USA > Iowa > Webster County > Fort Dodge > History of Fort Dodge and Webster County, Iowa, Volume II > Part 13
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On the 8th of February, 1893, Mr. Mallinger was married to Miss Margaret Wagner, a daughter of Bernard and Mary (Fid- dler) Wagner, natives of Germany. Of this marriage there have been born six children : William, who is fifteen years of age; Cath- erine, who is six; Joseph, who has passed his third birthday ; John, who died in 1895 at the age of one year ; Matthew, who died when five weeks old in 1895; and Peter, who died in 1897.
The parents are communicants of the Roman Catholic church and fraternally Mr. Mallinger is a member of the Knights of Co- lumbus. He is a democrat in politics and is a member of the town council, while for four years he was assessor of Colfax township. Mr. Mallinger is a man of more than average diligence and busi- ness sagacity, as he has evidenced in his career, and is meet- ing with the prosperity invariably won through the intelligent exercise of these qualities.
LORENZO S. COFFIN.
Iowa has furnished her full quota of eminent men to the nation, men of pronounced ability who have become leaders in statescraft, in commercial, industrial and professional life, and others, whose in- fluence has been given for the amelioration of conditions that in any way oppose or hinder the development of their fellowmen. Quiet and unostentatious in manner, seeking not self-aggrandizement in any direction, Lorenzo S. Coffin has become known as one of the most honored sons of the Hawkeye state, not because he has won distinc- tion in politics, or even because he has attained exceptional success in business, but because his efforts have been, and are still, unsel- fishly given for the benefit of his fellowmen. Recognizing the law of universal brotherhood, his sympathetic spirit has prompted action, that, guided by sound practical judgment, has resulted in great good. He has long since passed the Psalmist's span of three score years and ten, the snows of eighty-nine winters having fallen upon his head, but old age is not necessarily a synonym of weakness and it need not suggest as a matter of course inactivity or helplessness. There is an old age which is a benediction to all with whom it comes in contact ; that gives out of its riches stores of wisdom and experience and grows stronger mentally and spiritually as the days pass. Such is it with Lorenzo S.
THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
ASTOR, LENOX AND TILD N FOUNDATIONS.
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Coffin, whose career is a source of encouragement to his contem- poraries and an abiding lesson to the young.
In pioneer days of Webster county Mr. Coffin took up his abode within her borders. He was born in Alton, New Hampshire, April 9. 1823, on the farm which was also the birthplace of his father, Stephen Coffin. The family is of English lineage, and at an early epoch in American development was founded in Massachusetts, whence the grandfather of our subject removed to the Granite state, settling on the farm on which both Stephen and Lorenzo Coffin were born. There he spent his remaining days, carrying on agricultural pursuits. His death occurred when he was about seventy-five years of age. In his family were nine children, all of whom reached mature years and reared families of their own.
Stephen Coffin was trained to the work of the home farm and for many years carried on agricultural pursuits in New Hampshire. He was also a clergyman of the Baptist church and his influence was widely felt in behalf of Christianity. He died in Dover, New Hamp- shire, when about seventy-five years of age. His wife bore the maiden name of Deborah Philbrook and died at the age of thirty-eight. She was a native of Sanbornton, New Hampshire, representing an early family of sturdy pioneers. Her father, David Philbrook, was born at Hampton Beach, New Hampshire, and spent the greater part of his life on the farm at Sanbornton. He lived to the advanced age of more than ninety years-a noble Christian man who commanded the re- spect of all with whom he came in contact. He had eight sons and eight daughters, all of whom reached mature years, and to each lie gave good educational privileges, thus fitting them for life's prac- tical duties. In the family of Stephen and Deborah (Philbrook) Coffin were three daughters and a son. Catherine P. Coffin was a teacher in the seminary in Charleston, Massachusetts. She married Benjamin Stanton and both engaged in educational work for several years at Union College, Schnectady, New York. Christiana became the wife of Rev. D. B. Cowell, of Maine. She possessed considerable poetical talent and was a writer for many magazines and papers. Her death occurred in 1863. Sarah, who was the wife of Mr. Lynde, died when about sixty years of age.
