Waseca County, Minnesota - Chapter 63, 1905

Chapter 63

COUNTY FAIR GROUNDS - PROCEEDINGS OF COUNTY BOARD - CLAGHORN DEFALCATION - A DYNAMITE EXPLOSION - ELECTION RESULTS - DIED: HON. WARREN SMITH, PETER BURNS, MRS. A. C. SMITH, BYRON SMITH, MRS MYRICK, JOHN REMUND.

The year 1894 opened clear, bright, and. cold. The county board a.ssembled on Jan. 5. Mr. Chase was re-elected chairman - the other members present being JMessrs. Sunde, Peter.son, Lewer, and Bluhm. Llessrs. John IMoonan, 8. Leslie, JM. Sheeran, and 0. Powell, of the Waseca County Agricultural Society, presented the resolution of the society asking for the purcha.se of fair groiinds, and also addressed the board urging the purchase of the land.

The committee of the board appointed to cdofer -^vith the owners of the fair grounds reported that the land could be purchased at $100 per acre for twenty-five acres. The report was accepted and the committee discharged.

Resolved, That the county comniissioners of the county of Waseca, Minnesota, purchase twenty-five acres ot land lying just east ot Second street, and north of Clear Lake road, in the southwest quarter ot section 8, township 107, range 22, in the city of Waseca, the same being lands heretofore used by the Waseca County Agricultural, Jlechanical, and Industrial society for county fair grounds, and other lands in the vicinity thereof as and for use as a county fair ground.

Resolved, That the board of county commissioners of Waseca county shall not be called upon or required to make any improvements or repairs on the premises as long as the same remain in the possession of the society aforesaid.

The author deems it unfortunate that the people of this county, and especially the farmers, have allowed the fair grounds to lapse into disusage during the past few years, i\Iay we not hope ' that very soon again the people will take up the subject and rejuvenate the agricultural society of the county.

On ]\Iay 26, 1S94, $100 was voted the town of Iosco for a hricTsie between sections 17 and 18 : $20for repair of bridge sections 18 and 19 ; $85 town of Alton for repair of Alma City bridge ; also $100 town of Janesville for bridge sections 27 and 34.

"To town of Nevi' Richland, $200 to aid in building a new bridge on the river, between sections 24 and 25, and $50 for road grading on sections 23 and 26; to town of Byron, $90 for a bridge over a creek on sections 5 and 8, and $10 for road grading on sections 4 and 9 ; to town of Otisco, $50 to aid in rebuilding the Walstrom bridge on section 33. $2.5 for repairs on the Holz bridge on section 7, and $25 for repairing the Hanson bridge on section 35; to town of Freedom, $125 to aid in rebuilding bridge on Bull Run at section 18; to town of Woodville, $25 for grading road on section 19, $50 for grading road on sections 17 and 2S, $20 for grading road on sections 5 and C, and $30 for grading road between section 6 of Woodville and section 1 of St. Mary; to town of Iosco, $75 to aid in grading road on sections 8, 10, 11, and 26.

~To town of Alton, $50 for repairing Alma City bridge and $15 for grading road between sections 26 and 35 of said town; to town of Wilton, $125 for replanking the Wilton bridge, $25 for repairing St. Mary bridge, on section 4 of said town, and $25 as aid in building bridge on section 35, of said town; to town of Blooming Grove, $75 for grading road between sections 2 and 11, and $50 for grading road between sections 8 and 17 of said town; to town of Otisco, $215 as aid in building the Holbrook bridge, on section 31, of said town; to town of Freedom, $25 as aid in building bridge across Bull Run, on section 18, of said town; to town of St. Mary, $35 for grading road between sections 24 and 25, $40 for grading road between sections 1 and 2, $25 for grading road between sections 12 and 13, and $20 for grading road between sections 20 and 29, of said town.

To town of Wilton, |20 additional for replanking the Wilton bridge; Blooming Grove, $50 for a bridge on section 25, of said town; Woodville, $20 for grading road on sections 18 and 19, of said town; Janesville, $50 for grading road on section 20, of said town; New Richland, $200 for a bridge on LeSueur river, section 10, of said town.

