OMAHA HISTORY DETECTIVE: Mysteries, Myths & Memories From Our Last 220 Years

MYSTERIES, MYTHS & MEMORIES

FROM OUR LAST 220 YEARS

BOB MARKS

BY BOB MARKS

Copyright 2022 Robert H. Marks. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior consent of the author or his representative.

First Edition ISBN: 979-8-218-03016-2 Printed by Walsworth Publishing Co.

CONTENTS

SLEUTHING, VERIFYING AND SHARING 6 GLOSSARY 9

POSTCARDS: FACT OR FICTION? 12

IN THE BEGINNING THERE WAS LEWIS AND CLARK 18 THE BOAT AND THE ARROW 22

The WELCOME sign at 18th and Farnam Streets on the Lincoln Highway greeted visitors from 1908 until it wore out its WELCOME and was dismantled in 1918.

HONEST ABE’S TERMINAL DECISION 26

BRIDGING THE MUDDY MO 30

“OMAHA,” THE POEM 34

FRANCIS MARION STREAMER, THE POET 38

J.M. PATTEE AND THE REDICK OPERA HOUSE RAFFLE 42

THE GRAND CENTRAL: A COMMUNITY PROJECT UP IN SMOKE 48

WHEN HARRY MET LIBBIE: THE DEED 52

WHEN HARRY MET LIBBIE: THE TRIAL 57

TOM MURRAY, THE OUTCAST OF OMAHA 62

SPRING RETURNS TO OMAHA 66

SPRING STAYS IN OMAHA 70

A GLIMPSE OF THE NEW YORK LIFE 74

OMAHA’S OLD RED CASTLE 78

THE FLYING BAYSDORFERS 82

TAKING A CHANCE ON HEALTH CARE 86

MONARCH, THE DEMOTED BUFFALO 94

THE RUSTIN AFFAIR: THE FEMME FATALE 98

THE RUSTIN AFFAIR: THE FINALE 102

TOLF HANSON’S TWELFTH HOUR 106

TOM DENNISON’S CLOSE CALL 110

A BLOCK CENTRAL TO OMAHA 114

OMAHA HOSTS THE POSTS 122

A CASE OF HIGHWAY ROBBERY 126

T.Z. MAGARRELL OF THE VITAPATHIC 130

SLEUTHING, VERIFYING AND SHARING ✵

Every locale has its cherished history buffs. Bob Marks is one of Omaha, Nebraska’s. The octogenarian has spent nearly a half-century sleuthing, verifying and debunking local lore. Now, his fascinating discoveries are at your fingertips — in a highly engaging self-published collection.

I first met this prolific storyteller in summer 2020 while serving as books editor for the Omaha World-Herald. Bob told me of his hobby and shared five essays. Not only did this kind, gentlemanly fellow spin a delightful yarn, but his work was also well-researched and meticulously crafted. A widely popular “Omaha History Detective” column was born. Readers loved the wide range of subjects, most of which had never been covered in any Omaha history book. Fans even proclaimed the column “the best thing in the Sunday paper.”

The author approached his hobby with the precision of an accountant — his lifelong occupation. Bob was director of corporate income taxes for Mutual of Omaha from 1975 to 2001. He got interested in Omaha history while helping to plan Mutual’s 75th anniversary celebration in 1984. He was curious about what the city looked like at the time of its founding in 1854, and then in 1909, when Dr. C.C. Criss founded the company that would become Mutual of Omaha and be recognized around the globe.

Bob started combing city directories and library archives and joined a newly established docent program at Western Heritage Museum (now the Durham Museum). He especially enjoyed browsing the photo archive and became fascinated with the Bostwick-Frohardt Collection documenting early Omaha.

The Omaha History Detective’s favorite “cases” were those that corrected published misconceptions about Omaha’s past. In a debut article, Bob told readers, “It bothers me when incorrect notions about our past are accepted as Gospel. But my stories will not be entirely scholarly. I hope they will be entertaining, as well.”

To illustrate his works, the author reached into his personal cataloged collection of 5,000-plus postcards depicting early Omaha. The Omaha History Detective also drew on his own study of downtown Omaha buildings, and some 40 notebooks of his data on their histories, recently donated to the Durham’s research archives.

Bob’s columns appeared in The World-Herald from September 2020 to May 2021. As his editor, I feared a reader mutiny in announcing that the column was being suspended as the Omaha History Detective focused on this effort, his first book. My in-box was flooded with emailed well-wishes for and sincere appreciation to Bob for his “enlightening and thought-provoking” essays. A favorite observation, from a retired teacher: “Mr. Marks has a way of telling the story not only with accuracy concerning the facts, but with amusement and appreciation of the humanity within the history.”

