USA > Minnesota > Waseca County > Child's history of Waseca County, Minnesota : from its first settlement in 1854 to the close of the year 1904, a record of fifty years : the story of the pioneers > Part 37
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"The undersigned citizens of the city of Waseca, hereby petition your honorable body to amend ordinance No. 64, of the city. so that the same shall require keepers of saloons to remove blinds and other obstruc- tions to the public view, during the time only when they are required by law to keep said saloons closed. Respectfully representing that we re- gard the exposure of saloons and other drinking places to the public view during business hours, as unnecessary for the purpose of enforcing the laws, and that such exposure will be offensive to many people and espe- cially so to ladies who generally have no desire to see into or study the
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saloon business, and demoralizing to the young whose childish curios- ty leads them into mischief and will surely induce them to gather and linger around the saloon doors and windows. That people who choose to patronize saloons should have the right to do so with the same privacy with which they attend to their other affairs. And that a business sanc- tioned by law and requiring so large a license fee as is exacted from saloon-keepers, and is under so many strict, legal restraints, should not be subjected to any unnecessary burdens."
The circulation of this petition caused much excitement and a counter petition was put in circulation. It was signed by sixty- seven courageous men and read as follows :
To the Honorable Mayor and Board of Aldermen of the City of Wase- ca, Greeting :
We, the undersigned, your petitioners, do most heartily congratulate you, upon the passage and approval of the late ordinance, regarding the regulation of the saloon traffic in this city; and more especially upon that section of said ordinance, which requires the removal of all screens, partitions or blinds from before the bars in said saloons. We believe the saloon business to be an unmitigated evil, so that while, under present laws it must be endured, yet that it should not be allowed to hide itself behind any sort of a defense, but should be compelled to stand out in all its hideousness, that the public may know, just what means are being used to entrap our young men, and to destroy the moral life of our com- munity; also that the officers of justice may be able to detect any viola- tion of law, and so bring to justice the offenders. We, your petition- ers, do therefore humbly pray that you will allow the present ordinance to remain as it is, nor allow any offender to escape the penalty provided therefor.
The struggle was not confined entirely to laymen. Some of the clergy and many good women took an active part in the contest. On the Sunday while the contest was on some of the clergy preach- ed upon the subject. One of them taking for his text, "Men loved darkness rather than light," (John 3:19) said in substance that ever since Adam and Eve hid behind the trees of the gar- den, men who have committed sin have sought for some kind of a screen for their sin. Men who do right are not ashamed. A prop- er business does not want screens, but publicity. A business that is right, honorable and manly, seeks the light. The liquor business seeks to hide itself; it is ashamed of its conduct; it caters to de- based and degraded appetites; it panders to the lowest passions of men; it never benefits, but always injures; hence it sneaks be- hind blinds, curtains, stained glass, etc. Now our aldermen, wisely or otherwise, have passed an ordinance prohibiting blinds, cur-
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tains, stained glass, etc. This meets with opposition. Those opposed to the ordinanee claim that women will stop before the saloons, and children, out of curiosity, will collect in front of the places, and the sights they might see and the sounds they might hear would tend to demoralize them. Then so much the more need of exposing such a business to the light of day. A place that is not fit for a mother to look upon is not fit for a son to visit.
At the meeting of June 16, when the foregoing communica- tions were presented to the couneil, there was an evident wavering among some of the aldermen. The petitions were referred to the committee on ordinances, and at the next meeting, June 19, the committee recommended a repeal of that ordinance and the pas- sage of another modifying the screen provision and increasing the license fee from $500 to $1,000. This raised a storm of denuneia- tion on the part of the saloon men and a combined refusal to take out licenses under the ordinance. The liquor interests were so strong and united that they indueed sixty-three firms and bus- iness men to sign the following :
"The undersigned, a committee of citizens of said city of Waseca, would respectfully represent to your honorable body, that we have become fully satisfied, that there is no possibility of any saloon license being taken out in this city, while the fee asked therefor remains any higher than the sum of five hundred dollars ($500), and we are well aware that on account of no saloon license being granted, we are injured very materially in our business, and all classes of business will suffer, as many of our best patrons go to other towns to do trading, for which reason we are prompted to, and do earnestly request you to reduce the saloon license fee to five hundred dollars, as the only remedy to restore our failing business."