J. L. Claghorn'S Defalcation

J. L. Claghorn, who for many years had been a prominent citizen of AVaseca in church, society and local politics, failed in business about the first of February, 1894. On the 14th of that month he was arrested on a charge of embezzling $450 belonging to the Hartford Fire Insurance company. This came as a thunderclap of surprise to the citizens of the county. He had been trusted l),v almost everybody. Farmers, widows, school teachers, servants, money loaners in the East - all had entrusted him with their funds to handle and loan as he saw fit. As soon as he was arrested, it was discovered that the funds were all missing. For years he had been spending more than his income, and for a long time he had been "robbing Peter to pay Paul" - borrowing from one friend to pay another. He had stood high in the Congregational church, was prominent as an Odd Fellow and a Alason, and had served a number of years as alderman of the "Puritan ward" of Waseca. He and his wife had both been great temperance workers and were prominent in every good work. That a man can thus serve Good and Evil at one and the same time is one of the mysteries of this mysterious universe. At the ]\rareh term of the district court he was indicted for the crime of embezzlement - larceny - finally pleaded guilty and was sentenced to one year at hard labor in the Stillwater penitentiary. He served his time and as soon as released moved to the state of Washington. His life emphasized the doctrine - "lYust no man in business matters without security in some form."

Board Of Trade

In the latter part of the winter of 1893-4, the business men of Waseca organized a "Board of Trade." Articles of incorporation were adopted May 11, 1894, and duly published and filed. The oi'ganization ran well for a few months, but V(>ry soon men would come in very late, others not at all, and at the end of the

A Dynamite Explosion

The Herald of August 3 contained the following : "Dynamite! The most fiendish outrage ever perpetrated in Waseca tooli place on the evening o( July 30, 1894, about 10:25 o'clock. The Grant House 'bus had just made the 9:50 M. & St. L. train and been returned to the barn. The horses stood on the west side of the barn, and the 'bus on the east. A dynamite bomb was evidently placed in the bottom of the 'bus with a fuse attached which reached to the door. Within fifteen minutes after the team had been put into the barn there came an explosion which tore the 'bus into fragments and made the barn look as though a cyclone had struck it. The south end and the southeast corner were torn all in pieces, the north door was thrown out into the street, the upper floor was badly demolished, and the roof badly broken. Strange to say, the horses were not badly injured. Evidently they were knocked down by the concussion, for when found they had changed sides, one evidently having fallen over the other. The destruction was sudden and complete. So far as is publicly known, at least, there is no clue to the perpetrator."

The Election Results Deaths Op The Year

The first old settler called to the Great Beyond, this veHr, was lion. Warren Smith, beloved by all our people. He died of stomach trouble, after a long illness, IMarch 1, 1894, in his seventy-third year. A sketch of his life appears in the biographical department of this M^ork.

]\lr. Peter Burns, of Wilton, one of the early and prominent settlers of this county, died on Wednesday evening, ^lay 23, 1894. The Herald of that date said :

"Mr. Burns was bom in Ireland in 1837, and came to America in 1851, stopping first in the state of Ohio. From that state he came to Minnesota in 1856 and settled in this county. In 1862 he was married to Miss Anna Howlan and eight children have been born to them. By industry, economy, and good management they secured a competency, and he leaves his family in comfortable circumstances. He was a lover of good stock, and kept some very fine cattle and horses. He was a man of much energy, and a good citizen. He was one of the pioneers that helped to make this county what it is, and cheerfully endured the hardships incident to frontier life. He died of inflammation of the bladder."

Jlrs. A. (_' Smith, of Woodville, died Friday morning, June 29. 1894, after a brief illness. Her maiden name was Arminda C. Fuller, and she was l)orn in Caynga county, N. Y., in 1832. When she was but a little gii-1, hei- parents moved to Cataraugus county. Western New York, and when she was twelve years old, with quite a number of emigrants from that and ad.joining counties, they took boat and came up the great lakes to Wisconsin, settling at ^lagnolia. Here slie lived with her parents till about her eighteenth year, when she began the life of a teacher, and when she was t\venty years old, while still engaged in teaching, she was married to Alfred C. Smith, and moved soon after to Iowa, where they remained till the sjn-ing of 1855 when they moved, with four other families, to Waseca county, ;Minn., arriving June 20 of the same yeai-. She resided here till the time of her death. Slie left a family of eight daughters and three sons to mourn the departure of gooil mothei'.

