The Fort Dodge Messenger: Feb. 15, 1907

Some People

Sent those funny (?) but vulgar valentines Thursday.

Anticipate a big building boom in Fort Dodge this year.

Believe the Grundhog (sic) a bum weather prophet.

Think two cents a mile rides will be pretty fine.

Take lots of care of themselves but are not as healthy as the careless.

Read every line of the Thaw trial before they eat, then tell how rank they think it all is.

Keep their children at home after 9 p.m. and some do not.

Can’t see how little time the public has for croakers and calamity howlers.

Tags: 1907

The Fort Dodge Messenger: Feb. 15, 1907

Town Topics

Said one valentine dealer: “The tendency this year was more marked than ever in favor of artistic valentines. The coarse penny valentine is losing ground, and on the other hand the very elaborate, high priced, satin trimmed valentine is not so popular as it was. The prices of the popular valentines today range from one cent (23 cents today) to 75 cents ($17.32). When a young man feels like spending more than that on the object of his affection he will usually send candy or flowers, not a valentine costing as much as $10 ($231) or $15 ($346), which will be looked at once and then put aside.

Valentine postcards are among the latest innovations in connection with the observance of St. Valentine’s Day. To the man whose sentiments have been mildly stirred by Cupid the valentine postcard is a blessing. Without going to the trouble of placing it in a separate wrapper he may mail it to the object of his affection by simply affixing a one cent cent (sic) stamp. Each card is inscribed with some expression supposed to emanate from the heart and ranging in length from a single word to several lines of verse.

Another new thing is the valentine toast. These valentines constitute a series of well known and popular toasts neatly printed on a large card in colrs and suitably illustrated in colors. Such cards are intended for framing, and each is accompanied by a separate smaller card bearing such an inscription as “Valentine greetings” or “To my valentine,” etc.

The ragtime valentine is one of the new comers which is taking the place of the cheap comic. There is nothing vulgar in its laughable makeup. In this valentine grotesque figures are cut out and pasted on a heavy card. Each of the figures is neatly colored and made up with real cloth ties, cloth coats and cloth dresses. A feature of the ragtime valentine which commends it to purchasers is that it comes in a mailing case.

Other new comics include valentine jumping jacks, which are popular with the children. By pulling a strong these grotesque figures are made to go through all sorts of antics. There is a new series of valentines, styled “tender reflections,” in which a little mirror is fastened into the card. There is a series styled “on love’s highway,” in which love is depicted in every kind of vehicle, from a horsecar up to a 40-horsepower automobile.

Tags: 1907

The Fort Dodge Messenger: Feb. 14, 1905

Amassing Fortune Raising of Skunks

John Lucas, of Lake City, Has Chosen a Peculiar Business

He Runs a Regular Farm

The Pelts are Valuable And Are Shipped to The Cities For Fur Garments – Has About three Hundred of The Animals in Prime Condition

Lake City, Feb. 14. – John Lucas, who lives a mile west of Lake City, is slowing amassing a small fortune by breeding and selling skunks.For the last three years the business has been thriving and the quality of the hides is first class. Lucas has an option on two acres of rough ground and was first attracted to his novel occupation by observing the numerous holes these animals had dug in the banks. This gave him an idea. He had the lace fence by strong galvanized wire netting five feet above ground and two feet under ground and let the animals breed without disturbance. The nature of the tract of land is naturally a home of these small animals, as it is bluffy, along a small creek and covered with a heavy growth of hazelnut bushes. Long grass is common,a nd it is let grow. Thus the roots of the bushes furnish feed and the grass is the home of many mice and other rodents and numerous insects, on which the fur bearing animals live.

There were some three hundred animals in prime condition for fur this season. The harvest is a matter of small import. Mr. Lucas has arranged an enclosure of wire in the center of the large field and when he wants to sell a few hides he puts some kind of attractive bait in the small enclosure. Peculiar holes in the netting readily admit the skunks but a clever device as readily prevents all exit. The feat of the killing is merely selection and a small club. The pelts are largely shipped to Sioux City and Minneapolis, Mr. Lucas receiving good prices for them.

The proprietor of this novel farm has been able in this time to select prime animals for stock and is now raising but pure black skunks, though occasionally a striped one appears. Artificial feeding has been found to make the quality of the pelts better and so roots of various kinds are raised for the consumption of the detestible (sic) little animals.

Tags: 1905, Lucas

The Fort Dodge Messenger: Feb. 13, 1905

Stratagem That Worked All Right

How Fort Dodge Women Relieved Herself From Bother of Canvassers.

Dose of Their Own Medicine

When The Oily-Tongued Agent Talked to Her About Buying His Wares She Opened a Masked Artillery in the Way of a Rival Set of Good Things.

