Fillmore County, Minnesota - Chapter 14: Incidents and Events, 1912

Notes Culled From the Early Newspapers Regarding Fillmore County People - Happenings From 1857 to 1880 - Items Which Recall the Names and Characteristics of the Earlier Settlers.

The every day life of the people as shown in the newspapers is always of interest. In order that these simple incidents may not be forgotten, this chapter has been compiled from various sources. It is not intended to be a history of the county for the years it covers, but contains many incidents which eannot fail to prove of interest and which do not appear elsewhere in this volume.

1857. On December 3, 1856, there was a very deep snow that remained on the ground. On December 27 there was a rain which froze as it fell, leaving a glassy erust which would bear up an ordimary man, but it proved most disastrous to the deer, whose sharp hoofs, when the animal was on the run, would cut through at every Jump, and the settlers, with whom fresh meat had been an almost unobtainable luxury, were quick to avail themselves of this advantage to procure venison. A dog that could run without inconvenience would soon overtake a deer and bring him to bay, and he wonld soon be floundering 'helplessly in the erust-broken snow, when he would be dispatched with any convenient weapon. The numbers thus slain sean most ineredible. Incidents relating to this slanghter appear in the town histories. It is a fact that this winter well nigh exterminated the deer throughout the wide region where this icy condition prevailed. In April, C. Wilson, of Chatfield, undertook to bore an artesian well. In May, the Root River Valley railroad engineers reached Chatfield, laying out a line which was never built. In consequence of the hard times the proprietor of the old water sawmill, one mile from Chatfield, in the winter agreed to saw lumber at $5 per thousand feet. The first issue of the ''Chatfield Democrat,'' on September 11, says that ''Forty acres of land adjoining the Chatfield town plat sold for #90 per aere."'

1858. Quite a serious accident happened to one of <A. M. Walker's stages as it neared Fillmore village, in this county, on February 3. 'In attempting to cross a small stream or ereek, the wheel of the stage came in contact with a large boulder and the stage was instantly thrown upon its side, foreing one of the wheel horses down with it. The horse, being held down by the tongue and fore part of the stage and hampered with the harness, was drowned. There were three passengers in the coach at the time, who luckily eseaped without further injury than an ''unsought wash'' and good ducking. J. §. Weider, clerk in the office of the receiver of the U. 8. Land office in Chatfield, en route for Dubuque, was one of the three. On February 10 a party of gentlemen left Chatfield for the purpose of hunting. At that day game of every species abounded in Fillmore county, and especially may this be said of the ecuntry immediately surrounding the village of Chatfield. The guoning party was having good luck, and the indications were that they would be bountifully repaid for their labor, when, by the accidental discharge of one of the guns, Nathan P. Langdon, of Chatfield, was shot in the leg below the knee, breaking both bones and otherwise mangling his limb in a horrible manner. IJe was immediately taken to Chatfield and placed under the treatment of Dr. Cole of that place, but in spite of the best of care it became necessary to amputate the limb. On April 15 the county of Fillmore held its election in regard to the loan of the state credit to various railroads to the amount of #5,000,000. The vote of the then principal towns in the county was as follows: Chatfield, for 292, against 86; Preston, for 178, against 68. Throughout the county the vote averaged 4 to 1 in favor of the loan; the majority was 1,500. <A table compiled June 5 shows that at that date Filhnore county had 9,893 inhabitants and 1,822 dwellings. The county contained an area of 864 square miles. On August 16 five prisoners confined m the county jail at Preston for various offenses, entered into a conspiracy to eseape. They sueceeded in their undertaking by bending the window bars. Of the five who got away only one was ever heard from; he, after traveling on foot some forty or fifty miles, returned once more to the jail. On September 5 a little daugliter of Maj. J. R. Bennett, of Chatfield, being alone in the yard, fell headforemost into a tub of water and remained there some time before being found. When discovered and taken out life appeared to be extinet, but with exercise of great presénce of mind by the parents taking the necessary course to effect a resuscitation, the life of the little one was saved. On Friday, September 17, T. Sawyer, a citizen in the vieinity of Chatfield, met with a very serious accident. Ile was engaged with a machine threshing grain several miles from town and while it was in motion he attempted to pass from one side of the feeder to the other when, his foot slipping tbrough, was caught and torn off above the ankle, ripping flesh and bones to strips and mangling the limb in a frightful manner. Physicians were immediately brought, who ampntated the fractured limb close to the knee jomt. William Henry Dean, M. D., died October 18 at Spring Valley. The doctor was a graduate of the Michigan University at Ann Arbor and came here at an early day. October 7, in company with several ladies and gentlemen, he was at the mill of Mr. Stevens and the members of the party were being weighed on a platform seale. It being just at dusk, the doctor did not observe a rapidly revolving shaft near where they stood, whieh caught a shawl he wore and whirled him around and around, striking him against ihe seales at every revolution until the mill was stopped. Death came to his relief eleven days afterward.

