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PIONEER LADIES form organization    April 23, 1937  page 7

    Pioneer Day was elaborately observed here Wednesday at the home of Mrs. A. D. Hudnall with an old time dinner being served and the Bent County Pioneer Club organized with 16 charter members.  During the afternoon open house was held and 65 friends called to greet the pioneer group.
    The menu for the twelve o'clock dinner was in keeping with the occasion: buffalo tongue, baked ham, baked beans, new potatoes in butter, hot rolls, jelly, coffee and old fashioned dried apple pie.
    Covers were placed for Mrs. Kit Carson II and Mrs. W. H. Wilson of La Junta; Mrs. J. P. Macey, Mrs. Ida Dea, Mrs. Charlotte Graham, Mrs. Annie Vigar, Mrs. F. W. Foote, Mrs. J. B. Dean, Mrs. Hudnall, Miss Lavina Malloy and Mrs. F. W. Nelson, all of whom had come to Bent County 50 years or more ago; Mrs. Retta Prowers of Lamar, Mrs. C. A. Carlson of Denver, Mrs. Wm. Loudy and Mrs. Pauline Warner.
    The charter members, with their maiden names, the year they came to Bent County and the state they came from are as follows:
    Mrs. A. D. Hudnall (Mary Prowers) 1863, from Missouri.
    Mrs. Kit Carson II (Guadalupe Richards) 1870.
    Mrs. F. W. Foote (Frances Van Nordstrant) 1877, Iowa.
    Mrs. J. P. Macey (Sarah Oldham) 1880, Missouri.
    Mrs. Ida Dean (Ida Britton)1881, Missouri.
    Mrs. J. B. Dean (Texanna Eddleman)1881, Texas.
    Mrs. W. H. Wilson (Dora Adkins) 1882, Missouri.
    Mrs. Addie L. Frost (Addie Withers) 1882, Texas.
    Mrs. Charlotte Graham (Charlotte Hesse) 1883, Nebraska.
    Mrs. Annie Vigar (Annie O'Connor) 1884, Missouri.
    Mrs. F. W. Nelson (Inez Hudnall) 1884, Colorado.
    Mrs. Lavina Malloy, 1887, Colorado.
    Mrs. Eva Neher, Texas.
    Mrs. Mary Cain (Mary Sullivan) Ireland.
    Mrs. Harry Lubers, (Ada Moore) 1860, Missouri.
    Mrs. William Loudy (Ida Lacy) 1889, Texas.
    Brief sketches of history were related by the group present.  Mrs. Hudnall told of being brought west at the age of five months by covered wagon drawn by oxen, traveling at the rate of 4 miles an hour, taking 4 months to make the trip (now made in 11 hours.)  The family landed at Boggsville.
    Mrs. Kit Carson II, told about owning her first pair of handmade moccasins and Mrs. Foote gave an interesting paper of her first school year in West Las Animas in 1882 and some of the old land marks.
    Mrs. Macey came in 1873 the first time for her health.  Mrs. Ida Dean related her landing at Prowers station.  Mrs. J. B. Dean told of arriving here, and staying with friends, who were in charge of the county jail for two days, later going to the Inn Ranch.  Her baggage had been lost en route and was not recovered for two months.
    Mrs. Wilson landed in Las Animas when 17 years of age, to visit a sister.  No one was at the depot to meet her and she had to wait for the station agent to find time to take her to her sister.  She made seven trips here before she decided to make it a permanent place to live.
    Mrs. Graham related an interesting incident at the H. S. Holly ranch near Holly when Mrs. Holly's mother came out from the far east and seeing the cowboys' chaps piled about the year after a roundup (just a pile of old pants with the seats all wore out) made a big bonfire and burned them up.
    Mrs. Vigar came to Las Animas where she understood good wages were paid.  She worked for the Hudnall family for seven months, then later for the Hawes family.
Mrs. Nelson told how the board sidewalks would curl up after the heavy rains. and sometime disappear.  Miss Malloy told of her mother's story about M. H. Murray attending the charivari after the Malloy wedding, and being thrown into the water.

