Iowa News from across the
Country
- 1875 -
Prairie Farmer
Chicago, Illinois
January 30, 1875
Northern Iowa Industrial Association
At our annual meeting held at City Hall, Postville, Jan 5, 1875,
officers elected for the ensuing year were: President, Hon.
Samuel Murdock, Garnavillo, Clayton co., Iowa; Vice-President,
Christian Lower, Frankville, Winneshiek Co., Iowa; Treasurer,
Jacob Levi, Postville, Allamakee Co., Iowa; Secretary, J.E.
Corlett, Bismarck, Clayton Co., Iowa. Next fair to be held at
Postville, Iowa, Sept. 14-15-16-17, 1875. -- J.E. Corlett, Sec'y.
Iowa State Horticultural Society.
At the meeting of this society last week, the following officers
were electe: President, G.B. Bracket, Denmark; Secretary, J.L.
Budd, Shellsburg; Treasurer, David Leonard, Burlington. We trust
that our friend, the secretary, will give our readers a condensed
report of the proceedings. The next annual meeting will be held
at Des Moines.
Scott Co. Fair
The twenty-third annual fair of the Scott County Agricultural
Association will be held at Davenport, Iowa, commencing Monday,
Sept. 6th, and continuing five days.
[transcribed by S.F., June 2010]
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Colorado Weekly
Chieftan
Pueblo, Pueblo co. Colorado
April 8, 1875
One night last winter George M. Brown, a lawyer of McGregor,
Iowa, got drunk and slept in a gutter. In the morning he was so
badly frozen that both of his hands and one of his feet were
amputated. Iowa has a civil damage law, which makes the liquor
seller pecuriarily liable for the consequences of drinking his
liquor. Brown drank at six saloons that night, and his wife sued
the proprietor of each for fifteen thousand dollars.
[transcribed by S.F., July 2005]
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Liberty Weekly
Tribune
Liberty, Clay co Missouri
April 9, 1875
From Iowa
Hamburg, Iowa, March 31. Mr. Miller: I have been a regular
subscriber to the Tribune ever since it began in 1846. I
always read its pages with pleasure, and note its locals with
peculiar interest. I have read in its columns many changes that
have occurred in Clay county in the last quarter of a century.
the people there then, are now few and far between; some of them
dead, and others scattered and removed to new countries. And I
must say it is with pride, I can say that some of our best
citizens in Fremont county, Iowa, once resided in Clay county.
Many old friends will remember such names as John Cooper, Town,
Fugate, Cornelius, McKissick, Jas. Chorn, and Dr. T.G. Stevens.
These men are amongst our foremost citizens, for respectability,
industry and wealth. John Cooper was our late Representative in
the Iowa Legislature. Messrs. Fugate and McKissick are good and
prosperous farmers and stock growers. Dr. Stephens came here just
at the close of the war possessed of but little wealth, but with
a good reputation, an indomitable energy, and possessed of all
the necessary elements to make him eminent in his profession and
for the acquisition of wealth. And he would have succeeded had it
not been for unforseen circumstances. IOWA
[transcribed by S.F., December 2005]
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St. Louis Globe
Democrat
St. Louis, Missouri
May 21, 1875
Another Iowa Horror.
A Carroll County Woman Eats, Drinks and Sleeps for a Year Over
the Grave of Her Victim.
[From the Dubuque Herald] A story more horrible than the
Kirkman lynching comes to the State Leader from Carroll county:
It seems that about eighteen months ago a man named Jacob Weaver,
who lived with his step-daughter on his farm about one mile from
Mises' Point, in Carroll county, was missed by his neighbors.
Grave suspicions were indulged by the community that the old man
had been foully dealt with, but this stepdaughter, who enjoyed an
unenviable reputation, and her husband, McMeans, told a plausible
story, which their little daughter seemed to clearly corroborate.
They pretended that theyh ad given the old man $100, and that he
had started on foot toward Hardin, in Ray (?) county, to make
some purchases, and he had run off with the money. this story did
for a time, but suspicions were again renewed that the old man
had been murdered, and it coming to the knowledge of mcMeans that
he and his wife were suspected, the family suddenly decamped last
fall, taking away all movable articles, and going, it is
supposed, to Brunswick, where they possibly still are. The house
which they occupied is a one-story frame, with a shed kitchen on
the north side. A few days since, two youths, who were out
hunting, went into the unoccupied premises to escape the rain,
and with boyish curiosity commenced prying into things. One of
them noticed that a part of the dirt floor of the kitchen was
sunken down below the rest of it, right under the place where
doubtless the stove had stood, and on one side a crack in the
ground was found, into which a stick was inserted, and the boys
worked out the long-hidden mystery. The hole was a grave.
