USA > Iowa > Pottawattamie County > History of Pottawattamie County, Iowa, from the earliest historic times to 1907, Vol. I > Part 11
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57
March 20 J. A. Gregory was sentenced to the penitentiary by Judge Smith for twenty years for larceny, being his third term.
May 31 John Shannon Briggs, last of the family of Hon. Ansel Briggs, first governor of Iowa, died in Omaha.
June 12 Judge Walter I. Smith was nominated for Congress by accla- mation.
July 26 A. T. Whittlesey, veteran newspaper man, died at the home of. his daughter, Mrs. W. B. Fisher, on Vine street.
July 28 Mrs. Gallup, wife of 1. N. Gallup, died at their home in Garner township.
August 8 Mrs. Jas. Baker fell down stairs at her home at 101 West Broadway. breaking her neck, and lived but a few moments.
August 16 news was received of the death of Capt. Will H. Murphy, killed in battle in the Philippine war, casting a gloom over the whole com- munity.
August 26 John Clausen, a leading merchant and one of our best citizens, died at his home on East Broadway.
September County Fair was held at Avoea and was well attended and the display was immense.
James Stageman, an old settler of Garner township, died this month.
October 3 robbers attempted to rob the express on the K. C. & St. Joe road. Messenger C. E. Baxter shot and killed one of them. The others inade their escape in the dark.
The remains of Capt. Will H. Murphy arrived and were buried in Fairview cemetery with military honor -.
October 4 the contract was let for the new high school building to Geo. F. Ilughes for $57.000.
September 12 Thomas Officer died, and on the 10th his partner, W. 11. M. Pusey, was committed to the insane asylum at Clarinda.
October 8 application was made for appointment of a receiver for the Officer & Pusey bank by J. J. Stewart, administrator for the estate of Col. Adison Cochran.
November 12 Mrs. Adelphia Sylvester of Garner died at the homestead where she had lived for nearly a half century, and on the same day in the city Dr. W. L. Patton died at the W. C. A. Hospital.
November 15 W. H. M. Pusey died at the asylum at Clarinda and his remains were brought home for interment.
No event since the settlement of Council Bluffs has caused the aston- ishment that was occasioned by the closing up of the affairs of the banking house of Officer & Pusey. When the first breath of suspicion was whispered that there might be something wrong. everyone that had known them longest ridiculed the idea. Few people that were acquainted with their conservative business methods, plain, even frugal domestic habits, and almost severe piety, but believed something like a million in their own right slumbered in the vault of that bank and that of their correspondent in New York.
BEEBEE'S HALL.
This hall was built of cottonwood logs, was located at the east end of the present Neumayer hotel, and was for many years the principal hall in the eity. The front of the structure was weatherboarded, which. in those days, was considered quite a distinction.
THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
ASTOP, IFANY AND T. D N FOUNDATIONS.
99
HISTORY OF POTTAWATTAMIE COUNTY
Among the heavy depositors with Officer & Pusey were J. H. Gregg, $42,550 and W. H. Kuhn, $31,109; Fred Miller, $14,800 and John Linder $10,000.
At the election for county officers held November 6, 1900, the following persons wero elected: Clerk of the court, B. L. Reed; auditor, R. V. Innis; recorder, E. E. Smith ; attorney, W. H. Killpack; supervisors, Perry Kearney and B. G. Auld.
During this year much attention has been given to the public highways. Miles of paving have been made on the streets of Council Bluffs and twice as many of briek or cement sidewalks, besides a large amount in the other cities and towns of the county, while the country roads have been greatly improved.
January 1, 1901, J. J. Crowe was arrested on request of Omaha's chief of police as an accomplice of Pat, but nothing came of it.
January 24 Alex. Prentice, a pioneer of Crescent, died. He was born in Lanarkshire, Scotland, December 21. 1829.
February 5 Isaac Smith and Joseph Coofman were killed and a boy badly injured on the crossing of the Northwestern railroad and Avenue E.
