130 Years Ago
Sept. 9, 1892
During the heavy rain storm Wednesday afternoon lightning struck a rather unpleasant proximity to here, but for a fortunate chance, there would have been human life in danger. The old Dempsey store building on north Box Butte avenue was selected as a mark by the destroying bolt, being struck at the northeast corner. A large hole was torn through the roof, glass broken and that part of the house badly wrecked. The lower story of the building was used as a dwelling by J. A. the painter and his wife just stepped over to W. W. Norton’s store. Had she been at home she could scarcely have escaped injury.
125 Years Ago
Sept. 10, 1897
Mrs. A. S. Enyeart died last Monday at her home eight miles northwest of Hemingford, and interment took place Wednesday at Marsland. The deceased lady left a family of eight small children, one of whom was a baby but eight days old.
120 Years
Sept. 16, 1902
Dr. W. K. Miller lost a valuable driving mare under peculiar circumstances. Charlie Mathews and wife were out driving in the evening and the mare becoming frightened at a passing team, reared up once or twice breaking a buggy shaft, when Mathews unhitched her and led her to the barn, she reared up and fell over once on the way home. Getting to the barn the mare reared up once more and tumbled backward dead.
115 Years Ago
Sept. 17, 1907
A couple of Italians with two trained bears were amusing the younger generation and some of the older people on the street Saturday evening. The Italians had walked all the way from Hemingford to Alliance that day, but did not seem to be too tired to give their performance. The bears were of the cinnamon species and would weigh between three and four hundred pounds apiece.
110 Years Ago
Sept. 13, 1912
Frank O’Neil of Bingham was stabbed Sunday night at Bingham and a few hours later arrived in Alliance for medical attention. He claims the man who stabbed him is known to him and that he is certain his assailant first thought he was another man. Mr. O’Neil stated that when he had recovered he would return to Bingham and prosecute. The man attacked him from the rear, and made several stabs at him. The most serious injury was in the back, where a gash was made clear to the bone, and about 1 ½ inches long. An ear was cut a little and a slight scalp wound made on the back of his head. When Mr. O’Neil arrived in Alliance he was bleeding profusely and the physician who cared for him said it was a wonder that he was able to travel at all, from the loss of blood. A few days’ stay in the hospital was all that was required.
105 Years Ago
Sept. 14, 1917
Five days have passed since Elliot Beaumont was thrown from his horse near his home at Girard and he still remains unconscious. Severe cuts on his face and head bear witness of the accident, but his relatives have been unable to learn just what happened. In his delirium he calls of the danger of “the wheels” and from this they are lead to believe that he may have encountered an automobile in the dark. The young man left Hemingford at eleven o’clock Sunday night for his home six miles away. He was not expected that night and no concern was occasioned by his absence. At six o’clock Monday evening a neighbor’s child found him near the road where he had struggled for nearly twenty-four hours. His face was swollen until he could not be recognized and the presence of some mail for the family was all that determined his identity. His overcoat was torn to shreds and he received injuries which make his recovery doubtful. Attendants stay constantly at his side and until he regains consciousness nothing will be known of the cause of the accident unless his horse stumbled and fell and trampled the rider.
100 Years Ago
Sept. 14, 1922
Mrs. C. E. Slagle suffered a sprained foot, several bruises and scratches Thursday afternoon when, in passing the driveway into the Lowry & Henry garage, she was struck by a Stutz roadmaster driven by Mrs. Bernard Holsten. Mrs. Slagle was carried several feet on the bumper of the car, and was rendered unconscious by the shock. The accident happened about 4 p. m. It was a very narrow escape from serious injury.
95 Years Ago
Sept. 13, 1927
When a woman driving a Ford coupe suddenly darted out in front of his car from a little side road leading from the state park, George Mintzer was forced to turn to the left and managed to avoid hitting the coupe squarely but his own car turned over on the Chadron highway on returning from the ball game at Chadron Sunday. George was hauling some of the baseball boys back from the game. His car rolled over and was damaged to the extent of a broken running board and two smashed fenders. Charles Griffis received a minor cut on the left arm, but others escaped injury. The coupe was driven by Grace Miller of Chadron. George Mintzer has been driving a car for 18 years and this was his first accident. The woman admitted that she was to blame for the crash, according to occupants of the Mintzer car.
