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J. H. Berkey
Newspaper Editor.
Salt City and Geuda Springs.
First Editor and Publisher of Geuda Springs Herald: Joe F. White.
Started paper in July 1882.
Second Editor and Publisher of Geuda Springs Herald: C. G. Furry.
Started paper in March 1884.
Third Editor and Publisher of Geuda Springs Herald: J. H. Berkey.
Started paper in July 1886.
Fourth Editor of Geuda Springs Herald: Charles Southwell.
Started paper around November 1886.
FROM THE NEWSPAPERS.
[LAW ENFORCEMENT CLUB: GEUDA SPRINGS.]
Arkansas City Traveler, April 4, 1883.
Communicated. Editor Traveler: DEAR SIR: You will confer a favor by giving publicity to the accompanying preamble and resolutions adopted by the “Law Enforcement Club” of this place, consisting of some fifty or sixty members, including a majority of the leading citizens in the community.
These resolutions were presented to the editor of the Geuda Springs Herald, with a request for publication, by the Club, and were not published, for reasons which he has not explained, and which he is not asked to explain.
The resolutions will fully explain themselves.
Up to last week the saloons were running in Geuda, in open violation of law, but they are both closed now, and will remain closed. This result has been brought about by the influence of the “Law Enforcement Club,” and that without a single prosecution.
The saloon keepers comprehended the fact that the “Club” meant business, and hence, very wisely, made up their minds that the risks to be taken in running their business were too great for the profits which they would probably receive.
They have both closed with a promise never to engage in the business again, and Mr. M. David has opened a meat market, and will, no doubt, receive a liberal patronage.
I firmly believe that if a similar course would be pursued, that there is not a place in the State of Kansas where the liquor law cannot be enforced.
Moral and legal suasion must go hand in hand in order to make prohibition a success. Very Respectfully, J. H. BERKEY.
LAW ENFORCEMENT CLUB OF GEUDA SPRINGS, SALT CITY, AND VICINITY.
PREAMBLE.
1st. The fundamental principle of American Institutions is, “equal and exact justice to all.”
2nd. Every true American citizen will abide by the laws of his country.
3rd. Any person who refuses to obey the laws of this country becomes an outlaw and forfeits his rights as an American citizen.
4th. There is at the present time in the State of Kansas and in this vicinity a class of individuals which is receiving the benefits and protection of her laws and at the same time defying and trampling under its feet certain of her laws, thus endangering the rights, peace, and prosperity of the law abiding citizens of this State and vicinity.
RESOLUTIONS.
Therefore, be it resolved that, in view of the above facts, we the undersigned do hereby form ourselves into an association to be called the “Law Enforcement Club,” of Geuda Springs, Salt City, and vicinity, and do solemnly pledge our sacred honor as men and American citizens to use every lawful and honorable means to apprehend and bring to justice every violator of local, State, or National law. This organization earnestly solicits the cooperation of all law abiding citizens, and will deem it a favor at any time to receive reliable information in regard to any person who may be violating the laws of this country.
The adoption of the above resolutions have been prompted by no other motive than a desire to promote the best interests of society and establish such a reputation as a community as will have a tendency to draw into our midst an honorable and respectable class of people.
However, if the present system of outlawry and debauchery is permitted to exist in our vicinity, the reputation of this community will be such as will repel all respectable people, and attach to it the most degraded, worthless, brutal, and dangerous elements of society.
Arkansas City Traveler, April 11, 1883.
Communicated from Geuda Springs. The Traveler publishes a communication this week from J. H. Berkey in regard to the law enforcement club and also some resolutions adopted by the club. In his communication he says: “These resolutions were presented to the editor of the Geuda Springs Herald, with a request for publication; for reasons which he has not explained, and which he is not asked to explain.”
If J. H. Berkey would like to know why these resolutions were not published, he can easily find out by calling on us. Our idea of the club was that it was gotten up more for the purpose of benefitting the originator of the scheme, than for the benefit of the community, and, although the club has certainly done some good, we still hold the same opinion. It would not at all surprise us to hear of him as a candidate for some office in the near future.
Geuda Springs Herald.
I am very glad that the editor of the Herald has explained why he did not publish the resolutions referred to, and I sincerely hope he was prompted by no other motive than a holy fear that I would in some mysterious way become a candidate for office, and thus spread desolation and terror among the helpless and innocent women and children throughout the United States, and perhaps Texas.
