The funeral of Thomas Jobson, of the town of Lingo, Macon County, occurred here today.

In 1873 Thomas and George Jobson, two young men who had been contractors on the Hannibal and St. Jo railroad, noted that the railroad was abandoning wood on its locomotives and getting into the market for coal. There was a wood yard for supplying locomotives at a small clearing a few miles west of New Cambria.  There the Jobsons sunk some prospect holes and at 110 feet struck a thin vein of very good coal.  They established a coal pit, operating the cages by steam, and put men to work.  They called the place Lingo in honor of Judge Samuel Lingo, who had been a member of the county court.  The Jobsons first attempted to use Welsh miners from Bevier, but they did not like mining low coal on the long wall system, and so the operators had to hunt around the country until they found some Bohemian and Austrian miners in Illinois.  They even had to send to Austria for workmen. The long wall system requires the miner to work under a very low roof and to wedge down his coal instead of shooting it.

    Austrians and Bohemians were familiar with this kind of work and there were soon enough of them at Lingo to make a pretty good town.  The railroad put up a depot and maintained a day and night man there. There were stores, churches and many dwellings.  At that time Lingo was probably the most picturesque town in Northern Missouri.  The Bohemians were large, stalwart, fun-loving fellows, and their popular diversions were dancing and singing. When [these men] brought women with them, they were as full of life and vitality as the men.  The Bohemian dances at Lingo frequently lasted all night. Old and young took part in them, and there was considerable drinking of light wines and beer by everybody.  After the fun was over, the Bohemians would put on their pit clothes, go down into the mines and labor as effectively as if they hadn't been up all night.

    The foreigners frequently held celebrations during the year to commemorate some noted event in their native land.  One of the most important anniversary of the death of some traitor to the country.  They would carry an effigy of this traitor around the streets, followed by a procession which included every person in town and when they arrived at a place prepared for the exercises the officers of the day would solemnly hang the effigy and deliver it over to the Evil One.

    Lingo thrived steadily for many years, and became one of the most important coal producing camps of Missouri.  Along in the 90s the Jobsons sold out to the Armour Packing company; all the buildings in the town were painted a bright yellow in conformity with the general color of the concern.

    The Armours operated the mines until their men at Lingo went out on pathetic strike with some Armour miners at other camps and this resulted in the packing company shutting down many of its coal mines and using oil to generate steam instead.  The strike was fatal to Lingo.  The miners left for other fields, the merchants went out of business and a great many of the houses were moved away.  The railroad sent some flats and hauled off its depot to some other point.  There is only a store or two and a few dwellings at Lingo now, and the trains do not stop there except on signal.

    Mr. Jobson moved to Macon, built a fine theatre and established a wagon factory. He declared that under the proper system the coal at Lingo could be worked and made profitable.  There are large quantities of it yet and it is of an excellent quality.  The few remaining residents are hoping for the day when some man like Mr. Jobson will come back there and reopen their mines and bring the old town back to life and activity.