During this summer Mr. Maurice Woolman brought the first automobile to the city. He had previously made one himself, but as it was not a success he claimed nothing for it. L. A. Casper was the next to follow and they have continued to arrive until at the present writing they keep two repair establishments constantly at work, and if they continue to multiply the prophecy made twenty-five centuries ago will soon be fulfilled, viz.: "The chariots shall rage in the streets. They shall jostle one against another in the broad ways; they shall seem like torches; they shall run like the lightnings." (Nahum, 2d chapter, 4th verse.)

Another prominent man passed away. Capt. D. F. Eicher was captain of Co. E, 7th Iowa cavalry; a good citizen as well as soldier.

At the election held November 7, 1899, the following state and county officers were elected: Senator A. S. Hazelton; representatives, John H. Jinks and G. M. Putnam; county treasurer, Wm. Arnd; sheriff, L. B. Cousins; coroner, V. L. Treynor; county superintendent of schools, O. G. McManus; surveyor, Ernest E. Cook; supervisor, H. C. Brandes.

January 1, 1900, the new year was ushered in with blowing of whistles, ringing of bells and firing of cannon.

January 5 Frank F. Everest was appointed supervisor of census for the ninth district of Iowa, to commence June 1.

January 10 Mrs. Wm. Geddes, daughter of H. H. Field, and sister of Mrs. T. E. Cavin and Mrs. H. H. Glover of Grand Island, Neb., died in Washington City.

D. C. Bloomer, one of the mast prominent men of western Iowa, died February 28 at his home on Fourth street.

At the school election held in March B. F. Sergant, republican, and Dr. D. Macrae, Jr., democrat, were elected directors and W. E. Hooerstock treasurer of the board of education.

Dr. Chas. C. Plunket died at his home at 703 East Pierce street and on April 12 Norman Green, an old citizen, died at his home at 540 East Pierce street.

At the city election for 1900-1901, the following officers were elected: Mayor, Victor Jennings; clerk, N. C. Phillips ; deputy clerk, H. M. Brown; treasurer, F. T. True; solicitor, S. B. Wadsworth; auditor, F. L. Evans; engineer, S. L. Etnyer; electrician, James G. Bradley; judge superior court, E. E. Aylesworth; marshal, S. I. Albro; deputy marshals, Chas. H. White and D. Denney; street commissioner, A. E. Avery; city physician, H. B. Jennings; superintendent of markets, Wm. Higgeson; poll tax collector, A. Fellentreter; assessor, F. F. Everest, chief of fire department, John Templeton; assistant chief, F. H. Hitchcock; captain hose house, No.1, A. H. Telfer; No. 2, C. H. Mathesan; No. 3, F. G. Hitchcock; No. 4, Charles Watts; park commissioners, M. P. Schmidt, C. A. Tibbits and Frank Peterson.

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March 15 a $7,000 fire occurred in Jacob Zoller's store, corner of First and Broadway. Covered by insurance.

March 20 J. A. Gregory was sentenced to the penitentiary by Judge Smith for twenty years for larceny, being his third term.

May 31 John Shannon Briggs, last of the family of Hon. Ansel Briggs, first governor of Iowa, died in Omaha.

June 12 Judge Walter I. Smith was nominated for Congress by acclamation.

July 26 A.T. Whittlesey, veteran newspaper man, died at the home of his daughter, Mrs. W. 13. Fisher, on Vine street.

July 28 Mrs. Gallup, wife of I. N. Gallup, died at their home in Garner township.

August 8 Mrs. Jas. Baker fell down stairs at her home at 101 West Broadway, breaking her neck, and lived but a few moments.

August 16 news was received of the death of Capt. Will H. Murphy, killed in battle in the Philippine war, casting a gloom aver the whole community.

August 26 John Clausen, a leading merchant and one of our best citizens, died at his home on East Broadway.

September County Fair was held at Avoca and was well attended and the display was immense.

James Stageman, an old settler.of Garner township, died this month.

October 3 robbers attempted to rob the express on the K. C. & St. Joe road. Messenger C. E. Baxter shot and killed one of them. The others made their escape in the dark.

The remains of Capt. Will H. Murphy arrived and were buried in Fairview cemetery with military honors.

October 4 the contract was let for the new high school bui1ding to Geo. F. Hughes for $57,000.

September 12 Thomas Officer died, and an the 10th his partner, W. H. M. Pusey, was committed to the insane asylum at Clarinda.

October 8 application. was made for appointment of a receiver for the Officer & Pusey bank by J. J. Stewart, administrator for the estate of Co1. Adisan Cochran.

November 12 Mrs. Adelphia Sylvester of Garner died at the homestead where she had lived for nearly a half century, and an the same day in the city Dr. W. L. Patton died at the W. C. A. Hospital.