I must acknowledge that I have been thwarted in my deep laid scheme by the “Great Mind Reader of the West,” whose ponderous intellect enabled him with his mental microscope to analyze my motives, which the entire membership of the “Law Enforcement Club” had failed to discern.
For a number of years, I have been an earnest and somewhat enthusiastic adherent to the great cause of temperance, using my limited means and talents at all times and under all circumstances, for the emancipation of my fellowman from the curse of drunkenness. In pursuing such a course, I have had the same silly and unwarrantable charges made by the editor of the Herald thrown at me by liquor dealers and their hirelings from time to time, but never before from a professed temperance man. However, I have never allowed myself to be diverted by any senseless personal thrusts from doing what little I could in the cause of right, and thus some good has been accomplished, as has been the case in this vicinity—not by myself but by placing my shoulder to the wheel with my friends and neighbors working in unison for the same purpose.
Had the editor of the Herald been imbued with a desire to work for the best interests of his community, he would never have been deterred from uniting with his neighbors simply from the fact that he supposed there was one designing person in their number.
As I have neither the time nor inclination to engage in an uninteresting, unnecessary personal controversy, the editor of the Herald will not be referred to by myself in the future.
The good which has been accomplished in this community by organization demonstrates what may be done all over the country, and if the newspapers throughout the State will call the attention of the people to the fact, it will only be a short time before prohibition, in Kansas, as far as tippling houses are concerned, will be an entire success.
The liquor dealer follows his business for the profit there is in it and just as soon as you make it unprofitable, he will go out of the business.
The temperance people in Kansas have the power by organizing to make the illicit and damnable business of every liquor dealer in this State unprofitable by persistently following them up. Very respectfully, J. H. BERKEY.
Arkansas City Traveler, September 12, 1883.
From the Geuda Herald, we learn that Mrs. J. H. Berkey met with a serious accident last week by falling into a well from which, in the absence of other assistance, the lady by dint of great presence of mind succeeded in extricating herself, notwithstanding the well being thirty-five feet deep, fifteen of which was water. We are truly glad of the lady’s lucky escape.
Arkansas City Republican, April 5, 1884.
We are under obligations to J. O. Caldwell for an introduction to J. H. Berkey. We found that Mr. Berkey had been connected with a Colorado newspaper, and fully understood his business. Both gentlemen are thorough temperance advocates, and are thoroughly enlisted in the cause.
Arkansas City Traveler, May 21, 1884.
By invitation of a large number of citizens J. H. Berkey has consented to address the people on the question of temperance at Geuda Springs on Friday evening May 23. The lecture will be given under the auspices of the Good Templars’ Lodge of this place, and a cordial invitation is extended to everybody. The subject of the lecture will be the “FOOT AND MOUTH DISEASE.”
[GEUDA SPRINGS CORRESPONDENT: “SCHOOL BOY.”]
Arkansas City Republican, Saturday, May 31, 1884.
Geuda Notes.
J. H. Berkey gave a very interesting temperance lecture to a large audience at the hall last Friday evening.
[GEUDA SPRINGS CORRESPONDENT: “MYRTLE.”]
Arkansas City Republican, October 11, 1884.
Geuda.
J. H. Berkey has gone on a visit to friends in Wisconsin.
Arkansas City Traveler, April 1, 1885.
J. O. Caldwell and J. H. Berkey, of Geuda Springs, called on the Canal City Friday.
Arkansas City Traveler, February 10, 1886.
Mr. J. H. Berkey will lecture on temperance next Friday and Saturday evenings, at 7:30 o’clock, in the Christian Church. All are invited to attend.
Arkansas City Republican, Saturday, March 6, 1886.
Disaster in Arkansas City.
Geuda Springs Herald. “J. H. Berkey had a crowded house at his lecture at Arkansas City last Saturday night. [Herald of last week.]
A crowded house?
The above does not convey the faintest idea of the colossal proportions of the crowd alluded to. Yes, I was present at that meeting; and have a vague recollection of that immense congregation which consisted, chiefly, of a deaf woman, two little helpless children, and six hundred empty seats.
It was an impressive occasion and has been a source of wonder to me ever since, that the house survived the incalculable amount of internal pressure brought to bear by that crowd—
and my eloquence.
Now, if there is anything in the world aside from a cyclone, that will rack and strain a house all out of shape, it is eloquence; and if the building in question has been seriously damaged, I can solemnly place my hand right over the seat of my conscience and affirm that it was not intentional.
