Posts Tagged ‘Bennett’

7
Jan

Small Pox Appears in the City

   Posted by: admin    in Disease, Quarantine

The Fort Dodge Messenger: Jan. 7, 1907

Small Pox Appears in the City

Two Cases are Under Quarantine – Mayor Issues Warning to People.

Two cases of small pox have appeared in the city. One is at the residence of Grover Harris at 316 South 5th street where Mr. Harris is ill with the malady. The other is on North 7th street where Frank Devore a black smith employed at the Dan Noonan shop is confined.

Both cases were promptly placed under quarantine by city physician Mulroney, who pronounces them both of light form and not likely to become dangerous.

Neither of the afflicted parties have an idea as to where they contracted the disease. Sioux City has one hundred and twenty-five cases and it is thought probably that it came here from that city in some manner.

Mayor Bennett, desiring to warn the people says: “All should take very precaution to prevent the spread of contagious disease. Physicians inform me that soft weather like this makes it much more likely to spread. On the first appearance of sickness that gives indication of turning into scarlet fever, small pox or any other infectious sickness do not hesitate to call the city physician. If quarantine is promptly enforced the danger is small, whereas if the disease is let run three or four days it is likely to be transmitted to others.”

(Editor’s note: There was a related brief on another page of the same edition of the paper, in the “What They Say” section, which follows. It appears he is referring to the home of Frank Devore.)

“The other day I noticed a milk wagon drive up in front of a home on north 7th street where a family is quarantined for small pox. The milkman poured out a quantity of milk into the pitcher brought out to him, looked at it, then evidently thinking he had given too much, poured part of it back from the pitcher into the big can from which he supplies all his customers. He drove on then to peddle milk from that same big can all over town. It looks as if that were a pretty good way to spread disease in case there were any germs on the pitcher, for milk is said to be the worst medium for carrying germs known.”

-Robert M. Wilson

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30
Dec

Not Drunk But Lightheaded

   Posted by: admin    in Police court

The Fort Dodge Messenger: Dec. 30, 1905

Not Drunk But Lightheaded

Andrew Overby Has Peculiar Plea to Make in the Mayor’s Court This Morning.

“Andrew were you drunk?” said Mayor Bennett this morning on discerning the familiar face of Andrew Overby, an old timer, among the prisoners brought before him at the opening of police court.

“Well! No! I wasn’t drunk, but I was pretty light headed,” came the answer. The question was not argued further, but the mayor feeling that light headedness and intoxication were so nearly allied with Andrew fined him a dollar and costs.

Bill Jones, another old timer, who has been on one continuous spree for the past week, was sentenced to ten days labor on the streets.

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13
Dec

Would Victimize Mayor Bennett

   Posted by: admin    in Scams

The Fort Dodge Messenger: Dec. 13, 1905

Woud (sic) Victimize Mayor Bennett

Latter Thinks an Attempt Has Been Made to Work a Graft on Him.

Mayor Bennett is of the opinion that an attempt has been made to work a smoothy graft on him, in a letter received by him this morning. The letter states that one Sidney J. Bennett took a government claim of 160 acres in 1874. It says that the writer, an abstractor in Washington, D.C., is of the opinion that he is not the Sidney J. Bennett who did this and asks him to state as much and put a price on his right to take claims. The mayor things that the writer desires to get him to state that he is not the Mr. Bennett who took such a claim, and to purchase his right. He would then sell this right for a large sum to some third party. It would be discovered that Mr. Bennett had once taken a claim when the third party attempted to use the purchased right, and he could be prosecuted for attempting to defraud the government.

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13
Dec

“Lid” Is On In Earnest In Fort Dodge Today

   Posted by: admin    in Crime

The Fort Dodge Messenger: Dec. 13, 1905

“Lid” Is On In Earnest In Fort Dodge Today

Reign of Terror Through The City Will Be Brought to Speedy End.

