Iowa
Old Press
The Appanoose Times
Centerville, Appanoose Co., Iowa
June 16, 1881
The trial of Mrs. Eliza Garvin, for the alleged murder of her
husband, commenced Monday, June 6th, Judge Burton prosiding.
Monday was taken up in the selecting of the Jury, one-half being
taken from the regular panel and the rest from by-standers. They
were R.B. Wilkinson, J.O. Hiatt, Jas. A. McElderry, Jos. Cooksey,
Moses Ferren, J.F. Irwin, Thos. Powers, J.S. Hughes, Josiah
Gilbert, Thomas Bland, J.W. Hurlis and A. Hicks. The prosecution
was conducted by R.B. Townsend, prosecuting attorney, assisted by
J.A. Elliot and H.P. Richardson; and the defense by Miller and
Goddard assisted by Jos. Kinkade. The case lasted Tuesday and
Wednesday, going to the jury on Thursday morning; on Friday
evening about 7 1/2 o'clock they brought in a verdict of not
guilty. The verdict was quite a surprise to everybody, as the
universal opinion was, that the prisoner was guilty. The jury on
the case were men of weight and intelligence, and cannot be
accused of an unfair verdict. A juryman is required to make his
verdict according to the evidence at the trial, the failure to
convict lies with the prosecution, not with the jury. The way to
secure justice in such cases, is to elect a more competent
Prosecuting Attorney.
[transcribers note: jury member James A. McElderry was my
great-great grandfather]
---
We lately took a look at the old "Dickey" place under
the management of M.M. Walden. He has taken out the old fences
and replaced them with neat wire ones, trimed [sic] up the trees,
cut down the high grass and weeds, and generally put it to rights
till it looks like a different place. He contemplates laying it
off in from one half to one acre lots and selling it out for
residences, and there are several fine locations on the place,
some of them covered with fruit trees. This is a corner of town
which has been badly neglected, and we are glad to see it being
straightened up.
W.T. Swearngin cut his knee while at work on a bridge on the C.
R. I. & P., last Thursday. While it will lay him off a few
days, it was not as serious as it might have been.
All the Times office lacked of having ice cold lemonade,
last Tuesday, was just the sugar and lemons; the ice was on hand
in abundance, furnished by Aronson Brothers.
A.R. Robb of Independence Tp. died at his home Sunday and was
buried Monday. He was suddenly taken sick at church four weeks
before his death with congestive chills.
The excursion from Albia last Sunday was not what might be called
a grand success. On Saturday evening, at Albia, we are informed,
it commenced raining and rained all night up till after day-light
Sunday morning, thereby detering most of the excursionists from
venturing out. However, the train arrived about ten o'clock, and
brought about two hundred, principally young folks who were bent
on having a good time rain or no rain. There were no exercises of
any kind, yet quite a congregation gathered in the park where
seats had been prepared, and all seemed to have a sociable time.
We are sorry the full excursion did not come, as the day was fine
and preparations had been made to welcome them.
Among the excursionists who came down from Albia last Sunday, we
were glad to meet Mr. O.G. Nelson, editor of the UNION and Mr.
A.F. Barnes, mail agent on the C. B. & Q.
Before buying a pump call and see the Challenge Force Pump,
working in a 60 foot well at S.W. Lane's.
We are still selling the improved Singer Sewing Machine at
$20.00. With each machine we furnish all the attachments free of
cost. MERRITT BROS.
DEATH IN A MINE
Last Thursday afternoon the news was received here of the death
of John Cline, and his brother-in-law named Williams, a boy about
fifteen, from damps in an old abandoned coal mine. The exact
particulars cannot be ascertained as there was no one else
present, but it appears, that the mine was abandoned, and they
had been taking out the lumber to use for other purposes. On
Thursday forenoon they went with a team to haul away the lumber,
and not coming back for dinner, Mrs. Cline went to the mine, and
found the team, but no men. She sent for one of the neighbors
supposing them to have gone down and been shut in by caving in,
as the props had been taken out; the neighbors came and before
going down to see, looked down the mouth of the mine and saw them
both laying at the bottom, dead. The shaft was only about
eighteen feet deep, and a light lowered to a certain depth burned
freely, but when lowered a foot lower, went out instantly,
showing that the line between good and foul air was clearly
delined. From the postion in which they laid, it seemed that the
boy had gone down the ladder and when he struck the foul air, had
fell, and John in attempting to rescue the boy, was himself
overcome by the damps. He was a steady, industrious man and a
good citizen. He leaves a wife and five children.