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YOU'RE MISSING A LOT IF YOU DON'T HIKE, SAYS HURD  March 27, 1953 page 8

    People who don't go on hikes miss a lot of soul-stirring thrills in life, C. W. Hurd told the Kiwanis Club Tuesday night.
    And Mr. Hurd, who is 76, spoke from experience.
    When he went to Switzerland 50 years ago, he was riding along on the train and decided the scenery was so beautiful, he wanted to get out and walk, so he could drink more of it in.  So he saw most of Switzerland on foot.
    He's hiked along the Appian Way in Italy.
    He has climbed Pikes Peak 15 times and his time of 2 hours 55 minutes in 1935 is the third fastest it's ever been climbed (the record is 2 hours 25 minutes).
    And he's hiked thousands of miles right here in Bent County hunting for arrowheads and sometimes, just for the fun of walking.

 A ROYAL WELCOME

      Mr. Hurd made his trip to Europe in 1902 just after finishing Colorado College.  He toured Englad, Belgium and Holland on bicycle.  He was in London for King Edward VII's coronation and then went over to the Isle of Wight, where the king was staying.
    He noticed the gate around the castle was open and unguarded and, peeping through, saw such beautiful gardens that he decided to go in.  He did, and as he stood at the edge of a flower bed in "perfect ecstasy," a king's guard came up from behind and scared him so badly it was the only time in his life he couldn't remember his own name.
    Hiking across Switzerland, he met shepherds high in the Alps, a hermit, and several hikers like himself, among others.  He was awed by the "terrible" sight and noise of pieces of ice breaking off the glaciers on the Jungfrau.

GETS WANDERLUST

    In Italy, he was shocked when he realized he had such a severe case of wanderlust that he felt he just wanted to keep traveling and never work.  He returned to the States determined not to become a "tramp" and started working for the Santa Fe in Lamar.  He made a resolution with himself that he would stick to this job five  years to overcome this wanderlust.  After three years, it was gone, he said.
    Climbing Sheep mountain near Cotopaxi, he was caught in a slide of talus (pea sized granite) and saved himself by grasping a small bush.  Later another man went over the cliff in a slide in the same place.
    Another time he started at 3 p.m., despite warnings, and climbed Baldy near Cotopaxi.  Coming down at night, he got lost and ended up at Coaldale on the wrong side of the mountain.  When lost, Mr. Hurd follows a stream down.

CLIMBS PIKE'S ANNUALLY

    Late in the 20s, Mr. Hurd began climbing Pikes Peak almost every Fourth of July.  He's slowed some since his best time in 1935 and now the climb takes him eight to ten hours.  He missed last year but he plans to go this year.
    Every climb takes "everything" he has, he told Kiwanians.  So why does he do it?  Well, he figures if he doesn't, he's beginning to slip---and then "it's time to begin getting ready for winter."
    He said he gets a kick ouot of every climb and always sees some unusual sight---a big deer, a speckled fawn or perhaps a strange bird.  Or maybe he meets another climber and forms a new friendship with him.

RAW EGGS NO GOOD

    Mr. Hurd experimented with almost every food before he found out what was best for climbing.  Now he fills up on bacon, toast and coffee and then rests an hour before starting.  He doesn't eat anything or drink any water during the climb.
    He failed on three attempts -- twice when he got mountain sickness because he wasn't in shape and once when he followed someone's advice and loaded up on raw eggs before starting.

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Walt Bear Working with TV for 24 Years  Aug. 1, 1952   page 9

   Is television something new?  Not to Walter Bear it isn't.  He bought some parts and improvised others from such things as a cookie pan and put together a TV set in 1928 - - 24 years ago.  And he's been following television, development by development, ever since.  He's read a roomfull of magazines about it in the last quarter century.
    Mr. Bear has been building and repairing radios since 1921 (he figures he's fixed about 15,000 of them) and television has been sort of a hobby with him.  But when TV comes to Las Animas he plans to covert the hobby into a business.

BUILT ANOTHER SET

    When the television craze really gained momentum a year or so ago, Mr. Bear gathered up some parts and put another set together.  That's the one at Bear Implement Company and he's been experimenting constantly with them both - -  determining how to get the best reception in Las Animas.
    Because there are a very few men in this part of the country who are really experts on television, representatives of 12 different manufacturers have approached Mr. Bear and asked him to be a dealer for them.
    Mr. Bear has studied the product of each company and he chose the two he thinks are the very best.  He'll sell Philco -- and another nationally famous make which he hasn't yet signed the papers on.  He expects to have a Philco TV set on display at  Bear Implement Co. this weekend.

