The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.
Compiled and Edited by Virginia Ross
Stronghurst Graphic, Sep. 8, 1921
UPDATE IN THE MAGIC CITY: Dr. H.L. Marshall has recently installed in his office at an expense of about $6,000 ($72,476 in today's values) one of the most complete and up-to-date X-ray equipments to be found anywhere in the country. The combination of scientific knowledge and mechanical genius shown in the different apparatus which go to make up the complete unit is marvelous and the demonstrations which have been made showing the manner in which the machine reveals the structure of every portion of the human anatomy have been a source of interest to many people. This equipment should prove of immense benefit to the owners in his surgical and medical practice.
THE BIGGSVILLE PICNIC: The annual county Farm Bureau Picnic and Harvest Home Festival held at Biggsville last Thursday and Friday was said to have been the best and most largely attended affair of the kind ever stage in that village. Excellent music, good speaking and plenty of good wholesome entertainment both days made it a success. Aeroplane flights and parachute leaps thrilled the crowd each afternoon and on Friday afternoon one of the most exciting games of baseball recently held in the county was played between the Gladstone and Stronghurst teams resulting in a score of 5 to 3 in favor of the latter.
In the horse-shoe pitching contest, which occupied both days, the laurels and prize of $10 went to a team from Stronghurst composed of Frank Johnson and Oscar Hamburg. The judging of the pigs raised by members of the Henderson County Boys' and Girls' Pig Club took place on Thursday and prizes were awarded as follows: Poland China-1st. Frederick Gibb; 2nd. Ted Galbraith; Chester Whites-1st., Howard Darrah; 2nd., Wm. Whiteman, Jr., 3rd Kenneth Whiteman and Hampshire-1st., Marion Darrah.
GREATER MERCER COUNTY FAIR AT ALEDO: The Mercer County Fair, frequently referred to as Illinois greatest county fair because of the immense livestock and agricultural exhibits will be held at Aledo five days next week. Fine, spacious buildings have been erected this summer to replace the five destroyed by fire last fall and the grounds have been enlarged by the addition of a 60-acre auto park. Five thousand cars are expected Thursday and Friday. A new feature of the 68th Fair will be night programs on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday evenings. The grounds have been electrically equipped and will be brightly lighted. A great bank of open bleachers has been erected from which the night crowds can have an unobstructed view of the magnificent fireworks display. Hundreds of people from this county view this fair each year. (Wow! For 1921 this fair is really modern.)
THE TRI-COUNTY FAIR: Many people from this vicinity are attending the big Tri-County Fair at La Harpe and reports received indicate that a very successful exhibition is being held. The La Harpe Quill in a write up of the fair says: "A trip to the fair grounds Monday afternoon found superintendents, helpers, exhibitors and everybody on the grounds either as busy as bees or staring in open mouthed wonder at the displays and preparations that are shaping themselves for the biggest and best fair Western Illinois ever saw. Those of us who build our standards by the old pumpkin shows of the 80's and 90's which were in themselves big things in their day and generation, cannot help but gasp at the magnitude of the big fair in 1921. We found the new cattle and hog barns fast filling with blooded stock and were told that many hundred of fine stock exhibits had to be refused for lack of room.
In the cattle barn we found the Henderson County Hereford Association well represented. Stine & Sons have a big display headed by the world's highest priced bull, Marvel's Pride, that cost them $14,500.($175,150 in today's costs) Vaughn and Dodds, J. F. Hurdle, the Painters and others have some fine individuals in this class and there are other breeds represented by the best individuals obtainable anywhere. Mr. Hurdle shows a heifer that was grand champion at Macomb last week.
In the swine pens are Poland Chinas, Duroc, Chester Whites, Hampshire and Tamworth-the pick from the best herds of Hancock, Henderson and McDonough Counties. C. A. Garrett of the west country shows a Tamworth boar that weighs 820 lbs. James Crum of Disco and Watson of Smithshire also show in this class. Among the Poland China exhibitors we noticed the names of E. L. Traser & Son, Conrad Eckhard, John Hamman, Purdy & Conwell, Lawrence Isom, William South and others who have helped put this section of Illinois in the forefront of swine production. Earl Brokaw shows a boar that took first at the state fair. Dr. Ash, we find, does other things besides wait on the sick and afflicted. He has a display of Duroc-Jersey hogs raised on his farm near Good Hope which were prize winners at Macomb where he took first on litter and 2nd, 3rd and 4th on pigs from the National Duroc-Jersey Association. These remarks don't half describe the fine showing in the stock barns.
