An incident that happened in the Golden Jubilee years of 1935 when I had just turned a teenager and more or less a ring leader of young ruffin cowboys from south east of Bird City.

THE CHIEFS HEAD DRESS  GOLDEN JUBILEE

An incident that happened in the Golden Jubilee years of 1935 when I had just turned a teenager and more or less a ring leader of young ruffin cowboys from south east of Bird City.  These cowboys included Glenn Glasco, Virgil Query, Gordon Fishel, brother Harold and myself among others.  We decided to get ready for the Big Regalia that Bird City was having later in the summer.  All of us decided to ride together shortly after school was out, at least once a week, to stay in shape for this “big wing ding.”  We all had ponies that we had ridden to school and we thought to stay in shape by continuing to ride during the summer.  Finally we would ride into town on opening day and make our grand entry.  Glenn asked his Dad if we might use the barn to stable our ponies during the Big Show.  All these things were set to go and we rode from our homes to town, meeting our group on the way in.

Well – let me tell you there were so many people and so much going on, no one even noticed our grand entry.  Now this barn was located a short distance north west of the football field.  We stabled our horses and made our way into the crowd.  It seems there was a mock Indian battle planned for the forenoon on the football field and we did want to participate.

As we crossed the football field on our way back to the barn to get our ponies we happen by a privy (out house) near the north edge of what is the end zone.

Well – there on the ground, beside the privy lay the most elaborate Indian head dress you can imagine.  This head piece was all decked out with beautiful feathers, hundreds of small beads in the Indian designs, several claws of eagles and hawks and Lord knows what else on a heavy leather ban.  I would gress the total length to be at least ten feet.  All this was neatly folded in about an eighteen by eighteen inch package.  This had been done by the Chief who was in the privy, (we didn’t know that), who would come out when he finished his chores.

Temptation took over, and it was a minute or two for us to realize that we had a trophy indeed!  A couple of us boys picked up the Head Dress and headed for the barn, with the remainder of the gang on the look out, but following us close behind.  When we arrived at the barn we did not want to place it in there so there was a small shed nearby where we laid our trophy well out of sight of anyone happening by.  We had to figure out what our next move might be.  Our next move didn’t take that long, for we just got to the barn, when the Chief (minus head dress) and two young braves confronted us and tried to explain to us that the Chief had no head dress and that we were the prime suspect in the list.  We didn’t pay a whole lot of attention because Cowboys were not supposed to pay attention to Indians.  By this time the Chief was fuming mad, jumping up and down, shaking his fist, and in general making quite a scene.  We stood our ground with total denial of anything the Chief was trying to pin on us, what ever it was?  Well – he and the two braves stomped off. In a little bit they returned with the LAW. The law happened to be a nice little old man by the name of, Milo Kilmer, who was one of the deputies helping to keep law and order during the celebration.  “Boys”, he said, “the chief has lost his head dress and I was wondering if you boys might have seen it?”  Now I being the oldest of the gang spoke right and said why yes I think we saw it over in old shed, just a few paces from where we stood.  The Chief, Milo, braves and others went over to the shed and sure enough the Head  Dress was just where we said it was.  The Chief put it on and marched back to the grounds giving us that penetrating look of LIAR, LIAR THIEF.  By this time we were all shook up and didn’t know our next move but figured it better be “out of town” if we valued our scalps.  I don’t remember who told us but they thought there was a barn at the Miller place, about a mile and a half east of town.

After the Mock Battle was over and the crowd and most importantly the Indians had left, we rode our ponies out to Muellers for the night.  The next day we came back as far as Kehlbeck’s grand stand east of town.

The Chief had his beautiful head dress back and we had our scalps, I guess we were both happy.  I know I was.

Well – the moral of this story is don’t take something that is not yours even if it is lying around on the ground.  Don’t lie even if it does not concern the Chief’s head dress!