Paul Billiard "s hotel in Wasecn look fire on the night of ^lai'ch 22, 1S!I4. The fire was soon put under control but not until one of the firemen, Byr(Mi Smith, was so in.iured that he died the next day. He belonged to the hook and bidder company and. while woi'king to subdue the fii'(>, sustained a fracture' of the skull from a falliiig (diimney. He died the next morning, mourn- ed by the whole city. Byron had been a lifelong citizen of the county and city. He left a wife and one child, who were dependent upon hi.s dail>- toil for a livelihood His sad death cast a gloom over the whole community.

Mrs. y. W. ilyrick, daughter of Mr. Silas Grover, deceased, - both of these were Wisconsin and Minnesota pioneers, - passed to her final rest Oct. 22, 1894. Mr. and Mrs. Myrick were very early settlers at ilinnesota Lake and opened the first hotel there. They came to Waseca at an early day in its history and opened a millinery store. She had no children of her own, but was survived by her aged husband and many relatives.

;Mr. John Remund died Nov. 26, near Wilmot, S. D., aged sixtyfour years. He was a native of Switzerland and came to Waseca county in 1856, where he remained until 1882, when he and his family removed to his farm two miles east of Wilmot. A Wilmot paper says: "Deceased was accounted one of the most careful and successful of men that ever did business in Wilmot. During his residence here he had also been engaged in farming and had always been regarded as a prompt and square man by all with whom he dealt. He was married in Switzerland in 1855 to Miss ^lary ^Minder who survived him. They were the parents of ten children, six boys and four girls, seven of whom are now living. His sons are Fred, John, Sam, Will, and Julius, and his daughters are ]\Irs. Louis Yonker, of this town, and Mrs, H. W. Bluhm, of Vivian, jMinn. He was a brother of ]\Iessrs, Chris., Sam., and Albert Remund, of Blooming Grove.

The Weather

In striking contrast with the year before, warm, pleasant weather was the rule all the fall and continued until after the holidays. The year had been a favorable one in the line of farm productions, and, aside from the financial craze that had paralyzed the business of the counti-y, the people of this county were as prosperous as usual. The depression of prices had caused a scarcity of money, but so far as the real necessities and comforts go our people were well provided for.

Capter Lxiv, 1895

PROCEEDINGS OF COUNTY BOARD - THE NEW COURT HOUSECROPS AND WEATHER- DIED: MRS. JOHN BROWN, WILLIAM TAYLOR, G. GRAMS, J. R. DAVIDSON, LOUIS W. KRASSIN, ASA FRANCIS, PETER McELROY, JEROME MADDEN.

The annual meeting of the county board came on the 8th day of January this year. Hon. P. C. Baik^y was elected chairman of the board. The other members of the board were : J. O. Sunde, H. F. Lewer, H. Bwert, and H. W. Bluhm. Nothing more than the ordinary routine of work was transacted at this meeting.

At the meeting of ftlay 20, the following appropriations were made from the road and bridge fund : Otisco, $100 for a new bridge on LeSueur river, section 35 ; $40 for replacing the Anderson bridge on section 34; $50 for grading road between sections 18 and 19; $25 for ditching for the road across Bauman slough on section 5; New Richland, $200 for a new bridge on LeSueur river between sections 2, New Richland, and 35, Otisco ; Byron, $30 for replanking and repairing Boot Creek bridge between sections 13 and 24 ; Wilton, $115 for building two new bridges on the line between St. Mary and Wilton, between sections 6 in Wilton and 31 in St. Mary, and sections 5 in Wilton and 32 in St. IMary: Iosco, $100 for grading road between sections 7 and 18, and on section 14; St. Mary, $35 for grading road on section 16, and $35 for grading road between, sections 13 and 14 ; Woodville, $70 for grading road between sections 21 and 22 ; Vivian, $30 for grading road on section 28; $50 for grading road between sections 11 and 14.

appropriated to Blooming Grove, of which $50 was for grading road between sections 1 and 2, and $50 for grading between sections 11 and 12 ; $35 was appropriated to Vivian for a new bridge on section 10 ; $30 was appropriated to St. Mary for a stone culvert on the Phelps road between sections 10 and 15.

