Clark County Press, Neillsville,

February 9, 2005, Page 12

Transcribed by Dolores (Mohr) Kenyon.

Index of "Oldies" Articles 

 

 

Compiled by Dee Zimmerman

 

 

Clark County News

February 1885

 

A very singular story of domestic coincidences and good fortune, bordering on the wonderful, furnishing a romance in which Sweden as well as the United States will be interested, was narrated to us Saturday.

 

Four years ago, last spring, Messrs. I. J. Strum and Gus Nelson came from Sweden to Door County, Wis., two years later moving to Washburn.

 

In the Old Country, they had let two young ladies, with whom they had a perfect understanding that after they made themselves homes in Washburn, they would send for their lady loves.  A year ago last June; their lady-loves arrived with a very happy reunion taking place.  A month later, the two couples went to Black River Falls where they had a double wedding.

••••••••••

The people of Humbird will build a Methodist Church, this spring.  H. E. Howes and Warren Page have kindly donated the logs .  We understand that logs are all cut and have been hauled in at Owens’ mill, ready to be sawed.  Besides, there is somewhere in the neighborhood of $300 already raised, labor and money.  There are others who are ready any time to give labor or money to help with starting the church.

••••••••••

Monday afternoon, as Albert Welch and Joe Dunn of Loyal were driving home, they found a yoke of oxen hitched to a small load of hay, standing near the brewery corner.  Investigating, they found Frank Bartholomew, a lad 16 years old under one of the sled runners, motionless.  They got him out from under the runner and brought him to his home.  Dr. Adams was summoned.  The boy remained unconscious until about three o’clock Tuesday afternoon, when he recovered sufficient to tell how the accident happened.  He attempted to get off the load by sliding down in front, slipped and fell under the sleigh. The cattle stopped as soon as he runner got on top of him.  How long he remained in that position, is not known.   He is recovering fast and the doctor thinks he will pull through all right.

••••••••••

Away up in Sawyer County, a progressive card game, euchre, is in full blast.  This fashionable game will bloom in Neillsville long after it has faded elsewhere.  Somehow or another, we don’t topple rapidly to the latest fads.

••••••••••

The Clark County Agricultural Society’s convention, at the courthouse, was well attended on Saturday.  Present was a representative body of Clark County farmers, who now more than ever before, are awake to the benefits to be gained by holding these meetings.  Mr. Hoard was present and did his work before the convention started.  The Convention was a valuable and instructive one and will no doubt be a regular annual feature of the Agricultural Society.  Farmers were here from many miles away.

••••••••••

Henry Welch’s boarding house and residence, located at Green Grove, nine miles east from Longwood, burned to the ground, with all the contents. The fire happened one day last week.  The loss was said to be about $500.

••••••••••

For millwork, pulleys, hangers, piping, brass and iron fittings, see W. W. Taplin, founder and machinist. He is also a dealer in all kinds of mill-saws, belting, packing and Babbit metal.  He does saw-gumming in all its forms at his shop, North Side, Neillsville.

••••••••••

Last Friday evening, a party of very young people stowed themselves away in a bobsled box and drove to Cannon’s mill in Washburn. There, they danced a while and then rode home again.  They try to make folks think they got home at 1 a.m., but – we don’t really believe it was at that hour.

••••••••••

The Central, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha railroad has placed on sale, at greatly reduced rates. Round Trip Excursion tickets to all Winter Tourists’ points in the South.  The following is the round trip rate to a few of the many points named: New Orleans, La., $46.15; Jacksonville, Fla., $68.05; Galveston, Texas, $64.15; Cedar Keys, Fla., $70.65.  Tickets can be secured on two or three days notice by calling an agent and naming the route desired.

 

February 1935

 

A cow that would not stand for seeing its owner gored by a bull saved the life of Charles Korth, farmer, northeast of Neillsville, Friday.  The cow butted the bull and drove it away from its luckless victim.

 

Mr. Korth slipped to the ground in the barnyard when he reached for the chain attached to the animal’s nose.  The bull immediately attacked Mr. Korth, breaking a bone in one of his wrists.

 

Suddenly, a cow left the herd and charged the bull, driving the animal away, giving Mr. Korth time to get to his feet and escape.

 

Mr. Korth attributes this piece of good fortune to the fact that he always has been kind to his cows, treating them as pets.

