As he left the place he met Frank Sands, and told him to go into Schiffbauer's store and ask to see the "gold." Naturally the shoemaker would be surprised that Sands should know anything about it ; then Sands was to tell him that King, whom he had pledged to secrecy, had given it away. The "little Dutchman" lost faith in humanity, and in King in particular, at that fime.

Some years later Schiffbauer & Langhorst ran the pioneer shoe store in Gering. This Langhorst was a brother of Louis Langhorst, prominent for many years in the democratic

The first fire, aside from the prairie fires of old and the carnage along the old trails was that of James Westervelt. It was caused by a neighbor who wished to burn off his place and he succeeded. The fire got beyond his control and James Westervelt's house was in line of the flames. The loss was about $600, a considerable amount in that time.

The first barber in Gering was John Garten.

The first shoemaker was Wm. Schiffbauer. He had a claim near town and one day while he was putting clown a well he found a pocket of bright yellow metal. Like many he hoped and believed he had struck gold, and he carefully wrapped it up and brought a quantity to

politics of the state, and organizer of the "ship by truck" movement between Omaha and Lincoln.

Gering school district was organized in July, 1887, with James Westervelt, as moderator, Charles Johnson, as director; and Geo. B. Luft, as treasurer.