USA > Minnesota > Otter Tail County > History of Otter Tail County, Minnesota: Its People, Industries and Institutions, Volume I > Part 73
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In 1876 Mr. Nichols was elected clerk of the supreme court, and held the position for ten years. In 1886 he was a candidate for re-election, but a combination of circumstances made his nomination a political impossibility. Though actually a resident of St. Paul during all the years he was clerk of the Supreme court, he always claimed Fergus Falls as his home, and was credited to Otter Tail county every time he ran for office. At the Repub-
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lican state convention in 1886, Moses E. Clapp, who then resided here, was a candidate for attorney-general and received the nomination. This made it inexpedient to put another man on the ticket from Otter Tail county, and Nichols had to give way to J. D. Jones, of Todd county. Every lawyer who has practiced in the supreme court will concede that Mr. Nichols was one of the most capable and obliging officials who ever held that position.
Sam had his peculiarities, as most everyone else has. These are the things which make a character interesting. Doubtless teh Lord made men different that the world might not be too monotonous, and has been most generous in conferring diversity on the denizens of fair Fergus. If Fergus Falls had its Boswell to record the characteristics, good and peculiar qual- ities of its inhabitants for the last forty years, he could do for the city what Doctor Johnson's Boswell did for him-make its fame eternal.
Mr. Nichols left the state not long after his defeat for renomination, going to Everett, Washington, where he became secretary of state in 1901 and was serving his third term when he resigned in 1909. He was often mentioned as a candidate for governor of that commonwealth. He was a good citizen, and an honorable man, and justly entitled to the respect in which he was held by the multitude of people who knew him.
FRANK HOSKINS. An Echo From Populism.
Frank Hoskins made trouble enough in Otter Tail county to entitle him to a place in this history. He was a Populist, a socialist, a free silverite, and anything else that diverged from a common sense attitude on all public questions.
During the panic of 1893 he was editor of the Henning Advocate, which gave a scope for his pernicious activities equal to the circulation of that unsavory sheet. He believed that thrift meant theft, and that if a man succeeded in keeping out of the poor house, he ought to be in the state's prison.
The bankers of that period will never forget the effect of Secretary of the Treasury Carlisle's statement that he expected that silver certificates and greenbacks would have to be redeemed. in silver. That statement meant ruin to the banks, life and fire insurance companies and other great interests of the country.
President Cleveland counteracted the statement in so far as he was able, by declaring that, rather than resort to the redemption proposed, the govern- ment would issue its bonds to maintain the gold standard, and calling an extraordinary session of the Congress to repeal the purchasing clause of the Sherman Act. But the people were panic stricken. Depositors com- menced to withdraw their money from the banks. Financial institutions
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all over the country were tumbling like houses of cards; the ghost dance of populism and free silver was abroad in the land, and no one could foretell the ultimate results. In the midst of this panic, the comptroller of the cur- rency called for bank statements as to conditions on July 12, 1893.
The three national banks of Fergus Falls published such statements, and Hoskins gave in his paper a purported analysis of such statements, alleging the insolvency of each of such banks, and advised the withdrawal of deposits.
People now cannot imagine the effect of such a statement made at such a time. It was false in every particular, and made with a view of creating a "run" on the banks. The business men of Henning called a mass meeting and passed resolutions condemning Hoskins' statements, and express- ing confidence in the said banks. No concerted run was made, but gradu- ally depositors came and took out their money. The officers of the banks used to meet and sit up nights. wondering when the doors would have to be closed, while Hoskins was having the "time of his life."
The extra session of Congress lasted several months and finally was forced, by the statesmanship and iron will of President Cleveland, to repeal the silver purchasing clause of the Sherman Act.
As soon as this was done, matters began to ease up; confidence, in a great measure, was restored, and customers began to bring their money back to the banks. The Hoskins episode was forgotten and would have so remained but for the impetuous action of C. D. Wright, president of the First National Bank. Ordinarily, Mr. Wright is a cautious and level-headed man, but the action of Hoskins in libeling the banks still rankled, and he wanted revenge.