November 15 W. H. M. Pusey died at the asylum at Clarinda and his remains were brought home for interment.

No event since the settlement of Council Bluffs has caused the astonishment that was occasioned by the closing up of the affairs of the banking house a.! Officer & Pusey. When the first breath of suspicion was whispered that there might be something wrong, everyone that had known them longest ridiculed the idea. Few people that were acquainted with their conservative business methods, plain, even frugal domestic habits, and almost severe piety, but believed something like a million in their awn right slumbered in the vault of that bank and that of their correspondent in New York.

Beebee's Hall (click image for full size)

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Among the heavy depositors with Officer & Pusey were J. H. Gregg, $42,550 and W. H. Kuhn, $31,109; Fred Miller, $14,800 and John Linder $10,000.

At the election for county officers held November 6, 1900, the following persons were elected: Clerk of the court, B. L. Reed; auditor, R. V. Innis; recorder, E. E. Smith; attorney, W. H. Killpack; supervisors, Percy Kearney and B. G. Auld.

During this year much attention has been given to the public highways. Miles of paving have been made on the streets of Council Bluffs and twice as many of brick or cement sidewalks, besides a large amount in the other cities and towns of the county, while the country roads have been greatly improved.

January 1, 1901, J. J. Crowe was arrested on request of Omaha's chief of police as an accomplice of Pat but nothing came of it.

January 24 Alex. Prentice, a pioneer of Crescent, died. He was born in Lanarkshire, Scotland, December 21, 1829.

February 5 Isaac Smith and Joseph Coofman were killed and a boy badly injured on the crossing of the Northwestern railroad and Avenue E.

Mrs. Martha Knepher, widow of Samuel Knepher, one of the pioneers, died at her home on Glenn avenue. She was a native of Wayne county, Ohio. They came to the Bluffs in 1854. Mr. Knepher was a merchant of the early days.

On February 12 Arthur Goff, the musical prodigy, mention of whom is made in another part of this history, died at the age of twelve years.

March 6 Mrs. Martha Spetman died of paralysis at her home on Fourth avenue, at seventy-one years of age.

April 23 Mrs. Mary Huffman, aged seventy, and Mrs. Elizabeth Jeffries, aged eighty-seven, died. Both had been residents of Council Bluffs for forty years.

For the past three months there were many cases of smallpox, but few fatal.

June 19 Mrs. Burchard, wife of N. C. Burchard, died at her home in Hardin township.

Also Mrs. Mary Roberts, aged eighty-four, at her home in Hazel Dell.

Herman Sheckloth was instantly .killed about two miles east of Neola by a Milwaukee train.

July 9 David De Vol, aged ninety-five, died at the homestead of half a century on South First street.

July 10 Mrs. McMullen, wife of Solomon McMullen, died at her home in Crescent.

July 24 the torrid spell of weather that lasted twenty days in succession, in which the heat reached one hundred degrees, was broken.

July 25 Riley W. C. Luce, foreman in employ of the Illinois Central Railroad Company, was instantly killed while on duty. The coroner's jury rendered a verdict censuring the company.

August 10 a young man named Carl Stoner, from Lincoln, Neb., was drowned in Manawa.

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August 20 there was a destructive fire at the U. P. freight transfer, entailing a loss of from $50,000 to $100,000.

September 6 Henry Clay McMullen, of Crescent, died at the age of seventy-six.

On the same day the people were shocked by the news of the assassination of President McKinley while at the Buffalo Exposition.

September 24 Charles T. Officer was indicted for fraudulent banking. At the election held November 5, 1901, the following officers were elected: Representatives, John H. Jinks and W. O. Freeman; sheriff, L. B. Cousins; coroner, Dr. V. L. Treynor; school superintendent, O. J. McManus; surveyor, E. E. Cook; supervisors, D. F. Dryden and W. F. Baker.

November 3 three men were killed in the Northwestern yards at different times. Their names were A. J. Headlee, Thomas Green and Chas. Anderson. December 18 John Schemerhorn, a veteran newspaper man, died.

January 1, 1902, Wm. Tompkins, of Macedonia, suicided after shooting and wounding his granddaughter.

On the 17th Geo. F. Smith, an old settler, and father of Hon. Walter I. Smith, was found dead in his room at the Ogden House, supposed to have been suffocated by escaping gas. .

February 5 A. B. Smith, superintendent of Refining Company, dropped dead at the corner of Main street and Seventh avenue from heart disease. On the same day G. A. Robinson, an old pioneer, the first county judge, died at his home on Thirty-fourth street from the infirmities of old age.

At the school election held March 10 J. J. Hess and Mr. Gorman, republicans, were elected directors, and Geo. S. Davis, democrat, treasurer.