Mrs. Martha Knepher, widow of Samuel Knepher, one of the pioneers, died at her home on Glenn avenue. She was a native of Wayne county, Ohio. They came to the Bluffs in 1854. Mr. Knepher was a merchant of the early days.
On February 12 Arthur Goff, the musical prodigy, mention of whom is made in another part of this history, died at the age of twelve years.
March 6 Mrs. Martha Spetman died of paralysis at her home on Fourth avenue, at seventy-one years of age.
April 23 Mrs. Mary Huffman. aged seventy, and Mrs. Elizabeth Jeffries, aged eighty-seven, died. Both had been residents of Council Bluffs for forty years.
For the past three months there were many cases of smallpox, but few fatal.
June 19 Mrs. Burchard, wife of N. C. Burchard, died at her home in Hardin township.
Also Mrs. Mary Roberts, aged eighty-four. at her home in Hazel Dell.
Herman Sheekloth was instantly killed about two miles east of Neola by a Milwaukee train.
July 9 David DeVal, aged ninety-five, died at the homestead of half a century on South First street.
July 10 Mrs. MeMullen, wife of Solomon MeMullen, died at her home in Crescent.
July 24 the torrid spell of weather that lasted twenty days in succession, in which the heat reached one hundred degrees, was broken.
July 25 Riley W. C. Luce, foreman in employ of the Illinois Central Railroad Company, was instantly killed while on duty. The coroner's jury rendered a verdict censuring the company.
August 10 a young man named Carl Stoner, from Lincoln. Neb., was drowned in Manawa.
63562;
100
HISTORY OF POTTAWATTAMIE COUNTY
August 20 there was a destructive fire at the U. P. freight transfer, entailing a loss of from $50,000 to $100,000.
September 6 Henry Clay McMullen, of Crescent, died at the age of seventy-six.
On the same day the people were shocked by the news of the assassina- tion of President Mckinley while at the Buffalo Exposition.
September 24 Charles T. Officer was indieted for fraudulent banking.
At the election held November 5, 1901, the following officers were elected: Representatives, John H. Jinks and W. O. Freeman; sheriff, L. B. Cousins; coroner, Dr. V. L. Treynor; school superintendent, O. J. McManus; surveyor, E. E. Cook; supervisors, D. F. Dryden and W. F. Baker.
November 3 three men were killed in the Northwestern yards at different times. Their names were A. J. Headlee, Thomas Green and Chas. Anderson.
December 18 John Schemerhorn, a veteran newspaper man, died.
January 1, 1902, Wm. Tompkins, of Macedonia, suicided after shooting and wounding his granddaughter.
On the 17th Geo. F. Smith, an old settler, and father of Hon. Walter I. Smith, was found dead in his room at the Ogden House, supposed to have been suffocated by escaping gas.
February 5 .A. B. Smith, superintendent of Refining Company, dropped dead at the corner of Main street and Seventh avenue from heart disease. On the same day G. A. Robinson, an old pioneer, the first county judge, died at his home on Thirty-fourth street from the infirmities of old age.
At the school election held March 10 J. J. Hess and Mr. Gorman, republicans. were elected directors, and Geo. S. Davis, demoerat, treasurer.
At the city election for 1902-3 the following officers were elected: May- or, Dell G. Morgan: clerk, N. C. Phillips: treasurer. F. T. True; solicitor, S. B. Snyder; auditor, F. L. Evans : engineer, T. L. Etnyre; electrician, Jas. G. Bradley; judge of superior court, Geo. H. Scott; marshal, C. A. Tibbits ; street commissioner, G. C. Taylor; city physician. F. W. Houghton ; super- intendent of markets, Wm. Higgeson; poll tax collector, A. Fellentratter; assessor, F. F. Everest; chief of fire department, John L. Templeton.
April 10 Dan Carpenter, one of the first printers of Pottawattamie county, and at one time interested in the Council Bluffs Bugle, died at the Printers' Home at Colorado Springs, Colo.
July 20 a man named Roderick was held to the grand jury by Justice Bryant for the murder of a man named Moyer.
