Although a frontier town, the people were generally law abiding. Of course gambling and dance halls with their attendant resorts were tolerated in those days, but there was no great amount of what is usually termed tough element. Occasionally a cowboy who had imbibed too freely would ride his horse into a saloon and shoot things up, and on one occasion Renfro's Circus, a second rate affair with a bunch of gamblers, thieves and shell game men following, was shot to pieces. It was not done by cowboys or toughs either. Some of the present business men of the town took part in the shooting and at least one of the city officers assisted. There was never but one murder in the town and that was a double murder. One George Wooten shot and killed his wife just at the entrance of Mrs. Hayward's store, then turned the gun on himself and both lay dead on the walk near the door of the store.

During those early years the people of Chadron and surrounding country suffered great privation, yet their hearts always went out in sympathy toward those who were in great distress. When news of the great Johnstown disaster came with an appeal for assistance, Chadron and vicinity, out of the little they had, contributed a train load of supplies consisting of corn, potatoes and flour. When an earthquake

HISTORY OF WESTERN NEBRASKA

wrecked the beautiful city of San Francisco, Chadron contributed nearly a thousand dollars to assist in relieving distress. These were only few of the many instances. No appeal for help was passed unheeded. When distress cried out, the wild scramble for money was for a time forgotten. No community ever loosed its purse strings more generously. Many pathetic scenes were witnessed on the street that never found their way to the people.