McCook's Conscious vs. Rastus Ramrod, Boy Editor

When Frank Kimmell came to McCook in 1893, to buy the McCook Tribune, he immediately became an important part of the community. Not only did he take part in the organization of the new town, and hold several municipal offices, but he became McCook's unofficial "Conscious" with almost weekly editorials condemning things that were bad, and offering suggestions about how things could be improved. At one time he served as McCook's Postmaster.

Both Mr. and Mrs. Kimmell were active in the Methodist Church. Mrs. Kimmell was the church organist and Mr. Kimmell was well known for his fine singing voice. The Kimmells were very active in the local Masonic orders, and Mr. Kimmell was a charter member of a number of community organizations -- the Elks, Rotary Club, and Chamber of Commerce, to name a few -- while at the same time serving in various capacities in State Newspaper organizations.

In the matter of promoting the city, Mr. Kimmell was one of the early boosters. In 1893 the Tribune put out a charming little book, entitled "McCook Columbian Souvenir."

This was a very ambitious publication, and hundreds of these booklets were distributed to fairgoers in Chicago, where a World's Fair was being held honoring the 400th Anniversary of Columbus' trip to the new world. Fairgoers came from all parts of the United States and most of the countries of Europe to take part in this international spectacle.

McCook's City Fathers reasoned that this was a prime audience to receive McCook's story, and Frank Kimmell brought the idea to fruition with his publication. It was felt that this would be a good way to reach a lot of people, some of whom might just like to move west and help McCook to grow.

In the Columbian Souvenir Mr. Kimmell described McCook, its citizens and its impressive accomplishments in its short 11 years of existence. Mr. Kimmell was extremely optimistic about McCook and its prospects of a bright future.

He may have even succumbed to a bit of "Snake Oil Salesmanship" when he talked about the weather in McCook -- "a healthful climate … as near perfect a climate as the United States affords. As between wintering there (Red Willow County) or in Florida, there is much in favor of the former (R.W. County)."

Again, in speaking of health, "… At the altitude of McCook, the catarrhs and rheums, the neuralgia, and the consumption of the East are unknown, except such cases as were contracted before coming here". Even summer, "although the thermometer ranges very high, sultry heat is, of course, an impossibility at such an altitude." (And this was before air conditioning yet -- wow!)

In 1910 a 19-year-old, Harry Strunk, came to work for Mr. Kimmell at the Tribune. He had been on the job for just a few months when he and a fellow employee left to start their own paper. At the time, McCook was a city of 4,000 people, with two other weekly papers (and six in Red Willow County).

Mr. Kimmell felt betrayed and never did forgive Harry Strunk for leaving. For the next 17 years, until his death in 1928, Kimmell almost always had something derogatory to say about Strunk in the Tribune. Early on, he sarcastically referred to Strunk, who was very tall and extremely thin, as "Rastus Ramrod."

At other times, referring to his young age, as "The Boy Editor." Strunk, never one to back away from a scrap, would usually respond in some fashion, inferring that Kimmell was old fashioned, ill informed, or just an angry old man.

Sometimes the rhetoric between the two editors became quite heated, and highly entertaining, and it is a good bet that many people in the community subscribed to both journals simply to see what this week's battle was going to be about.

But at times the verbal barbs got a bit out of hand. On one occasion A. Barnett, McCook's leading citizen, called a meeting with Kimmell and Strunk and lectured them, saying that the fight between the combatants was getting out of hand and was having a bad effect on the town. For a time things quieted down a bit, but never really stopped.

In 1915, Frank Kimmell seized upon an issue that went on for quite a long time. It seems that there was a payment of $200 that the Gazette had gotten from Red Willow County for publication of the county's tax delinquency list, on the basis of Strunk's bid, which was below the rate specified by state law. This caused Mr. Kimmell to become quite creative in his attacks on Strunk. One instance:

"When Rastus Ramrod (who hasn't put it back) takes his gory snickersnee in hand and inglorious writes people of the local map -- socially and financially -- he is sumpin' fierce -- as well as casually monstrously amusing, and calls to mind stunts of the elongated pole-climbing simian who sat down in a can of luminous paint before one of his ascents unmindful or witless of his mounting merriment."

For almost a year Kimmel's attack's centered around "Mr.Who hasn't paid it back" and the $200.

Later, before a meeting of the County Commissioners, Mr. Kimmell and the Editor of the Indianola Reporter worked out a deal, in which they would each print the County's notices and split the fee, and cut the Gazette out of the County's business.

Strunk, however, laid his case before the Commissioners and was able to convince them that if they could see their way clear to pay him the $200 allowed by state law, it would alleviate a financial crisis at the Gazette and keep his business afloat.

They agreed. The Gazette was made the official Red Willow County publication and saved from ruin.

Mr. Kimmell's attacks on Strunk, questioning his ability, his mentality, his character, even his honesty had become an obsession over the years, beginning with Strunk's departure from the Tribune in 1911, until Kimmell's death in 1928.

Though he never really gave up his barbs against Strunk, "The Boy Editor," the Gazette gradually rose above the fray, by going Bi-weekly, then Tri-weekly, and finally, in 1924, when it became a daily paper. For most of those years the Tribune remained a weekly paper.

Mr. Kimmell passed away in 1928. His widow kept the Tribune in operation after his death for a time, but in 1932 she sold the paper to a Mr. M.C. Smith, and retired to Palisade. The Tribune was sold to the Gazette in 1936. Mrs. Kimmell died in 1944. Her body was returned to McCook and buried beside that of her husband in Memorial Park Cemetery.

Mr. Kimmell's attacks on Strunk eased some as he aged and mellowed, and as Strunk grew in stature and took on new challenges, in the form of Sen. Norris, and state and national government officials. That came later.

But there is evidence that he missed his old adversary, Frank Kimmell, and their verbal duels. And there was a great deal of real respect on Strunk's part for Mr. Kimmell and the role he played in McCook's development.

In the Golden Anniversary Edition of the McCook Gazette (1882-1932), there is a special page, entitled "Whose Memory McCook Will Ever Cherish", with pictures of P. Walsh, C.H. Boyle, and F.M. Kimmell, with the inscriptions, "Indeed -- They were Builders" and "They Gave Always Their Best".

Source: Gazette (1882-1932), Gazette (1882-1982), "Trails West", by Ray & Rutledge.