Iowa
Old Press
Chief Reporter
Perry, Dallas, Iowa
September 1, 1898
THE HAWKEYE STATE
Happenings of the Week in Condensed Form -- Jack Kelley, a
Harvest Hand Hailing from Sioux City, Gets Himself into Serious
Trouble in Lyon County,-- Other Items
Harvest Hand in Trouble
"Jack" Kelley, a harvest hand hailing from Sioux City,
who has been working in the vicinity of Alvord, is in jail at
Rock Rapids, awaiting the next session of the grand jury. The
cause of this unhappy position for Mr. Kelley dates back a few
weeks, when a Sioux City and a Northern train killed two cattle
for a farmer near Alvord. Kelley and another harvester skinned
the cattle and sold the hides to an Alvord butcher. A few days
ago they went to the butcher to pay for the hides, but he refused
to pay them, having been forbidden to do so by the owner of the
cattle. Last Saturday they went to Alvord again, and after
getting a fair sizes jag on went to the butcher shop and Kelley
proceeded to lay the butcher out. Having accomplished this they
started down the track toward Doon. Marshal Schnee of Alvord
caught them a short distance from town. Kelley showed fight and
refused to surrender. In the melee Schnee shot him twice, one
ball passing through his shoulder and the other through his leg.
Kelley then surrendered. He was taken back to Alvord and his
wounds dressed. He was bound over to the September session of the
grand jury. His partner was dismissed.
DOUBLE IOWA TRAGEDY.
Russell Business Man Kills His Little Daughter and Suicides.
Some time during Tuesday night W.M. Newell of Russell killed his
daughter, 10 years of age, and himself. They were found lying
side by side in bed. Financial troubles were the cause. The day
before Huiscamp Bros. of Keokuk and Bentley, Olmstead & Co.
of Des Moines recorded mortgages on his property to the amount of
about $400. This caused other creditors to press him and brought
a crisis.
Died in Dentist's Chair.
Mrs. Thomas Hardy died in a dentist's office at Cresco during the
administering of chloroform given for the extraction of teeth.
The chloroform was carefully administered by Dr. J.A. Barrett,
after a thorough examination of the patient's heart, and she had
not taken half a dozen whiffs of chloroform before the heart
stopped and all efforts at resuscitation were in vain. The
coroner's inquest was held and a verdict rendered exonerating the
physician from any blame in the matter.
Postoffice Thief Arrested.
Herman F. Winkler, a trusted carrier of the Burlington postoffice
department, was nearly trapped in a letter theft by United States
Inspector Mayer of Chicago. A decoy letter was sent out on
Winkler's route and failed to reach its destination. Winkler was
called into Postmaster Waite's office and charged with theft.
Inspector Mayer ordered him to hand over the contents of his
pockets, and among were the marked bills taken from the decoy
letter.
In Trouble with Three Women.
An evening paper of Dubuque has published that doubt is being
entertained whether Harry Nixon, the telegraph operator, was
drowned. It states that Nixon was in trouble with a couple of
women at Dubuque and another in Oelwein and it is suggested that
being an expert swimmer he might have dove and reached the bank.
The story told by him that his wife was in a Chicago hospital is
untrue.
Catholic Foresters.
The convention of the Catholic Order of Foresters was held at
Dubuque. Reports of officers were presented and approved. The
following officers were chosen: M.L. Healy, S.C.R., Cedar Rapids;
James O'Neil, S.V.C.R., Clinton; J.A. Limback, secretary, Cedar
Rapids; J.A. Duffy, treasurer Waukon.
Free Rural Delivery
Acting First Assistant Postmaster General Allen has issued an
order for the establishment of free rural delivery in territory
lying beyond the city limits of Des Moines. There will be five
routes and service is to begin on them at once.
Fire at Whiting
Fire has destroyed the livery barn of Dr. A.H. Evans at Whiting.
The Farmer's store and the general store of Fred McCausland
caught fire, but were saved with small damage.
Suicide Near Ida Grove.
The body of Henry Webb, an old man, was found in the river near
Ida Grove with nothing on but a night shirt. Webb had been very
morose lately. The coroner's jury returned a verdict of suicide.
Cedar Rapids Boy Drowned.
Joe Osterrello, a 15-year-old Italian boy, unable to swim, got in
water eighteen feet deep at Cedar Rapids and drowned. The body
has not yet been recovered, although dynamite has been used.
Boone Man Was Fortunate.
Hamilton Huise, who went to the Klondike in May, 1897, has
returned to Boone, bringing $50,000 in gold which he had taken
from a claim on the Yukon River in less than a year.
New Postoffice.
A postoffice has been established at Dolliver, Emmet County, with
George E. Marble as postmaster.
Killed by Lightning.
Frank Busby, aged 19 years, was struck by lightning and instantly
killed while at work in the alfalfa hay fields on the Pratt &
Ferris ranch, on the North Platte River in Wyoming. His parents
are said to be well-to-do citizens at Marion.
