The Fort Dodge Messenger: April 25, 1904

Interesting Sights at the Pottery

Improvement Has Been Made Over the Old Order of Things.

Filter Press Latest Thing

Description of Method of Making Stoneware – Rapid Work by the Men.

A large filter press has been installed in the pottery of the Fort Dodge Stoneware company. the functions of this press is to separate all the impurities from the clay. The clay when put into this press is in its ordinary state. During the process is it forced thru several fine screens by which all foreign substances are removed. Following this process the clay is placed in a large vat, with sides which allow water to pass thru while at the same time retaining the clay. The water is forced thru these sides by a pressure of one hundred pounds to the square inch. A peculiar and interesting fact is that when the water comes from the vat it is as clear as crystal, although it has been forced from clay.

When the clay is taken from the filter press, it is very stiff and has not a particle of water in it. It is then placed in another machine and mixed with a small quantity of water and stirred until the desired firmness and texture is reached, when it is taken to the rooms in which it is to be made into crockery.

The filter press is to take the place of a grinding machine which only grinds up the impurities and does not remove them. By the use of the new machine, in the future no rough surface or foreign substances will be found in the products of the Fort Dodge Stoneware Company.

After the clay has reached the room in which it is to be made into crockery it is worked by hand if it is to be made into jars. Then it is placed on a revolving board and to the eye of the spectator as if by magic a jar is seen to form without an apparent movement of the clay moulder’s hand. But if the moulder is watched closely it can be seen that he forms the clay by gradually forcing it into the desired shape.

The only things made by this process are the large jars and fancy wares, such as flower pots, etc. the small jars, milk pans, butter jars, etc., are made by machinery. The clay is put into a small mould and a large stick is dropped in the mould and the clay is quickly formed int he desired shape.

The jugs are made in two sections, the lower section being made a great deal on the same plan, the greatest difference being in the mold. After the two sections are made the two molds are fastened together and then placed in a dryer. After being in there for a given length of time they are taken out and the molds taken off and the handle is put on. They then are put in a dryer again and after being removed are glazed. The upper part of the jug and the inside is glazed with a mixture of Michigan and Alabama clay which gives it a brown color. The lower part is glazed with a white substance which makes the lower part of the jug a brown color. This process of glazing is called “slipping” by the employees of the pottery. Then the jug or other article is ready to be taken to the kiln to be baked.

About 800 jugs can be made by an expert jug maker in a day and he has three assistants who take the jugs to the dryer, get the moulds ready for him and put the handles on the jugs. An expert can make about 800 milk pans and butter crocks a day, while the larger crocks and fancy ware take much longer time to make.

A fact that seems marvelous is the very great weight of clay needed to make the different products. The clay in a thirty gallon jub weighs about 120 pounds and the jug completed weighs about the same.

A large line of sample goods is always kept on hand at the pottery and a very good display of them is made. A visit to the sample room makes a person think that everything that is possible to be made out of clay is made at the local pottery.

(Editor’s note: A recent Messenger article about the Fort Museum states that a replica of the showroom will be built at the museum to show off goods of the Fort Dodge Stoneware Company.)

Tags: 1904, Fort Dodge Stoneware Company

The Fort Dodge Messenger: April 24, 1906

Four Drunks Up.

Mayor Charges Each a Dollar For His Accommodations.

Four plain drunks were brought up in the mayors’ court this morning. Their names were give (sic) as follows: A.J. Tad, A Carlson, D.B. Wilmot, Ed. Fogerty. None of the quartette had been violent and as a review of their separate careers of a day showed that they were merely a crowd who had gone the limit in a little celebration they were charged a dollar each for their accommodations of the night and sent on their way rejoicing.

Tags: 1906, Carlson, Fogerty, Tad, Wilmot

The Fort Dodge Messenger: April 24, 1906

Cent. Ave. Cement Walks

Council Take up Matter Last Night – No Action Taken by The Body.

The project of cement walks on Central avenue which has been a contended point with the city council for several weeks was again brought up, when near the close of the regular council meeting, the body as a whole met in a grievance meeting.

A number of Central avenue property owners were present in the council room, and several offered objections. They state that cement walks are gradually coming to be the thing on the main streets and that in a short time they will be put in by all without the council taking action. the grievance meeting was closed after hearing the objections without action being taken. A member of the city council stated today that the probabilities were strong that an ordinance requiring cement walks on both sides of Central avenue would be passed at the next meeting.

Tags: 1906, City Council

The Fort Dodge Messenger: April 23, 1903

A Fancy Graft From Old Madrid

Historic City of Old Spain Produces Scheme to Get Other People’s Dollars

Dons After Sioux City Man

Make Bungling Attempt to Interest Victim in Alleged Secret Drawer of Money

Sioux City April 22 – The green goods, the gold brick and the fake mining stock games are not to be compared with the graft which has been sprung in old Madrid – not Madrid, Iowa, but Madrid, Spain.