Upon his father's farm Lorenzo S. Coffin spent his youth and early became familiar with the labor of field and meadow. His educa- tional advantages at the time were meager, but later the family re- moved to Wolfboro, New Hampshire, where he became a student in the Wolfboro Academy. He lost his mother when fourteen years of Vol. II-9
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age but continued at home until he had attained his majority, when he began working as a farm hand in the home neighborhood, and thus he acquired a sum sufficient to enable him to continue his education and prepare for teaching, a profession which he followed with suc- cess for some time. Oberlin College, of Oberlin, Ohio, was then one of the most popular schools of the country and he went there with the intention of pursuing an extended course of study, but remained only a year and a half in the preparatory department of the college.
In the meantime Mr. Coffin was united in marriage to Miss Cynthia T. Curtis, and they went to Geauga county, Ohio, where both engaged in teaching in the Geauga Seminary. Among their pupils were James A. Garfield and Lucretia Rudolph, his future wife, who first met in that school. The failing health of Mrs. Coffin obliged them to give up teaching after one year's connection with Geauga Seminary, and in the winter of 1854-5 Mr. Coffin came to Iowa on a business trip. Being pleased with Webster county and the advantages offered and with firm faith in its future he resolved to locate here. He secured a claim of one hundred and sixty acres, which he entered when the government placed the land on the market, and thus began the de- velopment of his fine farm, to which he has added by subsequent pur- chases from time to time until he now owns seven hundred and twenty acres. The experience of his boyhood and early manhood upon the farm now proved very valuable to him. With characteristic energy he began the development of his land, and Willow Edge Farm is now one of the most desirable and valuable farming properties in the statc, supplied with all modern improvements and accessories. On the brow of the hill about three miles from Fort Dodge, near which he decided to erect his buildings, is a large spring of purest water, flowing con- tinually, while other springs upon the place feed the stream, the Lizzard, which winds its way, bordered by magnificent forest trees, through the farm. Mr. Coffin has made a specialty of the breeding and raising of fine stock, and now owns one of the largest and choicest herds of shorthorn cattle to be found in the west, keeping from one hundred to two hundred head. He also breeds for the market Poland China hogs and Oxford Down sheep, generally keeping one hundred and fifty to two hundred and fifty or more of the latter. From two to five men are employed upon the farm and the work is under the immediate supervision of J. I. Rutledge, son-in-law of Mr. Coffin, who is a joint-owner in the stock on the farm. Modern machinery, practical and improved methods and all conveniences and accessories for facilitating the work are here found.
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Not long after coming to this home Mr. Coffin was called upon to mourn the loss of his wife, who died April 20, 1856. In February, 1857, he was again married, his second umion being with Miss Mary Chase, of Orleans county, New York. Three children were born unto them, but only one is living, Carrie C., the wife of J. I. Rutledge. One child died in infancy and Kitty May died at the age of fourteen years.
While successfully conducting his private business affairs, Mr. Coffin never confines his efforts selfishly to his work. From 1859 to 1876 he used to leave his home Sunday mornings very early and on horseback would ride to different parts of the country, where no minister was sent, and preach the Gospel. He would often ride forty miles and in return never received a dollar in pay, doing it all for the benefit of his fellowmen, during which time he also conducted a great many funerals. In the early days he was the editor of the agricultural department of the Fort Dodge Messenger and many have profited by his practical wisdom as set forth in the columns of that paper. For many years he was also an active member of the State Agricultural Society and labored earnestly and effectively in connection with that organization to promote the interests of the farming people throughout the state, but while his interest in the subject has never abated, other duties have made heavy demands upon his time, forcing him to cease his work in that field to attend to more pressing needs. He had in the meantime served his country loyally in the Civil war, enlisting in the fall of 1862 as a member of Company I, Thirty-second Iowa Infantry. He joined the army as a private, but was promoted in turn sergeant. quartermaster sergeant and chaplain. For about a year he remained at the front and then returned to his home.
