of the presents, but the above were some of the funniest.  The party enjoyed the evening, played cards, swung, and ate eleven mince pies for Mrs. Miller, and after a very agreeable time, went home at eleven o'clock and made every one along the route think that a lunatic asylum had "busted."

 
--Miss May Gosseline visited her Salem friends last Friday, remaining until Sunday evening.  Her school is in flourishing condition and very much to her liking.
--We are obliged to Mr. and Mrs. Orin Gray, Mr. and Mrs. Gonsolly, Mrs. Pellett and Miss Kate Obrien [O'Brien] for a pleasant call on Wednesday.
--Harry Kirk and Dock Young went "sniping" last Tuesday.
-- "Fries" are a special delicacy only to be found upon the tables of our first-class hotels.
--It was our good fortune to attend a very pleasant little "drop in" party at the residence of Mr. and Mrs. J. N. Zehner last Sabbath evening.

 
THE ALTAR.
     Our genial and gentlemanly friend, E. D. Lowe, is settled at last, and the boys have settled down to the absolute fact that Ed is one of them no more.  The following item tells how it came about:
At the Union Church in Salem, on Wednesday evening, September 27, 1876, by Elder J. E. Godbey, Mr. E. D. Lowe to Miss Fannie Mantz; all of Salem.
We wish the happy bride and groom long life and a golden wedding in the future.

 
---The friends of Miss Kate O'Brien gave her a very pleasant surprise last Monday evening n the shape of a birth-day party.  It was Miss O'B's thirty-ninth anniversary, and she says, the pleasantest she ever experienced.