BEST TO WAIT

    Mr. Bear advises people in Las Animas not to buy a television set yet.  He suggests waiting until television really comes to this city from Denver or Colorado Springs.  It will probably be only several weeks, but it may be longer and there may be new improvements by then.
    He gave a special warning to those who are considering buying sets in such places as Denver where there is a "TV rush."  He said Denver, for example, is being deluged with old model sets that will sell there because the buyers don't know much about them and the demand is so great.
    He also warned about buying from high pressure salesmen like the ones who made a killing in the early days of radio.
    There's no charge for getting on the list.  Just phone Bear Implement Co. at 20.

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    PAYTON says whites, not redskins, killed Sitting Bull - May 1, 1953   page 9

   Col. William Payton of Las Animas is an old Indian fighter and the reports of the recent ruckus about moving Sitting Bull's bones from North Dakota to South Dakota has the colonel about ready to go on the warpath, this time agains the historians.
    The news reports, taking their cue from most of the history books, said a detachment Indian police rode up to Sitting Bull's cabin on the Sioux reservation in South Dakota and shot him to death November 13, 1890.
    Col. Payton, who is now 83, claims this isn't true and he says the report of Sitting Bull's death was purposely distorted.
    The colonel says he was there when Sitting Bull was killed.  In fact, one of the men in Company K, which the Colonel was commanding at the time, shot him.

COLONEL'S VERSION

    Here is Colonel Payton's version of the demise of Sitting Bull.
    A detachment of Indian police was set by Gen. Miles to arrest Sitting Bull as he was the only chief who wasn't co-operating with the Army in the area.  There was a skirmish at Sitting Bull's cabin, but instead of being killed, apparently Sitting Bull slipped out the back door.
    Anyway, he turned up two days later on the Battlefield of Wounded Knee.  He and his braves were on a ridge about 500 yards from Colonel Payton and his men who were in a ravine.  The Colonel said he saw Sitting Bull raise a white flag of truce. The Indians and the Army each sent two interpreters forward.  The Army forces were ordered to hold fire.
    But just before the interpreters met, Yellow Hand, who was near Sitting Bull, threw a handful of dust in the air, on orders from Sitting Bull.  This was the Indian signal to start fighting.
    Just then, one of Col. Payton's men, who had been ordered not to fire, shot anyway and Sitting Bull fell flat on his face.

    After the battle that followed, the Army brought Sitting Bull's body down off the ridge and put it on display for two days.  When there was some question as to whether Sitting Bull had been shot in the back by one of his own men, Col. Payton said, "Turn him over," and he pointed out that the wound had hit below the left breast and went out his back.
    Because Sitting Bull was killed by one of Col. Payton's men shooting out of command, Gen. Miles court-martialed the whole of K Company, but he never found out who fired the fatal shot.

KNOWS WHO DID IT

    Col. Payton knows who did it but he can't tell as he thinks the offender is still alive in Canada.
    The colonel questioned the man privately and he said he had sworn vengeance on Sitting Bull and he gave his reason why:

    When he was ten years old,  he said his parents lived at Wall Lake, Iowa, and owned one of the best teams of horses in the area.  Sitting Bull came through there on the warpath and demanded the horses.
    When the boy's father refused, Sitting Bull tied him to a tree and scalped him alive; then he drove stakes through the boy's mother's arms and legs and staked her to the ground.
    He took the boy and his sister, who was 8, with him and they lived with the Indians for seven years until he found a chance to escape.

    Why did the authorities distort the facts of Sitting Bull's death?  Well, according to Col. Payton, they attribute it to the Indian police because it would have stirred up the Indians at that time much more if they thought the Army killed him than if they thought he was killed by fellow redskins.

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BIG SCANDAL INVOLVES 32 LOCAL COUPLES Jan 19, 1927  - page 10

    Perhaps the biggest scandal ever let loose in this city was sprung las Monday evening when it was discovered that 32 supposedly highly respected citizens of the community were cavorting around with other men's wives.  Of course, the wives were equally guilty.
    Wile the matter is greatly regretted by friends of the parties involved, much of the blame is placed on C. W. Simons, manager of the local theater, who offered special inducements in the way of reduced rates into his picture house to every man who brought another man's wife.
    It don't take very much urging to get some men to "step out" anyhow, and when they saw a chance to save a quarter they were right on the job.  But it produced a lot of amusement and so far as we have been able to learn, all the parties involved have been taken back to the old home fireside and a general reconciliation effected.
    Manager Simons first Scandal Night was a success, but it is liable to be a serious blow to Clyde's future peace of mind, as every man who is caught out with some other man's dame in the future will excuse himself by saying it was another of Simons' Scandal Nights.  Better watch your step Clyde.

