News you can use
News you can use
by Emily Mayer
The news was topsy-turvey in the newspapers 100 years ago. All three Havre papers carried the news of tragedy at the Great Northern Railyard; this article was in the March 11, 1916, issue of The Havre Plaindealer:
TWO BRAKEMEN LOSE THEIR LIVES
In Collision in the Havre yards Last Sunday
In a collision between the switch engine and a train of freight cars on track No. 6 in the Havre yards at an early hour last Sunday morning, Brakemen Peter Purkett and John McKnight were instantly killed, and Brakeman Dan Sigerson lost his foot in the crush. So far as is known, the accident was due to the fact that the train was open in the center, and when the yard engine was signaled ahead to push it out of the yards, the impact threw the two first under the wheels and the latter was thrown into the cab in such a manner that his foot was caught and crushed. A coroner’s jury composed of T. E. McCroskey, foreman; Wm. Lacey, J. S. McHenry, S. B. Foster, E. S. Ward, and O. J. Hurst, with Judge W. B. Pyper as acting coroner, reviewed a number of witnesses at an inquest held Thursday, and returned the following verdict:
That said John McKnight and Peter Purkett came to their death by a wreck in the Havre yards of the Great Northern Railway company while in the discharge of their duty as brakemen, in the early morning of March 5, 1916, caused by an opening in a train of cars on track No. t there being no evidence as to who left the opening.
the bodies of both the unfortunate men were shipped east on No. 5 Sunday evening, that of McKnight to his former home in Saxton, Penn., and that of Purkett to the old home of the family at Browerville, Minn. Accompanying the former was Roy Putt, a brother-in-law of the deceased, and the latter body was in the care of Conductor Paul Purkett, a brother of the deceased.
Both men were well and favorably known in Havre and the news of their untimely death occasioned much sadness.
In much happier news, Amron reported in the Plaindealer’s “Society” column the following nuptials:
Bridal Couple Honored
The home of Mr. and Mrs. W. R. Nelson, on south Fifth avenue, was resplendent last evening in honor of Mr. and Mrs. Samuel R. Nelson, who were married in Eddyville, Iowa on March 1st, and who arrived in Havre Wednesday. Throughout the Nelson home cut flowers and plants were abundant, and in the dining room the tales were designated with pink and white at the board presided over by the bride, and violet and white at the table provided for the older married couples. A three course dinner was served starting at 7 o’clock. Thhose invited were:
Mr. and Mrs. Jennie, Beaulieu, Webber, Wiltner, Brodrick of Malta, Guay, Hutchinson, Haglund, Davis, Peterson of Hingham, Jas. Holland, Lewis, Turcotte, Meyer, Mrs. S. E. Cosgrove, Misses Bauer, Cosgrove, Estelle and Ethel Spooner, Smith, Hutchinson, Darnell, Mildred and Wilma Davis, Gowrie, Messrs. Hagund, Koepke, Darnell, Churchill, Hunter, E. Bronson, Carl and John Timmons, Louie and Melvin Bauer.
J. K. Bramble, editor and owner of The Hill County Democrat, was on a roll in his newspaper 100 years ago. He continues raving against dancing, stating in one of his editorials:
The modern turkey trot, bunny hug and tango dancing is not only unhygienic but is immoral. To do the whirley-whirl and wiggle-wagle, just like a polar bear, and glide along in the mad embrace may be exciting, but nevertheless it is indecent. The strangle hold is not barred. The modern suggestive dance should not be tolerated by decent men and women. Let the harlot and roge in the large city dance these modern dances if the police will allow them to do so but use the police if necessary in order to keep the young from dancing them.
Apparently, Bramble’s crusade against dancing in the schools was read by the owners and editors of the Kremlin and Gildford papers, who also happened to be brothers. Bramble called the Casey brothers “red-headed jack-asses” and “addle-pated nincompoops”, calling them a “disgrace to journalism” and suggested to the Caseys “that they start to work on the section or they go out sheep-herding or tilling the soil, anything to earn an honest living.” They are not real newspaper men but are a disgrace to the profession. In the mean time we would further suggest that they mind their own business and not butt into the affairs of this newspaper which is no concern of theirs.
I wish I could share the entire editorials with you, but they are much too long for print here. They’re really something else!
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