Vernon Hutton, son of Mr. and Mrs. I. M. Hutton, was critically hurt Monday at Smith Center. Vernon, who is employed by the Kansas Power Company, was on his way to work and, while crossing a street, dodged a motorcar only to be hit by another car. A hole was made in the skull above his ear, and the broken glass of the car door caused a cut across the throat. His condition is regarded as serious, although word came yesterday that he had a slight chance of recovery. Upon hearing the news of their son’s injury, Mr. and Mrs. Hutton immediately went to Smith Center.

Seven-year-old Keith Dix, son of Mabel Russ Dix, left last evening for the Bell Memorial Hospital in Kansas City, Kansas, where he will enter for a cleft palate operation. Miss Floyd, principal of the grade school, is to be highly commended for the part she has played. She took his case in hand last spring and, by her untiring efforts, succeeded in engaging the Capper Fund for crippled children. While different from the cases they usually handle, they consented to help and have engaged an excellent plastic surgeon to perform the operation. Our commissioners and the Red Cross are doing their part too, so that Keith might have a big chance. Mrs. Dix highly appreciates the kindness to her boy since, owing to her circumstances, she might never have been able to give him the opportunity he so badly needed and deserved.

The movement started by the Stockton Chamber of Commerce to have the oil from the Silvers field piped to the railroad at Stockton instead of going south to Zurich on the Union Pacific is developing satisfactorily. O. E. Blacketer, freight agent for the Northern Kansas and Omaha Division of the Missouri Pacific, and O. C. Fing, assistant superintendent of the division, were in Stockton on Monday, interviewing the owners of the well and local businessmen. Matters of this character are not decided in a day as so many issues must be considered before a final decision is possible. Mr. Boyson, one of the owners of the well, who is now engaged in collecting two other small blocks of acreage to be developed as soon as is conveniently possible, states that the big problem now is to find a market for the oil. He says it is shallow in gasoline content but is nearly half paraffine base lubricating oil. Many refineries are in need of oil of this character, which is very scarce in the mid-continental field. In fact, Boyson says for the manufacture of high-grade motor oils, no better oil has ever been discovered in the whole mid-continental field. Even at present prices, the oil is worth about $1.35 a barrel to any refinery needing that crude oil. The Silvers Well is still practically shut down. There are over a thousand barrels of oil in storage, and more can be produced at 500 barrels a day as soon as a market and a pipeline are available. The owners of the well are planning on starting an offset well in the near future. Any doubt that Silvers No. 1 is a producer was removed this week when the oil companies associated with drilling the hole paid their “bottom of the hole money.” That is one sign that never fails: oil companies do not pay out on a dry hole or a doubtful well unless the contract depth has been reached.

The two young men, George McGee and Howard Johnson, were arrested in Wichita last Wednesday with charges of robbing the Cash store in this City and the Swank store at Woodston. They were returned here on Thursday evening. In district court on Saturday, the boys pleaded guilty to the two charges, and Judge W. B. Ham sentenced them to an indeterminate term at the State Reformatory at Hutchinson. Another charge rests against them: stealing an Essex Coupe in Columbia,Mo.,whichthey were driving at the time of their arrest. McGee gave his age as 19 and Johnson as 20. Both claimed Leavenworth, Kansas, as their home. Sheriff A. C. Gillilan and Undersheriff F. W. Hagemeister left for Hutchinson with the two young men just before noon today. This is George McGee’s second trip from Stockton to a penal institution. Several years ago, Sheriff Gillilan took him to the State Industrial School at Topeka.

The J. P. Vallette Cash Store was broken into Monday night, and merchandise of about $200.00 was taken. A pane of glass from the rear door was removed, permitting the robbers to unlock the door. Evidently, the robbers “knew their stuff” in selecting merchandise for many pairs of the best silk hosiery and other silken garments were appropriated, a few pairs of men’s shoes, several sacks of flour, and some canned goods and about $8.00 from the cash register. Mr. and Mrs. Vallette could not determine the quantity of merchandise taken, but these articles are missing. Tracks show that a car was driven up to the door, and the robbers made more than one trip to carry the goods away. The same night, the Swank Store of Woodston was entered, and there, the robbers helped themselves to two guns, some flashlights, ammunition, and other articles from the Swank stock. Tuesday, Sheriff Gillilan received a wire from the Wichita police that they were holding two men who had confessed to the Swank robbery. It is said that the men were trying to sell the guns and flashlights and, in doing so, aroused the suspicions of the prospects, and the police were notified. Local officers think that these men had a hand in pulling off the job at the Cash Store. In company with Joe Hagemeister, Sherriff Gillilan left immediately for Wichita and will return home this afternoon with their prisoners.

