Mason City, Nebraska

The third paper published in Broken Bow was the Broken Boie Times, established in 1885, by G. W. Trefren and S. I. MeserauU. Financially, the Times was for a short time a great success, as land notices were plentiful, but, owing to some misunderstanding between the proprietors of the Times and Mr. Higgins, register of the land office at Grand Island, where most of the land notices came from, the latter induced R. E. Martin, an ex-Confederate soldier and forcible writer, to establish another Democratic paper at Broken Bow. The paper was launched in March, 1886, by R. E. Martin and J. S. Bellinger, and was christened the Statesman. To it Mr. Higgins transferred his land-office patronage, and the Statesman prospered immensely. It established a branch paper at Mason City, named the Mason City Transcript.

Passage source: History of Custer County, Nebraska; a Narrative of the Past, with Special Emphasis Upon the Pioneer Period of the County's History, Its Social, Commercial, Educational, Religous, and Civic Developement from the Early Days to the Present Time, published 1919.

The Times, not to be outdone, started a daily edition and christened it the Broken Boie Dailv Times. Messrs. Martin and Dellinger disposed of the Mason City Transcript to James Whittaker, and two or three weeks later Mr. Whittaker sold it to M. C. Warrington, who continued with the paper until 1917, when he disposed of it to James Pebles, the present owner. Martin and Dellinger dissolved partnership. Martin retained the Statesnian, while Dellinger and Walters established the sixth paper for Broken Bow, known as the Broken Bozv Jl'orld. The Daily Times and the Dailv World were soon consolidated, Mr. Walters becoming editor-in-chief and the mechanical work being done in the Times office. In 1888 Trefren and MeserauU disposed of the trood will of the Times to R. E. Martin, and about the same time the Jl'orld suspended. R. H. Miller then started the Dailv Reporter, and had the mechanical work done at the Republican office. In the course of three months the Reporter suspended and was succeeded by the Daily Republican, published by D. M. Amsberry, in connection with his weekly edition. The Daily Republican was continued until October, 1895, when the plant was leased to J. H. Chapman for one year and the daily edition was discontinued. In the fall of 1888 E. M. Webb and George S. Tappan established the Xebraska Citizen in Broken Bow. The paper continued until the following spring, when its publication was suspended. It was largely due to this paper that the .Alliance or People's Independent ticket was elected in the fall of 1889.

Passage source: History of Custer County, Nebraska; a Narrative of the Past, with Special Emphasis Upon the Pioneer Period of the County's History, Its Social, Commercial, Educational, Religous, and Civic Developement from the Early Days to the Present Time, published 1919.

A few of the leaders of the Farmers' Alliance resurrected the Citizen and established the Alliance Motor, with .A. J. Evans, of Thedford, as editor. The Motor was not a financial success and soon suspended. In April. 1890, the Motor material was gotten together by the stockholders, and the paper was re-established, C. W. Beal. president of the Farmers' Alliance, being elected president and manager. The paper was called the Custer County Beacon. In 1890 E. M. Webb became associated with Mr. Beal in the publication of this paper. The Beacon was soon recognized as the leading Populist paper of central Nebraska. In the course of three years E. L. Beal, of Anslev, was induced to leave his farm and join his Ijrother, C. W. Beal, in promoting the Alliance doctrine. The Beal brothers eventually jjurchased a majority of the stock of the other members of the coni])any. and assumed full control of the plant. Except during the year 1898, when C. W. Beal served one term in the state senate, the two brothers did all the editorial and mechanical work of the office. During C.W. Beal's absence, F. A. Amsberry, of Mason City, was employed as assistant editor. The Beal brothers continued to publish the Beacon until 1907. when Elgin I. Beal retired to the farm, with his family, and left the entire charge of the paper to his brother. Charles W.

Passage source: History of Custer County, Nebraska; a Narrative of the Past, with Special Emphasis Upon the Pioneer Period of the County's History, Its Social, Commercial, Educational, Religous, and Civic Developement from the Early Days to the Present Time, published 1919.

Machine-read from a century-old scan, so expect the errors a machine makes: misspelled names, dropped words, stray characters.

Read the whole chapter on Algernon Township - it names this place 1 more 1 time.