The Fort Dodge Messenger: June 20, 1905

Excursionists Are “Buncoed” at Tara

Small Boys Reap Harvest by Selling Them Colored Water For Beer.

Every Trainload Would “Bite”

Young Grafters Managed to Sell a Dozen or So Bottles on Each Train Before the Ruse Would Be Found Out.

Among the amusing incidents that have developed during the past few days, in connection with the events of  Sunday’s excursion to Chicago there is none so ingenius (sic) in its nature or so mirth provoking as a story which has been reported from Tara.

In that place, it seems a number of small boys hearing of the size and nature of the excursion, secured some two or three days before the day set, a number of empty beer bottles and during their spare hours filled them with colored water and by means of a little ingenius work sealed and labeled them, making them look very similar to bottles fresh from the establishments from which the amber fluid is sent forth.

As fast as a train would pull into the station the youngsters would pass along the platform with an arm-full of bottles offering them for sale to the excursionists at twenty-five cents each. A dozen or so bottles would be sold before the trick would be “tumbled” to but by that time the train would be ready to pull out and the “buncoed” excursionists would be without recourse.

The boys would simply wait until the next train pulled in and then the trick would be worked over again on a fresh crowd. Out of the fifteen or sixteen trains that passed through the town, it is said the youthful grafters cleared a total of forty or fifty dollars.

(Editor’s note: The 2010 equivalent is $5.99 each for the “beers” and $956 to $1,197 total.)

The Fort Dodge Messenger: June 19, 1905

Was Greatest Excursion Ever Run From The West

Yesterday’s Excursion to Chicago Truly a Record Breaker.

Many Go From This City

Trains and Equipment Used Finest Ever Run Through The City.

17 Trains Pass Through

On the Entire Excursion Not an Accident to Life or Property Reported – Many Amusing Incidents Occur on Trans and at Depot Platform.

What was, according to men in positions to know, the greatest excursion ever run from the west, passed thru Fort Dodge Saturday. The excursion was the greatest in several ways, having the largest number of passengers drained from one district and in addition having the greatest number of cars and trains.

The number of passengers handled through Fort Dodge Saturday has been variously estimated by different Illinois Central officials in figures ranging from 7,000 to 10,00o. It seem sthat 7,000 would be altogether too small a figure as there were sixteen trains carrying in all over one hundred and ninety cars. Thousands were also picked up east of here.

Figuring that each of these one hundred and ninety cars carried fifty passengers the total would be about 10,000 passengers. To anyone who went through these trains an estimate of fifty passengers to a car would sound ridiculous, for except on the first and last trains, there was not a train on which all the passengers could get a seat.

In some of the trains people were to be seen sitting on bundles between the seats, while on the vestibuled trains, which were in the majority, passengers made seats int he vestibules by putting bundles there and sitting on these. In nearly all of the vestibules passengers were to be found huddled up in this manner trying to sleep on their long journey. On some trains one could not get through the aisles because of people sitting on the floor.

On all trains were cars that had a seating capacity much in excess of fifty people. The Chicago & Alton cars, which numbered ten had each a seating capacity of eight-four (sic) and in every one of these cars there were about one hundred people.

Another instance of the crowded condition of the trains was that on the next to the last train, the space was all taken before the train arrived here so the crew had some of the men go up into the baggage car and there they rode until the train reached Chicago. The baggage man took pity on them and made seats for them by the use of trunks.

300 From Here.

The business handled out of the local station was the heaviest in the history of Fort Dodge. There were three hundred tickets sold from here to Chicago, while three Pullman sleepers were used to handle the Fort Dodge delegation.

Another indication of the magnitude of this excursion is that the Pullman company were unable to furnish enough sleepers to handle the enormous crowd. Fifty-nine tourist sleepers were at first contracted for and as the Pullman company could not furnish any more the road tried to make this number cover the business.

When the applications for berths began to come in the railroad company made an urgent application for more cars. The Pullman company then offered the use of seventeen standard sleepers for the excursion business and then as the demand became more and more urgent others were sent.

