(140) AS was related in Chapter XXIV, the county seat was located at Oakdale at the general election held in October, 1872. The legality of this election was doubted by many, who took the view that since the county seat should have been located at the first general election held after the organization of the county, which election was held in October, 1871, and as this was not done, but went over by default, the county board had no right to order an election for the location of the county seat except upon the petition of the voters. The county board did, however, order that the question of locating the county seat should be voted upon at the election held October, 1872, without any petition being presented. It was also held by some of those who wanted the county seat at Neligh that there were other informalities or irregularities attending the election of 1872 that would render the location of the county seat at Oakdale of doubtful validity. Accordingly, on the 1st of September, 1874, a petition, signed by D. V. Coe and two hundred fifteen others, was presented to the board of commissioners praying for an election to locate the county seat. This petition was granted and the election held. The friends of Neligh voted for the location of the county seat on the northeast quarter of section 20, township 25, range 6 west. This quarter section was named in the petition because as yet Neligh had not been fully surveyed and platted, nor had any plat been filed. Those favoring Oakdale did not vote at all.

     Immediately after the election and before the votes were canvassed, the friends of Oakdale procured the following injunction:

     "Upon presentation of the within petition, and after (141) reading the same, and it appearing that there is a probable cause therefor, a temporary injunction is allowed, restraining said defendant board of county commissioners from doing any other act or thing in furtherance of said county seat election, except upon and after a petition signed by two-thirds of the voters of said county is presented to them for action, on giving bonds for one thousand dollars with approved security.

     This was the beginning of the county seat war, a war that lasted until the special county seat election of October 2, 1883, when the county capital was finally removed to Neligh.

     There was no politics in this county seat fight. Men still continued to vote the party ticket for President and members of Congress, also for state officers and for members of the state legislature. For all the county offices, however, no questions were asked as to a candidate's politics. "Is he a Neligh man or is he for Oakdale?" The answer to this question nearly always decided the matter for the voter.

     This county seat question was always a burning, living issue. It was always with us. It might quiet down for a time, but it would break out again and rage as violently as our Nebraska blizzards in the early days. Oakdale had the county seat and meant to keep it. Neligh wanted it -- knew she would get it sometime, and felt as if she could not wait for that time to come. Both towns reserved a block for the county buildings, and a little frame court-house had been built in the spring of 1874, on Court House Square, in Oakdale, at a cost to the county of seven hundred and fifty dollars. The county seat question quieted down after this for a while, only to be revived again in the fall of 1875.

     On the 7th of May, 1874, Mr. M. S. Bartlett had started the publication of a newspaper at Oakdale, called the (142) Oakdale "Journal," it being the only newspaper published in the county. On November 17, 1874, as previously stated, Mr. Bartlett was appointed county treasurer to fill vacancy, and in October, 1875, was elected for the full term of two years. The friends of Neligh now took a new tack on the county seat question. About October 1, 1875, they induced Mr. Bartlett to move his printing press to Neligh and to continue the publication of the paper as the Neligh "Journal," leaving Oakdale without a newspaper. As soon as this became known it created a great commotion at Oakdale. On October 6, 1875, Bartlett was burned in effigy at Oakdale, and that night parties unknown set fire to the court-house and burned it to the ground with all it contained.

      On the 13th of October the county board came together and made an examination of the county records and papers. They reported that no portion of the commissioner's records could be traced prior to July 25, 1874, that since that date a part could be traced. That the clerk's tax list was at the clerk's residence and was unharmed, that the treasurer's books were at the treasurer's residence and were unharmed. Nearly everything else was destroyed by the fire.

     Like every other rash or unwarranted act, the burning in effigy of M. S. Bartlett did not help the cause of Oakdale. The act was condemned generally by Oakdale's friends and was made use of by her enemies, to Oakdale's disadvantage. The people of Neligh then proposed that to any of the business men of Oakdale who would remove to Neligh they would provide transportation for their effects without cost to the owners. One business man did accept this proposition, his building being taken to pieces and erected at Neligh and his stock of goods removed, all without cost to himself. However, he remained there only a short time when, not being satisfied, he came back to Oakdale again.