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    Young Drug Cowboys Filled to Capacity  May 7, 1937   page 10

        When is a treat not a treat?  Possibly, when it is an "overstuffed" treat.
    This is not a riddle as particulars may be obtained from Ralph Biggs, proprietor of the City Pharmacy, or perhaps from the four young boys concerned.  The boys considered themselves such good customers that they felt justified in asking Mr. Biggs to "set them up" to a free drink sometime, in fact, they wanted a soda fountain treat which would really fill them up.
    Mr. Biggs finally agreed to give them all they could eat if they would bring written permission from their mothers saying he would not be held responsible for possible resulting sickness.  The boys jumped at the opportunity and pestered their mothers until they were given notes saying in effect, "Mr. Biggs: You will not be held responsible if . . . . gets sick from overeating."

    Then came the big day when the boys rushed into the store with their notes, and were served tall, 12-inch malted milks, very cold and very rich.  The boys agreed to drink every drop or pay for the drinks, which Mr. Biggs estimated cost him a dollar.
    The boys started off with great gusto and one of them even requested a second glass, but in the midst of the second, the world did not appear so bright and he suddenly made a rush for the back exit.  The other toiled over their drnks for a long time, but finally downed them, and for once they were really filled up.

    Who were the boys? -- Dick Lee, Jackie Crompton, Joe Maruyama and Fred "Sugar" Fitzsimmons, whose mother wrote: "Fred's capacity for candy is unlimited.

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LOCAL BRIEFS - NEWS TIDBITS - DAM NEWS

                  May 27, 1907 
    Mrs. Morris has opened the Home cafe to the public and is serving most excellent and appetizing meals.  If you are fat go there and enjoy your meal; if you are lean go there and get fat.

                June 24, 1909
    DOG OWNERS - All dogs found running at large without a tax collar will be shot on sight.  This notice if official.  F. W. McCune, Chief of Police.

                The Last Time

    "why don't you attend church?" asked the minister of a non-attendant.

    "Well, I'll tell you , sir. The first time I went to church they poured water in my face, the second time they tied me to a woman I've had to keep ever since.
    "Yes," said the parson, "and the next time you go they'll throw dirt on you."

            Sidestepping your Obligations
    A little girl had been naughty, and her mother took her by hand and started with her toward the back door.
    "Come Jennie! You have been very naughty and I'm going to lock you up in the chicken coop."
    "All right," she haughtily replied; "you can lock me up in the chicken coop if you want to, but I tell you I ain't going to lay any eggs."

            Grandma's Receet for Washing Clothes
    "When life seems tedious and hard to bear, consider this "receet" given to a young bride by her Kentucky mountain grandmother.  It is printed here exactly as originally written."

    1. Bild fire in back yar to heet kittle of rain water.
    2. Set tubs so smoke won't glow in eyes if wind is pert.
    3. Shave one hole cake lie soap in billing water.
    4. Sort things, make three piles, 1 pile white, 1 pile cullard, 1 pile work britches and rags.
    5. Stur flour in cold water to smoothe then thin down with biling water.
    6. Rub dirty spots on board, scrub hard, then bile.  Rub cullard but don't bile, just rench and starch.
    7.Take white things out of kittle with broom stick handle, then rench, blew and starch.
    8. Spread tee towels on grass.
    9. Hang old rags on fence.
    10. Pore rench water in flower bed.
    11. Scrub porch with hot soapy water.
    12. Turn tubs upside down.
    Go put on cleen dress, smooth hair with side combs, brew cup of tea, set and rest and rock a spell and count blessings.

                    Dec. 12, 1901
    A traveling dog show performed a few very creditable acts on the streets last Saturday afternoon.
     T. S. Morris has just received a barrel of fresh buckwheat flour.  Local Brevities Dec. 26, 1901.
    There is more or less hypocrisy in nearly all men but it is most apparent in the bald man who takes a long lock of hair from over his left ear and plasters it across his skull.
    The new bank expects to open for business by Feb. 1.  The cold weather has delayed work on the building.
    Don't imagine a thing is easy because it looks that way.  It does not appear hard for a snake to swallow a toad, but if you think it is a snap, try it yourself.

