In about 1915, Susie was by herself with her children when some men came through their land north of Nenzel (Kilgore) pushing a bunch of cattle. Since they had US brands, Susie realized that these cattle had probably been rustled from the Lakota Rosebud Reservation north in South Dakota. She stood up to them and told them they should return the cattle to the Lakota since they were allotment food for the reservation. They laughed at her and told her to mind her own business or they would kill her and her children. She backed off and they pressed on south toward the railroad at Nenzel. Grandma Susie told my father, Troy, who was about 18 or 9 years old at the time to get on his horse and ride to Nenzel where the the authorities could be contacted via telegraph. Troy followed her directions and notified the Sheriff in Valentine. The rustlers were apprehended and put in jail. Since stealing cattle from the Lakota on the reservation was a federal offense, in order to convict the rustlers, Susie had to testify at Sturgis, SD in federal court. She took three of her children with her to Sturgis and testified--probably early in 1915. (She took Troy since he had ridden to alert the authorities, Amazilla who was 2 1/2, and Millie since she was a nursing infant. Tim, who was 6, was left at home with his father, Hale, since he often found mischief.) The rustlers were convicted and imprisoned. They still threatened Susie and her family. From that time until the day she died in September 1957, she slept with a huge butcher knife under the mattress of her bed.
When Hale died unexpectedly in January of 1936, she was again forced to make decisions for her family. She sold her home in Nenzel and purchased the Wilcox house on North Main Street in Valentine, NE which had 9 bedrooms and two apartments on three levels was perfect for a rooming house. From that time until her death in September 1957, she operated Mrs. Cox's TourRooms. Her guests were often teachers and single people who worked in the community as well as people who were traveling through the area or Lakota people who came to Valentine for medical reasons. She had a beautiful old library table that held her Register and in warm weather often boasted a vase of fresh flowers to greet people as they entered. her establishment. She always had a glass pitcher of ice water for her guests' dresser with glasses on a small glass tray. Bedding--sheets, mattress pads, blankets, and even spreads were changed religiously and were washed in her laundry room that boasted two wringer washers and three rinse sinks. They were dried on the clothesline in warm weather or on the lines in the furnace room in cold. They were always mangled and placed neatly in the cupboards to await the next guests. Her stand-by for dispatching possible "critters" that may have been brought on the premises was a pump spray can of DDT which she wielded quite accurately!
Her home boasted a lovely wide front porch with a hand-made swing made of hedge and with a dark green pigskin cushion and stuffed with horse-hair. The porch railings were not the usual wood but were the gray block the house was made of with wide cement caps where people collected and visited on warm summer nights. The swing still exists with a new leather seat and graces the Petersen family's front porch.
It was a beautiful old home with wonderful amenities of the times when it was built! Examples included a pantry which had an L-shaped work are and flour and sugar bins right across from a three-door ice box that received its ice from the back porch, a butler's pantry with lovely storage for precious items, collanades on either side between the dining and living room with glass fronted doors keeping books safe, a beautiful vestibule with a boot bench topped by a mirror and coat hooks on each side, and a laundry chute that served the two top floors and opened in the basement right beside the laundry room!
Susie was a wonderful lady who taught her granddaughters to make cookies, knit and crochet. She read with us, and shared her love of history and the WIlkins, Cox, and Hale families as they participated in historical events throughout their lives! She was an incredibly strong and brave woman. She grew up on the frontier, the child of Homesteaders as were she and Hale. She was a devout Catholic who passed those traditions on.
Please, add remembrances of Susie and her family to share!
