The Fort Dodge Messenger: June 29, 1903

Serious Runaway Near Duncombe

Ole Hanson, Wife and Baby Thrown Out of Buggy By a Frightened Horse.

The Baby Will Probably Die.

Mrs. Hanson Was Unconscious for Several Hours From the Shock, But is Recovering Slowly At The Present Time.

Last Saturday morning about nine o’clock while on their way to Fort Dodge, Ole Hanson, wife and five months old baby of Duncombe met with a very serious accident. When about two and a half miles from home and close to the John Mallinger farm their horse became frightened at a hay loader and rake standing inside the fence. The horse which was traveling at a good rate stopped suddenly, shied to one side, throwing the occupants of the buggy violently to the ground. Mrs. Hanson was knocked senseless by the fall and did not recover consciousness for almost half an hour. When she became aware of what had happened she found herself surrounded by friends in the John Mallinger home. Her first thought was for her baby, and she found that its injuries were very dangerous, perhaps fatal as the blood was gushing from its mouth and ears.

Dr. Thompson of Duncombe was immediately summoned and did what he could for both the woman and baby. They were taken to the home of Thomas Ness, Mrs. Hanson’s father, where they are now resting. Mrs. Hanson has recovered from the shock to a considerable extent, being bouyed (sic) up by her anxiety for her baby. The baby is lying in a semi-unconscious state with few chances for life. Mr. Hanson escaped almost without an injury and the horse which is an ordinary looking, sedate plug, ran but a short distance with no injury to itself or to the buggy. Mr. Hanson is a farmer and lives a quarter of a mile east of Duncombe on his mother’s farm. His mother, Mrs. Anna Hanson lives in East Fort Dodge.

Tags: 1903, Hanson, Mallinger, Ness, Thompson

The Fort Dodge Messenger: June 29, 1903

That Sewing Machine War

Situation in Webster City Assumes a New Phase

Seven Wheeler-Wilson Agents, Arrested for Selling Goods Without a License, Jump the Town.

The sewing machine war in Webster City has assumed a new phase. Seven agents of the Wheeler-Wilson company who were arrested Monday evening, charged with selling goods without a license, jumped the town Friday evening.

The Freeman-Tribune has the following:

The wholesale arresting of the agents came out of the merry sewing machine war which has been going on in this city for three weeks between the representatives of the Singer and the Wheeler & Wilson companies. The Wheeler & Wilson men were arrested as they had no established agency here and hence were liable for the license. They were brought before Mayor Edwards Monday evening for a hearing. At their rquest the case was postponed until Wednesday evening. The matter of placing them under bonds until that time came up, but as the mayor had no blank forms at hand he allowed them to go on their own recognizance.

When the hour for the trial came, the agents failed to put in an appearance. The officers waited on them but they did not show up. As they were in the city yesterday afternoon they cannot have gotten very far away. Warrants have been issued for them and the city officers will make an attempt to have them served. It is the intent of the mayor to have the agents brought back to the city for trial and punishment, both for the breaking of the city ordinances and for jumping the city when they had been given their liberty on their own cognizance.

Tags: 1903, Edwards, Singer, Wheeler & Wilson

The Fort Dodge Messenger: June 28, 1905

Slot Machines Taken Down

Orders Given to Have Them Removed Thru the City.

Complaints Have Been Made Against Them – Order Stopping Practice Not Permanent.

Fathers and mothers who fear the effect of the temptations of the slot machine upon their boys will be given for a time at least, a respite from their fears. Yesterday afternoon the propritors (sic) of the places in the city where slot machines are run were notified to take them down.

The action is the result of a number of complaints that have recently been filed before the officials of the city. The doers (?) realizing that though the running of slot machines is an entirely legitimate practice as long as they are not too heavily patronized by youths and young men decided that the complaints that had come in to them were prima facie evidence that the machines were fast becoming a nuisance in the city and decided that some steps should be taken to curtail them, consequently their action in notifying the owners to take them down.

No permanent order had been issued against the contrivances, however, and should it be deemed advisable to allow them to run later on in the year the merchants will no doubt be given permission to put them up.

Tags: 1905

Tags: 1913, France

The Fort Dodge Messenger: June 28, 1905

Company “G” Prepare for Camp

Band and Company Will Go Into Camp at Des Moines Next Week.

Will Be Gone Eight Days

Full Membership in Each Organization Will Go – Two I.N.G. Boys Will Float Down The River in a Boat to Join Company.

Arrangements are being made this week by members of Company G and the band for their eight days’ camp which will be held at Des Moines, beginning on Thursday of next week.

