The Fort Dodge Messenger: June 19, 1903

Moorland Bad Man in Jail

Jim Roy, Who Threw His Roomer’s Trunk Down Stairs is Lodged in County Jail.

Is Serving 30 Day Sentence

Roy Preferred to Serve Time in Jail Rather Than Let Town of Moorland Get Benefit of Monday From His Fine.

Jim Roy, a citizen of Moorland, is waiting out a thirty day sentence in the county jail. James inclined to be quarrelsome in his cupes, and this is the cause of his present predicament. The immediate cause of his incarceration, si that hte threw the turnk of one of the lodgers in the hostelry which he keeps at Moorland, down stairs, badly demolishing the trunk, and causing some detriment to the banisters.

The citizens of Moorland decided that something must be done with Roy, and haled him before Justice F.L. Horgeson, who fined him $25 and costs, or the equivalent time in jail. When Roy found that his fine, if he paid it, would go to the town of Moorland, he decided to spite the town, and is waiting it out in jail.

There is some talk of making an effort to send him to the inebriates’ home.

Roy has had the reputation of being a bad man when in his cups for some time. Some time ago, he kicked the whole front out of the Moorland saloon and later broke out of jail when he was locked up.

Sheriff Oleson went to Moorland on Thursday and returned with Roy.

The Fort Dodge Messenger: June 18, 1903

Was Ungrateful for Favors Shown

George Mapleton Fought Policeman Who Pulled Him Out of Danger – Now Nurses Broken Arm.

Was Lying Across The Track.

Resisted and Struck the Policeman and was Thrown Down, Receiving Injury in the Tumble – Other news of Police Court.

George Mapleson, who says his home is in Cedar Rapids, and who has been working on a steel gang at LeMars, had a strenuous experience on Wednesday night. He was found by Officer Mericle in a helplessly intoxicated condition, laying asleep across the Illinois Central tracks near the depot, in imminent danger of being cut in two by a train which was being made u p, and when the officers in all kindness started to remove him from his dangerous position, he showed fight, hit the well meaning policeman with his fist, was thrown down in the melee which followed and broke his arm. This morning, with his arm in a sling, Mapleson showed a humble and contrite spirit, admitted his wrong doing, and was let off with a remitted fine. It was expected that he would be sent back to his home in Cedar Rapids.

Mapleson’s right arm was broken above the elbow. When the officer tried to get him out of his dangerous proximity to the train, Mapleson became abusive, and was promptly placed under arrest. When Mr. Mericle started to take him out of the depot, he wheeled just outside the door and struck him a heavy blow in the face. Mericle threw him down, and as he rose, full of fight threw him down again. It is supposed that his arm was broken in his second fall.

Pat Brennan, who was with Mapleson, was taken to jail.

Henry Kelley, and old offender, was back in police court this morning and Mayor Northrup, true to his promise, assessed a fine of $5 and costs against him, and put  him on the street to work it out, as a rate of $1.50 per day. He was turned over to Street Commissioner Rocky.

Clarence Monahan, another old timer, met the same fate.

John Martin, a youthful personage, said that he wanted to go to Omaha, and was given a change to get out of town.

Mapleson was sent back to his home in Cedar Rapids this afternoon.

The Fort Dodge Messenger: June 14, 1904

Strong Line in Police Court

Mayor Northrup Has a Busy Session This Morning – Hines Heaves a Brick.

Fellow Boarders in a Fight

Otis Felky Refuses to Help Officer Make Arest (sic) and is Himself Arrested.

Mayor Northup had a good sized line-up to go through when he convened court this morning. Eight defendants were arraigned and a total of $78.65 assessed in fines. Of this amount, however, by no means all of it was collected.

John Hines was arrested for heaving a brick at Harry Wilson, a young man who makes his home at the Tremont House. Hines lives at that same place and it was there that the trouble started that ended in his arrest. The complainant testified that defendant had started a war of words when he entered the hotel and finally dared Wilson to follow him into the street. The young man refused to take the dare but he forgot to dodge a brick which Hines hurled at him. The missile bounded off his head and drew first blood.

