In June, 1868, the safe in the county treasurer's office was blown open and about $500 in money and county warrants stolen. Suspicion rested on Arthur Linn, who was arrested and tried, but there being no direct evidence to prove him guilty, he was discharged. The person or persons who committed the deed were never discovered.

On the 2d day of December, 1856, set in one of the most severe snow storms that ever visited this country. The winter of 1856-57 is remembered by all the old settlers as the winter of "blizzards," during which, quite a number were frozen to death. In what is now Newton township, three men were frozen to death in the month above referred to. Two of the parties names are remembered - Porter and Snyder, the other, a stranger and traveler, is not remembered. A German and his wife were frozen in the same month, in the timber a short distance north of Forest City. They were all attempting to reach places of safety, where they could get food, got lost in the storm, and their bodies were found the following spring. This severe winter found nearly all the settlers in straightened circumstances, crowded in small log cabins, and with but little to subsist upon. Many went days without food or fire, and the suffering as described by early settlers, is, in many instances, almost without comparison in the history of the northwest. Such a winter has never since been experienced.

John Tinger, a young man about twenty-one years of age, committed suicide at Lake Mills on the 6th of May, 1872. It seems he had been afflicted for some time with a fever sore on his left leg, and for some months he had entertained fears that he would lose the use of the limb. A letter was found in his pocket, that he had written to a girl in Sweden, in which he accused her of being false and unfaithful to the promises she had made him, and told her that she would live to regret it. He was, at the time, out of money, and, comparatively, among strangers, and getting down-hearted and despondent seemed rashly to decide that death was preferable to life. He was found lying on his back, with a fearful hole in his left breast, and a large pool of blood near him on the ground. A shot gun was lying close by with the muzzle towards him, and near his side, an open jack knife and a piece of hazel bush about two feet long. Appearances indicated that he had seated himself on the ground, placed the muzzle of the gun against his breast, and discharged it by pushing the trigger with the hazel stick. He came to the county from Sweden, in September, 1871.

Oct. 21, 1876, Hans Evenson, a resident of Norway township, was buried alive by the caving in of a well thirty feet deep. Help was immediately sent for, but they were unable to get him out until the following day. He left a large family to mourn his untimely death.

Aug. 30, 1877, Iver Groves was overcome by damp in a well which he was digging, and before help could reach him life had become extinct. The well was forty feet deep. He left a wife and four children to mourn his death.

Jan. 4, 1878, a sad accident occurred by which Lewis Helgeson, a resident of Center township, lost his life. He had gone to Kensett to market some grain, and on his return was thrown from the wagon, sustaining injuries that resulted in his death the same evening.

The following account of a frightful runaway is taken from the Winnebago Summit of July 29, 1880:

"The worst accident that ever occurred in Winnebago county happened on last Sunday afternoon. A wagon containing eleven persons started to go out on the prairie, west of town. As the team started down the hill by the gravel pit, which is quite steep, the horses started to run. Uncle William Lackore and George Dunaway sat on the front seat, the latter driving his own team. Mr. Lackore attempted to assist in stopping the team, and in some way they were turned to one side, which overturned the wagon, throwing all the occupants violently to the ground.

"Mrs. George Dunaway was killed outright; Mrs. L.C. Green, daughter of Mrs. Dunaway, had her right elbow dislocated, and was badly bruised about head, face and limbs; her little daughter had her left arm jammed, and was badly shaken up. Mrs. William Lackore had both arms broken and is also cut about the head. Uncle William Lackore is bruised up considerabley; George Dunaway is badly injured about the back; Mrs. Gambell was slightly hurt on the right hand, and Mrs. Clark and her daughter were slightly injured. Jesse Lackore was the only one of the entire load who was not hurt; as the wagon upset he jumped, and fortunately escaped uninjured.

"Drs. Jones and Hewett were called at once, and did all that lay in their power to alleviate the wounds of the sufferers, and the injured are doing as well as could be expected.

"It was a sad accident, and one which has no parallel in this section."

The following account of a suicide is taken from the Independent Herald, dated Nov. 21, 1881:

"This morning we were startled by the news that Ena Sawyer had committed suicide by taking morphine. She has always been subject to fits of melancholy, and has often made the assertion that she would kill herself. On one occasion before, from the same cause, she barely escaped eternity. Yesterday she appeared downhearted, but no one took special notice of it from the fact that she had appeared the same so often before. She told several persons yesterday that she had taken morphine, and told Dr. Hull that he would probably be called, but did not want him to come. By talking with her for about an hour he satisfied himself that if she had taken any at all it was no unusual dose, as it should have operated within twenty minutes. After this she went to the literary society, walked home after it was out and soon became unconscious. The doctors were immediately summoned and stayed with her till life vanished at about 3 o'clock this morning. Thus an unhappy life is ended. Perhaps the last sentence she wrote was: "Where will my soul rest?"

The first marriage of persons who were residents of the county occurred in the fall of 1856. The contracting parties were James Redmile and Jane Adams, residents of what is now Newton township. The ceremony was performed at Mason City, and the couple returned to this county and commenced matrimonial life on section 36. This match was not a substantial one, however, for within two months they separated.

The next marriage of residents of the county was between William Sutton and Tempa Decker, in the spring of 1857. They were married at Mason City, as there was no officer in the county, at the time, who had authority to officate at marriage ceremonies.

¹History of Kossuth, Hancock and Winnebago Counties, Iowa. Springfield, Illinois: Union Publishing Company, 1884. 852-54.