The McCook Trumpet reports the news

From H.P. Waite's Collection of Early McCook Trumpet Stories

McCook Trumpet Dec. 12, 1884: To the Editor: The following communication should have appeared earlier, but was refused publication by the editor of the McCook Tribune, who gave as his reason for not so doing that the article was not of interest to the public. Beg Pardon, Mr. Editor, but we have always supposed that the public were interested in knowing how, and for what the public funds are expended T.B. Stutzman, M.D.

Trouble in the Red Willow County Medical Community: Dec. 15, 1884. To the Public: A recent issue of the Tribune contained the statement that Mrs. Crist died from the effects of an amputation, performed Friday, November 21st. As I had charge of the case for some time previous to the time the operation was performed and as the names of the parties who performed the operation were not given in the statement, many supposed that I performed the operation. I wish to state the facts in the case. As is well known by those interested in the case, I advised amputation as the only chance of saving the woman's life, but was unable to get any Doctor in McCook to assist me, all insisting that the operation would prove fatal. But three weeks later, they managed to have me discharged and the case put on the other county doctors. Then, having some prospect of remuneration, Drs. A.J. Shaw, Z.L. Kay, and L.L. Johnson, of McCook, and Dr. J. Shaw, of Indianola proceeded to perform the very operation they had said would kill the woman She lived thirty hours after the operation, and it is my opinion that she might have recovered had she received proper attention after the operation was performed, and that she, in consequence of gross negligence on the part of her physicians, who were guilty of negligence, if not malpractice.

I had nothing to do with the operation, but had enough professional interest in it to apprise myself of the facts in the case, and if the physicians wish me to prove the charge I am compelled in justice to myself to make, I can do so by reliable witnesses before any court they may wish to bring me.

T. B. Stutzman, M.D.

Medical Help is on the Way: Dr. S.D. Williams, late of Trenton, has hung out his shingle in McCook, and we look for an increase in the mortality rate of our citizens.

A Frontier County Murder: McCook Trumpet, Dec. 18, 1884: We learn of a terrific tragedy in Frontier County on Medicine Creek, as we go to press. A Swede shot a man named Sherwood on Tuesday with a breach loading shotgun, blowing Sherwood's head off and his brains scattered in every direction, part of them lodging in a tree ten feet away.

It seems that the two parties' claims join, and trouble had "arose" between them in regard to the lines of their land, and on this day Sherwood went out on his land to cut some timber, but feared that the Swede had taken his gun with him. Mr. Sherwood's body was found by a man named Clark, who had purchased some wood of Sherwood, and had "went" there to get it. Sherwood was found, still with his "mittins" on and his gun by his side, still loaded. The Swede claimed Sherwood shot at him first, striking him in the palm of his hand. The supposition is that the Swede shot Sherwood and then shot himself through the hand to drive suspicion away.

The party who gave us this information thinks the Swede, by this time, has been hung by the mob, as it was expected he would be.

McCook Trumpet, Dec. 25, 1884: The Omaha Republican reports; Jim Nelson, of Frontier County (The Swede), last Tuesday shot and killed Eugene Sherwood, Thursday night, was taken from the Sheriff by regulators, hung, shot, throat cut, and his body left to freeze.

The Truth Comes Out: Jan. 1, 1885: We quoted verbatim, the preceding item from the Omaha Republican, which came from the Associated Press dispatches, merely to show how far the imagination of some people can lead them from the truth. The truth is that Mr. Nelson's throat was not cut; neither was he shot. He was hung and his body was decently interred.

Jan. 27, 1885. The McCook Trumpet: Wm. J. Robinson died of membranous croup. William was 6 years old.

Young Love Spurned: Mike Dooley, of our city, got an overdose of frumenti on board Friday and made an unwanted call on a young lady in the 100 block. As he was attempting to make his presence known with loud pounding on the door he was hit on the head with a stick of stove wood, bruising him up severely. His comment about the incident, "Boys, keep away from the girls. I say, give them lots of room!"

Scandal Sheet: The circle of the cream of McCook society has taken a declining tendency during the past week, and the scandals, which have been the theme of our little city's conversation and excitement of late has perhaps made all acquainted with the facts, and it will not be unnecessary to mention names. The Trumpet would publish the gossip, were it not so lengthy, and did we not know they were all facts, but we see no reason why we should injure an innocent party, and deem it more than proper to dispense with what we cannot vouch for. Suffice to say there has been a very disgraceful termination of a scandal in respectable society; a home has been broken up, and two little children left fatherless as it were, a wife and mother to go it alone, a once respected husband, father and upstanding citizen disgraced. We will leave it to the local gossip as to who is to blame, but one thing is quite evident, a woman is at the bottom of all this difficulty.

The Trumpet: February 1885. A number of drunken and hilarious Swedes and Germans created an unusual amount of noise on our streets Friday afternoon. The disturbance was fully sufficient for a $10 fine, or 48 hours in the cooler, but neither was imposed on them.

A Hot Time in Indianola: Dynamiters are reported to have been at work in Indianola last week. The Major and a number of his congregation, becoming muchly imbibed of "good for the soul" liquid, attempted to blow up the Major's brownstone front, by touching a match to one pound of gun powder. Surprisingly, only one fellow was painfully injured.

A Murder Trial Revisited: Matt Zunnerman, who murdered Sheriff Jack Wood, of Hitchcock County, at Minden, Nebraska two years ago, has been granted a new trial. Zimmerman was to have been hanged this month, but the United States Supreme Court granted a writ of error, the main point being that Wood had no jurisdiction without a warrant in Kearney County. This puts Zimmerman's case where it cannot be disposed of under four years.

Too Much Appreciation for a Good Show: We learn from an Oberlin account that the cowboys in that town attempted to "round-up" the Chicago Comedy Company show last Monday night during their performances, but were prevented by other Oberlin citizens joining in and rounding up the boys. One boy was thrown down the stairs and his skull cracked. It is high time such nonsense was stopped.