100 years ago
AUGUST 1, 1902 — The RECORD recently devoted considerable space to an appreciation "write-up" of two of our leading mercantile firms. This week we wish to say something concerning a firm engaged in another line of business — the firm of Alex E. Case & Son, who do a general real estate, loans and insurance business, and undoubtedly do more in those lines than any other firm in the county.
The senior member of the firm, Mr. Alex E. Case, whose portrait adorns this column, is one of Marion's pioneer and prominent citizens. He came to Marion in 1866, when wolves and coyotes and buffalo and deer and antelope and wild turkeys and rattlesnakes were the chief inhabitants, and Indians, on scalping expeditions, were the most expected visitors. After the organization of the county in 1865, the boundary lines then extending in the west and south lines of the State, and including all of the present Seventh Congressional district and part of the Fourth, Mr. Case became the leading official. In fact, he was almost It, officially. He held in those early days the offices of Representative, County Attorney, County Superintendent, County Surveyor, and perhaps other loose offices that may have been lying around. All these positions he filled well. He is at present visiting his son in far away Washington, and we take advantage of his absence to print his picture and make these remarks about him.
In 1869 the real estate firm of Case & Billings was established, Mr. Case being at the head of the firm. The firm did an immense business, handling vast tracts of railroad lands, among other lands. The removal and subsequent death of Mr. Levi Billings left Mr. Case in full charge of the business. In 1893 he took his son Rosse into partnership, since which time the firm name has been Alex E. Case & Son. Rosse, whose handsome portrait graces this article, is a Marion-born boy. He is a graduate of our High School. He is a rustler from Rustlerville. Everybody likes him and has confidence in him. He is at present County Surveyor of the county, and the nominee of the dominant party for re-election.
The firm employs several expert assistants and does an immense business. They have a handsome suite of rooms in the Case Block on Main street. Among the adornment of the rooms are the finest and best arranged selection of grains and grasses in the State. They are artistically displayed in large glass cases, and are properly labeled, dating back many years.
In the insurance line, to which Mr. Rosse Case devotes especial attention, they have a large list of companies. Some of them have been on their list for twenty-odd years. One company recently informed them that only four of their agents exceeded them in amount of business done. And here's to the health of Case & Son! May they live long and continue to prosper.
—
Chingawasa is getting to be more and more popular as a summer resort. Charley Thompson and family, John H. Smith and family, W.H. Carpenter and family, B.J. Funk and family, Taylor Riddle and family, and a big bevy of girls are its patrons this year. Besides the mineral springs, there are about fifty pure water springs gushing from the hillside. If Chingawasa were a thousand miles away all of our people would long for its camping advantages, but as it is only five miles away only a few appreciate it.
The Bloomer Girls baseball club met the Marion boys last Monday, and beat them in a close score of 12 to 11. The Bloomer Girls are nearly all boys.
Mr. John Kendrick, our new Santa Fe agent, has arrived with his family from Enterprise, where he has been filling a similar position for some years. Mr. Kendrick was formerly agent at Canada. He is a splendid young man and Marion is fortunate in securing his citizenship. We welcome him and his family to town. He took charge of the office Wednesday.
Fifty acres of wheat on Mr. Eli Good's farm, four miles south of town, averaged a trifle over twenty-five bushels per acre.
Mrs. M.E. Chapman, a good woman who left many friends in Marion when she moved to Washington, many years ago, recently ordered the RECORD sent to her daughter, Mrs. Alma Servey, as a birthday present and added: "I do not think I could give her anything that would please her more than the reading of the old RECORD for a year."
What has become of the old-fashioned chinch bugs who used to tackle the adjacent corn field as soon as the wheat was cut?
July has been the most delightful July we have ever experienced, we believe. The thermometer never reached one hundred during the month, and but a few days extended in the nineties. Ninety degrees in Kansas, with its balmy breezes, is not hot. And the nights have been fine.
The old joke about "small potatoes and few in a hill," won't work, this year. The tubers are all large and there are lots of them in a hill.
Capt. Ollie Henry and his Boer wife will arrive in this town in the near future. They are late from the battlefields in South Africa, and will give the grandest entertainment of modern times from scenes brought from the battlefields of South Africa. A chance of a life time to see, to hear, and to learn the truth from those who have been actual participants in this great conflict between Boers and British. Capt. Henry was condemned to be shot by the British, his home destroyed, his wife and babies thrown out into the streets, which caused the death of the babies. In addition to the lecture, there will be 1600 feet of moving pictures exhibited.
Who was it told us they had found a pocket book? We have found the loser, but lost the finder!
Dr. Harris accepted our challenge to "beat it if you can" — in reference to the stalk of cane which John Bitner brought in, and which measured ten feet two inches. The Dr. brought in a stalk raised in his wife's garden which is eleven feet and a half tall.
Our Peabody readers will read this from the Phillipsburg Dispatch with interest: Rev. J.H. Lamb has one of the finest turnouts in town. His handsome buggy was a present from relatives and Irvin McDowell bought his horse for him in Colorado. If you don't want a race don't attempt to drive by Mr. Lamb's rig.
(Copied by Joan Meyer from the 1902 microfilm files of the Marion Record.)
