Iowa
Old Press
Iowa Recorder
Greene, Butler co. Iowa
March 7, 1917
State News in Brief
Shenandoah
- Thomas Sellers, whose age was said to be 105 or 106, died
Monday at the home of his niece, Mrs. Sarah Knewdson. Sellers, it
is believed, was 105 January 16. He would never tell his age and
was three weeks older than John Phipps, who died in December at
104.
Davenport
- Brooding over the European war is said to have caused Asmus
Lange, over from Germany within the past two years, to have
killed himself by shooting at Walcott, near here Friday.
- Walter Jansen, a 13 year-old school boy, is under arrest as a
check forger. Without the aid of any one he made out and cashed
checks aggregating $28. With the money thus secured he purchased
baseballs, bats and various other things.
Traer
- The south 80 acres of the A. Loop farm, three miles from Traer,
sold last week for $250 per acre. It has no buildings, but is
choice land. There were two purchasers, Bert Axon and Louis
Plogman, each getting 40 acres.
- F.L. Elliott rented his farm just out of Traer last week to
Will Montgomery at 8.50 per acre. There are 160 acres in the
place.
Parkersburg
- Mrs. George Wright, age about 58 was found dead in bed when her
foster daughter, Miss Izetta Luebbe, with whom she slept, tried
to awaken her at 8 o'clock Friday morning. Mrs. Wright was down
town Thursday and appeared in perfect health.
North McGregor
- Schmidt Bros. & Co. of Elkader on March 1, turned on the
cross-the-county electric power, giving light current to the
towns of St. Olaf, Farmersburg and Guttenberg.
- Considerable excitement has been caused by the discovery in
Millville township of a 10 pound chunk of lead ore on the J.K.
Kaufman farm.
McGregor
- The old wooden bridge across the Volga river at Mederville,
Clayton county, is being removed to make way for a modern
structure. The old bridge was built 50 years ago. The new bridge
will be 300 feet long and will cost $16,000.
Osceola
- Two Osceola men, John and Bert Glenn, will receive a share in a
$65,000 estate according to the settlement of a contested will in
Smith county, Kansas. These men are heirs of Captain S.P. Glenn,
a pioneer citizen of Clarke county, who moved to Kansas in the
seventies.
Missouri Valley
- The high cost of living was again demonstrated when Max
Moskowitz hauled 1,096 pounds of onions to Omaha and received a
check for $126.04 for them.
Albia
- William Wignall, 60 years old, one of the oldest miners in the
White Ash mines was killed Thursday by being squeezed in between
a car and the side of the wall.
Waukon
- Old timers declare they have never known such a long and steady
cold winter. At Postville J.M. Thoma has kept tab of the weather
and states that since December 13, there have been forty-eight
days that the thermometer registered below zero. It has been a
hard winter to keep stock over and the farmers are looking with
longing eyes towards the advent of spring.
- Waukon will be well filled with pretty flowers this summer. The
Waukon Beautiful League is launching a strenuous campaign for a
"city beautiful" and the red geranium will greet the
eye from every lawn and window box, while it is confidently hoped
to have 1,148,728,004 nasturtiums growing. Waukon people realize
that "flowers are the footprints of angels" and they
will try to fill the town with celestial bloom.
Reinbeck
- Ben Miller, a senior in the Reinbeck high school, died at 6:30
p.m. Friday as result of injuries sustained when he fell beneath
the wheel of a freight train. Young Miller and several companions
were attempting to ride the train to Vinton to attend a high
school oratorical contest in which a schoolmate was to
participate. He had never before attempted to ride in this manner
and at his first trial fell to the ground. He caught on again and
was drawn beneath a wheel, which severed one leg at the kneww and
crushed the foot of the other. He was conscious until an
anaesthetic was administered for amputation of his leg and was
expected to rally from the operation but did not.