90 Years Ago
Sept. 13, 1932
Billy, eight-year-old son of Henry Fisher, 810 Cheyenne, was knocked down and hurt Friday evening when struck by an auto driven by LeRoy Sutton. The boy was dazed for about six hours and was bruised slightly about the head and body. His condition improved rapidly, according to Dr. H. A. Copsey. The accident occurred at Tenth and Big Horn. Sutton was arrested by police officers who allege that he sped away from the scene of the accident leaving the injured boy in the street. Sutton was released on bond and will face charges at a hearing before Police Judge Jeffers on September 28. He is charged by County Attorney Hein with driving an auto while under the influence of liquor and causing injury while driving.
85 Years Ago
Sept. 14, 1937
When R. C. Athey of Hemingford brought a strange ferocious looking bug into the agricultural agent’s office to have it identified, employees in the office were a bit afraid of it, but entomologists at the University of Nebraska were overjoyed to see it, according to word received Saturday from Myron H. Swenk. Scientifically the bug is known as “stenopelmatus fuscus” and is rarely found in Nebraska. In fact Mr. Athey’s specimen is the third in the state ever reported to the university. According to Mr. Swenk the bug is related to the “Mormon cricket” – which is really not a cricket. It lives underground and rarely comes out in the open unless drowned out. Mr. Athey found the bug while he was excavating a cellar.
80 Years Ago
Sept. 15, 1942
Jenkins Butler, Alliance hotel porter, was fined $500 by County Judge P. E. Romig this morning on a charge of selling liquor without a license. Butler was arrested Monday by Verne Copsey and L. M. Buss, state liquor officers, who caught him bootlegging the liquor. He was able to pay a portion of the fine, and was given his freedom. Remainder of the fine will be paid on an installment basis, according to the arrangements made. He was also placed on two years probation.
75 Years Ago
Sept. 16, 1947
Glen Worley of Worley’s Studio was awarded the blue ribbon at the Professional Photographers’ convention held in Omaha last week. Exhibits were made by leading photographers in both Iowa and Nebraska. The photograph which won the high honor was a face profile pose by Miss Shirley Fahrenbrush, cashier at the Alliance theatre, and a senior at Alliance high school. Miss Fahrenbrush is a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Fahrenbrush of 318 Sweetwater avenue.
70 Years Ago
Sept. 13, 1952
Jack Essex, 12-year-old Alliance youth, has been selected by the national Pop Warner Foundation of Philadelphia as center fielder on the third annual midget baseball All-America team for the second straight year, it was announced today. The Alliance lad, regarded as the outstanding baseball player in the summer recreation Old Timer program, was one of 14 youths throughout the nation to be picked on the All-America squad.
65 Years Ago
Sept. 17, 1957
Don Sherlock, 19, emerged from a wreck with no injuries about 1 a. m. today after it went off the West Tenth Road and rolled over three times. He was driving west and apparently went to sleep about eight miles west of Highway 2. Sheriff Matt Berg said the car traveled 362 feet from where it left the road until it stopped. Sherlock stayed in the car through its triple roll. He was alone. The car is owned by his mother, Mrs. Bessie Sherlock, who lives on a farm southwest of Alliance.
60 Years Ago
Sept. 15, 1962
The race horses will kick up their last Alliance dust for another year late this afternoon after the fifth and final 9-race program at Sandhillo. Post time is 2 p. m. and the horsemen will be pulling out all the stops in this final effort that includes eight thoroughbred contests and one 300 – yard sprint for quarter horses. A crowd of 1,170 in perfect Friday weather wagered $48,253, as compared with the total of $52,053 a year ago.
55 Years Ago
Sept. 14, 1967
Sunday, at 12:01 a. m., the switchover to dial telephones will take place, according to officials of the Hemingford Telephone Company. Also the new long distance (Extended Area Service or EAS) will go into effect at the same time. The EAS service is a joint project with Northwestern Bell Telephone Co., of Alliance.
50 Years Ago
Sept. 14, 1972
Ten Nebraska counties have been named winners of 1972 Mid-America Livestock Classic Awards based on increased grain production and its use though livestock. Box Butte, Buffalo and Dawson counties won categories in statewide comparisons. Box Butte County ranked first in feed conversion to livestock and livestock products with a 72.2 per cent increase for 1971 over its five-year average.