At the city election for 1902-3 the following officers were elected: Mayor, Dell G. Morgan; clerk, N. C. Phillips; treasurer, F. T. True; solicitor, S. B. Snyder; auditor, F. L. Evans; engineer, T. L. Etnyre; electrician, Jas. G. Bradley; judge of superior court, Geo. H. Scott; marshal, C. A. Tibbits; street commissioner, G. C. Taylor; city physician, F. W. Houghton; superintendent of markets, W m. Higgeson; poll tax collector, A. Fellentratter; assessor, F. F. Everest; chief of fire department, John L. Templeton.

April 10 Dan Carpenter, one of the first printers of Pottawattamie county, and at one time interested in the Council Bluffs Bugle, died at the Printers' Home at Colorado Springs, Colo.

July 20 a man named Roderick was held to the grand jury by Justice Bryant for the murder of a man named Moyer.

August 20 Peter Jacobs, a lineman in the employ of the telegraph company, while shifting wires, was electrocuted and instantly killed.

Peter Boogs, while working on the building of the wholesale grocery of Groneweg & Schoentgen, fell through an opening, striking on his head and died within half an hour.

September 7 Robert A. Johnson, a boarder at the Revere House, became infatuated with a woman and suicided on her account.

At the state and county elections held November 4, 1902, the following officers were elected: State senator, C. G. Saunders; attorney, W. H. Kill-

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pack; clerk, Freeman L. Reed; auditor, R. V. Innis; recorder, Elmer E. Smith; supervisors, H. C. Brandes and Allen Bullis.

December 1 a man named Clay Hudnall was killed and three others injured on the Wabash railroad near the city, the wreck being caused by a cow being run over on the track.

On December 15 John L. Howe accidentally shot and killed a friend named O. J. Gordon at the U. P. transfer. They were both in the employ of the express companies.

January 11, 1903, Leffert's jewelry store was robbed of watches of the value of $500 by the breaking of a show window. The noise attracted notice and officers gave chase, exchanging shots, and the robbers dropped most of the plunder, which was recovered, but they escaped in the darkness.

At a meeting of the Grape Growers' Association it was resolved to erect a warehouse of their own of the value of $10,000.

January 13 Henry Stacy of the city was hauling in a load of wood and was run down by a Rock Island train on the crossing near the school for the deaf. He and his team were instantly killed.

Otto Barnhart, of Avoca, suicided by cutting his throat on account of unrequited love of his sweetheart.

Through correspondence with Andrew Carnegie and the assistance of Gen. G. M. Dodge and Hon. Walter I. Smith, the library association secured a gift of $70,000.

January 18 a horrible double tragedy occurred some three miles northeast of Oakland. Mrs. John Hanna cut her husband's throat and then her own. It was not discovered until morning. She had left a note saying she was going to do it.

January 24 the Christian Home received a donation of $30,000 from Mrs. Mary E. Robertson of Sheboygan, Michigan, and $25,000 from another benefactor who gave no name.

Marshal Sherman, who had the care of Mr. H. H. Van Brunt's team, was found dead in the barn. The doctors pronounced it heart failure. He was a member of the G. A. R. and Knights of Pythias.

A sad accident occurred at Carson. Eddie Conrad, thirteen years of age, was drowned while skating on the Botna river.

February 16 Mrs. Barney McDaniels and Bert Levix were arrested at Macedonia for the murder of Barney McDaniels, husband of the woman. They were taken before Justice J. C. Rayburn, who held them to the grand jury. Sheriff Cousins took them to Avoca, but the jail there not being convenient, they were brought to the Bluffs and placed in the county jail.

March 21 U. S. marshal W. A. Richards, accused of robbery, and after giving bail and disappearing mysteriously, finally returned and surrendered.

Oscar Cattleman, a little four-year-old boy, while playing in the street, was run over and instantly killed. It was the result of accident, unavoidable by the driver and the coroner's jury acquitted him of blame.

March 26 a little old brick house being torn down on North First street while a family named Cozad were living in it, and was the subject of an article in the Nonpareil, had a history. It was one of the first brick

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dwellings in the city. It was built in 1854, owned and occupied for many years by J. Smith Hooten, at one time banker and later mayor of the city. And many a swell party has been entertained in that little house. Mr. and Mrs. Hooten were most generous host and hostess. But times changed. They became poor and after his death, even that little home had to go. This is another case almost as pathetic as that of the Bayliss family, and further along we shall relate another similar one. It seems hard that such things must be.

On the 31st of March a well appearing stranger came into the Grand Hotel, walked around in the rotunda a few minutes, then went out and started down Pearl street, stopped and shot himself, dying instantly. He proved to be a Mr. McNew, of Riverton. Poor health was supposed to be the cause.

