The Fort Dodge Messenger: Dec. 3, 1903

Matrimony and Teacher Supply

Former Has Much to Do With Keeping Latter at Serious Low Figure.

Six Schools Are Closed

Boards Unable to Secure Instructors to Take Charge of Them.

There is a dearth of school teachers in Webster county. The fall term has closed and the winter term has just begun. While the supply of teachers was none too large during the fall term it is even smaller now than it was then and the school secretaries as well as the county superintendent are having no little trouble filling the vacancies which exist in the school districts. At the present time six schools are closed for no other reason than that the teachers cannot be found to take charge of them. The scarcity was felt to even a greater extent a short time ago, but the situation at present is serious enough to satisfy those to whom falls the duty of supplying school ma’ams.

Webster county experienced a teacher famine last winter and many reasons were advanced as to the cause. There is one good reason given this year why there is a difference in the number of teachers available for the winter term being smaller than the number for the fall term. Dan Cupid and his pranks incidently (sic) followed by a matrimonial ceremony has had something to do with the scarcity. No less than six instructors have left the ranks of the school-ma’am and joined the ranks of those who have experimented with the connubial venture.

The scarcity of teachers some time ago was relieved to a certain extent by obtaining teachers outside the county. At present the school boards of the various district (sic) where the schools are closed, together with the county superintendent, are making every effort to begin their winter terms.

Tags: 1903

The Fort Dodge Messenger: Dec. 2, 1903

Doctor Kime Says Close the Schools

Spread of Diphtheria Cannot be Stopped Otherwise, He Says.

Record of All the Cases

Weakness in the Quarantine Methods Shown by Increase in Cases.

The continuance of the diphtheria epidemic in Fort Dodge has given an uneasy feeling to all parents that something is wrong in the handling of the cases somewhere, the rigidity of the quarantines established being suspected chiefly. It is a difficult matter to get people to appreciate the responsibility that all owe to the public in preventing the spread of contagion. The rules of the health officers, if followed strictly, would soon stop the spread of diphtheria but while the general public is careless and indifferent it is very likely that with the start given in the last three months there will be more cases and perhaps a good many more. Doctor Kime has investigated the record of cases of diphtheria which have already occurred and believes that there is more danger of contagion from keeping the schools open than in any other way. In fact he says that the schools must be closes or the situation will become very serious. His communication given below, will be read with general interest.

Editor Messenger: – The true situation as to diphtheria in the city at the present time is this:

During September, beginning September 7, there were three cases.

During the month of October there were sixteen cases.

During the month of November, there were twenty-six cases.

On the first day of December, three new cases were quarantined.

This makes a total of forty-eight cases since September 7. Of these, seven have died, or at the rate of about fifteen per hundred cases. There are now under quarantine twenty-three cases, of these perhaps three or four will die. The total mortality of the present epidemic, including those that will probably die among those now sick will be in the neighborhood of twenty per cent.

During the past ten days, fourteen new cases have been quarantined. If this rate holds good for December, as it probably will, the total for December will be forty-five. If the pace set by the first day of December is carried out for the entire month, as it will not (missing word) likely to be, the month of December will show ninety new cases.

(Editor’s note: There was more to the article, a list of cases from Sept. 7, 1903, to the time of the article.)

Tags: 1903, diphtheria, Kime

The Fort Dodge Messenger: Dec. 1, 1903

Diphtheria Causes Anxiety

Spread of Disease Rapid During Past Few Days

Five New Cases Reported at the City Hall Today – Schools May Be Fumigated Saturday.

Five new cases of diphtheria were reported on the bulletin board at the city hall today. Quarantine was established at the following homes:

Nels Greber, 235 South Thirteenth street, West Fort Dodge.

Gotleib Proeschold, 427 Third avenue south.

Mrs. J.W. Flaherty, 1726 Fifth avenue south.

H.M. Limm, 1216 Eleventh avenue south.

The Kirkpatrick home, 1227 Fifth avenue south.

The rapid spread of the disease has again attracted the attention of physicians, the health authorities and the public in general. The character of the quartine (sic) maintained on homes where the disease exists has not been allowed to relax and so far the health authorities can give no reason for the recent unexpected spread when the disease was thought to be well in  hand. Some physicians say that while diphtheria is not what is usually termed a contagious disease it is nevertheless more contagious than has been supposed.

It is not unlikely that Saturday all the schools of the city will be fumigated and allowed to be aired the following day.

(Editor’s note: Diphtheria was the cause of death of my great-grandmother’s father and sister, and quite likely her two brothers as well, in 1879. All four died in about a three-week period. It is part of the recommended immunization schedule for children in the U.S. and currently there are only about five cases a year. However, this is one of those shots you have to renew about every 10 years, so if you haven’t had one in that time, you might want to see your doctor.)