Cedar Rapids
- F.E. Hupp was killed and R.E. Conlin was seriously injured
Monday morning at 3:30, when a Rock Island freight train at
Rutledge, five miles south of this city, was derailed. The men
were employed as switchmen. A string of cars had been
"kicked-back" and, gaining momentum on a down grade,
crashed into the train on which the men were working.
Sioux City
- Theodore Salmer, who was convicted of manslaughter for killing
a boy with his automobile, was sentenced Monday to eight years in
the Ananmosa reformatory.
- Conductor George A. Jackson, a veteran employee of the Chicago,
Milwaukee & St. Paul railroad on the Sioux City division
dropped dead on the station platform just as he was about to
start on his run Thursday.
Bellevue
- A monument twenty-two feet high on a concrete base has been
erected on an eminence at Andrew Jackson county, in honor of
Ansel Briggs, first governor of Iowa, who formerly lived there.
Palo
- For the first time in the history of Palo residents were given
the convenience of electric lights. Last week the current was
turned on early on Tuesday evening. Those whose homes were in
readiness for the new light were brilliantly lighted, and many
families went from house to house inspecting the new fixtures.
About fifty homes and business houses are now using electricity,
which is supplied by the Iowa Railway and Light Company, of Cedar
Rapids. Many more houses will be wired in the near future.
Clinton
- Clinging to the ice with one hand and with the other holding
aloft a dozen eggs which he was trying to save, Martin Hermansen
of Lyons was barely rescued from drowning in the Mississippi
river. He was on his was home from work at Fulton just across the
river, when the ice gave way, submerging him to the neck in the
water.
[transcribed by S.F., July 2005]
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Iowa Recorder
Greene, Butler co., Iowa
March 14, 1917
State News In Brief
Ottumwa - Dr. J.W. McNiely, a well known physician of Sewal,
Iowa, was fatally injured Friday when his automobile overturned
on a level stretch of road between Sewal and Powersville
Missouri. Internal injuries caused his death six hours later. He
is supposed to have lost control of the machine.
Colfax - Five persons were injured two seriously, Friday when the
automobile in which they were riding collided with an interurban
car, near here. The auto was entirely demolished. Clarence Clark
and Miss Violet Stewart were seriously injured and were taken to
a local hospital where physicians said they had a fair chance for
recovery. The three others escaped with minor bruises.
Missouri Valley - James Atherton, a farmer, who was bitten by a
strange dog which he found in his hen house several days ago,
went to Iowa City to take treatment for rabies. The dog was
examined and found to have been mad. The animal is said to have
traveled over a wide territory before reaching the Atherton farm.
Wolcot - Muscatine, Davenport and Wolcot buyers have taken the
entire 15,000 bushels of potatoes held by John Strohbeen of this
place for a total of $40,000. The price ranged from $2.60 to
$3.00 a bushel. Early in the fall Strohbeen felt sure there would
be a potato famine and not only stored all he raised but bought
from his neighbors. He also bought Minnesota potatoes and stored
them here until this week when he considered the time ripe for a
general sale. It is understood that he cleaned up better than
$20,000 on the deal. Many of the potatoes will go to farmers for
seed.
Traer - Alden Antrim, one of the less than 500 Mexican war
veterans in the United States, is dead at his home in Traer, in
his eighty-eighth year, after more than a year's illness caused
by a broken hip received from a fall on an icy walk.
Mount Ayr - The Mount Ayr Electric company is contemplating
furnishing power and light to the towns of Maloy and Benton.
There are very few towns in Ringgold county now without
electricity.
DeWit - Mrs. Mary Harkins Tuesday celebrated her 101st birthday
anniversary. Mrs. Harkins was born in Westport, Ireland, and grew
to womanhood on the Emerald Isle and was wedded there on Dec. 29,
1839. There are four living children out of a family of ten. She
has been a resident of DeWit for sixty-seven years.