Without consulting any of the officers of the other banks, he went before a justice of the peace, R. H. Mardin, and swore out, a warrant for the arrest of Hoskins, charging him with criminal libel. Hoskins, when brought before the court, was not pacific. There he gave vent to the men- tal gymnastics and abusive language which showed him a past master in billingsgate. He abused the court, the banks and plutocracy in general. Mardin, the justice, was a Vermonter, and fully alive to the dignity of his office and the respect due him as a magistrate. He, in turn, filed with the probate court an information against Hoskins for insanity. The latter was examined before the probate court and a jury of doctors, and pronounced insane. On this finding he was duly committed to the Fergus Falls state hospital for the insane.
He remained there but a few weeks when he was paroled, and finally discharged. Soon after coming out of the hospital he commenced an action against C. D. Wright; J. P. Williams, vice-president of the First National
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Bank ; R. H. Mardin; Dr. George O. Welch, superintendent of the hospital, and J. W. Mason, member of the board of trustees of the hospital, for false imprisonment, laying his damages at fifty thousand dollars. This suit was tried and resulted in favor of the defendants.
For some reason unknown. Hoskins had the greatest antipathy against Williams, and took his revenge in an unique way. In 1898 Williams was a candidate for county attorney in the Republican convention of that year. C. L. Hilton beat him for the nomination. Williams bolted the ticket and ran independently against Hilton. Hoskins had removed from the county and gone to Minneapolis. When he learned that Williams was running against Hilton, he, Hoskins, came back, got a petition signed by the requisite number of voters, and announced himself as an independent candidate for county attorney. Hilton was elected, but the votes plainly demonstrated that it was the Hoskins candidacy that elected Hilton. So Hoskins had his revenge, such as it was, against Williams.
OPPERMAN, A DUTCHMAN.
Those interested in archaeological study of early Fergus may find profit in the ancient docket of Justice of Peace George F. Cowing, wherein is entered a case entitled State vs. Opperman. The cause was a celebrated farce of those far-off days, and the dramatis personae composed of indi- viduals who helped make history of the early times.
The defendant had a homestead up near Opperman lake, a lake named in his honor. He was a little, undersized Dutchman. His way of shaving gave to his countenance a peculiar, monkey-like look, which was intensified by his small, sparkling eyes and quick, jerky motions. He shaved his upper lip and the front part of his chin so that the beard under the chin and around his face gave him a sinister expression and monkey appearance. His dress was in keeping with his general personality. He wore a long, snuff-colored coat, the tails of which reached below his knees; its waist was about six inches too long and marked off by two big horn buttons. Around the neck he wore the old-fashioned stock, reaching clear to the ears, enabling him to . draw his head down within it as the turtle draws his into his shell.
He took snuff in great quantities, all of which did not find its way into the nostrils, but liberal portions of it were sprinkled over his person, making him appear like a disinfected automaton.
In his multiplicity of law suits he was often on the stand as a witness. He was as cute as he was repulsive and under sharp cross-examination was a study in human nature. When asked a question the full import of which he did not grasp at once, he would affect some sudden pain like rheumatism, for instance, when he would clasp his knee with both hands, go through the most excruciating contortions, and walk around the room is if trying to
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overcome the constriction. Then he would resume his seat and give an answer exactly as the lawyer cross-examining him did not want.
Lou Goodsell was a contemporary of Opperman, and his name adorns every justice docket and district court calendar for years in those ancient times. In fact, Goodsell. Opperman and Buse furnished most of the law business of that period. They were "three of a kind" and hard to beat. In one of the numerous business transactions between Opperman and Goodsell, the former had given the latter a chattel mortgage on a span of horses. The note secured by the chattel mortgage falling due, Goodsell, in a surreptitious manner, had gained possession of the team and was adver- tising the same for sale according to the statute in such case made and pro- vided.
During the pendency of these legal proceedings Goodsell drove the team down to Park Dale. where Opperman was living at the time, and left it standing in the street in front of the only store in the place and entered the store on some matter of business. This was along towards dark, and when he came out of the store his wagon was there, but no team. Opperman was present and frankly denied all knowledge of the team or where they were. Search was made around the barns and nearby woods, but no team could be found. Opperman assisted in the search and was greatly disturbed at the disappearance of the horses, as he was prepared and intended to redeem them the next day, so he said.