In addition to this legitimate appeal to the council for a return to the license fee of $500, threatening letters were sent to the mayor until he was alarmed for his personal safety. In order to let some of the aldermen and the mayor down easy, the council, upon the question of changing the license fee from $1,000 back to $500, cast a tie vote, and the mayor was called in to give the casting vote, which he gave in favor of the $500 fee. vote, which he gave in favor of the $500 fee.
From July 1 to July 31 the saloons sat with closed doors- at least in front.
A gentleman that was familiar with the facts as to the saloon men made the following statement :
"About the first of June It hecame evident that fourteen men would
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make application for license to sell liquor in this city, (Waseca) and the council thinking that number altogether too many for a place of this size, concluded that by putting the license up a notch, fewer men would take out licenses. Some of the saloon men fell in with the scheme, but when it was decided who should be refused license then the trouble commenced. As a compromise measure the no-screen ordinance was passed, the two saloon keepers on the council voting for it. But this did not please the high-license saloonists and one of them objected and cir- culated a petition asking that the ordinance be amended so as to require the screens to be down during the time when the saloons are required by law to be closed. He carried his point, and the council put the li- cense up to $1,000. Then the saloon keepers combined and refused to take out licenses themselves or allow any one else to take one out, and en- tered into an agreement that the first saloon-keeper who should violate said agreement and take out license, should pay $100 to each of the others in the combination. And that was why no license was taken out at $1,000 and why the saloon men won at last."
OLD SETTLERS THAT PASSED AWAY.
The death roll of this year showed an increase over former years. The following are taken from the files of a local paper :
Matthew F. Connor, of Wilton township, died March 15, of consumption, aged forty-five years. He had been in poor health for several years. Mr. Connor was born in Ireland, Dec. 24. 1846, came to Waseca county in 1857, with his parents, they settling in Wilton township. He married Alice Dolan in 1873 and was the father of eight children. He served a term as county commis- sioner and filled many local offices. He was a prominent member of the Farmers' Alliance and an upright man.
Mrs. Silas Grover, one of the early settlers in this county, died May 8, 1891, in Waseca. She was born in the state of Maine, Feb. 26, 1805, and at the time of her death was in her eighty-seventh year. Moving to Livingston county, New York, she was married to Silas Grover in 1823. They afterward moved to Wisconsin where they lived a number of years and then came to this county, settling in Otisco in 1856. She was the mother of fourteen chil- dren, seven of whom are now living. There are now living forty grandchildren and forty great-grandchildren-her descendants, living and dead, numbering nearly one hundred. Her late hus- band was a soldier in the war of 1812. Mrs. Grover had been ail- ing all winter, but an acute attack of influenza was the immediate cause of her death.
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August C. Krassin, then county treasurer, died August 9, 1891, and Benedict S. Lewis, Esq., died May 16, 1891. Sketches of their lives will be found in the biographical department.
Hon. Caleb Hallack, of Janesville, died June 20, 1891. He had been American Express agent in Janesville for many years. He was judge of probate of this county from Jan. 1, 1878, to Jan. 1, 1880. He was a very honorable, upright man and one of the lead- ers of temperance work in this county. He was about eighty years of age and had been ailing some time prior to his death. He was a Master Mason and buried with grand Masonic honors.
James A. Root, of Wilton, died August 23, 1891-see biograph- ical sketch.
Austin Vinton passed away quietly, Saturday, Oct. 24, 1891. He was conscious to the last and was surrounded by his children and other relatives. His death was caused by an attack of influen- za the winter before, and had been anticipated by his friends for some time. Mr. Vinton came to this state in the spring of 1856 and settled on the farm where he resided at the time of his death. He was seventy-five years old. He was a firm friends, a kind neighbor, an da good citien, always alive to the best interests of his town and county. He filled many positions of trust in this county and was almost always in some town office. Probably no man has served his town more faithfully and acceptably. He was clected a county commissioner in 1886, and served one term with great credit. He sleeps in Woodville cemetery. His two sons reside in Owatonna.