Devoted fans expressed excitement, too, for a compilation that would include Omaha History Detective reprints plus new installments. Finally, the anticipation is over. Read, learn, enjoy!

Chris Christen, editor

POSTSCRIPT: Bob Marks was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer as he wrote the last chapters of this book. He died June 17, 2022 — one week before his passion project went to press. We trust that his Heavenly adventures include meeting the souls of many, if not all, of the characters that he has studied, researched and written about.

A vintage postcard collection grew into a research and writing hobby for Omaha History Detective Bob Marks. CHRIS CHRISTEN

When I was first invited in summer 2020 to write a column for the Sunday edition of the Omaha World-Herald, I wracked my little gray cells for an appropriate title.

The one I chose, “Omaha History Detective,” represents a concept — not me or my fantasy occupation. There are a great many Omaha history detectives out there, and I respect and encourage every one of them.

Omahan Bob Marks delighted in sleuthing local history, busting myths and setting the record straight. His grade school and high school teachers ignited his love of history.

CHRIS CHRISTEN

My original intention was to use an illustration from one of my Omaha postcards and tell its story. This involved a lot of research — detection, if you will — much more than I had anticipated. I had become somewhat knowledgeable about Omaha’s history through my hobby of the past 35 years, but I estimate that 90% of what I have written for this book was unknown to me prior to 2020. Before long, I decided to venture beyond my first conception of the column, and dig up stories buried for years and not pictured on postcards or generally known to Omahans. I would be remiss not to acknowledge the two people who have been most important to bringing my wildest dreams to life in the form of this book. First and foremost is my editor and mentor, Chris Christen. She has pushed and pulled me along every step of my short-lived writing career, and without her this book would not exist — literally! The other is Christine Zueck-Watkins, my dynamo book designer and fixer-upper. Together they have been my guardian angels in this effort.

— Bob Marks, author

GLOSSARY

✵

I always strive to use language which is crystal clear, but occasionally there are quotations containing obscure words or phrases from the past, and sometimes the ones I choose are not everyday usages, but do express the precise meanings I wish to convey. This glossary is intended to clarify and/or head off misunderstandings about certain terms or words used herein.

abattoir: If you are just starting to read a dictionary, this is one of the first unfamiliar words you will encounter. It is from the French “to beat down” and means a slaughterhouse. Omaha used to have plenty of them. (See HOW OTHERS HAVE SEEN OMAHA.)

adulation: Excessive admiration and glorification, such as that lavished upon rock singers, movie stars and seductive women. (See WHEN HARRY MET LIBBIE: THE TRIAL.)

alliteration: The literary device in which there is a repetition of initial sounds in words next to or close to each other. I am a devotee of alliteration. I choose words from a smorgasbord of syntax and sounds. (See A GLIMPSE OF THE NEW YORK LIFE.)

Andrew McNally: I hate to have to explain a well-aimed insult, but Andrew McNally was the co-founder of the noted travel publication

company, Rand McNally, and his family ran it for more than 100 years. The quotation alluded to is Lloyd Bentson’s famous response to Dan Quayle’s comparison of himself to President John F. Kennedy during their vice-presidential debate in Omaha’s Civic Auditorium on Oct. 5, 1988. (See HOW OTHERS HAVE SEEN OMAHA.)

bichloride of gold: The most important thing to know about this purported chemical compound is that it has existed only in the minds of quack healers, and was widely touted as a cure for alcoholism at one time. (See T.Z. MAGARRELL OF THE VITAPATHIC.)

Bouguereau: Has nothing to do with nasty nasal effusions; he was the French painter of Joslyn’s “Printemps.” (See SPRING RETURNS TO OMAHA.)

Burnt Thigh Nation: Another name for the Rosebud Sioux Tribe.

Legend has it that a certain band of Sioux warriors was threatened by wildfire, lay face-down and covered their bodies with a protective coating of mud. They survived the fire and were burned only on the back of their thighs. (See GOLDEN SPIKE DAYS, 1939 VERSION.)

cassock: A long, close-fitting vestment worn by priests as an outer garment and, very rarely, under a referee’s uniform while officiating football games. (See ROSENBLATT REMINISCENCES, regarding a 1960 game between Omaha Central and Creighton Prep high schools.)

deltiology: The practice of collecting postcards with no intention of mailing them. I can help you become a “deltiologist.” (See OMAHA POSTCARDS: FACT OR FICTION.)