April 1 the clerks at the postoffice had a very pleasant surprise—unusual for the first of April, viz.: that each one would have a raise of $100, commencing July 1.

A sad accident occurred at Honey Creek lake when Loyd Kirkpatrick, seventeen years old, was accidentally shot while hunting ducks.

At the city election for 1903-4 the following officers were elected: Mayor, Donald Macrae, Jr.; clerk, L. Zurmuhlen; treasurer, F. T. True; auditor, P. J. Smith; engineer, S. L. Etnyre; electrician, C. A. Atkins; judge of superior court, Geo. H. Scott ; marshal, Geo. H. Richmond; physician, M. A. Finley; superintendent of markets, Wm. Higgeson; poll tax collector, P. G. Mikesell; assessor, W. D. Hardin; chief of fire department, Charles Nicholson; captain of hose company No.1, A. H. Telfer; No.2, C. H. Mathewson; No.3, F. H. Hitchcock; No.4, Robert Jones; park commissioners, A. C. Graham, J. J. Brown and Frank Peterson; alderman-at-large, A. G. Gilbert and John Olsen; adlerman first ward, O. Younkerman; second ward, Thos. Malony; third ward, M. H. Tinley; fourth ward, J. P. Weaver; fifth ward, Jas. McMillen; sixth ward, C. M.,Crippen. .

On April 4 Bert Forney was shot and killed at his saloon at 1028 West Broadway by masked robbers who made their escape.

April 10 Irvin Moore, driver of a coal team of Steepy & Steepy, dropped dead on his wagon on East Pierce street of heart failure.

On April 21 one man was killed and one probably fatally injured in collision of switch engine and freight train at U. P. transfer.

One of the most horrible tragedies of modern times was the murder of Mr. and Mrs. Church, two of Council Bluffs' best young people. They had gone onto a ranch near the town of Gillette, Wyoming, and comfortably situated. A man named Clifton, who had been with them, brutally murdered them both and buried their bodies in a manure pile. The first suspicion was raised when Mr. Clifton's mother went out to see them and their absence set the neighboring ranchmen to investigating. Clifton was arrested and finally confessed, but claimed it was in self defense. He was placed in jail at Gillette, but a mob of ranchmen came and took him out to it high bridge and hung him, giving him a drop of forty feet, which entirely severed his head from his body.

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The remains of the Churches were brought to the home of Mrs. Church's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Foster, on Fifth avenue and the double funeral was held at the Fifth avenue church, but not a fourth of the friends could enter, so great was the sympathy of the entire community.

On April 22 Andrew Thompson, convicted of robbing the Curry store at Underwood, was sentenced to six years at Fart Madison.

On the 26th Lazier and Moore, the fake foot racers, convicted of swindling Chas. Huber out of several thousand dollars, were given three years each at Fort Madison.

May 2 Mrs. McDaniels and Levix, who were tried at Avoca for the murder of Mr. McDaniels, were acquitted, but the feeling at Macedonia was such that they were advised not to return there.

It seems that there was a carnival of crime about this time, as an the 10th of May Wm. C. Rogers was held to the grand jury far the murder of Bert Forney.

The season opened up at Manawa with a full line of attractions, chief of which was Covalt's band of thirty pieces.

A large amount of sidewalk was constructed. The street fair and carnival was a great success, the admissions for the week being aver 70,000.

At the election held November 3, 1903, the following named officers were elected: Senator, C. G. Saunders; representatives W. H. Freeman and Robert J. Martin; treasurer, L. G. Consigney; sheriff, Edward Canning; coroner, V. L. Treynor; school superintendent, O. J. McManus.

On the 5th of December, 1903, Council Bluffs was called upon to part with one of its best citizens in the person of J. B. Atkins, who had been in poor health for quite a while. Mr. Atkins, like thousands of others, rushed to the mountains at the first of the Pike's Peak excitement, and about the same time Henry Allen, who at the time was postmaster here, resigned and went, taking his family, consisting of wife and two daughters. Mr. Atkins and the eldest were mutually attracted but there was no clerk to issue license, but a preacher was found in a prospect hole who proceeded to tie the knot that held them until parted by death. This was the first marriage of a white couple in what is now the great state of Colorado and city of Denver. Mrs. Atkins' mother and sister were the only women in the camp to witness the ceremony.

The new year of 1904 brought the sad intelligence of the death of Mrs. Mendel, wife of Herman Mendel, of Neola, being crushed to death in the panic that occurred in the burning of the Iroquois theater in Chicago.

The new county house at McClelland was formally opened on the 29th of June. The cost of which was $44,000.

The glorious Fourth was duly celebrated at Manawa, where it was variously estimated the crowd numbered from 15,000 to 20,000. Five thousand gathered at Fairmount Park. The injuries resulting from carelessness amounted to an even dozen, same of them serious, but none fatal.