Simon Smith died Dec. 26, 1891. The Herald said :
"It is our sad duty this week to announce the death of an honored and aged citizen. Last Saturday afternoon, Mr. Simon Smith and his grandson, Roy Brubaker, went out to the farm in Iosco, after a load of hay. Mr. Smith complaining of feeling tired, pitched on very little hay, the little boy doing most of the work. While both were engaged in fastening the binding pole, Mr. Smith fell forward and expired without a struggle. Heart disease was probably the direct cause of his death, and it is thought that the ride out in the country, and the intense cold of that afternoon hastened it. He was carried into the house and John Kahnke hastened to town after a physician. Mr. Smith was born in Darm- stadt, Germany, May 13, 1817. He came to America In 1832, at the age of 15, settling in Crawford county, Pennsylvania. He went to Milwaukee, Wis., In 1842, and was married in February of that year. In 1867 he came to Waseca, and after putting up the brick store building adjoining
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the Bank of Waseca, engaged in the mercantile business. He retired from business some years after, and since that time has led a quiet life, farming on a small scale, as his health would not permit much hard labor. The remains were interred in Woodville cemetery. The world was better for his having lived in it, and may the memory of his life be the means of causing many others to follow in his footsteps and become worthy and respected citizens."
CHAPTER LXI, 1892.
THE SHOOTING AND KILLING OF FRED WEBBER IN THE TOWN OF JANESVILLE-COUNTY BOARD PROCEEDINGS-STORM SWEPT, CYCLONE JUNE 15-COUNTY FAIRS-FALL ELECTION -- DIED: PATRICK MURPHY, A. C. SMITH, H. H. SUNDE, FRANCIS WESCOTT, DR. McINTOSH, FRED WOBSCHALL, JOHN AMER- SON, WM. EVERETT, E. E. AND JAMES HOLMES, COL. W. F. DRUM, HON. W. G. WARD, JOHN BUNAGLE, CHAS. SAN GALLI.
Immediately after the holidays, Jan. 5, a man by the name of Wmn. Koebnik, residing in the town of Janesville, near Elysian, about 2 o'clock in the morning, shot and killed a man named Fred Webber. The evidence showed that Webber was a single man, living with Koebnik; that he eame to the latter's house in a drunken condi- tion ; that a quarrel ensued between the men, one accusing the other of making too much noise. They finally came to blows when Koebnik went to his granary, got his gun, returned to the house and, after more wrangling, shot Webber and killed him. Koebnik was arrested and bound over to appear at the next term of court, but the grand jury failed to indiet on the ground that he shot Webber in self-defense.
ANNUAL MEETING OF COUNTY BOARD.
Mr. Peterson was again elected chairman of the board-the members being the same as in the preceding year, viz: Messrs. Chase, Bnek, Remund, Sunde, and Peterson. Two important mat- ters were settled at this meeting-the MeKenna matter and the purchase of fair grounds.
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In the matter of the fair grounds, it was resolved that the said board purchase fair grounds for the use of the Waseca County Agricultural, Mechanical and Industrial Society, pur- suant to the power granted said board so to do in chapter 468 of the special laws of the state of Minnesota for the year 1891; and further that the chairman of said board appoint a committee consisting of three members of said board to procure prices and select location, and report the same to said board at the next meeting thereof. The chairman appointed as such committee Messrs. Chase, Buck, and Remund. As the result of this action, the present fair grounds were purchased of Mr. I. C. Trowbridge.
The last of the McKenna defalcation was disposed of at this session, by the adoption of the following :
Whereas, a resolution was passed by this board, Aug. 24, 1891, agreeing to receive a certain sum of money in full settlement with Timothy Sullivan, Christie McGuigan, John Keeley, Peter Burns, and the estate of Dennis Sheehan, bondsmen in the McKenna bond case; and,
Whereas, Oliver Peterson, chairman of this board was duly authorized to act for and in behalf of said board of commissioners in making set- tlement with said bondsmen; and,
Whereas, said Oliver Peterson did make settlement in full with said bondsmen for and in consideration of the sum of $6,600, which sum was duly paid by the said bondsmen to E. Dieudonne, county treasurer, on the 1st day of December, 1891. Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That this board fully approve of the action of said Oliver Peterson and that the sum of $6,000 be accepted as payment in full to satisfy judgment entered against said bondsmen, and that the above named bondsmen be hereby released from further obligation.
At this session the following sums were appropriated: $70 to New Richland to replank two bridges between sections 14 and 23 and between sections 24 and 25; and it was ordered that the sum of $800 be allowed for ditching, draining and bridging on sec- tions 2 and 3, Woodville, and sections 25, 26, and 35, Blooming Grove, said amount having been appropriated by the state to be paid back to the county upon the proper certificates.
STORM SWEPT.
