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possible. The O.E.S. maintains a large flower bed in the cemetery. The township trustees are always alert to the cemetery needs.
The Zearing Mausoleum was built in 1912. The money was raised by the advance sale of vaults. Many families bought vaults for future use. Many prominent residents of our community were buried in the Zearing Mausoleum.
The Zearing Mausoleum was dedicated in June, 1912. Rev. Charles H. Stauffacher gave the dedication speech.
R. B. (Bert) Craft states that a prize fight was held on the Craft farm in the 1880's. Bert does not remember the exact date.
Two prominent fighters were prohibited from fighting in Marshall county. The Craft farm bordered the railroad and was on the Story county side of the county line. The fighters and a large number of fans came from Marshalltown via the railroad. Permission was obtained from John E. Craft, the father of Bert, to stage the fight in a field on the Craft farm.
A ring was constructed. Fans from Zearing arrived boosting the crowd to several hundred people. The fighters fought for twenty-three rounds. The fight ended in a knock out.
The Ringling Brothers circus played in Zearing in the 1880's. The brothers stayed at the hotel owned by Asa M. Williams. One of the brothers asked Jennie Williams for a date. This information was furnished by Lucy Williams Armstrong and Leona Armstrong Perry.
Nellie King Grimes said that she remembered the circus. She was sick at the. time and had to stay home with the hired girl. Her folks went to the circus.
In the fall of 1899, the Story City Branch train was loaded with passengers homeward bound from Buffalo Bill's circus at Marshalltown, Iowa. When the train arrived at St. Anthony a fight started between Zearing and St. Anthony men and some men from McCallsburg. In the fracas one of the McCallsburg men was hit on the head with a shovel. The matter seemed very serious at the time. However, it developed that the man was only slightly injured.
Several of the Zearing witnesses did not know the injury was not serious. They hid in the Dakins corn field. Manly E. Dakins, a boy at that time, carried meals to them.
The matter was not overlooked. The plaintiff from McCallsburg retained U. S. Alderman of Nevada, Iowa, to cooperate with Stone,