This is an interesting contrast in articles. I’m positive that both articles are about the same child, but they give different names. I will have to do more research in order to determine what the correct name is. Also, the Chronicle says that the boy is 11 months old, but would have turned two in another month – that is clearly wrong. The Messenger says that he is 4 years old – again, more research is needed to find the truth.

This does bring up the fact that although newspapers are a great source of information, they aren’t always accurate. Speaking as a current newspaper employee, I know that the reporters try hard to get the facts straight, but in some cases it boils down to what people tell us – or don’t tell us.

Tags: 1913, Daniels, Porter

The Fort Dodge Messenger: July 5, 1904

Little Boy Badly Burned on Fourth

Clothing Caught on Fire From Matches in Pocket Lights Fire Crackers

Prompt Action Taken to Save

Prompt Action by Two Brothers Alone Saved The Little Chap From Losing His Life – Rolled Him on The Ground and Put Out the Fire.

Little Herman Duerner, aged nine years, while on his way from his home on Prospect Hill to attend the German Evangelical picnic north of the city. was badly burned yesterday and but for the prompt action of his two brothers would undoubtedly been fatally injured.

The three brothers were making their way along to the picnic grounds with a good supply of firecrackers and matches. They had reached a point at Fifth avenue north and Twelfth street when the matches in the hip pocket of the boy, Herman, were in some manner  ignited, setting off a bunch of firecrackers at the same time. The little fellow’s trousers caught the flame at once and from there the blaze spread to his waist. The brothers of the terrified lad threw him promptly on the ground and by rolling him over and over on the grass and slapping at the blaze with their hands, soon had put the fire out.

Before this could be done, however, the boy had been very seriously burned on the hip and when the clothes were removed from the injury it was found a place several inches across, had been literally cooked. The boy was taken to his  home where he later received medical attendance. The injury is a very serious one, but it is thought beyond a large scar which must of necessity result, there will be no permanent bad effects.

The brothers of the injured boy, to whom without doubt, the saving of his life is due, are aged about six and twelve, respectively. In their prompt action in effecting his rescue, they showed coolness and judgment that would have done credit to far older heads.They are William and Karl Duerner.

Tags: 1894, Duerner

The Fort Dodge Messenger: July 5, 1904

Little Doing in Fort Dodge on 4th

A Quiet Day Spent in the City Monday – Many People Going Out of Town.

German Picnic a Big Success

Twenty-five Hundred People Attend the Annual Outing Held at Oleson Park – Many People Go To Eagle Grove and Lehigh.

Fourth of July has come and gone; the instruments of torture to the ear drum have had their sway; the anxious parent is glad the day is past and that little Willie is spared for at least another Fourth; little Willie is sorry but he had a good time while it lasted.

There were a number of features that marked the Fourth this year. One of them was that there was a general exodus to surounding (sic) towns and places of amusement and the other was the comparatively few casualties as the result of the celebration with powder and punk. Fort Dodge passed a quiet, happy Fourth at home and its people abroad, from all reports, succeeded in having a good time.

The celebrations at Eagle Grove and Lehigh baseball games at Boone and the German Lutheran picnic at Oleson park, divided up the army of pleasure seekers. Eagle Grove drew several hundred people and a large delegation went down to Lehigh. The loyal fans went down to Boone and saw the White Sox go down to defeat, while 2,500 members of the German Lutheran church and their friends enjoyed th e day under the sylvan shades of Oleson park.

Quiet in the City.

When it is said that the Fourth was a quiet day in Fort Dodge it is not meant that there ws an absence of noise. On the contrary there was much doing in that line. There was a big contrast between yesterday and the same day a year ago however. On that day there were hundreds of visitors here for the big celebration and the usual excitement attending a large number of people was increased by the accident which befell the young woman, Clara Rasmussen, whose fatal attempt to perform the “slide for life” act from the northwest corner of the court house probably had much to do toward having no celebration this year. Few people came to Fort Dodge for the Fourth this year while many left the city and for this reason the day was uneventful.

In the way of making noise, there was plenty of it. The cannon and firecaracker started early in the morning and boomed until long after dark. The street cars furnished a source of amusement to many people. Placing torpedoes n the tracks, sometimes for a whole block or more, evidently was greatly enjoyed, since it was repeated many time. Taking everything into consideration, there was probably as much spent for fireworks this year as in years past.