On the tenth a young man named Edward Williams of Omaha was drowned in Manawa while fishing.

The Eagles' midsummer jubilee opened an the tenth in the western

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part of the city and drew immense crowds from Omaha as well as from the Bluffs. Their pleasure was marred however by the sudden death of Frank Sherratt, one of their number, from heart trouble.

A man named George Gilson, on coming up town from the jubilee on the motor car, got into an altercation with a negro named Lincoln Turner and was fatally shot by Turner, for which he was tried, convicted and got three years only, as it appeared there were mitigating circumstances. At Avoca quite a saloon war was precipitated by the granting of a license to five applicants, but turning down the sixth.

On August 16 a serious accident occurred at the crossing of Broadway and the Northwestern track wherein a man named Floyd F. Mitchell, a carpenter, was killed. He had been drinking and the company was exonerated by the coroner's jury.

On the 31st of August the hearts of many were saddened by the death of Mrs. E. H. Longee, one of Council Bluffs' beloved young women.

The annual street fair and carnival opened September 5 and was a great success, as the receipts for the week were $11,129.49, and after deducting expenses, which were $5,600, it left quite a balance on the right side.

On October 26 Rev. H. R. Lemen, founder of the Christian Home, died in the midst of his great work but firm in the faith of its continuous usefulness.

At the election held November 8, 1904, the following officers were elected: clerk of the court, H. V. Batty; auditor, W. C. Cheyne; recorder, G. G. Baird; attorney, J. J. Hesse; supervisors, W. F. Baker and Felix Deitz.

Careful estimates of the corn crop of Iowa for 1904 gives Pottawattamie county 8,000,000 bushels, making her the banner county of the state.

On November 18 Fred Stone, who had been tried and convicted of assault with intent to commit murder upon Hans Clausen, was sentenced to twelve years in the penitentiary.

On the 8th of December Karl Kurrer, who had been convicted of robbing the Treynor bank, was sentenced to twelve years in the penitentiary. His wife had given up $1,500 of the money in October.

On the 14th of December a case of destitution was discovered which seems impossible in a community where there are so many benevolent institutions, so many kind hearted people and such abundance of the necessaries of life. Failure to let her wants be known in time is the only way to account for the moot pathetic tragedy, culminating in the suicide of Mrs. Allgood in the southern part of the city. The husband and father was gone. The mother with five little ones, only had what the two oldest children could earn. They could not go to school for lack of clothes. The truant officer, Rev. Henry Delong, took them from her, and discouraged and heartbroken, she suicided. Then and not till then did help come. The children were provided for and the father returned.

On the 10th Eddie Kruger and Harry Moloski, ten-year-old boys, while skating on Cut Off lake struck thin ice, went through and were drowned.

During the year 1904 the amount spent in building in the city and schoo1 for the deaf was $1,300,000. The country was prosperous and the

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republicans happy over the result of the election, having made a clean swoop of the state and county offices as well, as members of congress for the ninth district.

On the 8th of February, 1905, Philip Wareham attempted suicide at the Martin's Hotel. He had locked himself in his room and slashed his throat with a razor, but was found in time to have the wounds attended to. Dr. Macrae was called and prompt attention given. He was in comfortable circumstances and ill health is the most probable cause for his rash act.

February 21 John Bernstein pleaded guilty to the charge of robbing the Treynor bank. Arthur Deets elected to stand trial for the same offense.

On March 6 Wm. F. Steinbaugh was found dead on the ice in Indian creek. Heart failure was supposed to be the cause.

On March 16 J. E. Adams of Omaha was run over by a train on the Northwestern railroad above Loveland and when discovered his mangled remains were scattered along the track for a mile.

On March 26 the plant of the Walker Manufacturing Company was destroyed by fire, entailing a loss of $40,000, with only $5,000 insurance.

On April 24 Joseph Schemal, of Garner township, in a fit of insanity, blew the top of his head off with his shotgun in the presence of his family.

At the city election for, 1905-6 the following officers were elected: Mayor, Donald Macrae, Jr.; clerk, L. Zurmuehlen, Jr.; treasurer, F. T. True; solicitor, S. B. Snyder; auditor, P. J. Smith; engineer, S. L. Etnyre; electrician, C. A. Atkins; judge of superior court, G. H. Scott; marshal, Geo, H. Richmond; physician, Mat A. Finley; superintendent of markets, WID. Higgesoh; poll tax collector, P. G. Mikesell; assessor, W. D. Hardin; chief of police, Geo. H. Richmond; chief of fire department, C. M. Nicholson; captain hose house No.1, A. H. Telfer; No.2, C. H. Mathewson; No.3, F. G. Hitchcock; No.4, Clarence Hough; No.5, Charles Withrow; park commissioners, A. C. Graham, Frank Peterson, J. J. Brown; aldermen at large, A. G. Gilbert and John Olson; alderman first ward, O. Younkerman; second, Thos. Malony; third, M. H. Tinley; fourth, J. P. Weaver; fifth, James McMillen; sixth, C. M. Crippen.

