Omaha memories; recollections of events, men and affairs in Omaha, Nebraska, from 1879 to 1917

Preface

In writing these Recollections of Omaha, it was not my intention to snbmit a history of Omaha, nor an Autobiography; nor is this work intended as such. It is just what the title claims to be: 'Omaha Memories — Recollections of Omaha from 1879 to 1917. of Events, Men and Affairs," with comments.

In it I have not sought to throw bouquets at some men and brick-bats at others; nor confining myself to the old settlers only, but to new ones us well. In the brief biographies here given, which were written by myself and not a line by another, I have written from my own personal knowledge of the men, aside from the information given me by them as to age and place of birth — nothing else of which have they had prior knowledge of or been consulted, or asked to pay for. It contains no advertisements, and but one photograph, that of my own.

This book is written partly from memory and partly from a diary kept by me during the past 36 j'ears, and is not intended as a money-making scheme, for I do not expect to make one dollar from its sales. I will feel that I am amply rewarded for my two years' labor (that of 1915-16) should the present generation, those living here as well as those who formerly resided here, derive some pleasure in reviewing the events of the past, and the future generation gain a knowledge of the marvelous growth of Omaha and the changes that have taken place in it from 1879 to 1917.

ED. F. MOREARTY.

OMAHA

The meaning of the word Omaha is, "Above all others— upon a stream" — an Indian word, E-roma-ha. Tradition has it that two tribes of Indians had a great many years ago met on the Missouri River, and engaged in a hostile encounter, in which all on one side were killed but one, who had been thrown into the river. Rising suddenly from what was thought to be a watery grave, he lifted his head above the surface and pronounced the word "Omaha" which had never been heard before. Those who heard it adopted it as the name of their tribe. How much truth there is in the story I do not know, suffice it to say that it has past as current.

It is generally conceded that the first white man to locate in Omaha was in 1854. The late William P. Snowden has assured me on various occasions that he was that man, although I am not vouching for the accuracy of the statement. Be he the first, or someone else, I am exceedingly thankful to the man or men who were the original founders of this city, and for many reasons; among them might be assigned: Because I have spent nearly two-thirds of my life in it, and because it is the best city in the world in which to live and raise a family; because it is the metropolis of one of the best agricultural states in the Union, the one possessing the least illiteracy.

Because it is in the geographical center of the United States, through which passes the channels of commerce from the rockbound coast of Maine to the Golden Gate of California, and from the snow-capped mountains of Canada to the pleasant glades of Florida; because it has the most even and healthful climate of any spot in the United States s because it is the second primary live stock market of the world; because it is the fourth primary grain market of the world; because its jobbing trade in 1916 was $188,000,000; because its factory output for 1916 was $219,000,000; because it is the greatest creamery producing city in the world.

Because in 1999 it will have a population of 1,000,000 people ; because it is the greatest lead ore reducing city in the world because it is the second primary corn market in the world because it is the greatest sheep feeding market in the world because it has the broadest streets and best kept of any city of her size in the United States; because it has more palatial resi- •dences and the greatest number of home owners in proportion to population than any other city in the world; because it has the most extensive, best equipped, best service street car system in the world ; because it has the most schools and most efficient teachers in this nation.

Because it is the best-governed city in the Union ; because it is the most lively, progressive, commercial city on the map ; because it has more churches, with more members, than any city of her size in the Avorld ; because it has the most contented homogeneous class of people on this continent — in short, it is the birthplace of one of the best women in the world, the mother of eight of the finest children in all Oniaha's 200,000 inhabitants (all born and raised and educated in Omaha) — Mv Wife.

My love for Nebraska can be no better expressed than in the following lines from Adam Breed :

Nebraska land, Nebraska land,

I love your waving fields; Nebraska land, Nebraska land,

I love your golden yields; It matters not where I may be,

What foreign fields I roam.

You'll always be most dear to me.

