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E
WEEKLY JOURNAL
PLAITS 10 DTE
"BE JUST AND FEAR NOT."
VOL. 13. m 32. PLATTSMOUTH, NEBRASKA, THURSDAY, AUGUST 2, 1894. $1.00 xrEPxWES&c.
Are the three
As a
Special
Inducement
For ITour
Trade,
M
ORGAN, The
M. P. IS BURGLARIZED.
A Trio of Bums Force Open and Rob
a Freight Car.
THE JUDGE IS CHALLENGED.
I. W. Foster, Liberty Precinct Populist,
Challenges Lawyer Judge Sullivan
To a Joint Uuscusslon Of the
Labor Question Notes.
Sheriff Eikenbary and Deputy Har
vey Holloway, assisted by Officers
Murray and Woodson, effected the
arrest of a trio of burglars early yes
terday morning.
The first intimation of tbe burglary
-was had when a pair of young bums
made their way into the M. l depot
at two o'clock yesterday morning and
informed the night operator that three
thieves bad broken into a freight car
and carted off some of the merchan
dise found therein. The operator,
directed bv his informants, made his
way to the car and, upon finding the
seal broken and a door standing open,
hurried back to the depot aud tele
phoned down town to the police.
Officers Murray and Woodson re
sponded, but after a two hours' search
were unable to locate the thieves, who
were described as being three men,
one of them negro. Woodson re
turned to town and summoned Sheriff
Eikenbary and Deputy Holloway and
the two latter took the north bound
passenger and journeyed to the
Oreapolis crossing. Here they dis
embarked and upon learning
that three men answering the descrip
tion of the thieves had passed that way
shortly before, going north, hurried on
up the railroad tracks on foot and
ov rtook the thieves at the B. & M.
Platte river bridge, where the men
were sitting under the covered portion
of the rldi?e to escape the rain. The
only bit ot stolen property found in
their pos.wsion was sixteen pairs of
ne w suspen dera. These the officers re
covered and then brought the thieves
back to town.
The black men appears to have been
the leader, and was the ODe who broke
the seal and first entered the car. His
white companions are rather youthful
and are scarcely more than seven
teen years old.
Agent Stoutenborough informed a
Journal reporter today that the box
of merchandise entered was consigned
to a man at Tabitha, Kas. As to the
possibility of anything besides the
suspenders being stolen he could not
say. An invoice of the gooda will
have to be furnished the company be
fore the exact loss can be known.
A Challenge to Debate.
Lawyer A. N. Sullivan of this city
has views of his own. and they are al
ways rather pronounced, on almost
every topic of the day. Particularly
has the judge been rather caustic in
his criticisms of the populist party
and, as a consequence, the members
of that party in Cass county have no
great amount of affection for the
judge. Of late Mr. Sullivan ha been
expressing himself on the recent rail
road strike which centered at Chicago
and his statements have ntjrred some
of the advocates of the labor cause in
to seeking the judge's scalp in a de
bate. One D. W. Foster, a well
posted farmer and populist, living
down near Union, thinks he is able to
turn the trick to a nicety and he bas
accordingly challenged the judge to a
-debate, Mr. Foster was in the city
tin a Dot of gold ausi, ouriru
quarter of a century ago (by an
. ht rot of
dull months of the year in the Clothing Business. This year we
During this time we will, for Every Dollar's Worth of Goods bought in our store between July 18th
and October 1st, give One Chance, or Ticket, on the Drawing for
Pine 'Z?p-:B-u-g,g3r, T7"a-lu-ecl a-t $75.
The Drawing takes place on the first day of October and it will not be our fault if every Man,
Woman and Child in Cass county does not have at least one chance. We have put the knife into the
prices on Summer Clothing and Furnishing Goods and, while they were cheaper before than any
other house in Plattsmouth sold them, they are fairly making our competitors cry now, but we can
not help that ; we are here to do business with you and not to consider their feelings. We are mak
ing Special Inducements this week on Children's Suits and Men's Odd Pants. Call, Examine
and be convinced that it is to your interest to trade with
Tuesday and penned the following
defi, requesting its publication:
PijATTSiiouTii, Neb., July 31.