August 20 Peter Jacobs, a lineman in the employ of the telegraph com- pany, while shifting wires, was electrocuted and instantly killed.
Peter Boogs, while working on the building of the wholesale grocery of Groneweg & Schoentgen, fell through an opening, striking on his head and died within half an hour.
September 7 Robert A. Johnson, a boarder at the Revere House, became infatuated with a woman and suicided on her account.
At the state and county elections held November 4. 1902, the following officers were elected: State senator. C. G. Saunders; attorney. W. H. Kill-
101
HISTORY OF POTTAWATTAMIE COUNTY
pack; clerk, Freeman L. Reed; auditor, R. V. Innis; recorder, Elmer E. Smith; supervisors, II. C. Brandes and Allen Bullis.
December 1 a man named Clay Hudnall was killed and three others injured on the Wabash railroad near the city, the wreck being caused by a cow being run over on the track.
On December 15 John L. Howe accidentally shot and killed a friend named C. J. Gordon at the U. P. transfer. They were both in the employ of the express companies.
January 11, 1903, Leffert's jewelry store was robbed of watches of tlie value of $500 by the breaking of a show window. The noise attracted notice and officers gave chase, exchanging shots, and the robbers dropped most of the plunder, which was recovered, but they escaped in the darkness.
At a meeting of the Grape Growers' Association it was resolved to erect a warehouse of their own of the value of $10,000.
January 13 Henry Stacy of the city was hauling in a load of wood and was run down by a Rock Island train on the crossing near the school for the deaf. He and his team were instantly killed.
Otto Barnhart, of Avoca, suicided by cutting his throat on account of unrequited love of his sweetheart.
Through correspondence with Andrew Carnegie and the assistance of Gen. G. M. Dodge and IIon. Walter I. Smith, the library association secured a gift of $70,000.
January 18 a horrible double tragedy occurred some three miles north- east of Oakland. Mrs. John Hanna cut her husband's throat and then her own. It was not discovered until morning. She had left a note saying she was going to do it.
January 24 the Christian Home received a donation of $30,000 from Mrs. Mary E. Robertson of Sheboygan, Michigan, and $25,000 from another benefactor who gave no name.
Marshal Sherman, who had the care of Mr. H. H. Van Brunt's team, was found dead in the barn. The doctors pronounced it heart failure. He was a member of the G. A. R. and Knights of Pythias.
A sad accident occurred at Carson. Eddie Conrad, thirteen years of age, was drowned while skating on the Botna river.
February 16 Mrs. Barney McDaniels and Bert Levix were arrested at Macedonia for the murder of Barney McDaniels, husband of the woman. They were taken before Justice J. C. Rayburn, who held them to the grand jury. Sheriff Cousins took them to Avoca, but the jail there not being con- venient, they were brought to the Bluffs and placed in the county jail.
March 21 U. S. marshal W. A. Richards, accused of robbery, and after giving bail and disappearing mysteriously, finally returned and surrendered.
Oscar Cattleman, a little four-year-old boy, while playing in the street, was run over and instantly killed. It was the result of accident, unavoida- ble by the driver and the coroner's jury acquitted him of blame.
March 26 a little old brick house being torn down on North First street while a family named Cozad were living in it, and was the subject of an article in the Nonpareil, had a history. It was one of the first brick
102
HISTORY OF POTTAWATTAMIE COUNTY
dwellings in the city. It was built in 1854, owned and occupied for many years by J. Smith Hooten, at one time banker and later mayor of the city. And many a swell party has been entertained in that little house. Mr. and Mrs. Hooten were most generous host and hostess. But times changed. They became poor and after his death, even that little home had to go. This is another case almost as pathetic as that of the Bayliss family, and further along we shall relate another similar one. It seems hard that such things must be.
On the 31st of March a well appearing stranger came into the Grand Hotel, walked around in the rotunda a few minutes, then went out and started down Pearl street, stopped and shot himself, dying instantly. H proved to be a Mr. MeNew, of Riverton. Poor health was supposed to be the cause.