Written by Wayne Deeds

For JD Eggers March 1, 1998

In the eyes of a teenager who lived fourteen miles southest of Bird City.

GOLDEN JUBILEE

THROUGH EYES OF A TEENAGER

In the eyes of a teenager who lived fourteen miles southeast of Bird City, the weekly newspaper edited by Adolph Kotas kept us posted in regard to progress of foals to be achieved before the dates of the Bird City Jubilee or 50^th Anniversary Aug 22,23,,24, 1935 and possible events on the program.

On our once a week trip to town with cream and eggs to sell or exchange for groceries, we drove by the ball diamond and rodeo grounds on the NW corner of the SE quarter of 31-3-37 or ½ mile east of the Security State Bank.  That area seemed to become more like the old McDonald Fair grounds each week. The amount of lumber and posts required for this arena and grandstands made a mark in my brain. (Our family hoped to build a new house on our farm)  The volunteer laborers truly labored.  No power tools or tractors with scoops then.  Fred Kehlbeck was quite involved in promoting this area. It was on his land.  A fee (?) was charged at gate for performances.

Overalls were standard attire for working men and boys in the Depression years “Pay Day” brand at J. C. Penny stores could be bought for 98 cents a pair.  Blue jeans became popular for the Jubilee Days.  My youngest brother catalog shopped – price 69 cents or 79 cents but he does not remember being a recipient.  Almost all the men grew beards.

Written by Wayne Deeds

January 22 1998 for JD Eggers

I was filled with sadness when I learned the old red depot had been burned down.  It was a part of our lives, I will always remember.  We spent many happy hours there, some sad times too.

We learned to dance in our dining room, with Glen Keller playing the piano.  There were birthday parties held in the depot.  One time we surprised Leona Turner with a party.  She and I share a birthday, October 13.  Many times on Sunday our friends gathered there for ice cream and cake before we went to a movie.

Mother always had a big garden and I remember my brother Arthur, when he was nine or ten, cleaning green onions and radishes and other things, and leaving them in a can of water for the train crew, who at that time cooked in the "Way Car."  We also traded two of Mother's setting hens for a some rabbits.

My sister Marian was very ill when she was a Junior in high school and we were so afraid we would lose her, but she recovered.  Our brother Robert "Bobby" died at the depot and we were filled with grief.

We lived in the depot for fifteen years.  And we saw many changes; two elevators were built - Morrison, Gregg and Mitchell, and Albert Weaver.  We saw the hauling of grain go from horse and wagon to trucks.  Many cans of cream were shipped to the Equity Creamery at Orleans, NE; the biggest Creamery in the world then.

A new grade school building was built.  We put much paint on the woodwork and many layers of wall paper on the walls of our home in the depot.  We left there with sadness in November of 1934. 

(Author: Frances L. (Harris) Bruening; Story part of the History of Cheyenne County Kansas, Volume I, 1987 by The Cheyenne County Historical Society and published by Curtis Media Corporation of Dallas Texas)

The first man to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean spent part of his life in Bird City and on August 31, 1927 a large number of people gathered in Bird City to see Charles Lindbergh and his historic "Spirit of St. Louis" that had just returned from its flight across the Atlantic.

The large group of people stood in a formation on the football field to spell out "welcome".  Lindbergh circled the town twelve times and flew low enough for the people to get a good view of both him and his plane.  The reason for Lindbergh's special attention to the folks of Bird City was because of his association with "Banty" Rogers, a local resident of this area.  Lindbergh had spent quite a bit of time in Bird City while he worked with "Banty" as a parachute man.

As a sophomore at the University of Wisconsin Lindbergh dropped out of the mechanical engineering program and headed to Lincoln, Nebraska to enroll as a student at the Nebraska Aircraft Corporation flying school.  Nicknamed "Slim", on April 9, 1922 at the age of 20 Lindbergh completed his first flight instruction.  However, shortly thereafter the Nebraska Aircraft Corporation sold both the school's primary and newly completed secondary (plane called the silver job) trainers leaving Lindbergh without a plane to train with and solo in.