Owing to the darkness the search had to be postponed till morning. By that time Goodsell had his force organized, consisting of the sheriff and several deputies. The hunt continued for some days. No trace of the horses could be found. No one had seen them. Opperman kept himself in evidence all of the time and appeared greatly distressed at the loss. Finally, it occurred to some one that Buse had a cousin of the same name living down in Douglas county.
As a last resort, a deputy was sent to the Douglas county Buse, and there in his pasture the horses were found. He could give no account of how they came there. He only knew that some week or ten days before. he discovered them one morning in his pasture, and as an evidence of his good faith exhibited a printed notice he had had distributed, advertising for the owner of the team. This notice was a part of the scheme.
Goodsell swore out a complaint before Justice Cowing, charging Opper- man with the theft. The examination lasted for three days, but nothing could be proved against Opperman and he was discharged. Buse was sus- pected, as he was a pal of Opperman ; but Buse was known to have been in Fergus Falls when Goodsell started for Park Dale late in the afternoon. Who stole the team is a question never before answered. It was all simple
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enough. Buse and Opperman laid the plan and carried it out exactly as schemed. Business called Goodsell almost daily to Park Dale. It was arranged that Buse should be seen by Goodsell in Fergus Falls at the time he started for Park Dale. As Goodsell was starting on this particular occasion Buse stopped him and had a talk with him. When Goodsell was a sufficient ways out, Buse followed him and when the former went into the store Opperman engaged him in conversation till after Buse came up and took the horses. The rig that took Buse to Park Dale was sent back quickly, and the scheme worked to perfection. Buse himself drove the horses to his cousin in Douglas county during the night.
Sometime after this, Opperman opened a little store in Park Dale and one day came to Fergus Falls to get a policy of insurance on his goods. He first went to an agent who knew him and this agent refused to issue a policy. He then went to Knutson, Earl & Hanson, who wrote the insurance. Jake Austin, hearing of the transaction, said: "I will bet five dollars that store burns inside of one month." Well, it did burn inside of two weeks. Opperman had an alibi arranged, but it did not work so well as it did in the case with the horses. It got too warm for him and he skipped out to Iowa between two days and never returned. He did not try to collect the insur- ance.
EDWIN M. WRIGHT.
Edwin M. Wright, son of Matthew Wright, was one of the early pio- neers. At the time of the Indian massacre in 1862, Matthew Wright had a saw-mill on his claim about five miles southwest of Fergus Falls, where the lower dam of the Otter Tail Power Company is now located. At the time of the outbreak, a part of the family, at least, was at the saw-mill on their claim, then called Dayton. Though this claim was miles and miles from any other human habitation and contained only the log house and primitive mill, still, frontier-like, it had its name. When the Indians went on the war path, the Wrights, with the other few settlers in this region, took refuge at Fort Abercrombie. situated on the Red river about twelve miles below the present city of Breckenridge. One brother, Edward, was killed by the Indians between Dayton and the fort.
The subject of this sketch was a remarkable man in many respects. His height was a little over six feet. He was very deliberate in movement and speech, and had at all times the most perfect command of his mental and physical powers, and was very reticent in talking of himself. He was a graduate of Appleton College, Wisconsin, a good lawyer and a brave man, as what I am about to tell will show.
In 1874, he had been my law partner for over two years. At that time there was an inclosure on the north bank of the river used for a bath-house.
