Iowa
Old Press
Dubuque Herald
Dubuque, Dubuque, co. Iowa
July 6, 1859
Counterfeiters
The Anamosa Gazette of the 1st inst., says that on
Tuesday previous, Sheriff Noble and Deputy Scott arrested a
couple of counterfeiters-one in Marion, the other at Cedar
Rapids-named Thomas W. Parsons and Edward Gillett, hailing from
Maquoketa, Iowa. The evening previous, they made their appearance
in Anamosa and succeeded in passing some ten dollars in
counterfeit bills on the White River Bank of Vermont. Upon being
searched, some $21 in counterfeit threes, on White River and a
five on Hadley Falls Bank, Massachusetts were discovered in their
possession. The fellows were committed to jail.
Snake
John Morrison, Esq., the boilermaker who resides at the foot of
15th street, met with quite a snake adventure, the night before
last. Upon going to his bed room window to close it, he was
horrified at the sight of an immense snake lying coiled on the
floor, under the window. Hastily retreating, he proceeded in
search of a weapon to "clean out" the intruder, and
soon returned with an axe, but the snake had disappeared. A long
search finally revealed that it had crawled up the bedpost and
with its tail wound around the latter, had comfortably ensconced
itself beneath the pillows. He soon dispatched it, when he found
it to be a copperhead, measuring 4 feet and 8 inches in length.
We wish somebody would tell us where this monster came from.
[transcribed by K.W., May 2013]
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Dubuque Herald
Dubuque, Dubuque, co. Iowa
July 9, 1859
Wednesday, about noon, a boy names Philip Dokelstein, fell into a
shaft owned by Mr. Elwanger, somewhere in the northern part of
the city. In the fall both of his arms were broken and as the
shaft was sixty feet deep, it was a wonder he was not killed
instantly. He lay there 24 hours in a condition alternating
between excessive pain and insensibility. At the expiration of
this time he was discovered by some miners and carried to his
home near Heeb's Brewery. He lingered until Thursday, in great
agony, when about noon he died. He was aged about 14 years and
the affliction is peculiarly a sad one to his friends.
It is to be hoped that something will be done to prevent the
recurrence of such accidents. It is nothing less than criminal
negligence to leave a shaft unprotected by barriers and the
severest punishment should be meted out to anyone, who, through
carelessness is instrumental in producing any such casualty as
that just given.
[transcribed by K.W., May 2013]
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Dubuque Herald
Dubuque, Dubuque, co. Iowa
July 10, 1859
The boy who was killed by falling into Elwanger's shaft was
buried at 5 p.m. Friday.
A cow belonging to a family named Tigel, in the upper part of
Dubuque, fell into a mine shaft back of their residence
yesterday, and was killed. It is quite probable that some of the
cows supposed to have been stolen, may be found at the bottom of
some deserted mineral shaft. Some measures should be taken to
force those having shafts to provide proper barriers against the
recurrence of such casualties
[transcribed by K.W., May & June 2013]