In spite of the strict enforcement of the peddler’s law in Fort Dodge, there are still many canvassers extant, and there is one lady in the city who has been particularly bored by this class of people. Up to a month ago she was besieged by them day after day, and they took up the greater share of her time. Finally she decided to get a little enjoyment out of the eternal, unconquerable besiegers of her purse. She is a young and attractive lady, and enjoys fun with a zest, so she laid her plans deep, and with an eye to getting paid for the time she spent.

She decided that the most effective way of doing the agent to a turn was to give him his own medicine so she ordered a book canvassing outfit, and a number of “money-making specialties” among which were a patent nail trimmer, a skirt supporter and a few other trifles, so she would be prepared to suit the most fastidious disturber of her peace. When she had prepared her masked battery of “things that every person ought to have,” she laid low and awaited the coming of the unlucky victim.

It was not long until a dapper, and self-confident young man stepped up to the door and rang the bell vigorously. She was on hand to let him in herself, and as he slid his toe in the crack to prevent her closing it in his face, he was nearly taken off his feet by the cordiality with which he was received. She led him in and seated him in a most comfortable big easy chair, took his hat and treated him in every way as a guest. When he had somewhat recovered from his surprise he came to the conclusion that he had found an “easy,” and was not long in stating his mission. He was introducing into only a limited number of the best homes  of the city a “Complete Compendum (sic) of Common Sense Knowledge,” gathered from the four corners of the universe, which should adorn the shelves of every library in the land.

The lady was delighted to have a chance to look at so valuable a work, but would the gentleman mind glancing thru a book she had? She would take only a very few minutes of his valuable time. She knew as soon as she saw his refined face that he would appreciate the volume at its true worth.

Here she picked up a prospectus of “The Home Maker and a Complete Encyclopedia of Cooking Receipts for the Things That Mother Used to Make.” She sat down in front of him and beginning at the binding, read every word of the specimen pages from start to finish, not omitting the index and preface.

After the first ten minutes the dapper young man began to squirm; in twenty minutes he was white to the lips and in half an hour he was fairly haggard. She held her victim a full two hours, giving him a canvass that should have sold seven sets of Shakespeare and a complete library of the poets.

However, the young man had found the big easy chair such a seat of thorns that he was unable to appreciate the book at its true worth and made the sickly statement that as he was boarding and had no home, he would be unable to use it in his business.

“Oh, that’s all right,” said the woman sweetly. “If that book doesn’t suit you I have three others and surely one of them should prove to be just what you are looking for.” The agent staggered up, grasped his hat and pleading an appointment, fled as tho pursued by a thousand demons. He reached the street in three steps, threw a frightened look back over his shoulder and sped west almost on a run while the lady of the house retired to her room to have a good laugh. On the lady agent with an assortment of cosmetic she worked off a skirt supporter and took up 45 minutes of her time in exploiting the merits of a newfangled mouse trap and a cockroach extinguisher. The man with the patent broom holder was given a dissertation on a duplex automatic mop stick, guaranteed to do the work without an effort on the part of the operator. The gentleman with the luminous name plate was sold seven packages of bunion cure and the girls with the “gems of the musical world” was forced to listen to a description of a book on “How to Land Big Fish From The Matrimonial Stream.”

This sort of thing went on for a week and the lady became more finished in her work of working the undoing of the wily agent at every encounter. At last the visits of the canvasser became less and less frequent until now she is let entirely alone. The skull and cross bones are suspended in the air over the house and the agent jumps sidewise and quickens his pace every time he catches sight of the place.

Tags: 1905

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The Fort Dodge Messenger: Feb. 11, 1903

Another Chapter in Anderson Case

Supreme Court Dismisses Appeal on Account of Anderson’s Marriage to Plaintiff

$10,000 Judgment Still Stands

Anderson Appears to Have Got Him a Wife to No Purpose in Evading Judgment

John Anderson in marrying Sophia Olson got him a wife and also secured the affirmation of the judgment against him. This would appear by a decision of the supreme court, announcement of which was received here today, decides that there is no appeal now before the court, inasmuch as plaintiff and defendant have married, thus leaving the judgment still standing against Anderson.

Last week, Healy & Healy, the attorneys for the plaintiff, she who was Mrs. Olson and is now Mrs. Anderson, filed a motion showing Anderson’s marriage to the plaintiff and suggesting the dismissal of the case by the reason of the disability of Anderson, as husband to further prosecute the appeal as against his wife. The motion to dismiss the appeal was sustained by the supreme court, which has the effect of confirming the $10,000 judgment. The case now stands as though no appeal had been made.

The plaintiff’s attorneys have an attachment against hte land which was sold to satisfy the judgment, for fees. The case will come up at the March term of court.

The net result of Anderson’s attempt to defeat the lein (sic) for attorneys’ fees seems to have been to have the whole judgment against him affirmed. Instead of his marriage effecting his purpose, it has resulted in depriving him of whatsoever chance he had in his appeal, as the judgment is now in force and effect to the sum of $10,000.

