USA > Iowa > Shelby County > Past and present of Shelby County, Iowa, Vol. 2 > Part 9
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So interesting was this sport that it is said that at the first Fourth of July celebration held at Bowman's Grove, participated in not only by the residents of that Grove but by residents of other groves, including Galland's Grove, the chief event was a wrestling match between the champion of Gal- land's Grove, and Daniel Bowman, of Bowman's Grove. which tradition records was won by Bowman. In the early days there were two favorite methods of wrestling, "side-holts" (holds) and "catch-as-catch-can." The pioneer wrestlers were very strong and agile in their wrestling, although they knew little or nothing of the complicated varieties of tricks and holds that now characterize the sport.
P. J. FROM.
A Shelby county wrestler who has achieved much more than local fame is P. J. From, better known as "Pete" From. He was born in West- phalia township, Shelby county, February 1, 1891. He is a son of Joseph and Catherine From. He wrestled more or less with his brother and with the boys in the neighborhood, but it was not until he was sixteen years of age that he had his first real match, which was at Panama, where, dressed in overalls, he wrestled Tom McAndrews, winning his match. Shortly after-
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wards he wrestled an opponent from Minden, lowa, at the hall in Earling, which match he also won. His first hard contest was with a man named Wes Cobb at Fremont, Nebraska. Cobb was a professional. twenty-three years old. After three hours and fifty-five minutes of struggle, the match was stopped at twelve o'clock and declared a tie. Eight months later he returned and again wrestled Cobb, getting two falls from him in one hour and forty minutes. At this time From weighed but one hundred and fifty-six pounds and had never had any professional training. All that he knew about wrest- ling he had learned from experience and in attempts to break the holds of men with whom he had wrestled.
Following the match with Cobb at Fremont, Mr. From left home that winter and traveled under an assumed name. Ile contested on this journey about thirty matches, occurring in many different parts of Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota. He has wrestled in different parts of Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Minnesota and Ohio. The first and only defeat that he has ever met was at the hands of a very strong and clever wrestler of Spen- cer, Iowa, Jud Thompson by name, who, for some time, was deputy sheriff there. The first time that From wrestled with Thompson, From had a sore arm, and besides Thompson was two years older at a time when From was scarcely mature. Afterwards From defeated Thompson. The last match that From had was in the coal mining district at Hiteman, near Albia, where he wrestled a miner. Jack Rozier by name, twenty-five years of age, and slightly heavier than himself. After wrestling for three hours and twenty-two minutes, and until midnight, the match was declared a draw.
Among the skillful men that Mr. From has wrestled are Jud Thomp- son, of Spencer, Iowa : Ben Reeves, of Guthrie Center, Iowa : Con Albright, of Rochester, New York: Tom Gately, of Stormsburg, Nebraska; Lew Miller, of Aberdeen, South Dakota; George Poppas (a Greek), of Cincin- nati, Ohio; C. Caddock, of Covington, Kentucky, and Barratt, of Wisconsin. Altogether. Mr. From has had about one hundred and seventy-five matches. Of all the men with whom he has contested, he considered Gateley and Cobb the best men of his early matches, and Jud Thompson, of Spencer, the cleverest man with whom he has contested.
The only professional training that Mr. From has ever had aside from what he learned from his experience in actual contests with profes- sionals, was two weeks' training in 1913, under Farmer Burns, of Omaha. Mr. Burns complimented him for his easy-going methods of wrestling, which are quite different from the stiff and hard efforts of many wrestlers, and he also complimented him on his fine endurance.
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By the way, the longest wrestling match in which Mr. From ever participated was that with Gateley, which took five hours and fifteen minutes.
Mr. From's brother Mike, weighing but one hundred and fifty pounds, also wrestled a great deal for a few years, and defeated everything that he met in his class in Iowa and Nebraska.
P. J. From farms during most of the year, but pursues wrestling, at which he makes considerable money, during the fall and winter of each year. He is very popular in Shelby county and is undoubtedly one of the very best athletes born and raised in the county.