Thus a large number of people rode in Pullman standard sleepers, when they only paid for a berth in a tourist car. There was not a berth left in any train, hours before the first evening excursion started. Late orders from different small towns for berths could not be filled and people had to ride in day coaches. One town sent an order for one hundred berths late in the day and the whole lat had to be turned down.

People left behind.

A crowd of over two hundred people who purchased tickets from points on the Omaha line were unable to get seats, or in fact to get on any of the trains from that line and were left behind. The officials on learning of this fact sent other cars west and these passengers were sent east Sunday morning on passenger train No. 4. Wall Lake had about 100 left behind, while Denison had 150.

The excursion took people into Chicago who had never been there before and many had never even traveled before. People who had never traveled much were constantly changing about and the employees were kept on the jump to see that none were injured.

On everyone of these trains was a train crew composed of five men, besides the engine crew. There were two conductors, two brakemen and a baggageman on each train in addition to the engineer and fireman, and not a man had an idle moment from the time he went onto the train until he arrived at the end of his run.

Men Double The Road.

Because of the enormous business handled some of the men doubled that road two and three times that day. Between Fort Dodge and Waterloo some of the men arrived here early in the morning and went east on the earlier excursion, returned here on extras and again went east on the later excursions.

Because of this heavy work nearly all the employes and officials alike were tired out Sunday. The officials were constant in their vigilance and it is due to these hard working men that everything went on smoothly and that there was not even a single passenger hurt on this division. To employes also is due the greatest credit for their masterful way in doing the work. Everything went along smoothly and well and there was not the slightest hitch in any of the work.

Every train had to be switched in the local yards and the Fort Dodge yard force had to be constantly on the jump to keep the trains moving and to save a congestion in these yards. Added to the hard work of keeping the excursion trains moving was the fact that the Minneapolis & St. Louis had trains running into the local station, which also had to be switched and also had to change engines here.

Cars From a Dozen Roads.

The Illinois Central being unable to get anywhere near enough cars of their own to operate the excursion trains got cars from a dozen different other roads. Practically every road that operated excursion trains into Chicago on the same day rented cars to the Central, which showed that the road through here handled by far the heaviest excursions of any and in all probabilities handled as many excursions as all the other roads combined.

Cars used on the excursion trains were drawn from the following roads: The Chicago Great Western, The Chicago & Alton, Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul, the Wabash, the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy, the Iowa Central, the Minneapolis & St. Louis, the Des Moines, Iowa Falls & Northern, the Northern Pacific, the Southern Pacific, the Union Pacific and the Wisconsin Central.

The equipment used on all trains was the finest ever used on an excursion and was as good as could be desired. The Pullman tourist sleepers were all vestibuled cars and of the latest type, while the Pullman standard sleepers are always considered the best.

The coaches and other cars were also of the finest types. Among the cars were the best that were to be had from the dozen different roads consisting of chair cars, parlor cars, coaches of the high back seat variety and cars with every convenience.

Elegant Equipment

Some of the most elegant cars ever seen in this city were some Illinois Central cars on the last train. These cars were fitted up with chair revolving on pivots. There were two rows of these chairs extending clear thru the cars, and the chairs could be made to face in any direction. The chairs were leather upholstered and were a very easy chair.

Another class of car that was especially worthy of mention was a parlor car with individual chairs. Others were chair cars of the latest design. Still others were cars fitted up with wide windows, the glass being about twice the width of an ordinary car window.

The trains were nearly all solid vestibuled and the traveler could have been as comfortable in any as it was possible to be had it not been for the crowds. The equipment was much superior to any ever sent through this city on an excursion train and in fact was superior to the trains operated through here daily.

