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

The Fort Dodge Messenger: July 1, 1903

Fewer Books Drawn in Summer

Hot Summer Months Affect Library Circulation.

Number of Books Which Are Drawn From Library Noticeably Smaller of Late.

The advent of the heated weather season has marked the falling off in the patronage of the city library. There is not so much inducement to read as in the winter months, when easy chairs and warm firesides make a book the most congenial of companions.

Just at present, the tendency is more toward picnic suppers and pleasant evenings out of doors, and reading languishes until the cooler months come round again. It is also thought that the regular summer decline in reading is heightened by the general attitude of expectancy which prevails regarding the new Carnegie library, many waiting until the library is safely ensconced in its new home before beginning to draw books.

The books which are drawn are for the most part works of light fiction, as the weary brain refuses to grapple with anything more weighty after a long hot day spent in business pursuits.

The library force, in the meantime, keeps busy with the preparations for moving, and will be ready for departure from the old quarters as soon as the new ones are in readiness.

Tags: 1903

The Fort Dodge Messenger: July 1, 1903

Vincent Saloons May be Enjoined

Application for Injunction Will Be Argued Before Judge Evans on July 3

Petitions Are Placed On File

Action is Brought Against Two Saloons of Vincent on Claim That They Have Been Operated Contrary to Provisions of Mulct Law.

Applications for injunctions to close the two saloons which are now in operation in Vincent will be argued before Judge Evans in Hampton on Friday, July 3. Notice to this effect was served on the proprietors of these saloons on friday and petitions reciting the causes upon which the plaintiffs base their action have been filed in the office of the county clerk.

The injunctions, if granted by Judge Evans, will have the effect of making Vincent a dry town, as these two saloons are the only ones operating there.

The plaintiffs allege thru their petitions that the two saloons have violated the provisions of the mulct law, which governs the sale of liquor in the state of Iowa, in several particulars, and ask that the court shall enjoin them from operating their saloons in Vincent on the ground of abating a nuisance.

The two saloons against which this action is directed, are owned by Olson and Thompson, and by Colby Brothers & Company. E.S. Benjamin appears as paintiff (sic) on one petition, and Mr. Benjamin and J. Wadson on the other.

Tags: 1903, Benjamin, Colby, Evans, Olson, Thompson, Wadson

The Fort Dodge Messenger: July 1, 1903

Mine is Lighted by Electricity

United States Gypsum Company Inaugrates (sic) Improvement at Mineral City Mill.

Is Running Day and Night.

Both Mill and Mine are Thoroughly Lighted – Drilling is Also Done by Electricity – Improvements at Blanden Mill.

Improvements have just been completed in the Mineral City mill and mine of the United States Gypsum company, which the officials of the company in this city claim,  make it the most modern and best equipped mill in the country.

Both mill and mine have been fitted up with electric lights thruout, and the work is now carried on there day and night without intermission. The drilling is also done by electricity. These improvements have only just been completed, and the mill is now running under them.

The Blanden mill has also been greatly improved by the addition of new machinery.

One of the mills and mines of the company has been closed down and the men transferred to the Mineral City mill, but Manager Duncombe stated this morning that this was merely temporary and quite in accordance with the usual policy of the company when it was necessary to close the mill for repairs. The company had some trouble with water in the mines during the heavy rains, but this is now entirely over, and the damage done is less than was expected.

Tags: 1903, Blanden, Duncombe

The Fort Dodge Daily Chronicle: July 1, 1913

Interurban Strikes Second Autmobile

Traveling Man is Injured When Interurban Hits Auto at Harcourt – Injuries Not Serious

(Special to the Chronicle)

Harcourt, Iowa, July 1 – As he was crossing the Fort Dodge, Des Moines and Southern road at Harcourt Dan Reese, a traveling man for a Hardware company of Rockwell City was struck yesterday by the afternoon interurban which leaves Fort Dodge at three o’clock. Reese was approaching the crossing when he killed his engine. He was unable to stop the auto in time to avoid being struck.