Douglas County Courthouse Riot of 1919: A disastrously destructive and deadly mob disturbance fomented by defeated politicians to regain offices lost in an election. It would be emulated by politicians in other times and places. (See OMAHA’S OLD RED CASTLE.)

eponymous: Designates something named after a particular person. For instance, the U.S. Army’s LCVPs were often called “Higgins boats” by those in the know. (See OMAHA BEACH.)

fantasy baseball: A diversion indulged in by sane adults, mostly

men, who pretend to manage real baseball players so as to produce points for their imaginary baseball teams and win championship trophies, all of which they treat as actual athletic achievements.  (See RECORD-SETTERS IN OMAHA.)

farinaceous: Consisting or made of starch, such as bread, macaroni and potatoes. Some medical “experts” contended well into the 20th century that such a diet ingested by wannabe mothers would tend to produce female offspring! More likely it produced dough boys. (See TAKING A CHANCE ON HEALTH CARE.)

fugacious: Brief or short-lived. (See BRIDGING THE MUDDY MO, with respect to an 1877 tornado.)

Gentleman, John A.: The founder in 1906 of the John A. Gentleman Funeral Home, and the Gentleman who donated the casket for Mystery Girl. (See OMAHA’S MYSTERY GIRL, in two parts.)

glossary: A listing of words and terms you may not know, but won’t know better after consulting it.

kissing columns: Certain granite columns on the University of Nebraska-Lincoln campus under which female undergraduates must be kissed in order to graduate. The columns themselves do not kiss. (See TRACKING THE KISSING COLUMNS.)

Lincoln Highway: An early, mostly unimproved road for autos which, in Nebraska, was not a highway and didn’t go through Lincoln. (See OMAHA HOSTS THE POSTS.)

Mystery Girl: Omaha’s most sensational murder victim of the 20th century. The case baffled the 1919 Omaha Police Department but was solved after 11 years by Omaha World-Herald reporters armed only with pencils. (See OMAHA’S MYSTERY GIRL, in two parts.)

Nevajo: Not a Native American tribal name, but the conjoined moniker used by Neva Josephine Truman, a teenaged sprite who captured the heart of Omaha’s steely, no-nonsense political boss, Tom Dennison, when he was 72 years old. (See TOM DENNISON FINDS ROMANCE.)

Omahalogist: A fanatic who studies the discipline of Omahalogy in all of its facets, and attempts to uncover its little-known episodes, facts, fantasies, myths and mysteries, i.e., an Omaha history detective. I am only one of many in our fascinating city.

Omahog: Believe it or not, there was a time in the 19th century when it was proposed that male denizens of Omaha be called Omahogs. (These days that tag has been appropriated by fans of the Arkansas Razorback baseball team when they come to Omaha for the NCAA Men’s College

World Series.) Female Omahans countered that they should be referred to as Omahens.

Overlook Farm: The land formerly west of Omaha purchased in 1921 for Boys Town by Father Edward Flanagan, a man who never overlooked anything. The land is now worth many millions. (See BOYS TOWN’S EARLIEST HITS.)

poetical effusion: Literally, an emission or discharge in the form of a poem. It was an Omaha newspaperman’s characterization of the infamous poem “Omaha” by “KHALED” that first appeared in the Chicago Times of June 14, 1869. Sure, but what did he really think of it? (See OMAHA, THE POEM.)

terpsichorean: Related to dancing; a Storz Brewing salesman and wife living in Omaha produced two of the world’s finest dancers — I think it’s something in the beer. (See THREE FAMOUS OMAHANS YOU MAY NOT KNOW.)

Underworld Sewer: Capitalized because it had specific reference to the array of criminal activity and immorality in Omaha controlled by the Dennison machine, and described in an intelligent tell-all book of that name authored in 1909 by Josie Washburn, the long-time proprietress of bawdy houses in both Lincoln and Omaha. (See EXTRAORDINARY EXHIBITS IN OMAHA.)

OMAHA POSTCARDS: FACT OR FICTION? ✵

This isn’t a book about postcards. The emphasis is definitely on the text, but I have used postcards to illustrate these Omaha histories in most cases. And, in fact, some of the stories have been inspired by postcards in my collection. An example is the case of Monarch, the buffalo. The postcard depicting him piqued my curiosity, and many years went by before I discovered the story behind the picture. (See MONARCH, THE DEMOTED BUFFALO.)

I started collecting Omaha postcards in 1983, shortly after I became interested in the area’s history. The collection mushroomed to roughly 5,000 cards with an Omaha connection. Even so, my collection is far from a complete one.

I consider two cards to be different even if their subject is identical, but they have a different manufacturer or a different printed description. I can’t hope to ever have them all, but my goal has been to compile as complete a catalog of Omaha-related postcards as possible.