A wedding of more than usual interest was solemnized in the Methodist church on September 29th when Miss Lena Lambert was united in marriage to Mr. Hugh W. Bigge on the golden wedding anniversary of the grandparents of the bride, Mr. and Mrs. B. G. Lambert. The church was tastefully decorated with autumn flowers, asparagus fern, and pampas grass sent for the occasion by the bridegroom’s aunt, Mrs. W. H. Tanzey of Reseda, California. The bride was attractively and becomingly gowned in blue georgette crepe made with a deep cape collar and flowing side draperies. She carried a shower bouquet of Ophelia, roses, and lilies of the valley. Mrs. Bigge, the bride, has spent her life in this vicinity and is a graduate of Stockton High School. She has made a host of friends by her beauty and winning charm. Mr. Bigge is also a Stockton High School graduate and of the journalism department of Cotner College in Lincoln, Nebraska. Also, during the joyous day, Mr. and Mrs. Lambert held their golden wedding reception in their home, with ninety guests calling to offer their congratulations.

Motorists from the west of North 40 Tuesday morning brought the information that a Packard car had been wrecked and, as a result, caught fire and burned that morning at a point about 20 miles west of Stockton. The driver, and only occupant of the car, was picked up by parties in the following card and taken to Hill City to have his injuries dressed. The young fellow refused to give his name or answer any questions. However, he eventually gave his name as Alfred J. Bowers, 19 years old, and he admitted he stole the car in Ohio. Graham County officers were unable to get further information and have wired the Ohio authorities. Meanwhile, Bowers is being held until word has been received from Ohio. His injuries consisted of an injured leg and shoulder, and he is being cared for at the Moore Hotel in Hill City.

One of the most unfortunate automobile accidents to be reported in years in western Kansas occurred last Thursday evening on Wilcox Creek, about six miles north of Hunter, when three young men, employees of the Kansas Power Company, plunged over a 40-foot embankment into the creek bed as they were returning toward Downs from a fair at Sylvan Grove. Two of the young men, Lewis Churchill, son of Sheriff Churchill of Phillips County, and Virgil Eldred, son of Mrs. Anna Eldred of Philipsburg, were apparently killed instantly. At the same time, their companion, J. S. Limbocker of Downs, suffered injuries that will probably prove fatal. He was pinned beneath the overturned car, pressed against the bodies of his dead companions, where he lay until Saturday forenoon when the wreck was discovered. A son of Ben Leach of Hunter met with an accident at the embankment Friday night. Still, he did not discover the bodies and the injured youth until Saturday morning when he returned for his motorcar, which he had abandoned the previous night. The wrecked vehicle was not in a direct line of vision from the highway. No explanation of the cause of the accident has been published other than the fact that it occurred on a very dangerous curve on the road that was probably strange to the young men.

Pussyfoot Johnson, accompanied by Col. Frank B. Ebbert, newly elected superintendent of the Anti-Saloon League of Kansas, is now making a tour of the state. He is expected to remain in the state for two or three months, lecturing in every county as far as possible. The lectures are educational, being a part of the nationwide dry educational campaign being launched by the Anti-Saloon League of America and the National W. C. T. U.

For some years there has been talk of a pioneer association for Rooks County. Still, no definite action was taken until the Rooks County Fair when, in answer to a call sent out, over 150 pioneer settlers met in the upper room of the floral hall, signed up for an organization, and elected president Evan Hebrew, and for secretary, H. J. Lambert. It is hoped that every resident of Rooks County who was here in 1879 or earlier will become a member of the association.