The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.
Compiled and Edited by Virginia Ross
CARMAN MAN SCALDED TO DEATH: The horrible death of John Haley, age 38, occurred while carrying out his duties as fireman at the Henderson County drainage District No. 1 and 2 pumping plant at Carthage Lake about 4 o’clock Friday morning when a water tube in the north boiler ruptured forcing live steam into the cinder pit where the unfortunate man was at work. It was some time before the body could be removed from the pit and it is believed the man met death instantaneously. In removing the body, F. Hobbs, engineer at the plant, was severely burned and is now in the Burlington hospital where he is slowing recovering. Mr. Haley was well liked by his many friends. Funeral services were held Sunday afternoon in the Olena Church and interment was in the Olena Cemetery.
The Carthage Lake pumping plant is located just north of the C. B. & Q. tacks east of Burlington and near the Carthage Lake Clubhouse. The broken pipe has put the plant temporarily out of order, consequently, the water in its district is slowly rising and this (Thursday) morning about two feet of water is standing in the viaduct on Route No. 8 just this side of Burlington. No serious damage is likely to be done. Automobiles have been getting through without much difficulty. One pump is expected to be repaired by this evening and the other in a few days.
LOCAL MEN REPRESENT COUNTY AT BANKERS’ MEETING: The annual meeting of Group One of the Illinois Bankers Association was held in Kewanee, Ill. at the Elks Club with representative from Bureau, Henderson, Henry, Mercer, Rock Island Warren and Whitside Counties. Several hundred banks from these counties together with prominent bankers of St. Louis and Chicago, who making a statewide tour in a special train for two weeks attended...Henderson County was represented by Douglas Prescott, J. F. McMillan, H. E. Painter and Dr. L. F. Harter. Mr. E. G. Lewis of Media also was present.
AWARDED A RESEARCH FELLOWSHIP: Raymond C. Johnson, a senior at Monmouth College, has been awarded a research fellowship in Metallurgy and Mining at Carnegie Institute of Technology. The competition for the honor was open to all graduates of colleges, universities and technical schools. Only eight such fellowships were awarded this year. Mr. Johnson has been an assistant in the Chemistry Department at Monmouth and assisted Professor Haldeman, head of the department in some work on a process for making acetic acid. His work will begin the latter part of August and will be of ten months duration. At the close of this time, he will be given his master’s degree and the thesis he writes on his research will be published. Raymond is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Frank Johnson of Stronghurst. (This is quite an honor!)
BACCALAUREATE SERVICE: Baccalaureate services of the Stronghurst Community High School will be held in the school auditorium Sunday evening, May 29th beginning at 8 o’clock. Rev. Elmer J. Holt will deliver the sermon on the subject, “Acceptable Service Offered to God by Heirs of His Kingdom.”
HIT BY LIGHTNING: Considerable damage was done by lightning at the Sam Claybaugh home east of town when a bolt hit a telephone pole near the house and cork screwed around it into the ground. The shock knocked out the glass in the front door. Soon after another bolt struck the west side of the house making a hole in the weather boarding and knocking off a number of boards from the southwest corner. A small blaze was started but was easily put out with a bucket of water. The family consider themselves fortunate in escaping so easily.
GLADSTONE GLEANINGS: Miss Josephine Graham was given a surprise Monday when a number of her friends gathered at the post office to give a handkerchief shower in honor of her birthday. Chalmer Graham went to Rockford where he has employment. I. J. Brewer shipped a carload of cattle and some hogs and accompanied them to Chicago. C. A. Hedges also shipped some hogs the same day. John Haley, who was recently scalded to death near Carman, lived here some time ago.
OLENA OBSERVATIONS: JOHN HALEY RITES: The late rites for Mr. John Haley of Carman who met such a tragic death were held in the Olena Church Sabbath at 3 pm conducted by Pastor Hubbs. Regardless of the rain and slipper roads, a large concourse of people was present to pay their last respects to one who was known to many in this community. Carman had a large delegation and his casket bearers were from that village. The Olena choir rendered consoling music. The relatives present were mostly from Burlington, Iowa. The remains were laid to rest beside a young son who had preceded him in death in the Olena Cemetery. Preparations are going forward slowly for the observance of Children’s Day in the Olena Church on June 12th. Mr. P. J. Johnson returned home west of Olena from the Burlington Hospital where he recently underwent an eye operation for the removal of a cataract. His family is not greatly encouraged in regard to the outcome, but they and his many friends are hoping for the very best results. Mr. Thomas Dixon has been quite indisposed the past several weeks and is said to be slowly improving under the care of Dr Dixon of Burlington. Mrs. Browning has taken many orders throughout the community for a hosiery house and is placed with the results.