Officer Pete Ditmer was called to the rescue and Hines was conveyed to the “jug.” The prisoner claimed that the young man was bothering him and other testimony showed that the defendant was not all to blame. He was fined $1 and costs, but afterwards discharged on his promise to keep out of trouble.

Otis Felky was fined $5 and costs and sent back to jail because he refused to assist an officer in arresting Ed Gannon and Pete Coyne Monday night. Gannon, Coyle and Felky were in the John Koll saloon. They started a fight and were ejected from the place. Gannon and Coyne were “mixing it” when a policeman came along and attempted to arrest them. He called on Felky to help him, but Felky merely advised him to journey to a warmer climate. A bystander assisted the officer and after the arrest was made Felky was hunted up and given a berth with his companions. Gannon and Coyne were each fined $10 and costs.

John Strand imbibed a quantity of Milwaukee buttermilk Monday night and went to his home in West Fort Dodge where he was later arrested for disturbing the quiet. He explained that when he arrived home his wife accused him of stealing a bottle of medicine and he became indignant at the accusation and found it impossible to keep his indignation to himself.

John Pool, a cripple, was arrested for being drunk. Pool said his home is in Rapid City, S.D., and that he was only passing through Fort Dodge when arrested. He was fined $1 and costs. Michael Carroll, another cripple, giving Omaha as his residence, blew in from Waterloo and took an overdose of Fort Dodge liquid barb wire. He was given the minimum.

J.A. Hay was arrested Monday for dumping rubbish on North Sixteenth street. He was fined $1 and costs.

The Fort Dodge Messenger: June 10, 1904

Recovers a Horse Lost a Year Ago

Disappearance and Unusual Recovery of Broncho (sic) Belonging to Mr. Tuller.

Webster City Man Must Explain

Horse Leaves This City and is Later Traded at Webster City and Come Here.

One evening just a year ago a bronco belonging to Marion Tuller, becoming restless in the confines of the barn escaped from its stall and sought the freedom of the fields east of the city. its owner followed it, but night fell before he was successful in capturing hte runaway and he returned to town empty handed. The lost horse was advertised in the newspapers, but nothing came of the efforts to locate it.

This morning a horse trading outfit drove into town, coming from the east. Behind one of the two wagons composing the outfit was a broncho (sic) with a horseshoe brand on his shoulder. The outfit drove down town and tied up in the alley between Central avenue and First avenue south and Seventh and Eighth street.

Mr. Tuller happened to pass the place where the outfit was stationed. There was little in the outfit to attract his attention until his eyes rested on the bronco with the horsehoe brands on his shoulder. Tuller sees more in a horse than the usual run of men and a single glance only was necessary for him to recognize his horse. The bronco, which had taken French leave from his barn a year before, was there in the alley tied behind the dingy wagon that was the horse trader’s home.

Tuller visited the outfit in a short time accompanied by Deputy Sheriff Clark Woolsey who was armed with a writ of replevin. W.A. Jackson the man in charge of the outfit, made no attempt to hold the horse when the circumstances were explained to him. He had secured the horse, he said, a short time ago from one Bill Greenwood, a well known horse trader living in Webster City. Greenwood was communicated with, but could only say that he bought the horse from (a) herd.

Jackson left for Webster City this afternoon and will demand a settlement of Greenwood.

The Fort Dodge Messenger: June 6, 1904

Briney Tears and a 30 Cent Diamond

The Bait Bitten by Worldly Wise Hotel Clerk and Bit Cost Him $10.

Woman’s Tears His Failing

Unable to Withstand Female Anguish He Proves an Easy Victim.