Perhaps the work which has made Mr. Coffin most widely known and which has been of the broadest benefit to his fellowmen is that in connection with providing better conditions for railroad employes. In the year 1883 he was appointed by Governor Sherman to fill a vacancy on the railroad commission, caused by the retirement of the Hon. James Wilson, and on the expiration of that term in 1885 was reappointed, continuing in the office until 1888. It was during this period that Mr. Coffin became interested in that which he is making his life work-promoting the happiness and improving the condition of railroad men. In speaking of his experience he says : "It seems, as I look back through the years of my past life, that I can see the guid- ing of a Divine Providence bringing me to the position where I might realize the condition of the great multitude of suffering, helpless men.
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the misery of whose condition seemed to be growing worse every day, with no indication or hope of its growing better, and as I occupied the position of railroad commissioner, receiving reports continually from all over the state and the United States of the terrible slaughter and crippling of railroad men, I then for the first time saw the need for work in this field and determined by the help of God to do something to alleviate the suffering of those men." He then immediately began to investigate more fully the conditions and surroundings of the rail- road men of the country and to agitate the subject of the power brake and automatic car coupler, and finally succeeded in securing the enact- ment of the law requiring them to be placed on all cars on lines in Iowa, which was passed by the Iowa state legislature in 1888. This was the first practical law ever enacted by any state for the safety of railroad men. The law was strongly opposed by the railroad com- panies. Railroad managers said its enforcement would cost them millions of dollars annually and would do little, if anything, toward lessening the likelihood of accident. Through the efforts of Mr. Coffin and the cooperation of societies of railroad employes and of private citizens to whom the record of railroad accidents was appall- ing, the law was finally passed, with the result that the number of accidents on railroads, caused simply in the coupling of cars alone. has been reduced three-fourths.
To the compiler of this sketch Mr. Coffin said: "To Iowa must be given the honor of enacting into law the first practical bill ever presented to any legislature for the safety of life and limb of rail- road men." It was drafted by Mr. Coffin and he says that he spent a full month on the bill. So anxious was he that the bill should be so drawn that no court could set it aside as unconstitutional, that he consulted with one of the judges of the Iowa supreme court on every section of it. Mr. Coffin has the great satisfaction of knowing that from the day it became a law its constitutionality has never been questioned. He says that it went through the Iowa legislature with practically a unanimous vote, not a vote against it in the senate and only three or four against it in the house. The roads were given five years to do the work of equipping their cars with the safety ap- pliances that the law required. But here came a great dilemma- all of the Iowa roads were interstate roads and engaged in the inter- state traffic. Foreign cars from outside roads would, of course, have to be equipped in the same manner as the cars of the Iowa roads or they could not receive them, or else the lading must all be transferred
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from these foreign cars to the Iowa cars. Here was a very serious problem to be faced.
Mr. Coffin said: "The only way to solve that problem that showed itself to me was through a way so strewn with vast difficulties that it was absolutely appalling and I dared not face it for awhile. Yet it seemed to me it must be done. Some. of the states adjoining Iowa copied my bill and made it into a law. If only all the states would do the same and not change a section it would be just the thing, but I could not expect that, and it would take a long while to go from one state to another to get them to pass the same kind of a law. The more I thought of it, I made up my mind that it would be a practical impossibility, and so the alternative was forced on me that a national law must be had. Of course this meant that I must go to Washington and try to get a bill through congress. This seemed so utterly beyond all possibility for a man like me to accomplish that for a while I thought that I would not undertake it, but I could not rest. In my dreams I would see these railroad men crushed between the ends of the cars, hear their awful screams as the iron wheels ground them to pieces under the cars. Finally I thought that I must try, or at least that I would go to Chicago and talk with some of the railroad officials there and ask their advice. I felt sure that the companies that ran roads through Iowa would like to have all other roads to equip their cars as theirs were to be, so there would be an easy interchange of cars from one road to another. I thought that would help in this great move. To show how hopeless the undertaking was in their judgment I will relate what was said in my talk with Marvin Hughitt, president of the Chicago & Northwestern Railway. When I went into his office he was busy examining some papers, and after a little while he said in rather a sharp and vexed tone: 'Now. Mr. Coffin, as you have got your state to enact that law. I want that you should go to every state adjoining Iowa and get them to enact such a law as Iowa has.' I said that I realized the great importance of a uniform law and could see no way to secure it only through congress, and that I had about made up my mind to go down to Washington and get it to pass my bill. Mr. Hughitt dropped the papers he had in his hand on the table before him and looked at me with great amazement and said: 'Mr. Coffin, congress is a great body ; you can't move that.' My after-ex perience showed me how well that man judged of what, as he well thought, a wild undertaking, and how well he understood and ap- preciated the difficulties I would have to encounter.