The car hit the auto about in the center. It was carried for about forty yards, resting on the cow catcher. When the interurban was stopped the auto was one complete wreck. That Reese was uninjured except for a few bruises is considered miraculous. None of his injuries are expected to result seriously.

Tags: 1913, Reese

The Fort Dodge Daily Chronicle: June 28, 1913 M’Creight Tells of France Death Was Riding on the Interurban Car When Accident Happened Charles France Died Shortly After Accident Operation at Mercy Hospital Fails to Save Man’s Life – Chest Was Crushed That Charles M. France met his death thru no fault of the Interurban which struck him Saturday afternoon at the crossing of the Hawkeye highway at south 20th street, is the opinion of Dr. McCreight, who was on the car. “I was on the incoming three o’clock car when the acccident happened,” he stated to a representative of the Chronicle. “It stopped for the block of the Great Western road and had just started up again. It was going slowly and I remember hearing the bell ringing. Whether or not the whistle was blown I do not remember. As we approached the crossing road bed the car slowed down, but did not entirely stop; just then it was jarred and it seemed as if the car had gone off the track. Then came a regular shower of glass from the windshield. The interurban was stopped within its own length. I was in the smoking apartment at the time and it seemed as if the auto had hit the car near the baggage end. When I first saw France it was from back platform. He was lying but a few feet away with his head towards the car and his body down the embankment. As I was going towards him he gave a few gasping breaths and was still breathing when I reached him. We carried him into the shade and the first passing automobile was requested to take him to the hospital. We did this as it was far quicker than waiting for the ambulance. He was taken immediately to the operating room where examination took place. It was found that he had severe injuries on his chest, just as if he had been crushed by the steering wheel, and a punctured wound over the right eye. Everything was done to revive him and before his death he rallied enough to tell us his name. He did not realize what had happened or where he was. He was put to bed and died within fifteen minutes at 4:15 o’clock. The car was the most complete wreck I ever saw. It was carried not quite the length of the interurban and was squeezed between a telephone pole and the car. It was twisted twice around just as a towel would be wrung. The car was evidently a new one as the speedometer registered just three hundred miles. The crossing is very clear there and how it happened I cannot say. To avoid the car he could have turned down 22nd street. Old Resident of Iowa Charles M. France had lived in Iowa for a number of years, having settled on a farm near Webster City some years ago. He was born in Wisconsin in 1858 and since last March has been a resident of Woolstock, having moved there from a farm near Webster City. He is survived by his wife and one child, Mrs. E.A. Turner of Webster City. The funeral services will be held tomorrow from the house at 3 o’clock.

Photo of C.M. France as a young man is provided courtesy of Jane Curtis, the great-granddaughter of C.M. France. The Fort Dodge Messenger: June 30, 1913 C.M. France Was Motor Accident Victim Saturday Woolstock Man Succumbed Shortly After Hurt Body Sent to Woolstock C.M. France of Woolstock died at Mercy hospital Saturday afternoon a few minutes after he was hit by the 3:00 p.m. interurban car of the Fort Dodge, Des Moines and Southern. France was driving his automobile across in front of the interurban car at the east end of the city limits where the Hawkeye highway crosses the interurban tracks. He was rushed at once to the hospital and every effort was made to save his life but he injuries were of too serious a nature. The body was sent to Woolstock yesterday morning for burial. The interurban car was just entering the city whent he accident occurred. France according to the motorman on the car, when he saw the approaching interurban speeded up his automobile until he was on the tracks when either the engine of the machine was “killed or he attempted to put on the brakes to back off. The car came to a dead halt on the tracks and was hit full force by the interurban. France was a man of about fifty years of age. He leaves a wife and son in Woolstock. From the time he was hit by the interurban until he died, he was conscious only long enough to give his name.

Tags: 1913, France, McCreight, Turner

Ancestry.com is allowing free searches of Sons of the American Revolution applications through July 4.