To A. N. Sullivan, of "Cottonwood
Alliance" I hereby challenge you to
a joint discussion of the following
proposition: "Resolved, that labor
is unduly oppressed by capital and that
capital has been unjustly amassed."
I to have the affirmat ve and you the
negative. Time and jlace" to be fixed
by a committee of which each shall se
lect one and they a third if there be
no agreement. D. W. Foster,
Union, Neb.
Used the License After All.
It appears after all, says the .Lincoln
News, that young Horace Capron did
not allow the marriage license he had
invested some $2.50 in over in Cass
county to be unused. Horace is the
young man who eloped a few days ago
with young Ida Tibbetts. a fourteen-year-old
miss living near his home in
Belmont, but who was captured by
Detective Malone just as he was about
to leave their hiding place to use the
license he and a friend had driven 140
miles to secure. Some time between
Saturday night and early Sunday
morning the young couple were again
missing, and no trace of them could be
foHnd. It appeared that they out
witted Mrs. Tibbetts Saturday even
ing, and getting in a buggy drove
down to some place in Cass county,
twelve miles from here, the name of
which the News informant did not
know, where they were married at six
o'clock Sunday mornine.
The girl is but fourteen years old,
and under the age of consent. It is
not known whether the mother of the
bride will give them her blessing when
they return or whetln r she will place
more obstacles in the way of a con
summation of their happiness by en
deavoring to have the wedding an
nulled. The neighbors think she will
accept the inevitable, however.
A Brutal Act.
An inhuman act was committed at
Louisville Thursday, which has just
come to light. Peter Fagle, aGerman
farmer living south of town, like a
large number of others in this part of
the state, has more horses than be
knows what to do with or has feed for.
Last Thursday he took a horse to
Louisville to try to give it away,
but as no one was willing to take it
off of his hand he took it down to the
Flatte river, pushed into the water
and then with a Winchester rifle shot
it. breaking its lower jaw. The poor
animal swam across tw the sandbar,
when Fagle took two more shots at it,
one taking effect in the back and the
other in the hip. In this condition
the poor animal was left to die of
starvation in the burning rays of the
sun. It remained there until Sunday
forenoon, when Marshal Hartshorn
went down to the river and put an
end to its sufferings. It is reported
that a warrant will be issued for
Fagle's arrest on the charge of cruelty
to animals.
Struck by Lightning.
During the 6torm Tuesday night the
homeof Chris. Vollnagel, situated near
the road to the Goos farm, southeast
of town, was struck by lightning. The
bolt first knocked a big hole in the
roof, and then proceeded to smash the
chimney and cook stoye beneath. Mr.
Yollnagel was sleeping in a bed only a
few feet distant, and he, too, was
"jarred up" rather severely by the
shock. So severe was the shock that
he was quit deaf today, but his physi
cian thinks he will recover his hearing
in due time. It was a close call, just
the same, and Mr. V. considers him
self fortunate in eojCaping without a
worse iDjury.
Lawyer J. H. Haldman of Weeping
Water was in tbe city today.
0
. j, 0pe theperate
&i Gaining!
uncle,
weal
Leading Clothier,
A CASE OF POISONING.
Havelock Boarding House Inmates
Have a Tough Experience.
A CONVICT'S REFORMATION.
Polk Wells, at Noted Outlaw Now Doing
a Life Sentence In the Iowa Peni
tentiary, Is Converted A
Story of His Capture.
Havelock Boarders Are Poisoned.
