NEMAHA COUNTY REGISTERED 1464 YOUNG MEN JUNE 5
Not a Discordant Note to Mar the Harmony of the Response—More Than Half With Dependents
On Registration Day, 1464 young men of Nemaha County were registered for service at the call of Uncle Sam. If there was a single jar in the whole of the orderly proceeding, Sheriff Charles Carman has not heard of it. The population of Nemaha county is approximately 18,700 people. This gives, then, a registration of a little over 7 1-2 per cent. One of the significant things connected with the registration is the number of men who list themselves as having dependent families. If these young men are, for the greater part, able to sustain their claim for exemption on the ground of dependent families before the local boards of exemption, it will mean that a larger percentage of the young men who claim no exemption will be drawn. Now of course it doesn’t take a great deal of grey matter to figure that out—but if you walked up to the registrars with a brave front and said that there is no reason in the world why you should not serve your country—you stand a fair show of being taken at your word. Here are the figures: Out of the 1464 men, 757 have indicated dependent families. Seventeen show total disability. Seventy-five indicated on their cards reasons for probable exemption.
579 young men, a little over one-third, told the registrars that they claim no exemption. Come to think of it down right seriously don’t you consider that pretty good? Over 500 young men in this county ready to drop everything to answer the call of the flag.
Total aliens registered number twenty-four. Alien enemies, twelve. The highest registration from any one township was in Home—seventy-three. Out in Mitchell, where the hall was flooded by the high waters of the Nemaha, 52 were recorded. Many of them waded through the water waist deep in order to have their names properly recorded. Those from this side tied their horses on that side and plunged in. Three of the Mitchell township boys registered with County Clerk Kaufman the next morning.
The registrars had orders to get their returns in to the County Clerk by noon the next day and were game out to obey orders. Jim Hanks, of Granada township, in his car, tried first to cross at the Deffenbaugh bridge but found the water too high. Then he tried the Simon bridge and failed. Not to be daunted he tried the Krapp bridge. Not being able to get across he left the car and hoofed it in and his returns were in on time.
W. H. Sherrard, of Gilman, R. T. Allison of Nemaha, and Harry Heimann of Richmond were other registrars who were away from home all night.
The Courier Democrat (Seneca, KS) 14 Jun 1917, page 1