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"In the spring of 1888 the interstate commerce commission, then just organized, invited what state railroad commissioners were then created, to come to Washington and hold a conference. That noted jurist, Judge Cooley, of Michigan, was president of the national com- mission. Although my term of office had expired a few weeks before the date of that conference, our state commission urged me to attend that meeting. I did so, and near the close of the last session of that meeting, by the request of a member of the Iowa board, I was asked by Judge Cooley to address the conference. This I, of course did, giving them the mass of statistics I had been compiling, which was new to them all. After I had sat down commissioners from other states gathered around me and said: 'Mr. Coffin, you must be wrong, for we can't think that it is possible that there is such a fearful killing and maiming of our railroad men.' I assured them that they were absolutely correct, as far as Iowa was concerned, for they were from the reports of the roads themselves to our state board, as our law required them to report to us every accident to their men.
"As but very few of the states had as yet required the roads to report as ours did, I had to get the number of killed and injured in other states by the rule of three. If Iowa, with so many miles of road, had so many accidents to their men, how many will all the miles in the nation give us? Afterward, from a talk with an old railroad man, I found that my basis of calculation was wrong. for I should have taken it by the number of engines, for on most all of the roads east there would be a great many more trains a day than in the then sparsely settled Iowa. When I made my computations on this basis the total was so awful that I did not dare to give the exact figures to the public. Afterward Judge Cooley wrote me to give to his national commission what facts and figures I had gathered up and what other information I had gained on this matter in my five years of experience as a commissioner. I am telling all this to you, sir, that you may see, as I do, the wonderful way I was led on so as to have more and more of the standing before the public and the powers that then were. Let it be understood all along that I now realized that I was only an instrument in the hand of God and the Father. to be used by Him for a great good to the great army of railroad men who are now an abso- lute necessity to the prosperity of this great country. The information I sent to Judge Cooley was by the request of General Benjamin Harrison, then president-elect of the United States, sent to him, and used by him in his inaugural when he was sworn into his high office. He did it in these words : 'It is a disgrace to our civilization that men
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in a lawful employment for a livelihood should be exposed to greater danger than soldiers in the time of actual war.' He very strongly recommended speedy action by congress. So you see how in this unthought of and unpremeditated way a mighty opening was made for me. Then I had two especially strong and influential friends, one in each house of congress. One was W. B. Allison in the senate, and Colonel David B. Henderson in the house, now its speaker. Ilere again was another of the series of special providences that show so plainly all along the road, but of which I was not aware then, but now can see as clearly as the noonday sun. Some years before at one of the congressional elections it was a question whether Colonel Henderson would be returned, as he at that time had a very strong competitor, and I suppose that it is no egotism in me to say what was then pretty well understood to be the fact, that my influence with the railroad boys and with the farmers of his district had much to do with saving him. This had made him a firm friend, and he was ready to aid me all in his power, which was great, and he wielded it to good ad- vantage for the bill. Well, the 4th of March was coming on. I had been working on the bill for congress with a great deal of care and labor. I had been very anxious before the inauguration to have Mr. Harrison say a word for the boys in his address. I wanted to know how he felt, but never having met him, and there being such a throng around him, I could see no way to get to him to ask him to remember the boys. Finally, Colonel Henderson gave me a letter to him, and so I had a chance to speak to him. His first words after reading the letter were, 'Well, what is it?' In as few words as I could I told what 1 wanted. In an instant he replied. 'It is in there,' meaning in his address, and those were his last words to me. I grasped his hand, thanked him with tears in my eyes and left.