1859. In this year the Fillmore County Bank had in cireulation 425,000 in bills, secured by a deposit of stocks with the state auditor. Jime 30 there was a fiood on the Root river; the bridge at Chatfield was carried away and other damage done. A land sale was ordered for November 14 and various attempts were made to postpone it. The spring election was held and the question as to whether the county seat should be removed was voted upon. The village of Preston, receiving 2 majority of the votes east, was designated as still the county seat and the several county offices were retained there. On June 2 a boy named Seeley, twelve or fourteen years of age, fell over the high precipice on the opposite side of the river below the Preston mill and into the river helow, disloeating his hip and otherwise injuring his budy. After reaching the water he was barely enabled to save himself from drowning by taking hold of the willows and bearing himself up until assistance reached him. On the night of August 6 burglars entered the boot and shoe store of Richardson in Chatfield. They took three pairs of boots and escaped. In the times of 1859 in the stage business there was considerable competition and the stage that made the best time could command higher fare and a majority of the travelers. On July 20 of that year two rival stages started from Winona for Chatfield, both bent on keeping in the Jead. When within a few miles of Chatfield the driver of the stage on the Walker Line, which had up to this time been the loser in the race, thought he discovered a chance by which to pass luis adversary and make Chatfield in time to gather the laurels. Accordingly he suddenly gave vent to an Indian war-whoop and, playing his long whip upon his horses, darted alongside the other stage. The plan wonld have worked well, but just as he was turning into the road to take the leadership he turned too short and the stage hovered upon the two side wheels for an instant and went over with a crash. Several arms were broken and many bad bruises received. On September 5 there was a severe frost iu the county, doing much damage.

1860. Early in June there was a notable pienic at Chatfield, some 418 persons being present. On March 16 the Carimona Ifotel at Carimona took fire from a defective flue and burned to the ground. About this time the numerous thefts of horses in the southern part of the state caused much uneasiness in Fillmore county. In August the home of W. II. H. Graham, living a mile west of Chatfield, was sorely afflicted. August 7 W. H. H. Graham, Jr., aged five years, died. August 15 another child of the same family, Nina Bell, died at the age of three years. The next day Mrs. Graham, the mother, died. One day later Ralph, the infant son, died, thus bereaving Mr. Graham of his entire family. Mr. Lee, of Fillmore, on September 8 threshed 480 bushels of No. 1 wheat from the sheaves of fifteen acres, averaging thirty-two bushels per aere. A fatal accident occurred in Carrolton township on August 6. Michael O'Shaughnessy, son of Patrick O'Shaughnessy, in company with his brothers, were out shooting and, by some means unknown, a gun in the hands of one of the party was accidentally discharged, the contents of which entered the face of the unfortunate boy and killed him almost instantly. In October the Chatfield mills were grinding night and day and turning out flour at the rate of 300 barrels per week.

1861. It was estimated in Chatfield that for the year 1861 an average of thirty passengers arrived and departed daily. At this time there were three lines of stages through Chatfield east and west. The breaking out of the war im April, 1861, gave universal attention to recruiting, and many items, otherwise noticeable, were overlooked during that stormy period, being overshadowed hy the unusual und mighty events of that belligerent period.

1862. On May 25, a five-year-old girl of Michael Langham, of Fountain township, was playing near the fire when by some means her clothes caught in the flames, and before assistance could reach her she was burned so badly that she expired in a few hours. On September 1 occurred the frontier panic. The massacre at New Ulm had just taken place and there was hardly a road in Fillmore county that some excited individual, who had lost his head, would not ride through, usually bareback, shouting ''Flee from the Indians !'' 'Flee from the Indians!'' and without halting to explain, yelled that "'the town right back was in ashes!'' There was not an Indian within 140 miles, but without stopping to consider the absolute and utter impossibility of the Indians thus sweeping across the country like a tornado, destroying everything in their track, a majority at onee caught the infection and acted on the impulse to save themselves and families from the murderous tomahawk and sealpmg knife. The scenes that followed ean easily be imagined. What transportation could be had at hand was at once put in requisition; the family was hurried into the vehicle, and what few articles were most highly prized that could be carried were bundled in and away they went, resolved to make no unnecessary delay in putting the Mississippi river between them and the bloodthirsty savages. Such was tlie haste that no attempt was made to run off the stock, and usually the garden gates and the fences were opened to Jet the cattle lixuriate on the misfortunes of their owners. In most instances the houses were left wide open, and not unfrequently the table would be hastily spread with the hope that when the savages arrived they would stop to eat and thus the fugitives would gain time to get beyond their reach. The first evening of the stampede there was a frightful rain and some of the jaded ones would halt and occupy some deserted residence. There was an o¢casional cool head who tried to stop the bewildering rush, but could do little to arrest the panic. Some of the men who tried to reassure the crowd by protesting that there was no danger were accused of being in league with the Indians and were plotting for a wholesale destruction. The village of Preston was literally jammed full of people and teams. The houses were full, the shops were full, as well as the mills and every available shelter, and a single shot, or an unusual shout on that terrible night, would have completed the demoralization of the already panic stricken heterogeneous gathering. In every instance the positive news eume that the very next town had been burned and the people butehered - not a single individual left to tell the tale of their taking off. And as fugitives began to arrive from miles away, not having seen a single red savage on the warpath, reason began to assert itself and the scare was on. An aceident took place at Elliota on November 14. A hoy about fourteen years of age, a sou of Mr. Hicks, residing about two miles west of Elliota, was found in a ditch beside the road and a horse that he had been riding on the top of him. When found both hoy and horse were dead.