Doubtless the stray cattle driven into the untenanted shed by the
winter blasts, had pressed down the loose earth in the grave. The
boys at once gave the alarm, and the neighbors disinterred the
remains of Mr. Weaver. Dr. Barnes examined the body, and
recognized it as the missing man's. One arm and a part of one
side was gone/ otherwise eighteen months had not rendered the
body entirely unrecognizable. It was found that the skull had
been crushed in by blows from an ax or some other heavy
instrument. This was doubtless the mode of the old man's death.
The most horrible part of this inhuman transaction is that the
stepdaughter could have lived so long, perhaps a year, and cooked
her meals right over the spot where her mother's husband lay in
his rude and bloody grave. For a few hundred dollars' worth of
truck she and her husband had murdered his, and they had buried
his poor, mutilated, old and weary body just where, of all places
in the world, a woman one would think, would least care to have
her victim. For heartlessness and depravity this exceeds anything
recorded in the history of the Bender family.
[transcribed by S.F., March 2005]
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Colorado Daily
Chieftain
Pueblo, Pueblo co. Colorado
May 23, 1875
Fire. A Tribune special from McGregor, Iowa, says the
Village Creek woolen mills, near Lansing, Iowa, owned by Howard,
Carroll & Ratcliff, were destroyed by fire last night. Loss
$30,000. The fire is supposed to have been incendiary. -- Chicago
Tribune, May 22
[transcribed by S.F., July 2005]
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Decatur Local
Review
Decatur, Illinois
September 16, 1875
Haps and Mishaps.
- At Dyersville, Iowa, the son of Postmaster Smith was kicked in
the head by a horse and died soon afterward.
[transcribed by C.J.L., Sept. 2003]
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Prairie Farmer
Chicago, Illinois
October 16, 1875
Northern Iowa Fair
During our fair we had rain three days out of the five. In horses
and cattle the show was large and fine. We built over 160 stalls
and past season, 36 shingle roof, yet we had not enough. the
leading exhibitors of cattle were C.S. Barclay, West Liberty,
Iowa; Campbell & Chase, West Liberty; John Irvine, Oelwein,
Iowa; Joel Pagin, Frankville, Ia; E.N. Clark, Postville, Ia.;
Jas. Parker, Monona, and others, embracing Shorthorns, Jerseys
and grades. The leading horse exhibitors were Herriman &
Lowers, Wadena, Ia.; C.E Brooks, Yankton, D.T.; J.C. Atkins,
Frankville, Ia.; D. Brownson & Son, National, Ia.; J.C.
Taylor, Postville, Ia.; S.C. Clark, Castalia, Ia.; Henry Fry,
Clermont, Ia.; L. Green, Monona, Ia.; J. Sheck, Independence,
Ia.; G. McGregor, McGregor, Ia.; B. Bettys, Luana, and others,
and included thoroughbred, roadster, draft, and for general
purposes, al ages and sizes, making the finest show ever seen in
this part of the state. Owing to the unfavorable weather, other
departments were not as they should have been. J.E.C.
[transcribed by S.F., June 2010]
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San Benito Advance
San Benito Co., CA
November 6, 1875
-Married -- at the residence of George MOORE, Hollister, by Judge
LEE; Mr. Thos. INGLES to Miss Sarah JONES, both of Iowa.
-Mr. Thos. INGLES and family arrived from Iowa On Wednesday
evening and took possession of the ranch in Santa Ana, recently
purchased of Mr. S. ALLEN.
[transcribed by D.S., August 2005]
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Liberty Weekly
Tribune
Liberty,Clay co. Missouri
December 17, 1875
Hay for Fuel
It is well known, says the Progressive Farmer, that last
winter thousands of families were barely kept from freezing in
northwestern Iowa, by burning loose prairie hay in common stoves.
At the Dubuque Exposition, held the first week in September, Mr.
