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     In 1892 Arthur Rikli opened up a furniture store. The same year A. Rikli and L. Neitzer (sic) embarked in the implement business which was carried on for four years, when N. Neitzel bought Rikli out, and carrieed (sic) on alone until he sold out to Wm. Gerhts. Henry Bornemier built a general store in 1892 which he conducted about two years then sold the stock to Frank Martin of Omaha, who put Steve Tool in as manager.
     In 1895 Mr. Martin built his own store at the site of the Mercantile store, adding H. A. Tool, brother of Steve, to the sales force, and has continued ever since
     About 1903 H. H. Waldron bought the furniture store from Mr. Rlkli, and opened a bank, with Mr. Krink as cashier, which ran about eight years, when it was absorbed by the Bank of Murdock. Mrs. F. Wolf built the first meat market, now owned by Art Ward. and used for a funeral home by Mr. Horton (1932).
     The Misses Goodale ran a millinery shop in a lean-to to the meat market.
     The first death in Murdock came to the home of E. J. Tool, when his wife passed away six weeks after coming here from Iowa, leaving Mr. Tool with six children. She was buried at Callahan cemetery, in 1892.
     The citizens of the new town, who all owned their homes, saw to it that their religion was not neglected. After a Christian minister had preached a little while, all the church people being Evangelicals, but which the Evangelical church preached only in the German language, they decided to call a Methodist minister. An old retired minister was sent us, by the name of Wilkinson, who came from Weeping Water.
     Then the presiding elder formed a circuit with South Bend, Murdock and Wabash and an old veteran of the Civil war, David Fetz, was stationed at South Bend. He was a hard worker and very successful, had a great revival in the school house. At that time everybody in Murdock went to church. It was a good atmosphere to raise a family in. Mr. Jim Matte (s?) was our first Sunday school superintendent, who also was a good singer, and soon Murdock was known about its fine singing. Rev. Fetz would hold revival services at South Bend and Wabash. and G. V. Pickwell would come in with his big wagon and eight or ten would go to those places and assist in the service. Those were the happy days. Then the M. E. church decided to build a church. L. Neitzel secured two lots from the K. P. & L. Co., free of charge, and building operation was started in 1903 and the church dedicated in the early spring of 1904 by Rev. Peter Van Fleet. L. C. Meyers was the pastor. The cost was $2,500. In 1903 Rev. Brooker of the United Evangelical church, held a tent meeting on the ground where Ward's garage stands, organized a class, and built a church. on the site of Mrs. A. Panska's home. The class was small and never grew; after some seven or eight years was closed. In 1905 the Evangelical church located a church in Murdock, which is the only church left (1932.) The M. E. church was virtually wrecked by agitation about a saloon. Unwise acts split the church and alienated the people from the church, in consequence it died, what was left of members were transferred to Elmwood and the property sold.
     In 1910 a very disastrous fire con-