The road had to send many more trains east than was first expected. One train from Sioux City was composed entirely of Milwaukee cars which the road had rented when it was first seen that it was impossible to handle the crowds with the equipment then on hand. The road also sent through several other trains with a few Milwaukee cars on each, thus showing that the road that first started the war had not been able to compete with the Central, which threw the bomb into the Western Passenger Association meeting at Chicago, when General Passenger Agent Hanson on finding that the other roads were cutting rates secretly at first exposed their methods and then gave out that his road would allow a $5 rate to Chicago and return from all points as far west as the Missouri river.

The excursion has realized the wildest hopes of the Illinois Central officials. The crowds were altogether unprecedented while the enormous jam of trains was handled over the road without the slightest accident. Every operator on the western lines was kept at work until the last train passed his station.

Trains Kept a Station Apart.

Each train was blocked a station apart, thus ensuring safety. East of Waterloo, the line is all operated under a block system, but even then all trains were blocked a station apart. The force in the dispatcher’s office was increased by competent men and the movement was both speedy and safe.

Several problems developed during the day, one of which was how to supply such crowds with something to eat. The local lunch counter best solved this problem. Here extra help was employed and men went through every train, with lunches and with hot coffee.

The passengers were thus able to get a warm lunch while their train was waiting here. In addition to this the Railway News Company which operates all of the counters as well as handles the newsboys placed “newsies” on each and every train.

The officials of the News company were nearly all concentrated on the western lines of the Central. Two officials were in this city during the day, and heartily applauded the method used in feeding the passengers here. One officials (sic) who handled the eating business during several big excursion rushes made the statement that he had never seen an excursion which was better operated through this city.

Praise for the Road.

He went further in this statement and said he had never seen an excursion when the equipment could be compared with that used by the Central. A compliment of this kind coming from a man who has spent his life in handling excursion crowds was worth a good deal.

The Pullman porters were loud in their complaints of filling the cars to a capacity as it made more work for them and what was even more worse was that many of the people had never traveled before and were ignorant of the methods used in sleeping cars, and furthermore were ignorant of the fact that a tip was due the porter.

One porter on a standard sleeper who was out on this excursion said that had he known where his car was coming he “would have been the sickest man in Chicago” when the car was due to come here. at the time the last train went thru Fort Dodge at 2:30 some of the porters were still working at making up berths as the crowds had come on them so thick they were unable to do anything.

The whole list of porters were about as disgusted a crowd of negroes as was ever seen for the tips given did not amount to over a few dollars, while the work was about ten fold increased.

In addition to the first five trains sent through Fort Dodge during the day time there were eleven during the evening and as these eleven trains were sent through here within a period of five hours it is easy to see that work was plentiful for everyone during that time.

The first five trains were mentioned in Saturday’s Messenger and consisted of fifty cars. The two sections of No. 6 in the afternoon had twelve and ten cars respectively. The people were congregated on every platform in the train and when it pulled out of here they cheered for Fort Dodge.

Sioux City Advertises.

Hundreds of people were congregated on the station platform and retuned the cheers. The demonstration was a great one and every one seemed to be enjoying themselves to the limit. The Sioux City people on these two trains as well as on the other trains sent through later all wore Sioux City badges. On these were inscribed:

“Watch us grow.”
“Sioux City”
“Chicago’s only rival.”

The first train in the evening was the first section of No. 32 from Omaha. This train went east at 9:16 and consisted of twelve cars. The next five extras went east at 9:55, 10:15, 10:37, 11:00 and 11:35 p.m. respectively and consisted of thirteen, fourteen, twelve, thirteen and eleven cars respectively.

Then came three sections of No. 2, consisting of eleven, eight and fourteen cars respectively and leaving at 11 p.m.; 1:00 and at 1:55 a.m. respectively. Between the first and second sections was run an extra consisting of twelve cars, which left here about 12:30 a.m. At a little before 2:30 am., was run the last section of No. 2 and incidentally the last excursion train. This train consisted of thirteen cars and after it left the city, the Illinois Central officals who had been grouped on the platform slowly left the station and went home to their beds, to dream for some time, of a mass of cars pulling across the station platform and as the cars would pass by, their eyes would slowly become blurred.