I love you 'cause you're home.

u

Chapter I

On the loth day of January, 1880, I 'arrived in the City of Omaha, Nebraska, direct from my native city, Knoxville, Tennessee, where I was born August 11, 1860, so that on my arrival here, I had not yet attained my majority. I knew nothing of Omaha, in fact, I had scarcely heard of it except from what I had read in the Omaha Herald, copies of which Avere in the reading room of the Knoxville Public Library. I did not knoAV a living soul in Omaha the day I landed here; had but little money and finding myself a stranger in a strange land, it behooved me to look for Avork. I had no trade or profession, the last Avork that I did Avas on my father's farm on BeaA'er Creek, tAveh^e miles Avest of -KnoxA'ille, near the Blue Ridge Mountains. My earlier education I obtained in the public schools of Knox County, and later took a four-year course in the Christian Brothers' College, in a little toAvn called Dingle, in County Kerry, Ireland, from Avhich place I graduated in 1876,. Feeling that I had no pull it became necessary for me to resort to push, and to take that Avhich most readily presented itself. In my tra\'els seeking Avork, I finally came to Avhere • Duffy Brothers Avere digging out the cellar of the big brick building on the southeast corner of Thirteenth and Harney Streets, Avhich is still standing and Avhich for years Avas occupied by the AA'holesale grocery of Steel, Johnson & Co. At this place I asked for a job shoveling; upon inquiry as to Avhether or not I had a "shebble" (shoA^el) I said I had neither "shebble" nor money to buy one, so the boss found one for me and I proceeded to Avork. The job lasted for three days and I received the munificent sum of $4.50. My boarding-house and the one AA'here I had taken niA- first meal and first night's lodging Avas at 1314 LeaveuAvorth Street, a tAvo-story building, dignified AA'ith the title of ''Wallanze Hotel," OAvned by jMichael Wallanze — yet living.

The summer of 1880, in Omaha, was one of the hottest and dustiest I haA'e cA^er experienced, and this city had just begun to recover from the grasshopper blight from AA'hicli the entire state had suffered for a number of years. The city Avas then claiming to have a population of 30,000 inhabitants and Avas about to attain the dignity of having a AvaterAvorks system, of Avhich I will treat later on.

HoAvever, resuming my story of securing a job (not a position), after much effort I acquired one at the Omaha Nail Works, Avhich Avere located betAveen Sixteenth and Seventeenth Streets and the Union Pacific tracks. There Avere about one hundred and tAventy-five men Avorking there and nearly fifty nail machines, Avith a daily capacity of tAvo hundred kegs of nails. This concern Avas established in 1879 and Avent out of business in

1883; it was a stock company, the majority of stock being owned by the Creightons and McShanes. One additional stockholder, Mr. Bnrtholder, a heavy set man Avho ran a jnnk store, complained to me years afterwards that he lost every cent he had in the enterprise.

It was while employed there that I first met John A. aird Phil Mc8hane, the latter being cashier. Martin Dineen, who afterwards became assistant chief of the Omaha fire department, was employed as a nail picker, and at the time was but a small boy. Evenings I sauntered leisurely around the city, and in so sauntering, euriousity prompted me to follow a eroM^d of men going up the steps of a two-story brick building located on the southwest corner of Twelfth and Douglas streets (this building is still standing). The crowd that was surging in there were gamblers, eager to bet on the game run by Dan Allen; Gotley Brooker was dealing the cards. Howe*^er, shortly after my arrival there I heard the report of a pistol shot. Those of us Mdio had no money up, ran out to see what happened, and upon in(|uiry found that a man had been shot one-half block north on Twelfth Street in the old St. Elmo Theatre, or varietv show, one of the toughest joints between Chicago and Leadville, and was managed by Jack and Billie Nugent ; it afterwards changed its name to the Buckingham Theatre — that owing to the fact that^ Mayor C. S. Chase had ordered the old place closed— but, as Shakespeare said, "there was nothing in a name," for the place had not changed its moral tone. Omaha being a frontier town at that time, little regard was shown for law and order, saloons were licensed after a fashion, but it made no difference to what grocery store you went you could find a keg of whiskey on tap at all times, which would be sold to the customers and cha}-ged up on their pass-books just the same as sugar or potatoes. There was no limit to the hours that saloons were to be opened or closed, in fact most of them had no key to the front door From 1880 to 1882 Ninth Street, from Jackson to Leavenworth,' was the principal retail street running north and south. On this street, just south of Jackson, was located one of the largest retail grocery stores in the city, owned by a man named St. Felix, who, in 1882, moved his stock to his new building, corner Seventeenth and Howard streets. There Avere many other small stores and any quantity of saloons in that stretch of street. The Southern Hotel, on the northeast corner of Ninth and Leavenworth Streets was at that time a fashionable hotel. '