A certain hotel clerk in this city is mourning the loss of a “tenner” as the result of a soft heart and too much “confidence.” Now this young man is not one who will bite readily at any ordinary gold brick scheme. He is considered very capable of taking care of his own interests when dealing with men, but when a woman, a young and lovely lady approaches him in dire distress with great tears stealing from under long lashes slowly down thru a pink and cream complexion over a delicately rounded cheek, it is then his heart breaks in sympathy and he is sadly in need of a guardian. Under such circumstances he is as gullible as “the boy from Podunk.” and the merest novice could beat the poor fellow out of his eyes and convince him his grandfather’s goat was a bird of paradise. This tenderness for the fair sex is a natural failing with the young man, and he is deserving of real sympathy.

But the story:

It happened a month or more ago, and has only recently come to light and becomes public property now for the first time.

The clerk on this particular morning was voiciferating (sic) his “all  out for the north,” when the office door opened and a young lady stepped in. She was exceptionally pretty, she ordered her room and registered with such sweet grace and womanly modesty that the young man was at once very much struck with her appearance, and during the few days of her stay she was showered with all sorts of small favors. A dreamy look entered the eyes of the clerk. He forgot to call trains at the proper time and was missed from the bowling alley by his friends for two nights at a stretch. “Say,” said he to a companion,” Know how she looks to me? Well, you’ve seen a peck of green apples. You put a pretty, big ripe, rosy-cheeked one right in the center of that peck of green ones. She looks like that to me.”

On the morning of the third day of her stay she called him to her room and with a look of terrible anguish and a throb of pain in her voice told him her tale of woe that would melt the heart of a Klondike snow man.

She had stopped in the city with the expectation of receiving a check from home. The check for some unexplainable reason, failed to arrive for another reason, also inexplainable (sic), she could stay in the city no longer. Then with two great tears coursing down her rounded cheeks she told the now thoroughly distressed young man she had spent almost her last cent.

However, she had a diamond broach, an heirloom in the family placed in her hands a few months previously by a dying mother. This priceless piece of jewelry she would leave with him, knowing him to be an honorable young man, as security if he would stand good for her accommodations at the hotel and lend her the price of a ticket to Sioux City. Oh, the embarrassment and shame she felt at being thus forced to call upon an almost total stranger was terrible to bear. But his face looked so good and kind, she felt as though she could put the same trust in him she would in a brother, had she been fortunate to have had one.

With trembling fingers and a fresh shower of tears which dropped with pathetic little spats on the carpet, she unfastened the pin from her fair throat and thrust it in the hands of the clerk. The seance lasted for some minutes and at its close, the young man, himself almost dissolved in a flood of briny eyewater, shelled out the shekels asked for. He also dropped several plunks into the money drawer and put a “Pd.” after her name in the daybook. In an hour the fair Princess Distress had departed, showering blessings on his head. She would be back thru the city in two weeks and would see him again, but would return the borrowed money by mail the next day. The brooch rested in safety on the lef tinside lining of the clerk’s vest.

It was the start for as pretty a romance as ever adorned the pages of a novel, bu cruel fate! The days passed bringing no tidings of the borrowed shekels. The dreamy light gradually faded from the innocent eyes of the clerk and an expression of pained distrust o’erspread his features.

Finally the young man extracted the brooch from its hiding place next his heart and took it to a jeweler to learn its real value. “Well,” said the man, squinting at it thru a guttapercha tube. “The setting is a pretty fair quality of brass, but the stones themselves are a might poor imitation. I should think when new the thing ought to have retailed for at least 30 cents.”

The Fort Dodge Messenger: May 29, 1906

Big Police Court Grist

Five Offenders Feel the Law – Will Work on Streets as Soon as Weather Clears.

Five offenders against the law and order of the city were brought up before Mayor Bennett this morning in police court. Four were plain drunks and the fifth was charged with fighting. John Dorcey, Thomas Kennedy, George Wells, and Peter Ewing admitted having been drunk and were fined a dollar and costs each. Mack Christianson the fifth of the party filled up on fire water yesterday afternoon and attacked Mr. J.J. Scanlon in his blacksmith shop. A rousing fight resulted and Christianson had to be taken from the place by the police. He was treated the same as the others and the police were ordered by the mayor to place all on the city streets as soon as the weather cleared.

