History of New Rockford: March 5, 2018

On July 3, 1901, T.H. Adam was in town. Mr. and Mrs. J. Faust, who farmed in the Sheyenne Valley near Valley City, arrived to visit their daughter Mrs. Olof Lundquist and her husband for a week or so. J.C. Fay and Frank Woodward, carpenters with an NP crew, came in for the Fourth. Farmer Scott Knoble was in town on business. Traveling agent C.E. Clure stopped in New Rockford to spend the Fourth with his parents. Miss Cora Davidson, Miss Alice Swain, H. Peoples, and Donald Niven went to the Chautauqua.

There was a Fourth of July celebration at Roberts’ Grove.

On July 4, New Rockford played baseball at Bowdon; quite a few New Rockford residents attended. Bowdon 10; New Rockford 9.

That day some children were setting off fireworks when one got some shotgun shells, opened them, and poured all the powder together in a pile to create a “mammoth explosion.” When the powder was touched off, five-year old Willie Baird, son of Mr. and Mrs. W.O. Baird, had his right hand badly burned and lacerated, but no amputations would be necessary. Hazel Kepner received a slight burn on her face.

Also that day in the C.J. Maddux law office, George E. Adams and E.A. Whitney of Marshalltown, Iowa, closed the sale of the Isaac F. Studebaker farm to George Treffry. The farm was located four miles southeast of New Rockford; the price was $33,000 (almost thirty dollars per acre). Four years prior, Studebaker had arrived in New Rockford with two thousand dollars. He purchased the farm from Axtle Johnson for $14,000 in April 1897. Treffry had a wife, six sons, and four daughters.

That day, Mrs. P.M. Immel and daughter came to New Rockford from Dawson to visit Mrs. H.G. Hudson on their way to the Chautauqua. Miss Bessie Lathrop of Grand Rapids, MI, arrived to visit her sister Mrs. L.J. Brown; it was Miss Lathrop’s first visit to Eddy County. She left on July 24. That night a strong wind toppled the water tower and tank at the Maddux residence and also destroyed a force pump.

On July 4, Mrs. Charles Culp’s father, Mr. Pottinger, 76, died at Oberon. The funeral was July 6; afterward Mrs. Pottinger returned with the Culps to New Rockford.

The July 5, 1901, “Transcript” saw editor C.J. Maddux once again lambasting State’s Attorney Peter M. Mattson. He said “Pete” ran a newspaper “without brains.”

Maddux went on, “Pete swore he never drank or gambled in Hoy’s poker emporium. If perjury sends a soul to perdition—and Pete has one—it will rest on the lower grate.”

“Snake-eyed Pete” had fifty-five businessmen in New Rockford subpoenaed to testify for him, “but he didn’t dare call them on the stand.”

“It is a picture for the gods to see Pete staggering along the street under a four-ton pressure of ‘bug-juice’ and telling everyone he is prosecuting attorney.”

“Snake-eyed Pete, the pudden-headed barrister of Eddy County, is up at the Chautauqua” this week. “Is he operating a roulette wheel, crap table or shell game?”

Continuing, Maddux claimed on July 3 a drayman made a mistake: he took a case of beer to Pete, who showed him the error on the bill of lading, so the drayman went back to the depot and brought back Pete’s barrel of beer.

“Hoy used to stand down on the street and dare Pete to have him arrested for selling ‘booze.’ Pete would put his tail between his legs and slink away.”

Pete was doing one of the most difficult things he had ever done—“keeping sober.”

When Pete got behind in a game of poker, he just reached across to the game keeper and appropriated some chips. The game keeper, confronted by “the strong arm of the law,” always gave in.

Pete’s newspaper, the “Provost,” had made a sewer of its columns. Its subscribers were mainly “Pete’s friends in the gambling and pigging element.” The “Transcript” then commended itself for going “Into the best families in the county, and is read and patronized by the intelligent law-abiding class.” On the other hand, Pete’s paper was long on “ignorance, indecency in expression, and vulgarity.”

That issue called for a curfew because “a gang of kids” was roaming the streets until midnight almost every night and were noisy enough to disturb the peace.

A notice from Charles A. Pake warned area farmers not to do business with the “old bankrupt rounder” who was contracting for an October delivery of flax because if the price fell, the farmers would get nothing.

“The other night” a thief removed the staples from John Williams’ fence and carried off a hundred pounds of barbed wire.

During the week, Miss Lucie Nelson of Carrington visited Mr. and Mrs. E.S. Severtson.

Mr. and Mrs. J.W. Stoddard had finished their visit to the Pan American Exposition in Buffalo, NY, and Niagara Falls; they went across Lake Ontario to Toronto and were planning on visiting several cities on the Atlantic Coast.

John Seckinger was preparing to be a juror at Federal District Court in Devils Lake in August.

The Northern Pacific was preparing to put in a large loading platform at the new Pake Elevator.

D. Bombach [Dick Bohmbach?] had taken up a ten-year old black horse weighing almost 900 lbs. on June 19 at his farm eight miles northwest of New Rockford. The animal had saddle marks and a rope around its neck.

P.J. Braman, clerk of the New Rockford School Board, would receive bids in the county judge’s office for the completion of the upper rooms of the New Rockford School until July 5.

During the previous week, Dr. MacLachlan vaccinated two hundred people on the Ft. Totten Reservation, where several cases of smallpox had been reported. During that week M.F. Kepner went to Wells County on business. Mrs. J.E. Bennett went to Sheyenne, was joined by her sister Mrs. Jennie Nunn, and together they went to Manitoba for a visit of two weeks. Earl Starks took a position with the Gull River Lumber Co.

On the morning of July 5, Frank Dusek was over from his farm near Twist Post Office in Wells County. George Ackerman and son returned from the Chautauqua after several days there. Oscar Bauer severely lacerated three fingers on his left hand on the buzz saw at Brownell’s mill, but it didn’t appear amputation would be necessary.

On July 5 and 6, William Farley and Joseph Dutee, Jr., were in town.

On July 5 to 8, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Turner were in town.

On July 6, M. Mattson and Mr. and Mrs. Peter Butler were in New Rockford. Ewald & Yale of Barlow received a shipment of hardware and were currently in the hardware business. Foster County surveyor L.B. Ewald had completed the survey of the Barlow Cemetery, and the plat had been accepted by the Barlow Cemetery Association. Mr. and Mrs. J.G. Martin of Wells County were in New Rockford. Mrs. A.J. Ford arrived home from the Pan American Exposition in Buffalo, NY, and other eastern points; her mother and Mrs. Ford’s daughter accompanied her on a portion of the trip. Mrs. James Roaldson and baby returned to Brinsmade after a visit with her mother Mrs. D.H. Keyton and family. That evening the Degree of Honor hosted a patriotic entertainment in the large rooms of Ohrner Hall which were decorated in the national colors. Refreshments were served in the colors of red, white, and blue. Members of the Degree of Honor and the United Workmen, their spouses, and escorts were invited, and they found the evening “very enjoyable.” The entertainment included singing, dancing and card playing. Mr. and Mrs. George Setz came in from their farm to attend.

The fireworks ordered by Barlow for the Fourth of July didn’t arrive on time, so they were set off on the evening of July 6.