Iowa City - William Schuetler, aged 14, the victim of a
twenty-foot fall from a windmill, is dead in an Iowa City
hospital, whither he was brought in a futile effort to avert the
fatal end. He was injured on the farm of his father, Harry
Schuetler, near Swisher. The boy's skull was fractured, and when
there seemed hope, he was suddenly rendered unconscious, and
death followed in a few hours.
Traer - The grand jury refused to indict Bob Hercules for the
killing of his brother. Fifteen or twenty witnesses were called
and they generally agreed that the dead man was to a certain
extent insane and that Bob acted in self defense. Mr. Hercules
therefore goes free and nothing further will be done.
A Demented Mother Hangs Child and Self
The home of Emil Hendricksen, four miles northwest of Dike was
the scene of an awful tragedy Tuesday afternoon, when Mrs. Julie
Nielson hung her little three-year-old daughter and then herself.
To accomplish her purpose she tore a bed blanket into strips
which she tied to a stick placed over a stove pipe in the
ceiling. After hanging the child she placed the improvised rope
about her own neck and stepped off a chair, causing her death.
Mrs. Nielson's husband died about the first of February, and
recently Mrs. Nielson and little girl went to live with Mr.
Hendricksen, her brother. They had been residents of the Voorhies
neighborhood. It is thought the awful deed was committed between
one and two o'clock Tuesday afternoon. Mr. Hendricksen came home
about five o'clock and found a note written by his sister, saying
he would find her body in another room and upon entering it the
sight of the mother and child hanging side by side met his gaze.
She also stated that since the death of her husband she had
nothing to live for. We understand another note was found in
which Mrs. Nielson said she wanted to be buried in a grey casket
and have her baby buried with her. She was a woman about
twenty-eight years of age. It is presumed she became despondent
over the death of her husband, which caused her to commit the
rash act. The manner in which the tragedy was enacted was
conclusive that it was not deemed necessary to hold a coroner's
inquest.
[transcribed by C.J.L., March 2007]
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Iowa Recorder
Greene, Butler co., Iowa
March 21, 1917
STATE NEWS IN BRIEF
Perry - Mrs. Jennie Bishop, 84, a well known pioneer, died at the
home of a niece at Clarinda, and a burial took place at Woodland
cemetery near here.
Marshalltown - Samuel B. Chapman, aged 80, old soldier and
pioneer Iowa railroad man, is dead at the Soldiers' home. He
began railroading in Dubuque in 1858, entered the army in 1862
and after his discharged returned to railroading.
Marshalltown - Charles P. Lowry, aged 77, of Yale, Guthrie
county, a member of the Soldiers' home, is dead. He served in
Company C, One Hundred and Fifty-third Illinois Infantry.
Irwin - M. Zimmer, aged 81, civil war veteran, a resident here
for seventeen years, is dead.
Ames - J.M. Singleton, representing the Chinese consul at New
York was here last week investigating the murder of Sing Lee at
Story City. Quan See, a Chinese, arrested at Butte, Montana,
charged with the murder, is making a hard fight against
extradition.
Iowa City - Lightning struck the big barn of John Baack and fire
destroyed it. Twenty-two head of stock, including six valuable
horses, sixteen cows and calves were either killed by the bolt or
burned alive. The loss was estimated at $5,000 and the building
alone was insured.
Bellevue - Col. Thomas Martin, who showed his heard of Shorthorn
cattle at the stock show in Oklahoma City has received word that
he took seven prizes including first on aged bull, captured by
Woodlawn Villager.
Oskaloosa - Word was received here by President David Edwards of
a gift of 527 acres of rich farm land located in Marshall county
by Mr. and Mrs. E.B. Howard of Ames, an aged couple, members of
the Iowa yearly meeting of Friends and supporters of Penn
college.
Waterloo - David Moats in his ninety-ninth year died at the home
of his daughter after a months' illness. It was his desire that
he be permitted to live until his one hundredth birthday. He was
born November 29, 1818 in Franklin county, Pa.
