History of New Rockford: Aug. 5, 2019

The Aug. 1, 1902, “New Rockford Transcript” carried an article on the Eddy County State Bank which “was no more.” During the week, it became the First National Bank of New Rockford. Officers were Thomas L. Beiseker, president; F.A. Rising, vice president; James E. Hyde, cashier. Hyde was formerly the cashier of the Red River Valley National Bank of Fargo. The State Bank president P.J. Hester was going to remain for a while in charge of the collection department. (On Oct. 11 the directors of the new bank were listed as Thomas L. Beiseker, F.A. Rising, E.K. Volkman, James E. Hyde, and C.A. Beiseker).

The masons were rapidly completing the stone work on the J.M. Patch building. John Wenz was painting and furnishing the interior of his new shoe store and would soon have a stock of boots and shoes. The Hotel Davies had a new cigar case in the office. Mr. and Mrs. Orrin Foster’s new 28x30 farm residence with 14-foot posts northeast of New Rockford was almost done.

A note stated that H. Peoples & Co. had lent their stove truck to a New Rockford resident in May, but it was never returned.

“Walter Priest has one of the finest vegetable gardens in the county….”

Early in the week D.Y. Stanton was ill, but he quickly recovered. The infant of Mr. and Mrs. James MacLachlan was very ill with lung trouble. Lila, the 13-year-old daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Cy Jackson, was very ill at Thief River Falls, Minn., with an abscess of the lungs; an operation had been performed, but her condition was serious.

In a federal district court case tried that week in Devils Lake, Mrs. P.W. Hammer vs. the Great Western Elevator Co., the jury awarded Mrs. Matilda Hammer $300 because her daughter Tillie had been badly bruised and injured in a fall into an open elevator shaft in New Rockford the previous autumn [Sept. 29]. Michael T. O’Connor was her attorney; G.W. Johnston, James Davidson, and E.M. Stitzel appeared as witnesses.

Around 5 a.m. on Aug. 1 during a thunderstorm, lightning struck the Ed Cosgrove residence just north of the James River, but did only minor damage. The morning rain helped the crops. Ed Roach was in town on business, as were Jake Valer and William Steinbach, both from the Guler district. Granville Egbert returned to New Rockford from a baseball tournament in Wimbledon in which he played for Carrington, the team that won. Mrs. F.W. Tompkins was down from Oberon to visit. Mrs. J.R. Beebe and Ralph and Mrs. Dodge returned from their South Dakota trip. R.P. Allison went to Fargo on legal business. A.D. Tomlinson went to Bottineau to see his son, daughter-in-law, and grandson Alva III, who weighed 16 lbs.; he returned on Aug. 6. W.O. Baird received another carload of milch cows and was selling them “at reasonable figures.” That evening there were many “young folks” at a dancing party at the Mr. and Mrs. Axtle Johnson farm southeast of town. It was held in the loft of their big barn. Food and liquid refreshments were served just after midnight, then dancing resumed until “an early morning hour.”

Aug. 2 was caucus day. There was a large vote with delegates being elected from both Republican slates. The “Transcript” complained there were many illegal votes on the P.M. Mattson side. The delegates were Sheyenne: J.W. Richter, Ole Rue, F.L. Kermott, Joseph Walton, Simon Nelson, C. Evenson, Casper Erickson, Ed A. Qually, Robert O’Neill, Ed Seastrand, Halver Hendrickson, Ole Bergland; Tiffany: W.A. Cornish, C.H. Ruland, John Schaefer; Colvin: J.D. Carroll, Fred Dutee, George Lovell, Charles Engstrom; Pitt: S.O. Lee, Andrew Anderson, R.H. Baker, Martin Larson, Gullick Gulllicks; Hall: James Hackney, John Wren, A.J. Ford, M. Reames, Joseph Christ; Dutee: John Dutee, J.T. Shauers, Thomas Eikom; Sheldon: I.W. Sheldon, W.M. Chamberlain, Charles Albright, E.R. Davidson; Rocky Mt.: Joseph Jackson, Peter Smith, Ole Barkland, Ed Nystrom, Clayton Hall; Fay: Henry Heiple, J.F. Campbell, Iver Hawn; New Rockford: S.N. Putnam was the only one listed, but there must have been more.

On that day while Walter, the 14-year-old son of Mr. and Mrs. J.F. Clure, was operating a self-dump hay rake, one of the wheels went into a hole. The boy was thrown forward off the seat. A horse kicked him in the head, sending him backward onto the trip. The horses ran away, and his weight kept the rake dumping continuously which resulted in the crossbar on the rake teeth striking him on the back with every revolution. His body was wedged into a five-inch space between the trip and the cross bar.

Eventually, he was able to free himself, climb onto the seat, and drop down onto the rake teeth and then to the ground. All the time the horses were running. When the team broke away from the rake, he was able to catch and untangle them, then he rode one animal home to the farm a mile and a half away. He was put in bed and a doctor was called. At first the physician was not certain he would pull through, but by Aug. 8, he “…was markedly improved.”

On Aug. 2 Mr. and Mrs. W.E. Biggs and son Mont returned from their western trip after stopping a few days in Sanborn, N.D.; they had visited former resident Wilfred Maw in Snohomish, Wash. Frank Woodward came over from Maddock for a few days. Mr. and Mrs. C.O. Johnson arrived from Cooperstown to visit her parents, Mr. and Mrs. P.H. West. Irwin Forbes, who had recently purchased the Samuel McDowell farm, arrived to look over his purchase. J. Hubbard arrived to assist at the depot due to the increase in the volume of work. J.H. Olsen was up from Carrington to see his brothers between trains. That evening Sam Swanson of Fargo and D.W. Shores of Mankato, Minn., wrestled in the Hotel Davies dining room for a $100 purse in a best three of five bout. Shores was the winner in three straight falls, defeating Swanson in just three and a half minutes.

On Sunday, Aug. 3, Charles Turner stopped in New Rockford on his way to Barlow; he returned to his Lake Washington home the next day. Mr. and Mrs. Pat O’Connor returned from Balfour, where they had spent the spring on Mrs. O’Connor’s claim.

On Aug. 4, Mrs. P.J. Butler and Miss W.A. Canning received word that the authorities had concluded their investigation into the disappearance of their brother T.P. Canning of Brooklyn, N.Y. He was last seen alive about midnight on July 4 in the company of strangers after returning from Brockton, Mass., on the Fall River boat. Foul play was suspected; the belief was that he would not be found alive.

That day Miss Verena Schmid started as a dry goods clerk at Prader & Goss. H.W. Clark began an addition to the Hotel Brown in which an opera house would occupy the first floor. Mr. and Mrs. Dan Larson and family were in shopping. Col. Seth Bailey came in from the Gudgell Ranch, and B.W. Hersey was in from Tiffany. Martin Walsh came in on business from north of Tiffany, as did W.A. Cornish from Tiffany and I. Burnett. Virgil F. Snyder of De Graff, Ohio, and Ward Stine of Leaf River, Ill., arrived to help with the harvest. C.H. Babcock went to Grand Forks for the North Dakota Pharmaceutical Association meeting on Aug. 5 to 7. That evening Rev. D.H. Clarkson conducted Episcopal services in the Baptist Church.