USA > Iowa > Muscatine County > History of Muscatine County, Iowa, from the earliest settlements to the present time, Volume I > Part 34
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THE GERMAN HOME SOCIETY.
organized August 21, 1910, for the worthy purpose of eventually erecting a suit- able and commodious German hall for above societies. August 26, 1910, the German Home Society was duly incorporated, the incorporators, who are also directors, being: William Wendlandt, Henry Heinz, Herman Grensing, John F. Heerd, John T. Nester, George Boch, John Wolfram, John L. Knopp, L. C. Lenck, Henry Umlandt, Emil Kranz, Charles Spieth, Gustav Maeglin and Jacob Sylvester. The present officers are: William Wendlandt, president; Henry Heinz, vice president; Herman Grensing, secretary; J. F. Heerd, treasurer. This society has recently purchased a lot 40x140 feet, on the corner of Chestnut and Front streets, upon which it intends to build a hall.
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CHAPTER XIV.
THE COUNTY SEAT.
MUSCATINE INCORPORATED AS A TOWN IN 1839RECEIVES NEW CHARTER IN 1851 -ONE OF THE MOST BEAUTIFUL CITIES ON THE MISSISSIPPI-ITS FIRST SET- TLERS-TRADING CABIN-"CASEY'S LANDING"-NOW A CITY OF OVER SIXTEEN THOUSAND INHABITANTS-WHAT SOME OF THEM HAVE ACCOMPLISHED-CITY GOVERNMENT AND PUBLIC UTILITIES.
Muscatine, Iowa, is a town noteworthy in many ways. Its name, which is without counterpart on the map of the world, connects it with one of the most ' interesting tribes of North American Indians, and its location on commanding heights overlooking the Mississippi at the apex of the great bend of the river westward below Davenport, gives to it a charm hard to parallel, and one to which no resident or visitor is insensible.
When in the early days of the middle west the Mississippi was the main highway of transportation, the importance of Muscatine to Iowa was undoubted. By reason of the "short haul" afforded by it to the interior, it became the port of entry for towns as distant as Iowa City, Cedar Rapids and Anamosa. As con- ditions changed, and in America railroads as distributing agencies began to usurp the function of the rivers, Muscatine's promise of becoming the foremost town of the state was not realized, but composed, as its population was, of men and women from the middle and New England states, it was assured of a place by no means without significance.
Between 1850 and 1860, the Muscatine bar, with a membership including Stephen Whicher, W. G. Woodward, D. C. Cloud, Jacob Butler, Henry O'Con- nor, George W. Van Horne, J. Scott Richman, Jerome Carskaddan, Dewitt C. Richman, Thomas Hanna and William F. Brannan, might challenge com- parison with the bar of any community, and the clergy, led by spirits as diverse as Rev. Father P. Laurent and Dr. Alden B. Robbins,-the one from Dijon, France, and the other from Salem, Massachusetts,-were of an intelletcual grade in nowise inferior to that of their brethren of the forum.
Nor was it alone the law and the gospel that commanded attention and re- spect. "Authorship, as exhibited in the public address and journalism, was hon- ored by Charles Woodhouse, J. Scott Richman, G. W. Van Horne, J. Cars- kaddan, Hugh J. Campbell, Henry O'Connor, John Mahin and Edward H. Thayer; and as exhibited in lyric verse, by Dewitt C. Richman. Medicine was represented by Dr. George Reeder, Dr. C. O. Waters, the Doctors Thomp- son, Dr. Christian Hershe, Dr. D. P. Johnson and by others, while as for the
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HISTORY OF MUSCATINE COUNTY
mercantile class, representatives were legion: The Steins, Isett and Brewster, Henry Mollis, Greene and Stone, Chambers Brothers, John Lemp, Luke Sells, the Jacksons, the Weeds, I. L. Graham, Pliny Fay, Moses Couch, Douglas Duns- more, George W. Dillaway, George B. Denison, G. A. Garrettson, Smalleys, James Hatch, A. F. Demorest, Joseph Bridgman, Marx Block, R. M. Burnett, H. W. Moore.