Some cruel person with an unregenerated liver, has intimated that the greater part of the strain fell upon my conscience. This is a sad mistake, and my friends need not feel alarmed in regard to my personal condition, for I can assure them that my conscience is capable of bearing a great deal of strain owing to the severe tests to which it has been subjected in the past.
Of course, I cannot assume any responsibility for the disastrous effects of my eloquence, which is natural, and usually harmless, except at times when from an over accumulation of eloquence a gorge is formed, for when the general break-up takes place, there is very likely to be trouble.
Such was the state of affairs at the meeting alluded to. When I began to speak it was in a very placid, lucid, gentle, kitteny kind of a style; but the intelligent, sympathetic expression which glowed upon the countenances of those empty seats, sent a thrill of eloquence tingling through my immaculate shirt front, and the volcano burst!
At the first eruption of eloquent lava that flowed from my vocal crater, nothing serious was apprehended, but when the house began to groan and creak under a pressure of fourteen thousand pounds of eloquence to the square inch and each particular shingle stood on end, like quills upon the fretful porcupine; when the seats trembled with emotion; and the nails burst up through the floor until it resembled a stubble field—the two little children went out.
The balance of the audience remained to the bitter end.
The people of Arkansas City have invited me to deliver another address, and in order to avoid all danger to property, the City Council have, for my special benefit, secured a vacant lot near the slaughter house, and the editor of the “Arkansas Valley Democrat” will be present with a steam gauge to make a full report of the disaster. Eloquently thine,
J. H. BERKEY.
Third Editor and Publisher of Geuda Springs Herald: J. H. Berkey.
Arkansas City Republican, Saturday, July 10, 1886. From Tuesday’s Daily.
The Geuda Springs Herald has changed editors. J. H. Berkey has made the purchase of that Journal.
Arkansas City Republican, Saturday, July 10, 1886. From Wednesday’s Daily.
J. H. Berkey of Geuda was in the city today en route for St. Louis, where he goes on business.
Arkansas City Traveler, September 8, 1886.
C. G. Furry’s paper, the Geuda Herald, seems to have retired from active life, and it has been succeeded by the Crank, “the crankiest weekly newspaper in bloody Kansas,” as the editor describes it, with J. H. Berkey to turn the crank. A great deal of labor has been expended upon this issue, and the editor has succeeded in getting up a comic newspaper, but we question whether his al fresco style will suit the general reader, and we look to see him settle down to routine business. We heartily wish our irrepressible neighbor abundant success.
According to the next item, editor J. H. Berkey changed the name of the newspaper from Geuda Springs Herald to Geuda Springs Crank....
Arkansas City Republican, Saturday, September 11, 1886. From Monday’s Daily.
The Crank is the euphonious and high-sounding cognomen of a new paper just launched upon the billow waves of journalism at the Saratoga-Geuda Springs-of the southwest. J. H. Berkey is the name of the gentleman who propels the Crank. The motto of the sheet is “the elevation of public morals and horse-thieves.” The journal is gotten up on the Brick Pomeroy style besides containing local news. We hope the Crank will succeed as the initial number is creditable to its editor.
Arkansas City Traveler, September 15, 1886.
J. H. Berkey, the rustling editor of the Geuda Crank, was in town yesterday and favored the TRAVELER with a call.
Arkansas City Republican, Saturday, September 18, 1886. From Monday’s Daily.
The Geuda Springs Crank says work is to begin in a few days on the Ft. Smith, Wellington and Northwestern railroad at Wellington and be pushed both ways, namely toward Arkansas City and Hutchinson.
Arkansas City Republican, Saturday, October 2, 1886. From Wednesday’s Daily.
Lean Editors. It is an undisputed fact that most all editors are possessed of a lean physique. Why they do not enjoy a large avoirdupois and a mammoth rotundity of the stomach has always been a mystery to the writer. Since our advent into newspaper circles, we have observed this proverbial leanness. We do not wonder at Democratic editors being lean, for have they not been without “government pap” for a quarter of a century. Prohibition editors are expected to be lean; but why Republican editors should be doomed to the same fate we cannot exactly understand the justice of it.
We are led into the above remarks principally by the anti-fat condition of the editors of the Arkansas Valley. Now, there is Murdock, of the Wichita Eagle; he is pretty lean, notwithstanding the “good” beer obtainable in Wichita and his re-submission ideas.