THE W. L. BAUGHN HOSE TEAM.
One of the first organizations to bring the name of Harlan and Shelby county brilliantly before the people of Iowa and the West was the famous Baughn Hose Team, named in honor of W. L. Baughn, then mayor of Har- lan. In a competition that was Iowa-wide and of the fiercest character, this stalwart organization maintained a prestige that finally won the state cham- pionship silver belt offered for the best hose racing, by the State Firemen's Association of Iowa. Much credit for the splendid achievements of the team was due, not only to Mr. Banghn, who was thoroughly loyal to it. but also to W. C. Campbell, present editor of the Harlan Tribune, himself a veteran fireman and a member of Harlan's early home teams, who was manager of the team throughout its history and watched earnestly and with confidence its development on the pathway to victory.
As a preliminary matter, it will no doubt, be of interest to recall the names of the members of the first team to carry the colors of Harlan into a contest. The first running team of the fire department, which in September. 18SI, left for Avoca to enter a contest, consisted of the following men, only one of whom now resides in Harlan, W. C. Campbell, editor of the Harlan Tribune : S. C. Peet, leader : J. Fisher, F. Butterfield, T. Miles, C. Mentzer, Al Reynolds, H. W. Byers, S. K. Pratt. J. Burcham, D. Halladay, T. E. Palmer, Frank Sibball, George Bumphrey, John Burshaw, Henry Dust : plugmen, L. Miller, W. Bridgman : couplers, C. R. Pratt, W. C. Campbell.
The Omaha Bee, contained this sketch of the Baughn Hose Team in 1893 :
"The first state firemen's tournament in which a Harlan team participated was that held at Council Bluffs in 1889. The team of that year was or- ganized and trained by J. A. Campbell, who at that time was at work in the office of the Harlan Tribune. 'Joe' took his raw recruits down and succeeded
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in winning fifth place in the state hose race. The boys brought back fifty dollars in cash and incidentally something better-a determination to continue in the field 'if it took all summer.' Their perseverance told in the succeeding annual tournaments, and since the day of their Council Bluffs initiatory con- test few, if any, teams in the state have carried home more reward of merit shekels than the Harlan lads. Today the record of three straight sweep- stakes in the last three Iowa state tournaments and the best time made at each of those contests are things standing to the credit of these same 'boys they call the fellows.'
"In 1891 the team assumed the name 'W. L. Baughns,' in honor of Mr. Baughn, who was then mayor of the city. Baughn has steadily stood by his fleet proteges, and a year or two ago presented each runner with an elegant gold medal, upon which was engraved the time of one of their best per- formances. Considering the fact that every man in the team is strictly an amateur runner and that it has never enjoyed the benefits of thorough phy- sical training under an expert who understood his business, the running of the team has been remarkably good. In fact, for several years past the straightaway three hundred yards has been looked upon as being a thing that it would be safe to wager idle capital that Harlan would get. Time and again the Baughns have covered the three hundred-yard stretch in thirty- six seconds flat. Good timers have caught them in even less than that. And thirty-six seconds is at least two seconds better than any other Iowa team is in the habit of doing.
"The couplers' work has kept pace with the running of the boys, and in 1892, at Atlantic, Booth and True, of the Baughns, became champions of the state. At the recent state tournament, held at Iowa City, where, by the way, the boys were most shamefully treated by the Sawyer team of that place, Booth and True again distinguished themselves by making three couplings in 2, 2.2 and 2.2, respectively, an average of 2.13, the previous state record being 2.4 (an average of three straight couplings). The team's best for three hundred yards and coupling is 40.4 seconds, a record made at Sioux City last year in two races. The members of this year's team are: Gus Moore, leader ; Dave Booth and George True, couplers; Arley Parker, Tom Newby, Pearl Downs, Ike Stanley, Fred Boyd. Fritz Heise, Ed. Parker, Hugh Wy- land, Harry Swain, Frank Hille, Morris Moore, Day Ledwich, Clark Beems and Will Smith."
