The following are selected articles from a Newspaper titled, "The Higbee News" which was issued out of the town of Higbee, in Randolph County, Missouri from the years 1888 through 1953. The editors were W. H. Welch and his son H. Scott Welch. This paper covered the Higbee area and also a great deal of the northeastern part of Howard county. The copyright notice at the end of this transcript is there for the sole purpose of keeping this work free to the public, and to ensure that it is not harvested by a fee-based corporate genealogy site, or published in any format for profit. If you decide to use the information from this transcription, PLEASE LIST ME AS THE SOURCE, rather than the paper. My transcription is another generation removed from the microfilm, and would thus be a third generation copy of the original paper. For proper documentation, a researcher should obtain a photocopy of the microfilm for their own permanent records, and use my transcript as a guide or index. The microfilm is available for interlibrary loan through the State Historical Society of Missouri, and a copy is also on file at the Moberly Public Library, generously donated by the Higbee Historical Society. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thursday, 24 Mar 1927, Vol 40, No 46, Pg. 1 Col. 1&2--MEDLEY BURTON GONE TO HIS LONG HOME. Passes Peacefully Awat At 5 A. M., Tuesday After a Brave Fight--Funeral Today At 2 p.m. "We watched his breathing through the night, His breathing soft and low, As in his breast the wave of life Kept heaving to and fro. Our very hopes belied our fears, Our fears our hopes belied; We thought him dying when he slept, And sleeping when he died." Medley Burton, one of our best known and best beloved citizens, whose illness had been noted in our last two issues, and who this time last week seemed to be decidedly improved, to such an extent that family, friends and physicians had every reason to believe that he had passed the crisis, took a sudden turn for the worse Saturday and despite every care and attention, passed peacefully away at 5 a. m. Tuesday morning, March 22, death no doubt coming as a happy release from intense suffering, although he never uttered one word of complaint. But there would have been no need for that for the wasted body told the story all too plainly. Mr. Burton had been in rather poor health for several months, complaining mostly of his stomach, but which his physicians pronounced nothing more serious than an ulcer, if it was even that serious, but was on the job at the store as usual, and no one realized but what he was as well as usual, until the 10th, when he had to go home and go to bed. Dr. C. F. Burkhalter was called, and he found Mr. Burton suffering from erysipelas, and all confidently expected him to be back in the store in a few days or as soon as the disease should have run its course. He was much worse next day, and when the disease began to spread, grave fears as to his recovery were expressed. Rallying from a sinking spell, he asked that his old friend and boyhood playmate, Dr. W. P. Dysart, of Columbia, be called, and when the latter arrived Mr. Burton advised him that he feared he had cancer of the stomach, but was assured that nothing of that nature was wrong with him, his critical condition at that time being from reaction of the serum given him. He had stated when he first took sick that he was going to die, thinking so, no doubt, from his belief that he had cancer. Being assured otherwise was evidently a great relief to him, for on being so much better Thursday he spoke of not wanting to die and of perhaps getting up again. Friday he again took a turn for the worse and Saturday night realized, as did family and friends, that time for him was rapidly drawing to a close, and with body racked with pain and with tongue stiff and swollen, making speech very difficult, he brokenly whispered to J. Edgar Smith, one of the watchers at his bedside, "Smith, I am going to die to live again." Later he sang some song through to the end, but he was so weak and the words came with such difficulty, that none could recognize it, and which the heartbroken wife and children would give the world to know. As the hours wore on he grew weaker and weaker, the watchers on two occasions Saturday night thinking the feeble flame of life had at last gone out, but he lingered on until the hour stated, when he passed away as peacefully as a child going to sleep on its mother's breast. Medley Burton was the son of the late Joseph W. and Sallie Burton, and was born on the old home place, within a stone's throw of the house in which he died, on Feb. 26, 1864. He was one of thirteen children, but three of whom now remain. He was united in marriage to Miss Sarah J. Dawkins on Nov. 23, 1885, and is survived by her and their four children, viz: Walton T. Burton, Maryville; Joe W. Burton, Mrs. Geo. B. Walton and Mrs. Edwin Hawkins, and three grandchildren, all of this place. One child, a son, died at the age of eleven months. He also leaves two brothers and one sister, H. W. Burton of this place, Richard Burton of Mystic, Ky., and Mrs. J. M. Crew of Oklahoma City, Okla., and two half-brothers--Speed and Ben Burton, of Norborne. Deceased had spent his entiere life in Higbee and vicinity, spending many years on the farm and also being connected for several years with the Walton Coal Company as check-weighman at the old mine west of town, the old Inter-state and the Block. He embarked in the grocery business with his son, walton, in the present headquarters, in 1916, they buying out S. E. Marrs & Son, purchasing the interest of his son when the latter moved to St. Joseph two years ago. Being of a very genial nature, kind hearted and generous to a fault, and always ready with some friendly banter, he was a general favorite, and enjoyed a great, or greater partronage, than any firm in town. We had known him since the day we landed in Higbee over forty years ago and had many dealings with him in that time and found him true blue at all times and under all circumstances, and a high-toned christian gentleman--always. While he was in the store on the corner but a short time, as compared with others who had occupied the same location, it will be a long time before it will be known by any other name and for a long, long time to come, he will be sadly missed by old and young--for he was loved by all--and especially by his more intimate friends, who would often drop in to "bawl him out" about something just to hear him, with a twinkle in his eye, return better than they sent, and to hear his use the word "dad-burn"__ his nearest approach, so far as we ever knew, to profane language. He united with the Christian church in early manhood and had since remained a faithful and consistent member, and for many years was one of its chief officers. His religion was not of the Sunday-only, long, sour-faced, loud-praying variety, but was that of smiles and sunshine and the living of the Golden Rule. He hewed as near to that line, so far as we were ever able to observe, as any man we ever knew. Funeral services will be held at the Christian Church today at 2 p.m., by the Rev. Edgar Richmond, assisted by the Rev. E. Y. Keiter, every place of business in town being closed from 1:45 to 3 o'clock, in honor of his memory, and interment made in the Burton cemetery by the side of his parents and ten brothers and sisters who have preceded him. Services at the cemetery will be under the auspices of the Masonic order of which he had been an enthusiastic and honored member for almost forty years. In the death of Medley Burton, his family has lost a loving and indulgent husband and father, his friends one who was a friend indeed and the town and community a loyal and upright citizen, and whose going will be felt as a personal loss by all. The warmest sympathy of the entire town and vicinity goes out to the bereft wife and children. Peace to his ashes. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright notice: All transcriptions in this email are copyrighted by their creator. They may not be reproduced on another site or on any printed or recorded media, CD, etc. without specific written permission from Kathy Bowlin. Although public information is not in and of itself copyrightable, the format in which it is presented, transcriptions, notes & comments, etc. is. It is however, quite permissible to print or save the files to a personal computer for personal use only. Permission is granted to public libraries, and genealogical and historical societies to print and bind for the use of their patrons. Kathy Bowlin Additions, corrections, comments welcome.