Farmers here are considerably discouraged over weather conditions and the lateness of planting their corn crop. The canning factory had a man in this locality lately placing cabbage plants-three acres for Arthur Dowell , two for Virgil Davis and three for Charles Heisler and probably others. Plants are not looking any too well but may improve. Several others have signed up for tomatoes.
OBITUARY: KENTON McDONALD-Raritan: Kenton McDonald, the infant son of Mr. and Mrs. Gerald McDonald passed away at the family home Saturday morning, age two months and seven days. He leaves to mourn his departure his parents, two grandmothers, two grandfathers, one great grandmother and one great grandfather. Funeral services were held at the Baptist Church with interment in the local cemetery.
BIGGSVILLE BRIEFS: Several new members were taken into the Presbyterian Church on Sunday morning in charge of Dr. Murray of Monmouth. He will close his work here next Sunday and expects to leave for California as soon as college closes. Members of the M.E.S.S. are rehearsing for a play “An Old-Fashioned Mother,” to be given in the high school auditorium on June 2nd.
LINDBERGH MADE THE WORD BIGGER: Capt. Charles Lindbergh, the 25-year-old young American who completed his 38.000-mile fly from New York to Paris in his airplane, “The Spirit of St. Louis,” last Saturday after a little over 33 hours of non-stop flying, has made the world bigger. Whenever people are brought closer by some improvement in transportation or communication, there are always those who say “the world is becoming smaller.” But Lindbergh has made the world bigger. He has opened up bigger fields of possibility. He, an American, has established a flying record single handed which all the nations of the earth honor. France has decorated him with the Cross of the Legion of Honor and has made him a member of its highest societies. Thus, the world has grown bigger in a good fellowship in honoring noble action. In less than three weeks’ time Lindbergh has risen from a little-known figure to a world hero because he has made the world bigger. (He instantly was made the hero of especially young teenage girls: my Mother told me this.)
LOCAL AND AREA NEWS: Stock shipments were made on Monday with the Coop shipping four carloads of hogs, Algert Nolan and Clarence Hartquist accompanied the shipments and on Wednesday Hartquist Bros. shipped five carloads of cattle and Frank Person one carload of cattle. Mr. Pearson and Edgar Hartquist accompanied the shipments. Mrs. Ruth Gilliland is numbered among the sick. Mr. and Mrs. John Peasley are the proud parents of a baby girl at the Burlington Hospital. The little Miss will be called Mary Lou in honor of her two grandmothers. Richard Peasley of Tampa, Florida is visiting his parents, Mr. and Mrs. C. E. Peasley. His brother, George has changed his address from Tampa, Florida to Birmingham, Alabama. Miss Sarah Shaw has resigned her position at the local telephone switchboard and will enter the Burlington Hospital for nurse-s training. Mrs. S. E. Lauver who has been visiting her sons in Mountain Lake, Minn., has returned to Stronghurst where she makes her home with her son, Dr. A. E. Lauver. Mr. and Mrs. Hartley have moved from the country into the Nordstrom residence recently vacated by Mr. and Mrs. Harry Painter. Mr. Hartley has employment at the canning factory building. Miss Ida Ruth Sandy has accepted a position at the local telephone office and will began duty at the close of school Mrs. Paul Carr and son are visiting at the home of her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Westley Trimmer, before leaving for her new home at Wichita, Kans.
LOST THEIR HOME: Mrs. Thomas White of West Point, Mississippi, a former Stronghurst resident, says that when they returned home from church on last Sunday morning, they found their house, all of the out buildings, milk house, store and laundry house, smoke house and wood House (which was filled with wood) all burned to the ground with only the chimney standing. It is supposed a spark alighting on the roof started the blaze.
“The American Legion Auxiliary sent a box of things Monday and everybody is so good and trying to help us out,” she said. “We have a four-room house on the place and will fix that up for present. We carried $2,400 insurance on house and furniture which will help some. Howard is still on guard duty at Vicksburg. He is in his government uniform and all his other belongings at home were destroyed. He does not know of it as yet. Andrew has started home today.”
THEY WON THE COUNTY MEET: (Today with the internet and television allowing us to instantly be involved in events, we don’t understand how important local contests were to the people of 1927; this was their big day! Local heroes were representing the town’s honor and crowds followed to join in and bask in their glory.)
The Seventh Annual Henderson County High School Association Track and Field Meet held at Stronghurst on last Friday proved a closely contested one, especially between Media, Biggsville and Stronghurst. All of the places were won with creditable performances and several records were broken or equaled. Of the seven schools that are members of the league but six were entered; Gladstone was not participating this year because of lack of sufficient eligible athletes. Terre Haute with one second and a third accumulated 4 points and placed sixth in the meet. Lomax placed fifth with 5 points having won one second and two thirds. Oquawka came fourth with 6 points having captured one second and three third places. The total for the other three schools although higher were correspondingly close. Media with four first places, three seconds and one third accumulated 30 points and ranked third in the meet. Thirty-four points were gained by Biggsville with four firsts, four seconds and two thirds. Stronghurst won the meet with 38 points having placed in all but one event and taking five first places, three seconds and four thirds.
