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Show Col. Robert Thompson Van Horn ONE of the foremost factors in the making of Kansas City great, was Col. Van Horn. There has been many makers there, many thousands thou-sands for that matter, but there was one man who brought a young, fresh brain to create and direct the progress of that city. His help never faltered as tho days advanced to weeks, and months, and years, and through a long life he was the daily counsellor of the city, the friend of tho city, and more than any other one person, the inspiration in-spiration that carried every good thing on. Col. Van Horn was always a strong partisan. He was wont to give and receive heavy blows, but he al-ways al-ways struck fair, and did not care how rough the blow was in return. His thought was that if a thing was right, it was worth fighting for, and that no argument could overthrow it. There is one wonderful feature about a daily newspaper. Men in different cities may edit newspapers news-papers year after year; they may never be brought together, and still they may learn to know each other well, and a sincere affection may spring up between them. In this way CoL Van Horn was very much loved by many editors in many states, and this went on, until many an editor who never trod upon the soil of Missouri had a sincere affection for Col. Van Horn, learned learn-ed to know him so well, that they got to believe be-lieve they could, without opening his paper, know how he would treat any particular subject. He had one of those wonderful brains that could bear the mental fatigue that the preparing of a great newspaper every day involves without ever losing force or vitality, or what we might call the elasticity of youth. While other men failed and went into the silence, he remained at his post, vigorous and alert, and so the years came and went with him. Now he goes down to his grave at ninety-one. He was altogether a clear-brained, high principled, accomplished, country loving, splendid man, and for years to come, when men speak of the abuttments on which the foundations founda-tions on which Kansas City wero laid, one of the most conspicuous will be the character of Robert Thompson Van Horn. |