Tags: 1903, diphtheria, Flaherty, Greber, Kirkpatrick, Limm, Proeschold

The Fort Dodge Messenger: Dec. 1, 1903

May Affiliate With Y.W.C.A.

Mosaic Club May Become a Branch of Young Woman’s Christian Association.

State Secretary is Coming

Will Be in City Friday, December 18 – Many Advantages to be Derived.

Miss A. Estelle Paddock, state secretary of the Young Woman’s Christian Association, will be in Fort Dodge Friday, December 18, and will remain over Sunday. Her visit is at the invitation of the Mosaic club. At a recent business meeting it was the unanimous voice of the members that steps be taken toward affiliating that society, so well known in Fort Dodge, with the larger, more broadly known work of the Young Woman’s Christian Association.

Some of the reasons for this step are as follows:

1. Affiliation brings the Mosaic club in close touch with an organized work of world-wide scope, and makes it possible for the local society to get help and inspiration from a society of broad experience and thorough organization.
2. Affiliation puts the club in a position to receive regular visits from the state Y.W.C.A. secretary, or from a national secretary if the needs of the local work demand it, and constant supervision of the work by the state and national organization.
3. It makes it possible for the club to be represented at the State Y.W.C.A. conventions, the Lake Geneva summer conferences, and other helpful meetings of the world’s work.
4. It makes it necessary for the club to become an incorporated body under state law. At present the Mosaic club could not inherit property if any one were disposed to leave it a fortune.
5. It puts the society in a position to secure a trained secretary to direct its efforts.

Tags: 1903

The Fort Dodge Messenger: Nov. 12, 1903

Receives 1,100 Volts and Lives

Peter Carney Experiences an Electric Shock Sufficient to Kill Ordinary Man.

Is Able to Work Today

Accidentally Leans Against Switchboard and Falls to Floor Unconscious.

Receiving thru his body an electrical shock of 1,100 volts at 5 o’clock in the afternoon, within an hour reviving after he was apparently dead, and returning to work this morning showing no ill effects of the shock aside from a slight stiffness of the knees, is the experience of Peter Carney, an employe (sic) of the Fort Dodge Light and Power Company.

Wednesday afternoon Carney approached the brink of death about as close as a human being can go and live to tell of it. He accidentally leaned against a switchboard thru which was passing an electrical current of 1,100 volts strength. With a groan he fell to the floor and lay there to all appearances dead. Fortunately for him there was near a person who knew not exactly “first aid to the injured,” but “first aid to the electrocuted.” Carney was revived and within a short time was able to get on his feet and later to walk about.

The accident occurred at the power house of the Fort Dodge Light and Power company while Carney with a number of other men was engaged in putting in place several pieces of heavy machinery which are part of the improvements the company is making to his plant.

When it is known that persons are often killed by an electrical current of 500 voltage, the same used in operating street cars, the intensity of Carney’s shock can be fully realized. Carney is a man of large physique, weighing over 200 pounds. He had only recently entered the employ of the Light and Power company and it seems was unaware of the dangerous nature of electricity. While assisting in unloading the machinery he was several times cautioned to be careful in passing the switchboard. No one saw him when he received the shock.  The first known of the accident was a groan or scream that issued form his lips as he fell unconscious on the floor.

Superintendent Comstock, who had charge of the work, instantly realized what had hapened (sic) and in a few seconds after Carney had fallen was at work over the prostrate man. The jaws of the latter were tightly closed, but the superintendent in a few minutes succeeded in inducing artifical respiration. When partially revived, Carney was was (sic) assisted to his feet and with Superintendent Comstock as a support was moved about. Later he fully regained consciousness, but it was some time before he was able to understand what had happened.

This morning he returned to work as usual.

Tags: 1903, Carney, Comstock

The Fort Dodge Messenger: Nov. 3, 1903

Fish in the Farm Fields

An Interesting “Fish Story” From Hamilton County

After Past Wet Seasons Fish Have Been Deposited on Drying Farm Meadows

Webster City, Ia., Nov. 3 – Catfish and bullheads are so plentiful in the ponds, marshes and low places in the southern part of Hamilton county that women go out in the fields to the nearest ponds and gather them up on their aprons as they would chips. This extraordinary condition of affairs has just been discovered by the farmers of the section and “fish gathering” within the past few days has become quite the order of the day.

The fearfully wet seasons of 1902 and 1903 has brought about this strange phenomenon. All the streams during these two years have been so high that the fish, in seeking the headwaters have followed up the creeks, drain ditches and even the drain tile, although it is averred in some parts that the natural evaporation and precipitation of water has been carried on so quickly that small fish and spawn have been lifted from the rivers and have fallen with the rain. Those which fell in the lower places have lived and begot their kind. Of  course this story is more or less discredited, yet the fact remains that the farms in the southern part of the county are well supplied with fish. When the waters receded the fish were unable to get out of the ponds and marshes and can now be easily caught. Many of these ponds have receded to such an extent that the fish can be picked out of them with their hands.