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While in the bath-house with Mr. Wright one hot day in summer, I observed a very severe scar on his shoulder. I had never heard of any injury received by him, and when we returned to the office, I asked him directly how and when he sustained the injury to his shoulder. He said it was in 1862 at Fort Abercrombie. I waited for further information and as it was not forth- coming, asked him to tell me about it. After some hesitation, and then in a rather indifferent manner, he related the following incident :
He said that one night at the fort, after the settlers had all been brought in there he heard a noice in the stable among the horses. Saying nothing to the others, he took his gun, on which the bayonet was fixed, and went out to the barn to investigate. It was dark at the time, and as he opened the door and stepped in behind the horses, he was shot in the shoulder by an Indian. As soon as the shot was fired the Indian jumped into the manger in front of the horses and lay there. There was no way of escape from the barn except by the door where he stood. Wright reversed his gun, ran to the manger, where the Indian was lying, and jammed his bayonet clear through the Indian, killing him then and there. The short but thrilling story was ended in these words: "When I ran him through with my bayonet, he squealed like a pig."
During my long acquaintance with Mr. Wright, I never heard him refer to the incident again. His hatred of the Indians was sublime, if that word may be applied to hatred. In 1874, another brother, John, was killed in Dakota by the Indians, and who can say that he did not have ample reason for his hatred? A man who had been shot himself and had two brothers scalped by the Indians, could hardly be expected to entertain great Christian love for the "nobel red man." He died at Fergus Falls in 1893. in the month of November.
CHARLES WILLIAM KADDATZ.
The picture of C. W. Kaddatz deserves perpetuation (in water-colors) by the brush of a Bonheur or an Osthaus. Circumstances "over which we have no control" make this impossible; hence the unborn readers of "Who's Who" herein, must gain a mental picture from this unsatisfying portrait. traced by a weak but willing pen.
"Charlie." as he is known from Winnipeg to Panama, is an artist him- self. though he doesn't paint pictures-he deals in them, and these pictures in which he trafficks are mostly engraved on the currency of the country. and have been gravitating towards him in ever-increasing volume ever since he established his bake shop and candy store in Fergus Falls thirty years ago.
This sketch is written for the benefit of generations yet to come. The living do not need it, because everybody who is anybody in Minnesota knows
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him now. He was born in Germany, July 9, 1864, where he lived to the mature age of six years, when he foresaw the great Franco-Prussian war and prophetically foretold the militarism sure to follow under the Bismark regime. To escape the results of such a dire system, he induced his father and mother, with their six children, to escape and seek refuge in America, the "land of the brave and free." With the foresight which has character- ized his whole career, resulting in his present fortune, he advised his par- ents to settle in St. Paul, the capital city of Minnesota. There the father, by industry and honesty, provided the family with a comfortable if not luxurious home until 1876, when he died. At his father's death Charlie was thrown on his own resources, and fortunately he had an abundance of these. and has remained "long" on resources ever since.
He gained his education in the "school of hard knocks," graduating therefrom as valedictorian of his very numerous class. His first industrial adventure was on a farm, where most great men of our country start. He saw the great possibilities of agriculture on the fertile lands of Minnesota, and doubtless would have succeeded in "tickling the ground with a hoe till it laughed harvest," had he not seen greater possibilities in "farming" the farmer; so he soon abandoned agriculture for this broader field of activity. He remained on the farm but a short time, when he made a "trek" for St. Paul, where, coatless and shoeless, he presented himself to L. B. Smith, proprietor of a "swell" confectionery store on Third street, and applied for a position to learn the secrets of making sweets. There was little in his appearance to suggest adaptability for dainty candy making, but Smith was a judge of human nature and could read the possibilities in the budding millionaire, and took him on. Before the year of his apprenticeship was up he had mastered the business, and was capable of instructing the pro- prietor how it should be run. Being unable to make Mr. Smith realize the inefficiency of his management, Charley quit and tendered his services to a wholesale dry goods concern, where he mastered the intricacies of that busi- ness within a year.
He was now equipped to enter a wider field of activity, where he could apply his business knowledge and commercial experience, and study human nature at the same time. Of the numerous occupations that presented them- selves to his mind. he chose that of news agent on the Milwaukee railroad. In this sphere of activity he came in contact with all classes and conditions of men, from the plutocratic corporation manager to the immigrant on his way to the farther west.
In addition to the regular articles of trade which his contract obligated him to handle, he soon "took on," as "side lines" on his own account, other articles of commerce, such as banana stalks, bibles, and ladies underskirts.
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As these articles cost him little or nothing and sold at fancy prices, he soon began to accumulate above and beyond his regular salary.