The new floral hall will be crowded to the guards with fancy work, grain vegetable and out-of-the ordinary things. The Illinois State Board of health has one corner for their health crusade work and baby examination and the county Farm Bureau have another corner.
Just outside this building on the west will be the poultry display. W.J. Justi of Mulberry Grove, Ill. has a carload of fancy fowls that would attract attention anywhere. Local exhibitors were taking up the vacant space under this tent as rapidly as they could be accommodated.
The entry list published a few days ago showed that the races have filled nicely and the stands and eating houses are all set to handle a big crowd."
BOY SCOUTS MEET: The Stronghurst Boy Scouts met Wednesday night and the group was divided into three patrols named as follows: No.1-Wolf patrol; No.2-Eagle patrol; and No.3-Bob White patrol. The leaders and assistant leaders of the different patrols are as follows: No.1-Harold Lukens and Dale Rankin; No.2-Clarence Burrell and Robert Steffey; No.3-Clifton Regan and Sharon Gregory. Frank Wilcox has been elected custodian of the troop supplies.
It was decided to have a "knot board" made illustrating the different styles of knots which the scouts are taught to make. Following the meeting an hour of drilling was engaged in at the village park under the direction of Scout Master McMillan.
THEY CAUGHT HIM: Jim Dugan, a resident of Henderson County, was arrested by the Warren County authorities last Saturday night near Monmouth for driving an automobile on the country roads while intoxicated. He was fined $100 and costs. (Today, he would have paid $1,208.)
RESPONSIBLE FOR SANTA FE LOCATING HERE: Mr. Geo. Baker and family of Davenport, Ia., who were on an automobile tour to Keokuk and return, stopped in Stronghurst long enough to eat lunch and change tires on one of their cars. Mr. Baker was formerly connected with the engineering department of the Santa Fe Railroad and was the locating engineer who decided the question upon which survey the road through this section of Illinois should be built. In conversation with the paper, Mr. Baker inquired about a number of people whose acquaintanceship he formed when the site on which the village of Stronghurst now stands was nothing but an expanse of rich prairie farm land. For a number of years following his retirement from railroad work Mr. Baker was the head of the Tri-City Construction Co. of Davenport, which built a number of public building throughout this section including the Western Illinois State Normal School building at Macomb. He is one of Davenport's best known citizens and a member of the Iowa State Board of Education.
1896 GRAPHIC: A fire of mysterious origin destroyed a large amount of property on the W.H. Penny farm southeast of Stronghurst on the evening of Sept.1st. The loss included two large barns and other outbuildings, 5 head of fine Percheron horses, a large quantity of grain and hay and a lot of machinery and harness, etc. W. J. Bryan made a brief speech in Monmouth and in the course of his remarks referred to the fact that he had in his younger days been beaten in an oratorical contest by a representative of Monmouth College. The one referred to as defeating him was James Erskine, a former Olena boy. (Bryan, a three time presidential candidate famous for his "Cross of Gold" speech in favor of free silver, was known worldwide ability to mesmerize a crowd.) J.R. Marshall and family had just moved back here from Thornberry, Texas where he had tried farming for several years. W.P. Herbertz and his brother Herman had engaged in the newspaper business in Media, having taken over the Media Record office.
NEW HAT MERCHANT: Mrs. Nellie Hollingsworth has disposed of her millinery stock here to the Crooks Bros. Millinery Co. of Quincy, Ill. and the latter named firm will continue the business with Mrs. Ida Miller, an experience milliner in charge. (In 1921 this was important news as women wore hats and social status was tied to type of hat one wore.)
GAMBLING WITH DEATH: At every unprotected railroad crossing in the land stands the grim specter, Death, with a dice box in his hand. He sees an auto approaching and begins to rattle his dice and calls out to the driver, "A minute of time against your life that you fail to pass this point in safety without stopping, looking or listening. Come on! Be a sport! Take a chance." The auto driver without stopping to consider the paltry nature of the stake which Death offers and realizing that he has a hundred chances or better of winning against one of losing responds to the inherent impulse of the human race to "take a chance" and wins. As he rakes in his trifling winnings, he throws a mocking glance at the specter by the roadside and speeds on. But the latter still continues to wear the sardonic grin which accompanied his offer of the long odds to the wayfarer; for he know that somewhere, on one or more of the thousands of grade crossings in the country, he has, through the inexorable working of the law of chance, thrown from his dice box the winning combination of an auto and a locomotive at a given spot at the same moment of time, and that one or more mangled human forms are lying by the roadside offering mute testimony to the folly of taking chances with death.