Augustus Beadle, of Cresco, Howard county, exhibited a stove
which supplied, from fourteen pounds of pressed hay, abundant
heat for two hours and a half. During this time baking and other
cooking was safely and thoroughly done. The hay was pressed by a
simple machine which any child can use. When we consider the
severity of our climate, and the lack of wood and coal in some
parts of the state, this prairie stove puts on the character of a
God-send. It renders the rich woodless prairies of northwestern
Iowa habitable and comfortable.
[transcribed by S.F., December 2005]
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St. Louis Globe
Democrat
St. Louis, Missouri
December 24, 1875
Flames! Eleven Business Houses Destroyed at Red Oak, Iowa.
Chicago, December 23 -- A Times special says an
extensive and destructive fire broke out in Red Oak this morning,
which, is is supposed, was originated by incendiaries. Eleven
important business houses were destroyed, and a number of others
considerably damaged. Estimated loss, $85,000 and only partially
insured.
Destructive Conflagration at Red Oak, Iowa.
Council Bluffs, Iowa, December 23 -- Fire at Red Oak at 2 o'clock
this morning, destroyed the entire east side buildings of the
public square, which were built solid with frame. The fire broke
out in a one-story building belonging to H. Hopper, Newark, N.J.
and occupied by D.J. Jackerson as a wareroom. The fire,
notwithstanding the perfect calmness of the sky, spread rapidly,
and in about two hours that whole side of the square, excepting
building in which was the drug-store of Whelock & Clarke, was
in ashes. The Hopper building was insured in the Keokuk State
Company for $500. Next south was a good two-story building, owned
by W.F. Johnson, of Ottumwa, and occupied by Lewis & childs,
hardware; no insurance on building; loss $3,000. Lewis &
childs' loss is about $6,000; insured in the Commercial of St.
Louis for $1,000. the next two were one-story buildings. The
first was owned by H.A. Thompson, and occupied as a warehouse by
Lewis & Childs; loss on building, $600. Second, owned by Mike
Osborn and occupied by Mrs. H.P. Lewis as a milinery store. Loss
on building, $500; no insurance. the corner building was owned
and occupied by Joseph Fisher as a grocery store. Loss, $2,000;
insurance on building, $1,000, in the Mercantile Company, of
Chicago; on the goods, for $1,900, in the Commercial, St. Louis.
A building (two-story) next north of the one in which the ifre
originated was owned by Whittier & Osborn, and was a harness
manufactory. Loss on building and goods about $3,000; insured in
the Mercantile, of Chicago, for $1,000, and in the Globe, of
Chicago, $1,000. Next, a one-story building, owned by T. W.
Crandall. Loss, $4,000; no insurance. Occupied by J.M. McLean as
a dry goods store. McLean's loss, $500. Two building and one
stone house, owned and occupied by Isaac Payne as restaurant and
tobacco store; loss about $2,000; some insurance on goods. The
next building was a one-story frame, owned by T.W. Crandall, was
torn down to prevent further spreading of the fire. wheelock
& Clark's drug store was the corner building. The goods were
carried out in a hasty manner and damaged to the extent of some
two hundred dollars. The loss of Mr. Jakerson, who [remainder cut
off]
Curious Mental Aberration
A few weeks ago Wm. Walker, a well-known citizen of Strawberry
Point, left home with horse and carriage, for Elkader, and
suddenly was missing. No trail of him could be found, except that
he drew about $3,000 from the bank at Elkader. From there he
could not be traced. A few days ago he returned. He says that
while on his way to Elkader he felt a singular sensation in his
head, and then knew no more until he found himself at Clinton. It
appears that he drew the money at Elkader, went with his team to
Dyersville, where he left it, thence by cars to Dubuque, thence
to Pennsylvania, where he visited relations; thence returned, by
what route he does not know, to Clinton, where his reason
suddenly returned; and finding himself in a city he never saw
before, he inquired its name, and was told. He at once returned
home, and subsequently found his team where he left it.
Singularly enough, his money was safe -- none missing but what he
probably expended in his trip. He was a sun-rised man when he
woke up in Clinton.
The Taylor Tragedy.
The wife of Taylor, the man who did such bloody work a few days
since in Poweshiek, has since died. Her mother and sister, whom
he also shot, are in a dangerous condition -- the old lady being
quite aged, and will probably not recover. Taylor, it is
believed, will recover, although he endeavored to shoot himself
and cut his throat. Hanging by law is played out in Iowa, but
hanging is still done here, however.
[transcribed by S.F., March 2005]