The big crowd which had been grouped on the platform all evening also went slowly home, after an evening well spent as it was an amusement to see the mass of people as well as education to see the well disciplined railway forces handling with such an enormous amount of business without an apparent hitch.

Novelty Attracts Crowd.

The crowd was drawn to the depot by the novelty of the excursion, and to see the large number of cars. Others came to see friends or relatives leave while others were drawn there by letters from friends living further west who were to pass thru this city and who would thus be able to see their friends for a few moments.

There were many humorous incidents recorded at the station while there were also some disgusting spectacles, but as a rule the excursionists attended solely to their own business and paid little attention to the crowd on the platform, except to answer any cheers that might be sent up as the trains slowly pulled out from the station.

Among the disgusting sights that met people’s gaze was the sight of ignorant men trying to be funny by the train pulled out. Men who would (be) drinking beer on the car platforms to indulge in such places were not worthy to be called men and it is only justice to the excursionists to say that there were only a few such incidents to be see (sic).

The trainmen had their hands full in trying to keep the people away from the platforms, but they were badly handicapped in this work by the large crowds.

(Editor’s note: Yes, I did note the racial reference in the fourth paragraph under “Praise for the Road.” I had determined when I started this blog to be faithful to the words as they were written. It does bother me, but I’m leaving it in.

The second to last paragraph puzzles me. This is partly because some of the words are mixed up, and it’s very vague. It appears that the disgust is because some men were drinking beer in public. Is that all? Sadly, today you can see people drinking beer in various public venues, such as concerts and so on.)

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 5, 1893

Strange Sights and Sounds Be These

Grim Ghosts are Haunting the Rock Island Bridge Over the North Lizzard.

There may not be any ghosts holding high carnival nights on the Rock Island bridge over the North Lizzard, but there are a number of railway employes (sic) and people in that vicinity who cannot be convinced of that fact. Conductor Joe Donald, of the Rock Island, is one of these. His brother is another. The operator at Tara has seen a few things that he cannot explain, and Section Foreman Chelgren has also had  his hair raised by strange sights and sounds. Any number of curious Tara people can also be produced as witnesses to prove that the bridge is “haunted.”

The bridge in question is a small wooden pile bridge over the North Lizzard, three-quarters of a mile north of Tara. It was on this bridge that William Roberts, a young man working with a pile driving crew, lost his life a couple of years ago, being killed by a (paragraph ends here and is continued later) flying pile. Since then the railway men have been more or less afraid of the bridge, but until recently saw nothing on which to base their suspicions.

Section Foreman Chelgren “saw” the operator’s story and went  him several better a few evenings later. He was returning after nightfall with his section men, pumping away cheerfully on a hand car and figuring on getting to their belated supper just as soon as possible. As they neared the North Lizzard bridge all the men noticed the light of a locomotive apparently moving on the bridge. they stopped the hand car with a jerk and hustled the car off the track to let the train pass. The light came no nearer and after waiting a while they put the car back on the rails and slowly pumped up to the bridge. As they approached it the light grew dimmer and dimmer and finally disappeared. There was no sight or sound of a train. A superstitious fear came over the crowd of men and they did not have the courage to cross the bridge.

They waited talking to each other in awe stricken whispers. Suddenly strange sounds floated out on the night air with startling distinctness. The listeners heard the clanking and rattling of machinery and then a dull thud like the falling hammer of a pile driver. Then again came silence. The men were badly rattled and were afraid to cross the bridge. Finally they took the hand car down the track and giving it a good start sent it rattling over the bridge, without any occupants. It crossed in safety and they followed on foot with fear and trembling.

Since then a number of skeptical Tara citizens have seen the strange sights and heard the ghostly pile driving and the town is in a ferment of excitement over the affair. Ghost hunting partied are organized every evening but no one has as yet captured his ghostship.

