Archive for June 28th, 2011

28
Jun

Slot Machines Taken Down

   Posted by: admin    in Business, Entertainment

The Fort Dodge Messenger: June 28, 1905

Slot Machines Taken Down

Orders Given to Have Them Removed Thru the City.

Complaints Have Been Made Against Them – Order Stopping Practice Not Permanent.

Fathers and mothers who fear the effect of the temptations of the slot machine upon their boys will be given for a time at least, a respite from their fears. Yesterday afternoon the propritors (sic) of the places in the city where slot machines are run were notified to take them down.

The action is the result of a number of complaints that have recently been filed before the officials of the city. The doers (?) realizing that though the running of slot machines is an entirely legitimate practice as long as they are not too heavily patronized by youths and young men decided that the complaints that had come in to them were prima facie evidence that the machines were fast becoming a nuisance in the city and decided that some steps should be taken to curtail them, consequently their action in notifying the owners to take them down.

No permanent order had been issued against the contrivances, however, and should it be deemed advisable to allow them to run later on in the year the merchants will no doubt be given permission to put them up.

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28
Jun

EXTRA! Man Hit by Interurban

   Posted by: admin    in Interurban, Woolstock

The Fort Dodge Daily Chronicle: June 28, 1913

EXTRA! Man Hit by Interurban

Man Hit by Interurban While he Was Crossing Track in Automobile – Taken to Hospital

While crossing the Interurban tracks at Fourth avenue south and 22nd street in an auto this afternoon C.M. France was hit by the three o’clock interurban. He was taken to the hospital and surgeons are operating upon him in order to save his life.
It was stated this afternoon by an eye witness that the man was either trying to beat the car to the crossing, or was unable to stop. At any rate the car went halfway onto the track and was badly damaged.
This afternoon it was stated by physicians that he man’s right chest was caved in, and that it was doubtful if he lived thruout the night. Death is inevitable.

The Fort Dodge Messenger: June 28, 1913

EXTRA

Interurban Hits Woolstock Man in Automobile

The 3:00 interurban southbound hit an automobile driving by C.M. France of Woolstock at the crossing of the Great Western Railroad. Mr. France was badly hurt and was rushed at once to the hospital. The extent of his injuries are not known but he is believed to be in a critical condition.

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28
Jun

Company “G” Prepare for Camp

   Posted by: admin    in Military matters

The Fort Dodge Messenger: June 28, 1905

Company “G” Prepare for Camp

Band and Company Will Go Into Camp at Des Moines Next Week.

Will Be Gone Eight Days

Full Membership in Each Organization Will Go – Two I.N.G. Boys Will Float Down The River in a Boat to Join Company.

Arrangements are being made this week by members of Company G and the band for their eight days’ camp which will be held at Des Moines, beginning on Thursday of next week.

The Fort Dodge company will be under the direct supervision and control fo Captain B.J. Price, who will accompany them on the trip. Nearly all of the members of the company are planning on attending camp and many are occupied this week in preparing their arms, uniforms and equipment. The showing of the local company last year was an excellent one and with the additional men and equipment that has been acquired since then an even better record will probably be made at this year’s camp.

Will Rohrback and Stafford Carpenter, both members of the company, will leave for Des Moines Sunday, their intention being to float down the Des Moines river in a boat. Their preparations for the trip are now under way and all is expected to be in readiness for them to start early Sunday morning. The young men expect the voyage to take them about four days and if they accomplish the distance in that time they will be in Des Moines one day before the arrival of the company and band. If possible a special train will be secured for the transportation of the men and baggage of both organizations. Nothing definite is known regarding this as yet, however.

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28
Jun

Vaudeville Has Good Week’s Bill

   Posted by: admin    in Entertainment

The Fort Dodge Messenger: June 28, 1905

Vaudelille (sic) Has Good Week’s Bill

The Program at the Midland Theater is Good One For The Money.

The Vaudeville that is running in the Midland is making a big success and they are giving the people a good show. The bill this week is headed with “Zenoz” the one-legged wire-walker and he shows himself to be an accomplished artist.