With 1860 there came throughout the land the agitation over slavery, and at Springdale, just beyond the county line, John Brown mustered and trained his band for the attack on Harper's Ferry. Tremont Hall was the Faneuil Hall of Muscatine, and here there might be heard anti-slavery songs by the Hutchinson family and anti-slavery speeches by Wendell Phillips. The Civil war itself came in 1861, Muscatine (banner spot of Iowa) sending to the field men of the stamp of General Edward Hatch, Colonel Charles Compton, Colonels Hill, Hare, Keeler, Horton, Kincaid and Major John, and as its representative abroad G. W. Van Horne, United States Consul at Marseilles, while at home watch and ward were kept by faithful women.
The war over (1865-1877) the history of Muscatine becomes a tale, first of picturesque log-rafting on the Mississippi coupled with the development and ex- pansion of the sawmill industry under the Hersheys and the Mussers, and next (1876-1893) of cattle companies under Underwood and Clark, of the sash and door industry under the Huttigs and William L. Roach, of the high bridge over the Mississippi, of the first street railway and the Heinz pickle works. The period, too, had its intellectual phase. In landscape and portrait painting, suc- cess was achieved by J. E. Sinnett, Mrs. F. L. Dayton, Miss Mary Ament and Miss Hattie D. Van Horne. In caricature, John McGreer proved himself a rustic Hogarth. In music, there became known Mrs. Sara B. Hershey (Marsh) and the Misses Nanny and Esther Butler, and in education and science, R. W. Leverich, F. M. Witter, F. Reppert, Suel Foster, J. P. Walton, Thomas Brown and T. N. Brown.
Between 1892 and 1910 there has gradually supervened for Muscatine a great past, have been definitely numbered, and those of the Muscatine of the present change. The days of the town of the '50s and '70s, of the Muscatine of the are at the dawn. With the construction of the high bridge in 1891, there was begun a series of public improvements still in course of realization. In 1892 the street railway was advanced from mule power to electric power. In 1895 Pappoose creek was housed, brick paving was instituted and the new Congre- gational church edifice was built. In 1900 the chapel was built at Greenwood cemetery. In 1901 the public library was dedicated. In 1902 the Hershey Hospital was built. In 1903 the Young Men's Christian Association building was completed. In 1906 the new filtration plant was opened. In 1908 the Hershey Bank building and the building for the German-American Savings Bank were erected. In 1909 there were completed the postoffice building and the new county court house, and today, 1911, the Muscatine State Bank is completed and occupied, while the First National Bank is about to be occupied, and there has been duly incorporated a company for the construction of the Mos- cow Canal. Meanwhile, the Muscatiners, George M. Whicher and Ellis Parker Butler, the one through the pages of "Scribner," and the other through those
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of the "Century" and other periodicals, have won distinction in letters, while George Gray Barnard has won eminence in sculpture.
Years ago, in his own home, a citizen of Muscatine began to practice a trade learned in Hamburg, Germany,-the cutting of pearl buttons, and for this the material used was the mussel shell of the Mississippi river. In the '5os the Mississippi had made Muscatine the entrepot of the state. In the late '60s and in the '70s it had created for it the lumber industry. In the 'gos and 1900's it was to lift it to that position of the greatest pearl button producing center in the United States, doubling its population and enhancing its wealth. And while for seventy-four years progress in town has thus been taking place, the county has not fallen behind. At West Liberty and in the various townships-Bloom- ington with its Samuel Sinnett, Sweetland with its John A. Parvin, Lake with its Samuel McNutt, Fruitland with its sweet potatoes and melons, and Seventy Six with its Sons of Erin-there has also been progress.
A DESCRIPTION OF CHARMING SCENERY.