1864. On September 3 an accident occurred at the Medary House in Chatfield, whieh resulted in the drowning of an infant cluld of Mr. and Mrs. Freeman, aged two months. A little daughter of Mrs. Norton was carrying the child, and on passing through the door leading from the dining room to the kitchen, made a misstep, which precipitated both into a cistern which was located at that point. Mr. Burdick, the proprietor, immediately jumped into the cistern, where the water was about twelve feet deep, and succeeded in saving Mrs. Norton's child, whieh he thought was the only one in the cistern. After he came ont Mrs. Freeman said her child was in also, when another person jumped in and brought out the body of the infant which had sunk. The body was in 'the water about ten minutes and when brought out hfe had departed. During the summer and fall of 1864 many of the three-year men who enlisted in 1861 were returning. On October 26 Mrs. Churehill, of Chatfield township, was thrown froin a wagon and so fatally injured that she died the next day. The aceident was caused by the oxen taking fright, running oif and upsetting the wagon. She was twenty-six years old, and at the time was assisting her husband in gathering corn. On November 12 the granary of Peter Johnson, three miles below Chatfield, together with 300 or 400 bushels of wheat, was destroyed by fire between 10 and 11 o'clock at night. The fire was set by a young girl not seventeen years of age, named Mary Pettis, who had formerly resided with the family of Mr. Jolnson. The culprit was eaught within two miles of where the deed was done and eonfessed the crime. Upon trial, however, she was acquitted upon promising to reform. Capt. hdwin Hillman, of Sumner township, Fillmore county, died in Winona, December 24. Captain Hillman commanded Company C in the Third Minnesota Regiment. Ife was fifty years of age at the time of his death, and was an Englishman hy birth; a brave man, and a gallant officer.

1865. On February 25, Mr. MeDonald, of Newburg township, in attempting to cross the branch of Root River at Preston with a two-horse team at the ford, was swept down by the flood of ice and water and drowned, together with both horses. On June 10 an insane woman, wife of John Long, living two miles west of Preston, struck her granddaughter, a gir] of thirteen years, a blow on the side of the head with a club. The child was not considered at first as being dangerously hurt, but on the day following while attending her usual duties, suddenly fell down in a spasm and died within an hour. On August 18 Zenas Root and his grandchild, of Spring Valley township, were drowned in a sink hole where they were watering horses.

1866. On Monday night, August 6, the comparatively smal] stream known as Weisel ereek, on the south branch of Root river, suddenly commenced swelling at an alarming degree, and the formerly harmless ereek or placid brook had in a few hours become a rushing torrent, foaming and boiling over its banks, overtiooding the surrounding country and carrying disaster, death and destruction before it. The first ohstacle coming in the torrent's way, consequently meeting its destruction, was the dwelling house of David Weisel. It was struck broadside by the rushing flood, swept from its foundation and ernshed into fragments in an instant. The ocenpants of the house at the time were David Weisel, his wife, his mother, a lady over eighty years of age, and a nephew named John Weisel, twelve years of age, also relatives from Burr Oaks, Iowa, Mr. and Mrs. Calvin Brace, all of whom met a watery grave except Mrs. David Weisel, who was found the following morning still clinging to her bed, on which she had floated down the stream, and was reseved from her perilous position. She told her reseuers and others that herself and Mrs. Brace hud been talking together while journeying down the stream; the last of their conversation was when Mrs. Weisel inquired of her companion how she was getting along, the reply was ''God have merey on me!''? This was her last utterance. There was one man who found his house going down stream; he managed to get on the roof and made his voyage in safety, finally making a landing against two sturdy elm trees, and in the morning his eries for assistance soon brought relief. The next dwelling in the path of the flood was that of Jonas C. Wellington. The occupants were Mr. and Mrs. J. C. Wellington, and a grandson named Charley C. Gage, four years old, all of whom were drowned. Several miles below another dwelling, containing one man, two women and five children, was earried away and all drowned. The flood soon subsided, but it will long be remembered, as it carried with it the lives of sixteen human beings. J. C. Burbank & Co. this year established a stage line between Rushford and Winnebago City, via Preston, and an express was added from La Crescent. During this year, when the Southern Minnesota railroad was being surveyed, the people of Preston confidently expected that the extension from Lanesboro would earry it along the south branch of the Loot river and thus through Preston, and several parties engaged in local enterprises to meet this favorable condition of affairs. And Chatfield, whose citizens had done everything possible to secure the building of the road. also expected that their larger branch of the river would be followed, but other views prevailed.

1867. On May 13 a mecting was held at ihe Court House in Preston to see about securing the right of way for the Southern Minnesota railroad, which, it was still supposed, would be bound to run through Preston. Reuben Wells was chairman of the meeting and S. B. Murrel secretary. The matter was placed in the hands of a committee, consisting of A. H. Butler, D. B. Coleman, A. Bergen, W. T. Wilkins, S. B. Murrel, Thomas Quinn, H. A. Billings, Dr. L. Redinond, J. E. Burbank and N. P. Colburn. In May the Southern Minnesota railroad land office was removed to Rushford from Houston, where it had previously been located. A severe frost struck this region on August 30, doing much damage.

1868. The total reported valuation of Fillmore county in 1868 was $3,789,710. <A state teachers' institute was held in Preston in October. Hon. Mark H. Dunnell was the superintendent. The railroad reached Lanesboro in November, and early in December a celebration took place. The dinner, the speeches, the toasts and responses were appropriate for the occasion. The

1869. On February 24 several business houses on the main street in Chatfield were destroyed by fire. Total loss about $4,000. In the fall of this year the Southern Minnesota Railroad Company obtained 32,342 acres of land.

1870. <A fireproof vault was built on the west end of the Court Ilouse for the safe keeping of the records. F. G. Parker had the coniract. Preston people, being disappointed in securing the railroad, made a virtue of necessity and got a depot at the nearest available point on the farm of Mr. Isenhour. On August 26, Peter Halverson, a Norwegian of Amherst township, met with a most serious actident. While drawing a mower the horses took fright and ran away, tearing through the field at a frightful gait, with the mower in full gear. Mr. Halverson attempted to jump off, but in doing so failed to clear one foot from the sickle and it was completely several from the leg.

