The Graphic

August 11, 1927

800 PEOPLE RIDE THE BOAT:  The steamboat excursion from Oquawka to Keokuk Tuesday, August 9th, as planned by the Henderson County Chamber of Commerce, was a success from every standpoint.  About 900 people made the trip, most of them being town people and from the north end of the county. However, in view of the fact that this is an unusually busy time on the farms, the attendance from the country was very gratifying.  About 50 people were present from Stronghurst community. Everyone making the trip seemed to have a pleasant time and the steamer, Capitol, was greatly praised.  The greater percentage of the crowd was made up of older people.  Visiting, dancing and playing cards as well as sight seeing served as pleasant diversions while aboard.  Tables were provided and picnic dinners were enjoyed by many.

The Capitol did not arrive at Keokuk until about 2 o’clock in the afternoon, about one hour later than scheduled time.  Upon landing, most of the delegation took the opportunity to inspect the huge power plant at the Keokuk dam, a sight which people frequently travel hundreds of miles to see.  The return trip was made in a little better scheduled time.  The weather was ideal throughout the day and evening and contributed decisively to the success of the excursion.

WEDDING BELLS: SHAFER & BOGGS: Miss Eva Shafer, the only daughter of Mr. and Mrs. G. A. Shafer of Stronghurst and Mr. Arlo Boggs of East Moline, Illinois, were united in marriage at the home of the bride’s parents at 8 o’clock Friday evening, August 5th.  The single ring ceremony was used with Rev. W. H. Cross of the United Church, Media, Illinois, officiating. The bridal party entered to the strains of Lohengrin’s Wedding March played by Miss Adeline Stevenson of Biggsville and took their places beneath a huge white wedding bell, which hung from an arch made in a double doorway between the parlor and front room.  The arch was of lattice work and flowers and the room was beautiful with many bouquets of cut flowers. The bride was charming in a dress of orchid satin with the bridal veil. She carried a bouquet of white roses.  The groom was attired in a suit of grey.

Having spent practically all of her life in this community, the bride’s many accomplishments make her an excellent help-mate for her life’s companion.  The groom is the oldest son of Mr. and Mrs. H. E. Boggs of Kimmel, Indiana and has been employed for some time with Stack’s florists of East Moline.  He is very industrious and a trusted employee.

Miss Virgie Boggs, a cousin of the groom and a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. R. J. Boggs of East Moline, Illinois acted as ring bearer carrying the token of love on the stem of a white rose.  The pretty little miss was attired in a dress of peach silk rayon.  The bridesmaid, Miss Nellie Bowen of Aledo, Illinois, wore a dress of rose stain and carried a handsome bouquet of white roses.  Paul Bell of Stronghurst acted as best man…

WIN AT THE FAIR:  Three members of the Central County Calf Club entered calves in competition at the Burlington Tri-State Fair this week and on Tuesday all of them received awards.  William Whiteman took second in the shorthorn calves, Kenneth Whiteman third and Irvin Luken sixth in the Hereford class.

A camp on the fairgrounds permitted the boys to stay at a very small cost and Mr. Page Randall, leader of the Central County Club reports the boys are having a wonderful time.  The three boys having calves on exhibit are there all week.  The leader and five other club members: Wm Gibb, Wayne McGaw, John Roy Cochran, Loren Stevenson and Boyd Stevenson were in camp Tuesday and Wednesday.  Two of the boys slept on one small cot Tuesday night and the result was not altogether favorable of slumber,  afforded much merriment and covers were scarce.

The boys are admitted to the fairgrounds free all week and to the grandstand on Tuesday.  They were taken to the Y.M.C.A. for swims, toured through the Iowa Soap Co. and learned how soap was made (each boy received a bar of Palm Rose as a souvenir), visited the city jail, but in the eyes of the boys their greatest experience was probably at the city fire department where Chief Blank explained all about fire fighting and exhibited the apparatus.  All in all, this was a treat at a small cost and more club members should attend next year.

DROWN IN THE MISSISSIPPI:  Miss Hazel Higgins and Harry Boecker, both about 20 years and of Burlington, Iowa, drowned in the Mississippi River on August 4th.  They went for a swim leaving from Gladstone Township on the Illinois side and never returned.  The young man’s body was found Friday morning and the lady’s in the water near Shokokon that afternoon.  It is thought the girl, being an indifferent swimmer, got beyond her depth and the young man attempted to save her with both losing their lives.