sumed L Neitzel's hardware store, Waldron's bank and the two story frame buildings, then owned by a man named Fish, who had owned it only about two months; this happened on September 10, 1910. L. Neitzel started building the present store, and occupied it inside of three months. Two years later F. Wolf erected the building occupied by G. Bauer. (1932.)
     The Bank of Murdock was opened for business October 28, 1892, and continued with Geo. Meeker in charge until June 30, 1894, when Gus Weideman bought the bank, who being a farmer, grew tired of banking and was ready to sell when H. H. Neitzel, brother of L. Neitzel, bought the business July 7, 1895, just one year to date after Weideman had taken over the business from Meeker. H. L. Neitzel conducted the business for thirteen years very successfully until 1908 when he sold out to F. H. Guthmann who continued until 1930 when F. Martin of Omaha bought the bank with H. A. Tool and Mr. Helmer in charge.
     During H. H. Neitzel's residence here, Murdock was incorporated as a village with 222 souls. Soon afterward a saloon was established with A. E. Fresher as owner.
     A system of cement sidewalks was proposed and carried through, and Murdock had the best sidewalks of any town in Case county, all laid to grade and uniform in width. Saloon license money was used for crossings and abutting property paid for theirs. The incorporation was completed on March 18, 1905, with the following five trustees: Orlando H. Eggleston, H. A. Tool, Calvin C. Leis, Jacob Goehry, and H. H. Neitzel , and the following year. 1905, the laying of sidewalks was ordered and completed.
     Just before the village was incorporated in 1894, Mr. H. W. Eggleston, L. Neitzel, H. V. McDonald, H. A. Tool, A. J. Tool, E. J. Tool and others met and talked over the matter of building a local telephone system. A company was formed with L. Neitzel president, H. V. McDonald secretary and treasurer. Stock was sold at $25 per share. H. C. Kohlrush was elected manager, who secured stockholders, and in a short time enough stock was sold to begin building the lines. 135 phones were placed, and before January 1, 1895, the company was doing business. It was a success from the beginning and proved a good investment.
     In the fall of 1920 the village voted to have electricity in town. An agreement with the Nebraska Power Co., to furnish power was entered into, and the village voted $10,000 bonds, to be redeemed in ten years. The line was built, and proved of great benefit to the town. The power was obtained from a line running from Louisville to Weeping Water and connection made two miles east of Manley and brought in on No. 1 Highway. In 1926 the village sold out to the Nebraska Power Co., for $10,000 cash, which left $4,000 in the treasury
     The same year by vote of the people, the streets were ordered graveled which gave Murdock the best streets of any town in the county, and added much to the neat appearance of the village.
     In 1926 the Murdock Telephone Co., sold out to the Lincoln Telephone and Telegraph Co., who rebuilt all the line, which gave excellent service.
     In the year when Murdock became of age (18 years old) 1909, the first

street fair was held, continuing three days. It was a great success. It was repeated in 1910 and 1911, then street fairs became so common that no more were held.
     The development of the Evangelical church, Rev. A. Fischer tried to open a preaching place in Murdock in 1894. in the school house, but it failed. In 1905 Rev. H. Peiper found a number of Evangelical people in Murdock; Peter Withreft, C. Gurr, Charles Bakemeyer, and Fred Scheve had moved into town, and with families of the Louisville church aided by C. Miller, Otto Miller and A. Rikli, a church was organized and a building erected. The following year the parsonage was built while Rev. A. Branchle served the charge; who was followed by C. Boelter, H. A. Schwab, I. Laipply, C. Strauss and H. S. Knosp in 1932. The charge has grown to 164 members with two Sunday schools with about 250 scholars.
     The present school house was built in 1925. The district was organized the same year into a consolidated school, with 25 sections of land including the town of Murdock and some six miles of railroad, making it one of the richest districts In the county. Eight teachers have about 180 pupils. The property cost $45,000 with equipment, and the cost per year amounts to about $13,000.
     Only good things can be said about Murdock; it never had any use of a jail; none of her citizens have been arrested; no fighting was ever indulged in, even in saloon days; the citizens are proud of their record and are found to live up to it. It is the best built up town; everybody vies with his neighbor to have the nicest lawn, the best paint on their houses, and the cleanest and nicest place; which adds largely to the moral atmosphere in which to raise a family. All strangers that stop, make remarks about the neat appearance and substantial homes, that the town contains.

	FORMER CASS COUNTY PIONEER TELLS OF EARLY LIFE IN NEBRASKA By WILLIAM COATMAN

Dr. C. H. Gilmore,
Murray. Nebraska.
Dear Sir:
     A letter was forwarded to me from Will Timblin, of Alvo, requesting a biographical sketch.
     To begin with, I was born August 10, 1858, in the little town of Palantine, Ill. My parents came from England and located there in 1857. The family consisted of eight children of whom three survive. One sister, born in England, is still living with a daughter near Woodstock, Ill. Brother Asa resides on a farm five miles south-east of Elmwood and owns the old home farm west of Avoca. I reside with a daughter in Grand Island. Two brothers died in infancy in Illinois, the others passed on in Cass county.