At the meeting September 3, 1895, appropriations were made as follows: to town of New Richland, $25 for a bridge on LeSueur river between sections 14 and 15, $60 for two bridges between sections 21 and 28, and $40 for grading road between sections 16 and 17, New Richland ; to town of Vivian, $50 for replanking the Cobb river bridge between sections 31 and 32, of said town; to town of Woodville, $50 for grading road on section 16 of said town; to town of Alton, $50 for grading road on west side of section 6, and $75 for a stone culvert on Janesville and Alma City road on section 32 of said town; to town of Iosco, $75 for grading ilcWaide hill.

October 15, the following appropriations were made : to town of Janesville, $150 to aid in rebuilding old town bridge over outlet of Lake Elysian ; to town of Otisco, $50 for aid in rebuilding the Ivers bridge on section 31.

The proposition to build a new court house had been discussed considerably for more than a year, and at the meeting of the board Dee. 9, 1895, a petition containing over one hundred signatures of voters and freeholders was presented asking for the erection of a new courthouse, and that a special election be appointed for the purpose of raising funds, not exceeding fifty thousand dollars, for the erection of the same. The petition was taken under consideration and the next morning action was taken thereon by the board as follows :

"Whereas, a petition has heen heretofore duly filed with the auditor in and of the county of Waseca, Minnesota, signed by more than one hundred legal voters and freeholders of said county, addressed to the board of county commissioners of said county, setting forth that it is the desire of such petitioners that said county shall erect and construct a courthouse in the city of Waseca, in the coutity of Waseca and state of Minnesota, the said city of Waseca being the county seat of said Waseca county, and that the amount of money to be raised and expended in the erection and furnishing of said courthouse shall be and not exceed the sum of fifty thousand dollars; and said petitioners thereby pray that the proposition expressed in their petition be submitted to the

"Whereas, upon the presentation of said petition, it becomes the duty, imposed by law on said board of county commissioners, to cause the proposition therein expressed to be submitted to the legal voters of said county as therein prayed for,

"Now, therefore, it is resolved by the board of county commissioners of said Waseca county, that a special election be held in said county on the 10th day of March, A. D. 1896, between the hours of 9 o'clock a. m. and 5 o'clock p. m., on said day, for the purpose of submitting to the legal voters of said county the proposition expressed in said petition."

Crops And Weather

The year was blessed with as fine weather as was ever known in the county, and the crops were magnificent. The wheat yiekl was more than the average, and the quality was number one, but the price was the lowest ever known in the history of ]\Iinnesota. On Dec. 27, 18(15, No. 1 wlieat sold at H cents. The highest price paid during the month was 47 cents for No. 1. The fall weather Avas very fine, Indian summer continuing until Nov. 18, when there was quite a snow storm, followed by colder weather. The year, as a whole, was free from excitement in this count.y.

Savings And Loan Association

Aftei" considerable discussion through the local papers, a savings and loan, or building, association was organized April 26. 1S05. Its first directors were Dr. D. S. Cunmiings, D. ]\IcLoughlin, E. A. AVhite, E. C. Trowbridge, Dr. P. A. SwartAvood, W. E. Srntt. S. SweiisDu, A. D. Goodman and James E. Child. The officers were Dr. F. A. Swartwood, president; E. C. Trowbridge, vicepresident; A. D. Goodman, treasurer; and Wm. A. Swift, secretary. The association proved to lie of great benefit to the people of the city, and is still doing a good business.

Called Home In 1895

^Irs. John Brown, of Was(>ea, who died Feb. 21, was born at Point's Pass, county of Doavu, Ireland, in 1S12. She was married to John Brown in 1830, and soon afterwards they came to America and settled in the state of New Yorlc, where thev remained until about 1836, when they came as far west as Walworth county in the then territory of Wisconsin. They remained there until .187("), when they came to Waseca county. Mrs. Brown was the mother of eleven children, four of whom survive her. Her husband died some five years before.