On April 24 the remains of Willy Lender were found on the U. P. track near the transfer with head severed from body.

On the 27th Mrs. Margaret Peterson, eighty-one years of age, inmate of county house, suicided by cutting an artery in her wrist. She had remarked to others that she was tired of life.

On the 28th Samuel Steele was killed near U. P. transfer by train while picking up coal on the track.
On June 2 Miss Clara Winslow of Omaha was drowned at Manawa, the result of a collision of the boat she and her lover, Garret Pange, were in with a steam launch.

On June 29 Frank Tabor fell from the top of a freight car at Neola and was brought to the Bluffs and placed in the General Hospital, but his injuries proved fatal, as he lived but a few hours.

The Fourth was duly celebrated at Manawa and Fairmount Park. A. S. Hazelton was orator at the park. After the address all sorts of games were,

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indulged in, enlivened by music of Highland pipers. Fully 5,000 gathered there, while fully 15,000 were at Manawa and no serious accident occurred at either place.

July 11 the sad intelligence was received of the death of John Merkel at Atlantic City, N. J. He was born and reared in the Bluffs and achieved a national reputation as a delineator and minstrel performer and had been with some of the best companies on the road.

September 2 Charles Platner, patrol driver, while in line of his duty, in endeavoring to capture burglars, was fatally shot. It has never been known of a certainty whether he was killed by one of the burglars or one of the police, it being in the night. He was active, faithful and knew no such emotion as fear.

The street fair and carnival opened on the 4th of September with 7,000 admissions the first night, and although some unfavorable weather was had during the week it was a success both as to entertainment, as most of the exhibits and performances were first class, and from a financial point of view, as a handsome sum was realized after paying all expenses.

After a long trial Robert Little recovered a heavy judgment for damage resulting from collapse of bridge near Minden in June, 1903.

On the 16th of September, during a terrific gale of wind, the electric light tower on First street and Broadway fell. It was of steel, 154 feet high, and in falling took trolley, electric and telephone wires with it, but fortunately it kept the street, so that no houses were hit and no person was injured.

On October 2 after dark a man named Otis Carmichael was instantly killed by a Northwestern train opposite the brick yards. He was a car painter and worked at the car barns and was on his way home in the north part of the city. He had been talking with friend; and was sober and the only theory was that the lights confused him.

October 8 the Eagles held a picnic at the Driving Park. Over 5,000 were present.
For quite a while a contest had been going on between the mayor and city council acting as a board of health and the board of education on the subject of vaccination. The board of health making the order that all teachers, pupils and janitors in the schools who had not. been vaccinated should submit to the treatment, and, in default, they should be refused admittance. Then the question arose as to the method, as a large number of teachers as well as pupils were opposed to the old arm treatment, and a number of teachers proposed to resign rather than submit, and for a time more than a thousand pupils were out. Finally the matter was submitted to the court, and Judge Macy held that the board of health had no right to discriminate as to the mode of treatment, and as there was not an epidemic of smallpox, the matter was dropped.

As Mrs. O'Neil and her children were returning from mass, her son James, nine years old, was killed by a Great Western train at the crossing of Seventh street and Ninth avenue.

On the 3d of November the court appointed F. L. Reed receiver, with order to sell the Masonic Temple and divide the proceeds among the stock-

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holders, and also appointed G. W. Lipe, F. Everest and Wm. Arnd as appraisers.

On the 22d of December the safe in the Macedonia postoffice was blown by burglars, but it contained no money nor was it locked.

During the year 1905 just closing, the sales of agricultural implements at Council Bluffs exceeded those of any previous year and were only second to those of Kansas City.

On the 20th of January, 1906, Henry Robinson, a pioneer jeweler, died. He and a brother started the business at a very early day; the brother went west many years ago, but Henry remained at the old stand to the last.

G. W. Scott, an old and prominent citizen of Hazel Dell, died on the 24th of heart trouble and on the same day, in the city Jeremiah Connor died of the infirmities of age at ninety-two.

On the 25th the corner stone of the Jennie Edmundson hospital was laid under the auspices of the Elks' lodge, No. 531, Mayor Donald Macrae acting as master of ceremonies.