                Jan. 9, 1902
    The Chafing Dish club met at the home of Miss Amy Prowers Tuesday evening.  The Club is indebted to Miss Prowers for a very pleasant time.  High Five, music and dainty epast consumed the evening.

                March 13, 1902
    Fred Lewis has resigned his position as cashier of the Bent County Bank and accepted a position with the Dominican Book and Publishing Co.

    Fred will act as western manager for the company with headquarters in Denver.  In a few days he will leave for Philadelphia to confer with the home office, after which he will take up his residence in Denver. 

                        July 5, 1906
    A phone was installed in the Methodist parsonage this week.  If you want to converse with the minister or his wife ring up Bent 100.

City Sells Cigarette Tax Stamps-January 20, 1950

    City Clerk D. A. McAfee reports the sale of 50,000 cigarette excise tax stamps up to Wednesday noon this week.  The 23-cent per package tax became effective Wednesday morning.
    This number of stamps represents $1,000 in taxes; however, the city allows a 10 percent discount to the cigarette dealers for the trouble of putting the stamps on and collecting the extra 2 cents.
    It has been estimated the tax will raise between $5,000 and $7,000  per year for the city.

6500 AT BOAT DAY AT JOHN MARTIN -- Sept. 15, 1966 page 11

    A total of 6,553 persons attended the Boat Day celebrations at John Martin Reservoir Sunday, according to the count reported by Bob Bachhagen, resident engineer at the dam.
    This is a large gathering anytime for Southeast Colorado but was somewhat disappointing to Boat Day officials who compared it to the record Boat Day crowd of some 15,000 last year.  Probably last year's crowd was larger because it was the first time in several years the reservoir was full.
    There were 65 boats on the reservoir and 15 airplanes flew in to the John Martin air strip for the event. Highlights of the day were the boat races and speeches by Gov. John Love, Rep. Frank Evans and other candidates.  The main part of the program was supposed to be the boat show, featuring the water ski acts and novelty boat performances, but it was impossible to hold the boat show at all, due to the fact there was just enough wind to keep the water too choppy all afternoon.
    It was a field day for the political candidates, offering them an opportunity to shake hands and visit with a lot of voters all gathered together in one place.  And most of the candidates took advantage of it.
    Those who spoke briefly from the speaker's platform included Gov. Love and his Democratic opponent, Lt. Gov. Bob Knous; Congressman Evans and the two GOP candidates for congress, David Enouch and J. Edgar Chenoweth; Roy Romer (D) for U. S. Senate; Joe Showmaker for Lieutenant governor; Arch Decker (D) for secretary of state; Al Frantz (D) for supreme court; John Thomas (D) and C. A. Watkins (R) for state senate; Forrest Burns, )D) for state representative; and Vince Grace (R) for state representative for Otero - Crowley.  The only non-candidate who spoke was Stanley Fish, chief of operations division for the Albuquerque District of the Corps of Engineers, who expressed hope the permanent pool can be established before long.

THOUSANDS WATCH AS DAM GOES DRY - April 5, 1968  page 10

    John Martin Reservoir was officially declared dry at 9 a.m. Sunday, almost 24 hours later than had previously been expected.  The reservoir lost all its precious water to Colorado and Kansas irrigators downstream.
    The draining of the reservoir marked the ninth time it has been dry since 1957.  However, it was the first time since 1959 that a large population of fish was lost.  There has been water in the reservoir for the past 34 months.
    Hundreds of area citizens were at the lake site Saturday expecting the last drop to be drained from the lake about noon.  Scores of fishermen were on hand to catch any fish that might make it into the stilling basin below the dam.
    At sunrise Sunday it was estimated that 500 people were already at the dam site and the crowd continued to grow during the day.  An estimated 15,000 people visited the site Sunday.  During one two-hour period trffic check accounted for 800 cars in the area.
    Generally, the crowds were very orderly and few incidents were reported.  Foour Pueblo youths became mired in the mud above the dam but were rescued by bystanders.  Several good fish catches were reported but the best was a nine pound catfish caught by Jerry Smith and Jack Caplin of Lamar.  William Lindsey, resident engineer at the dam, reported there were some dead fish but not as many as in the past.