The boarders at the Stalting board
ing house in Havelock had a rather
tough experience on Monday. There
are some two dozen men who regularly
plant their feet beneath the Stalting
table, and after their breakfast Mon
day every man of the lot was taken
sick. All of the men work at the B. &
M. shops, and their illness overtook
them shortly after reporting for work
at seven o'clock, when they were taken
with violent cramps in the stomach,
followed by vomiting spells. Their
illness was so severe as to necessitate
their laying off. and according to a re
port of the affair quite a few of the
men were compelled to seek their beds.
A physician was summoned and the
latter pronounced it a case of poison
ing. The breakfast consisted of eggs,
pork, coffee and milk. At first it was
thought that the coffee raised the dis
turbance, but this theory is exploded
by reason of the fact that a few of the
boarders drank milk, instead of coffee,
and tbey, too, suffered with the rest.
Several of the unlucky ones, Robert
Schaper, Mike Schirk. Art. Helps, Ken
Fogarty and Tom Hart, are Platts
mouth people. Mr. Schaper had re
covered enough by eight o'clock to
board a train and journey to his home
in this city, arriving on B. & M. No. 4.
He does not know the exact condition
of the others, but, judging from his
own illness, he imagines that there
are several whose illness is serious.
He relates that all were affected at
about the same time, but just what
was the exact cause was a sort of puz
zle. The physician in charge of the
sick boarders will make an investiga
tion and endeavor to locate the real
trouble so as to prevent a repetition,
as well as to determine whether it
was the fault of the cook or the store
keeper supplying the food.
A Convict's Conversion.
Polk Wells, the most noted des
perado in the history of Iowa, has been
converted and is doing evagelistic
work among his fellow convicts of the
Iowa state penitentiary at Fort Madi
son," where Wells is serving a life sen
tence. He is contributing funds and
writing letters to the Christian Home
at Council Bluffs, Iowa, and some of
these letters are very touching.
The story of Polk Wells' career is an
interesting and exciting one and it
will be impossible to recite the many
crimes in which he had a part. He
wa3 the terror of western Iowa a
dozen years ago aud his robberies
were bold and frequent. He had a re
volver on which were placed notches
for tbe men he had killed. Wells' last
great exploit was the robbery about
1883 of the Itiverton bank at Riverton,
Fremont county, Jowa. This robbery
was almost immediately discovered
and soon a large posse was on his
track. They came upon Wells twice
and succeeded in capturing part of the
booty. At these meetings shots were
exchanged and several of the pursuing
party were seriously injured. But
after a chase of about one week, Wells
and bis companion escaped. No trace
their
anTo.rnUnlr to $4.80 , The. "commo
dore" will be remembered as one of
the speakers at the mass meeting
of them could be found and the chase
was finally given up by all except Dan
Farrell, sheriff of Mills county.
Farrell was one of tbe bravest men
in this country and he was very shrewd.
He had seen Polk Wells several times,
' and Wells feared him more than any
other man. He determined to keep an
eye out, and accordingly went to a small
town in Missouri where Wells' pal had
lived. He found that his comrade's
wife had dissappeared suddenly shortly
after the Riverton affair. Farrell told
the officers there to keep him informed
about the matter. In a few weeks the
woman returned as mysteriously as
she had gone. All efforts to learn
where she had been without exciting
her suspicions failed. Farrell visited
the town, and one day in the absence
of the woman he opened a window and
searched the house for evidence. The
only thing he found was a perfumery
bottle with the name of a druggist in
Wisconsin. That gave him a clue and
he at once started for that Wisconsin
town. In a short time he learned that
Wells and his partner were under as
sumed names running a hotel. Farrell
got out a warrant for their arrest and
with two constables started for the
hotel. On the way they met the
partner and sent him to jail with one
of the constables. Accompanied by
the other Farrell entered the hotel
Wells may have heard of his presence,
for no sooner had Farrell entered the
hotel office than Wells also stepped
into the office from the dining-room
He carried two big revolvers and at
once fired at Farrell. Dan replied
instantly and the battle occurred in
the dining-room, which was somewhat
dark. A dozen shots were exchanged,
the tables were overturned and tbe
dishes smashed. Wells and Farrell
had been both wounded when a ball
struck Farrell glancingly in the head,
stunning him for a few seconds. He
fell to the floor and Wells, thinking
Farrell was killed, looked around to
see where the constable was. That
worthy, fortunately for himself, bad
taken refuge behind a convenient door,
but in the interval in which Folk was
looking for him Farrell regained con
sciousness, took in tbe situation, and
shot Wells in tbe arm, breaking it and
rendering him disabled. The revolver
drooped to the floor and Wells was in
an instant a prisoner. He gazed at
Farrell in admiration and said:
"You are the best man I ever saw,
and tbe first man who ever captured
me. Here, take these revolvers as a
present from me in place of those pop
guns," and he handed Farrell the two
beautiful revolvers which be had just
used.