1871. On February 24 there was a great flood on the Root river. Nearly all the dams above Lanesboro were swept away; on the southern braneh those only at Preston remained, and they were seriously injured. In the spring of this year there was a bitter contest in relation to the payment of the railroad bonds. Fillmore county was considerably excited. A proposition was submitted to the people, and decided in the negative hy a majority, in the state of 12,206 in a total vote of 21,499. On June 30, 1871, five business houses in the village of Chatfield were destroyed by fire.

1872. In January there was a fearful snowstorm and a general blockade, and in the town of Granger there was a heartrending case of the freezing to death of a whole family. It seems that Rev. Mr. Evans, a Welsh minister, was out in the terrible storm with his wife and two children, and when within three-fourths of a mile of his home on his return the team could go no further, and leaving his wife and one child he earried the other, the eldest, home. He then returned for his little one, and leaving his wite wrapped up in some blankets he had brought from home, he started with the ehild but lost his way, and they both perished. The little one at home was found dead, as was also the mother and wife in the road. Levi Engle died May 11, 1872, at the age of fifty-two vears and nine months. Ile was born in Alleghany eounty, Maryland, on September 25, 1817, and when still a young man joined the Methodist Church at Western Port, Md. Soon after he was licensed as an exhorter, which position he nobly filled for two vears, then received local orders and worked for twenty-four years in this ministry. Jonas Conkey died September 15, 1872. He was a native of Bridgeport, Vt., born in 1795. IIe was in Clinion county, New York, while young and up to 1844. He afterwards lived in Illinois, Wisconsin and Iowa. After 1861 he lived in Minnesota. In 1830 he was received into the Presbyterian Chureh at Plattsburg, N. Y. At the organization of the Presbyterian Church in Preston he was constituted a ruling elder, which position he held until his death, at the residence of his son, William P. Conkey.

1873. January 6 Mr. and Mrs. William Carpenter, of Preston, celebrated the twenty-fifth anniversary of their wedding day by a tea party. Julia Seott King died August 20. She was born April 13, 1827, and on May 16, 1860, married Almond King.

1874. In this year a vigilance committee was organized to operate against horse thieves. The knowledge that such an institution existed settled the matter. On June 10 the eitizens of Sumner were horror stricken and excited over the finding of the remains of two human beings in a box in a braneh of the Kedron. Dr. Grover, the coroner cf Rushford, was sent for, but the surniises that there had been a murder most fowl were dispelled when it was found that they were cadavers left in the brook by an enthusiastic medical student to macerate, that he might the more easily secure the skeletons. About the middle of June a party of Seandinavians were crossing the Root river at Newman's ford, on their way to a wedding, when the horses became frightened and unmanageable and ran, violently throwing the occupants of the wagon out in deep water, drowning one of the women and her little babe. On June 20 there were two railroad accidents on the Southern Minnesota road. High water was the cause in both cases, One of them was two miles and a half west of Spring Valley, where the train going west, on crossing a culvert, after the engine and tender had got over, the cars went down and were promiscuously piled up. No one was injured. The other accident was seventeen miles west of this, and happened about the same time, to the train moving east. Here the water was very high, up to the bottom of the rails, so that they appeared all right to the engineer, but the support had heen washed away, and as the ehgine came upon the foundationless rails down it dropped with the tender; Cummings, the fireman, was crushed and instantly killed, while Brown, the engineer, escaped death with broken hones and other contusions. In July, while removing the temporary bridge at the point of the Spring Valley accident, William Nobles was instantly killed by heing struck by a timber that was being hauled out by an engine, and Robert Lossing was also injured. On August 14 Frank Kefas, a son of Henry Kefas, was drowned at Lanesboro. In September a large black bear came within a half mile of Lanesboro. The following figures show the amount of business done in Lanesboro this year: Flour sold,

77,299 barrels; amount paid for wheat, $440,400. Barley bought, 57,000 hushels. Lumber sold, 2,082,200 feet. Disbursements: Flour and wheat trade, #4,000,000, and this at a single point in the county, which will convey an idea of its resources. On Saturday night, November 7, the valuable flouring mill of Valentine & Tew, at Rushford, was destroyed by fire. There was also consumed 9,000 bushels of wheat. The total loss was $20,000.

1875. Mark Hunt died February 10, 1875, at Winona, and his remains were brought to Lanesboro for burial. In January the store of 8. A. Hunt, of Spring Valley, was robbed of about $200 worth of goods. On February 7, there having been an accident by which some freight cars were ditched about a mile and a half east of Lanesboro, a train that had been sent out to assist in transferring the freight met with another accident, by which the caboose Jumped the track and went down a trestle eighteen feet, and although the car was well filled with men and tools, no one was more than slightly injured. Joel S. Sawyer, an early settler, died May 24, 1875, at Chatfield. At Lenora on July 3 the fiftieth anniversary of the marriage of My. and Mrs. D. L. Bryant was commemorated. Seventy-five persons were present. In 1875 there were in Fillmore county 2,989 farms and 276,167 acres of cultivated land. On August 30 much damage was done by flood on the Root river. On July 5 a reunion of the veterans of Company A, Second Regiment Minnesota Volunteer Infantry, took place at Chatfield. W. C. Garrett was called to the chair and John F. Healy was appointed seeretary. The following veterans answered to their names: L. Ober, H. G. Case, S. B. Moon, G. R. Shipton, C. E. Burk, W. R. Shipton, B. Farrington, L. J. D. Place, Sam Farrell, A. C. Case, A. F. Caffin, L. Lovejoy, D. E. Runals, T. E. Kilburn, D. B. Edwards, Simeon Foote, D. D. Farrell, William Miteheil, William Ober, Samuel W. Wellman. August 3 a hailstorm about one and one-half miles wide swept through the county, eulting across Bristol, Forestville and Spring Valley, leaving a bleak scene of devastated crops. Benjamin Sherman died October 11, 1875. Tle was born in Geneva, New York, and was one of the earliest settlers here. November 7 the merchant tailor shop of J. If. Roberts in Chatfield was broken open and robbed of clothes and newly made-up suits to the amount of from $250 to $300.