I am now at that stage where I have another job— it is with tlie Omaha Foundry and Machine Co., Seventeenth and Union Pacific Railroad tracks, afterward known as the Paxton & Vierling Iron Works. This time my duties were of a two-fold nature • that ot fireman and blacksmith's helper; the engineer was Charles Siidenberg, aftemvards city boiler inspector of Omaha under Mayor Bemis. My undertaking as blacksmith's helper 'was of short duration, as I knew no more of the sound language of the blacksmith's anvil than a laughing hyena knows about mathematics ; about the first time my services were brought into requisition was when Mr. Fred Simpson, the blacksmith, called on me to hit a swedge in welding a long piece of wrought iron that was intended and which was afterwards used as a brace over the divided door of Jim Stephens' livery stable, corner Tenth and Howard streets. Simpson would sound on the anvil with his little hammer in such parlance as would indicate the rapidity and force which I was expected to use ; this being all -Greek to me and having heard some very uncomplimentary remarks about my intellect, I became frightened and hit the anvil in the center in one blow, then the point of it in the next, breaking the handle and striking Mr. Simpson on the foot with the hammer part of it. There was nothing left for me to do but run, and this I did, with Mr. Simpson after me. I was not overtaken, my pursuer having been put out of commission when I reached Seventeenth Street. But to this day Mr. Simpson and myself have been the warmest of friends, and upon various occasions of late years I have been his attorney. I remained with that company (shorn of some of my duties) until April, 1881 ; while there I formed the acquaintanceship of the owner of the concern, Captain T. W. T. Richards, one of the finest men I have ever met. He was an attorney, by profession, and lived on the corner of Eighteenth and Farnam streets, afterwards moving to California.

In July of that year I moved, or rather changed my quarters and collar box, from the Wallanze Hotel to a boarding-house kept by Pat. Garvey, on the northwest corner of Thirteenth and Mason Streets. This was a commodious two-story building ; this hostage was presided over by Pat. Harvey, a haughty, quicktempered and impulsive son of the Emerald Isle, but the management was in the hands of his wife, one of the most lovable of women ; the family consisted of three girls and two boys ; the girls were Nellie, Annie and Kate, and the boys Charles and Leo. Charles is now owner and proprietor of the Puritan Laundry, and all reside in Omaha. The cold weather of thg^ fall of 1880 came very early, the first snow and sleet arrived on the tenth day of October and while there were a few days during the balance of the year that were pleasant yet the weather up to January was extremely cold. It being my first winter in the north since I left sunny Tennessee I was much discouraged, but have witnessed thirty-six more Nebraska winters since then. (Since writing the above, Patrick Garvey died October 30, 1915.)

Chapter II. 1881

The year 1881 having been ushered in, the early part of it found me with a new job; this time it was with John A. Wakefield, who ran a big lumber yard Avhere now stands the Union Pacific local freight house, Ninth and Jackson Streets. My employment there was but of short duration, but of pleasant memory, as there I formed a friendship with Mr. Wakefield that will last so long as we both shall live.

On May 9th, 3881, I left the employ of Mr. Wakefield to accept a job with the Union Pacific Railroad at its local freight depot, where now stands the Union Depot. My first introduction to what was then called a "Green Line Truck," took place on the tenth day of May; my duties and responsibilities were very light, but not so with my burdens as a trucker of freight ; one seldom knew what the heaft of his next load was going to be, and being the youngest man up to that time Avho had ever worked at that place at that kind of labor, I was continuously being "bawled out" by the old "terriers" that had been there since Heck was a pup. I was told to go back to the high school and many other expressions, all of which only served to nerve me up.