     After a few years farming and laboring in Illinois, father started for Nebraska in the spring of 1888 in a covered wagon, drawn by two small horses, weighing less than 2000 pounds. We crossed the Mississippi river at Clinton, Iowa, Had bad roads most of the way across Iowa and had to be pulled out of mud holes several times. Crossed the rivers of Iowa on ferry boats, some of them being very crude affairs. We crossed the Missouri river at Nebraska City on a steam ferry boat, landing in Cass county about the first of June.
     Father bought a farm four and one-half miles south and one mile west of Weeping Water, building a house on it about twenty rods from where the Pine School stands,
     Father worked out a good deal the first two years, hauling wheat to Nebraska City and freighting goods and farm implements from Nebraska City to Lincoln. The first time I saw Lincoln it was a small town, no paving, but a few board side walks.
     As there was no school in those early years and being ten years old, I herded cattle to help out with the living--bare footed at that the first two years. The next two years I had a horse to ride. Imagine a barefoot boy picking his way through sloughs with grass in then eight or ten feet high, without getting grass cuts between his toes or stepping on one of those grass spikes sticking up in the grass and they were very sharp and stiff.
     To make a living more difficult for a mother and six children, father took pneumonia and died in January 1873. We carried on for one year, but mother became discouraged and moved to Weeping Water, where she took in washing. I worked out in the summer and went to school three months in the winter. Went one term in the old stone school house in Weeping Water. When I was in my 18th year, I bought a team and started farming on mother's farm. Of the first crop of corn I raised, I took a load to Nebraska City getting twelve cents per bushel for It. I brought back a load of lumber for the Pine School house which still stands. One of the pleasant memories of that school is when 1 met and fell in love with a Scotch lassie. We later were married at the Nebraska City court house by a Methodist minister.
     To this union were born five children, two boys and three girls. One son lives at Elmwood and the other at Alvo. My wife passed away in 1935. I live with my eldest daughter in Grand Island. The second daughter died in 1896. The youngest, born in 1893, is in Ithica, N. Y., where she is superintendent of the English department of Ithica College..
     My wife and I were active Sunday School and church workers practically all of our fifty-six years of married life. I taught the men's Bible class in Weeping Water for over twenty years.
     We didn't cross any bridges in going to Weeping Water as there were none. We forded the streams and crossed the Weeping Water a block east of the present west bridge. The town was all on the north side of the creek in those days.

William Coatman,           
502 W. 10th      Grand Island, Nebr.

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CASS COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY MAGAZINE

Page 15

	HISTORY OF PINE SCHOOL-DIST. NO. 50 Located Four and One-half Miles South and One Mile West of Weeping Water, Nebr. By WM. COATMAN

     As I have been asked to give a few facts concerning the early history of this district, I will try to give a few to the best of my memory, as we came in to the neighborhood in the spring of 1868.
     There was no district formed or school building. If my memory serves me correctly, about the year of 1870 or possibly 1871, there was a district formed and the men of the district went to Neebraska (sic) City and drew the lumber and built the little school house that was 14x16 feet, with two small windows in it. It was built entirely of white pine lumber. That is what gave it the name of Pine School district, by which it is still recognized. The first term of school was of three months in the winter. It was taught by a man named Hardy. He lived on a farm four miles west of the school house and walked the distance morning and night for the entire term. He was about fifty years old and was a brother to the Hardy that established the Lincoln firm of that name. A young man by the name of Alden Burden also taught several terms of school in the little school house. He is still living near Sioux City, and is about ninety years of age.
     The names of the families, or part of them at least, were: Brookins, Johnsons, Dickinsons, Smiths, Evans and Coatman, with possibly a few others. As nearly as I can remember, there were 24 or 25 scholars that attended school in that little school house. How they ever managed with that many in that small room is beyond me.
     The branches of studies were reading, spelling, arithmetic, geography, writing, and a few studied grammar. The little building was quite a community center. We had a literary society, and the men of the district had some great old debates. Men from outside the district came to these. We also had spelling schools and declamations.
     More settlers located in the county, so in 1876 we had to have more school room. The firm of Ratnour and Rivette had the contract to build a new school house that was 18x30 feet. The lumber was also hauled from Nebraska City. The writer of this article hauled some of it and also dug the trench for the foundation. Nate Everhart built the foundation. An addition 12x18 feet was built later. The writer of this article was a director at one time and remembers there were fifty and sixty persons of school age in the district, with about forty attending school.
     The Missouri Pacific Railroad made a survey from Avoca up the south branch of the Weeping Water creek

