April 21, 1898 —
Mattie Aug. Suckstorf is the third pupil of Osmond high school who has succumbed to the dread disease which has prevailed in our midst during the past winter [likely typhoid fever]. The Angel of Death has come the second time to this family this spring. Just two weeks before Mattie died, she followed her sister, Luella, to the grave. This is the third death that has occurred in less than a month. The first was in the primary department; the second in the intermediate; and the last in the grammar department.
100 Years Ago. . .
Little Jean Taylor, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. L. E. Taylor, burned her right foot badly. She stepped into a basket of hot clothes just taken out of the washing machine, with her right foot and the flesh so badly burned that a portion of it peeled off. Her mother took her to Dr. Rodgers at once, who dressed the injury, and little Jean was recovering nicely.
Shortly after 10 in the morning, a fire broke out in the back end of the Gilday barber shop and completely destroyed its contents as well as the Schad cream station in the same building. The building was badly damaged but the prompt and brave work of the Osmond fire boys, who did wonderful work, saved the adjoining buildings. The Gilday family occupied the rooms upstairs and fortunately escaped without injury although they had a narrow escape from the blaze.
Little LeRoy Thomsen, son of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Thomsen, met with a peculiar accident. He and his brother, Wayne, were playing, the latter having a fishing reel with which he was practicing casting. He told LeRoy to get out of the way, as he was going to cast, but the little fellow was not quick enough, and when Wayne made a cast the fish hook struck LeRoy and caught him in the nose, passing through the dividing bone. Dr. Rodgers was called, and clipped off both ends of the fish hook, and pulled it out, and LeRoy was recovering nicely, and was indeed fortunate that he was not more seriously injured. Wayne made a “big catch” that time.
Barney Luebbers of the Luebbers Machine Shop showed the publisher a wolf trap which he had manufactured. It took just three pounds to spring it, and the trap was perfect in every detail. The boys had no pattern to make it by, but nevertheless the trap was the equal of a factory made trap, and the work spoke very highly for their mechanical ability.
75 Years Ago. . .
Osmond’s Tigers, described in one daily paper sports sections as the “Giant Killers,” moved past their second Elkhorn Valley league game with a clean slate and an 8-1 victory over Randolph on the losers’ diamond. Osmond had previously taken the season’s opener from the previous year’s league champs, Clearwater, by a 3-1 score on the home diamond.
No clues were apparent that might lead to the locating of Dick Haas who mysteriously disappeared the previous week (May 28) from the Newton Lingenfelter farm between Osmond and Plainview where he was employed. Legionnaires in surrounding towns had conducted a search and investigation for the man. He reportedly left his clothes and car at the Lingenfelter home. A baby girls was born to the wife of the young man at St. Joseph Hospital here on May 20. [A subsequent search of the Osmond Republican could find no clues to the answer to this mystery.] An informed source who refused to be quoted said that a 34-year- old woman taken into custody for investigation when she was found sleeping in a grove west of Plainview apparently would not be detained. She was taken to Neligh for interrogation. She said she was Miss Janet Meyer of Los Angeles, enroute to Cheyenne, WY. She may have spent the preceding night sleeping in one of Theisen Bros. truck cabs at Osmond. She was seen by driver Tom Goodman leaving the truck early one morning. She boarded the John Loeding bus that day and left it at Plainview. A suitcase she had when in Osmond was cached west of Plainview and contained nothing to warrant holding the woman.
What might have been a huge elevator loss in building and merchandise was averted by a stroke of good fortune and efficient fire department work. The scene was the Osmond Seed, Feed & Grain Co. elevator on highway 20 at the southwest edge of Osmond, owned and operated by Boyd Edwards.
65 Years Ago. . .
Someone pulled two trees from their newly planted position in Osmond’s swimming pool park and stuck the tree tops in the ground with roots up to the sun. Robert Kumm, who with Paul Kumm planted the trees a few weeks earlier, discovered the vandalism. In the name of common respect for property, the men, in behalf of the organizations they represented, pled for cessation of such senseless practices.
New permanent vinyl awnings were installed on the obstetrics wing, the office and a few other parts of St.
Joseph Community Hospital here. The awnings were so constructed that they repelled rain and sun but permitted free circulation of air. Dr. C. E. Rodgers donated $100 toward the purchase of the new awnings. Sr. M. Laurentine, hospital administrator, said that $140 from a recent Osmond Theatre benefit show would also go to pay off the bill.
Osmond’s newly- organized Midget baseball team, getting the feel of things at the beginning of the season, dropped a 15-13 game to Plainview. The host nine took a commanding 11-2 lead in the second inning but the local Midgets came back to within two scores of a tie by the end of seven innings. Battery for Osmond was Marty Hansen and Gene Burlingame. Team manager Fred Weiand commended Syd Moore for insisting on finishing his time at bat after he took a hard ball to the head.
Certain employees of Theisen Bros., Osmond contracting firm were to vote on June 8 whether or not they wished to be affiliated with the International Union of Operating Engineers, Local No 571. The employees affected were the ones employed on the Interstate project in Lancaster County. They numbered 14. Some 30% of the Theisen men employed there had requested a vote. Fifty percent of voters plus one man had to vote in favor of union affiliation if a change was to be made. In a later news article, local bookkeeper for the firm Jim Stratton said that, of 13 voting, 10 voted against unionization while three voted in favor.
50 Years Ago. . .
Senior Dave Fuelberth completed his high school track career by participating and placing in the state track meet. Dave placed sixth in the triple jump with a leap of 43 ft., 3 in.
When Mrs. Albert Sukup came to Osmond to remove the flags from light poles in the business district, she had two less than were put up that morning. It was apparently the work of vandals. While the flags had begun to show wear and replacement of them had been discussed, most concerned citizens expressed a feeling of dismay at the lack of respect for the American flag when informed of the missing flags. In addition, the Osmond post office reported that viewing glasses in eight boxes at the local post office were broken. And more — Osmond Skelly Service was considering closing its car wash facility in the evenings because of constantly recurring vandalism.
With the issue of June 9, 1976, the Osmond Republican converted to the offset method of production. Since its inception in 1890, the Republican had been produced by the letter press or hot metal process. The new method of offset could best be described as a photographic process. The contents of the newspaper would be compiled, the type set and page makeup done at the Republican plant. However, actual printing of the copies would be performed at a central printing plant in Neligh, then mailed from the Osmond post office.
25 Years Ago. . .
Remember the white goose which had made its appearance in downtown Osmond several weeks earlier? Well, she wasn’t just any goose. She had a home on a farm near Osmond, was uprooted, and made a valiant effort to return. And she made it! “Mother Goose,” as she was known by the Greg and Lisa Kralicek family. She was very protective of the children — a little too protective, and when one of the kids fell and grandma Joan Gansebom went to help, the goose nipped her. The family thought it best to find a new home, so she went to Ron Korth’s farm south of McLean. Long story short, she escaped and ended up in Osmond, and the family, seeing the effort she made to come back, took her home.
10 Years Ago. . .
Max Frank set a new standard for future Tiger football players as he was the first Osmond Tiger to ever play in the Nebraska Shrine Bowl, which brings the 70 best high school senior football players, regardless of class, together to play a game to help benefit the Shriners and all their positive programs.