In 1829 the Hon. Caleb Atwater, of Columbus, Ohio, was appointed one of three commissioners to confer with the Sac and Fox Indians at Fort Arm- strong, Rock Island, and in 1833, a work appeared, entitled, "The Writings of Caleb Atwater," in which the commissioner gives an account of his trip, and in whose pages we find the following description of the site of Muscatine, as it presented itself to the traveler, in all its savage and picturesque beauty : "About thirty-five miles below Rock Island, the beautiful country on the west side of the river opened to view, and from the first moment we saw it, all eyes were turned toward it. At every turn of the river as we moved along, new bursts of wonder and admiration were poured out from all the passengers. The ladies were enraptured at the numerous and beautiful situations for dwelling houses where they wished one day to live in rural bliss. Nature has done all-man nothing-and not a human being was seen on either shore, not a human habi- tation. That such a beautiful country was intended by its author to be forever in the possession and occupancy of serpents, wild beasts and savages, who de- rive little benefit from it, no reasonable man can for a moment believe it who sees it. The river here may be compared with the Connecticut at Northamp- ton, Massachusetts, and take away the buildings and fences from the lovely eastern country and the country below and above Rock Island, with this ex- ception-the bottom lands of the Mississippi are wider, they rise more regularly from the river, and the hills are not so high nor irregular as those at Northamp- ton. They are fertile as the bottoms and as well covered with grasses as those on the Connecticut, without one weed intermixed, until you reach the very sum- mit, where the woods, thick, lofty, green and delightful, begin and extend back, west of the hills, to a considerable distance from the river. Adjoining the river is grass. On the western slope of the river are thick woods.
"The bottoms, covered with tall grass, begin on the very brink of the river, above high water mark, and they gradually ascend from one to three miles back, intersected every mile or two by never failing rivulets, originating in the hills; and the ground between the springs is rounded, as if by art, and fitted for a
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massive house with all its attendant buildings. Princes might dwell here within a mile or two of each other, fronting the Mississippi and along it, and possess handsomer seats than any one of them can boast of in the old world. We could hardly persuade ourselves, many times, when we first saw one of these beautiful spots, that all the art that man possesses and wealth could employ had not been used to fit the place for some gentleman's country seat; and every moment as we passed along, we expected to see some princely mansion erected on this rising ground. Vain illusion! nature had done all to adorn and beautify the scenery before our eyes. Setting down a pair of compasses large enough to ex- tend thirty-five miles around the lower end of Rock Island and taking a sweep around it, you would have within the circle the handsomest and most delightful spot on the whole globe, so far as nature can produce anything beautiful."
At the time of the Black Hawk purchase, Major George Davenport was sta- tioned at Fort Armstrong, on the island of Rock Island, and had established a large traffic with the Indians. To accommodate his red skin patrons, he sent a man by the name of Farnham to this point, in 1833, with a stock of goods. Farnham built a cabin on the river front, now marked by a stone, at the cross- ing of Iowa avenue, and traded with the Indians about two years, when he sick- ened and died at his home in Stevenson, now Rock Island.
In 1835, after the death of Farnham, who had never been considered a settler in the county, Colonel John Vanatta bought the Davenport claim and in 1836 moved his family here. He kept a small stock of goods in the Farnham cabin awhile, and on the 4th of July, 1837, formed the principal material for a bonfire and was destroyed.
In the fall of 1835, James W. Casey made his appearance here and built a cabin west of the trading house and at that point made plans to build a town, which he named Newburg. The Casey claim, which was near the foot of Broad- way, was known and designated as "Casey's Landing" and was also called "Casey's Woodyard." Casey was the first permanent settler in Muscatine but did not live long after his arrival. He died in the fall of 1836 and was buried on the high bluff, where schoolhouse No. I was later erected. Casey had ex- tended his claim, however, the spring after his arrival, one mile down the slough and a mile north, this action having been made possible by taking into part- nership several others who had come to the settlement.
The original proprietors of the Newburg platted by James W. Casey, and which is now a prominent part of Muscatine, were J. W. Casey, Edward E. Fay, William St. John, Norman Fullington, H. Reece, Jonathan Pettibone, Breese and Higginbotham, Abijah Whiting, W. D. Abernathy, A. J. Smith and others. This claim was a mile square. In 1837 the second frame building was erected by William Gordon for John Vanatta. This also became a hotel and is described elsewhere in this work.
The next claim was made by Charles H. Fish and others in the "upper town," which was a half-mile square from the center of the court house square east. Joe White took up a claim a half-mile square in the vicinity of the old fair grounds. The Barkalow claim was on Mad creek, lapping into the "upper town" claim at the northeast corner, where Mr. Barkalow had an enclosure and corn field. Charles A., A. O. and D. R. Warfield bought the Barkalow claim
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and extended it, in 1837, to a mile square and with "Black Ben" Matthews took possession in December of that year.