There is something very peculiar about the way the bullheads act as the waters begin to dry up. The other day Sam Varland, a prosperous farmer living near Radcliffe, was crossing one of his fields when he came upon a small pond almost dry. Thinking, perhaps, there were fish in it, he removed his shoes and stockings and waded in. He found it literally crowded with bullheads and cat. While engaged in throwing them out with his hand he felt something hard and slimy deep down in the mud. He ran his hand down and what was his surprise to pull out a big bullhead weighing about four pounds. He kept on digging about, and before he left the pond he had succeeded in pulling twenty-five big fish out of the mud.

Fishermen explain this by saying that the bullhead, as soon as the waters begin to recede and freeze, will dig deep down into the mud, where it will live all winter and come forth again in the spring. Fishing in the larger ponds of the country has been common all summer but no one dreamed until recently that they were so full of fish as they now seem to be. All the farmers are now making a specialty of cleaning out their ponds and all the low places upon th efarm.

Much interest is manifest all over the county in the matter of fishing. It is likely that the farmers will get such a fill of fish that they will have no liking for the finny tribe after the present season is over.

Tags: 1903, Varland

The Fort Dodge Messenger: Oct. 1, 1903

Start to Move Library Books

Cannot Tell How Much Time Will Be Consumed in The Work.

11,000 Volumes to be Moved

Conveniences Used to Preserve Proper Classification of Books.

The librarians of the Public Library are at work today moving the first installment of books into the new Carnegie library. No one who appears to know anything about the matter can state the length of time that will be required for the work. A number of trough-like contrivances have been built in which the books will be moved in order to preserve their classified order. As there are something over 11,000 volumes to be moved and arranged, it will be some time before the library will be opened for public use of books.

Tags: 1903

The Fort Dodge Messenger: Sept. 26, 1903

Thanksgiving Day Without Turkeys

To Take Place in Fort Dodge This Year if Present Scarcity Continues.

The Price Will Be High

Scarcity Due to Wet Weather – Other Items of Interest in Markets.

Thanksgiving turkeys will be scarce and high this year, dealers saying that they look for an unwonted famine in the supply of the birds which are the primary requisite to every well ordered Thanksgiving dinner table.

The wet, rainy, chilly weather this summer has been responsible for so much mischief already, it is said to have well nigh exterminated the young turkeys, who are unable to make much headway in dampness. For this reason not near as many as usual of the popular birds are roaming the fields and woods this fall.

Twenty cents a pound was the average price last season but housewives cannot expect to buy them for that figure this fall. Fortunately this condition of affairs is only local, that is in Iowa. The eastern states where the country’s chief supply is raised, has had fine turkey weather this summer, so that the American people in general will not on Thanksgiving have to forego the delights of  the fowl which when placed in a platter on the festive board makes such a harmonious companion piece to cranberry sauce.

Tags: 1903

The Fort Dodge Messenger: Sept. 24, 1903

Young Girls’ Long Walk

Make Two Hundred Mile Tour in the Rockies

Were Formerly Residents of Jefferson – Was Rough But Healthy Exercise.

The Denver Daily News of September 13 has the following to say of some former Jefferson girls, Misses Maud and Laeta Elden, who have just taken a long tramp among the Rockies. The Misses Elden are nieces of Mesdames Enfield and Adkinson of Jefferson. The write up is accompanied by a picture of the party in walking rig:

“Miss Maud Elden and a party of friends have just ended a two hundred mile tramp at Boulder. In their tramp these parties twice crossed the ‘snowy range.’ From Boulder they went in a northwesterly direction and crossed the continental divide on Arapahoe pass, from which they descended into Middle Park. From Grand Lake they went to Estes Park, over the Famous Flat Top trail. For some distance this trail is among wild scenes 12,500 feet above the sea level. In Estes Park they spent several days and made many side trips, includingq (sic) a climb up Long’s Peak. In starting forward again they tramped for many miles along near the range, and ultimately reached Boulder by way of Allen’s Park and Jamestown.

“On the trip they wore short skits and carried but little baggage. One coffee pot and one tin pan was their only cooking outfit, and one blanket each was their only bedding.

“The weather during the tramp was ideal, and the outing brought to all a ravenous appetite. They did not carry provisions, and as most of the tour was made through a sparsely settled section, they often went hungry.

“All returned delighted with the tramp and every one is in vigorous health. All are school teachers and are graduates of the state university.

“At the head of the party was Miss Maud Elden, an instructor in the university at Boulder. The others were Miss Laeta Elden, a teacher at Sterling; Miss Helen Reed who has charge of the primary grades in the Boulder schools; Walter Reed, a teacher at Carbondale, and Ralph Reed, an instructor in the East Denver high school.

Tags: 1903, Adkinson, Elden, Enfield, Reed