On March 25 Rev. J. B. Lentz had commenced preaching at his church in Macedonia; a fearful storm came up and he was struck down by lightning in the pulpit. A panic ensued, the cupola took fire. Elmer Turnbloom did an act of heroism by climbing to the roof and extinguishing the fire, while friends carried Rev. Lentz to a neighbor's, where he died in half an hour. Some of the congregation were slightly burned by the electric fluid.

On the 9th of April E. A. Parker while crossing the Great Western track near Minden at night was struck by the train and terribly injured. Both his horses were killed and his buggy smashed to kindling wood.

At the city election held in April, 1906, the following officers were elected. Mayor, Donald Macrae, Jr.; city solicitor, Clem F. Kimball ;treasurer, F. T. True; auditor, John L. McAnney; engineer, S. L. Etnyre; assessor, W. D. Hardin; superintendent of markets, Wm. Higgeson; aldermen at large, John Olson and John C. Flemming; alderman first ward, Oscar Younkerman; second ward, Thos. Malony; third ward, Robert B. Wallace; fourth ward, H. F. Knudson.; fifth ward, Peter Smith; sixth ward, Wallace M. Hendix; park commissioners, A. C. Graham, Frank Peterson, J. J. Brown; chief of police, Geo. H. Richmond; chief of fire department, Chas. Nicholson; clerk, W. F. Sapp.

On the 25th of April Mrs. Sarah, the venerable widow of Dr. Henry Hart, passed away, he having preceded her in 1891. They came from Bath, N. Y, to Johnston, Rock county, Wisconsin, in 1853, and from there to West Union, Iowa. When the war broke out he enlisted in 1861, became surgeon of his regiment; and served during the war. They settled in the Bluffs in 1868. Only one son, Ernest E., survives them, Frank H. died at Beloit, Kansas, in 1884, and one daughter, Mrs. Jennie Edmundson, in 1890.

On the 30th of April Frank Kruger, a farmer living about six miles south of Minden, suicided by drowning in his cistern. Insanity was the cause.

On May 16 a class or sixty-seven graduated from the high school.

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On the 18th Wm. H. Kuhn, one of the foremost citizens of Garner township, died at the age of seventy-three. He, came here in 1856, built a mill for Wm. Garner, married one of his daughters; was a farmer, but spent some time freighting and mining in the early days; was a good manager, and, although he lost heavily by the Officer & Pusey bank failure, left a comfortable fortune for his family.

May 20 Philip Wareham made a second attempt at suicide, this time by drowning. While walking with his wife he started for the creek. She suspected his intention and tried to hold him, but he jerked away and jumped into a deep hole, but her screams brought help in time to save him.

On May 21 James Arthur was sentenced to nine years at Fort Madison for the Treynor bank robbery, and Mickey Tagert to six years for robbery of Solomon.

May 30 a man was found dead two miles above Haney Creek on Northwestern track. From papers on his person he proved to be J. Monahan of Lincoln, Ill.

May 30 Memorial day was appropriately observed in the city by decorating the graves in the forenoon and in the afternoon services were held in Fairmount park.

On June 4 a general foreman of bridge work on the Union Pacific bridge was struck by a Rock Island passenger engine while at work and instantly killed. It proved to be Henry D. Baldwin, an employee of many years' standing. His residence was No. 123 Fourth street, was fifty-four years of age. The train was exceeding its speed limit at the time.

On the 18th William B. Cook, a switch engineer of Chicago, was crushed to death between passenger coaches at the Great Western crossing at Sixth street and Ninth avenue.

Council Bluffs' crack team <took first place and Neola first in hose race at the state tournament at Des Moines on June 21, and on the 23d Jack and Jim went over and took first at Clinton.
June 29 a man by the name of John Dicks, insane, suicided by hanging himself to a tree in John Robinson's yard at the corner of Seventeenth street and Avenue G.

Manawa did a larger business than ever before, although the band was inferior to that of Covalt's. The street fair and carnival in September also exceeded any of its predecessors.

On the 16th of October we were called upon to part with one of our foremast citizens in the person of John Schoentgen. He was one of the leading wholesale merchants, and most honorable of men.

At the election held November 6, 1906, the following officers were elected: Representatives, H. C. Brandes and Willoughby Dye; auditor, W. C. Cheyne; clerk, H. V. Batty; sheriff, Ed. Canning; recorder, G. G. Baird; attorney, J. J. Hesse; school superintendent, E. R. Jackson; surveyor, J. H. Mayne; coroner, V. L. Treynor; supervisors, W. F. Baker and Felix Sitz.

The reunion of the officers of the army of the Tennessee was brilliant

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affair. Many distinguished soldiers and civilians were present, among whom were General O. O. Howard, Archbishop Ireland, Colonel Stibbs, General Fred Grant, Colonel W. L. Barnum, General G. F. McGinnis, General John C. Black, Captain N. T. Spoor and Captain Joseph R. Reed. Mrs. John A. Logan also graced the occasion with her presence. The exercises were conducted at the opera house, Major General G. M. Dodge presiding, and were most interesting. The whole closed with a banquet at the Grand hotel, where 500 guests were served.