Wells was tried, convicted and sen
tenced to the Fort Madison prison for
a term of years. He soon began to
plan escape. He was first sent to the
hospital to have bis wound attended
to. In a few days he induced two
young convicts to assist him in the
escape. They secured chloroform in
some way, and one night they over
powered the night guard and chloro
formed him. Then they took bed
sheets, tying tnem together, and thus
escaped, one of the six escapes in the
history of this prison over forty years
old. The next morning the guard was
found dead and the escape was dis
covered. A large party was put on his
track. On the second night they bid
in a hay-mow. Polk was suffering
terribly from bis wounds, which the
chase caused to reopen and be could
go no further. They kept hidden all
that day, but Folk grew worse, and
the next morning the farmer came
out and discovered Polk in delirium.
The three were at once captured and
all sentenced for life. Tbe two boys
have since been pardoned. Polk has
beep a "'good convict," but until re
and dTded the '" appropriation
tween Qtriaha and St. Joe.
are going to make
cently was rather proud of his crimes.
His conversion is, no doubt,genuine.
He has kept up contributions, made
by overtime labor in the prison, to tbe
support of tbe Christian Home at
Council Bluffs, and his letters are
written with evident deep religious
fervor. He is said to be doing a good
work among the other convicts.
8tate Taxes Increased.
The arrival of a letter at tbe court
house yesterday from tbe auditor
of state, at Lincoln, caused considera
ble consternation among the members
of the county board and tbe attaches
of the county clerk's office. The let
ter, to be plain, told that the state
board of equalization had raised the
Cass county levy for state taxes to
seven mills. Last year a levy of six
mills was assessed against the county.
At a glance it would seem that the in
crease is unjust, bat a comparison of
the county's assessed valuation for the
years of '93 and '94, which shows that
the one of '94 is some 8400,000 smaller,
seemingly dispels such a notion. As
a matter of fact, a seven mill levy on
this year's valuation costs the county
some 83,300 mora than was assessed
against the county on last year's
valuation at a six mill levy, but the
real fault is at home and not with the
state board. The state has a certain
amount to raise by taxation, and if the
valuation is decreased the levy must
be increased in proportion. This
proposition is plain, but another fact
is also conclusively shown, andit is
none other than that the method
pursued by the Cass county as
sessor's this year in lowering values
all over the county, when there was
absolutely no warrant for any such
action, was a clear case of stupidity.
Investors invariably seek a location in
which the tax levy shows a decrease
instead of an increase, and if tbe as
sessors of Cass county continue in the
pursuance of such tactics there will be
very little outside capital seeking an
investment in this county. Particu
lary are the Plattsmouth assessors to
blame. This year's valuation is shame
fully low, and the city this year while
levying to the statutory limit, will
still be unable to meet its obligations
on several funds. There is only one
way to cure the evil. Let the next
legislature pass some law requiring
assessors to assess at the actual valua
tion and making it a felony to do
otherwise. Cass as a county and
Plattsmouth as a city are not the only
sufferers. There are other Nebraska
towns and counties in the same boat,
who have been the victims of this
nonsensical scheme of lowering as
sessed valuations, and the time is ripe
for some action to put an effective
quietus upon it.