Eagle Grove and Lehigh.

The morning train on the Great Western carried a big crowd of Fort Dodgers to Eagle Grove and the train at 12:20 caried (sic) others. It was a tired and sleepy looking party that arrived home at 8 o’clock this morning, five hours late. Many of the visitors had remained in Eagle Grove, expecting to come home on the Minneapolis flyer, which arrives here at 3:11 a.m. A wreck near Clarion, however, delayed the train and the excursionists did not arrive until 8 o’clock.

Aside from numbers Fort Dodge was well represented at the Eagle Grove celebration by the presence of the Fifty-sixth regimental band and the speaker of the day, M.F. Healy. Mr. Healy delivered the Fourth of (sic) address at the opera house at 11:30. His speech was a scholarly effort along a line that touched all who heard it. The speaker was well received and the frequent interruptions by applause was evidence of the appreciation of the audience.

At Lehigh the baseball game between Lehigh and the East Fort Dodge teams was one of the big featuers. There were other features characteristic of the Fourth of July, including a display of fireworks in the evening.

Picnicers (sic) Are Numerous.

Numerous smal (sic) picnic parties were to be found in every direction. The heavy rain of Sunday night spoiled many plans, but nevertheless there were no few who braved the possibility of encountering wet ground. Among the other picnics was the German Evangelical picnic up the river.

Germans Have a Good Time.

The members of the German Lutheran church who attended the annual picinc (sic) enjoyed themselves immensely. The German picnic was the only big event of the day in Fort Dodge and it was a success in every particular. The weather of the day before, which threatened the success of picnics and excursions, promised no better for the big outing at Oleson park, but the day dawned smiling and the sun coming to the aid of the picnicers (sic) did much to make the day the success it proved to be. About twenty-five hundred people attended. The pupils of the German Lutheran school went out tot he park in the morning. Accompanied by the Juvenile band they left the school in a body and proceeded to Central avenue where they boarded street cars for the park.

Besides the athletic features which made up the afternoon’s program, the temporary bowling alley afforded a means of enjoyment.

The Prize Winners.

The following events took place and were won by those persons names below.

100 yard dasy – Won by Ernest Zuerrer; Fred Knigge, second.

Fat ladies race – Won by Mrs. Amanda Craft; Mrs. Fritag, second.

Fat man’s race – Won by E. Peschau; Fred Willie, second.

Sweet sixteen race – Won by Freda Trost. Amanda Schwabbauer, second.

Sack race – Won by W. Sperry, George Adams, second.

Married ladies’ race – Won by Mrs. Paashke; Mrs. Phillip Miller second, Mrs. Henry Hueners, third.

Tug of war – Won by Herman Willie and team; second by Willie Stahlbock and team.

Misses’ race – Won by Miss Olga Pashke; Miss Helen Cramer, second; Miss Emma Dahlin, third.

Wheel barrow race – Won by George Habenicht; Henry Hein, second.

Broad jump – Won by Herman Kolbe; Oscar Gunther, second; William Sternitzke, third.

Ladies’ whelbarrow (sic) – Won by Clara Proeschold; Anna Becker, second.

Lifting fifteen pound weight – Won by C.J. Engels, lifting weight sixty-nine times; Chris Hohn, second, forty-six times.

Ladies throwing at doll rack – Won by Mrs. Harry Robb; Mrs. F.C. Ellis second; Mrs. August Knigge, third.

Bowling contest – First prize won by Henry Koeper, score 217; second, Chris Trost, 205; third Paul Schwaubbaur, 195; four William Kehm 188.

Ladies bowling – First prize won by Mrs. Kelso, 129; second, Mrs. Philips, 98, third, Miss Amelia Kein, 78; fourth, Christina 74.

Tags: 1904, Adams, Becker, Craft, Cramer, Dahlin, Ellis, Engels, Fritag, Gunther, Habenicht, Hein, Hohn, Hueners, Independence Day, Kehm, Kein, Kelso, Knigge, Koeper, Kolbe, Miller, Paashke, Pashke, Peschau, Philips, Proeschold, Robb, Schwabbauer, Schwaubbaur, Sperry, Stahlbock, Sternitzke, Trost, Willie, Zuerrer

In the early days of Fort Dodge, the newspapers started out as weeklies. They progressed to six days a week, but didn’t publish on certain holidays: New Year’s Day, July 4 and Christmas, for instance.