that runs one mile north of the Pine School house, but later they decided to go up the main branch of the Weeping Water creek and op Stove Creek through Elmwood to Lincoln.
     Following are the names of a few of the teachers who taught in the district up to 1910:
     Claud Palmer, Sadie McAllister, Florence Cross, Nettie Shearer, Mrs. Henry (Lanham) Canady, Eda Marquardt, George C. Reed, Dave Crabtree, brother of Will Crabtree (Sec. National Educational Council,) Allen Congdon (Prof. of Mathamatics (sic), University of Nebraska.
     Bert Hardy, a step-son or the Hardy that taught the first school in 1878 and 1879, also taught. We put on a great play that winter that drew a big crowd for those days. and they couldn't all get in the house, but many locked in the windows. My wife and I took part in that play although we were not pupils at that time. Our four children attended school in this district. And now a old man nearing eighty looks back on those days with a great deal of pleasure.
     Editor's Note--Of the above named teachers, William Crahtree is secretary at the present time of the National Educational Council. Allen Congdon is at the head of the department of mathematics, University of Nebraska. Eda Marquardt was formerly our County Superintendent of Schools.

	AN EXCURSION BY MR. FRANK KENDLE IN THE FALL OF 1855 The Following Story was Related to the Writer September 16, 1910, when He Stayed All Night at the Kendle Home on a Professional Call By C. H. GILMORE

     "I came from Burlington, Iowa, by stage. My home was in Erie, Pa. My ambition was to get into the unknown west. The trip across Iowa by stage was long and very tiresome. The trail across Iowa in the rainy season was very bad. The men passengers got out when the stage was stuck in a mud hole to "heave and set" and push the stage out with the aid of hte (sic) six horses attached to the vehicle.
     On entering the Territory of Nebraska, the first man I met was a young fellow, by the name of Bobbet.
     He came of a good well-to-do family but had turned pretty wild and drank heavily. The first thing on landing in Omaha was to get to a saloon. Here he was soon beastly intoxicated and spent over $200. He had a fine gold watch, given to him by his mother and by hard work I was able to save this for him. His mother received a big annuity from the old country and consequently supplied him with the best and all the spending money he wished.
     I stayed in Omaha but a few days and with two other fellows planned to

take a trip down the Missouri river, to St. Joe, about which there was much talk of the prosperity at this place.
     We made a deal for a water soaked skiff made from cotton wood. This we purchased for a few dollars and with it few supplies for camp cooking, we started down the river. Our first stop was at Bellvue, then Plattsmouth, Rock Bluff, Kanosha, Liberty . and Cleveland. We stopped at each place and cooked our grub and when necessary, bought more supplies. We drifted more than pulling at the oars.
     Cleveland was too far up the bluff to go to the town so we drifted on down to the town of Wyoming, below the mouth of the Weeping Water. Wyoming was a hustling place. From Wyoming we drifted to Fort Kearney, now Nebraska City. Here we stopped at a poorly built old hotel and each of us registered. The landlord looked the register over after we had signed up. He came to me and said: "You are not the son of Robert Kendle of Erie, Pa., are you?"
     'What do you know about Robert Kendle?" I asked him.
     "Why, he was an elder in the Presbyterian church where I attended," he told me.
     "That's him all right," I said, and we became close friends.
     He persuaded me to stay over for a while and look the country over. I tried to persuade my river friends to stay over and take a look at the country, but they were determined to continue down the river to St. Joe and prosperity. I gave them my part of the outfit, boat and all, they loaded in their stuff and pulled down stream. The country around Fort Kearney did not look good to them. They accepted my part of the outfit with many thanks. I do not recall their names.
     Mr. Michlen's proposition to grubstake me for a few days until I looked the country over was accepted. One morning I went out from the hotel to the west of the town for a few hours walk, out near where Morton's Park (Arbor Lodge) is now located. Here I beheld one of the most beautiful scenes I ever witnessed. Through the dim light of Indian summer, I could see the rolling hills of green prairie like billows upon a sea it was a grand sight to behold. I hastened back to the hotel and told Mr. Michlen to have rations for about three days prepared at once.
     That forenoon I wandered westward and to the north over grass covered hills, beautiful and grand. I took plenty of time to look the country over. There was no signs of a settler's cabin and no trees. That night I slept out on the prairie, protected by nothing but my overcoat.
     The next day I spent on the prairie and drifted eastward and north. That night after dark I came upon trees and rocks on the bluffs of the Weeping Water creek. After traveling for some distance I could see the outline of a cabin against the sky. not having seen the Weeping Water by day light and not knowing its size I was afraid of falling into it and not knowing how to swim, it was safe to keep away from it.
     It was late in the night, but I went to the cabin which was located on what is now known as the Barnum farm northeast of Factoryville, and I knocked at the door.
     "Who is there and what do you want?" came a voice from inside.
     "A stranger afraid of snakes," I answered him.