On May 21st there was no freight ^o handle because of the high water on the east side of the Missouri River. On that morning three others and myself, accompanied by J. T. Clark, general superintendent of the road, went to Council Bluffs to help build a pontoon bridge from the east end of the Union Pacific bridge to the Union Station in Council Blutfs. The water was fast rising, and by the time the pontoon bridge was built the water all along the bottoms, from the east end of the Union Pacific bridge to the Union Depot in Council Bluffs, was from twelve to fifteen feet deep. The bridge was about fifteen feet wide, with a space for passengers on both sides, leaving room for a baggage truck in the center. At the noon hour next day one of the men, William McDevitt, J. T. Clarke and myself, rode in a boat from the Union Station in Council Bluffs, up to the Ogden House in that city. This system of transferring passengers and baggage, including express matter, continued until the flood had subsided and the trains began their usual schedule, which was about June 1st. The Missouri River at that time had raised so high that the smelting works Avere forced to close down, and the water was three feet deep in the Union Pacific shops. However, "it's an ill wind that blows no good," for this flood forever settled the rivalry between Omaha and Council Bluffs as to which would be the most suitable place in which to live, and to do business in. Pictures of the two cities were taken at that time and placed in the windows of the business houses and hotels of Omaha; the pictures showed Council Bluffs with houses and barns floating down the river, and others with but the chimney tops above water, while Omaha was pictured on a high hill overlooking the river and having the appearance of the mart of commerce. This was the commencement of a real estate boom for

OMAHAMBMORIES 11

Omaha, which before it ended in 1887, had few equals in American history, but, like the average boom, it was much inflated and caused a set-back to the city's progress, which injury terminated only when the Trans-Mississippi Exposition was held here in 1898.

To resume the story of my experience during the balance of the year with the Union Pacific road at its local freight department, will state that I neither paid any attention to nor cared for the jeers of the older men in the department, and soon became their fast friend. Whether by accident or good luck I am unable to say, I was soon relieved from physical exertion and given an opportunity to test if I possessed any mental acumen. It happened this way: A box-car loaded with furniture, and consigned to Dewey & Stone of Omaha had been damaged while in transit, and Mr. Black, the foreman of the department, was requested by C. B. Havens, the local agent, to send someone to get a report on it, and I was chosen. I made the report and placed it on the agent's desk; was soon asked by Mr. Black to report to Mr. Havens' office. On my way there I felt that I was to get my time, and where would I get another job? I had never met Mr. Havens, and kncAv him only in my many efforts to avoid running over him on the platform with my truck-load of freight. I was, however, agreeably surprised when he began making inquiries of me as to the extent of my schooling and who I was. After I had informed him he was curious to learn why I was engaged in an occupation that required no powers of mind beyond animal instinct. I informed him that I had no influence or friends to advance me, and had a mother, sister and brother who were depending upon me for support, so took what I could get. Struck by my candid statements he informed me that I was too valuable a young man to the company to be running a truck, and immediately gave me the position of receiving clerk, and an increase of $20 per month over what I was getting. This position I held during the year 1881, and was promoted each year, as will appear from time to time in these recollections.

On the Fourth of July of that year there was a ball given in the old Kuony Hall, southeast corner of Fourteenth and Dodge Streets ; it was given under the auspices of the Emmet Monument Association ; I purchased a ticket from P. C. Heafey, who at this writing is known, honored and respected as "Colonel" Heafey. There I met, for the first time, the one whom I won and wed. A few weeks thereafter Sells Brothers' circus came to town, and I took it in. The circus grounds were located on the then outskirts of the city, and much indignation was manifested because it was held on the southwest corner of Twenty-fourth and Farnam streets, the lot on which Joseph Millard afterAvard lived. This lot was afterward bought by Phelan & Sherley, and at this writing thei'e is erected upon it a splendid tAvo-story brick building with stores both on Twenty-fourth and on Farnani Streets. Such is the flight of time, and changed conditions which have taken place in the upbuilding and progress of the Cit}^ of Omaha within a generation. Where at this writing stands the Nebraska Clothing Store on Fifteenth and Farnam Streets, there stood in the fall of 1880 a livery stable oAvned and run by Matt Wilbert. About that time the property Avas purchased by James E. Boyd, Avho in 1881 erected on the lot an opera house, Avhich Avas considered one of the finest in the West. On September 19th of this year President Garfield, Avho on July 3rd Avas shot by Giteau, died, and on that day, on the afternoon of his obsequies Avas declared a holiday. All Avorks and business houses Avere closed for the day, and exercises Avere held on the High School grounds, at Avhich John M. Thurston, John L. Webster, John C. CoAvin, EdAvard RoscAvater and W. J. Connell delivered fitting eulogies on the death of the President, followed by the adoption of suitable resolutions befitting the solemn occasion. That day proved to be one of the hottest of the Avhole year, and a number of this large croAvd, so densely'