The Slot Machines Go Down

Mayor Gives Chief Orders to Throw Out the Drag Net For Tough Characters

General Cleaning Up Started

All Gambling Institutions, Saloons That do Not Company With the Law, and Any and all Disreputable Places Will be Closed.

The lid is on in Fort Dodge today. A general cleaning up process has been started, and the city is to be thoroughly  gone over, cleaned and disinfected of the moral filth that has existed during the past few months.

At nine o’clock this morning Mayor Bennett entered police headquarters with a grim look on his face, and calling the chief announced that the lid was to be clapped down and hermetically sealed. The chief was given orders to take down all slot machines, whether operated for the purpose of winning cigars or money; all gambling devices of any sort, close all saloons that did not comply with the law, all gambling institutions and disorderly resorts, and throw out the drag net and rake in all the suspicious, tough and disorderly characters that could be found from end to end of the city.

Work Starts at Once.

The work starts at once, and it is safe to say that by night Fort Dodge will exist under the tightest lid that ever covered an Iowa city. Chief Tullar will personally visit all places in the city where slot machines are operated this morning, and will order them consigned to the garret, and on refusing will confiscate them. Saloons will be notified to observe a strict compliance with the closing law at nights and Sundays, warned to observe the black list and preserve order in their places. All suspicious localities will be visited, and anything that hints of disorder or lawlessness will receive a thorough investigation.

Throw Out the Net.

This completed the net will be thrown out, and the city raked through from east to west and from north to south. Alleys, by streets, dens and dives will be visited, and all undesirable characters found therein will be loaded into the patrol wagon, which will accompany the visits, and landed behind prison bars to await a sentence of a few days labor on the streets or a jail term on a diet of bread and water.

Mayor Bennett is determined that the reign of terror that has existed here during recent times will be ended, for good and for all if possible. The whirr of slot machines, and the rattle of the nickle (sic) will be heard no longer. Dice shaking for drinks and cigars will be prohibited, and the crap game in a sequestered spot in alleys is to be a thing of the past. Hold-ups, burglaries, drugging in saloons, and slugging on dark streets by foot pads will cease, and the gentry who have been perpetrating the acts will hide by day and night, or leave the city.

It is is expected that it will take several days to complete the work that has been started. It was placed well under way by noon, however, and a large part will be completed by night. The rest will await the action of time and vigorous action.

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7
Dec

Fort Dodge’s Live Ones: Sidney J. Bennett

   Posted by: admin    in People

The Fort Dodge Messenger: Dec. 7, 1906

Fort Dodge’s Live Ones: Sidney J. Bennett

As the first of a series of cartoons of “live ones of Fort Dodge,” the Messenger takes pleasure in presenting the well known face of our honored Mayor, Mr. Sidney J. Bennett.

The Mayor’s claims to fame are multitudinous and varied. A self-made man he lacks the usual human weakness of “worshiping (sic) his maker” that detracts from characters such as his.

Three times Mayor of Fort Dodge, and as often a member of the Board of Supervisors for the County, there are really no monuments of the progress and advancement of the City or County that do not bear the impress of his genius. Anybody who doubts the foregoing can easily be set right by a few minutes conversation with the subject of this sketch or any of his hosts of partisan friends and admirers.

Not only has Mr. Bennett achieved fame at home, but his services abroad are no less distinguished. It was he who bored the monster hole through the mountains of the Pacific Coast and gave to the world the “Stampede Tunnel; a work requiring a special knowledge of engineering, unbounded energy and superb leadership in the management of men; these qualities becoming most apparent in Mr. Bennett’s makeup in the fact that he completeed the work ahead of contract time, thus earning a large “Bonus” which laid the foundation of his ample fortune in the full enjoyment of which he is passing the years of his later life.

A soldier in the Civil War, a pioneer in western settlement, a politician  of the best type, and, above all, a truthful citizen in all cases, except where the size of the fish he caught is involved, the Mayor of Fort Dodge takes first rank for the sturdy fiber of manhood that makes for good citizenship.