45 Years Ago
Sept. 16, 1977
Dedication of the new National Weather Service radar observatory at Alliance will take place next Friday. The facility here is the latest in a network of 59 weather radar stations that monitor significant weather 24 hours per day, seven days a week. It is a modern, solid state type and is one of five installed this year by the Commerce Department’s National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration, parent agency of NWS, to fill major gaps in weather radar coverage. Alex Koscielski is the meteorologist in charge of the facility located at the Alliance Municipal Airport.
40 Years Ago
Sept. 14, 1982
The Box Butte United Way will kick off its 1982 fall campaign fund drive with a health fair. The fair will be held in the Mini Park at Third and Box Butte in Alliance. Participants of the fair will be Box Butte General Hospital Home Health Services, a Dental hygienist, and all the agencies who will receive funds from the United Way in 1983. The hospital will provide personnel who will take blood pressure tests and lung capacity tests.
35 Years Ago
Sept. 14, 1987
The Forest Carmine Ranch, south of Alliance near Angora, has a foreign visitor who will spend a month learning ranching methods. His name is Laurencio Jose Leal Lobo, 20, and is from Argentina. He is in Nebraska through the Educational Resource Development Trust in Los Angeles. Lobo lives on a ranch near Gualeguaychu which is about 150 miles north of Buenas Aires. “It’s an old ranch,” he said. “About 100 years old. My piece is not too big. It’s about 2,000 acres. The ranch is situated on the pampa (plains) which is covered with rich grass. Lobo said because of heavy rainfall (about 40 inches a year), his operation feeds one cow and one calf per acre. Carnine said Lobo will visit the Vic Krause Ranch and the Steve Messersmith ranch during his stay in Nebraska.
30 Years Ago
Sept. 11, 1992
Five Alliance High School Computer Club members earned second place honors in the computer competition at the Nebraska State Fair last weekend. Seniors Derk Benisch and Shawn Schaffert; juniors Amy McDuffie and Sarah Binns; and sophomore Ann Wyman competed last Saturday against 13 other teams from across the state. In the past, the computer teams had an hour and a half to correctly write as many programs as they could. This year, the programs were judged on correct programming techniques and design. Sponsor of the AHS Computer Club is Leonard Hartman.
25 Years Ago
Sept. 13, 1997
The skeleton found in the former Independent Order of Odd Fellows (IOOF) Lodge building on August 28 was owned by the lodge. New York Life agent Ellen Feldges and attorney Karen Ditsch, former and present tenants of the building, contacted police after they located the skeleton and two caskets in a storage area. According to Wayne Colgrove of York, Nebraska, Grand Secretary of IOOF, a skeleton is used in a degree ritual for lodge members. Colgrove explained it is a symbol, such as a rose, that symbolizes how a person is here today and gone tomorrow.
20 Years Ago
Sept. 12, 2002
Gary Nepper prepares to raise, then lower the American and Nebraska flags to half mast yesterday at Grandview Elementary School as staff members display a quilt made by the students during a ceremony commemorating the one-year anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Grandview teacher Roxanne Foster left today to take the quilt to NYC where she will present it to students at Ground Zero School. The quilt was signed by Grandview students on panels forming the shape of Nebraska. Pins mark the location of Alliance.
15 Years Ago
Sept. 14, 2007
Tim Narjes, MD, 29, has recently begun his medical practice at the Sandhills Family Center just north of Box Butte General Hospital. He is a family practitioner having completed his residency at the Lincoln hospitals in June. Narjes is a Sidney native who was raised on the family farm near there and graduated from Sidney High School.
10 Years Ago
Sept. 14, 2012
In observance of Adult Education and Family Literacy Week, the Adult Education Class met for a “book celebration” on Thursday morning. Adult Education Instructor John Miller explained that the students are required to complete 30 minutes of reading at the outset of each class meeting. Students then meet each Thursday to describe and discuss the events or concepts in the books that they have chosen.
5 Years Ago
Sept. 13, 2017
A giant inflatable arch at Highland Park Care Center marks the start and finish of Saturday’s Walk to End Alzheimer’s. More than 100 people participated in the 2-mile walk with young and old joining to raise money to fight the disease.