Posts Tagged ‘Brennan’

18
Jun

Was Ungrateful for Favors Shown

   Posted by: admin    in Police court, Railroad

The Fort Dodge Messenger: June 18, 1903

Was Ungrateful for Favors Shown

George Mapleton Fought Policeman Who Pulled Him Out of Danger – Now Nurses Broken Arm.

Was Lying Across The Track.

Resisted and Struck the Policeman and was Thrown Down, Receiving Injury in the Tumble – Other news of Police Court.

George Mapleson, who says his home is in Cedar Rapids, and who has been working on a steel gang at LeMars, had a strenuous experience on Wednesday night. He was found by Officer Mericle in a helplessly intoxicated condition, laying asleep across the Illinois Central tracks near the depot, in imminent danger of being cut in two by a train which was being made u p, and when the officers in all kindness started to remove him from his dangerous position, he showed fight, hit the well meaning policeman with his fist, was thrown down in the melee which followed and broke his arm. This morning, with his arm in a sling, Mapleson showed a humble and contrite spirit, admitted his wrong doing, and was let off with a remitted fine. It was expected that he would be sent back to his home in Cedar Rapids.

Mapleson’s right arm was broken above the elbow. When the officer tried to get him out of his dangerous proximity to the train, Mapleson became abusive, and was promptly placed under arrest. When Mr. Mericle started to take him out of the depot, he wheeled just outside the door and struck him a heavy blow in the face. Mericle threw him down, and as he rose, full of fight threw him down again. It is supposed that his arm was broken in his second fall.

Pat Brennan, who was with Mapleson, was taken to jail.

Henry Kelley, and old offender, was back in police court this morning and Mayor Northrup, true to his promise, assessed a fine of $5 and costs against him, and put  him on the street to work it out, as a rate of $1.50 per day. He was turned over to Street Commissioner Rocky.

Clarence Monahan, another old timer, met the same fate.

John Martin, a youthful personage, said that he wanted to go to Omaha, and was given a change to get out of town.

Mapleson was sent back to his home in Cedar Rapids this afternoon.

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1
May

Broom Factory Flourishes Here

   Posted by: admin    in Business

The Fort Dodge Messenger: May 1, 1905

Broom Factory Flourishes Here

Manufacturing of the Housewife’s Weapon of Defense Against Dirt.

Process of Making Described

Starting in a Small Way The Business is Constantly Growing – Output of 125 Dozen Brooms Per Week at The Present Time.

One of the most flourishing small manufacturing concerns of the city is the Fort Dodge Broom Company, located at 425 Central avenue. The factory is owned and managed by the Brennan Brothers, formerly of Waterloo. They came here in the spring of 1903 and started their plant on April 5 of that year, induced by a grant of six months’ free rent. The business is in a flourishing condition their trade being about four times as great as it was when they first started. Four men are now employed in making brooms and turn out over one hundred and twenty-five dozen per week. These are sent to the outside trade for the most part.

This indispensable weapon of the housewife against dirt is made from broom corn grown in Oklahoma and shipped here for a consideration of from fifty to one hundred dollars a ton, according to the grade. The raw materials is packed in large bales and is a mass of tangled whisks. To straighten these out and knock off the seed is the first step, one of four, in the making of a broom.

The next one is that of sorting the different lengths which is done by a boy at a long table. After he sorts them into four piles of different lengths he ties each pile into a bundle and  passes it to the men at the tying machines. Here the broom is made up, step by step.

First a handle is taken and run through a hold in the center of a revolving wheel where it is securely clamped. Then, taking a bunch of whisks from the pile, he bonds the bases and places them against the handle. They by foot power, he fastens it in place by a wire.

Again he selects a bunch of whisks and goes through the same process, although laying them end to end with the first bunch. Gradually the outer portion of the broom is reached, suing finer grades of material. Then the whole is secured at the base by a piece of cloth fastened by wire and a tin guard railed with staples.

After these steps the unfinished article reaches the stitching machine. This machine is run by a gasoline engine and has a capacity of forty dozen brooms per day. A single broom is securely clamped into position and shoved between the needles. These pass through the broom and catch the cord at the other side with the eyes, drawing it through the broom. This action is repeated until that row of stitches is finished. The broom is completed by being stitched in four rows and by having the label pasted on the handle.

This process is similarly used in the manufacturing of all the five different grades of articles made here. The only difference is in the class of material employed. These articles are sent all over the state and as they bear the label with the name Fort Dodge printed thereon, form quite an advertisement for the city.

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26
Mar

Will Open a Broom Factory

   Posted by: admin    in Business, Commercial Club

The Fort Dodge Messenger: March 26, 1903

Will Open a Broom Factory

Fort Dodge Commercial Club Completes Arrangements With a Promising New Industry

Will Open Here on April 1

Factory is to be Operated by Brennan Bros., One of Whom Comes From Waterloo

Fort Dodge is to have a new factory by April 1. A Waterloo man haas decided that Fort Dodge is a better place to live, and as a result Brennan Brothers propose to come to this city to establish a broom factory.

One of the brothers makes his home in Waterloo. The other lives at some place near that city. The factory which they propose to put in will employ four or five men from the start, and it is expected that it will be gradually increased, as the out put for Fort Dodge brooms expands.

Brennan Brothers will probably secure one of the Laufersweiler buildings on First Avenue south, across from Sherman’s laundry, as the point in which they will begin their business operations.

The Commercial club, as a meeting held on Wednesday evening, talked over the broom factory proposition, and decided that it was a worthy enterprise, and should be extended the hand of fellowship by Fort Dodge industries.

The factory comes to Fort Dodge without a bonus of any kind. Its projectors are simply content to get into a bustling town and take their chances of the success which they are sure will come their way.

(Editor’s note: It’s interesting to see an article about a new business, and that the Commercial Club encouraged new businesses, much like the Fort Dodge Area Chamber of Commerce and the Development Corporation of Fort Dodge and Webster County do today. It’s also interesting that the newspaper noted that there were no financial incentives offered by the city, but the company just wanted to locate the broom factory here.)

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