October 15, 1896 –
Frank Pochop who lives northwest of town, in Thompson precinct, came near meeting with a fatal accident on Friday morning. The lightning struck his house, coming down the chimney, going through the floor, stunning Mr.
P. into insensibility.
100 Years Ago. . .
Many of the farmers around here and elsewhere had wondered at the unevenness in height of the corn in 1924, but Frank Schlangen discovered the cause, the root louse, a small green bug which destroys the roots of the corn and kills it out.
It picks out certain corn stalks in the field, and wherever it works on one kills it out or stunts the growth, which accounted for the many short stalks of corn that year, and the vacant places in the fields. It seemed to be worse on corn ground that was replanted to corn than on stubble fields. Ants appeared to be the natural enemy of the root louse, and would kill them off whenever they could get at them.
Fritz Eggert told the newspaper than 30 years before (1894), July 26 was the hottest day he had ever seen. It was 112 in the shade. He also said that the coldest day he ever saw was Jan. 12, 1888 [the great blizzard of 1888], when the thermometer registered 40 below.
Coleson-Holmquist completed the mammoth undertaking of moving the McCaull-Webster elevator, which they purchased, to their location, where their elevator stood. They moved the huge structure without taking it to pieces, over the sidewalk and through the telephone and light wires, and had it in place and ready to put on the foundation. It was a big undertaking but everything went off as smooth as clockwork, and they were ready with a new dump, and bins remodeled, although it was going to be some time before they had all the work completed.
75 Years Ago. . .
Vernon and Mrs. Kreycik and their daughter Karen Ann were leaving
Osmond to make their home on the
Kreycik ranch some 20 miles east of Valentine. Mr. Kreycik had been part owner and manager of the Osmond Oil Co. His interest in the oil concern was sold to Walter Warneke, Donald Hetrick and Leo Goger.
M. T. Liewer retired after 15 years as postmaster at Osmond because of age and completion of the 15 years in this capacity. Taking over as acting postmaster was Norman Windeshausen, who for seven years had been assistant in the office.
Henry Johannsen, young Osmond farmer, was brought to Osmond for first aid treatment after he received a badly-smashed finger while loading stock at the John Mass farm three miles east of town. Johannsen was taken to Norfolk where the second finger of his left hand was taken off at the first joint. The accident occurred when his hand was caught between a truck and loading chute.
Crawdads scampered (or whatever crawdads do when they move) on the streets of Osmond one morning.
Their coming, no doubt, had some connection with the heavy downpour which came in the dark hours of the morning. Nobody knew just what. Maybe persons who argue that it rains such things had a better talking point now. And here’s a story to top all of them. The marine life was not confined to crawfish. Bruegman & Reed, grocers, displayed a 6-inch bullhead which they said was picked up on the street not far from the post office. Another of similar size had been run over by a car.
65 Years Ago. . .
Mr. and Mrs. Leo Folkers were writing letters when a blinding flash crossed the room with a shower of sparks during an electrical storm.
They rushed outdoors and saw a large cottonwood had been struck and the sparks had crossed to their house.
The tree was blackened but did not begin burning.
Sgt. Roberg L. Brunckhorst and son Bobby of Fort Dix, N.J.
were spending a 20-day leave with
his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Robert Brunckhorst Sr. Sgt. Brunckhorst, a member of the Army’s AWOL apprehension team, was going to report to his new duty station in Germany following this leave.
Robert’s brother Harold was also a serviceman in the U.S. Navy and was going to be leaving for Japan.
The brothers planned their leave that they might have this meeting. Sgt.
Brunckhorst was widowed a year earlier. His 2-year-old son was going to accompany him to Germany.
Osmond’s biggest craft on newly- formed Lewis & Clark Lake was a 10 by 20-foot houseboat built at West Lumber and Coal Co. for its manager, Phil Beckwith. Most of the construction work was done by Mr. Beckwith and Ferd Blohm, an employee. The new boat was launched from the Niobrara ferry dock several miles east of Niobrara.
Flotation was provided by tandem rows of welded 30-gallon barrels.
The boat had an insulated cabin with some of the comforts of home.
Five nuns who served St. Joseph Hospital here in varying capacities enjoyed one of their infrequent outings. Also in the party were The Rev. Father Wm. Lordemann, his father, and his sister, Miss Helen Lordemann, and Darrel Petsche. Mr.
Petsche, Coleson-Holmquist Co. manager, treated the party to a trip up Lewis & Clark Lake in his cruiser, Lucky Lady.
50 Years Ago. . .
The McLean school reunion and picnic was held July 14, 1974, at the school auditorium with 150 in atten - dance. The classes of 1925 and 1949 were the honored classes. Members of the 1925 class present were Lyle Shipley of Denver, Earl Shipley of
Norfolk and Miss Milda Kramaer and Barney Finck of McLean. A
gold bell was given to each of this group. Members of the 1949 class present were Dean Reichert of Rapid City, Carl Johnson of Plainview and LaVerle Korth and Arlan Koehler of McLean. A trophy case, designed by Bob Kent of Randolph, and a chair coat rack were given to the school in memory of Martha and Pat Galvin by their children.
The Eager Beaver 4-H Club met for its regular meeting at the Andrew Weeder home. A quiz was given to the dairy members. The group toured the Weeder feed yard and examined the beef project. The girls judged muffins and coffee cake.
Fun, thrills, laughter and a few bumps and bruises were the sights, sounds and feelings exhibited at the Jaycee donkey ball game. A crowd estimated at more than 700 enjoyed the hilarities as the Country Jaycees outplayed, or rode, the City Jaycees, in the five to seven ball game.
25 Years Ago. . .
One of the events of Osmond Summerfest was naming the Osmond Outstanding Citizen for the year. The 1999 honor went to the 84-year-old founder of Petersen & Son, Inc. and Petersen Transfer — Loyal Petersen.
Summerfest '99 featured the first Osmond Cream Can Cookoff. A number of chefs prepared cream cans of meat and vegetables which were served to some 600 guests as the evening meal. Three judges sampled the cuisine to choose a champion chef.
First place went to Gene Pfanstiel of Randolph. Placing second was Virgil Schultze of Plainview, with Cheryl Kiichler of McLean third. Serving as judges were Kelly Laughlin of radio station KEXL in Norfolk and Charlie Smith and Julie Joyce of Osmond.
10 Years Ago. . .
The HOME Team's 2014 Fun Run was held Aug. 2, beginning at the city hall. There were two divisions — the 5K and the obstacle course. Those in the 5K race started as a group, with Cameron Moes coming to the finish line first. Those in the obstacle course did not compete against one another as far as who came in first, but there was a competition among those wearing costumes, with Jessie Seifert of Battle Creek named best-dressed and Amber Pfanstiel of Osmond and Toni Peters of Pierce winning best-dressed team.