The first public land sales took place at Burlington in November, 1838, and the county reserved the quarter section on which the court house stands and paid the government $1.25 per acre for it. When this occurred there were prob- ably about fifty buildings and two hundred people upon that part of the town plat included in the county's quarter section. Finally, the county commis- sioners decided to raise the sum of $18,000 for the building of a court house, and placed a certain valuation on each lot in the quarter section, which was paid by those living thereon. Other parts of the town were purchased for groups of individuals at the land sales in Burlington, by the following: The east part, by Charles A. Warfield; the fractional quarter south of the county quarter, by Suel Foster; eighty acres west of the fraction, by Breese and Higginbotham, and by William St. John, a balance west and north of Breese and Higginbotham's purchase. In adjusting claims to lots after apportionment by the agents to their principals, but little difficulty occurred, according to Suel Foster. Deeds for lots on the county's quarter were executed by Adam Ogilvie, business agent of the county, who had been given a power of attorney for that purpose.
Charles Fish and wife arrived in Muscatine in 1837, and with them were his son, William, and daughters, Emeline and Caroline. Moses Couch came in 1836 and was followed by his wife the next spring. Many other additions were made to the population of the village this year and are mentioned on another page.
In May, 1836, the proprietors of the claims and tracts of land engaged Ma- jor William Gordon, then a resident of Stevenson (Rock Island), to survey a town thereon and when the first plat was made the name of Newburg was given to the town, which was soon discarded and changed to Bloomington, which designation was retained about twelve years.
In the same year of the first platting, 1836, the original proprietors, John Vanatta and Captain William Clark, began disposing of portions of their inter- ests in the town. In August, Dr. John H. Foster and Suel Foster bought a one- sixth interest, for which they paid $500. This they obtained of Captain Clark, who was a resident of Buffalo, Scott county, near the Muscatine county line. Other purchasers at this time were Colonel T. M. Isett, Adam Funck, Henry Funck, Robert C. Kinney, William St. John, G. H. Hight, B. White, William Devon and J. W. Neally.
In September, 1836, William Gordon, no relation to the Major, arrived in Bloomington and erected the first frame building in the place, which became a hotel and had for its landlord Robert C. Kinney. At the time of Gordon's ar- rival there were living in Bloomington William St. John, Giles and Jonathan Pettibone, J. Craig, John Champ, Norman Fullington, Moses Couch, Lyman C. Hine, John Vanatta, Suel Foster, James W. Casey, Adam Ogilvie, T. M. Isett, a Mr. Norton and wife and Robert C. Kinney and wife.
In 1837 the second frame building was erected in the town, by William Gor- don for John Vanatta. This structure also became a hotel and is described in another part of this work.
BLOOMINGTON, IOWA, IN 1845; >
CHANGED IN 1849 TO MUSCATINE
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HISTORY OF MUSCATINE COUNTY
The town of Bloomington was again surveyed in 1840. It was originally incorporated in 1839.
THE FIRST ELECTION.
The first election in the village was held at the home of R. C. Kinney, on Monday, May 6, 1839, and Hon. Joseph Williams was chosen president over his two competitors, Arthur Washburn and Lyman C. Hine. There were 40 votes cast, of which he received 38. Arthur Washburn, Henry Reece and B. P. Howland were elected trustees, Moses Couch, recorder, and Giles Pettibone, street commissioner. The first meeting of the officials was held at the office of Arthur Washburn May 10, 1839, and Moses Couch was appointed treasurer, John Marble, marshal, Charles H. Fish, assessor.
The first ordinance passed related to the sale of liquors. Saloons were then "politely" termed groceries and licenses were held at the stupendous sum of $25 per year.
It soon became apparent that the name Bloomington would lead to confu- sion. In Illinois was a growing village of that name and had priority to its use. So that, after becoming quite widely and favorably known as the beautiful town of Bloomington, its name was again dropped and another taken in its place, in honor of the county of which it is the seat of government.
NAME CHANGED TO MUSCATINE.