The station agent at Tara was the first to discover the “harnt.” One evening he had just closed up the office and was going home for the night when he glanced up the track and saw the head light of a locomotive apparently on the bridge. He immediately jumped to the conclusion that a special train was coming and that the train dispatcher at Des Moines had failed to notify him. He rushed back to his instrument and ticked off a message to Des Moines, asking about the “special” that  had stopped on the bridge near Tara. He got a reply informing him that a Roman chariot race was probably occurring in his head. The operator was mystified and walked out to the bridge to investigate. When he got to the trestle there was no light and no sign of any train. He lost no time in getting back to Tara.

The Fort Dodge Messenger: June 2, 1903

President Roosevelt Visits Fort Dodge

Nation’s Chief Spend an Hour in the City and is Greeted by Thousands of enthusiastic People Who Had Come for Miles to Meet Him

Passing thru thousands of cheering people, who lined every foot of the route which he traveled, President Roosevelt made his long expected visit to Fort Dodge this morning. No man was ever given a more enthusiastic greeting than was tendered by Fort Dodge people to the nation’s president. It was “Roosevelt Day” in very truth. Stores and places of business were closed. Busy machinery all over the city was at rest, and the employes (sic) of all local business enterprises were set free to greet the president and to hear his address.

President Roosevelt and party spent just one hour in Fort Dodge, but it was a busy hour. The president was kept constantly on the move to fill the program which had been arrange for him, but the route was covered successfully. The president reached Fort Dodge at 11:25. At 12:25 he waived his hat in farewell from the rear platform of his outgoing train.

The arrangements for the day were perfect, and too much credit cannot be given to the committee which had the exercises in charge. There was no hitch at any point, and even the weather, altho not all that could be desired, was acceptable. Even if it had rained, the program would have been carried out as outlined, but it was a source of gratification to all loyal Fort Dodgers that even tho the skies were gray, the president was able to carry out his visit without the down pour of rain which had been so greatly feared.

Hundreds of people crowded every point of vantage about the Illinois Central station, when the president special drawn by a great engine, decked with hundreds of flags, with Engineer James Wheeler at the throttle pulled in from Denison, where the last stop had been made. The president was greeted by the members of the reception committee, who were on the platform and went at once to his carriage. The procession started as soon as the guests had taken their places in their carriages, marhing (sic) directly thru the depot to the park, and on over the route out lined. Everywhere it passed thru dense crowds of people, who crowded against the ropes which marked off the streets included in the line of march. The president was continully (sic) doffing his silk hat in answer to the cheers for “Teddy,” which rose all along the line.

All along Central Avenue the windows were crowded, and porches and every point which would command a view of the procession all thru the residence districts helds (sic) its throng of eager sight seers.

The president was driven first to the Lincoln school grounds, where the school children of the city were gathered by the hundreds to see him. The stop there was brief. In answer to the cries of welcome which arose to greet him, the president rose in his carriage, “I am very glad to have seen you,” he said, “and as I have six children of my own, I take particular interest in all that pertains to you.”

The president made his drive thru the residence districts of the city, unattended save by  his body guard, dressed in khaki uniforms, and composed of W.T. Chantland, B.J. Price, Dan Rhodes and Frederic Larrabee.

On his return to the business portion of the city, he joined the remainder of the procession, which proceeded down Central avenue to the park where the speakers stand had been erected. President Roosevelt, and the distinguished visitors who had accompanied him, with the members of the reception committee took their seats on the platform. as the president mounted the steps he stopped for a kindly handshake and word with a veteran of the civil war, who was sitting there.

Without any delay, Senator J.P. Dolliver advanced to the edge of the platform and looking over the crowded thousands who filled the park said “My fellow citizens: it gives me great pleasure to introduce to you the President of the United States.”

President Roosevelt came forward, and was again forced to doff his hat in response to the enthusiastic cheers which greeted his appearance. His address was punctuated with ringing applause, as he touched upon some theme which brought an instant response from his thousands of eager listeners.

