Wood; Officer of the Guard, H. H. Boyes; Sergeant Major, A. W. Davis, Quarter Master Sergeant, George Child. Henry Wilson, Jr., was detailed by department headquarters to officiate as mustering officer. Fifty-five were mustered and there are founteen more on the roll to be mustered at the next meeting of the Post. The first and third Saturdays of each month were times fixed for meetings of the Post. The Post was named in honor of a brave Story County soldier who belonged to the Twelfth Iowa Infantry and was killed at the battle of Shiloh, Jason D. Ferguson Post, No. 31. G. A. R. The following is the list of soldiers mustered in:
H. H. Boyes, I. L. Smith, J. A. Fitchpatrick, A. W. Davis, Jay A. King, Colonel John Scott, John Beatty, Geo. W. Hempstock, Asa D. Potter, C. E. Shedd, V. A. Ballou, J. T. Stone, J. D. Ferner, M. Purkhiser, A. K. Banks, Freeman Elliott. Ed. Kuhn, C. H. Schermerhorn, M. Daugherty, M. C. Allen, O. W. Wilson, C. W. Wood, Geo. M. Barnes, W. D. Barnes, Guilf Mullen, T. C. McCall, F. D. Thompson, John W. SPENCER, Henry C. McIntosh, P. W.' Farrar, D. V. Thrift, D. Dale, J. F. Dane, Geo. Child, F. M. Smith, Geo. W. Kinney, H. A. Cramer, R. S. Wakeman, E. F. Wakeman, Alf. Goodwin, N. V. Ferguson, Samuel Reid, Wm. G. Hodge, D. E. Southerland, Levi Smith, James E. Batman, D. E. Finch, Geo. A. Mason, James Dillon, Henry Tetwiler, Patrick Nicholson, John Hoople, Benton Corrington, H. K. Hulse and Daniel Masters.
The following members are yet to be mustered in: J. F. Gillespie, A. O. Abbott, W. H. Jones. N. H. Confare, Seth Hunphrey, W. I. Stephens, I. Walker, R. S. Satterlee, H. O. Ayers, A. K. Bone, A. F. Wingert, M. Gretsinger, A. O. Hall and J. W. White.—(January 9, 1884.)
Some two weeks since W. W. Utterback's family and friends were grieved to receive a telegram from Sioux Falls, Dakota, that .John Utterback was drowned at the falls of the river. After receiving the telegram they received a letter from Joseph Utterback. He stated that John Utterback and his partner, Mr. Thompson, were engaged in enlarging pictures and sketching landscapes. On this fatal night they were engaged in sketching a moonlight scene of Sioux Falls, when John slipped, fell into the river and has not been seen since. Mr. Thompson reported to the sheriff, who immediately gathered a posse of men and made dilligent search for the body. There are some whisperings of murder or foul play. It seems as though Mr. Thompson telegraphed for Joe to meet him at Sioux Falls City and that his brother was drowned, and when Joe got to the city Mr. Thompson was gone.
John was supposed to have from two hundred and fifty to three hundred dollars of money with him. He and Thompson had been partners for about three years. Mr. W. W. Utterback has lately received a letter of sympathy from Mr. Thompson in Kansas. Mr. John Utterback was well and favorably known in this vicinity from infancy to manhood and his parents and friends have the true sympathy of the entire community in the sorrow of their sad bereavement.—(May 23, 1884.)