packed, Avere overcome by the heat.

During the month of October there Avas an unusual amount of rain ; there being no paved streets and but feAv permanent sideAvalks, traA^el on foot and by vehicle Avas very difficult. It was no unusual thing to see Avagons stuck in the mud anywhere from Ninth to Fifteenth and Farnam Streets and as I recall it, the first permanent sidcAvalk ever laid in Omaha was on Eleventh and Farnam Streets around the building then OAvned and occuplied by Max Mej'er as a wholesale and retail jcAvelry store. The building is there yet. So durable Avas the material in this Avalk that it Avas never repaired until 1910.

Tenth Street in the latter part of that year Avas fast becoming the leading retail street north and south. This, hoAvever, Avas of but short duration. The latter part of that year ( I think it was Christmas night) I Avas Avalking south on Fourteenth Street in company Avith a man named James Tracy, Avhen our attention Avas attracted by a number of men moving rapidly toAvard Fifteenth and Farnam Streets. We folloAved the crowd Avhich led to the Avholesale and retail liquor house of Julius Treitschke, Avhich was located on the corner of the alley in an old frame building which Avas afterAvards replaced by the building noAv knoAvn as the Barker Block,. To our surprise Ave found Charles Kosters in charge of Dan Angel, then city marshal. In the heat of passion Kosters had killed a man named Hammer. This was about 11 :30 at night, and the place was ordered closed. Kosters had a number of trials in this prosecution and Avas finally acquitted. General John C. CoAvin Avas his attorney.

Chapter III. 1882

The year 1882 presented itself and it brought with it amongst other things a promotion for me in the freight department, in the form of my appointment as check clerk, which position I held during the entire year, so that I was fast getting beyond what might be classed as holding a "job," and was now holding a position. I had as my freight caller a short stubby Irishman by the name of Tommy Ryan; he was an old soldier and very irritable, so much so that he was seldom if ever at peace with himself or the balance of mankind. However, by having to do his work as well as my own I managed to get along with him for a year. It was different, however, with my stevedore ; he was an easy-going affable man whom everybody liked, and he in turn liked everybody.

This proved a memorable year for Omaha; in fact, it was in this year that the city began to get out of its "swaddling clothes." Old landmarks disappeared rapidly; heavy investments were made; large wholesale and retail houses were being established; and the city started its first public improvements, such as grading, sewering and paving. This was the second year of James E. Boyd's administration as mayor, and to him more than to any other agency can be attributed the spirit which aroused the people of Omaha to a realization of the need of public improvements, which began under his first administration and has since continued. The Millard and Paxton Hotels were each built in this year, as was also the Nebraska National Bank. It was during this year that the celebrated dump strike took place. This strike grew out of the awarding of the contract for the grading of the B. & M. grounds on Sixth Street and B. & M. tracks; the Burlington road had purchased a tract of land at that place formerly known as the old Herman Kountze residence ; the company bought it for the purpose for which it is now used — as a freight depot. The contract for grading and filling was aAvarded to Jim Stephenson at such a ridiculously low price that he could pay his men not more than $1.00 or $1.35 per day. As a result the men struck for higher wages, and refused to let other men work in their places; this Stephenson resented and called for police protection, which proved inadequate, and sentiment began to run dangerously high, when on the tenth day of March, on Fourteenth Street near the Paxton Hotel, Mayor Boj^d mounted a chair and read the "Riot Act" to the multitude who had assembled, and calling upon them to maintain order.