The president’s address, in full, was as follows:

“Senator Dolliver and you, my fellow Americans, men and women of Iowa:

“It is a great pleasure to have the chance of saying a word of greeting to you this morning. I have come from a trip to and fro across the continent, and I want to say that of all things the thing that has struck me most in that trip is the essential unity of our people. A good American is a good American anywhere in this land. (Applause.) And, gentleman, I don’t think that until one has traveled a little one get a real idea of how purely relative a matter the east and west is. I recollect in the old days when I lived in the cow country. (Applause and laughter) I had a cattle ranch myself and it was out west of here on the Little Missouri in North dakota, and at the end of one summer, one of the cow-hands came to me and said: ‘Boss, I’d like my time. I’m going to spend the winter in the far east.’ I said, ‘That’s all right. Whjat (sic) do you mean by far east, Norway or Nubia?’ and he answered, ‘Duluth.’ I found that I had gotten into the country where Duluth represented the eastermost (sic) verge of the horizon. (Laughter.)

“But now, seriously, I cannot say what a pleasure it has been to me to go from the Atlantic to the Pacific and find everywhere men and women to whom I could appeal in the name of the same ideals and who were responsive ever to that appeal, and we owe that especially to the men who in ’61, when Abraham Lincoln called, answered the call, and in greeting all our people I greet with the greatest pleasure those to whom we owe it that we now have a common country, that we now have a country thru which a president can travel to meet his countrymen. And these men, the men of ’61 fought not only by what they did, not only established the union, not only left us a heritage of honor forever, the deeds they did, but they left us the memory of how these deeds were done, the memory of the spirit in which they were done. They taught us for all time the two good lessons: The lesson of appreciating what is really important in life and the lesson of brotherhood. The lesson of appreciating what is really important in life – It is not important to have an easy time, it is, however, unimportant to try to lead a life of mere pleasure. It is vitally important to see what is worth doing and then to try to do it at any cost. (Applause.) And here today, as everywhere thruout this union, as in every meeting of Americans, you, the men of the Civil War are given the place of honor, forever and always, and your deeds shall live to be told by our children’s children on and on thru generation after generation as long as there shall be a country to have a recorded history on this continent. They shall be told. Why? Because in ’61 and the years following, you chose not the easy places, but the places that led across the stony slopes of greatness to the goal of triumph for the age and the nation. When Lincoln called, the easy thing was not to answer the call. You did not choose the life, you did not choose the life of comfort, you did not choose the life which was easy, you did not walk silently in earth’s soft places, you did not pay heed to your own material well being, on the contrary, the men of the Civil War abandoned for the time that they were in battle the hope of all material gain. The faces suffering by cold in winter nights, suffering by heat in summer days of the march, the knowledge, the practical experience of great fatigue, of hunger and thirst and the ever present chance of death in battle, death on the fever cots of the hospital, and they did all that gladly because they had in them the lofty things which go with generous souls; because they had in them the spirit that bade them distinguish between the things that are essential in life. It is unessential to have an easy time. It is vitally essential to do well your duty, to do well all things worth doing. That is the essential thing and these men had in them to see what was essential and to do the essential thing. That is one lesson they taught. The other one, the lesson of brotherhood. Brotherhood – the recognition of each man as a man, of seeing what is important in his character and disregarding the individual. To each one of you as you moved forward into the battle it made a good deal of difference whether the man on your right hand or on your left had the right stuff in him. That was the essential thing. You wanted to know that when he moved he would move the right way. That is what you wanted to know. It was absolutely of no consequence what the creed was in accordance with which he worshipped, his social position  or his birth-place. You cared nothing whether he were a capitalist, or wage-earner merchant, farmer, lawyer, business man, what you wanted to know was whether when the crisis came he would stay put. (Laughter and applause.) That is what you wanted to know exactly.

“It is just so in civil life. (I wish there were more of me and I would turn all around.) I have just got one moment more now.