^Ir. Peter ]MeBlroy, roadmaster of the entire ]\1. & St. L. railway system, died at his home in Waseca, May 17, 1895, of stomach trouble, at>-ed about sixty-eight years. He came to this country from Ireland when a boy, and, for many years, lived in IMontreal. He had been a resident of Minnesota for about fourteen years.

ilr. Wm. Taylor, one of the early settlers of Blooming Grove, died in Waseca, ]May 17, 1895. On Saturday morning he was in his usual health. In the afternoon he was taken with pneumonia from which he never got better. He was born in Rothwell, England, Nov. 17, 1819. He was married and came to America in 18J:1 : returned to England in 181:3, and again came to America in 1846, settling in New Orleans. In 1850 he moved to Missouri, going thence to Illinois in a short time, where he lived until 1857, when he came with his family to Waseca county and bought a farm in Blooming (irove. Some years prior to his death he sold his farm and became a resident of Waseca. Seven sons survive him.

"Last week was one of sadness for many of our people. First came the death of Mr. Peter McElroy, well known and highly respected, and next Mr. Wm. Taylor, a long time settler whose friends were numerous, and, finally, Mr. J. R. Davison, one of the early and prominent settlers of the state and county. Mr. Davison had started on foot to attend Mr. Taylor's funeral, Friday afternoon, when, in crossing the railroad track, near Mr. Wyman's place, he was struck by an engine. This was about 2 o'clock p. m., and, although the injuries appeared to be slight, he never recovered, dying about 6 o'clock the same evening, at the residence of Mr. S. F. Wyman, his son-in-law, of this city. Mr. Davison was an intelligent, useful citizen, and highly esteemed for his many good qualities. He was born in Nova Scotia in 1810, and was married to Miss Eunice Jenks in 1833. In 1848 he left the land of his nativity and moved to Maine, but having started westward he went to the new state of Indiana in 1850. That locality not proving a healthful one, he emigrated to Minnesota, leaving a newly-made grave in each ot these temporary homes. He settled near Morrlstown in 1856; but eight years later crossed the county line and built the "Traveler's Home" in Blooming

Grove. He was well known to the traveling public till the infirmities of age came on. He moved with his wife in 1884 to Waseca to spend the remaining days in the home of their daughter, Mrs. Wyman. His wife died in 1885. One son and four daughters are still living to treasure his memory."

About the first of November, 1895, Louis W. Krassin died at Minneapolis of strangulated hernia. He was one of the early settlers of Waseca county. At the breaking out of the Sioux Indian massacre, he enlisted as a member of Capt. Austin's company of mounted rangers and participated in the whole of the Indian campaign. He was in.iured while in the service and never fully recovered - finally dying of it. He left a large family of young men and women surviving him. At the time of his death he resided at ^[ontevideo.

^\i-. Asa Franeis, better known as "Doc" Francis, one of the early settlers of ^Minnesota and of this eoiinty, was born ilay 6, 18(J(), at (ioslien, t'onn. At nine years of age he left his home and moved to central New Yoi-k, and cared for himself ever after. At the age of seventeen, he drove a wagon and peddled tinware in New York State, continuing this until 1835, when he settled on a stock farm in tlie Black River cmuitry, where he remained until the spring of 1856, when he moved to the territory of ]Miunesota. He was married in 1828 to ]\Iiss Eliza Jones in New York. Three children were born, two of whom died in infancy - the youngest, a son, JMarshall, lost his life in the War of the Rebellion in 1863. Mr. Francis' wife died in 1846. He married Electra Post in 1847, and she died in 1851 in New York, Hon. Orin W. Francis being the only child of this marriage. In 1852 he married Hannah Bailey in New York State, two children lieing born, one dying in infancy, the other, Lyman E.. now deceased, being remembered as a prominent lawyer at Ilillsboro. N. D. Dr. Francis first settled in Rice county, in this state, in 1856, and two or three years after came to Waseca county, taking a farm in Byron, where he resided until 1879, when he removed to North Dakota and took a homestead in Cass county, where he resided until 1886. That year he and his M'ife removed to Fargo, where they made their home until the time of his death. It appears that about a year prior to his death he had the grippe from which he never fully recovei-ed. He was up ajid about, hoM'ever, until the Tuesday Ix^fore his death, which occurred December 2, 1895, at the age of ninety-five years and six months, less four days. His wife survived hira, at the age of eighty years, having been his companion for some forty-three years.

ilr. Charles Domy, of Woodville, another old settler, about ninety years of age, passed over the river Jordan, Dec. 17, 1895, honored and respected by all his accjuaintauces. He vs^as of French parentage and was a native of Canada.