1876. Mrs. Sarah N. Engle, wife of Walter Engle, of Preston, died February 5, at the age of forty years. Early in March there was a great flood, which kept up several days, and large amounts of property were swept away. A few of the losses will be mentioned: Kelly Bros. & Mosher's lumber yard went- out, and a cooper shop at White & Bryon's mill followed the prevailing fashion. Peter Ifanson's harness shop also joined the procession.

C. L. Colman and John Paul's lumber yards were both eonsiderably damaged. H. A. Billings had a lot of wood that disappeared. The railroad trestle went out. Thompson & Williams' mull was seriously damaged. At Whalan the mill of Williams, Fall & Co. was damaged. At Rushford the new bridge and the Jong hridge accepted the pressing invitation to move on. The woolen mill also sustained considerable damage. The railroad lost bridges all up and down the river, The new bridge at the west vod of the village of Preston went out at about 11 o'eloek on Friday, March 8, It moved down the stream under the first bridge and the people made a rush to the next bridge, the iron one, to see how it would receive the shock, When it struck the structure trembled but nobly stood the onslaught, and the enemy himsel! went to pieces. The headgates of the Conkey flouring mill were carried away and the dam considerably demoralized. The water was up to the window eaps of the first story of Wheeler's woolen mill. As the water rose on the flats there was a lively time among the men, women, children, horses, cows, pigs, chickens and rats. The only time remembered like it was in 1859, when the water rose quite as high. At Lanesboro much damage was done, and at Rushford a rushing business was also done, as indeed happened all along the river. George W. Sawyer died March 29, 1876, at the age of forty-two years. He was born in Watertown, New York. Ife was cashier of the bank in Lanesboro, also insurance and express agent, with a large amount of other business on his hands, which he dispatched with a geniality that made him a general favorite. At Amherst, on the 6th of April, an insane woman, wife of Enger Eriekson, murdered her husband hy chopping him about the head with an axe as he lay in bed. She was sent to the insane asylum. On August 31 there was an explosion of a boiler used with a threshing machine about five miles from Chatfield, on the farm of Chauncy Jones. Mr. Lawton, the engineer, Charles Arnold, the band cutter, and William Bennett were instantly killed and several others were injured. In May, silver began to take the place of fractional eurrency. The reintroduction of silver after about fifteen years of banishment was a matter of curiosity, particularly to the rising generation, a majority of whom, eighteen years of age, could not remember ever having seen a silver quarter or a dime. A thunder storm with hail burst upon the village of Lanesboro on May 20. The hail was said to have been unusually large and copious, the ground being actually eovered with the iey pellets, and the testimony of those who were present is concurrent that the hail stones varied from the size of a filbert to that of a hen's egg. The damage to vegetation was great, but as there was little wind the glass escaped serious breakage. On May 20, 1876, there was a freshet which was particularly severe in Pijot Mound, the rain being the heaviest known for years; roads were washed and fenees swept away. The railroad bridge spanning Rush creek was also washed away. In May some young salmon were placed in the mill pond ai Lanesboro, some of the citizens having made up a pturse for this purpose, and B. A. Man went to Red Wing and brought the fish, whieh were procured of the state fish commissioner. This is believed to be the first deposit of this kind in the waters of Fillmore county. Early in June a military company was formed in Rushford: M. D. Edinger, captain; G. W. Roekwell, first lieutenant, and Joshua Weber, second licutenant. The centennial anniversary of American independence was celebrated in Fillmore county in several places, but at Lanesboro special preparations were made to have the oceasion aceord with the inspirations of the day. Rey. Ezra A. Terwilliger died August 21. He was born in Canada, March 9, 1835. Te received an education at Pictou and Bellville. He first joined the Niagara Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Chureh, and about 1869 came to Minnesota, his first charge being in Jia Creseent, where he remained two years. He then came to Fillmore county, and was in Hamilton, Fillmore, Granger and Lenora, where he died. Mrs. George E. Dexter died August 31, 1876. She came to Preston with other members of the Conkey family when twenty-seven years of age. She was a native of Plattsburg, New York. In February, 1865, she was married to George E. Dexter. August 9 the iron bridge in Lanesboro was finished. The mill of Thompson & Williams at Lanesboro was destroyed by fire on the 29th of September. The loss was $85,000 or $40,000, with an insurance of $27,000. In October the granary ot John Souther, together with the stables, three miles northwest of Lanesboro, were destroyed by fire, the work of an incendiary. Mr. Souther lay sick at the time. In Lanesboro on November 7 Ole Kuudson, who had been at work in Harmony, was found dead on the banks of the river. A eareful inventory of the church property in Fillmore county in this year gave an aggregate of $93,950, divided as follows: Baptist, $2,000; Catholie, $21,100; Congregationalist, $6,800; Episcopal, $1,800; German Reformed, +4,000; Friends, $1,200; Lutheran, $38,750; Methodist, $3,800; Presbyterian, $14.500. This is exclusive of Preston, which had an estimated church valuation of $20,000. Philip Onstine died Mareh 26, 1877, at Lenora, at the ripe age olf seventy-three years. Uncle Philip, as he was ealled, came from Canada to the states in 1812 and located in Pennsylvania, afterward in Ohio, and finally in Minnesota. He was the last of seven