ROBBERS MAKE $900 LOOT THIS MORNING:  Stronghurst was the scene of a sensational robbery early this morning when the night watchman, constable Jesse Denum, was bound and gagged and guarded in the Simpson Bros. Garage by a couple of thieves while the rest of the gang broke the locks on two rear doors of the building occupied by M. E. Beardsley’s clothing and E. F. Beardsley’s shoe store and succeeded in getting away with about $900 or $1,000 worth of merchandise.

The thieves were quite particular in choosing their loot.  The best suits and over coats were taken and the cheaper ones left piled on the floor.  Trousers, dress shirts, ladies’ hosiery, footwear and other wearing apparel were also taken.  Fortunately, the money had been removed from the cash register the evening before. A tire, three flashlights and one dollar and a half in change was taken from the Simpson Bros. Garage.

Constable Denum was relieved of his flashlight, badge and a number of keys.  The thieves very obligingly left him two five-dollar bills which he happened to have in his pocketbook.  No other robberies seemed to have been attempted.  Mr. Denum explains that shortly after midnight two men approached him saying they wanted some gasoline as their supply had run out and they were forced to leave their automobile out of town.  As Mr. Denum had the key to the garage, he went in for a can to get the gasoline.  The men followed him and while his back was turned, each pulled a gun on him and commanded him to sit down on a chair.  After the robbers had finished their work, they left him bound and gagged.  Constable Denum soon had worked himself loose and immediately summoned the Sheriff   W. B. Gregory, who arrived from Oquawka in a short time.  The police chiefs were promptly notified in neighboring cities and authorities within a radius of several hundred miles are on the lookout for the thieves.

HENDERSON COUNTY CROP PROSPECTS:  The outlook for Henderson County crops is fairly good this year.  In the southeastern part of the county, the corn is good, but owing to the unusual weather, it is about two weeks behind.  Some fields of equally good corn are down in the bottoms, but much of the corn there will never mature as its growth was held back by floods earlier in the season.  Watermelons will probably be on the market by September first, but the crop will not be as large this year.  Tomatoes look as if they will ripen in about two weeks.  The factory here will be open in plenty of time to care for them.

MEMORIES OF DR. HARTER (very early settler of Stronghurst): Forty years did you say?  Forty years since we came to Stronghurst?  You’re right.  November first, nineteen twenty-seven will finish the fortieth year.  “Twas while the darkies were piling up the clay which is now the Santa Fe dump north of town.  Do you remember how they sang in the evening?  Such wonderful voices.  It taken a negro to sing a negro song-Ober Jordan, Carry Me Back to Old Virginny and Swing Low, Sweet Chariot.  I hope they’ll sing it again when the chariot comes “to carry me home.”

I’ll never forget how you looked the day you drove Dexter and Molly over from Carman with the boys wedged in between bundles and bags and sack of bedding and the stove pipe tied under the buggy bed.  You looked the pioneer sure enough that time.

When I hear folks talk about needing more room, I have to laugh.  Under our one roof was the Charley Johnson family, Isaac Nichols folks, Henry King and “Manda”, Mother Harter and Tanner, the railroad telegraph operator.  Then just to keep from getting lonesome, we boarded 28 work men.  Do you remember the man who wouldn’t eat soft bread and always took all the crust from the slices when the plate reached him?  I was glad enough when that railroad well was dug.

That wasn’t such a bad idea, that grocery store we built on Mary Street.  Cost a hundred dollars ($328+ in today’s values) but I rather think we made enough on the butter you messed together and worked over to pay the lumber bill. If some of the rolls were a trifle strong, it’ no wonder.  It came a good ways and the roads were nothing to brag of. ( Elizabeth Curry of Olena would walk the four miles to town to sell butter.) When they were impassable for teams, the men put on their rubber boots and came in afoot for groceries.  Remember the time Ed Fort advised somebody to come in through the window and leave his feet outdoors?

“Twas quite an improvement from what we had been having when we moved to Mary Street.  Had cheese cloth curtains, looked real lacy, didn’t they?  Could hardly afford them, but one has to keep up appearances when he lives in a metropolis.