The Shelby County Republican of 1892 describes the victories of the Harlan hose team at the state meet of that year: "The first straightaway (31)
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race of three hundred yards with cart and reel full of hose, was won by Harlan; time, thirty-six and one-half seconds; purse, fifty dollars. In the forty-four hose race, involving a run of three hundred yards, unreeling one hundred yards of hose at the end of the run, breaking same and coupling on a nozzle at the close, Harlan tied with Council Bluffs in forty-six and two- fifths seconds. First and second money was divided between the two, seventy-five dollars each. In the forty-first class, the same kind of race, Eldora took first money and Ilarlan, second; time, forty-six and four-fifths seconds ; purse, fifty dollars.
"In the coupling contest, George True and David Booth made three tests. Their average was two and eighty-one hundredth seconds, their next competitors was two and ninety-three one hundredth seconds. Their prin- cipal competitor was a man named Wood, of Eldora.
"In the sweepstakes race, the team won its chief glory and made the best time of the tournament. Council Bluffs led in forty-five and three-fifths sec- onds, Eldora followed in forty-seven and a fraction seconds, and Harlan finished the contest in a fine run and splendid coupling; time forty-five and one-fifth seconds; purse, one hundred dollars. The total amount of money won by Harlan was three hundred and sixty-five dollars.
"Harlan is proud of its hose team. It is composed of a lot of splendid young men. They were prime favorites at the tournament, winning praise not only for their splendid performances, but for their gentlemanly behavior. The town will never suffer in reputation so long as it is represented abroad by such a company. At least a hundred of our citizens attended the tourna- ment, many of them remaining the entire three days."
The fine belt won by the team consists of nine links of silver, about one yard in length. On the middle link there is the representation of an eagle ' with arrows in its talons. At the top of the middle link is the inscription, "Iowa Firemen's Ass'n State Championship Belt. Hose Racing." At the bottom of the link are flags crossed together with the traditional helmets of the fireman.
The remaining inscriptions are as follows, including the names of the respective teams that over a period of years won and defended the cup :
Left to Right-Section I. Baughn Hose Team: P. A. Lambert, Harry MeComas, Jas. Harford, Jas. Long, Chas. Downs, E. A. Moore, G. Bendon, W. T. Smith, F. N. Hille, Jas. Kelly, R. L. Kent, John Quigg, Bert Reams. Ray Morton, Will Cox, D. J. Booth, Art Bowlin, Ed McQuillen, Will Hathaway.
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Section 2. Baughn Hose Team : P. A. Lambert, Jas. Kelly, Jas. Long, G. Bendon, Will Nelson, H. O. Wyland, John Quigg, Jas. Tallman. Chas. Downs, B. Downs, Will Cox, Ed. McQuillen. Jas. Harford, Will Hathaway, O. Bendon. W. T. Smith. F. N. Hille. F. Pixley, Ed S. White, D. J. Booth.
Section 3. W. L. Banghn Hose Team, Harlan, Iowa, International Champions, 300 yards, thirty-nine and three-quarter sections, Marshalltown, lowa, 1896. W. C. Campbell, Manager.
Section 4. W. L. Baughn Running Team, 1896: E. A. Moore, G. Ben- don, D. P. Downs, Will Hathaway, Wm. Cox, O. Bendon. B. Downs, W. T. Smith, H. O. Wyland, I. Stanley, H. B. Gish, John Quigg, Ed McQuillen, F. Heise, M. Moore. Coupler, F. N. Hille ; pipeman, D. J. Booth; trainer, James Kelly.
Section 5. June 20, 1895, Vinton, Iowa. E. W. Clark Hose Team ot Grinnell, Iowa. Time, forty seconds.