The Fort Dodge Messenger: May 29, 1906

Are Heavily Fined

Erring Couple Taken From 4th Street Rooming House get Heavy Fines in the Mayor’s Court.

On the complaint of the keeper of a South 4th street boarding house, who stated that a man and woman who were registered at the place as man and wife were evidently not married, Chief Tullar raided the place last night and arresting the two placed them in jail.

Before the mayor this morning they gave their names as Frank Richmond and Nell Earley, frankly admitting the charge against them. Richmond was fined $25 and costs and the woman $10 and costs. Both were sent to jail in default of payment. Richmond works in a lunch counter on 1st avenue south. A watch and chain stolen from the rooming house were found on him. The Earley girl is employed at the Logan house.

The Fort Dodge Messenger: May 27, 1903

B.J. Foster is an Object Lesson

And the Moral is; Do Not Yield, Unlawfully, to the Pangs of Hunger

Foster Stole Roll of Bologna

Was Interrupted by Police Officers in Midst of Epicurean Banquet. Police News

B.J. Foster yielded to the calls of hunger on Tuesday and as a result, entered a plea of guilty to disorderly conduct in police court this morning. He was fined $1 and costs, and went to jail where he will play a waiting game.

Foster entered the purlieus of the Rock Island yards on Tuesday afternoon, and as he wandered about the yards trying to still the pangs of hunger which were rending his interior, he happened upon an open box car, wherein reposed a sack of succulent, appetizing bologna. The sight was too much for human eyes, at least for Foster’s eyes. Out came his trusty jack knife with one fell swoop the sack was cut open, and  Foster wandered up the platform, with his mouth full of sausage and his heart full of peace.

Station employees noticed Foster wrapped in gastronomic bliss, investigated, discovered the robbery, and called the police. This morning when charged with his crime, Foster admitted taking some apricots, but said not a word about the bologna, thus riveting the chains of guilt more clostly about him.

Henry Clark, plain drunk paid over the regular allowance into the exchequer of the city, and John Bergen, up on a similar charge, went to jail.

The Fort Dodge Messenger: May 26, 1905

Biff! Bang! For a Masher

In This Case Masher was Mashed.

Young Woman Insulted by Sidewalk Loafer Found a Stalwart Champion at Hand.

A black eye and a badly swollen mouth was the price paid last evening by a Fort dodge young fellow for making insulting remarks about a young lady who had just passed him as he stood with a companion on a street corner.

The young lady was unaccompanied and unprotected as this fellow thought and as she passed he followed her with his eyes and made a remark concerning the beauty of her form, when Biff! a brawny fist collided with his eye and a second poke in the mouth laid him flat on his back on the pavement.

In the mean time the companion of the fellow who had been attacked made his getaway. The man with the forceful fists stepped out and helped the fallen one up.

“Look here,” he said. I am not a preacher, and that girl is neither my wife, my sweetheart or my sister. She is a woman however and alone on the street, and any man who will not take the part of a woman under those circumstances is no man at all, and must have forgotten that his mother is a member of the sex. A fellow who makes it a business to stand on the corners with others whose minds are as depraved as his own, and make remarks such as you did after that young woman passed is a very poor sort of a cur, and I wonder that the dog marshal has not roped you in before this.

“But remember this young fellow, there are a few men in this world who have respect enough for their mothers and sisters to respect the mothers and sisters of other men, and you are likely to run up against one of these almost any time just as you did tonight.

“You are a coward, a cur, a moral leper, a disgrace to humanity, and you and your like are responsible for three fourths of the depravity of modern civilization. Remember these few remarks of mine, and with this I will bid you a pleasant good night.”