On the 13th of December George F. Wright, for forty years one of the leading attorneys of the Council Bluffs bar, passed away.

The year 1906 was a most prosperous one for the entire county. Crops were good and much improvement was made on the roads as well as on the streets of the city. More than a million dollars were spent in building.

January, 1907, the .chief of police reports the number of arrests in the city at 1,765. The chief of the fire department reports 132 alarms and a loss by fire of $142,597.

At a meeting of the Council Bluffs Bar Association on January 8 W. A. Mynster was elected president; Spencer Smith, vice-president, and D. L. Ross, secretary. After which the members to the number of forty partook of a dinner at the Grand hotel.

On the 13th of January Andrew Hunter of Neola started out for the purpose of buying cattle, he going in a buggy, his two sons following on horseback to drive the stock. At Geiss crossing of the Great Western railroad he was run over and instantly killed, also his team, and his buggy smashed to kindling in plain sight of his sons.

Charles Proctor, a widower living by himself and keeping a cigar stand, was found dead in bed in his room back of his store on the 19th of January. Heart trouble was the cause. He was a native of England, but had been a citizen for many years, and was in his younger days an active member of the old Volunteer fire department.

On the first of February the Jennie Edmundson hospital was thrown open for inspection and more than a thousand visitors passed through.

On the second day of February, Dan Farrel, at one time connected with the Globe, but more widely known as one of the most efficient civil officers in the state, died at San Antonio, Texas.

On the 8th of February Royal D. Amy, the pioneer stove and tinware merchant of Council Bluffs, died after being in the business for more than a half century. He left a wife, children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren and thousands of friends. He was seventy-two years of age at the time of his death.

On the 14th Fred H. Hill, manager of the Empkie-Shugart-Hill Hardware Company, another of our leading business men, died of cancer at the hospital after an operation performed as a last resort.

Royal B. Felton, banker, of Underwood, was killed by the Great Western train at the crossing of Main street on the 21st of January.

On the 19th of March J. W. Morse died after a long tedious sickness. Mr. Morse had been a prominent man in several ways, having been a mer-

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chant, and had held the offices at different times of city marshal and justice of the peace.

It was he and his partner, Mr. Hall, at that time doing a shipping business, that instituted the suit by mandamus proceeding to compel the Union Pacific Railroad Company to operate its line to Council Bluffs, which was finally successful. He left a wife and two sons.

On the 23d of March James Anderson, janitor of the Masonic Temple, was found dead in one of the halls with his skull fractured, supposed to have been caused by his falling down one story over the banisters.

On the 25th the community sustained a great loss in the death of Dr. T. B. Lacy. As a physician and surgeon he stood at the head of his profession. He also occupied a high position in Masonry, being past eminent grand commander of Knights Templar and past grand high priest of Royal Arch Masons.

On April 9 the grand council of the Royal Arcanum convened here and, after transacting business and selecting Boone for the next meeting, closed with a banquet at the Grand hotel.

On the 21st of April two railroad employes were killed, Wm. Burns, switchman on the R. I., and A. Hofman, colored, a helper in Wabash roundhouse.

April 23 City Treasurer True reports amount spent during last year at $244,000, of which $161,415 were for improvements and $83,047.58 city expenses.

April 26, at the home of Henry Sperling, just outside of city in Garner township, his daughter, eight years of age, and Miss Mary Miller were burned to death by lighting the fire with kerosene.

On June 13 John Beno, after three years' suffering, which he bore with heroic fortitude, quietly passed away. Perhaps no man in Pottawattamie county was better known or liked than he. Coming here a boy in 1861, and starting in as an errand boy, he filled every requirement. In the mercantile business he went in at the bottom, and by strict integrity and industry he reached the top. His family lost the kindest of husband and father and the community one of its best citizens.

On the 26th Mrs. Mary, widow of Judge G. A. Robinson, died. She was a pioneer, coming while the city was but little more than a Mormon camp. She became a helpmate to her husband, who engaged in the hotel business by becoming a frugal as well as popular hostess. She could adorn the kitchen or drawing room with equal grace.

The charter of the Council Bluffs Water Works Company having expired for more than a year, it became a subject of much importance what course to pursue, some favoring municipal ownership, while others were opposed to it. The present company applied for a new charter, and after a lengthy discussion, the council passed an ordinance granting the company a new charter, which was approved by the mayor and submitted to a vote of the people to be taken at a special election to be held on the sixth day of August, 1907, and at which it was defeated by a large majority.