This database contains applications for membership in the National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution approved between 1889 and 31 December 1970. The applications are arranged in packets. It may be helpful to scroll through the images to find all information relating to the applicant.

The DAR has a database that allows searches of patriots and descendants.

Tags: genealogy

The Fort Dodge Messenger: June 30, 1904

Mad Dog Scare in Town of Dana

A Crusade Against Dogs is On

Animal Runs Amuck (sic) Thru The Streets and Throws the Whole Town into a Frenzy of Excitement – Many Other Dogs Are Killed.

The annual cry of “mad dog” has started. Yesterday at Dana, a little town ont he Rock Island road about twelve miles south of Gowrie, a rabid dog sent the populace into a frenzy of terror by running amuck (sic) in the streets. Rumor reports several children were bitten more or less seriously and  numerous dogs were infected by bites of the mad animal.

The dog was finally killed and then began a search of the city for the animals which had received bites during the time he had been at large. At six o’clock in the evening a considerable amount of sausage material was lying loose and harmless around the city in the shape of defunct canines. Today the crusade is being continued with zest by the citizens and by sunset the dog that remains alive in that town will have to be able to show an indisputable alibi proving he was out of the neighborhood at the time of the outbreak and exhibit a health certificate from a veterinary into the bargain.

The town is thoroughly aroused over the matter. It is not known how long the animal had been showing symptoms of the disease, where he had been nor how many animals have been infected by its ravages. The people of the town will keep a close lookout and tremble at the approach of anything that looks like a dog for the next sixty days, or until there is no further possible danger from this source.

The disease, where contracted by infection, usually makes its appearance in the victim in the period of nine days. In some cases, however, the malady has been known to lie dormant in the blod (sic) for months and then at some unexpected time and place break out with as much sudden violence as though it had come at the usual time. The animal or person once bitten is not safe from an attack of the disease even after the lapse of months.

(Editor’s note: I had thought the reference in the last paragraph to an incubation period of months after being infected would prove to be an old wives’ tale. However, the National Library of Medicine at the National Institutes of Health states that the incubation period ranges from 10 days to seven years.)

Tags: 1904, rabies

The Fort Dodge Messenger: June 29, 1903

Amateur Ball Players Busy

Several Fort Dodge Teams Played From Home on Sunday.

Fort Brands Have Hard Luck

Lose Two Extra Innings Games By One Score – East Fort Dodge Loses Close Game at Lehigh – R.M. Stevens Nine Beats Tara.

The Fraser miners defeated the Fort Dodge Fort Brands Sunday at Frazer by a score of 4 to 3 in a thirteen inning game. The game opened at 10:30 a.m. After the first two Fort Dodge men had struck out in the first inning, Dombrowska reached first on an error. Whitman and Barth on bunts and all three scored on Stuart’s drive to deep right. This ended Fort Dodge’s scoring as the Frazer pitcher struck out twenty men in the remaining twelve innings and held the Fort Dodge boys helpless. Frazer scored three runs in the second inning by bunching hits. Stuart’s work at third was the feature of the game. He accepted eleven chances, seven assists and four putouts without an error.

In the eleventh inning with two men on base, Whitman got and (sic) easy grounder and threw his man out at first. Ottosen threw to third to cut off the runner. The throw was  high, but the little third baseman speared the ball with his ungloved hand and completed the double by tagging his man three feet off the base.

With enthusiasm undiminished by their defeat, a forty mile ride and twelve miles cross country triy (sic), the Fort Brands tackled the Pilot Mound Pirates at 3:30 p.m. Pilot Mound won, 7 to 8, aided by a long-haired diamond and the umpire. If Captain Tyrell had called his team off the diamond Pilot Mound would have refused expense money. Nevertheless this game required eleven innings, the umpire finally forcing in the winning run by letting a man walk on balls that cut the plate in two.

The Fort Brands play the East End next Sunday at Riverside Park and a good game is expected.

Tags: 1903, Barth, Dombrowska, Ottosen, Stuart, Tyrell, Whitman