The next on the program is the illustrated song which is liberally encored and the song and pictures are good. The Dayton sisters should not be forgotton (sic) as they are without a doubt the best dancers that has ever been in Fort dodge, and have a pleasing manner that wins the crowd.

Lucas & Heston who are the last on the specialty list are great fun-makers and they keep the crowd in a roar of laughter from start to finish. The moving pictures by Fred Steltzer are by far the best that has been in our city for some time the feature, this week in the pictures is “The Great Train Robbery,” although they have been shown here before they receive their share of the applause.

The show as a whole is equal to a great many high price attractions that has been booked here before.

(Editor’s note: “The Great Train Robbery” is online for your viewing pleasure. The note that accompanies the video states:

Widely credited as the first movie to tell a story. If the final shot seems out of place – that’s because it was designed to be a promotion for the main feature. The instructions supplied said it could be shown before or after the movie.)

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28
Jun

Want Young Boys Kept Off Streets

   Posted by: admin    in People

The Fort Dodge Messenger: June 28, 1905

Want Young Boys Kept Off Streets

Prominent Citizens Advocate Plan to Cure Growing Evil.

Curfew Has Been Proposed

Claimed That Hundreds of Growing Boys and Girls are Going to Ruin in City – Citizens of the City Say That Practice is a Menace to City.

Recent consideration of the conditions that exist within the city of Fort Dodge on summer evenings, by a number of prominent men and women of the city has caused them to express a desire that some remedy be proposed to curtail the appearance of young boys and girls upon the streets and avenues of the city at all times of the night.

It is a well known fact that in Fort Dodge more than in any other city in the state young boys and girls are to be seen walking the streets or loafing in undesireable localities at most unseemly hours.

At anywhere from six in the evening until ten, crowds of boys aged from ten to fifteen or sixteen may be seen loafing in doorways or alleyways, congregated in pool and billiard halls, gathered before a slot machine dropping in their scanty earnings or in some most lamentable cases hanging about the entrances of saloons waiting for unscrupulous persons to carry out liquor to them.

Later on in the night and extending even into the small hours of the morning many of these same lads are to be found still inhabiting the down town places that still remain open. All night cafes and places of the kind are to be seen with their chairs, counters, etc., occupied with loafing youths who should be at home securing the hours of repose so necessary to the proper development of mind and body of the growing boy. Girls who should be at home under a mother’s care are to be seen walking the streets in crowds of three and four, openly giggling, laughing and otherwise acting in a manner which though decidedly improper is but the natural inclination of those of their age.

The fault of course rests with the parents, but it is a recognized, though deplorable fact, that the average parent cannot, or at any rate does not, control the action of the growing boy and girl in this respect. Left to themselves it is but natural that the fascination that the streets at night hold for them should be indulged in o (sic) the fullest extent. As the result, the sober minded thoughtful citizen does not need to be told that hundreds of boys and girls are growing up right within the city of Fort Dodge who will become grafters, deadbeats, ne-er-do-wells and disreputable women.

Several people well acquainted with the situation and realizing the need of action have stated that some action should in their opinion be taken by the officials of the city and that some means should be devised for protecting the growing men and women of the city from the demoralizing influence that evil habits and improper associations gathered from frequenting the city’s streets at night will surely have upon them.

Some have suggested an ordinance making it a misdemeanor for any boy or girl to be found on the street at night without being able to show an excellent excuse. Others advocate the ringing of a curfew at nine o’clock in the evening, whose sound would call every boy and girl of sixteen or younger to their homes.

The proper installation and enforcement of such a system would in their opinion do much to curtail the growing evil which at the present time menaces the future of the city. The system of course has its disadvantages. An extra policeman or two whose sole duties would be to gather in and send to their homes all violators of the rule would have to be appointed by the city. A bell with a sufficient volume of sound and carying (sic) power to make it heard all over the city would have to be purchased and set upĀ  in a central location and many other arrangements necessary to the proper operation of the plan made. The need is imminent, however, and some plan should it seems be proposed and place (sic) in operation as soon as possible.

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