     "Can you hank up a pin for night?" he asked.
     "Yes," I replied.
     "All right, come in," he said.
     No light was lit, but the man got up, gave me a buffalo robe and I bunked on the floor for the night.
     Three men lived in this cabin and the next morning I had breakfast with them. I left fifty cents by my plate and started early on my journey up the Weeping Water.
     The next stop was at Reed's cabin near where Weeping Water falls is located. I stayed here for the day.
     From here I went over near the Platte and followed it down to near the Missouri river and then cut through to the town of Cleveland. From here I followed the bluffs and trails back to Kearney.
     When crossing the Weeping Water on a trip to Nebraska City we had to go north of Factoryville where we could find a ford. We drove ox teams. When a quick trip was to be made we went down the river by boat."
     The latter paragraph pertains to the early days after Mr. Kendle settled northeast of Union.
  

	DEFINITE FINDINGS OF MASS INDIAN BURIAL NEAR NEHAWKA IN SPRING OF 1938 By DR. C. H. GILMORE

     Readers of The Enterprise will remember a recent article and pictures appearing in this newspaper, telling of the mass prehistoric Indian burial unearthed on the Nelson Berger farm north of town. At that time the identity of the Indians was not definitely known. Since the mater has been gone into thoroughly by Dr. C. H. Gilmore, Alvin McReynolds and the state archeological department we are now able to give an interesting account of this unusual event as written by Dr. C. H. Gilmore of Murray.--Editor.
     In the valley of the Weeping Water, Cass county, Nebraska, there has been located and mapped over two hundred house ruins of a prehistoric people who in the past centuries inhabited this section of Nebraska, just west of the Missouri river, but locating the burial places of these primitive unknown races has been more difficult from the fact that the farmer's plow and erosion have destroyed the mounds above the graves; also the artifacts strewn over the cultivated fields where there has been earth lodges, are abundant and plainly visable (sic) while no evidence of this character is left when the mound is destroyed.
     On the first high point just north of Nehawka where the hill slopes to the south and west was recently located a prehistorical burial by Nelson Berger, owner of the land, while grubbing stumps. This farm was a part of the homestead of the Hon. S. M. Kirkpatrick, who took an active part in the organization of the Territory of Nebraska while serving as Senator from Cass county and his dwelling