William Merrill, of the office of Smiley, McCormick & Co., real estate and loan brokers in the Bolton block, has been picked out for a sucker, but the selection may cost the grafters dearly. Mr. Merrill will turn over the correspondence in the case to the postal authorities, and it is not unlikely that the matter may be taken up by the state department at Washington.

The head grafter represents himself as being Luis Bodriguer Merrill, formerly clerk to the Interoceanic Canal of Panama company. He says he has £ 98,600 of securities in a secret drawer in Paris, the contents of which he desires to divide with Mr. Merrill of Sioux City.

He also declares that he desires to send his beautiful daughter aged 14, to Sioux City, to live wiht Mr. Merrill until he may be released from prison.

Like the green goods and gold brick letters, the one to Mr. Merrill is printed, his name being written in at the top and at various places in the letter. The name “Merrill” also is attached in ink to the name “Luis Bodriguer” in the signature. The attempt to deceive is bungling.

“The dagoes must have thought we people over in America were all dummies,” Mr. Merrill said, with some heat. “Well I will just see if it won’t be possible to show them a thing or two.”

The letter is dated at Madrid, Spain, March 25, and the substance is as follows:

“Being placed into a very hard trouble without being by myself able to come out of it by the great conflict made by my situation and knowing your generosity and noble feelings, I write to you, hoping you will accept the proposals I am going to make to you, although we are foreigners to each other. Only by telling you that my mother was a near relative to your family and that by her name, Mrs. Anna Merrill (here the name Merrill is written in just as Johnson or Jones might have been used), you shall understand our blood relationship.

The principal reason of my addressing you after never having entertained any relations with you is that my dear and deceased mother, in spite of the difference that compelled her not to entertain any of her paternal relatives but always spoke to me very highly of your talents and honesty, and consequently, I am wholly sure that you shall keep a great discretion of the contents of this letter and accept of what I am going to tell you. I also write to you, because you are in a free country which you shall be able to accede to the plans I have thought of. Is it dear to me that my young daughter, only 14 years old may find at your side and under your protection the future that I has assured her out of the troubles she should find here.

The writer goes on at length to explain his relationship with the canal company and how he managed to get away with the money to Gibraltar. The money was placed safety in a secret drawer, but he was arrested. The letter at this point breaths (sic) blood. It says:

“I was surprised by two police coming brutally to arrest me. I wa provoked and my indignation and despair almost made me mad. I made so great a resistance against them that at last I was beaten and wounded so badly that at the first moments all believed me dead.

“I have been one month without feeling my situation, but I am not well at all and under the fear of a near death by the shock that I received. I am a prisoner of these authorities as having made strength against the officers.

The writer continues in this strain, and finally comes down to his proposition, which he puts in the following language:

“My desires are as follows: It is very easy to get the drawer because the precautions I have been compelled to keep are precisely what assures them until you may be able to come to an arrangement in the matter. you can perfectly see that the assistance that I beg of you can by no means bring any trouble on you when you follow my my (sic) instructions, which you shall know much better when you answer me. You can perfectly know that having not the surety of my letter reaching you, I can not tell you more than what I have told you. I only must pray you to tell me if under the proposition I now have I can trust you to be a second good father to my dear, beautiful daughter, and that I am ready to reward your services by one-fourth part of all the property and the yearly interst that the whole stock may earn when it may be placed by you during my daughter’s minority or until the day she may marry.”

Don Luis “Merrill” attaches his name and then that it must be understood in Sioux City that he is closely watched and that his mail must be sent in care of a priest, D. Manuel Beller, Colla de la Paloma, No. 3, Argamada del Bey, Province of Madrid.

The writer adds:

“The great rectitude of this good priest makes it necessary that he remain unknown at all of this existence of my property, because if he would be informed of it he could perhaps believe me guilty and retire his protection to me and my daughter.”

(Editor’s note: This is quite similar to what is commonly called the Nigerian scam, because many letters or emails like this come from Nigeria.” Also, I debated about using the term “dagoes” which was in the original quote. I am trying to keep this blog historically accurate, but also don’t want to offend people. So I’m hoping that readers will accept it in the spirit of historical accuracy and not be offended.)

Tags: 1903, Merrill

The Fort Dodge Messenger: April 22, 1904

Colonel Blanden Dies Thursday

Pioneer Business Man and former Soldier Succumbs to Long Illness.

His Life Ended Peacefully

His War Record of Note – Prominent in Banking business.