brothers. - at Peterson. In this year M. T. Grattan, of Preston, had his stock farm well supplied and it is still kept up. On April 10 a public meeting of the citizens of the county was-held at the Court house in Preston to discuss ''the old bond swindle,'' as it was called in the notice for a meeting. At this meeting the sentiments of the people of the courty, as there represented, were expressed in several resolutions insisting that the constitntion ought not to be violated, and that the proposition of the Legislature to submit the question to a vote of the people at @ special election is ''a reekless violence perpetrated upon our constitution,'' and recommending a vote against the proposition. A proposition was, however, submitted to the people of the State, and an election held on June 24, in relation to the payment of the railroad bonds. The project was defeated by a large majority. Fillmore county voted 178 for the payment and 3,155 against. Some of the towns did not furnish a single vote in the affirmative. An attempt at burglary on June 21 at Fountain was snecessful. The drug store of Case & Hulverson was entered and the safe forced by demolishing the dock with a sledgehammer and punch and $150 taken. On the following night, it is supposed that the same criminal went through the office of White & Beynon, of the Carrolton mills, and breaking the safe lock, seenred $75. At the store of Helly & Distad the next visit was made, but here the cash had been taken yome and a ecard lel't hanging in front of the safc, ''She is wide open - go in boys.'' From pure malice they broke the lock, but of course realized nothing. They were probably two men who had heen seen about, one of them purporting to be a safe agent, who would inquire about the safe, and offering to sell or exchange, and the other was a mendicant with green goggles. Dr. John A. Ross, a well known, esteemed and valuable citizen of Preston, died June 20, 1877, of heart disease. Ile was noted for his kindness and liberality. Iie was honest, plain-spoken, open-handed and just. His funeral rites were attended by the Masonic' and Odd Fellows' fraternities, and Rey. F. 8. Drew officiated as chaplain. He had been a great sufferer for two years or so, but finally died suddenly, having been on the street up to within a few hours of the change. At Lenora, in June, a little son of David Reed was fatally poisoned by tasting some strychnine proenred for poisoning vermin. Two children of Peter Johnson were drowned in June at Lanesboro, near the upper trestle work. On Wednesday, August 8, a most distressing event occurred at the Aouring mill of Dickson & Co. in Chatfield. A young lady, Eva Warriner. while in company with two other young ladies and Fred Wilson, was caught by the hair of her head by a revolving vertical shaft, her scalp completely torn off and her clothing stripped from her body while sbe was rapidly whirled around and round, her feet striking two posts at every revolution, until young Wilson could rin down into the hasement and have the mill stopped. She received every attention that kindness and medical skill could suggest, but died. In August, Dr. D. F. Powell was bitten by a rattlesnake at the Big Spring, two miles from Lanesboro. On August 11, Major Fifield, a well-known eitizen of Preston, was found dead on a road several miles from town, having been dead several days. From appearances he had fallen in a fit while riding along, and getting caught in the spokes of a wheel, his limbs were broken and he was otherwise mangled. Ee was about eighty years of age, and a bachelor who had accumulated considerable property. At Chatfield, on Thursday, August 16, Rev. S. Jones and wife solemnized the semi-centennial anniversary of their marriage. There was an earthquake in southern Minnesota on November 15, whieh was felt in Fillmore county. According to most of the observers the motion was north and south and lasted several seconds. Capt. James C. Braden died at San Antonio, Texas, December 9, 1877, of consumption. He had gone south for the benefit of his health, accompanied by his wife and children. His native place was Ohio, and he was forty-two years of age at the tine of his death. Im 1854 he came to this county. At the breaking out of the war of 1861, he went to the front as adjutant of the Tenth Minnesota Volunteer Infantry, and was at one time detailed as assistant provost marshal of the Missouri department. On returning from the field he was elected clerk of the court, and afterward was appointed receiver of the land office at Litchfield, and subsequently register, which position he held at the time of his death. At one time he was the Grand Master of Masons in this state. The winter of 1877 was so mild that the wild geese were deceived and actually passed over the county gomg north in January. James Crowley died at the age of fifty-five years on December 30, 1877, at Lanesboro. He was one of the pioneers of the county. In ihe fall of this vear a new and exasperating swindle broke ont in Fillmore county, and many farmers were cheated before they could be warned. The farmers would receive a visit from 4 man, well dressed and apparently a gentleman who was in quest of a farm, and wanted to buy out the farmer. The farmer was willing to sell for a certain sum; the man would agree to take it, in case a survey would prove everything all correct, and would offer to advange 45 to pay for the survey, at the same tine offering the money. This would convince the farmer that the man's intentions were all right, and he would immediately ehange the $20 bill which the stranger invariably offered, and keeping $5, give him $15 in money. When he came to use his $20 bill to pay for the survey, he found it to be counterfeit. By this time the stranger had sought new pastures, and appeared no more on the scene. These swindlers were finally cireumvented, by a warning which was issued to farmers, and subsided, bui not until after many farmers were duped.