     The question of relocation of the county seat now rested rather quietly until the spring of 1876, when, on the (143) petition of John W. Getchell and others, the board ordered an election to be held on the 6th day of June which resulted as follows:

     Oakdale, having received more than two fifths of all the votes cast, was declared to be the county seat. The matter of the removal of the county seat was now allowed to rest until the fall of 1878. On October 1 of that year a petition, signed by B. R. Barnes, and others, was presented to the board. On the 7th of October the board acted upon the petition and ordered a special election to be held on November 14, 1878, which resulted as follows:

     The vote necessary to relocate at any specified place was 272, therefore, Neligh lacked two votes of having the required three fifths. But three fifths of the whole number cast were for relocation. It was therefore the duty of the county board, under the laws then existing, to proceed to call another election. Before this could be done the Oakdale people sued out a temporary injunction in the county court, Judge S. D. Thornton presiding, restraining the county board from calling another election. This injunction was dissolved by Judge E. K. Valentine of the district court, but another election was not ordered. The (144) question came up before the board of commissioners, but was postponed from time to time for about two years, when it was finally dropped. Oakdale was afraid to have the election called lest they would lose, and Neligh was afraid to have it called lest they might not win -- so it was a drawn battle and the final decision was postponed.

     Again the question came up in the winter of 1880. On December 21 of that year a petition containing 583 names was filed with the county board by Thomas O'Day. Both parties were ably represented before the county board on this occasion. It was contended by Oakdale that many of the names were not signed by the owners, and they brought witnesses to endeavor to prove this. Also that many of the signers were non-resident. The county board, after taking ample time to examine and consider the matter, rejected 54 names, for the reason that these men lived in Boone and Wheeler counties. After rejecting these they found that the petition contained more than three fifths as many names as the voters at the last general election. They accepted the petition and called an election for February 1, 1881. The votes cast were as follows:

     And so Neligh lost again.

     There were some queer things about this election. First, the total population of the county by the census of 1880, then recently taken, was 3,953, and a vote of 1,265 showed that 32 per cent of the population voted at this election. This was a very large ratio of actual voters, without counting those that stayed at home. Secondly, the people of Neligh knew that a large number of fraudulent votes were cast in Twin Grove precinct, and could easily have (145) proven it, but they were timid about contesting the election, for their own polling list would not bear inspection. There was a good deal of talk, but no action. It was a repetition of the old story of the pot and the kettle.

      Things were quiet again until the summer of 1883, when petitions were filed by the board of commissioners to call another election to relocate the county seat. These petitions contained the names of 984 electors, giving name, age, place of residence, and length of residence in the county. The election was held on the 2d of October, 1883. The electors of Neligh held a public meeting about two weeks before the election, at which time they chose a committee of five to confer with a like committee from Oakdale, to devise measures to have an honest vote and an honest count. The committees held a joint meeting, at which they arrived at a definite conclusion as to the best method of attaining the desired end. An agreement was made in writing, which all the members of the joint committee signed, substantially as follows:

      The Neligh committee chose O. R. Elwood and A. J. Leach of Oakdale to guard the polls at Oakdale, and to challenge on behalf of the Neligh people every vote that was offered that was suspected of being illegal. The committee from Oakdale chose F. H. Trowbridge and Charles Fisher of Neligh to perform a like duty at Neligh for the people of Oakdale. Illegal voters were to be arrested on the spot at both places, and complete arrangements were made to have the program fully carried out. The election passed off all right, and very few, if any, doubtful votes were cast. The result was:

     Neligh therefore had seventy-nine votes to spare. 

     (146) The following is the vote for Oakdale and Neligh by precincts:

     The board of commissioners ordered the county officials to remove the county records to Neligh on January I, 1884. This was done, and the war was over.