One more pioneer gave up this mortal life when Colonel Leander Blanden passed away Thursday evening. Men, the chapters of whose lives are incidents in the growth and upbuilding of the community, one by one are ending their lives of usefulness and passing to greater reward and the death of Colonel Blanden adds but another to the long list of pioneers who have passed before him.

Colonel Blanden died Thursday evening at 6:30. Death was the immediate result of apoplexy, altho the deceased had been a sufferer from Bright’s disease for several years previous to his death. Death was peaceful, the vital forces which had sustained life during his long illness gradually becoming exhausted until finally the spark went out and a life of seventy-four years was ended. Deceased passed his last moments on earth with his relatives, who were around his bedside when the death angel arrived.

The funeral will take place tomorrow afternoon at 3 o’clock from the residence on the southeast corner of Central avenue and Tenth street. The members of Fort Donaldson post, G.A.R. will attend the funeral in a body. Burial will be in Oakland cemetery.

Leander Blanden was born in Burlington, N.Y., in 1830. There he spent his boyhood days and the first years of his young manhood. When the gold fever spread over the country in 1849 young Blanden like many others in the east started for the gold fields of the west. For two years he remained in California, returning to Burlington in 1851. Soon after his return from California he decided to move to the middle west and soon after settled in Marengo, Ill.

In Marengo he was engaged in the grain business with his brothers and followed that pursuit until the outbreak of war between the north and south, when the young man, inspired by patriotism that led his grandfather to fight for liberty in the revolution forsook the peaceful pursuits of business life for the hardships and dangers of a soldier. Leander Blanden fought for the union as his grandfather had fought against English tyranny and oppression in the war of the colonies against Great Britain. His war record is an important one, and one that was a source of pride to deceased during life, and may well be regarded as such by his surviving relatives. three times he was promoted for meritorious service, first to major, then to colonel, and finally to the position of brigadier-general. It was the title of colonel received in the army that he retained in after years.

At the close of the war, Mr. Blanden returned to Marengo, but remained there only a few years. In 1868 he moved to Fort Dodge, and for thirty-six years made this city his home. During the first years of his residence he was engaged in the grain-buying business, and soon after entered the banking business, for some years being president of the First National bank.

Colonel Blanden besides being among the early and  most successful of Fort Dodge financiers, was also a pioneer in the gypsum industry, a business that especially in the earlier days was one of great importance to the city. He built and operated what is known at the Blanden mill, which was the second gypsum mill operated in the vicinity of Fort Dodge. During the last years of his life, colonel Blanden confined his interests (missing text) and other property, being especially interested in his farms, where he spent many hours of quiet and rest.

Colonel Blanden was united in marriage in 1885 to Mrs. J.M. Berry, who died some years ago. The union was blessed by no children.

Tags: 1904, Blanden

The Fort Dodge Messenger: April 22, 1904

Youthful Traveler in Court

Roy Langlius, Aged 16, Up For Vagrancy.

He Leaves Home in Illinois Because He Cannot Agree With His Step-Mother.

Roy Langlius, a youth of 16, was arraigned in police court this morning on the charge of being a vagrant. The boy was picked up by the police Thursday night and given lodging in the jail. This morning he was brought before the mayor and asked for an explanation. He said he left his home in Hoopton, Ill., last January, because he was unable to agree with his stepmother. He told his father he was going to leave home, and his father consented. Since leaving home the boy had traveled in Nebraska, Kansas, Indian Territory, Oklahoma, and in fact thruout the entire southwest.

“There was nothin’ doin’ in Kansas City or Omaha,” he explained, “and I came up this way.” He did not know where he was going, but seemed confident that he could look out for himself.

He was discharged after telling the mayor he was going to leave town.

Tags: 1904, Langlius

The Fort Dodge Messenger: April 21, 1905

Prisoners Clean City’s Streets

Police Guard Them While They Beautify Fort Dodge

They are Better When Busy

Idleness has a Tendency to Get Them Into Mischief – The New Method of Cleaning This City Will be continued by the Present Administration.

This was the sort of a hand out Major S.J. Bennett gave to three tramps this morning in police court, and there was consternation in their faces when they realized the horrible truth that they were up against a proposition where they would either have to work or they could not eat.

To take care of them a special police officer was sworn in and he has instructions to see that they fulfill the conditions in the way of a decent amount of labor, or they will be held to the slender fare prescribed for them by his honor.

This morning they were taken out by the officer and put at work picking up the papers and trash off the streets. In this role they attracted much attention and there was a great amount of favorable comment as the people passing along the street caught at the idea.

When the papers are all picked up, they will be put at work with a shovel, and it is the intention of his honor to add to the force. The police are instructed to take precautions to capture every tramp that steps inside the city limits and there is a prospect that the special offer will have a considerable gang under his care in a short time.