I began to record my acquisitions on an Excel spreadsheet about 35 years ago, and later added cards I didn’t have but knew were out there. It would be difficult, indeed, to control a collection like mine without a computerized inventory of some sort, and I recommend that you design one yourself if you are, or intend to become, a deltiologist. That’s the word which denotes one who collects and/ or studies postcards. It’s from the Greek word for “writing tablet” or “letter.” The hobby really caught on in 1907, when messages were first allowed to be written on the address side of the card, but the word deltiology wasn’t coined until 1945.

Please see page 17 for a sample of the computer listing of my collection. I don’t contend that it’s ideal, but only an example of what might be done. It makes sorting and arranging your collection simpler, and, most important, is an indispensable tool for keeping track of what you already have and don’t have while searching for additions.

An artist’s conception of Omaha High School on a postcard produced during construction, circa 1908.

Even though I have considered collecting postcards to be a relatively inexpensive way to get a lot of Omaha history photos that I could get in no other way, I must caution the neophyte deltiologist that postcard depictions are not always exact reproductions of their subjects. Most cards produced before the 1940s began with a black-and-white photograph of the subject. The colorizing was accomplished with a set of written instructions or color codes furnished by the photographer or the card salesman and was sometimes far from a match with the reality. The craftsmen who did this work also inserted details such as automobiles, waving flags and pedestrians, while removing clutter such as construction under way.

More bothersome for historians are the cards that were produced before their subjects existed. For instance, if a new building had been proposed, the card manufacturer might be furnished with an architect’s drawing or artist’s conception well before construction began. The resulting postcard sometimes bore little resemblance to the finished building.

For example, the postcard illustration on the previous page is a fanciful depiction of Omaha High School (now Omaha Central) on Capitol Square at 20th Street and Capitol Avenue, produced well before construction was completed. The school never looked like this, but apparently such a design was at one time considered and a drawing made. Construction of the new Omaha High was started in 1900 and not completed until 1912, so there were probably many design ideas and modifications considered.

On the other hand, the postcard below of Omaha High is a faithful representation of what Capitol Square looked like, circa 1908. The tower peeking out from behind the new school is that of the old Omaha High School in use since 1872. As construction on the new school proceeded, the old building, still in use, was encircled. It was razed by 1912, leaving a courtyard in the middle of what became Omaha Central. Go, Eagles!

An accurate picture postcard of Omaha High, circa 1908, with the old high school building still standing behind it.

My third illustration is from a photo of downtown Omaha taken by Louis Bostwick in 1914 from a perch on top of the WOW Building. When the Curt Teich Company of Chicago was ready to reproduce his photograph as a postcard in 1915, the Fontenelle Hotel had been added to Omaha’s skyline. No problem for the Curt Teich artist, who deftly added the hotel to the scene. It’s the building with the white terra cotta band behind and to the north of the New York Life/Omaha National Bank Building.

How do I know about this well-meaning deception? In February 1990, I designed and organized an exhibit at the Durham Museum, then Western Heritage, of Bostwick photos accompanied by the postcards made from them. A comparison of Bostwick-Frohardt Collection photo B/F 15-35 with Curt Teich Company number A-56035 revealed the masterful duplicity of that postcard maker.

If you are eager to collect authentic, historically accurate postcards, your best bet may be what are known as “real photo” postcards. These are generally

Louis Bostwick’s 1914 photo of downtown Omaha from high atop the WOW Building, looking west. The Fontenelle Hotel, opened in 1915, has been drawn in by the manufacturer to bring the skyline up to date.

A “real photo” postcard of the ruins immediately after the Omaha tornado of March 23, 1913. It is No. 16 in a series reproduced in volume by Olson Photo Co. of Plattsmouth, Nebraska.

black-and-white unretouched photographic images printed on postcard stock, as contrasted with cards manufactured using lithographic or offset printing processes. Real photo cards are usually priced higher. They are not necessarily rare, however. For those wanting scenes in small towns during the first half of the 20th century, real photo postcards may be their only option.

The great majority of early postcards depicting Omaha subjects are not real photos. But some local events have been extremely well-documented with them. In 1913, everybody wanted immediate photo souvenirs of Omaha’s Easter Sunday tornado. So local photographers swarmed the tornado’s path as soon as it had passed, offering thousands of real photo postcards of the scenes of death and destruction. Consequently, there are plenty available to collectors today. The premium prices dealers ask for them are, in my opinion, unwarranted.

Picture postcards are not only fun to collect, but they constitute an immensely valuable tool for researchers of urban history. An early postcard is often a community’s only visual record of a vanished building or street scene.

A sample of the computer listing of my collection.

“Mr. Marks has a way of telling the story not only with accuracy concerning the facts, but with amusement and appreciation of the humanity within the history.”