A Glorious Rain.
The long continued dry spell which
has been on since 'the night of July
3, was broken yesterday morning when
the heavens opened and gave this sec
tion of the country a generous rain
fall. Here in town the fall was some
what slight, but from the very limits
of the town to a point some twelve or
fifteen miles out in the country, the
rain was exceptionally heavy. In some
places it bordered close onto a case of
cloud burst. Tbe corn crop as a con
sequence will take a new lease on life
and altogether the several farmers
who were in town today felt greatly
pleased over the prospects. Jupiter
Pluvius is now a greater favorite than
ever in Cass county, but the only re
gret is that his rain of last night was
not ordered two weeks sooner.
Lee Allison, of the precinct, was in
town this morning enroute to Omaha,
and Council Bluffs.
be-I penueuw -
I authorities at Lincoln
'
ties ac .uincoiu.
i,.at. odor in perf ume -
them the Best.
THE MILK AT FAULT
Havelock Boarding House Poisoning
Caused By the Milk.
THE WEALERS WELL TREATED.
u.
8. Marshal White Finds That the
Stories of Ill-Treatment Coming
From Hldney Are Unfounded
Various Other Notes,
That Havelock Boarding: House.
Mike Schirk, another of the B. & M.
machinists who was made sick in last
Monday's boarding house poisoning
affair at Havelock, came down from
Havelock Monday evening to rest up at
bis home in this city. He reports that
quite a few of the men are still seriously
ill, but that Arthur Helps was the
worst affected of the lot. It is thought
that the poison was in the milk, as
those who drank milk alone were af
fected more seriously than those who
drank milk in their coffee. Some of
the milk has been Bent to the chemist
at the Wesleylan university, but up to
last night the analysis had not been
completed.
The Camp Was Clean.
United States Marshal Frank .
White returned Thursday, says
the Omaha Bee, from Sidney,
where he went Monday night to satisfy
himself as to the truth or falsity of the
reports concerning the alleged ill
treatment of the commonwealers held
in custody at old Fort Sidney. Mr.
White went to Sidney unheralded, with
the intention of surprising the whole
camp. He arrived there at four o'clock
in the morning, before any one was
astir, and went at once to tbe quarters
of the men. He found, first, that
every man was supplied with quilts
and blankets, the reports to the con
trary notwithstanding. He then went
to the guard house, before the knowl
edge of his presence in camp was
known to any of the deputies.
At the guard house he found thirteen
commonwealers, who had been locked
up for an infraction of tbe rules of the
camp. The guard house con
sisted of a large room, 20x40
feet in size, with small cells openiDg
into the main room. The cells, as
well as the main room, were scrupu
lously clean, and tbe place was quieter
and cooler than the big quarters where
all of the men are confined. With one
exception the thirteen men asked per
mission to remain in the guard house
after Marshal White bad suspended
their sentences and told them they
were free. At the hospital he found
three patients, one affected with ery
sipelas and the other two with rheu
matism. He ate breakfast with the
men and found that the food was
clean, well cooked and served in suffi
cient quantities. On one or two occa
sions, he said, the meat had been
served in tainted condition, but this
fact was explained by the extreme
heat.
Marshal White released seventeen
of the commonwealers Tuesday and in
structed the deputies to release another
squad of seventeen yesterday. The men
will all be given their freedom in small
squads as fast as the country will ab
sorb them. The entire body of com
monwealers will not be turned loose
upon the people of western Nebraska
at once, but all will have been liber
ated by August 6th.
Mrs. Edwin Davis, who has been
quite ill for the past two weeks, is re
ported as being much better today.
Her many friends will hope that her
improvement will continue.
" I train Fridav morning." I
i - : . :
Lilac c Seth Dean of Glenwor Iowa, was a year
