- Lamont, Kansas 1922 -
The following are articles found in the Lamont Leader newspaper in the year 1922.
“In January there was a prairie fire east of town and Lamont was deserted, almost, until the fire was put out. The fire started in the John Bell pasture and burned northwest for two miles. Five or six hay stacks were burned as well as all of the posts of the fences in the burned over area. It is supposed that the fire was started by sparks from the Missouri Pacific engine. The fire fighters had difficulty in keeping the fire away from the buildings on the Frank Slead farm where I.M. Shook lives.
One cylinder of the Missouri Pacific engine blew out Thursday and the engine limped up and down the tracks on one cylinder Thursday evening and Friday morning and incidentally it made a lot of noise every time the damaged cylinder blew off.
It is estimated that the total of the claims against the Missouri Pacific as a result of the prairie fire east of Lamont on New Year’s Day will amount to over $1,000.
Eight stacks of hay and between 300 and 400 fence posts were burned, and a big acreage was burned over. Here for the Pacific has allowed 50 cents an acre for burning grass land, it is said.
In February the Lamont Leader included a story about a resident of Madison. Virgil Sturgeon of Madison was shot in a gambling game in Topeka and is not expected to live. The following concerning the matter was printed in the Topeka Capital newspaper.
“Although shot through the abdomen in an argument which started in a crap game, probably fatally wounded and suffering intense pain, Virgil Sturgeon of Madison, when taken to the police station with the men who wounded him, begged for the return of his gun that he might square accounts.
“According to Sturgeon, he drew his automatic and began shooting after Hughes and other players in the game had robbed him of $200.
“Ed Switzer and Charles Jones, who were in the game with Hughes, are being held at the police station for investigation.
“They claim that Sturgeon held up the game and took their money. A total of $160 was found in Sturgeon’s pocket. Sturgeon is said to have been drinking.
“Hughes admitted the shooting Monday night. One shot struck Sturgeon below the pit of the stomach and the other hit him in the left hip. He was rushed to St. Francis Hospital where at a late hour this morning, his condition was stated to be critical.
Sim Hemerickhouse, a second-hand automobile dealer of Emporia, was in the game with Sturgeon when the shooting began. He ran out of the hotel and boarded a train for Emporia. The Topeka officers notified the Emporia police that Hemerickhouse was on his way to Emporia and requested them to get a statement from him as soon as he should arrive in Emporia. Police met Hemerickhouse at the Santa Fe station and he made the following statement: “I, the undersigned, being duly sworn under oath made the foll owing statement: I was in the room in Topeka, Shawnee County, Kansas, with Sturgeon and three other men and during an altercation Virgil Sturgeon drew an automatic pistol on men he was quarreling with. He was drunk, or partly so at the time. I heard him say, “ You----, what do you think of that.” Switzer ran from the room first and I followed him. As I ran west down the hall I turned and saw Sturgeon following. At the bottom of the stairs, I heard two shots, I ran east through the building. A man on this floor was standing in a room door and wanted to know what was going on.
I told him there was some shooting and there was a squabble upstairs. This man showed me how to get out of the building the back way. I crossed the street and ran north and heard three more shots. I told my brother in North Topeka about the row and then came to Emporia on Train No. 9.”
Ben Sturgeon drove to Emporia early Monday morning and took a train to Topeka to see his brother. According to the latest reports, Mr. Sturgeon will recover unless there should be unexpected developments.
In March Conrad Storrer received $78.75 as compensation for the injury to his finger, which he got injured in the cog wheels of his gasoline engine, from the Woodman Accident Insurance Company. Conrad was laid up quite a while as a result of the accident and the money came in pretty handy but he says he would gladly give the money back to the company if he could have the finger restored as it was before the accident.
In May, Francis Long’s daughter and her 29-month-old baby was visiting at Mr. Long’s. The baby fell from an upstairs window to a cement walk 12 feet below.
The child was paralyzed in one side, arm and leg for a short time. The head was bruised. As soon as the baby is strong enough, an X-ray picture will be taken to determine the extent of the injuries.
Lamont has more radios than any other town of its size in the state. Each of the general stores is now equipped with radio receiving apparatus. The one in the Farmers Union store is equipped with an amplifier. One standing 20 feet away from the machine can hear the market reports from Kansas City and Wichita.
A room repairing man was in Lamont in June. He travels by truck in which he hauls barrels of tar and behind the truck is a trailer which provides living quarters for his family. His wife and baby travel with him in an automobile. He appeared to be prosperous.
Many people came from far and near in July to see the wrecked safety deposit boxes and the other damage done at the Farmers State bank. The bank has installed a new device that will prevent burglars from getting into the vault unless they use dynamite. And a man who is a dead shot, is sleeping close to his rifle with the hope that he will hear the dynamite should it ever go off.
Of the 50 safety deposit boxes in the bank, all but three were wrecked or taken by the burglars. The fact that the burglars failed to give their attention to all the boxes would indicate that something caused them to leave before they finished.
In August lightning struck and killed two horses and a fine threeyear- old mule for George Ott near Lena Valley. (This was a small settlement just a few miles north of Lamont) This is a severe loss as Mr. Ott intended to start plowing the next day.
An airplane landed in the meadow south of Lamont and the pilot came to town for gasoline, but before Oliver Storrer could get around to deliver it, the machine arose and flew away. The plane was on its way to Florence. Wichita is its home town.
In November of 1922 the E. Bennett store and post office, which are in the same room and located at Hill Top (this town was located about five miles southwest of Lamont and is now a ghost town) was robbed. The door was blown off of the safe, and $100 in cash, notes worth $1,050, checks amounting to $800, and deeds and abstracts and other papers were stolen. Some stamps and stamped envelopes also were taken. The last money had been issued a few days before so the robbers got none of them. The thieves evidently were in a hurry for they overlooked one drawer containing money, stamps, etc. Some merchandise, including a few inexpensive watches, tobacco, etc., were taken. Mr. Bennett, the owner of the store, is also the postmaster.”
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