On June 6, 1849, a petition was filed with Richard Cadle, clerk of the county court, asking that the name of the municipal corporation be changed from Bloomington to Muscatine. The petition had the signatures of about two hun- dred citizens and a decree was granted upon the petition by Judge James Grant, June 7, 1849. Below is the petition and the names of its signers :
The State of Iowa, Muscatine county, ss; District Court of the State of Iowa, within and for the county of Muscatine, June term, 1849:
The undersigned land holders in the vicinity of the town of Bloomington, in the county of Muscatine in the state of Iowa, think it desirable to change the name of the town to that of Muscatine for the following reasons :
I. Frequent miscarriages of letters by mail occur by reason of there being towns in Missouri, Kentucky, Indiana and Illinois of the same name.
2. Burlington is sometimes mistaken by postmasters for Bloomington, and mail matter is carried to and lies at the former place that is destined for the latter.
3. The reason for adopting the name of Muscatine is obvious-it is the name of one of the most noted and conspicuous landmarks on the Mississippi river, a name coeval with the first discovery of the course of the river by La Salle, at the head of which the town is situated, and is the name of the county of which the town is the seat of justice. There is no other town within the knowledge of your petitioners of the same name. L. C. Hine, Thomas M. Isett, Moses Couch, Adam Ogilvie, Suel Foster, Pliny Fay, Henry Reece, H. H. Hine, J. Williams, F. H. Stone, George Reeder, Richard Cadle, James Swem, Nath Hallock, Stephen Whicher, John B. Dougherty, W. G. Worsham, B. Bar-
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tholomew, D. C. Cloud, A. Jackson, Ed Olmsted, Wallace & Breading, J. Scott Richman, John M. Beauman, James A. Humphreys, Thomas Wood, William Sherwood, James Borland, John Lemp, Thomas W. Moore, Lucian Chatfield, Samuel Anderson, Luke Sells, Horace Deming, G. L. Branhams, James S. Aller, T. G. F. Hunt, I. N. Hudson, A. O. Warfield, N. L. Stout, B. F. Howland, Charles Fowler, H. W. Moore, Chester Weed, Jacob Butler, Joseph B. Messick, Charles O. Waters, Andrew Fimple, George D. Stevenson, A. T. Boon, John H. Dayton, E. Hatch, T. M. Barlow, Luther H. Wreys, J. S. Fenimore, Alex- ander Fulton, J. G. Gordon, W. S. Ayrs, J. A. Green, I. C. Day, William 'A'. Drury, E. H. Albee, James P. Kelly, D. G. McCloud, W. H. Appler, John Reed, W. Binna, G. C. Harvey, Lyman Smith, Jackson Benidger, D. Dunsmore, W. H. Lilly, C. Browning, J. Bennett, Michel Greeno, H. Matthews, A. H. Smith, C. L. Phelps, James B. Foushee, William Gordon, M. Block, John C. Dietz, William Berkshire, G. W. Humphreys, D. R. Warfield, L. D. Palmer,
J. Blake, F. Thurston, Becke, P. L. Washburn, Erwin Will, I. S. Lakin, George Stroup, G. W. Willmering, Henry Felchmann, Johann Achter, H. Q. Jennison, Charley Williams, Robert Tillard, James Strong, David K. Waters, John L. Cummins, Jacob Way, Adam Reuling, Devore Palmer, Cyrus Spring, E. Stewart, J. W. Kane, J. C. Webler, T. M. Homlbs, E. Plummer, David H. Shupe, J. W. Richman, Charles Norman, John Dawson, Mark Kirkpatrick, Jere- miah McMinomy, I. Mccullough, W. Williams, John Seiler, Ansel Humphreys, W. D. Ament, A. P. Arkin, G. W. Palmer, N. S. Dunbar, Lemuel L. Purcell, D. J. Parvin, Z. Washburn, James Brisbine, G. A'. Springer, William Leffingwell, J. H. Dunn, A. Fisher, G. M. Kinsley, C. Hastings, J. P. Freeman, James Dor- man, Henry Molis, Jacob Mahin, Barnhardt Beil, A. B. Robbins, Conrad Stahl, G. H. Terry, John P. Fulton, H. W. G. Terry, A. B. Goldsberry, Abram Smal- ley, John Rukee, Joseph Crane, Franklin Mormon, Malen Brown, Oliver Bris- bine, John Fyock, Joseph Brisbine, Joseph R. Reece, William L. Browning, Thomas Crandol, Peter Jackson, S. G. Stein, James M. Jarboe, X. I. Feifer, H. D. LaCossitt, C. H. Grand, M. D., Jacob Hagan, Robert Douglass, L. C. Shite, W. F. Whire, P. Downy, John J. Lucey, Thomas Graham, Noah M. Mc- Cormick, B. Cullin, Joseph Bridgman, A. Washburn, Lewis Peterson, Jr., Henry Fowler, John J. Huber, John Roll, A. T. Banks, Carl Kierck, John Zeigler, Will- iam Butler, H. H. Garnes, Patterson Simpson, Alfred Purcell.