It is with the sincere wish of many years of happiness and usefulness for our distinguished fellow citizen that this paper presents him to the readers; and when the time comes, as come it must to all, when he must retire to private life, to enjoy the contemplation of days well spent; whatever estimate is put upon his public services by those who may succeed him, all may have the consolation implied in Prince Hal’s comment on Falstaff: “We might have better spared a better man.”

(Editor’s note: As mentioned, this is the first in a series. I don’t currently have them all copied, but I’ll try to get the rest of them. Also, each of these is accompanied by a caricature, which I do not have scanned at this time.)

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7
Nov

The Mayor is Up in Arms

   Posted by: admin    in Accident, Court matters

The Fort Dodge Messenger: Nov. 7, 1905

The Mayor is Up in Arms

Says Distributing Pills and Medicines About The City Must Stop.

With the bringing before him a case where a little child had become dangerously ill from eating a sample box of pills thrown into the front yard by a distributing agent, Mayor Bennett has risen in his wrath and declares that distributing samples of medicines about the city especially at residences must be stopped.

He states that he will notify official bill poster and advertising agent W.P. Durmer that he must not take any more contracts to put out such stuff and will instruct his police to arrest all transients whom they find pursuing a similar work. His action will no doubt be approved through the city particularly by people with small children, from the fact that the little ones often pick up, and eat boxes of tempting-looking sugar coated pills, etc., that they found about the street and house.

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19
Sep

Eleven Unfortunates

   Posted by: admin    in Police court

The Fort Dodge Daily Chronicle: Sept. 19, 1910

Eleven Unfortunates

Almost an Even Dozen Face Mayor S.J. Bennett in Police Court During Sunday Morning

Eleven arrests were made in this city during Saturday and Saturday evening and as a result nearly one dozen of unfortunates faced Mayor S.J. Bennett in police court Sunday morning. All of the unfortunates were charged with over indulgence in the flowing bowl and customary fines were imposed.

This morning one drunk and one vag arraigned, being assess regulation fines for their offenses.

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16
Sep

Was Not a Relative of the Mayor

   Posted by: admin    in Police court

The Fort Dodge Messenger: Sept. 16, 1905

Was Not a Relative of the Mayor

Frank Bennett, Up For Drunkeness (sic) Says He Must Be a New Member of the Family.

Three Caught in the Net

Wm. Wells Worked at Fairs and Carnivals; Mayor Thinks he Worked the People at These Places so Gives Him Ten Days in Jail.

The drag net thr0ugh the lower districts of the city last night succeeded in pulling in three transgressors of law and order. Lined up on the prisoner’s bench at nine o’clock this morning, with bloodshot eyes, and disheaveled (sic) hair, as the result of a few hours career of dissipation, and still a few more spent in the city jail, each faced the mayor to answer to his special offense.

Name Was Frank Bennett.

The first man called upon proved to be arraigned on the charge of drunkeness, and disorderly conduct. He gave his name as Frank Bennett. “I hope you don’t claim to be any relation to me,” said the Mayor, starting excitedly from his chair. “I don’t know,” answered the other, “If we are related you’re a new member of the family to me.” This interesting discussions as to relationship was cut short by the Mayor, informing his possible relatives that he could accept a position measuring the distance to the city limits.

Charles McCloud plead guilty to drunkeness and was fined five dollars and costs. William Wels (sic), stating that he was Springfield, Ohio, and that he had been working around at Carnivals and fairs, denied the charge of vagrancy and begging. “I guess you have been working the people at these fairs and carnivals,” said the mayor, “that’s the kind of work I would attribute to you, so I’ll give you ten days in jail, varied with a little work on the streets.”

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8
Sep

Peculiar Tangle in Mayor’s Court

   Posted by: admin    in Automobile, Police court

The Fort Dodge Messenger: Sept. 8, 1906

Peculiar Tangle in Mayor’s Court

Ed Rank Arrested for Sounding Weird Siren Horn on His Auto.