Grinnell - Dr. Edwin R. Talley of Grinnell has had his
forty-seventh invention accepted by a Minneapolis manufacturing
concern. It is an electrical centrifuge water softener.
Stanwood - The Robert Eichelberger house was struck by lightning
twice during the recent storm. The town was without lights for a
time. Limbs, ten inches in diameter were broken from trees
because of the heavy sleet.
Atlantic - Charles Clark, who has been confined to the Atlantic
hospital since December 12 suffering intense pain from the
effects of a fractured hip and frozen legs, received when he fell
from a Rock Island train between here and Walnut and lay at the
side of the track for several hours before being discovered, died
at the hospital here. Death came as a relief to the man who had
one foot already amputated and was about to lose the other and
both of his hands, after weeks of intense suffering in a brave
struggle for life.
Bellevue - Mrs .C.E. Chambers of Grinnell, the wife of a former
pastor of the Bellevue Congregational church, is the owner of a
book 103 years old. The volume comprises a collection of
religious exercises which were observed in Germany in the
Lutheran church, during the early eighteenth century, and
consists of songs and exercises printed in German. The book has
board covers overlaid with leather and hand sewed with very
coarse thread. The book is well preserved and not a page is
missing. It is prized very highly by the owner, and was brought
to this country by Mrs. Chambers' mother.
CONFESSION IN AX MURDERS ALLEGED
Red Oak, March 19 - The Rev. J.J. Burris, of Terrillton, Okla,
has arrived in Red Oak with a subpoena from the Montgomery county
grand jury, which, for the past ten days has been investigating
the Villisca murder mystery.
The minister, who is pastor of the Church of Christ in the
Oklahoma city, declared that a man, whose name he was unable to
recall, on his death bed confessed to him of having committed the
murders which shocked the entire state, and which for four and a
half years have baffled detectives and county and state officers.
Mr. Burris is expected to tell his story to the grand jury. He
said the confession was made to him in a hotel at Radersburg,
Mont., July, 1913, about a year after the crime. "When I
arrived at the bedside I saw at a glance he was at deaths' door.
He was in torment and lived only a short time after I arrived.
Death was said to have been due to delirium tremens." Mr.
Burris said the man began to talk immediately upon his entering
the room. "He said he had been guilty of many wrongs,"
continued the minister, "and wanted to make a clean breast
before he died. "He seemed to know that he had but a short
while to live. His life was passing rapidly and it was with great
difficulty that he spoke. He was physically unable to dwell much
on the details. "The man sank back among the pillows. A
great load seemed to have been lifted from his mind. In a few
minutes he breathed his last." Mr. Burris said the body was
buried in Radersburg. The clergyman said that the man told him
that he was living in Villisca at the time of the murder and that
formerly he had been engaged in the blacksmith business there. He
is said to have been part owner of a blacksmith shop in
Radersburg at the time of his death. "I should judge that he
was a man about 25 years old at the time of his death," said
Mr. Burris. "He has relatives in Villisca, I was told that
his sister in Radersburg years ago married a physician and left
her home in Villisca to live in the west. Mr. Burris said he did
not remember ever having seen the man before he was called to the
bedside. He said the man claimed to have known him when he lived
in Iowa years ago. Asked if he had ever heard the story told by
Mr. Burris, Albert Jones, who with his father, F.F. Jones, of
Villisca, are being investigated in connection with the ax murder
Saturday, declared that he had and that he did not attach much
importance to it.
Detective J.N. Wilkerson, who is seeking indictments against a
half dozen residents of Montgomery county, declared that he had
investigated the story and found that it would not stand up. Mr.
Burris said he had been in communication with Attorney General
Havner in regard to the story he said was told him by the dying
man, and that the attorney general had the money with which to
pay the expense of his trip to Red Oak. Mr. Havner is expected to
arrive in Red Oak from Des Moines. F.F. Faville, who is
conducting the grand jury investigation refused to comment on
Burris' story.
[transcribed by C.J.L., March 2007]