1878. On January 11, about thirty persons met to celebrate the twenty-fifth anniversary of the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. 8. A. Hunt, of Spring Valley. Mrs. Benjamin Dobel, at the age of seventy years, passed away March 19, 1878. She was an English woman, Coming to this country in 1830. She was a member of the Congregational Chureh, of which her husband was a deacon. Gilbert B. O. Barrett was born in Middleton, Vt., on February 19, 1817, and died on June §, 1878. With his family he located in Towa while it was a territory, and in 1853 came to Forrestville. In 1866, with part of his family he went to Helena, Mont. In 1871, he moved on to Walla Walla, Washington territory. Ife had recently returned to this county and died at Carmona. He was a good man and was sincerely mourned. A little son of Charles Johnson, of Lanesboro, lost his Jeg by the cars on June 8. On Sunday, June 9, Mr. and Mrs. John Hayes were at the Catholie Church in Lanesboro, when Mrs. Hayes was taken suddenly ill, and on being taken to the American House, expired. Mrs. Niles Carpenter, of Rushford, on August 21, was given a teaspoonful of stroug sclution of strychnine instead of a harmless solution, by a substitution of the wrong bottle, and she expired almost instantly. At Fountain, on October 23, three tramps assaulted, beat and robbed ©. H. Ichealson, rifled his pockets of $45 and left Lim for dead in his saloon, where he was found the next morning. The scoundrels also stole some horses in the neighborhood and then decamped. They were afterward captured. On Deeember 20, White, Nash & Co.'s mill, at Lanesboro, was burned. The property was owned by Allen F. Nash and Seymour Gilbert, Mr. White being interested in operating the mill. The loss was $30,000 with an insurance of $16,000. My. and Mrs. W. H. Roberts celebrated their silver wedding on December 21 at their residence in Lanesboro. Mrs. W. W. Fife died May 22, 1878. She was the daughter of Simeon Foote. Her name was Ann Eliza, and her birth was in Crawford eounty, Ohio, on September 14, 1887. She was imarried in 1859, having with her parents, in 1855, moved from Mount Carroll, U1, to Chatfield. After her marriage she lived in Preston up to the time of her death. Capt. J. H. MeKenny, who was one of the most enterprising men among the early settlers, died in May, 1878, at Chatfield, having arrived at the age of sixty-five years. He was born in Chambersburg, Pa., on October 24, 1813. He learned the printing business in the olfice of the ''Staunton Spectator,' and afterward worked in Cineinnati and in Kentueky. In November, 1834, in St. Louis, he was married to Miss went to Iowa, and in connection with James Clark, who was afterward governor of the state, got out the first number of the ''Iowa Gazette.'? In 1837, he was married to Mary A. Sleeth. In October, 1842, he was elected sheriff of Des Moines county, Iowa. He was in the Mexican war as a quartermaster and commissary, and soon after the war was detailed with his company to remove the Winnebagoes to their new homes in the northern part of Minnesota. In 1848, he came to Minnesota to accept an appointment by H. M, Rice in the American Fur Company at Crow Wing. In 1849 was appointed sutler at Fort Gaines, now Fort Ripley, which position he resigned in 1851, and returned to Iowa, where he again secured an interest in the ''Gazette.'' He was, however, soon appointed receiver of the land office for southern Minnesota, which was lovated in Brownsville, in the spring of 1854. In June, 1856, the land office was removed to Chatfield and his home was thus transferred. In 1861, the captain and his brother bought the 'Chattield Demoerat.'' He run for auditor in 1872, on the state Demoeratie ticket, which was defeated. In 1864, was a candidate for state senator. He was elected justice of the peace and held that position for some time. He was a Mason well up in the degrees and had held office in the grand bodies of that order. He was a large hearted man, devoted to his friends and the village of his adoption. A. J. Young came from Pennsylvania in 1855, and pre-empted the place now owned by John Real. Ile died very suddenly the last of July, 1878. Ole G. Laughan passed away on October 26, 1878. He was at the head of the drug firm of Laugan & Krogstad, at Lanesboro. Mrs. Sarah Barton lived in the vieinity of Rushford for sixteen years and died November 20, 1878, at the age of seventy-six years.

1879. Rey. Steven Jones died at his home in Chatfield, Jannary 29, 1879, at the age of seventy-two years. He was born m Ohio, January 3, 1807. In 1824 he was married to Isabel Robinson, afterward removed to Indiana, to Wiseonsin in 1839, and to Chatfield in 1856. For nearly fifty years he was a minister of the gospel, being connected with the Protestant Methodist denomination. On January 9, the alarm of fire was sounded in the village of Spring Valley, and earried with it dire destruction. The following business houses were burned: C. Evan's grocery and restaurant, loss on building and goods $2,500; Chas. Hermes' shoe store, loss on building and goods $400; John Masterbrook's billiard hall, loss $700; H. 8. Porter's harness shop, loss $200. On August 29, M. T. Jones, editor of the ''Spring Valley Vidette,' was thrown from the buggy while on the way from Wykoff to Spring Valley and killed almost instantly. In December a hand of Winnebago Indians were in Lanesboro. They gét up an exhibition under the patronage of Dr. Powell and realized almost $50.

