August 8, 2017
This is “Our Past Is Present” from the Geary County Historical Society.
Nels
Nicholson, a well-known former Police Chief of Junction City and Geary County
Commissioner, passed away in August of 1941.
He was 70 years of age. In 1934,
the “Daily Union” newspaper published a Junction City 75th
Anniversary issue. Everyone knew him as
Nick. He began his career in Junction
City in 1900 under the city Marshall Tom Allen Cullinan, who we have mentioned
during these previous “Our Past Is Present” programs. Nick Nicholson served as Deputy Sheriff for 9
years. Later, he became a U.S. Marshall
in Wichita for three years before returning to Junction City as a night
patrolman, a position he held for 10 years.
He was then elected Chief of Police and preserved law and order in
Junction City during World War I. Nick
was the Chief of Police through the mid to late 1930s when the town was
overflowing with people from Camp Funston.
He was a reasonable and somewhat forgiving man and many soldiers at Fort
Riley knew it. Nick Nicholson had
given some of them a lecture and sent
them back to the Post when an arrest and sentence would have meant an end to
the soldier’s military career.
We want to
express our appreciation to our current Chief of Police, Dan Breci, Sheriff
Tony Wolf and all of the law enforcement officers who serve and protect us
every day in Junction City and Geary County.
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