The day being very windy made it very unfavorable for long distance running. Kenneth Sanderson should receive a double portion of credit for shattering by 3/5 of a second the 880-yard run record set by Shoemate of Terre Haute in 1924 with a time of 2:12 2-5. E. Kane of Biggsville deserves much credit for his throw of 168 ft. 9 in. in the Javelin which beat the record set by H. Smith in 1926 of eleven feet and nine inches. E. Whiteman of Biggsville tied the record in the 100- yard dash set by C. Vaughn of Media in 1925 of 10 1-5 seconds. Other especially noteworthy performances were the throwing of the discus 114 ft. 7 in by Woodward of Stronghurst and Campbell of Media putting the shot 42 feet and 7 in. and running and broad jumping 20 feet two and ¾ inches.
Clarence Harvey’s winning first in the 220-yard dash was a source of much satisfaction to Stronghurst as well as many Henderson County fans. Clarence is a senior and has been on winning relay teams and has won points in meets for Stronghurst during each of his four years in high school, but it was not until last Friday that he won a gold medal. He has been the principal cause of Stronghurst’ s winning many a relay cup and he has a large number of second and third place medals, but in each of the past four years he has had to compete with men who were unusually fast in the dashes; he always gave them a good race and time after time would come within a few inches of winning first place. He never gave up and kept trying and on last Friday he won his gold medal, placing first in the 220-yard dash, his last race for Stronghurst High School. Coach Nicholas says Harvey trains faithfully and was always dependable. (summary of events follows).
COLOMA CLIPS: Mr. and Mrs. James Kilgore visited the lady’s mother, Mrs. Charles Essex, who is a patient in the Burlington Hospital. The members of the Biggsville Gladstone Calf Club held their organization meeting Saturday evening in the William Whiteman home Officers for the coming year were elected as follows: President-William Whiteman, Jr.; Vice-President-Boyd Stevenson; Secretary- Erwin Lukens. Nine members were enrolled. Ernest Walker of Stronghurst and Page Randall who were chosen leaders met with the boys. Misses Adeline Stevenson and Thelma Lyons went to Bloomington to enter the state commercial meet. Carl Swedlund shipped hogs to Chicago and accompanied them. Carl and his family are enjoying a new Ford touring car. Clifford Kessenger went to Green Bay where he has employment. If the weather is favorable, much corn will be planted this week. Quite a lot of plowing remains to be done.
OBITUARY: MRS. PAULINE POHREN- The death of Mrs. Pauline Pohren, 17, daughter of Mrs. Ethel Barner of Burlington, occurred at her home in Chicago following a ten weeks illness of pneumonia. Mrs. Pohren will be remembered as Miss Pauline Westlake and was born May 6, 1910 at LaHarpe, Ill. and was a former resident of this community. She attended the Coloma School for several years and then attended Burlington High School. She was a member of the United Presbyterian Church. She is survived by her husband, Clayton Pohren of Chicago; three sisters-Mrs. Vera Harris, Miss Dona Lee and Evelyn Westlake of Burlington and one brother, Virgil Westlake of Brooklyn, N.Y. Her father preceded her in death several years ago. Funeral services were held at the Biggsville United Presbyterian Church with interment in the Biggsville Cemetery.
RARITAN REPORTS: After the movie in the opera house last Saturday night, the R.B.C. presented a one-act farce entitled, “Cupid in Shirt Sleeves.” (Wouldn’t this be fun if this was recreated as a fundraiser for the opera house or historical society!) Miss Helena Barry has been re-engaged to teach at the Cox School. The Barry School of which Miss Anna LaVelle was teacher, celebrated its closing day with a picnic. The mothers served a delicious repast of cake, chocolate ice cream and candy. Afterwards a business meeting was held to discuss improvement to the school house and grounds. The Raritan Community Club is to give a Mothers’ and Daughters’ banquet on Saturday night in the basement of the Baptist Church. The plates are to be sold for 50 cents each. The April and May birthday social of the Reformed Church was held Saturday night in the church basement. Chicken, noodles, mashed potatoes, bread, butter, pickles, ice cream, cake and coffee were served beginning at six o’clock. The ninth annual session of the Wild Life School at McGregor, Iowa is to be held August 7-18. A tuition of $5.00 is charged and one can rent a cottage or a room. Lectures on birds, rocks, trees, insects, plants, stars, mammals, Indian archaeology, landscape design, outdoor photography, etc. are given in the morning and nights in a comfortable outdoor pavilion while the rest of the day is spent in hikes and sightseeing. The last day will be an excursion up the Mississippi River.