--
A ride through the country last week showed the crops to be in
good condition; the corn is a good stand and coming on nicely,
and farmers are making good progress in slaying the weeds. Good
crops are almost an assured fact, and all we want now to complete
the business boom is the location to this city of the C. B. &
Q.
Aronson Brothers will deliver ice during the season to any
quarter of the city, everyday of the week.
Wilson & Root are now prepared to do all kinds of house and
sign painting, graining, paper hanging and kalsomining, in the
best and latest style. All work guaranteed. Shop over Wm.
Hinkle's blacksmith shop. All persons who wish graining done
please call at our shop and see sample.
Miss Georgiana Wood has returned home from Fort Des Moines, where
she has been visiting at her brother's for the past six months.
[transcibed by P.E., May 2006]
-----
The Appanoose Times
Centerville, Appanoose County, Iowa
Thursday, June 23, 1881
THE STORM IN IOWA.
Reports from Various Points.
Loss of Life and Property by Wind and Hail.
The terrible storms of wind, rain and hail which visited many
localities in the West on Saturday, June 11th and 12th, did their
full work of destruction in Iowa. We give a summary of reports from
different points as they come to us by telegram and through
correspondents. In Des Moines several houses were struck by
lightning on Sunday, including the Baptist Church on the West Side.
The Baptist College building was also struck, and the chimney taken
smooth from the building, the brick being scattered in all
directions. Several residences in and about Des Moines were struck
but fortunately there was no loss of life. In several townships in
Polk county, especially Camp, Four Mile and Bloomfield, there was a
great destruction of property and some loss of life. At Elm Grove,
in Bloomfield township, everything was demolished in the track of
the storm on Saturday. The cyclone was a funnel-shaped affair, and
seemed composed of heavy black clouds which kept up a continual
revolving and grinding together. A peculiarity of the cyclone was
that it drew everything within its course and then carried it along
to destruction. All the tress and litter left bore evidence of
having been sucked in toward the center from the outside. The first
known of the storm so far, was when it struck Mr. McGriff's orchard,
taking it with it in its mad course, leaving only a wreck of limbs
behind.
The tornado next struck Mr. Campfield's new residence and literally
blew it to pieces and slightly injured his wife. This is the second
house that Mr. Campfield has lost, the former one burned to the
ground some time since. The house destroyed Saturday was
consequently a new one.
The large barn of Mr. Hayes was the next to go, and was completely
carried away, leaving the horses standing unhurt on the floor. A
tenement house about a hundred yards in the field from the barn was
also blown to shatters. The orchard on Mr. Hayes' farm was taken
out by the roots, and even the grass torn out and carried off. A
heavy wagon was picked up and blown away, the bed being found in one
place and the wheels in another, some distance away. The ground in
the train of the destructive demon now looks as though a mighty
flood had passed over it, leaving only here and there an apple tree,
a limb, or a tuft of grass. The total loss to Mr. Hayes will
aggregate about $4,000.
In Camp township the cyclone came with special fury. A little boy
of Mr. Walters came running in and called his father's attention to
the black smoke, which he supposed to be the result of a fire. Mr.
Walters went out doors and saw the fury coming. The storm appeared
to be like a large funnel and seemed to whirl round and round from
right to left and traveling with great velocity. The first thing he
saw after looking at the storm for a moment was Lebon Stewart's
house and stable flying in a thousand pieces in the air; then it
rushed on about a quarter of a mile and lifted the roof off the barn
of Brice Stewart, carried it 400 yards in the air, and scattered the
shingles like feathers in the air, at the same time demolishing the
frame and body of the barn, and killing a fine horse. When Mr.