Section 6. S. J. Pooley, G. F. Vanderveer, G. 1). Peirce, L. B. West- brook, A. C. Dickerson, W. S. Needham, C. O. Arms, J. T. Hastings, V. C. Preston, E. W. Atherton, W. S. Peirce, L. Thompson, C. E. Harris, T. L. Newton, S. R. Davis, R. M. Haines, Jr. Couplers, J. E. Carlstedt. T. E. Riley : substitutes, E. W. Bartlett, G. W. Roth. W. W. Berry, captain and trainer.
Section 7. Banghn Hose Team, Harlan, Iowa, three hundred yards, forty seconds, Iowa City, 1897. W. C. Campbell, Manager.
Section S. Baughn Hose Team, Harlan, Iowa. two hundred and fifty yards, 32 seconds, Muscatine, 1898. W. C. Campbell, Manager.
LATER HARLAN HOSE TEAMS.
1911-Fred Winslow, Glen Miller, Glen Howard, D. T. Mellott, Har- low Tague, Carl Tagne, Frank McFarland, Elmer Nelson, Clyde Mason. Harry Norgaard, George Palmer, Vince Sunderland, Rob Anson, Hal Camp- bell, Rob Campbell. Paul Taylor, Everett Fiscus, Charles Rice, Mike Fromm, Roy Parker ; John Burcham, Leslie Taylor, couplers; W. T. Smith, manager.
1912-James Long, Mike Fromm, Peter Fromm, Earl MeCamley, Al- fred Howarth, Leonard Kerr, Carroll Steele, George Seiter, Alex Von Tersch, Guy Wurtsbaugh, Park Hook, Will O'Neal, Elmer Nelson, Clyde Mason, Roy Parker, Ras Anderson : John Burcham, Leslie Taylor, couplers; Hal Camp- bell, manager.
1913-Noel Mountjoy, Ira O. Brown, Earl McCamley, Mike Fromm. Peter Fromm, Homer Roland, V. H. Byers, Leonard Kerr, Alfred Howarth,
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Winfred Watters, Glen Miller, Roy Packard, John Wyland. Emerson Cooper, Ernest Boysen, Guy Downs, Eugene Parker, Frank Wirth, Charles Rice, Grover Philson: John Burcham, Leslie Taylor, couplers; W. T. Smith, manager.
1914-Homer Roland, Leo Dick, John Whitney, Earl McCamley, Au- drey Wilson, James Taylor, Chris Hess, Lawrence Kuhl, Leonard Hoisington, Glen Hoisington, Cecil Hoisington, Frank Wirth, Alfred von Tersch, Carlton Beh, Ernest Boysen, Ralph Goddard, Hallie Bartrug, Dale Shipp; John Burcham, Leslie Taylor, Jack Burcham, Earl Hoisington, couplers; W. T. Smith, manager.
This more recent team has been giving a good account of itself, and has served to keep Harlan and Shelby county on the map as a locality in which winning athletes grow. At Harlan, on June 19, 1913, the Harlan team took the association race, which included a run with the hose cart of two hundred yards, the laying of one hundred yards of hose, and the making of a coupling ; time, twenty-five and two-fifth seconds. This is the best record of the asso- ciation to date.
At present Harlan has won the cup twice in succession, and if won next year by her boys will keep it. Owing to the fact that the Manning and Har- lan teams tied in 1914, the cup is held jointly by the two teams this year. Should Manning win next year, she must, in order to retain the cup, win it again in 1916.
CORN HUSKING.
Beginning in the seventies and continuing at intervals almost to date, men of good endurance have taken great personal pride in their ability to husk a large amount of corn in a fixed time. By the way, the kind of husking done in the early days is quite different from what is called husking today. When the contests of years ago were held, men were expected to husk the corn free of all husks and to some extent the silk even was removed from the ears of corn.