DEATHS OF BOYS IN CAMP
Record of Fatalities Among the Iowa Regiments.
No record has been kept at the state capital of the deaths that
have occurred in the Iowa regiments in the various camps, but the
following is a nearly correct list as they have been reported:
Thomas W. Muscain, Company M, Fourth Regiment, Cherokee, May 31,
Camp McKinley, Des Moines, pneumonia; Lieutenant J. Tucker
Council Bluffs, Fifty-first Iowa, July 24, Camp Merritt, San
Francisco, pneumonia; Daniel Stubbs Newsome, Oskaloosa,
Fifty-first Iowa, Camp Merrit, San Francisco, pneumonia July 24;
N.L. Clo?k, Hampton, Company D, Fifty-second Iowa, Chickamauga,
August 4, typhoid fever; Joseph Needles, Company B, Fifty-first
Iowa, Camp Merritt, San Francisco, August 16, pneumonia,
following measles; Chas. Van Nostrand, Fairfied, Company M,
Fiftieth Iowa, Camp Cuba Libre, Jacksonville, August 14, typhoid
fever; Edward Nelson, Pilot Mound, August 15, Company I,
Fifty-first Iowa, Chickamauga, typhoid fever; Guy M. Wilson,
bugler, Company K, Fifty-second Iowa, Chickamauga, August 8,
typhoid fever; Edward Winkle, Algona, Fifty-second Iowa,
Chickamauga, August 10, typhoid fever; Hugh F. McGhann, Osage,
Cincinnati, en route home from Fifty-second Iowa, Chickamauga,
typhoid fever; Walter G. Nagle, Davenport, Fiftieth Iowa, Camp
Cuba Libre, Jacksonville, August 17, typhoid fever; Harry
Watkins, Vinton, Fifty-second Iowa, Chickamauga, August 29,
typhoid fever.
Fell on a Pitchfork.
A probably fatal accident occurred near Boone, to the little
14-year-old son of A. Cartright. The little fellow was out in the
meadow pitching hay with his father and other men and was on top
of the hay stack receiving the hay as it was tossed up to him. In
some manner he lost his balance and fell to the ground and landed
on a pitchfork, the prong penetrating the abdomen.
Interesting Iowa Items.
-Storms of the week killed considerable stock in the vicinity of
Reinbeck.
-There will be a reunion of the old settlers at Prairie City on
September 1.
-The old settlers of Delaware County will hold their annual
reunion at Manchester August 31.
-Mike Shabook, an Omaha peddler, was killed at Dunlap by his
wagon upsetting and crushing him.
-Harry Main fell through into a threshing machine at Oaslow, and,
though frightfully mangled, managed to escape with his life.
-The 2-year-old daughter of Frederick Miller of Calamus ate
several seed from a nightshade plant and died within an hour.
-The youngest son of William Kollman, living north of Allison,
was kicked by a horse and instantly killed a few days ago.
-John Munsel, aged 70, who was subject to fits, had one on the
banks of the Boone River at Webster City. He fell in and was
drowned.
-Muscatine will now have telephone connection with Iowa City and
Lone Tree, Riverside, Nichols, Kalona, Wellman, Richmond,
Wayland, Winfield, and Olds.
-Lou Shull, a newsboy at Boone, was badly shocked by electricity
while stealing a ride by hanging to the side of an electric car.
He was picked up insensible but was revived by physicians and
taken home.
-William E. Davis, superintendent of the Clinton Bridge and Iron
works, was shot in his room at the Windsor Hotel. The verdict
rendered is that the deceased came to his death by a revolver in
his own hands. His home is in Athens, Pa., and his age ??.
-Will A. Hull, of Cedar Rapids, paymaster of the Sinclair packing
house, with his wife and two children, had a narrow escape from a
frightful death the other day and are not completely out of
danger yet. They ate toadstools, mistaking them for mushrooms.
-George Easton and several friends went down to the Ledges, a
pleasure resort near Boone, and while in bathing discovered a bed
of fresh river mussels. The party opened a number of shells,
looking for pearls. In one they found a perfect one which they
took to a Boone jeweler, who sent it to a New York jeweler, who
sent a draft for $50 for it.
[submitted by C.J.L., Jan. 2004]
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Chief Reporter
Perry, Dallas co., Iowa
September 22, 1898
THE HAWKEYE STATE -- Happenings of the Week in
Condensed Form
Confessions of a Murderer.
A.D Storms charged with the murder of Mr. Rathbun and daughter at
Burlington, made a written confession of his crime on the night
of his arrest. It is now given out for the first time as follows:
"I, A.D. Storms of Des Moines County, Iowa, do hereby
confess that on the evening of January 23, 1898, I came to the
home of Mrs. Fannie Rathbun, on Dodge street, Burlington, Ia., at
about sundown. I took her some flour and milk and found her
alone. After talking a short time she went down cellar, taking a
lamp. I followed here and picking up an axe lying on the cellar
floor struck her on the back of it on the back of the head. She
fell and never moved. I heard the little girl, Mary Rathbun, come
into the room overhead and coming up I took hold of her in the
dining room and I went with her out to the kitchen. I got my
knife out in the struggle with her cut her throat and left her
lying on the floor of the kitchen. I then left and went out of
the front door, leaving it ajar and left on the bob sled. This
confession is made free and voluntarily and without the hope of
any fee or reward being held out to me or any leniency.