The Fort Dodge company will be under the direct supervision and control fo Captain B.J. Price, who will accompany them on the trip. Nearly all of the members of the company are planning on attending camp and many are occupied this week in preparing their arms, uniforms and equipment. The showing of the local company last year was an excellent one and with the additional men and equipment that has been acquired since then an even better record will probably be made at this year’s camp.

Will Rohrback and Stafford Carpenter, both members of the company, will leave for Des Moines Sunday, their intention being to float down the Des Moines river in a boat. Their preparations for the trip are now under way and all is expected to be in readiness for them to start early Sunday morning. The young men expect the voyage to take them about four days and if they accomplish the distance in that time they will be in Des Moines one day before the arrival of the company and band. If possible a special train will be secured for the transportation of the men and baggage of both organizations. Nothing definite is known regarding this as yet, however.

Tags: 1905, Carpenter, Company G, Price, Rorhback

The Fort Dodge Messenger: June 28, 1905

Vaudelille (sic) Has Good Week’s Bill

The Program at the Midland Theater is Good One For The Money.

The Vaudeville that is running in the Midland is making a big success and they are giving the people a good show. The bill this week is headed with “Zenoz” the one-legged wire-walker and he shows himself to be an accomplished artist.

The next on the program is the illustrated song which is liberally encored and the song and pictures are good. The Dayton sisters should not be forgotton (sic) as they are without a doubt the best dancers that has ever been in Fort dodge, and have a pleasing manner that wins the crowd.

Lucas & Heston who are the last on the specialty list are great fun-makers and they keep the crowd in a roar of laughter from start to finish. The moving pictures by Fred Steltzer are by far the best that has been in our city for some time the feature, this week in the pictures is “The Great Train Robbery,” although they have been shown here before they receive their share of the applause.

The show as a whole is equal to a great many high price attractions that has been booked here before.

(Editor’s note: “The Great Train Robbery” is online for your viewing pleasure. The note that accompanies the video states:

Widely credited as the first movie to tell a story. If the final shot seems out of place – that’s because it was designed to be a promotion for the main feature. The instructions supplied said it could be shown before or after the movie.)

Tags: 1905, Dayton, Steltzer, vaudeville, Zenoz

The Fort Dodge Messenger: June 28, 1905

Want Young Boys Kept Off Streets

Prominent Citizens Advocate Plan to Cure Growing Evil.

Curfew Has Been Proposed

Claimed That Hundreds of Growing Boys and Girls are Going to Ruin in City – Citizens of the City Say That Practice is a Menace to City.

Recent consideration of the conditions that exist within the city of Fort Dodge on summer evenings, by a number of prominent men and women of the city has caused them to express a desire that some remedy be proposed to curtail the appearance of young boys and girls upon the streets and avenues of the city at all times of the night.

It is a well known fact that in Fort Dodge more than in any other city in the state young boys and girls are to be seen walking the streets or loafing in undesireable localities at most unseemly hours.

At anywhere from six in the evening until ten, crowds of boys aged from ten to fifteen or sixteen may be seen loafing in doorways or alleyways, congregated in pool and billiard halls, gathered before a slot machine dropping in their scanty earnings or in some most lamentable cases hanging about the entrances of saloons waiting for unscrupulous persons to carry out liquor to them.

Later on in the night and extending even into the small hours of the morning many of these same lads are to be found still inhabiting the down town places that still remain open. All night cafes and places of the kind are to be seen with their chairs, counters, etc., occupied with loafing youths who should be at home securing the hours of repose so necessary to the proper development of mind and body of the growing boy. Girls who should be at home under a mother’s care are to be seen walking the streets in crowds of three and four, openly giggling, laughing and otherwise acting in a manner which though decidedly improper is but the natural inclination of those of their age.

The fault of course rests with the parents, but it is a recognized, though deplorable fact, that the average parent cannot, or at any rate does not, control the action of the growing boy and girl in this respect. Left to themselves it is but natural that the fascination that the streets at night hold for them should be indulged in o (sic) the fullest extent. As the result, the sober minded thoughtful citizen does not need to be told that hundreds of boys and girls are growing up right within the city of Fort Dodge who will become grafters, deadbeats, ne-er-do-wells and disreputable women.

Several people well acquainted with the situation and realizing the need of action have stated that some action should in their opinion be taken by the officials of the city and that some means should be devised for protecting the growing men and women of the city from the demoralizing influence that evil habits and improper associations gathered from frequenting the city’s streets at night will surely have upon them.

Some have suggested an ordinance making it a misdemeanor for any boy or girl to be found on the street at night without being able to show an excellent excuse. Others advocate the ringing of a curfew at nine o’clock in the evening, whose sound would call every boy and girl of sixteen or younger to their homes.