A terrible cyclone swept across Southern Minnesota June 15, 1892. With a roar equal to the din of twenty railway trains running over a score of iron bridges, a great cyclone swept over the Southern Minnesota counties of Jackson, Martin, Faribault, Freeborn, Blue Earth, Mower, and Fillmore Wednesday after-
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noon. The storm began about seven miles west of the village of Jackson, moved eastward over the villages of Sherburne and Wells in Martin county, passed lightly over Faribault county, caused great havoc in Freeborn and spent itself in the two coun- ties farther east. Mr. Z. M. Partridge gave us a list of casualties, in the neighborhood of Freeborn, the result of the great storm as follows: S. Keen, two children killed, two injured, and every- thing gone; Joy Tellet, two barns destroyed; Sam Lowry, barn and machinery, all but house destroyed; Mike Everson, two chil- dren killed, four hurt, house and all gone; J. A. Shequeen, every- thing destroyed, wife badly hurt, horses injured; Oliver Vert- by and E. McCauley, everything gone; Sam. Johnson, granary and barn destroyed, and house unroofed; Hans Omerson, house and machinery all gone and six of the family badly injured; John Heckes, wagon, buggy, and corn crib; Polander, name unknown, his house lost; L. Drake, house and corn-crib destroyed; F. D. Drake, barn, granary and machine shed unroofed; Paulson house, everything gone. Vivian, Byron, and New Richland suffered to some extent but without serious damage.
COUNTY FAIRS.
For six years the people, especially the farmers, had been inter- ested in county fairs, and one had been held each fall. This year extra efforts were made by the officers, and the result was a very successful fair. It was held Sept. 29 and 30, and October 1, and was largely attended. There was received from the sale of tickets, $449.75; from the state, $210.52; from privileges, $79.00; from entrance money, $42.10; from subscriptions, $39; from Everett, Aughenbaugh & Co., special premium, $10; grand stand receipts, $22.50; membership fees, $6.00-total $858.87. The fair paid out $389.80 in premiums, and $475.30 in expenses. The re- ceipts were overdrawn $5.23, but the surplus of the year before, $19.61, still left the treasury with $14.38 on hand. That year, Joseph T. Dunn, now deceased, was president, and Hon. John Noonan, sceretary, both of them very energetic men. We regret to say that from that time forward interest in the county fair has waned, and for the years 1903 and 1904 there has been no attempt to hold a fair.
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CHILD'S HISTORY OF WASECA COUNTY.
THE ELECTION.
There were only two sets of local candidates this year, Repub- lican and Democratic, except for county treasurer. For this office the Republican candidate was Capt. Walter Child, the Democratic candidate, Joseph T. Dunn, the People's candidate, George T. Dunn, and the independent candidate, Emil Dieu- donne. On treasurer, the contest resulted in 896 votes for Child, 843 for Joseph T. Dunn, 427 for Dieudonne and 253 for George T. Dunn. The other candidates elected were: A. J. Lohren, county auditor; Peter McGovern, county attorney; Hen- ry Reynolds, sheriff; John S. Abell, superintendent; John Woll- schlaeger, register of deeds; E. B. Collester, judge of probate; Dr. L. P. Leonard, coroner; O. L. Smith, surveyor; E. P. Latham, court commissioner; Henry F. Lewer, of Woodville, Henry W. Bluhm, of Vivian, and Thomas Boucher, of Waseca, county com- missioners. Dr. R. O. Craig was elected to the state senate, and HI. M. Buck to the house of representatives.
THE DEATH ROLL OF 1892.
With each succeeding year, the death roll of the old settlers increases in length. The first to be called this year was Patrick Murphy, one of the very early settlers of Blooming Grove. He died of influenza at the residence of his son Thomas, in Minne- apolis, Jan. 10, after an illness of four days, aged eighty-three years. Mr. Murphy was born in Kilkenny, Ireland. He came to this county in 1856, where he lived many years, moving to Minne- apolis in November, 1891. He was the father of fifteen children, eleven of whom, with his wife, survived him. His remains were brought to Waseca for burial and lie at rest in the Waseca Catholic cemetery.
Mr. Alfred C. Smith, one of the 1855 settlers of Woodville, after an illness of nearly two years, died Jan. 28, 1892. His history is noted at length among the early settlers.