The township officers whose names appear on the back of the petition are: President, E. Overman; trustees, W. St. John, J. G. Gordon, J. Butler ; street commissioner, C. Kegel.
The State of Iowa, Muscatine county, ss :
Lyman C. Hine, sheriff of Muscatine county, Iowa, on oath, states that there are the names of at least twelve land holders in the vicinity of the town of Bloomington.
L. C. HINE.
Sworn and subscribed in open court this 4th day of June, 1849.
D. C. CLOUD, Justice of the Peace.
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HISTORY OF MUSCATINE COUNTY
The State of Iowa, Muscatine county, ss :
The undersigned citizens of Muscatine county and Bloomington, Iowa, being duly sworn, say that they are satisfied that more than three-fourths of the in- habitants of said town desire the name thereof changed to that of "Muscatine," and they further say that they know of no other town or village in this state of the same name with that which is prayed for in the petition.
ANDREW J. FIMPLE, J. SCOTT RICHMAN, STEPHEN WHICHER, I. C. DAY.
Subscribed and sworn to before me this 5th day of June, 1849.
D. C. CLOUD, Justice of the Peace.
In 1851, by an act of the legislature, Muscatine was given a special charter and by that act became a city. The names of the chief magistrates since 1850 are given below :
CHIEF EXECUTIVES OF MUSCATINE.
1851, Zephaniah Washburn; 1852, Thomas M. Isett; 1853, John G. Stine; 1854, John A. Parvin ; 1855, John H. Wallace; 1856, William Leffingwell; 1857, John G. Stine; 1858-62, George Meason; 1863, Henry Funck; 1864, S. D. Viele; 1865-6, Benjamin Hershey; 1867, George Meason; 1868, E. Klein; 1869, Will- iam B. Keeler; 1870-1, S. G. Stein; 1872-3, J. P. Ament; 1874, Richard Mus- ser; 1875, Henry Molis; 1876, J. P. Ament; 1877, T. R. Fitzgerald; 1878, Richard Musser; 1879-81, George W. Dillaway; 1882, T. R. Fitzgerald; 1883- 85, R. T. Wallace; 1886-9, J. M. Gobble; 1890-1, Gustav Schmidt; 1892, R. T. Wallace; 1893, John M. Gobble; 1894, Edward B. Fulliam; 1895, A. S. Law- rence. In 1898 the ordinance fixed the term one to two years. Mr. Fulliam was the first. 1896-9, Edward B. Fulliam ; 1900-2, Bernard J. Schmidt; 1902-6, Rob- ert S. McNutt; 1906-8, John Asthalter ; 1908, Bernard J. Schmidt-died March 27, 1909; William Grossklaus elected by council, 1909-10; 1910-II, William S. Hill.
POLICE DEPARTMENT.
From the smallness of the ranks in the Muscatine police department it is easy to gather that the city is not one of turbulence, but on the contrary, its citizens measure up to and beyond most of its neighbors in their observance of the laws. The rowdy and dissolute element does not thrive in the city and the saloon has no where in the whole county to find an abiding place. This makes for peace and order and, Muscatine prides herself on the excellent deport- ment of her citizens and the consequent necessity for a police department, diminutive in number but entirely adequate for the purpose. A force of nine men is deemed sufficient to police the city. This consists of a day contingent of four men, including the chief. Five men patrol the place during the night. The police headquarters are on the first floor of the city hall. As the munici- Vol. I-19
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