The first husking contest in the county, of which I have found record, occurred in the fall of 1878 when two men named Tom Bass and Charlie Nichols on a wager husked corn from daylight to sunset. Bass husked and cribbed ninety-nine and one-half bushels and Nichols eighty-seven and three- fourths bushels. The Shelby News of December. 1878, is authority for the information that John Rink, of Shelby township, husked one hundred and thirty bushels of corn in nine and one-half hours, and that James Tracy, Jr., husked one hundred and thirty-seven bushels in nine and three-fourths hours.
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In November, 1889, in a match between Otis Westrope, of Center town- ship, and B. W. McConnell, of Harlan, on the farm of T. R. Westrope. in Center township. McConnell won. Both men started in promptly at 6:45 a. m. In an hour Westrope came in from the field and, owing to sickness. was compelled to quit litisking. McConnell was called and awarded the match. In the hour and fifteen minutes during which McConnell worked. he husked by weight the remarkable amount of twenty-four bushels and thirty pounds. Westrope's husking was only slightly behind. McConnell won many matches in several states. A number of years previously Clarence Whisler. of Shelby township, celebrated as a wrestler, and a man named Brown had a similar contest in Shelby township, and it is said that Whisler husked one hundred and twenty-seven bushels as one day's work. If the two men, Westrope and McConnell, each had worked the eleven and half hours agreed upon. more than three hundred bushels of corn would have been put in the crib by them.
On December 5. 1892. Fred Howlett and Frank Hayward, of Fairview township, contested a husking match on R. P. Foss' farm. They started in to husk ten hours, for twenty-five dollars a side, but after seven hours and eighteen minutes they concluded they had had enough. Howlett husked one hundred and twenty-three bushels and thirty pounds, and Hayward one hun- dred and nine bushels and fifty pounds. A big crowd witnessed the perform- ance. One of the famous corn huskers of Shelby township was George Slaughter. In 1892. when engaged in husking corn for J. C. Mansfield, in that township, he husked and cribbed six hundred and eighty-five bushels in six days, without any matched competition.
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CHAPTER XXIII.
FRATERNAL ORGANIZATIONS.
FREEMASONRY IN HARLAN AND SHELBY COUNTY.
[The following article was contributed upon request by Hon. William F. Cleveland, of Harlan, to whom many high Masonic honors have come. In 1906 he was chosen grand master of Masons in Iowa; in 1898, grand high priest of the grand chapter of Royal Arch Masons of Iowa; in 1901, grand master of the grand council of Royal and Select Masters of Iowa ; in 1892, grand commander of the grand commandery of Knights Templar of Iowa. In 1914 he was selected grand secretary of the grand chapter and grand re- corder of the grand council of Iowa. which positions he now holds. He was selected by the grand lodge of Iowa, as historian, and after two years of research has completed and has had published a Ilistory of Freemasonry in Iowa, in three volumes. ]
The spirit of fraternity has existed in the mind of man in all ages. and among all people the desire to associate in closer bonds of friendship among his fellow man has existed from the earliest dawn of time : the divine attribute of charity, that awakens the better impulses of man's nature, has alone influenced man to aid and assist his brother.
This spirit or desire has resulted in the formation of secret societies which by their acts have done much good in elevating the standards of morality, inculcating the practice of the virtues and ever opposing vice in every form. Among those societies that have been most active in this great ยท work none stands higher in the opinion of the observing world than the Ancient and Accepted Fraternity of Freemasonry. If age is considered, it stands alone among the secret societies of the world. for its origin can be traced back through the dim and misty ages of the past beyond the time of recorded history.
In this country it has ever followed closely upon the footsteps of civil- ization. Some of the Pilgrim Fathers who landed at Plymouth, as well as the Cavaliers who settled at Jamestown, were honored members of the
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Masonic fraternity. As the nation has grown in strength and power so has Freemasonry steadily increased in membership and influence.