For Sundays, I can pick another year and post an article for that day. For other holidays, such as Labor Day, I can do the same. But since The Messenger was the only paper in Fort Dodge that survived since 1917 and it didn’t start going to seven days a week until the 1980s, there is no getting around that restriction.

I had considered running an article about the Fourth that had published the next day, but decided not to start that precedent.

Therefore, enjoy your Fourth of July. And for your reading pleasure, the source of the day’s importance:

The Declaration of Independence: A Transcription

IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.–Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

The 56 signatures on the Declaration appear in the positions indicated:

Column 1
Georgia:
Button Gwinnett
Lyman Hall
George Walton

Column 2
North Carolina:
William Hooper
Joseph Hewes
John Penn
South Carolina:
Edward Rutledge
Thomas Heyward, Jr.
Thomas Lynch, Jr.
Arthur Middleton

Column 3
Massachusetts:
John Hancock
Maryland:
Samuel Chase
William Paca
Thomas Stone
Charles Carroll of Carrollton
Virginia:
George Wythe
Richard Henry Lee
Thomas Jefferson
Benjamin Harrison
Thomas Nelson, Jr.
Francis Lightfoot Lee
Carter Braxton

Column 4
Pennsylvania:
Robert Morris
Benjamin Rush
Benjamin Franklin
John Morton
George Clymer
James Smith
George Taylor
James Wilson
George Ross
Delaware:
Caesar Rodney
George Read
Thomas McKean

Column 5
New York:
William Floyd
Philip Livingston
Francis Lewis
Lewis Morris
New Jersey:
Richard Stockton
John Witherspoon
Francis Hopkinson
John Hart
Abraham Clark

Column 6
New Hampshire:
Josiah Bartlett
William Whipple
Massachusetts:
Samuel Adams
John Adams
Robert Treat Paine
Elbridge Gerry
Rhode Island:
Stephen Hopkins
William Ellery
Connecticut:
Roger Sherman
Samuel Huntington
William Williams
Oliver Wolcott
New Hampshire:
Matthew Thornton

Tags: Declaration of Independence, Independence Day

The Fort Dodge Messenger: July 3, 1906

In Effect To-Morrow

Important Laws go into Effect July 4th – Pure Food and Anti-Pass Most Important

Laws in effect tomorrow:

Pure food.
Anti-pass.
Child labor.
Taking party circle off the ballot.
Against Hallowe’en destruction of property.
Requiring uniformity of municipal accounts in Iowa cities.
State examination and certification of teachers.

By constitutional provision a number of laws passed by the last legislature will go into effect on the fourth of July, which comes next Wednesday.

This year the great bulk of the Iowa laws will go into force without the public having had a chance to read them in any official publication. This is due to the fact that the state document known as the “Session Laws,” has not been completed.

(Editor’s note: I could guess at most of these laws, but the anti-pass law puzzled me. I did a search and found this article on Google Books. The section on Iowa was found under Railroads and states:

Iowa enacted an  anti-pass law, in the form of a prohibition upon the giving of passes to persons holding public office, candidates therefor, delegates to conventions and jurors. The law excepts, however, notaries, offices paying no fees or salary, professors and officers of educational institutions, members of the National Guard, and of the fire departments of cities, and of the State Board of Agriculture.)

Tags: 1906

(Editor’s note: I placed the two articles side by side in order to show the contrast in information. One article states the child is four, the other that she is two. One refers to Mrs. Smith by her husband’s name, the other by her own name. Mrs. Nelson is referred to as adoptive mother in one article and foster mother in the other – even though she clearly has adopted the girl, as evidenced by her bringing adoption papers to the police.)

Tags: 1913, Nelson, Smith

The Fort Dodge Messenger: July 2, 1903

Plymouth Gypsum Company Organized

New $200,000 Corporation Will Build Large Mill and Enter the Market for Business.

Capacity 400 Tons 24 Hours.

L.E. Armstrong, J.T. Cheney, and M.D. O’Connell Are Incorporators of New Company Which Will Be Ready for Business February 1.

Every important step is completed in the organization of a new gypsum mill company in Fort Dodge.