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SCHOOL DISTRICTS

    At one time Bent County had 39 school districts and in the mid 1920s, the Bent County Democrat had 36 rural correspondents.  All areas of the county were covered and in many instances were the same names as those of the school districts. Names of the correspondents were not given.
      Printed each week in the BCD were: Cornelia Clippings, Melonfield Notes, Caddoa Items, Mount Hope and Vicinity, Valley Springs News, Hasty Happenings, antelope News, McClave
Items and Pioneer News.
    Kreybill News, Southside News, Lone Tree Notes, Star News, Woodrow Notes, Ninaview Items, Rule Creek, East Hughes NOtes, Indian Rock Notes, Johnny Valley News.
    Horse Creek, Alakali Arroyo, Priaire Dale NOtes, Kazan News, Mud Creek, Sunny Side, Devil's Rocking Chair, and Prowers.
    As the rural people moved to the cities, the school districts were consolidated until in 1961, when the county was reorganized with just two school districts, Las Animas RE-1 and McClave Re-2.
    As with the school districts, the BCD correspondents also declined with the loss of rural people.  Today the BCD has the Hasty and McClave news written by Mrs. Raymond Yates and Cornelia-Horse Creek written by Mrs. Wilbert Beaman.

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HUDNALL says hunting is for the birds  --- Sept. 17, 1924   page 11

    The duck season opened Tuesday morning and the bombardment at dawn showed that the ducks were getting the worst of it by a large majority.  Low water in the lakes is making the hunting a little difficult, but most of the hunters secured at least a few birds for their trouble.
    Dick Hudnall, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Prowers Hudnall, was among the early morning hunters, but found that there were more  things to watch than ducks.  He and his father had built blinds out in the lake and Disk was securely ensconsed in his hiding place when he found that he had the companionship of a large snake, the reptile curling up in Dick's sweater to keep warm.  Dick was afraid to yell for feat of scaring the ducks and so endured the hospitality of the snake for a time, but later managed to get rid of him.
    About this time another hunter shot across the lake and a number of stray shots landed on Dick's back and the side of his face.  Fortunately the shots had spent their speed in distance and did nothing  worse than raise a few blisters, but at that Dick is convinced that there is two sides to the duck shooting business.  He liked shooting but is willing for somebody else to entertain the snakes and the stray shot. 

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Polio Victims Advanced $515 by Unit  -- January 20, 1950   page 10

    When the March of Dimes got underway in Colorado Monday, simultaneous with the national campaign for funds to fight polio, it presented not only a challenge and a civic responsibility to citizens of Bent County, but held an especial appeal for them as well.
    Because during 1949 when polio took the blackest toll yet experienced in history, two victims in Bent County were advanced $515 to make their fight for life.  Only seven counties in Colorado escaped without a case.
    Of the 42,000 cases of infantile paralysis throughout the country in 1949, Colorado chalked up 664 as compared to 127 the previous year.  The cost of medical care of these patients was $225,000 from March of Dimes funds, $117,815 of which was advanced from the National Foundation.  These monies were used for hospitalization, surgery, treatment of new cases and hundreds of others carried over in the wake of an epidemic.
    So  intense was the 1949 epidemic that 40 states reported more cases than in 1948, some areas had ten times as many.  State after state, Colorado included, saw their funds completely wiped out.  By mid-November, National Headquarters had sent in supplementary financial aid of more than $8, 500, 00 thus completely depleting its March of Dimes fund.  Emergency equipment valued at more than a million dollars was rushed to stricken areas.  Here again, Colorado shared in this service.

No Respector of Persons

    Polio is on the increase and it is no respector of persons.  It attacks one and all irrespective of race, creed, position or age.  Its victims now include adults, mothers, fathers, grandparents, breadwinners of whole families.  That  is why the 1950 March of Dimes in Bent County must hit a new high, must elicit the wholehearted generosity and undivided support of everyone.  Remember, every dime and dollar contributed works for  YOU,  your county and Colorado.

Local Chairman makes Plea

    "So far Bent County citizens have responded generously to the 1950 March of Dimes campaign both by contributions and offers of assistance in making the drive," according to Mrs. E. A. Christeson, county chairman.  "judging by the reoorts of our various committee chairmen, every segment of the public here seems keenly aware of the urgent need to make our current appeal a record success," says Mrs. Christeson.
    While polio did not strike Bent Country as hard in 1949 as in 1948 when the local chapter spent approximately $1,700 in caring for three local victims and sending $500 to the national foundation, Mrs. Christeson points out that one never knows what will happen during the coming polio season.  At present the funds of the local chapter are not sufficient to care for more than one or two minor cases of polio.