••••••••••

On Feb. 6, Mr. Joseph Struensee, Jr., and Miss Mildred Strebing were united in marriage at the home of the groom’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Struensee, Sr. in the Town of Levis.  Rev. G. W. Longenecker officiated at the ceremony. 

 

The bride and groom were attended by the bride’s brother, Ernest Strebing and her sister, Mrs. Blanche Skibicki.

 

The bride is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. August Strebing of the Town to (of) Washburn, living only a short distance from the home of the groom.

 

This fine young couple plans on living on a farm, which is owned by the groom’s father.  The farm is in the Town of Grant.

••••••••••

No slot machines are operating in Clark County at present, Sheriff Hal Richardson has reported to District Attorney John M. Peterson.  Mr. Peterson recently put the ban on gambling machines in Clark County.

••••••••••

Twenty counties in Wisconsin now owe Clark County between $4,000 to $5,000 for doctor bills and relief charges, which this county had to put up for the care of these outside residents during the past year of (or) two.

 

The mournful part of the affair is that these counties, with the exception of two, refuse to do anything about the matter of letting the taxpayers of Clark County hold the sack.  The two counties, which are now paying up their bills, are Chippewa and Taylor.  It also happens that a county or two in North Dakota are paying up bills for residents of theirs who had to be taken care of while in Clark County.

 

Following are the counties, which show no signs of life when bills are sent to them, which, according to the law, “must” pay:

 

La Crosse, Langlade, Milwaukee, Ozaukee, Richland, Racine, Sawyer, Wood, Marathon, Jackson, Dane, Barron, Burnett, Bayfield, Crawford, Douglas, Eau Claire and Fond du Lac.

••••••••••

Another policeman will be added to the force, in Neillsville, so as to permit eight-hour shifts instead of the present 12-hour shifts.  This was decided by the city council at its Tuesday night meeting.  Under the plan, adopted salaries of the present police officers will be reduced so that the three men will receive a total of only $5 more per month than Chief George Fred Rossman and night Policeman George Cramer, now receive.  The council voted to give the policemen a vacation every year.

••••••••••

Kurt Schoenherr furnished a little old-time excitement, Saturday, when his horse left him in a snow bank at the Pine Valley town hall corner, west of the city, staging a run-away.  The horse was hitched to a light bob sleigh and when turning the corner at the railroad bridge, the sleigh slewed and threw Mr. Schoenherr out.  The animal took fright and ran away, turning north on Seventh Street, where it slackened its pace and walked into the sheds at the rear of the Roehrborn store.  A little six-year old girl, who was with her grandfather at the time the horse passed his place of business, remarked, “So that’s a run-away.”

••••••••••

O. W. Lewerenz, this week purchased from the Neillsville Bank, the building occupied by the V. C. Woelffer Music store on East Fifth Street.  Mr. Lewerenz will take possession as soon as possible, using the building as a storeroom for the filling station and the Wagner restaurant.  Later, he plans to tear the building down and build an addition to the restaurant.

 

O. W. Lewerenz returned Thursday from a short business trip to Milwaukee where he completed arrangements for taking over the agency of Oldsmobile, Pontiac, La Fayette and Nash cars as well as Diamond T trucks.

••••••••••

Owing to the structural weakness of the Neillsville city hall building, large crowds will not be permitted to gather in the council chambers.  The weight of the crowd at the O. W. Pritchett hearing, Feb. 13 caused the south partition to sag, resulting in a large crack in the wall.  The door to the chamber also was thrown out of plumb and will have to be planed off before it can swing freely. The building has been in a weakened condition for some time and it doesn’t take much of a disturbance to start it trembling.

••••••••••

The head of the 42 point buck, shot by Earl Holt last fall near Bayfield, has been mounted and is on display at the Potter Filling station on North Hewett Street.  No one seems willing to guess the age of the buck, but Mr. Holt is reported to have remarked that it must have been an extremely old deer because when they cooked the meat “even the gravy was tough.”

••••••••••

The boxing classes at the gymnasium in Johnson’s Billiard hall took on added interest Tuesday night.  Lawrence Drescher, 18-year old son of Mr. and Mrs. Arnold Drescher, Town of Grant, appeared on the scene in all the glory of his six-foot height and 190 pounds of muscle. Drescher carries a pile driver sock and apparently has no feeling when it comes to absorbing punches.  Herb Grottke and Clifford Shaw exchanged gloves with Drescher and found the going plenty tough.  Drescher has had no experience, but has the makings of a good heavyweight.