Many of the earliest settlers of the state of Iowa were members of the Masonic society, who organized Masonic lodges soon after their coming here, or joined the lodges that they found already organized by those who had pre- ceded them. As the state of Iowa passed from the formative period of a territory into the full powers and prerogatives of statehood. Masonry had so grown in numerical strength that the grand lodge of Iowa, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons was duly constituted as the official head of the order, and has ever since enjoyed exclusive and undisputed jurisdiction over the entire state. It has kept step with the state in its unimpeded march from a terri- tory to the prond position it occupies among the other states of this great nation and today the grand lodge of Iowa, with more than five hundred active lodges, embraces a membership of more than fifty thousand of the best men that Iowa can produce, coming from all vocations and professions of life.
In the early days, when the tide of emigration commenced its westward march from the Eastern states, crossing the Mississippi and over the rolling prairies of Iowa, it found what is now known as Shelby county a spot of rare beauty, yet untouched by the hand of man, its virgin soil ready to yield forth its increase at the hand of the tiller of the soil. It was organized as a county in 1851. The first Masonic lodge to be recognized in western Iowa was in Council Bluffs where those early settlers who were Masons were compelled to go to attend the lodge meetings. Another lodge was soon organized at Sioux City. Then another lodge was located at Magnolia, Harrison county, and another at Dunlap in the same county, but when Mt. Nebo lodge was organized at Avoca, the brethren living at Harlan and vicinity were quite regular in their attendance at either the lodge at Dunlap or Avoca, depending upon what part of the county they resided. They would arrange to attend lodge. going in groups, almost always on horseback, returning home some- times at a rather late, or early hour. As the county continued to settle up, the desire for better lodge facilities soon became apparent.
It was quite an event when Parian Lodge No. 321 was organized at Harlan on November 30, 1872. The charter members are names quite familiar to the older citizens of the present : they were H. S. Burke, William Wyland, Thomas W. Chatburn. James Lambert, F. A. Bayer, David Carter, William H. Griffith, Platt Wicks and Samuel Slates, all of whom have gone to their long rest, except Thomas W. Chatburn, who resides at Independence, Missouri, and David Carter, who removed to Arkansas a few years ago.
Several lodges have since been organized within the county, viz .. Silentia
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Lodge, at Shelby, Guardian Lodge, at Defiance, and Sardius, at Irwin, thus affording the members opportunity to attend the meetings of their several lodges without encountering the inconveniences incident to frontier life upon the western prairies.
Harlan has from almost the beginning been regarded as an active Masonic town. Its members are embued with intense Masonic spirit and are ever ready to devote a considerable portion of their leisure time towards the upbuilding of the fraternity.
Olivet Chapter No. 107, Royal Arch Masons, was organized at Harlan in 1885. This is a body closely associated with the lodge and carries on the work and continues the history of the order and is known and designated as the capitular degrees. It receives its members from the membership of the lodge. Olivet Chapter has grown and prospered since its organization.
Adelphi Council No. 4, Royal and Select Masters, is the next body in what is known as the American system. It is designated as the cryptic rite, is the summit of Ancient-craft Masonry and completes the history of this branch of Masonry. Its membership is made up from the chapter, the de- grees being received in their order, lodge, chapter and council.
Mount Zion Commandery No. 49. Knights Templar, is a Christian order of knighthood that in this country follows after the chapter. To receive these orders of knighthood the petitioner must be a member of both lodge and chapter. This commandery was organized at Harlan in 1886 and enjoys the honor of being one of the best commanderies in the state.
Lebanon Chapter No. S. order of the Eastern Star, was organized at Harlan more than a quarter of a century ago. It has a large membership of the Master Masons, their wives, daughters and sisters, and has added much to the social life of the community.
Ever since the organization of these several Masonic bodies, they have exerted a beneficial influence upon the lives of their members ; they have con- tributed to the social life of our city, broadening the views of their members. making them more tolerant of the opinions of others, ready to help the un- fortunate and needy, and to strengthen the ties of friendship and brotherly love. These are some of the objects and the mission of Masonry. It will continue to grow and perform its duties to mankind so long as man is in- fluenced by his baser nature and does not accept and endeavor to live up to the divine comand, "Love thy neighbor as thy self."
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