“I believe this country is going forward to rise to a pitch, not merely of power, but of high and true greatness, such as no other country has ever shown, because I believe that our average citizen now in peace has profited and will profit by the lessons taught in the Civil War by the men of ’61, and thatwe shall apply practically the two lessons of which I have spoken. That we show show as a nation that what we seek is not mere ease, not mere comfort, not mere material well being – important tho that well being is – but that we shall try to do in our lives individually and collectively as a nation the things worth doing and to do them well and finally that we shall retlize (sic – should be realize) so far as in human power it can be realized, the brotherhood in fact as well as in name and shall continue to treat this government as it was meant to be treated by those who founded it and by those who preserved it: as a government not of license, but of liberty and by and through the law of liberty, the liberty of good government both social and govermental (sic), as a system under which, so far as finite human ability to reach us, to reach that knowledge and system, under which each man is treated, not with regard to his wealth or his possessions or occupation, or his social position, but with reference to his fundamental qualities as a man among his fellows.

“Now, I thank you all for having listened to me. I thank you men of the Grand Army: I thank my comrades of the lesser war and the men of the National Guard, for let us remember that exactly as we pay honor to the men of hte greater war, so the man Regular or Volunteer Regular or National Guardsman, who wears the uniform under the fltg (sic – should be flag), has a peculiar claim upon all Americans.

“Good-bye and Good Luck.”

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 18, 1903

Great Western Engine Served as Sand Plow

Left the Track and Sunk Clear Up to the Hubs in the Right of Way

An accident that resulted very happily, considering how serious it might have been, happened about 5 o’clock this morning in the Chicago Great Western yards. The track repairers have been at work for some time past in theyeards, repairing the track, and have used mostly sand and cinders as ballast. This usually makes a firm bed for the rails, and the tracks in the yards were considered perfectly safe.

Train No. 162, a way freight train due here about 5 a.m., was just pulling into the yards, and was running slowly, when it struck a bad point in the track, and it ran along of its own momentum for about twenty yards. The sand which formed the roadbed was loose and the huge engine sunk nearly to the hubs of the great driver. The left side riding on the ties, was held up, but the right side sunk until it was feared that the whole machine would capsize. As it was, it careened so that but a slight movement was needed to throw it over entirely.

Engineer Keltz stuck to his post, expecting every moment to see the engine topple over. His fireman, Tennant, stood in the door on the opposite side, ready to jump, but fortunately neither had ocsacion (sic) to. No one was injured and the wrecking crew soon had the engine back on the rails again.

The Fort Dodge Messenger: May 14, 1906

Great Western bridge in Fort Dodge

Runs Out on Bridge

Runaway Sunday Morning Ends up in Middle of the Big Great Western Bridge.

A horse belonging to a Lehigh man broke away form its driver Saturday night about ten o’clock and tore at full speed half way across the Great Western railway bridge southeast of the city, finally stopping only when it became stuck in the ties.

It was found utterly exhausted and badly bruised and skinned by a party of boys a few hours later. The problem how to get it back to the ground seemed a serious one, but this was finally accomplished by unhitching it and leading it back. The buggy was not badly damaged and was pulled back by hand.

The accident is a most peculiar one. If a train had happened to come along while the rig was fast in the middle of the bridge a bad accident would have been likely to have occurred. It seems also strange that the animal did not rear and plunge  until it went over the edge of the railing and dropped to the ground nearly a hundred feet below. As it was, however, neither the horse nor the vehicle were badly damaged.

The Fort Dodge Messenger: May 6, 1903

More Money in Sight for Central Section Men

Announcement Made Public That Company Has Voluntarily Granted Ten Per Cent Raise.

Illinois Central section men are rejoicing in the news that the company voluntarily had advanced the wages of its section men 10 per cent on the entire system, the advance to date from May 1. The raise will effect (sic) all men working on sections from foremtn (sic) to the cheapest laborer. The men had not asked for a raise and that makes the announcement all the more pleasing.