The people of this country long ago recognized the fact that the gambler in the things which constitutes mere earthly possessions was a menace to society and passed laws making the plying of the gamblers' trade a crime, but the phantom gamester at the grade crossing is still allowed to rattle his dice cup unmolested and in gathering in his winnings of precious human lives.
Someday let us hope he will be rooted from his post and the opportunity for the wayfarer to "take a chance" with death will be removed. (Today, we have flashing lighted signals that warn of approaching trains; however, sometimes the time of the light and the approach of the train is short; check out Fort's crossing west of Stronghurst. Coming from the west the view of an approaching train from the east is obstructed and the time of the flashing and the train's approach is short.)
LICENSE THAT AUTO: Under the new law which gives the Secretary of State authority to appoint investigators with power to make arrests for violations of the automobile laws, a round-up of violators has been in process in this section for sometime. Investigator E. H. Noble of Mercer County is in charge of the survey.
While these investigators have power to arrest for any violation of the automobile laws, they concern themselves particularly with the law requiring licenses for automobiles and chauffeurs. Their purpose is to cooperate with local authorities in every way. "The public is generally observing the law requiring license plates," Mr. Noble said, "but other sections of the laws are not being so strictly complied with." This is true especially of the chauffeur's certificate requirements. In most counties they found great laxity and under the law no boy under eighteen years of age is permitted to drive a car or truck for hire and all persons who drive cars or trucks for hire must obtain a chauffeur's certificate from the Secretary of State. Another violation is the operation for hire by dealers of cars equipped with dealers' plates. The dealer plate can be used only on cars for sale or demonstration purposes, not for a service car or car for hire. The law is very strict requiring two licenses plates on every car, front and rear.
Mr. Noble explained that investigators have increased the number of applications for chauffeurs' licenses and issuing of duplicate plates for those lost by 100% thereby resulting in at least $250,000 collected. (That new fangled automobile opened a new source of revenue for the state.)
LOCAL AND AREA NEWS: Louis Brown, the six year old son of Mr. and Mrs. Milo Brown of Oquawka, had one eye put out and the sight of the other possibly destroyed, three fingers of his left hand blown off, besides receiving several other severe cuts and bruises when a dynamite cap with which he was playing exploded. Over 100 autos containing people from Blandinsville, Raritan and Stronghurst communities raced to the Old Bedford neighborhood last Saturday night when they saw the sky there lit up with a glow which indicated a big conflagration; it was. Frank Huston was burning up a big straw stack. A district Baptist Association meeting is being held at Raritan and is being attended by Baptists from far and near. Rev. Koeler and Mr. Smith, prominent state workers, have been present to address the gathering. A fine banquet was served by the local congregation in the Community rooms in the village to the visiting guests.
The executors of the will of the late Robert Hodson of Oquawka are advertising a sale of desperate claims of the Hodson estate to be held at the court house. These claims consist of 23 notes given in a period of time from 1895-1914 aggregating over $2,500 ($29,725 in today's values) besides accumulated interest. John Mudd returned from Peoria with much improved health after taking two weeks treatment at a mud bath sanatorium there. A reunion of the Tinkham families of Henderson and Warren Counties was held at Galesburg on Sept.2nd. R. J. McGee, a young married man living in Blandinsville, had his left hand and the index finger of his right hand shot off in a hunting accident six miles north of Blandinsville; he is in the Holmes Hospital in Macomb.
Two oil burning locomotives from the Baldwin Locomotive Works at Philadelphia and intended for use by the Santa Fe in its western territory were sidetracked here several hours. They were monsters of the 4000 class and attracted much attention both by their size and form of construction which differed considerably from that of the ordinary coal burning engine.
MEDIA MEANDERINGS: The Academy and Community High School opened for the term with the brightest prospects for a good year than they have had for a number of years. Thirty pupils are enrolled and a few more are expected to start next Monday. Mr. A. B. Hoffman is again filling the position as principal and Mr. Wallace Myrtland as commercial teacher. A Miss Calbertson is taking the position Miss Shrank had last year. Miss Eleanor Kyle entertained the members of the 7, 8th and freshmen classes at her home. Quite a number from here went to Burlington to the beach Sunday, some taking their dinners and enjoying a picnic there. Miss Jean Mekemson returned to Media to resume her office work at the seed company having spent a couple of months visiting friends and relatives. Mrs. Grace Kimble returned home after staying near Sciota to take care of a sick patient. Mr. and Mrs. Olin Palmer are the happy parents of a 10 lb. boy born to them Monday. The Methodist held a pie social on the church lawn.