Stewart went out to the barn after the storm he found the mate of
the dead horse standing trembling with fright, with his fore feet
upon his dead companion.
The storm by this time had reached Mr. Walter's farm and twisted off
a large hickory tree standing in its course, and carried it into the
air and dropped it down, leaving it in splinters. When Mr. Walters
saw the tree go, he became alarmed, and told his stepson, who stood
beside him, that he was afraid the storm would ruin everything they
had. At this stage Mrs. Walters called to them to come in, and just
as he started, which he did immediately, he looked over his shoulder
and saw his barn fly to pieces, before he could reach the door.
Just before closing the door after him Mr. Walters took another
glance and saw his smoke-house fly in the air. After closing the
basement door-all the family had gone into the basement cellar-
kitchen, three sides of which were completely surrounded by earth-an
awful crash was heard, and the whole house went off over their
heads. Mr. Walters' little babe was in his wife's arms, and
something wrenched it from her and hurled it across the cellar-
kitchen, where it fell on some brick and the teakettle, and knocked
the wife senseless. Mr. Walters' three little girls and a son were
standing at their mother's feet when found, the little boy being
badly bruised on the head with a brick and sustained a sever cut on
the forehead. One of the three girls escaped without injury, but
the other two were severely cut and bruised about the head, one of
them having a cut from the temple clear down over the eye, which had
to be sewed up. Mr. Walters was not hurt much, the storm in some
way throwing the safe against him, confining him closely in a
corner. The whole affair occurred in less than half a minute. As
soon as he could Mr. Walters pushed the safe off and stepped out and
gazed on a perfect field of wreck with, as he puts, "nothing to
prevent his looking all over the world," and the rain coming down in
torrents. Mr. Walters then gathered up his dead babe and the
injured little ones and with the help of his stepson, got his wife
up and put them all in a corner of the cellar, and with a door that
had fallen in on them, undertook to make a shelter over them to keep
out the heaviest of the rain.
The rain continued for half an hour at a fearful rate, but at that
time eased up a little and the homeless family climbed out of the
cellar and repaired to a neighbor's, Mr. Peter McNevyns, who,
although his barn, cribs and outhouses generally were torn away, was
fortunate in escaping with his house. Mr. Walters had turned his
mules out in the pasture immediately after quitting work, so that
they escaped injury when the barn went down. The family were just
ready for supper when the storm came up, the table all set, etc.
Mr. Walters says the only thing he has since been able to find of
his supper or table, was a pepper box, which he found in Mr.
McNevyn's field some forty yards away. Mr. Walters after looking
over the premises after the storm found that everything he had in
the world was destroyed, except his mules, a wagon without a box,
and $1.40 the money he had in his pocket.
At Norwalk, Linn township, Warren county, the storm commencing
Saturday evening at 6 o'clock, was the worst in the history of the
neighborhood. Mr. Burkhead's splendid residence near Linn Grove was
completely demolished. His barn also was utterly torn to pieces.
The family all escaped. The house of Mr. John Keller was
considerably wrecked but not torn down. Just before the storm came
up Mr. Keller's little girl went out in the field after the cows,
Mr. Keller seeing the approaching storm ran out after her. Just as
he reached her the storm broke upon them and snatched the little
girl from her feet and drew her up in the air whirling her round
like a spinning top. The father reached for her just in time to
catch hold of her feet and pulled her down in his arms. He then
laid down on the earth and held fast to a post till the storm had
gone by.
The Widow Barkhead a little farther northeast, lost her barn.
Mr. Lamb, of the same neighborhood, also had his barn completely
destroyed.
The storm in its progress came next upon the barn of Mr. Lockridge,
which it unroofed.
When the funnel fury crossed North river, it was seen to draw water
from the stream over a hundred feet into the air, and also tore up
the planks in the bridge at that point. When it got as far as
Salyver's coal shaft it tore the company's scales out of the ground.
