A terrible tragedy occurred when Mr. and Mrs. Upton Douglas were driving to their country home. They had secured Frank Munn’s incubator at the George Crain place and were proceeding to the Dan Douglas place northwest of town in a lumber wagon drawn by a frisky team. Mrs. Minnie Douglas was seated on the incubator box until the railroad track east of town when the team became unmanageable and Mrs. Douglas, becoming frightened, got hold of the lines with her husband and started pulling with all her might. When they got past the Frank McManis house, the team was still running very fast. She told Upton she was afraid to stay on the wagon, and that her hands were tired so she let go of the reins. She told him she would get out before they got to the corner. Since her husband’s whole attention was given to guiding the horses, he does not know whether she fell out or jumped. The last he noted she was in the back of the wagon. The team sped on and did not make the turn but went straight ahead through the fence into a field before they finally stopped. Looking back he saw his wife lying in the road. He turned and drove back as quickly as possible. An auto from Woodston had come upon the scene and Mrs. Douglas was lifted into it and taken at once to Dr. Travis’s office. When lifted up she breathed once or twice, but was dead when the doctor’s office was reached. He found that her neck was broken and the top of her head was crushed. We linger today amidst the uncertainties of life and remember Mrs. Minnie Douglass who was active in life, radiant in hope, strong in courage, a helpful companion, a devoted mother, toiling and planning for the welfare of her home and children when without warning, answered the final call, joining the silent throng of the shadowland at the age of 34 years, ten months and fourteen days. “Her sun had gone down while it was yet day.”

The contract for the new Stockton High School building was let onto Gordon Walker of Salina, Kansas. The new building is to cost approximately $90,000.00 when completed, leaving the District over $10,000.00 with which to purchase the equipment. Mr. Walker will be here next week to commence the work on our new building, which he expects to have ready for use by the first of October. The plumbing and heating contract was awarded to The Universal Plumbing Company of Stockton, and the electric contract went to Ramsey and King of Hutchinson.

At 480 feet, Jack Dryden quit drilling on the deep well, having demonstrated there is no deeper vein. Casing has been put down the whole depth and the water that flows in from the 240-foot vein will be used in fitting the swimming pool. Excavating for the pool has already commenced. Mr. Dryden wants to coat it with white or blue so the bottom will be visible. Mr. Dryden has had much experience in deep well boring.

Hon. Henry J. Allen, governor of Kansas, will be in Stockton on March 27th. He is on a three day speaking tour through northwestern Kansas under the auspices of the Fort Hays Normal School. His address will be strictly educational and everyone interested in education should hear this splendid address. Governor Allen is a very forcible speaker and will have many good things to say to us along educational lines.

A letter from A. L. Look of Dolores, Colorado, informs us that his son Alfred has resigned his position as advertising man of the Groden Mercantile Company of Durango, and has accepted the position of leading man for the Navajo Film Company. Al Look left for Farmington where he will begin to train for the strenuous life of the films. The only advice we have to give him is to beware the Ides of March. Look not upon the vamp in her allure and drink Animas river water when available.

The Keith Clevenger Address at the Opera House was heard by a mere handful of people, owing partly to the very short period of advertising, but mainly to the fact that there was sickness in nearly every Stockton home and the night was cold. It was a talk that would have electrified any crowd we might have furnished, notwithstanding the speaker made it brief and hit only the high places in his regular speech. Mr. Clevenger was for 20 years in Kansas newspaper work, during which he was one of its most widely quoted writers. He is secretary of the state Chamber of Commerce, and publicity man of the United Telephone Company. He has made a hobby of civic improvement and is remarkably well versed in all that makes for the welfare of communities, possesses the talent of presenting his thought with force and elegance of diction. It is a delight to sit under his spell. He says he will come again whenever we want him, and we trust it will not be long before he returns.

Our sister town, Woodston, recently had another disastrous conflagration. Tipton and Stewart’s Bakery, and three other buildings of frame construction on the north side of Main Street, were entirely destroyed by a fire within an hour. Mr. and Mrs. Tipton, who were sleeping in one of the buildings, barely got out with their lives, being compelled to jump through a broken window. None of the contents of the bakery was saved. They had recently installed new bread mixing machinery and a new gasoline engine. They carried $1,800.00 of insurance on the property, and their loss will be considerable. We have not learned who owned the other houses. One of them was occupied by Will Tallman. A phone call for help was received at Stockton at 2:30 a.m. on Monday morning and in a very few moments George Beckley and A. L. Graham had got their cars out, which were loaded with citizens and made a quick trip, but upon their arrival everything was burned to the ground. The origin of the fire is still shrouded in mystery.

Mr. and Mrs. George Maddy arrived from Oklahoma City last Saturday. By Monday George had become the owner of the J. B. Graham property on Second Street south and at once commenced clearing the grounds preparatory to the erection of three $5,000.00 residences of different designs to face east. George is an expert stucco builder and has several forces of hands on construction in Oklahoma. Within three weeks he will have materials and workmen on the ground and will commence simultaneously of the three houses. They will be sold on the installment plan. He will engage in stucco building on a large scale in Stockton and no doubt many new homes will go up this season in Stockton. We confidently look for a large building program this year, in addition to the completion of the courthouse and the erection of the big high school building.

Records and reports show that a large number of books are being read because of the presence of the library in Stockton. However, an analysis of the facts will show

(Ed. note: A very long story is found on the front page of the Rooks County Record, dated January 12, 1922, in which the Supreme Court sustained the School Board