GLADSTONE GLEANINGS: Mr. L .D. Graham from Lucas, Iowa, and Miss Myrtle Cockrell from Burlington, Iowa, were guests of Mr. and Mrs. Will Graham. Mrs. Margaret Hall from Keokuk, Iowa, is visiting her niece, Mrs. A.J. Ditto and family. Ernest Burrell moved into Mrs. Ashbury's house in the west part of town. Ralph Miller, who has worked in the Gladstone garage, moved to Burlington. He will manage the repair department for the Reliable Auto Co. Mr. Cartwright moved into Chas. Hedges house. Mrs. Nora Marshall from St. Louis visited her mother, Mrs. Nancy Graham.
CARMAN CONCERNS: All the schools of Carman Township began Monday: Crystal Lake-Earl Marsden, teacher; Ellison Valley-Walter Howell, teacher; Kirby School-Mrs. Minnie Wiegand, teacher; Carman Schools-Mr. and Mrs. Wm. Lightner-in charge. The LaHarpe Fair, the Woodman picnic at Stronghurst, and the fair at Burlington, Iowa, were quite well attended from this township. A little son came Saturday to make his home at the Warren Dowell home; mother and babe are doing nicely. Mr. and Mrs. James Bevans returned from a few weeks visit with their daughter, Mrs. Thos. McIntire and family at Halfa, Iowa. Thos. Dixon was a caller on his sister, Mrs. Mary A. Parry. Gertrude Dowell is staying a few days at the Wright Smiddy home near Lomax.
Sept. 15, 1921 DEDICATED TO A NEW CAUSE: The Lomax Searchlight came out with an announcement stating that it had dropped its character as a village newspaper and had undertaken " A GREAT NATIONAL WORK" of promoting Employment and wages, Home Building, Land Subdivision and a County-Wide Program of Good Roads with non-profiteering public utilities in them to serve the country-all to stabilize the government and happily the people and bring prosperity to Merchants, Manufacturers, Farmers and all Workers; also to remove the Crown of thorns from the brows of the Profiteered-upon and Suffering Renters of the U.S.A.
The chief object of the endeavor hereafter will be the promoting of an organization called the "Pro-Bono Society," which seems to have had its inception in the fertile brain of Mr. Love, the originator of the "Greater Lomax" movement which a few years ago was attracting the attention of people in every part of the country, but which later suffered a collapse. (Read the particulars in this issue.)
SOLDIER'S BODY RETURNS HOME: Mr. Ira Foote received a telegraph from Hoboken, N.J., stating that the remains of his son Ernest, who was killed in action in France on July 15, 1918, would be started on its journey to Stronghurst on Sept. 14th and barring no accidents the body should reach here by Friday morning at least.
Ernest was the third Stronghurst boy to meet death on the battlefields of France during the recent war, Roy Foote and Harry Clark having preceded him in making the supreme sacrifice. So far as is known, the remains of the two latter mentioned boys still rest in foreign soil.
Ernest was the third child of Mr. and Mrs. Ira Foote born in Stronghurst Oct. 24, 1899 and died July 15, 1918, 18 years, 8 months and 21 days old. His whole life previous to his enlistment in the army was spent in and around Stronghurst. In the spring of 1917 he went to Burlington with a number of other young men from Henderson County and enlisted in Co.I of the Iowa State Militia. This company was afterwards sent to Camp Dodge for training and in the fall of 1917 was incorporated in the 168 U. S. Infantry, the famous "Rainbow Division" and sent to France. This regiment lost many men in the fighting which took place in the Chateau Thierry district in France in the summer of 1918 and the news of young Foote' death reached here on Aug. 14th when his father received a cablegram . . .
On account of the uncertainty regarding the time of arrival here, no funeral arrangement have been made. The services will probably be held in the Christian Church and conducted by Elder Catlin of Old Bedford. An effort has been made to have members of the American Legion Post at Burlington present to assist in the paying proper homage to the memory of the young soldier.
HE RESIGNED: Rev. K.R. Anderson surprised his congregation at the U. P. Church last Sabbath morning after delivering his sermon by announcing that he had tendered his resignation as pastor to the session and that the same had been accepted. He also announced that the resignation would be effectives as soon as Presbytery acted upon the formal application for a dissolution of the pastoral relation. A congregational meeting will be held on Sept. 25th when members will be asked to ratify the action of the session.
The retiring pastor assumed his duties May 1915 and has made marked progress both in matters temporal and spiritual. The membership has increased nearly 40%,
the house of worship has undergone extensive repairing and remodeling, and the contributions to missionary and benevolent enterprises, which constitute one of the chief evidences of real church growth, have shown a marked increase. Rev. Anderson has not decided upon the field of his future activities, but wherever he goes, he will carry the good wishes of the people of this community.