100 years ago: Lawrence widow’s business must close down

From the Lawrence Daily Journal-World for Sept. 19, 1913:

  • “Mrs. Shearer has decided to close out her store here and this will be done at once. Mrs. Shearer has worked mighty hard for years and has not made any money. She was supposed to have been a rich woman when her husband died but an inventory of the estate showed it was only a shell. She went to work to manage the business herself and being without experience she made mistakes and she paid dearly for every one. Mrs. Shearer has been a mighty fine woman all these years. The Journal-World has known Mrs. Shearer well for many years and it knows there is not a squarer woman on earth. She does the best she can under every difficulty and this paper is sorry she has found it to her advantage to close out her store here. She has hundreds of friends and they will all wish her success and prosperity wherever she goes. No woman deserves it more.”
  • “The State Charter Board in Topeka today granted a charter to the Farmers State Loan and Savings Bank of Lawrence, capitalized at $25,000. The incorporators in this new bank are the same persons who some time ago obtained a charter as the ‘Lawrence Loan and Trust Company,’ of which J. W. Kreeck and L. N. Kreeck are heavy stockholders. The new bank will be opened in Lawrence very soon according to a statement made this afternoon by Mr. Kreeck. He stated that a location had been practically agreed upon but would not be announced for some time.”
  • “Sheriff W. H. Cummings does not intend to permit the sale of any liquor, not even the so called ‘two per cent,’ at the county fair next week. ‘We will keep order at the fair next week and if anyone thinks that he can sell liquor or ‘two per cent’ let him try it and we will settle the question at once,’ said the sheriff this morning.”
  • “In order to give the Douglas County Fair a good start, the opening date, next Tuesday, has been designated as ‘Lawrence and Merchants’ Day.’ This day is to be a holiday in Lawrence and it is understood that the most of the business houses in the city will close up in the afternoon and proprietors and employees go out to the park to spend the afternoon. The program for this day is to be one of the best of the week, planned to suit the city folks especially. All of the displays will be in place on Tuesday morning and these displays promise to be the equal of those of other years. City folks are unusually interested this year in the products of the farm and will be anxious to see just what Douglas county can rise in a bad season.”
  • “In spite of numerous warnings issued to consumers during the past two months, no more coal is being stored in Lawrence than at this time last year. At least that is the statement of Lawrence coal dealers. ‘Our sales this month are no better, if as good as at this time last year,’ said one dealer this morning. ‘We have no storage for a reserve supply of coal and if there is to be a reserve supply stored in Lawrence in preparation for a gas shortage in cold weather it will have to be stored in the bins of the consumers.’ The same opinion was expressed by other dealers One dealer said that a cutting off of the gas supply in a cold snap would result in discomfort for consumers unless they had a supply stored in their bins. ‘At such a time,’ he said, ‘it would be impossible for us to get in coal sooner than three or four days and the small supply we keep in storage would probably be exhausted within a few hours. Then if the weather were really severe and the gas very low the demand for coal at the mines and the big storage companies in the cities would be so great as to cause delay in shipments.'”