The regular price realized for a banana stock, carefully packed in damp paper, was seven dollars. He spoke three languages fluently, German, Nor- wegian and English. His largest trade in banana stalks was with the two former nationalities. He displayed, in these deals, the true commercial instinct. He was wont to first create a taste for bananas by giving one to his prospective customer. After the banana was consumed, Charlie would give the "consumer" a dissertation on banana culture in Dakota or any other locality where the immigrant might be going. The raising of the fruit was simplicity itself. All that was required was the planting of the banana stock, with little attention in watering immediately after setting out; result, a fine bunch of fruit the first year. This, followed by a talk on the food value of the banana, generally closed the deal. In this way he created a demand for his product, which is the basis of all commercial success.
What may be called the by-product of the banana stalk was nearly as profitable. The burlap wrapped around each banana bunch as shipped from the south, was converted into a garment and sold to the German and Nor- wegian girls as the latest mode in underskirts in that part of the country to which they were going.
During the six years of his work as news agent, the most of his earn- ings were consumed in his generous contributions towards the support of his less fortunate sisters. He there displayed that liberality to his family that has characterized the whole of his subsequent business career.
With what little capital he owned, supplemented by what he could bor- row, he quit the railroad and came to Fergus Falls in 1886. He arrived late in the afternoon, and the next morning, without a coat, dressed with a long white apron, he appeared as the proprietor of a small cigar, candy and fruit store, purchased during the night, located on the present site of his one hundred thousand dollar "Hotel Kaddatz."
The stock consisted of a few boxes of five-cent cigars; a few pounds of fly-specked candy; a half bushel of rancid nuts; a half bunch of bananas hung in the window, a few lemons and a barrel and a half of apples. Charlie commenced to arrange his "stock" to make the best display possible. He stacked the half barrel of apples into an artistic pyramid, rolled the full barrel out to the front of the store, and advertised in the local paper the next day as the "Apple King of Fergus Falls."
The young "Wanamaker" made friends and trade increased. Notwith- standing Charlie's protests to the contrary, it was generally believed that he realized a profit on all he sold. He was energetic, thrifty and honest. If he knew how to "short change." he did not practice it on his customers.
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His trade grew much faster than the nursery stock he sold on the train for planting in Dakota. As room became cramped, he had the building enlarged. When he tired of paying rent, he bought the store building and lot on which it stood. As soon as his business outgrew that lot, he bought the adjoining one and building on the east, and opened up a restaurant, bakery and candy kitchen. "Kaddatz bread" was shipped to all the sur- rounding towns; he supplied the home market and outside villages with fresh fruit in the fruit season; he installed the most elaborate soda fountain known in the Northwest, into which the waters of the Red river of the North flowed and came forth in the form of currency.
From this time on, the great problem that presented itself to Mr. Kad- datz was what to do with his money. He found use for large amounts in the care of his sisters and the education of their children, and when these were all provided for he directed his attention and sufficient funds to the schooling of some of his favorite clerks. They all turned out well and justified the faith and confidence placed in them. He then commenced to invest in real estate -- city property ; but as soon as Kaddatz got a lot, there were a half dozen others who wanted it, and he was generally obliged to let it go for about double what he paid for it.
Then he bought a third interest in a flour-mill-the Red River Roller Mill. From this investment money came in so rapidly that he had to seek other channels for investing it. He conceived the idea of a candy factory in Grand Forks, North Dakota. It was built, and was a "money maker" from the start. It now employs about one hundred hands and pays a hand- some annual dividend. This was a new embarrassment for Charlie. Mr. Barrows, one of his associates in the flour-mill and candy factory, built the finest residence in Fergus Falls. This gave Charlie a pointer, and taking some of his ever-increasing surplus, he built a finer one. Barrows bought a fine automobile; Charlie bought one twice as large and fine. and hired a colored chauffeur to drive it. though he seldom rides in it himself. It is utilized for the enjoyment of his family and friends. If the price of gaso- line continues to soar. this may be the answer to Charlie's question : How can I get rid of my income?
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