The Plymouth Gypsum company is the title of the new company and it is due to the business sagacity and untiring zeal of L.E. Armstrong, founder of the Plymouth Clothing House of Fort Dodge that this important new industry is a substantial fact. Mr. Armstrong has been studying and planning for two years to do this, and  as a result of this mature though his associates in the new company feel encouraged to believe that they will meet with success.

Mr. Armstrong will be the president of the Plymouth Gypsum company and John T. Cheney treasurer.  The capital required is already subscribed. Teh capital stock of the corporation will be $200,000 ($4,789,896 today), divided into 2,000 shares of $100 ($2,395) each. The organization was completed on a basis of $50 a share ($1,197), so there is $100,000 ($2,394,948) capital fully paid in.

Mention of this new company was made in The Messenger early in the spring, when Mr. Armstrong secured the 30-acre tract of land immediately south of Oleson Park, adjoining and lying south of the Illinois Central tracks. That will be the site of the mill and careful underground examination shows that there is a splendid gypsum deposit which will be extracted by the modern mining methods. Thirty acres of the land is on the north side of the Illinois Central tracks, and forty acres on the south side.

The mill will be a four kettle plant with two dryers. The capacity will be four hundred tons per twenty-four hours. Artices (sic) of incorporation will be filed at once and operations on the mine will be begun at once. They plan to have the mill complete, and ready to fun, February 1, 1904. Mr. Armstrong will undertake the management of the business, and that means there will be plenty of energy and ability shown.

The surface value of the tract of land owned by the Plymouth Gypsum company is very valuable, being within one-half mile of the street car line and within one-quarter of a mile of the city limits.

Tags: 1903, Armstrong, Cheney, O'Connell

The Fort Dodge Messenger: July 2, 1903

New Auto Co. Decides to Build

Has Purchased Site 200 by 160 Feet, West of Great Western Round House.

Start Work at Once.

Plans Are Now Being Prepared and Work on Machine Shop Will Commence Next Week – Four Buildings Are Contemplated.

The DeLaura Auto Manufacturing company will at once begin the erection of its plant in Fort Dodge on a site just west of the Great Western round house, where a piece of land 200 by 160 feet has been purchased. A side track will be run to the site of the new factory by the railroad company.

Final arrangements regarding the purchase of the site were made at a meeting of the board of directors of the new company held on Wednesday evening, at which Mr. DeLaura was present.

The buildings which will ultimately comprise the plant are a machine shop and boiler room, a paint shop, a blacksmith and wood working shop and a foundry. The first two will be erected at once. The machine shop will be 35 by 100 feet in dimensions, with an addition for the boiler room and the pain shop will be 35 by 60 feet.

Work on the plant will be hurried along as fast as possible. Plans are now being prepared, and it is hoped that it will be possible to commence work on the machine shop which will first be erected by next week, and that the factory can begin operations within five or six weeks.

(Editor’s note: This company was first mentioned on June 19, 1903.)

Tags: 1903, DeLaura

The Fort Dodge Messenger: July 2, 1906

An Impromptu Bull Fight

Residents of the River Flats Frightened by Enraged Animal – Fortunately no one Injured.

A call for police to care for a maddened bull was sent into the city hall on Saturday afternoon by people residing along the river flats near the lower bridge over the Des Moines river. The call was responded to at once and for more than (an) hour two policemen and a half dozen men struggled with the enraged animal, in forcing it along the distance of a block to some stock sheds in the Illinois Central yards.

The bull was the property of C.O. Humbert, a stock buyer residing in the city. It, together with a large herd of animals, was being driven into the city from the west, when on reaching the rver (sic) flats it became maddened by the heat and exertion of the long trip and became unmanageable. Fear that it would riot the whole herd was entertained, at first, but it was finally separated from thema nd left in charge of one of the drivers, whom it attacked.

He was given assistance by several men working in the neighborhood, who managed to keep the animal from injuring or killing anyone, by long ropes fastened about its neck and held tight in several directions.

Finally when the poice (sic) arrived an effort was made to take it to the Illinois Central stock yards, where the remainder of the herd had been safely quartered, was made. The bull became more and more vicious, and only after an hour’s hard work was the trip across the tracks to the stockyards accomplished.

The bull was one of a large number which Mr. Humbert purchased several days ago from a farmer residing near Clare by the name of Schultz.

Tags: 1906, Humbert, Illinois Central, Schultz