It was at this point when Lindbergh's link with Bird City played a role in him receiving further flight instruction.

According to Charles Lindbergh himself in his book, The Spirit of St. Louis, ..........

"By the time, the Nebraska Aircraft Corporation had assembled the silver job...it was already sold--to a wheat rancher from Bird City, in northwestern Kansas; "Banty" Rogers was his name.  He hadn't learned to fly yet himself, but he'd teamed up with a pilot he introduced as "Cupid" Lynch--a jolly, chunky man who handled Lincoln-Standards (early biplane) with extraordinary skill.  Page (Ray Page was the president of the Nebraska Aircraft Corporation) paid Lynch for giving me a few more instruction flights before the plane was taken away.  I'd turn you loose for solo, Lynch said, but Ray Page won't take a chance on your cracking up the plane.  Say how'd you like to go barnstorming with me this summer?  I can start any day, I replied, eagerly.  Lynch was just the type of pilot I wanted to fly with.  Lynch grinned.  Well, I'll see what it's like when I get out to Bird City.  My guess is that Banty'll be tied up with the harvest in a few more weeks.  You know it's a tough job to pull a Hisso's (Hispano-Suiza Aircraft Engine) bank alone, and you need somebody to help you taxi in those Kansas winds.  You and I could put on a real show with a little wing walking and a parachute jump.  Don't count on it, but I think I'll be sending you a telegram before long.  The school owed me about two more hours of instruction.  In a three cornered deal...I traded these, the wages due me, my claim to the right to solo, and twenty-five dollars in cash, for a new muslin parachute.

At last, I found my pilot and my airplane.  In mid-July, 1922, the prophesied telegram arrived from Lynch, asking me to join him for the season, and to bring my parachute.  I didn't expect to make much money, but I knew that all my expenses would be paid.  And Lynch had the skill and judgment, and a newly reconditioned plane.  I settled my house bill, stored my motorcycle in the factory basement, packed up my parachute and suitcase, and climbed on a hot, old, and grimy day coach that clanked slowly along the rails westward through Nebraska and Kansas.  Bird City was almost at the end of the line--a few score houses, a few hundred people, completely surrounded by a sea of wheat.  Banty Rogers made a good living from wheat.  He'd mechanized his ranch with tractor, gang plow, and combine.  His profits had mounted until the summer of 1922 found him with enough surplus to buy an airplane.  He and Lynch met my train at the station.  You and I are going to barnstorm the towns nearby, Slim, Lynch said as we drove to the plane.  Have you tried out your new parachute yet?  No, I haven't had a chance.  Say, how about starting out with a jump at Bird City?....."  (source:  Lindbergh, Charles. The Spirit of St. Louis. ISBN-13: 978-0743237055)

Winning the honor of being the first town in Kansas to go over the top in the Fourth of July Loan Drive during World War I, the town of Bird City had a ship named after it.

Bertha Kerndt was chosen to do the honors of christening the Bird City on August 15, 1919, at Hog Island, near Philadelphia Pennsylvania.  This was the result of Bird City being the first town in the State to go over the top in the Fourth of July Loan Drive, during World War I.  Built by the American International Shipbuilding Corp., for the United States Shipping Board it served as a cargo ship between the US and Scandinavian and Baltic Ports.  It was later torpedoed and sunk in  February 1942 by German submarine U.432 near Cape Hatteras off the coast of North Carolina.

For More Information Checkout:

http://www.theshipslist.com/ships/lines/americanscantic.htm

http://www.timetableimages.com/maritime/images/asl.htm

http://www.moore-mccormack.com/The-Company/Mooremack-Timeline.htm

http://uboat.net/allies/merchants/ships/1332.html

http://www.timetableimages.com/maritime/images/asl30si.htm