The proper installation and enforcement of such a system would in their opinion do much to curtail the growing evil which at the present time menaces the future of the city. The system of course has its disadvantages. An extra policeman or two whose sole duties would be to gather in and send to their homes all violators of the rule would have to be appointed by the city. A bell with a sufficient volume of sound and carying (sic) power to make it heard all over the city would have to be purchased and set up  in a central location and many other arrangements necessary to the proper operation of the plan made. The need is imminent, however, and some plan should it seems be proposed and place (sic) in operation as soon as possible.

Tags: 1905, curfew

The Fort Dodge Messenger: June 27, 1905

Library Receives Many New Books

Books of History, Reference, Fiction and Travel Among Them.

They Are Much in Demand

Library Continually Increases in Patronage and is Constantly Visited by Streams of Booklovers – Popular Novel Appeals to All.

Just as unceasingly as books go out of the public library to be read in the homes of the city, are they coming in from the publishers to satisfy the constant craving for reading matter and especially for new books.

There is such an abundance of new books, that while not classics, are not of the lower class of books, so that they seem especially to fit in for moments of pastime when perhaps the brain is too tired to cope with one of the heavier books in English literature. The modern novel is in a way educating the people, because it is several steps higher than the paper covered book of a few years ago, and is yet within the understanding of all, and even for those who cannot grasp the finer and meritable points, the story appeals to them and becoming accustomed to the better grade of story, they find it harder to return to the old unscrupulous love tales of doubtful authors.

Every day the numbers of people who take books from the library is increasing and if one sits inside for even a short time he will hear many applicants asking how they are to get cards of membership.

If anything, there are more children who delve among the books there than there are grown people, and it is surprising to see the children whom you scarcely believe can read, asking for all sorts of books, and going off in high delight with them, much as they would treasure a new doll or slingshot.

Every time a new list of books is published, the librarian states that it takes scarcely two days for them all to go out and every often several of them are asked for many times, when they have already been given out. A new consignment has just been catalogued and reads as follows:

Tags: 1905

The Fort Dodge Messenger: June 27, 1905

Frank Gotch Tells His Experiences

Gives Interesting Account of Great Tour Just Ended

Had Fifty Match Contests

Will Stay on His Farm Near Humboldt During a Part of Summer According to His Usual Custom, When Not Out on the Road.

Frank Gotch, the famous heavy weight champion wrestler of the United States, spent a few days int he city during the time that the circuses performed here. Gotch has just returned from an extensive tour thru the west and during his stay was interviewed by a Messenger representative to whom he gave an account of some of his wrestles and othe (sic) experiences during the trip.

The wrestler is a big fellow, standing six feet one, though because of his heavy and powerful build he appears several inches below that height. He is magnificently proportioned, most of his strength apparently being in his powerful neck and shoulders, his neck measuring over twenty inches in circumference and his shoulders nearly three feet across. Unlike most men of his class he has none of the swagger, bravado, brutality and arrogance that usually distinguish the professional wrestler or prize fighter. He is quiet, unassuming and unostentatious in his appearance and possesses a pleasant and courteous manner.

When approached by the reporter and asked if he were not Frank Gotch, the wrestler laughed good naturedly and at first denied his identity, saying: “Why, No, you’re sadly off there, my name is Hutchins. I’m a traveling man.” Seeing that he was recognized, however, he soon admitted that he was really Frank Gotch of wrestling fame and at once consented to give the press representative any information desired.

“Yes, you’re right,” said he. “I have just returned from a big trip and it has been a big one in every way for me. During the last four months I have been in every state in the union but three and have wrestled over fifty matches, not counting the men that I took on in exhibition, guaranteeing them prize sums if they would stay with me for a certain number of minutes. In match contests I took on all comers regardless of size, weight or reputation, wrestling them any number of falls for any sum they wanted to put up. In many ways my four months’ tour has been a hard trip. I have had a number of hard battles and the continuous travel too is wearing on one. I think I shall stay at home for at least a time now and get a good rest.”

In regard to the reports that have been circulated to the effect that Gotch would go against Munroe he would say nothing either confirmatory or in the way of denial. He makes no claims to the championship of the world with which he has been accredited by some, and in fact says nothing in any way in regard to his own prowess, skill or record. He is undoubtedly the champion heavyweight wrestler of his style in the United States, though Geo. Hackenschmit, the great Russian, holds the European championship.

Gotch is in every way the true gentleman sportsman and athlete; in all his habits he practices a moderation that stands him well in hand in keeping up his excellent physical condition. He neither drinks nor smokes, and is as regular s clock work in regard to his meals and sleeping hours. Gotch though apparently in the pink of condition at present desires a little further training for the next matches and will spend some time during the summer on his extensive fram (sic) near Humboldt working most of the time at the hardest of farm labor in order to give his great muscles every chance to harden for the tussels (sic) of the next season.

Tags: 1905, Gotch, Hackenschmit<munroe