But coming nearer home, there are the long hungry Greer Bros., of the Winfield Courier. They are good illustrations of our subject. It was only last week that Frank Greer swallowed a pin and the head was so much larger than his body that an extra piece of cloth had to be put in the waistband of his trousers to admit of the bulging out of his stomach. The Hon. E. P. G. is almost as lean as his younger brother. They say he is capable of sliding between any two questions without creating a jar.
We thought the above personages were lean, and were just in the act of recommending them to Barnum as the walking, talking Tanners of Cowley County, when Berkey, of the Geuda Springs Crank, dropped into our sanctum. Oh, but he is lean. He can double himself into a V shape, slide down the neck of an ordinary beer bottle, absorb all the “malt” in it, return to his “observatory” at Geuda Springs without bumping his shinbones, or creating the usual gurgling sound.
But, Tom Richardson, of the Wellington Press, lays it over Berkey. His Wind-field girl tells us that he has become so emaciated lately that she is compelled to twine her arms around him seven times in order to discover his manly form in her embrace. We blush for poor Tom.
Henthorn, of the Burden Eagle, was in our city recently, in the interest of Miss Ella Kelly. He is personified leanness itself. His height is 7 feet from the top of his head to the tip of his toe-nails and 11 inches in circumference. His tailors say he is so lean that he still wears long dresses instead of trousers.
There are other lean editors in this valley, but we won’t mention them. Time is too precious and life too short. We feel sorry for their shortcomings, and console them with the remark that the editors of this journal are so lean that all the hound pups on the sandhill bow down their heads in deep contrition and weep as we pass them by.
Arkansas City Republican, Saturday, October 2, 1886. From Saturday’s Daily.
Editor Berkey was over to see us today from Geuda Springs. He reports his town booming, but the sight of Arkansas City and her large business was a pleasure he could not refrain from enjoying.
Arkansas City Traveler, October 13, 1886.
J. H. Berkey, editor of the Crank, was in town yesterday looking up business.
Arkansas City Republican, Saturday, October 16, 1886. From Wednesday’s Daily.
The prohibitionists of the city had a rally last evening in the M. E. Church. J. W. Forrest, candidate for congress from the 6th district, happened to be in the city and delivered an address. He was followed by Editor Berkey, of Geuda Springs.
Arkansas City Republican, Saturday, November 13, 1886. From Saturday’s Daily.
J. H. Berkey has retired from the editorship of the Crank, at Geuda Springs. He has preserved the name of his paper, and will remove it to Kansas City in a box-car, carefully packed, where he hopes to gain both fame and fortune. The paper at Geuda will be used by the Geuda Springs Town Company, with Charles Southwell as editor.
Arkansas City Republican, Saturday, November 13, 1886. From Friday’s Daily.
J. H. Berkey, the editor of the Crank, arrived at this city from Kansas City on the noon train. He had been to Kansas City to make arrangements for the removal of his Crank there.
Arkansas City Traveler, November 17, 1886.
The truth of Horace Greeley’s oft repeated saying, “You cannot publish a nonpareil newspaper in a long primer town,” is again illustrated in the experience of J. H. Berkey, at Geuda Springs. He started out to give the people of that health resort a live paper. He has a readiness at writing, a genuine vein of humor, and untiring industry. One railroad has been built to that town and another is expected shortly. This raised the expectations of property holders who thought they were about to be visited by a boom. The moment seemed auspicious for starting a live newspaper to help the town along. Our friend Berkey purchased material to furnish a good office, and he sent the Crank a turning. The necessary support not coming from home patrons, he dusted [?] around through the country in search of help; this expended his energies, and the necessary patronage was not secured. As a last resort he picked up and removed to Kansas City, where he certainly has a broad enough field to bustle in, and where we heartily hope he will achieve success.
—
Newspaper changed back to its old name: Geuda Springs Herald. It appears that the owners (?) were the Geuda Springs Town Company.
Fourth Editor of Geuda Springs Herald: Charles Southwell.
Arkansas City Traveler, December 22, 1886.
From Our Exchanges.
GEUDA HERALD: Dave Leahy of the Caldwell Times, A. M. Anderson of the Conway Star, and J. H. Berkey, representing the former Geuda Crank, met in this city Tuesday as a committee from the editors of Sumner County to appoint time and place for holding the county editorial convention. They decided to recommend January 11th and 12th as the time and Wellington as the place of meeting.