Fined; But Appeals the Case

Mayor Says Horn Sounds Like Dying Wail And Scares Women and Children – Rank Says it is Necessary to Make People Get Out of Way.

Fort Dodge is noted for its peculiar legal tangles, but what seems to be the strangest yet arose this morning in the mayor’s court when Ed Rank appeared charged with disturbing the peace by sounding a weird siren horn on his auto about the streets.

Mr. Rank bought the horn which has caused all the trouble in Omaha during a trip there a few weeks ago. It was invented about a year ago and has become very popular in the east on account of the effective warning it gives.

It has a strangely weird sound, starting with a wail and ending in a wild shriek, and if given full force, can be heard for blocks. To one who does not know what it is or is of a nervous temperament, it undoubtedly has a terrifying sound.

When Mr. Rank first appeared here with it on his auto, Mr. Bennett, through his police, warned him not to use it. He continued, however, feeling that if care was used not to sound it with full force all would go well. Continual complaints to the mayor caused him to notify Mr. Rank last night to appear before him this morning to stand trial.

At the trial Mr. Rank and H.B. Groves, proprietor of one of the local garages, testified for the defendant, stating that such a horn was a great benefit to the autoist and to pedestrians, because it gave such a good warning of the auto’s approach. They stated that the ordinary horns were paid but little attention and something to carry far was almost necessary.

Mayor Bennett held that the horn was a nuisance. He stated that its sound caused people to run to the windows in dismay, wondering what had happened, or to hide themselves in terror; that it carried a sound which was like the shhriek of a dying man or the wail of a lost soul and that numbers of prominent people of the city (naming them) had earnestly requested that, as chief executive of the ctiy, he should take steps to abate it. In the end the fine named was levied. Maurice O’Connor appeared for Mr. Rank and the case was conducted for the city by City Solicitor M.J. Mitchell. Immediately after the close of the trial an appeal to the district court was taken by the attorney for the defendant. the appeal bond was fixed at $100. It was immediately given.

A peculiar feature of the case is that the city’s right to hold Mr. Rank is based on an ordinance that specifically defines what shall constitute disturbing the peace. Among other things it says that the blowing of horns of an unusual kind shall be disturbing the peace. This ordinance was passed back in 1869, before an automobile was built in the world. What was in view at the time that it was passed seems hard to get at, yet taking the strict construction of the provision, it fits the present case to a nicety.

It was reported that Mr. Rank had sent word to Judge Richard at Webster City asking for an injunction restraining the city from interfering with him in blowing his horn. This is untrue.

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5
Aug

Tells the Mayor What to Do

   Posted by: admin    in People

The Fort Dodge Messenger: Aug. 5, 1905

Tells the Mayor What to Do

Mayor Bennett Receives Communication With Instructions

Regulate Speed of Autos

No Name is Signed But Writer Says Autos Are Running About City Like Wild – Letter is An Insult – Will Be Disregarded.

You may think some farmer wrote this Mr. B., but never mind. It is time for you or some of your policemen to do something and control some of these autos that are running around  here like wild ACT SEE?

The above communication was received by Mayor Bennett this morning, scrawled on the back of a postal card. No name was signed to it and nothing to indicate the person who wrote it was evident about it.

The communication is an insult in every way. The person whoever he is did not dare sign his name or come out in an honest and honorable manner and ask or even demand that the speed of autos in this city be regulated, but instead took for his means of bringing the matter to the attention of the mayor the low, underhanded method of writing an insulting anonymous letter, demanding with unparalleled arrogance that the mayor and policement (sic) act, and at once.

Mayor Bennett stated to a Messenger reporter this morning that he intended to pay no attention whatever to the demand. He said he had no knowledge of autos being run in a careless manner and until a complaint was filed in an honest and honorable manner by some person who takes exception to their operation, would take no action regarding them.

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