 

John Gard, 152 pounds, Town of Weston, worked out with Roy Feutz, 138 pounds, of Granton.  Both boys showed lots of speed.  Roy also worked out with Donnie Gall, 128 pounds. Gall is coming along nicely and the railbirds are predicting he will make a name for himself if he continues to improve as he has in the short time he has been boxing.

 

Oliver Ormond and Robert Riggs went two furious rounds, both men showing lots of speed.

 

David Krutsch, Shortville, matched his 6 feet, 3 inches of height and 160 pounds against Oluf Botnen for two rounds of snappy action.

 

Calvert Lloyd went through a whirlwind round with Donnie Gall.

 

The boxing students’ instructor is Henry Rahn.

••••••••••

(Memories of Dr. L. E. Pitcher when he lived in Neillsville)

 

Music hath charms to soothe the savage beast and many savage beasts have been soothed in Neillsville’s early days.

 

In Neillsville High School, Cassie MacMillan and Neal Taplin played the piano that Professor Morrison bought for $65, as the rest of us marched.

 

The “lost chords” of strains of Sousa, “Midnight Fire Alarm,” El Capitan and other marches still stir my memory.  I remember the camp meetings in tents on French’s lawn, Withee’s woods and other places where the choruses at these revivals made the notes ring.  Jesse Flynn Sturdevant used to accompany us on the organ at practice at the North Side School and at her home in the Holden house.  I can still envision Alma and Eda Neverman, Teddy and Mary McVanera, Winnie Suffocool, Ferdinand Deutsch as we rendered “I stood on the bridge at midnight’ with funereal (funeral?) solemnity.

 

In the early days on the North Side, neighborhood gatherings were held and Bill Burgess and George Miller scraped a pair of wicked fiddles while we “tripped the light fantastic.”  I remember one case where the light was literally tripped when some dancer tipped over a stand with a lamp on it at the Payne residence where Mrs. Bass and daughters Lida and Josie, later lived.  The lamp was lit again while dancers chanted “Where was Moses when the light went out?”

 

Speaking of Moses reminds me of a reception for a pastor of the Presbyterian Church held at the James Hewett mansion, on the hill where a choir composed of a few of us irresponsible’s rendered “Just as the Bull rushes at little Moses” to the horror of our teacher and the amusement of some of our guests, giving the piece a Mexican or Spanish aspect of a toreador.

 

Little German bands and Italian harps and orchestras played upon the cobblestone main street on numerous occasions and pried loose several nickels, always visiting Father Voltz and the Eilert brewery before they departed for Marshfield.  Ringling Bros., Golmar Bros., Winninger family and the Dode Fiske Dog and Pony show were a few of the stellar attractions appearing on Gates’ field, Hewett’s field, Wick Lynch’s pasture and other places.  Many of a time I went to the train depot to see the groups arrive before daybreak and was lulled to sleep at night by the strains of music.

••••••••••

The Warden and Isenberger men folks, living in the Eidsvold community, have been hauling ice from Chapman’s Lake to fill their icehouses.

••••••••••

Floyd Winn came over from Granton Thursday on the afternoon train, returning on the midnight train, making the rounds of his Neillsville cronies.  He was getting the local gossip and giving his friends the benefits of some of his doubts and disagreements.

••••••••••

A & P Food Store Week’s Specials are:

 

Eight O’clock Coffee, 3 lbs. 55c; Ann Page, Raspberry or Strawberry Preserves, 4-lb. jar 49c; Pillsbury Pancake Flour, 2-20 oz. boxes 21c; Aged American Cheese, lb. 23c.

 

The Model Laundry will clean and block hats, using the factory method, for only 75c per hat.  “Make our phone line your clothes line.”  Phone 30

¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤

 

 

The one-room Chili School was located one block west of the Methodist Church.  Students who attended the school in 1944 included (left to right) back row, Ken Haslow, Lenny Hill, Don Spry, Ken Billman, Elmer Grobe, Irvin Rusch, Donald Billman (3rd row) Evelyn Bartsch, Arlene Andrew, Sonja Seefeldt, Mary Ellen Haslow, Sally Seefeldt, Herb Puscheck, Ronnie Happe (2nd row) Ronnie Selk, Beverly Spry, Lois Gerber, Nyla Nelson, Louie Grobe (1st row) Eddie Grobe, Jerry Billman, Dale Zimmerman, Carol Nelson and Barbara Haslow.  (Photo courtesy of Beverly Helm)

 

 


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