Stella Hartford ~ Oelwein, Fayette County, Iowa
New Era
Humeston, Wayne, Iowa
March 9, 1898
THE NEWS IN IOWA
- Miss Mattie Mumford, of Cedar Rapids, attempted to commit suicide
by taking a large quantity of morphine. She will probably recover. No cause
known.
- Harry Lathrop, of Cedar Rapids, while cleaning a revolver
accidentally discharged it, the ball striking his mother in the thigh. The
wound is painful but not dangerous.
- Charles Gerber, a refined and educated German gentleman, is in
jail at Council Bluffs charged with obtaining money on worthless drafts. He
has, it is alleged, secured cash in small amounts from many tradesmen in
several western towns. He says his home is in Brooklyn, N.Y., and that he is
connected with the firm of Gerber & Co. Gerber is 62 years old.
- A relative of Frank Novak, of Walford, who was sentenced to
Anamosa for murder and arson, has been faithfully attempting to get bail,
but in vain. Novak must inhabit a cell until the October court passes upon
the motion for a new trial. The prisoner has lost all hope and may not be
able to stand the strain of procrastination in the courts.
- While in school at Chariton a few days ago, Miss Lulu Welch met
with a painful and serious accident. She and another pupil were at the board
doing sums and Lulu had a pencil in her mouth. Somehow her companion struck
her and the pencil ran through her mouth, coming out right under the left
ear. The wound is painful, but the doctors say if lock jaw does not set in
she will get along all right, though they are doubtful and it may cause her
death.
- A fearful accident, which may prove fatal, occurred at Dayton. The
pretty 4-year-old daughter of Judson LeValley was playing in the yard, where
her uncle, Will LeValley, was splitting wood, when through some
unaccountable accident she fell in the way and was severely injured. The axe
cut a long gash in the side of the head and fractured the skull. The young
man is a deaf mute, and has poor eye-sight. The chances for the child's
recovery are very meager.
- A.N. Hull, one of the prominent citizens of Selma, near Ottumwa,
and one of southern Iowa's wealthiest men, met a horrible death in the
flouring mill which he owned. His coat accidentally caught on the main shaft
of the fly wheel, and he was whirled around at a frightful pace. All his
ribs were broken, both legs were fractured in two or three places, his back
and neck were broken, and his right arm was torn off at the shoulder. He
held large property interests. He was 75 years old.
- At Oelwein a few days ago Joe Barnes, a 13-year-old boy, became
angry at a domestic named Stella Hartford in his mother's employ, and,
grabbing up a sharp quarter-inch chisel, he made an assault on her, driving
the chisel with all his strength. The blow struck the girl just below the
collar bone in the right side, and, passing between the collar bone and the
first rib, was driven in the depth of four or five inches, penetrating the
walls of the chest, severing a branch of the auxiliary artery, from which
she bled until she became unconscious. The right lung was punctured. She is
in a very critical condition.
- The dead body of a woman was found at the edge of the river, about
six miles south of Red Oak. A young man walking along the south branch
railroad track found a bundle of woman's clothing near the track, and this
led to the discovery of the corpse. The body was at the foot of a steep bank
about six feet high and was in a reclining position, with one foot on the
ice. Tracks made by a man led to the body and showed that the man had walked
backward from it. About half a mile nearer Red Oak, by the side of the
railroad track, another bundle of the woman's clothing was found. The woman
was recognized as having been seen at the depot at Red Oak on the 28th, and
it was afterwards learned that she was Mrs. Clara N. Gray, daughter of E.A.
Kelley, of Farragut.
- The Mahaska county grand jury has caused a great sensation by
bringing in twenty-one indictments and they are still at work under the
direction of George Seevers, who was appointed as county attorney, vice
James Carroll. A number of saloon keepers are indicted for selling contrary
to law and some of the most prominent druggists of Oskaloosa indicted for
violating the liquor law. Considerable feeling exists and trouble is
anticipated. The indictments thus far made public are: Jim and Bill Jackson
and Dave Yancey, murderous assault; Edward Sliter, on two accounts, rape and
incest; Joe Van Vliet, assault with intent to do great bodily injury; H.M.
Van Vliet, Ned O'Brien, Chas. Deadel, J.H. Pickett, C.C. Pike and Elrick
Drug Co. for nuisances; Solomon Smith, manslaughter.
Posted at this site with Cathy's permission
Cathy Joynt Labath
Iowa Old Press
http://www.IowaOldPress.com/http://www.IowaOldPress.com/