An old lady, Baakle Blerkholtz, was burned {o death in February, in a small house in which she lived, in Sumner. She was eightytwo vears of age. The house was also consumed. J. B. Frazer, a well known citizen of Preston, died on April 9. He came to Preston in 1856, and pre-empted a place at what was afterward ealled Frazer's point. Ile soon removed to the village and went into the hotel business with S. B. Murrell. Te afterward kept a grocery and provision store, and finally engaged in general trade. The twenty-fifth anniversary of the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. W. H. Cusiek was celebrated in Pilot Mound, at iheir residence, on June 15, 1879. The safe belonging to Holmes, Desmond & Co., of Rushford, was blown open in August and robbed of $55. The wagon factory at Rushford was completely destroyed by fire September 7. The loss was $30,000, with an insurance of but $8,000. Rush Creek, on September 10, swelled beyond its capacity, and dams and bridges were destroyed. In tlie fall of this year S. H. Dexter published a bird's-eye view of Rushford, which gave a good idea of the village at that time.

1880. On January 18, 1880, the twenty-fifth anniversary of the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. O. Iverson was celebrated at their residence in Lanesboro. Thomas Raymond died March 4, 1880. He came to Rushford in 1866. On Mareh 12, 1880, a Bee-Keepers' Association for the county was organized at Preston. Among the officers and members were L. M. Trexler, M. V. Facey, E. T. Nelson and John Carnegie. On May 5 a severe hailstorm passed over the eastern part of the town of Preble, leaving a scene of devastation in its track. The damage to the farmers was most depressing. Windows were broken in almost every house, cattle stricken down by the icy pellets, which were reported to be in some specimens two inches in diameter. J. L. Jahr resided in this county for twenty-eight years previous to his death. He had represented his district in the legislature of the state. He died May 28, 1880, at the age of forty-eight years. He resided in Norway townslup. <A rare oceurrence was that of a party at the residence of Mr. and Mrs. William Boles, in Fountain, on November 15, 1880, on ihe occasion of the recurrence of the sixtieth anniversary of their wedding.

1881. Mrs. Harriet FE. Butler passed away on October 31. 1881, at the age of sixty-two years. Harriet E. Bean was born on July 7, 1819, in Ohio. On May 12, 1842, was married in Pennsylvania to A. H. Butler, who came with his wife to Preston about the year 1863. He was at one time county treasurer, and died seven or eight years before his wife. A, J. Stevens was born in Needhain, Mass., on June 13, 1833. At the age of twenty-one he came to Wisconsin and was connected with the lumber busi- -ness in La Crosse county. In 1867, came to Rushford, and in

1870, began the manufacture of wagous. He was at one time for four years treasurer of the eounty, and then returned and organized the Rushford Wagon & Carriage Company, which did a very. large business. In September, 1880, the works were burned, entailing a heavy loss. He then went to Winona, and the business men there co-operated with him in building up a wagon company. Mr. Stevens died April 27, 1881, ut Winona. George C. Harding, formerly editor of the ''Lanesboro Journal,'' died at Indianapolis, May 7, 1881. At the time of his death he was fiftyone years of age. He commenced his editorial eareer on the 'Prairie Beacon,'' of Paris, Ill., and was in succession special correspondent of the ''Cineinnati Commercial,'? editor of the "Tine Delta,'? New Orleans; editor of the ''Telegraph,'' Houston, Texas, where he was at the commencement of the war. He was editor of the ''Coles County (Il.) Ledger,'' and either editor or proprietor of the ''Evening Journal,'' ''Mirror,'' **Herald,'' and the ''Review,'' of Indianapolis. He purchased the ''Lanesboro Journal'? in Mareh, 1880, and went there in the hope of finding rest. But his active brain required more scope, and after a few months' sojourn in Lanesboro, he returned to Indianapolis, and invested in a new publication, the ''Saturday Review,''? which, under his guidance, was rapidly attaining a front rank with the oldest publications in the state, when he died. On September 17, as Mrs. Edward Lynch, her son Edward, and Mrs. Rotehford, who lived about two miles northwest of Lanesboro, were coming down the road leading around the side of the bluff, one of the horses - a young colt - became frightened at some object in the road, and commenced backing. Edward, perceiving the danger of being east over the side of the road, jumped from the buggy and endeavored to get the team by the bridles, but before he accomplished lis object the horses sprang to one side, and together with the vehicle and two ladies, went rolling down the steep declivity. About two-thirds of the way to the bottom of the hill the horses and front portion of the hugey came in contact with a tree, which brought thei to a halt, the hind wheels dashing over stones and shrubs, finally bringing up in the river. In the meantime the two women had been tossed, bruised and torn, and were found at the bottom of the cliff bleeding but not insensible. They were immediately conveyed to David MeGannon's house, where medical aid was summoned, the wounds dressed, and the unfortunates inade as comfortable as possible. On September 16, 1881, at Spring Valley, the eelebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the marriage of Orpheus and. Fannie Wallace was held. None were seated at the table but could look back upon at least fifty years, most of them being able 'to eount back and review the incidents of sixty-five and seventy years ago. Below is given ihe names and ages of the guests: O. Wallace, 80 years; Mrs. Fannie Wallace, 79 years; Mrs. Eliza Allen, 76 years; Mrs. Eliza Lee, 73 years; Mrs. Theodosia Howe, 80 years; Mrs. Martha Spaulding, 71 years; Mrs. R. C. Brown, 64 years; Mrs. James Pettit, 76 years; Luke Hague, 73 years; Elisha Rose, 70 years; John Kleckler, 57 years; Rev. J. B. Fairbank, 50 years. According to Auditor Hard's books, there were 104 wolves captured in Fillmore county during the month of April, in the year 1881, for which a sum total of #728 was paid as bounty, bounty being $7 for every wolf,