This official act of his failing of its purpose, he asked the sheriff for assistance. The sheriff, David N. Millar, finding himself unable to quell the disturbance, immediately called upon the Governor (Albinus Nance) for aid from the state militia, which on March 12tli, in four coaches, landed at the Union Depot and marched in i)latoons up Tenth Street, thence east on Jackson where they established their quarters called the "White Village." On March 16th an honest and unoffensive old man named George Armstrong was passing the grounds about dusk, when he was killed by one of the guards on duty, having been pierced wuth a bayonet. This aroused great indignation and caused 5,000 laboring men to parade the streets, headed by a band, denouncing the mayor, the sheriff and the governor. The governor forthwith placed the city under martial law, ordering the closing of all saloons, and permitting no one on the streets, without cause, after eight o'clock. In the meantime, men had been placed to work and the grading was completed through the protection of the militia, after which they were recalled by the governor. The feeling against Mayor Boyd lasted for years afterward, and much political capital was made from it; the election for ward councilmen being held in April of the same year, resulting in the election of the Labor Ticket, of C. C. Thrane, a shoemaker, from the First Ward ; John F. Behm, house-mover, from the Second Ward ; D. L. McGuckin, saloonkeeper, from the Third Ward, and Ed. Luder, grocer, from the Fifth Ward.

The legislative session of 1881 passed the Slocumb lifjuor law, and it being such a surprise to the liquor element they sought at first to ignore it and continue in the old rut. So determined were they in their effort to overlook its provisions and its enforcement that at the following fall election, a complete Democratic county ticket was nominated on a platform which pledged the nominees, in the event of their election, to refuse to enforce that law. However, a few da^-s prior to the election, Watson B,. Smith, clerk of the United States Circuit Court, was shot in his office in the old Postoffice Building. As he had been a persistent fighter in the enforcement of that law, and it having been reported that he had received threatening letters warning him to let up on his fight or take the consequences, public opinion at once centered on the li(|uor element as the ones responsible for this murder ; whether they were or were not, to this day it is not known. To vindicate themselves, every li(|uor man and his friends were out on the morning of the election supporting the Republican ticket, which M^as overwhelmingly elected. From that day to the present writing, no effort has been made by anyone to ignore the law or ask for its repeal, and in my judgment it was this law and its wise regulations of the liquor traffic that has kept the state of Nebraska out of the prohibition column of dry states.

At the fall election of that year the people were called upon to vote on the constitutional amendment submitted by the Legislature of 1881, which contemplated the giving and granting to women the right to vote. This amendment was bitterly fought, more especially so by the foreign element, and the prominent daily papers, including the Omaha Bee and Omaha Herald. Those backing and advocating the measure were Susan B. Anthony, Belvill Lockwood, and Phoebe Cousins ; those Avomen were able champions of their cause ^ and challenged their opponents to joint debate. In this they were accommodated, as Edward Rosewater accepted the challenge of Susan B. Anthony, the joint debate taking place in Boyd's Opera House in September of that year, and was enjoyed by the crowded house that attended, each side being applauded as their respective clinching arguments were made. Mr. Rosewater, however, judging from the applause, merited the decision. At that time, in my estimation, he was at the height of his physical and intellectual powers. A few days thereafter, Gilbert M. Hitchcock, now editor of the World-Herald and United States senator from this state, accepted the challenge of Phoebe Cousins, the debate taking place in the same opera house as that of the Rosewater- Anthony debate. Mr. Hitchcock was at the time a beardless youth, a recent graduate from a college at Heidelberg, Germany, though a native son of Omaha. This debate drew as large a house as that of the Rosewater-Anthony debate. Mr. Hitchcock at first labored under somewhat of a disadvantage, not having been as well known to the audience as was Mr. Rosewater. I will confess it was the first time I had ever seen or heard of him ; yet I am free to say that as the debate progressed he proved to be an agreeable surprise to the audience and to me. During the debate he became so enthused in his subject that he invoked the wrath of his opponent to such an extent that she arose from her seat to attract his attention, and pointing her long bony forefinger at him menacingly, exclaimed: "Mr. Hitchcock, you are a disgrace to the mother who bore you." He was kpplauded to the echo and won the debate on its merits.