The Herald: "One by one the early settlers of Minnesota pass away. Died, Feb. 4, 1892,- at Northfield, Minn., Hans H. Sunde, aged sixty-six years and eight months. He was one of the eight families who first settled in New Richland in 1856. He came to America in 1854 and resided in New Richland up to 1883, when he removed to Northfield. His remains were brought to New
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Richland on the 5th inst., and were buried the 9th, in the church- yard of the Norwegian Lutheran society, which he was instru- mental in forming and of which he was a worthy member."
Francis Wescott came to the township of Wilton, this county in September, 1865, where he resided eight years, when he moved to Yellow Medicine county. After living there seven years he moved to Lyon county, where he lived up to the time of his death, which occurred Feb. 29, 1892. He died of pneumonia, after a short illness. His wife and three children survived him. lIe was an honorable, upright man in every walk of life.
Dr. L. D. McIntosh, who came to Waseca in 1868, died at De Funiak, Florida, Feb. 28. 1892, of heart failure. He went there for the purpose of giving a two-weeks' course of instruc- tion at the Florida Chautauqua. He was a native of Bethel, Vt., and a graduate of the medical college at Castleton, in that state. He came West in 1860 to Sheboygan, Wis., where he mar- ried Miss Rebecca Preston and resided until 1868. He was as- sistant surgeon for a short time in the Forty-seventh Wisconsin Infantry in the Rebellion. He was a very ardent temperance man and prohibitionist during his residence in Waseca. He was a resident of Chicago at the time of his death. The doctor stood high in his profession. At the time of his death, he was holding a professorship in the Chicago dental college, also a professor- ship of Electro-Theropeutics in the Chicago Post-Graduate Clinic. Ile was at the head of the Emmert Proprietary Co., of Chicago, and was also appointed assistant superintendent of microscopy at the World's fair.
Ernest Frederick William Wobschall was born the 6th day of January, 1822, in Colmar, Province of Posen, Governmental cir- cuit of Bromberg, Prussia. He came to America in 1853. After spending about two years in Indiana and Wisconsin, he arrived in Minnesota, and settled in St. Mary on the farm where he died, in June, 1855. He came in company with Fred. Proechel, (Big Fred.) Gottlieb Proechel, Martin, John F., and Gottlieb Krassin, Sr., and John G. Greening. He had a yoke of oxen and a home- made wagon, money enough to pre-empt one hundred and sixty acres of land and improve it. In those early days he was a very industrious and frugal man, and soon became one of the wealthi- est. farmers in the county. In those early days, too, he was com-
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panionable and hospitable. The writer often made the trip to Hastings with him, camping by the roadside, and eating potato soup from the same kettle. Fred. probably had some faults- and who among us has not-but on the whole he was an old- fashioned German of honesty and solid worth. By his first mar- riage he had four sons and one daughter, and by his second wife, seven sons and two daughters. His last sickness commenced in November, 1891, and terminated the 29th day of April, 1892, at 7 o'clock a. m. His death was eaused by stomach trouble, known as gastritis. He left one brother, a widow, and fourteen children surviving him.
On the 22nd day of May, 1892, John Emerson, after a long struggle, died of typhoid pneumonia, in the eighty-ninth year of his life. He was born in the state of Vermont, and lived in Windsor county, that state, until 1866, when he came as far west as Wisconsin, where he remained until 1868, when he eame to Minnesota. He was married to Dr. Young's mother over forty years before. By his former wife he left surviving him a son and two daughters. The son is a resident of California. He was a model Yankee farmer, a strong, upright man, and a good eiti- zen. If the world had no worse men than "Unele John Emer- son," it would eome very close to the ideal marked out by the gospel of peace.
The death of Wm. Everett, of Waseea, occurred in California, June 21, 1892. He died of diabetes at the age of sixty-four. He was born July 6, 1828, in Sussex county, New Jersey. An ex- tended notice of his life appears in biographieal sketches and in the account of the Indian massaere at Lake Shetek.
There were two deaths by drowning, July 3, 1892, on section 34, town of Freedom, in the north branch of the Little Cob- Edward Eugene Holmes, fourteen-year-old son of John Holmes, Jr., and James Holmes, aged thirty-two years, unele to the boy. Edward and some other boys were in the stream bathing, the water at that place being ten or twelve feet deep. Edward, while swimming across the stream, sank out of sight. This frightened his Uncle James, who plunged into the stream to save the boy. Both sank to rise no more in this life. It was thought that both got into the eddy or whirl, near the old bridge, and were whirled around until drowned. The bodies were recovered
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