April 1 the clerks at the postoffice had a very pleasant surprise-unusual for the first of April, viz .: that each one would have a raise of $100, com- mencing July 1.
A sad accident occurred at Honey Creek lake when Loyd Kirkpatrick, seventeen years old, was accidentally shot while hunting ducks.
At the city election for 1903-4 the following officers were elected: Mayor, Donald Macrac, Jr. : clerk, L. Zurmuhlen; treasurer, F. T. True; auditor, P. J. Smith ; engineer, S. L. Etnyre; electrician. C. A. Atkins; judge of superior court, Geo. H. Scott; marshal, Geo. HI. Richmond; physician, M. A. Finley ; superintendent of markets, Wm. Higgeson; poll tax collector, P. G. Mikesell; assessor, W. D. Hardin; chief of fire department, Charles Nicholson : captain of hose company No. 1, A. II. Telfer; No. 2. C. H. Math- ewson ; No. 3. F. H. Hitchcock: No. 4, Robert Jones: park commissioners, A. C. Graham, J. J. Brown and Frank Peterson; alderman-at-large, A. G. Gilbert and John Olsen; adlerman first ward. O. Younkerman : second ward, Thos. Malony ; third ward, M. H. Tinley; fourth ward, J. P. Weaver; fifthi ward. Jas. McMillen : sixth ward, C. M. Crippen.
On April 4 Bert Forney was shot and killed at his saloon at 1028 West Broadway by masked robbers who made their escape.
April 10 Irvin Moore, driver of a coal team of Steepy & Steepy, dropped dead on his wagon on East Pierce street of heart failure.
On April 21 one man was killed and one probably fatally injured in collision of switch engine and freight train at U. P. transfer.
One of the most horrible tragedies of modern times was the murder of Mr. and Mrs. Church, two of Council Bluffs' best young people. They had gone onto a ranch near the town of Gillette, Wyoming. and comfortably situated. A man named Clifton, who had been with them. brutally mur- dered them both and buried their bodies in a manure pile. The first sus- picion was raised when Mr. Clifton's mother went out to see them and their absence set the neighboring ranchmen to investigating. Clifton was arrested and finally confessed, but claimed it was in self defense. He was placed in jail at Gillette, but a mob of ranchmen came and took him out to a high bridge and hung him, giving him a drop of forty feet, which entirely severed his head from his hody.
103
HISTORY OF POTTAWATTAMIE COUNTY
The remains of the Churches were brought to the home of Mrs. Church's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Foster, on Fifth avenue and the double funeral was held at the Fifth avenue church, but not a fourth of the friends could enter, so great was the sympathy of the entire community.
On April 22 Andrew Thompson, convicted of robbing the Curry store at Underwood, was sentenced to six years at Fort Madison.
On the 26th Lozier and Moore, the fake foot racers, convicted of swin- dling Chas. Huber out of several thousand dollars, were given three years each at Fort Madison.
May 2 Mrs. MeDaniels and Levix, who were tried at Avoca for the mur- der of Mr. MeDaniels, were acquitted, but the feeling at Macedonia was such that they were advised not to return there.
It seems that there was a carnival of crime about this time, as on the 10th of May Win. C. Rogers was held to the grand jury for the murder of Bert Forney.
The season opened up at Manawa with a full line of attractions, chief of which was Covalt's band of thirty pieces.
A large amount of sidewalk was constructed. The street fair and car- nival was a great success. the admissions for the week being over 70,000.
At the election held November 3, 1903, the following named officers were elected: Senator, C. G. Saunders; representatives W. II. Freeman and Robert J. Martin; treasurer, L. G. Consigney; sheriff, Edward Canning; coroner, V. L. Treynor; school superintendent, O. J. MeManus.