"Congress convened. My bills were introduced and referred to the committee on interstate commerce. For four long years I was in what was called the third house of congress, 'the lobby.' It is not necessary for me to try to tell you of the long struggle. It would fill a book. I fully realized that public opinion had much to do with acts of congress, so wherever I heard of a great gathering of influ- ential men, such as great gatherings of church officials of every de- nomination, there I would go and get a few moments time to plead for the lives and limbs of the railroad boys and for Sunday rest as well, getting them to pass strong resolutions which I had usually already prepared. And so I worked. The first congress of Harrison's administration closed without my being able to get the bills ont of the
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committee's hands. They were introduced again at the opening of his last congress, and from that time on the railroads were there in force fighting the bill. They told the committee that it would cost the roads one hundred million dollars to meet the requirements of that bill. But God loved these trainmen more than He did the millions of the corporations, and the bill went through and President Harrison signed it and made it a law two days before he left his high office, on the 2d of March, 1893. The law gave the roads five years to equip their cars as the law directed, but near the close of the fifth year the roads came before the interestate commerce commission and pleaded for five years more, but the five railroad brotherhoods with myself were there in opposition, and they got only two years and then seven months after that. As the result of that law there are at least fifteen hundred less deaths and over five thousand less painful accidents per year than when President Harrison signed that bill. So beneficial is this law found to be in an economical sense, to say nothing of the saving of life and limb, that the very officials that then called me a crank and abused me so unmercifully. now take me by the hand and thank me for what they then cursed me for. Yet it never seems to me that I have done anything but what was my plain duty to do after the awful facts came to my knowledge. I never could have respected myself if I had refused to try, frightened at the lions I really saw in the way. So then let the praise go where it belongs, to God."
Mr. Coffin certainly deserves the unbounded gratitude of all rail- road men throughout the country, by securing the enactment of the national law which was passed by congress March 2. 1893. When President Harrison signed the "safety appliance bill" the interstate commerce commission reports show that there were twenty-seven hun- dred and thirty-seven railroad men killed that year and over thirty- three thousand injured, some being badly crippled for life. After the cars were equipped as the law directs, the commission reports that the effect of that law had reduced the casualties to railroad men over sixty-five per cent, notwithstanding that had been a dull year for the railroads and far less men were employed than in other years; so that it is perfectly safe to say that two thousand were and have been saved and over twenty thousand painful accidents have been pre- vented yearly since 1900.
That Mr. Coffin's efforts along this line have received well deserved recognition from men of ability and weight who are capable of ap- preciating their true value may be plainly seen by this statement in a letter written by Rev. William Salter. D. D. "When I read Mr.
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Coffin's article a thrill of pleasure and state pride ran through me that Iowa had a man of such divine humanity and of so much patience, skill and tact to do such good work and to tell the story in the simple and direct style of Ben Franklin's autobiography. It ought to have a wide circulation." Mr. Salter also wrote Mr. Coffin personally to express his appreciation of the splendid work accomplished. In a letter dated January 18, 1903. he says: "I have just read your de- lightful paper in The Annals for this month and beg to send you my hearty thanks and a few blessings for writing it. You have added an additional benefit to the great services you have rendered to humanity by giving the history of your labors for 'Safe Appliances on Rail- roads' in so clear and vigorous a style and with such admirable sim- plicity and straightforwardness. Your paper will become a classic in Iowa literature and bring honor to our state as well as to yourself that its author is an Iowa man. It will encourage other good minds in the future to labor with patience and hope like your own for amelioration and improvement in every department of industry and commerce and trade. With sentiments of high respect and warm esteem, very sincerely yours, William Salter."
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