One of the vags who is on the streets is the same fellow captured Thursday. He was turned loose on account of the fact that it was too rainy for him to work and ordered out of town. He was given a good meal just befoer he startd at ten o’clock, but he had the “habit” and before noon, he wa begging a “hand out” over in West Fort Dodge, ont he grounds that he had been “starving for three days.”

A telephone message to police headquarters brought out the patrol, and he was hustled into the reflectatory, where he was kept till this morning when he went to work with two other vags. The men are Luke O’Brien, Frank Jones and Martin Scott.

Frank Jones is a resident of Fort Dodge and has been a sort of outcast from society for some time. He was arrested a day or two ago and was at that time given a chance to get out of town, which opportunity he failed to avail himself of. Thursday he spent the day begging funds and drinking and was picked up by police. In court this morning when he was told it was either work or bread and water, he was highly incensed that he should be asked to work and stated he would take the bread and water.

He, however, went out on the street with the rest of the gentlemen of leisure, but at the first opportunity, made a run for it and made goo his escape. The police hope that he has made a good job of his getaway, so that he will not be seen back in Fort Dodge again. The last seen of him he was making the most undignified haste in the direction of the Illinois Central depot, where he hoped to catch a freight train out of town.

There were also two drunks up this morning, Frank Kopaski and Fern (?) Willard. Both of these men liquidated and went their ways rejoicing.

Tags: 1905, Kopaski, O'Brien, Scott, Willard

The Fort Dodge Messenger: April 21, 1905

Boy is Hurt by a Slingshot

Result of a Dispute Between Youngsters.

Reckless Younster (sic) Shoots Another in The Head Causing Painful Wound.

A telephone message from 1436 Fifth avenue north this afternoon announced that a boy named Burdick had shot a six-year-old youngster in the head with a sling shot. The message asked that the police take some action in the case.

The youngster, who was hit, while not seriously injured by the shot, was painfully hurt. The missile cut the scalp badly and the bleeding was profuse. The smaller boy was riding home from school in a wagon when an altercation arose and the other youngster shot at him with the sling shot, hitting him as described.

The police have not as yet taken any action in the matter, but it is sure that they will do something to suppress such outbreaks on the part of reckless urchins and it is probable that they will put a stop to the use of the slingshot inside the city limits altogether.

Tags: 1905, slingshot

The Fort Dodge Messenger: April 20, 1905

Promiscuous Bunch in Police Court

Youth and Old Age, Drinks and Tramps Come Up to Get Justice.

The Mayor as a Minister

Mayor Bennett Does Not Belong to the Preacher’s Union But Can Deliver a Sermon – Talks on Reform are Interesting.

There was certainly something doing in police court this morning when the gong rang for the pentitents to appear before his honor, and it was a mixed procession that filed in and took the bench of mourning before him.

There were two tramps, a drunk and one juvenile offender to be disposed of. All of their cases were adjusted in a very short time, however, and in a most satisfactory manner.

While Mayor Bennett is not ordained and does not hold a card in the ministerial union, he can on occasion preach with the best of them and this morning he delivered several sermons that affected his sinful audience probably as much as any they will ever hear.

The tramps, especially, were warned of the wrath to come if they continue to hang about Fort Dodge. They were likened by his honor to a parasite on the laboring classes of the universe, and a wart on the fair face of mother nature.

It was the intention of the Mayor to put them out on the streets with a ball and chain attached to their preambulators and with the instruction that unless they were diligent in their labors, they would find no dinner when the noon hour happened along. They were put in jail however, till after the rain was over, and it is probable that they will be chased out of the city.

The case of the juvenile offender was the hardest nut to crack, Mayor Bennett had originally intended to send the youngster to reform school, but later decided to give him another chance.

The boy in question is a resident of Bobtown, and attends the Wahkonsah school. Wednesday afternoon, he became involved in a fight with another youngster and drawing an ugly pair of iron “knucks” from his pocket delivered a blow on the head of his opponent that made an ugly cut.

Both the boys were picked up by the police, and lodged in the city bastile. The injured scraper, however was let out a little later and only the boy from Bobtown held over night. It seems that he has a record as a hunter of trouble and in the examination of his case this went against him. But after considering the thing over night it was decided to give the boy a chance to redeem himself. He will be kept under the eye of his honor, however, from this time on, and the first time he is caught in crooked paths, he will be turned over to the county attorney.

The drunk was Frank Easley. He, also, was made the subject of a sermon, and at the end was warned that unless he braced up and keeps himself off the streets, he will be sent out of town to the inebriate asylum. with this warning he was turned loose.

Tags: 1905, Easley