Tags: 1903, Anderson, Healy, Olson

The Fort Dodge Messenger: Feb. 10, 1906

Death Angel Enters Hovel

Old Man Discovered Friday is Dead.

Was Sad Affair – G.A.R. Will Take Charge of Burial – Try to Find Relatives.

Last night shortly before the hour of eight, the death angel entered a miserable hovel on Central avenue where in a lowly room, Eugene Lockwood, a veteran of the civil war, had struggled for week, unattended and uncared for with the dread disease of pneumonia.

Lockwood’s case was reported in last night’s Messenger. The unfortunate man was alone in the world with the exception of distant relatives whose names or address are not known. For three weeks he has lain gasping for breath and almost with the death rattle in his throat, practically on the street where hurrying crowds rushed by, and nothing was known of his condition by those who were in a position to do anything to aid him. The members of the G.A.R. who would have done anything within their power to aid their comrade did not discover his plight until Friday and the county officers were not informed until the same day. It was then too late. Pneumonia had closed its grasp upon him, and it merely remained for him to gasp out his closing hours of life the same as he had his days of sickness before.

The local G.A.R. will have charge of the burial unless relatives come to claim the body. It is understood that distant relatives live in Mason City. An attempt will be made to learn who they are, but this seems unlikely. Lockwood has lived in this city for about five or six years. He had supported himself by doing odd jobs about town. He was last employed as a porter at the Freeman and Schureck saloon.

(Editor’s note: The G.A.R., or Grand Army of the Republic, was a fraternal organization of veterans of the Union Army during the Civil War.)

Tags: 1906, Lockwood

The Fort Dodge Messenger: Feb. 9, 1906

Old Man Dying in Dirt and Squalor

Pitiable Case Called to Attention of the Police Last Night.

Man is Ill With Pneumonia

Lies Gasping for Breath in Miserable Room Right on Central Avenue – Not Room for Him at Hospital – County Takes Up Case.

One of the most pitiable cases on record of the winter was brought to the attention of the police last night, by parties employed in the Peschau cigar store, w ho reported that an old man homeless and friendless lay deathly sick with pneumonia in a narrow room over the cigar establishment. Chief Tullar visited him and found the report all too true. An attempt was made to do something for him last night, but it was learned that the hospital was full, and as it was late when the case was discovered, it proved impossible to remove him to any other place. An officer was detailed to go up to the room every few hours to keep a fire burning and render whatever aid proved possible.

The case was brought to the attention of the commissioner of the poor and the associated charities this morning and it is probable that the sick man will receive prompt attention.

A Messenger reporter visited the place this morning and learned that the name of the sick man was Jean Lockwood. He is a veteran of the civil war and is a man about sixty years of age. He was unable to talk, but lay gasping for breath, which the inexorable hand of pneumonia strove to hold from him, on a hard bed in one corner of the miserable room. Broken panes of glass, poorly patched with boards and stuffed with clothing failed to keep the bitter air from sifting into the room, and a rusty stove burned at the bedside. August Hassher, a laboring man who resides at the place, has been the only attendant of Lockwood during the three weeks that he has been sick until yesterday when a physician was called. He states that Lockwood has lived here for about two years during which he has supported himself by doing odd jobs about town. When he was taken sick, Hassher out of pity allowed him to stay at his place.

The case is an example which it is to be hoped will not soon be found again in Fort Dodge. It illustrates plainly the need of an institution in the city for the care of such unfortunates.  The hospital, the only place where such can be taken, is at present almost daily overcrowded. An institution of the proper kind would undoubtedly find itself plentifully supplied with work.

Tags: 1906, Hassher, Lockwood

The Fort Dodge Messenger: Feb. 8, 1907

Snow Shoveling

It is a noticeable fact that those living near the outskirts of the city are nearly always the first to get the snow removed from their sidewalks. Out in the suburbs they rise early and make paths, then they have the pleasure of wading to the center of town through snow which is not being removed by the slower residents.

A member of the fire department suggests that it would be a good plan for property owners having fire plugs near their homes to clear the snow away from about them, so that the hose could be attached without loss of time in case of need. A winter fire sometimes does great damage and the man who cleans the snow away from the hydrant may be preparing a means of saving greater loss to himself.

In almost every part of town there is a big piece of vacant ground, in front of  which the walk is never cleared except when the city department gets busy. Owing to no house being on the lots snow shoveling is not looked after by the owner. Such stretches are always dreaded by the man, woman or boy who must take that route to and from town.

The man who clears his sidewalk promptly and looks to sprinkling ashes when it is icy is always blessed by pedestrians who travel his way. If even a path is cleared it is a big help. More hardship than is realized is endured by working girls and boys who go to town early in the morning and walk nearly all the way through the drifts. A sigh of relief is always breathed when a fine, clear, space is reached.