house stood a short distance from this burial.
     Through the voluntary help of Wm. Ost, Carl Balfour, Warren Munn, Glenn LeDioyt, George Poulos, Jr., Nelson Berger and others, who came 'to the assistance of Alvin McReynolds and the writer, arrangements were made for careful excavation work and preservation of the skeletons and all material found with them.
     A strip of soil 25 feet east and west by 10 feet north and south was removed to a depth of 18 inches when an even layer of thin, flat waterworn limeston (sic) was exposed and all were on a level plane except at the northwest corner where they had been raised and tilted by the roots of an oak tree. In general the figure formed by these lime stones: At the east end a triangle 48 inches at the north side and coming to a rounded point six feet to the south. At the west end a round cornered rectangle 8 feet east and west and 7 feet north and south which was united with the triangle by a neck 31 inches wide and 5 feet in length. Flat stones set edgewise extended to the east from the triangle 30 inches and stones from the quadrangle at the south in such a manner as to suggest legs.
     When the flagstones were removed the earth beneath presented a mixture of black and yellow soil, intermixed with charcoal and ashes. This layer of soil was removed and at a depth of from three inches to two feet, skeletons were exposed.
     Arm and leg bones were intermixed and in close proximity to the skull was found. In one adult a lower right wisdom tooth was found impacted, the crown laying posteriorly. In the aged the molars were very smooth and worn.
     The upper median incisors of the adults were definitely shovel shaped, the lingual side deeply concave and on the labial side a wide groove. Down the front of these teeth between the elevated lateral ridges were stria, pronounced vertical grooves. This type of tooth Is described by Ales Hrdlika in his "Medical Observations Among Indians in Southwestern United States." Some authorities classify the shovel shaped tooth as Mongoloid.
     Flint chips were found abundantly among the earth surrounding the skeletons but no article made from flint was found. Two pieces of pottery were recovered. One was an undecorated rim-sherd of a very small pot and the other a fragment. Both were grit tempered.
     Beneath the lower jaw of a male skull was found a pipestone pipe, elbow type, less than an inch in length or height and a half an inch in diameter at the bowl. The stem was at right angle with the howl. Near by and beneath a female skull was found three cylindrical beads, one inch in length made from a chalky limestone and three shell disc beads.
     Smoking was a custom among all prehistoric races in America and the sacred calumet was important in all ceremonies. The pipestone from which this minature pipe was made was quarried at Pipestone, in southwestern Minnesota, a quarry which has been worked back in prehistoric ages.
     What connection these people held in relation to the catlinite quarries in Minnesota is problematical. The "flint mines" of Nehawka have been visited by many tribes from a distance and

no doubt Nehawka flint was a medium of exchange and trade for it has been found in the distant parts of all our adjacent states. Obsidian, which is found in the Yellowstone Park has found its way to Cass county in the form of arrow points and obsidian knives. How long it took these primitive articles to reach such distant points is a question, but no doubt many years.
     The figure formed by the thin, flat limestones above this communal grave was a symbol with a definite meaning to these people. In 1932 there was uncovered en a high bluff at the south edge of Buck Bluff, a layer of flat limestones which showed the clear cut figure of a turtle - circular, raised in the center with head, legs and tail. This figure measured ten by thirteen feet but there was no burial beneath this layer of stone. On this figure, near the head, which was to the east, overlooking the Missouri river, was a mass of human bones intermixed. Near the center was found an upper jaw and the teeth showed an advanced age. Most tribes of Indians in the United States had Turtle Gens with the belief that the turtle controlled drouths and storms. Possibly the fetishman who controlled this magic figure was buried with the limestone turtle.
     That the Algonqunins from the Great Lakes region did occupy eastern Cass county in prehistoric times is beyond question. Dr. W. D. Strong, who is with the Smithsonian Institute and has done extensive archeological work in Cass county, says "This culture is of a western woodland type and is manifested along the eastern border of the state by effigy mounds. The pottery of this culture is distinctive." Two unbroken pots of this type has been found along the Missouri river. Dr. Strong further comments, "Strange to say, it is a woodland culture of northeastern affiliations that occurs on the eastern border as the earliest known occupation of this sort in Nebraska. This was demonstrated by Stearns' discoveries at the Walker Gilmore site, and the fact that the Sterns Creek culture is apparently related to the "Algonkian" and Lake Michigan culture of Iowa and Wisconsin is undoubtedly significant."
     The missionary Brebeuf who was in the Great Lakes region in 1636, the home of the Alogonquians, in a report says, "It was also a custom among the Indians of the lake region to have at certain periods what may be termed communal burials in which the bodies and skeletons of a district were removed from their temporary burial places and deposited with much ceremony in a single large pit." There were many features to the ceremony, but one which was followed by most tribes was to keep a fire burning above the grave for several days and nights while the festivities and mourning was in progress.
     The Hand Book of American Indians; says, "Thus, in the belief of the Algonquian Indians of the Great Lakes, the souls of the deceased are believed to reside in the far west." The same writer speaking of the physical characteristics of this tribe says, "Their cheek bones are heavy, the head among the tribes of the Great Lakes is very large and the face also very large."
     Summary--The prehistoric mass burial at Nehawka is definitely con-   

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