100 years ago: Lawrence plans ceremonies, parade for Memorial Day

From the Lawrence Daily Journal-World for May 27, 1913:

  • “Next Friday is Memorial Day. The day will be observed in Lawrence with exercises both in the morning and the afternoon. On Friday morning the veterans will go to the cemeteries where short services will be held and tributes paid to the fallen soldiers. The graves will be decorated and the unknown dead will be remembered with floral tributes. In the afternoon the parade of veterans, auxiliaries, and the present generation of soldiers will be held. The line of march will be from South Park to the Bowersock Theater. Patriotic exercises will be held in the afternoon at 2:30 in the Bowersock Theater.”
  • “The local militiamen have now the best rifle range in the state on the Clevenger farm northwest of the city. The range which was formerly used was situated south of town and was very good but the new situation is much better for long ranges. There are two targets and two large range houses so situated as to be a shelter in case of storm.”
  • “Lawrence today experienced a storm of chinch bugs. For a short time this afternoon the air was filled with a swarming mass of these little pests. Evidently they were bent on the destruction of the Douglas county wheat fields. They were flying northward and for a time made travel very unpleasant.”
  • “Saturday morning Wm. Keller, who lives three miles northwest of Lawrence on the upland, picked six crates of strawberries from a patch of less than a quarter of an acre. Some of the plants were put out last year and the rest the year before. The berries were of the Dunlap variety and a couple of boxes came to the Journal-World to show just how good they were.”
  • “That this town is grossly immoral is not true but that there are some shocking cases here is coming to the light. Recently about 26 young boys got mixed up with a young girl. No prosecutions have been brought. The girl is under age and it is up to the county attorney to act. Today another case even more shocking is up for consideration and some action will be taken. Some time since the Journal-World had an article that an unknown party was taking liberties with little girls. No name was mentioned because this paper had no direct information. The man has since been identified. It is time to stir things up. The Journal-World is an advocate of sterilization.”