On the 5th of December, 1903, Council Bluffs was called upon to part with one of it- best citizens in the person of J. B. Atkins, who had been in poor health for quite a while. Mr. Atkins, like thousands of others, rushed to the mountains at the first of the Pike's Peak excitement, and about the same time Henry Allen, who at the time was postmaster here. resigned and went, taking his family, consisting of wife and two daughters. Mr. Atkins and the eldest were mutually attracted but there was no clerk to issue license, but a preacher was found in a prospect hole who proceeded to tie the knot that held them until parted by death. This was the first marriage of a white couple in what is now the great state of Colorado and city of Denver. Mrs. Atkins' mother and sister were the only women in the camp to witness the ceremony.
The new year of 1904 brought the sad intelligence of the death of Mrs. Mendel, wife of Herman Mendel, of Neola, being erushed to death in the panic that occurred in the burning of the Iroquois theater in Chicago.
The new county house at MeClelland was formally opened on the 29th of June. The cost of which was $44,000.
The glorious Fourth was duly celebrated at Manawa, where it was variously estimated the crowd numbered from 15,000 to 20,000. Five thous- and gathered at Fairmount Park. The injuries resulting from carelessness amounted to an even dozen, some of them serious, but none fatal.
On the tenth a young man named Edward Williams of Omaha was drowned in Manawa while fishing.
The Eagles' midsummer jubilee opened on the tenth in the western
104
HISTORY OF POTTAWATTAMIE COUNTY
part of the city and drew immense crowds from Omaha as well as from the Bluffs. Their pleasure was marred however by the sudden death of Frank Sherratt, one of their number, from heart trouble.
A man named George Gilson, on coming up town from the jubilee on the motor car, got into an altercation with a negro named Lincoln Turner and was fatally shot by Turner, for which he was tried, convicted and got three years only, as it appeared there were mitigating circumstances. At Avoca quite a saloon war was precipitated by the granting of a license to five applicants, but turning down the sixth.
On August 16 a serious accident occurred at the crossing of Broadway and the Northwestern track wherein a man named Floyd F. Mitchell, a carpen- ter, was killed. He had been drinking and the company was exonerated by the coroner's jury.
On the 31st of August the hearts of many were saddened by the death of Mrs. E. H. Longee, one of Council Bluffs' beloved young women.
The annual street fair and carnival opened September 5 and was a great success, as the receipts for the week were $11,129.49, and after deducting ex- penses, which were $5,600, it left quite a balance on the right side.
On October 26 Rev. H. R. Lemen, founder of the Christian Home, died in the midst of his great work but firm in the faith of its continnous useful- ness.
At the election held November 8, 1904, the following officers were elected : clerk of the court, H. V. Batty; auditor, W. C. Cheyne: recorder, G. G. Baird; attorney, J. J. Hesse; supervisors, W. F. Baker and Felix Deitz.
Careful estimates of the corn crop of Iowa for 1904 gives Pottawattamie county 8,000,000 bushels, making her the banner county of the state.
On November 18 Fred Stone, who had been tried and convicted of assault with intent to commit murder upon Hans Clausen, was sentenced to twelve years in the penitentiary.
On the Sth of December Karl Kurrer, who had been convicted of rob- hing the Treynor bank, was sentenced to twelve years in the penitentiary. His wife had given up $1,500 of the money in October.
On the 14th of December a case of destitution was discovered which seems impossible in a community where there are so many benevolent insti- tutions, so many kind hearted people and such abundance of the necessaries of life. Failure to let her wants be known in time is the only way to account for the most pathetie tragedy, culminating in the suicide of Mrs. Allgood in the southern part of the city. The husband and father was gone. The mother with five little ones only had what the two oldest children could earn. They could not go to school for lack of clothes. The truant officer, Rev. Henry Delong, took them from her, and discouraged and heartbroken, she suicided. Then and not till then did help come. The children were provided for and the father returned.
On the 10th Eddie Kruger and Harry Moloski, ten-year-old boys, while skating on Cut Off lake struck thin ice, went through and were drowned.
During the year 1904 the amount spent in building in the city and school for the deaf was $1,300,000. The country was prosperous and the
105
HISTORY OF POTTAWATTAMIE COUNTY
republicans happy over the result of the election, having made a clean sweep of the state and county offices as well as members of congress for the ninth district.