Polio Costs High

    An example of how polio costs, the local chapter paid bills totaling $198.85 last fall in one case.  The little girl died after being in the hospital less than one week.

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ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF NEWSPAPER SERVICE - Sept. 8, 1983
by Charles R. Clark, Publisher of the Bent County Democrat

     One hundred years, a full century of service to the community, that basically is the history of the Bent County Democrat.  The special supplement to this edition honors that occasion.  In it we have reprinted stories and photos we thought might interest our readers.
    While 100 years is a long time for a newspaper to exist, it is difficult for me to believe I have been in the business one-half of that time.  Before I go on I would like to tell the people of Bent County it has been an honor and privilege to publish the Democrat since April 1968.  I don't know where one could find a better group of people to work for and with.  You have helped us with our efforts in obtaining news; have subscribed to the newspaper and above all have been supportive of it financially.  Without  that response past and present publishers couldn't have brought it that far.
     As the Democrat enters its second century of service, I am sure future publishers will find them as challenging as have past publishers.
    My guess is the conversion of offset printing and computers have been the two biggest changes in the business in the past 100 years.  The introduction of the Linotype would probably be third.  The two former changes have occurred during the time we have published the paper.  Computers and word processing will continue to have a great impact on newspapers.  They may be a blessing and will certainly be a challenge.

NEWSPAPER CAREER BEGAN IN 1934

    My newspaper career began in the fall of 1934 on the main street of Chickasha, Okla.  I wanted a bicycle and my ailing father told me he would match every dollar I earned until I was able to make the purchase.  I remember the first few hours of "honking" the Daily Oklahoman on the street produced six cents profit.  And while I can grin about it now, I must admit there have been days when I have made less.
    From the first morning I sold newspapers on the street I knew it was my type of business.  I progressed at a young age from street sales to a newspaper route and finally became custodian of the local daily newspaper.
    World War II claimed my services shortly after graduation from high school.  Upon returning three years later I thought I wanted to be a medical doctor, but it didn't take me long to find out I was not suited for that grinding college training and returned to the newspaper.
    I owe my early newspaper education to the Chickasha Daily Express and Anadarko Daily News in Oklahoma.  I served first in the advertising department of the Express and then became advertising manager of the Daily News before returning to the Express as advertising manager.
    My next newspaper venture was part interest in the Wewoka Daily Times in Oklahoma.  During the next 12 years I served in the advertising and business departments there.  During that time partner Gary Reid and I decided a small daily newspaper had too many worries for the time one spent running it.  One thing that concerned me was that  we had about 20 12-year-0ld youngsters whose job it was to collect circulation revenue which was more than it was possible for the newspaper to reap in profits.
    I learned the Bent County Democrat was for sale through a trade publication and contacted publishers Earl and Sal Asbury.  I was also interested in two weekly newspapers in Texas but soon cast one out when I discovered it was only 12 miles from the ranch of President Lyndon B. Johnson.  I didn't think the area could cope with his retirement to the ranch and my publishing an opposition type newspaper in the same area.
    I made several trips to Las Animas to confer with Asbury and while walking down the street one day decided the Democrat was my choice.  Two of my four children were nearing graduation from high school and I don't think they appreciated my decision.
    But, whatever the accomplishments, both personally and in community service, much of the credit goes to my family.  All of them have worked at the Democrat and it truly would have been impossible without the support of my wife.  Our daughter, Nancy, serves as editor today and she and her husband, Gary, have been moving forces for changes in style of the newspaper the last few years.
    I couldn't go further without also expressing our appreciation to other staff members.  Loreta Moss, who services as society editor and circulation manager, has always been a willing and capable associate.  Frank Gutierrez, who runs our job printing press, holds the longevity record recently completing his 43rd year at the Democrat.  Monty Fowler is the newest member of our staff and has done a superior job in news and features.
    In between year one and 100 there have been hundreds of correspondents who have given their talent to the publication of the newspaper.
    We do not expect to see the 200th Anniversary of the BCD but our hopes are that it is fortunate enough to have a staff and the support of the community so that it can endure another century.  As long as we publish your newspaper we pledge to be fair and to give you a publication that is the result of your best ability, both personally and financially.
    We feel more lucky than past publishers because we are the ones her on the occasion of the 100th Anniversary.

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