Remember the day you thought we had been earth-quaked?  Whose horse was it that was tied to the railing of our stairway and jerked it down when a “Graphic” blew down the street  That was once the boys stayed where they were put; unusually they had to be rounded up every hour or so.

We finally did get a hitching rack and a sidewalk.  The sidewalk reached all the way from Hall’s grocery to the next street west; two boards laid end to end and Mack Dicky says you drove the first nail, Mary.  It was a good walk as far as it went.

The first church services in town were held in our store on the corner here.  Mr. Buchanan preached; had a board on a barrel for a pulpit.  Then a Mr. Brink came and he “put up our house”  Waldo didn’t care for long sermons and the congregation never forgot how he brought the services to a close one day by walking up to the pulpit and remarking, “Come on, Brink, let’s go home: I’m hungry.”  Seems a long while ago, doesn’t it?

And then it was “out of the old house into the new.”  We had plenty of room then and we needed it for the boys were growing up and liked to bring their friends home with them.  I believe we liked to have them come as well as the boys did, didn’t we?  I’m not much of a musician, but I knew enough to enjoy their singing.  That rollicking bunch of boys!” Where do you suppose they are now?  If they are living and ever come back to their old haunts, they’ll get a welcome here, won’t they?  Yes, even though our own have gone, gone and left a lonely house for you and me!  O wife, let’s not talk about those long-ago days.  Let’s have some of the old-time friends in; maybe they’ll enjoy it and I know we will.

And so it came about that on the afternoon of August 6th a company of friends and relatives gathered to celebrate the doctor’s birthday anniversary at Arbo Vita, the new home of Mr. and Mrs. Harter on Broadway and just west of the park.  Here it was learned that Mrs. Harter and Mrs. Zula Allison were the hostesses entertaining not only a house opening but in honor of the birthdays of the Doctor and his nephew, Mr. Harter Kirkpatrick.

A pleasant time was had at this beautiful home reviewing by-gone days in conversation being the chief source of amusement.  As the afternoon was quite warm, the light refreshments of iced orangeade and wafers proved quite agreeable.  A beautiful bouquet of tamarix was presented to the “Harter twins” and the following poem written especially for the occasion by Mrs. W.C. Ivins and read by Mrs. Bruce Kirkpatrick seemed quite appropriate and was greatly appreciated by all present. (Read the poem at the library.  This is how they honored people back then, write and read a poem).

At six o’clock the party adjourned to the dining parlor of the NuVon Hotel.  Here covers were laid for 38 people and a chicken dinner served which was so complete and delicious that all agreed it could not be surpassed anywhere.  Mrs. Harter called the names of guests at random, asking them for speeches and everyone responded.  This proved an unusual and highly enjoyable method of entertainment.  The Doctor and Mr. Kirkpatrick were congratulated and wished may more happy birthdays.  The hostesses were also given a vote of thanks in appreciation of their kindness.  Several songs were sung and upon closing all agreed that old acquaintances should not be forgotten and that Mrs. Harter and Mrs. Allison had chosen a truly pleasant way in remembering old friends.

The following were the invited guests: J. Harter Kirkpatrick of Elgin, Ill.; Mrs. Emma Harter, Miss Glendeane Kirkpatick, and Mr. and Mrs. W. B. Kirkpatrick of Elgin; Mr. and Mrs. W. J. McElhinny, Mr. and Mrs. J. E. Ammerman of Alpha, Ill.; Mrs. Zula Allison, Mr. and Mrs. Walter Dobbin, Mr. and Mrs. C. E. Peasley, Mr. and Mrs. C. H. Davis, Mrs. S. S. Slater, Mrs. CH. McLain, Miss Taylor, Floyd Clark, Paul Bell, Glen McElhinney, Miss Sarah McElhinney, Miss Lucile Jones, Mr. and Mrs. W.J. McKeown, Mr. and Mrs. W.C. Ivins, M. and Mrs. Chas. Bell, Mr. and Mrs. Frank Smith, Mr. and Mrs. Asa Worthington, Miss Ella McKeown, Mrs. Mary Dixson, Mrs. Effie Johnstone, Kansas City, Mo., Mrs. Mary Thompson, Miss Naomi Cooper, Mrs. Ruby Butler, Miss Grace Slater, and I. F. Harter.