On the 8th of February, 1905, Philip Wareham attempted suicide at the Martin's Hotel. He had locked himself in his room and slashed his throat with a razor, but was found in time to have the wounds attended to. Dr. Macrae was called and prompt attention given. He was in comfortable circumstances and ill health is the most probable cause for his rash act.
February 21 John Bernstein pleaded guilty to the charge of robbing the Treynor bank. Arthur Deets elected to stand trial for the same offense.
On March 6 Wm. F. Steinbaugh was found dead on the ice in Indian creek. Heart failure was supposed to be the cause.
On March 16 J. E. Adams of Omaha was run over by a train on the Northwestern railroad above Loveland and when discovered his mangled remains were scattered along the track for a mile.
On March 26 the plant of the Walker Manufacturing Company was destroyed by fire, entailing a loss of $40,000, with only $5,000 insurance.
On April 24 Joseph Schemal, of Garner township, in a fit of insanity, blew the top of his head off with his shotgun in the presence of his family.
At the city election for 1905-6 the following officers were elected: Mayor, Donald Macrae, Jr .; clerk, L. Zurmuehlen, Jr .; treasurer, F. T. True; solicitor, S. B. Snyder; auditor, P. J. Smith ; engineer, S. L. Etnyre; electrician, C. A. Atkins; judge of superior court, G. H. Scott; marshal, Geo. H. Richmond; physician, Mat A. Finley; superintendent of markets, Wm. Higgeson ; poll tax collector, P. G. Mikesell; assessor, W. D. Hardin; chief of police, Geo. H. Richmond; chief of fire department, C. M. Nicholson; captain hose house No. I, A. H. Telfer; No. 2, C. H. Mathewson; No. 3, F. G. Hitchcock; No. 4, Clarence Hough; No. 5, Charles Withrow; park com- missioners, A. C. Graham, Frank Peterson, J. J. Brown ; aldermen at large, A. G. Gilbert and John Olson; alderman first ward, O. Younkerman; second, Thos. Malony ; third, M. H. Tinley; fourth, J. P. Weaver; fifth, James Mc- Millen ; sixth, C. M. Crippen.
On April 24 the remains of Willy Lender were found on the U. P. track near the transfer with head severed from body.
On the 27th Mrs. Margaret Peterson, eighty-one years of age, inmate of county house, suicided by cutting an artery in her wrist. She had remarked to others that she was tired of life.
On the 28th Samuel Steele was killed near U. P. transfer by train while picking up coal on the track.
On June 2 Miss Clara Winslow of Omaha was drowned at Manawa, the result of a collision of the boat she and her lover, Garret Pange, were in with a steam launch.
On June 29 Frank Tabor fell from the top of a freight car at Neola and was brought to the Bluffs and placed in the General Hospital, but his injuries proved fatal. as he lived but a few hours.
The Fourth was duly celebrated at Manawa and Fairmount Park. A. S. Hazelton was orator at the park. After the address all sorts of games were
106
HISTORY OF POTTAWATTAMIE COUNTY
indulged in, enlivened by music of Highland pipers. Fully 5,000 gathered there, while fully 15,000 were at Manawa and no serious accident occurred at either place.
July 11 the sad intelligence was received of the death of John Merkel at Atlantic City, N. J. He was born and reared in the Bluffs and achieved a national reputation as a delineator and minstrel performer and had been with some of the best companies on the road.
September 2 Charles Platner, patrol driver, while in line of his duty, in endeavoring to capture burglars, was fatally shot. It has never been - known of a certainty whether he was killed by one of the burglars or one of the police, it being in the night. He was active, faithful and knew no such emotion as fear.
The street fair and carnival opened on the 4th of September with 7,000 admissions the first night, and although some unfavorable weather was had during the week it was a success both as to entertainment, as most of the exhibits and performances were firstclass, and from a financial point of view, as a handsome sum was realized after paying all expenses.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.