"A.D. Storms."
The witnesses are E.F. Greiner, G.J. Zorn.
SOUTHERN IOWA WRECK.
Engineer George Mann and Fireman Thomas Millhouse Killed.
The most peculiar and fatal wreck that has occurred on the Iowa
division of the Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy for years
happened at Tyrone on Sunday last. The dead are: Engineer, George
Mann; fireman, Thomas Millhouse. The wreck occurred to an extra
freight bound west. When the train reached Tyrone it pushed right
through and when just outside the city ran into a bunch of steers
on the track. The engine and twelve cars were derailed, the
engine was overturned by the speed at which the train was going
and both men were caught under the engine before they had a
chance to escape.
Charged With Incendiarism.
Dayton Harger, a boy between 14 and 15 years of age, is in the
county jail at Albia for the crime of incendiarism. While the
family of Ottomer Duncan, who lives two miles east of Lovilia,
was attending the old settlers reunion at Hamilton, neighbors
discovered Duncan's house and barn to be on fire. They succeeded
in putting the fire in the house out, but the barn, a team of
horses, hay, grain, harness and all it contained, were burned.
Suspicion rested on the boy under arrest and he was arrested and
taken to Albia. On the way he confessed to the crime and when in
jail denied it. Two weeks ago the boy was arrested for stealing
some jewelry from the home of Mr. Duncan and he was found guilty
in a justice court and let off with a fine. It is stated that he
made threats that he would get even.
Suicide of a Young Girl.
A 13-year-old girl committed suicide at Council Bluffs a few days
ago. Her name was Susan Anderson. She was a daughter of Emma
Anderson, a poor washerwoman. The little girl was a cripple,
having lost her right limb a few years ago by being run over on
the Rock Island road. She wanted an artificial one. The mother
had been trying to save up money for it but had failed to collect
and had not succeeded. The little one said to her: "I guess
I will kill myself; I'm only a burden." No attention was
paid to the threat. A loud breathing was heard from her room.
Soon she was dead and an examination proved that in her
despondency she had taken morphine. How she secured it no one
knows.
Man Reported Missing.
Dr. W.R. Wall, who lives near Hinton station, about twelve miles
south of Council Bluffs, is reported as missing and his family
fear he may have met with foul play.
Interesting Iowa Items.
- A.K. Ware, a Virginia stockman, has purchased for $18,000 a
400-acre farm near Des Moines.
- Hartley's town well is a failure. Though the pumps run all
night the quantity of water supplied is insufficient.
-John Benson, a track employe of the Chicago Great Western, was
run down by a train near Dyersville and killed.
- Reuben Bennett, a wealthy farmer of Webster City, was fatally
injured in a runaway. He is 80 years of age and one of the
pioneers of the state.
- Mrs. K.S. Keen of Bears Grove dropped a pocketbook containing
$800 on the train. The following day a traveler who noticed the
book fall from her pocket restored it to her with every dollar it
contained.
Emmet County, where more prairie chickens have been killed in the
last ten years than in all the other counties in the state
together, this year produced nothing in the shape of a chicken.
The young were killed by hard rains early in the season.
- A supposed incendiary fire at Audubon destroyed Captain
Stuart's grain elevator and over 25,000 bushels of wheat and
corn. Most of the grain was to have been moved soon to make room
for the new crop. There was $2,000 insurance on the elevator and
grain.
- Mrs. Mary Pritchard was found dead in bed at Charles City of
heart disease. She was an aged lady who lived alone. She leaves
$2,000 to her physician, C.W. Knickerbocker, $1,500 to the local
cemetery association and $500 to Harry Freebore, who did her
chores. The money is left to send him to college.
- It is expected the appointment of Dr. Louis Schooler to be
postmaster at Des Moines will be announced in a few days and that
the change will be made between the 2?th and 25th. Dr. Schooler
will resign his position as division surgeon in the army and
return to Des Moines from Fortress Monroe September 20.
- Around Grundy Center chicken fanciers are much annoyed by skunk
and mink. One mink killed twenty-six fine chickens for William
Smith in one night.
- A peculiar well was struck on the farm of Dan McGraw, five
miles southeast of Rock Rapids at a depth of 252 feet. A vein of
air which nearly threw the drill out of the well was opened and
has continued to blow pure air with a tremendous force. A three
and a half inch tube was forced into the hole and a heavy steam
whistle was attached, which blew a blast that could be heard for
miles. The people for miles around flock to the place to see this
wonderful spitter.
[submitted by C.J.L., June 2004]