A BLITHSOME BIRTHDAY PARTY: (In 1927 one had to make their own fun and this elaborate party shows how they did it.)
The South Country Birthday Club gave their May party at the home of Earl Wickles on Tuesday night, May 24, which on a day being two years since these parties have started. The hostesses for the May party were the Mesdames James Lindberg, Arthur Rocke and Glen Schenck, who are to be especially commented on the very nice party that the gave the guests despite adverse conditions. With the help of other kindly hands, a very tempting lunch of minced ham sandwiches, cake, pineapple-banana salad and coffee was served cafeteria style to all but the birthday guests. (This is what it said!)
Four of the six club birthday guests were present with Miss Ruth F. Gustfson as an honorary guest. Those receiving favors were Mrs. Asa Worthinton, the Misses Lena C. Ahlers and Madaline Wickles, and the Messrs. Claus Ahlers, Bruce Warner and little Carl Warner. A large candy trimmed angel food cake graced the center of the table and bars of candy and oranges were placed at each of the birthday guests’ plates. Snowballs, roses, iris, sweet strawberry shrub and greenery were used in bouquets in various other parts of the home.
The novel and entertaining program was under the directorship of Mr. James Lindberg, who proved himself to be a very capable entertainer and considerable merriment reigned throughout the evening. For after all what heart can help but be light in the merry month of May, despite rain every day. The program opened with a list of clever riddles; a few answers being guessed. Next several rather out of the ordinary jokes were read and probably a few of the guests never before realized how funny a good joke can be. Then the Misses LaVeta and Lucille Simonson sang and acted out “There was a Lady” and were accompanied on the piano by their mother, Mrs. Harold Simonson. The little ladies’ song was greatly appreciated and very charming. Then with Mr. Lindberg as leader, the game “Do as I Do,” known in some as “As the Land of Thus and Thus,” was played but few of the guests seemed inclined to follow the lithesome movements of their instructor. There followed the game of bean ball in which Miss Frances Lind and the mesdames Ernest Negley and Percy Veech and the Messrs Morris Lee, Walte Nolen and Percy Veech took part, each lady being given fifteen beans to throw into the men’s open paper sacks. After this game was finished, “Something to Kick About” was staged, this stunt being considered rather difficult. Perhaps, the playing of “What is your City” afforded the greatest amusement of the evening. After this merry game, the Messer Ernest Negler and Walter Nolen sang a duet followed by a very novel solo b Mr. James Lindberg. All present thank the hostess and their helpers for a very pleasant May evening and regret that any Club members missed this enjoyment.
MEDIA BROADCASTER, a paper: ANNUAL PICNIC-The Junior class treated the Seniors to the annual picnic last Tuesday evening at Wever Lake Club grounds. The members of both classes and the faculty were present to enjoy the supper. The following menu was served by the hosts: veal loaf, buttered buns, baked beans, potato salad, pickles, ice cream, cake and iced punch. Later in the evening the crowd made up a theatre party and motored to Monmouth and enjoyed the show plus also listening to Little Jack Little in person.
SOCIAL AND PERSONAL NEWS: While at his work at the Lewis Seed Co. Saturday morning, Barney White stepped on a rusty nail which pierced his foot causing a very severe injury; he will not be able to work this week. (Tetanus shot was not available until 1939) Mr. and Mrs. L. E. Lawyer called at the Santa Fe Hospital in Ft. Madison where Mr. Lawer underwent a physical examination which resulted in finding his heart defected. He will not be at the depot this week hoping that the rest will help him gain strength. Operator Howard of East Ft. Madison will act as relief agent at the Media station. Miss Ruth Howell is attending Macomb Teachers’ College. Edgar Rankin, an old Media citizen who now lives in Palms, California, arrived here to visit his daughters, Mrs. Thos. Richey and Mrs. Chas. Heisler and their families of the west neighborhood. Mrs. Eads of Billings, Mont., spent Monday and Tuesday with her brother, Everett Lamb and family. She was on her way to Ft. Madison, Iowa where she is going to visit her father, O.S. Lamb, an invalid.
LOMAX NEWS IN THE BROADCASTER: Mrs. Nichols returned home after a week visiting her daughter, Mrs. James McFarland and family in Missouri. Mrs. John Bowlyou is home for the Burlington Hospital. Wm. Freeland and R. J. Porter returned home from Louisville, Ky. where they went to attend the races. Born to LaVerne Nixon and wife, May 21st a daughter. Mrs. Ethel Staley was taken to the Burlington Hospital for an operation. Master Francis Staley is staying at the home of his uncle, Mr. Chas. Bell, in Stronghurst and his brother, Manly Staley is staying at the home of his uncle Clayton Logan at Niota while their mother is in the hospital.