The storm of Sunday began about 2 o'clock at Norwalk, both hail and
rain coming down at a fearful rate, tearing up fences, orchards and
out-houses. The fruit trees and crops are all ruined in that
locality. There is not a hill of corn to be seen for miles. The
fruit trees that are not torn down and out of the ground are so
beaten by the hail that the bark comes off at a touch. Mr. Adam
Stiftner had 30 acres of fine corn, knee high, which he had plowed
three times, which the storm removed so successfully that there is
not a hill to be seen in the whole field.
In Elkhart township, Polk county, damages appears to have been
principally by hail. H. G. Iceeminger lost 74 window lights in two
houses; Jacob Byers lost 57 lights; George W. Iseminger lost 65
lights. The latter thinks the damage in Elkhart will reach $40,000
at least. Not a house escaped damage to windows, while the roofs of
many are split and torn into kindling strips. The fruit is badly
damaged, especially small fruit, not a sign of a garden being left
in the vicinity. The prospect seems now there will be no return
from the grain planted, as it is all pounded into the ground. Where
the trees in orchards elsewhere were not leveled to the ground, they
were literally skinned of their bark and not a leaf left.
H. E. Martin, of Grant township, Polk county reports that he and D.
W. Prentice saw the cyclones which did so much damage Saturday when
it formed. It appeared to be a funnel shaped cloud, rather small at
first, increasing in time as it passed nearly in an easterly
direction as long as visible from their position. It struck the
ground first just about on the line of Grant and Four Mile
townships. It struck and demolished the house of Douglas Johnson,
killing one child; also demolished Henry Lamb's house, the family
all escaping. The next building in its track being John Crew's
barn, which was torn to pieces. It next struck Oliver Erickson's
house, completely demolishing it, killing Mr. Erickson and seriously
injuring two of his children.
A hail and wind storm passed through Grant, Thompson, and Beaver
townships, Guthrie county, Sunday, making fearful havoc in its
course. Isaac Williams' house, three miles north of Casey, was torn
from it foundation and scattered in fragments for a half mile
around. It was a fine residence, just completed last summer. The
furniture was entirely destroyed. Great damage was done to crops
and outbuildings. Orchards and groves are entirely stripped of
their foliage. Roger Williams, who had opened a new farm this
spring in Grant township, is left without anything but the bare
land; his new house, and other outbuildings are all swept away.
Even his money, which was in the house, is gone with the rest. No
lives reported lost as yet. Alex. Stone's house was torn from its
foundation. John P. Main's barn, said to be the largest barn in the
State, was torn from its foundation.
The same story of destruction comes from all points throughout the
range of this series of storms, and a number of families are
reported homeless. Herman Rathburn and a Mr. Straw were killed by
lightning in Audubon county on the open prairie on Saturday. Two
lives were lost in Allen township, Polk county; Mr. Erickson was
killed, and his wife it was thought will not recover. The baby of
Mr. Walters, as above stated, was killed.
A telegram from Council Bluffs says: A terrific hail and wind storm
visited portions of Western Iowa on Sunday afternoon, doing great
damage to property of every kind. Special dispatches to the
Nonparell from Avoca, Shelby and other points along the Chicago,
Rock Island & Pacific railroad state that the storm was one of the
most severe of the kind that ever visited those sections, and that
windows were broken by the thousand panes, while light articles
outside were broken to pieces. Hail stones as large as walnuts were
picked up at various places.
The Hawkeye's special from Rome, Iowa, says there was a violent
storm at that place Sunday evening. It tore off half the roof of
Polough's brick store and blew down Small's two-story frame, and
also a barn belonging to Mr. Wise, two and a half miles north of the
station. The storm was severe, and probably other property is more
or less injured.
The above account of the great storm made up chiefly from special
telegrams to the State Register, of June 14th, will afford only an
imperfect idea of the extent and destructiveness, caused by the
blowing down of buildings, trees, fences, and crops, and killing of
stock and poultry. It was certainly the most wide-spread disaster
of the kind that has ever visited the State, and the wonder is that
greater loss is not reported
[transcibed by P.E., November 2006]