The Pierz Journal (Pierz, Morrison County, Minnesota), 1917-12-27

              -•   .-■.-;
VOL. NO. 9.
PIERZ, HORR1SON COUNTY, MINNESOTA, December 27, 1917.
No. 28
Brief Items of:
State News
Mrs. Henry Wisstng, one of the old
residents of St. Cloud, was found dead
when her daughter went to her bed
to awaken her.
O. T. Francis and R. 1. Golden,
proprietors of the Max Cafe at Minneapolis, were fined $50 by Judge C.
L. Smith In municipal court for selling liquor to women in violation of
order No. 7.
With an allotment of $12,000 for
the Red Cross, Mankato has subscribed $17,000, and subscriptions' are still
being received. Every local movement started since the entry of this
country into the war has been oversubscribed.
Frank J. Danaher, Minneapolis attorney was iudicted by the grand jury
on a charge of dissuading a witness
by giving him $50 and a ticket to
Duluth with the understanding that
the witness would not appear at the
trial of Mrs. Mabel Anseth, convicted
of keeping a resort.
Private James Hoisington, Co. F,
136th infantry (Second Minnesota infantry) and Miss Bernice J. Weidman
of Worthington, Minn., were married
at Camp Cody. The ceremony took
place in Deming and was performed by
Major A, C. Clemens, chaplain of the
bridegroom's  regiment.
Leorard Beshow, 9 years old. was
killed by her brother Fred at Albert
Lea. Fred was playing with a small
rifle which he did not know was
loaded. The gun was discharged, the
bullet striking the side of a barn and
glancing, struck his sister standing
to one side several yards out of range,
lulling her.
Toot horns as long as your lungs
hold out. to greet the New Year, but
please refrain from using steam whistles! This request, made in the interests of coal conservation, is being
sent out by railroads operating in
Minnesota. Engineers are asked not
to waste fuel in blasting the air for
the coming of 1918.
"I am satisfied that Minnesota will
soon, if it does not already, rank as
second to none in the sisterhood of
states as to its genuine loyalty to the
United States in the prosecution of
the war to an early and successful
issue," said President Murphy of the
America First association,, in commenting on the two weeks' Loyalty
drive just closed.
Meatless Tuesdays, and wheatless
Wednesdays have been put into effect
at the state sanatorium at Walker at
the request of the patients themselves.
Supt. George W. Beach consented to
inaugurate the program, after a con-
' sultation with physicians made it
clear that abandonment of the meat
diet usually fed consumptives would
not be injurious.
Fire destroyed the uninsured home
of Rasmus Rolscheau, north of tho
Palmer farm near Little Falls. Mr.
Roschau lost everything in the house,
including  provisions  for  the  winter
A meeting for the purpose of organizing a Home Guard among the patriotic young men of Aitkin, who are not
subject to draft, has been called to be
held at the court house.
The heavy fall of snow in the
Northern woods, which has driven the
rabbits south, has made trapping of
fu-rbearlrig animals more profitable
this year than ever before, according
to professional trappers in Southern
Minnesota. With the prices at their
height and the demand increasing,
the local district has given much
toward the local supply.
(flowing reports of the good results
accomplished ty the two weeks' Loyalty drive of the America First association are coming into state headquarters. "The statewide loyalty
drive created more enthusiasm and
brought more pleasing results in
awa.kening the spirit of Americanism
that any except the most optimistic
had thought possible before it got under way," Robert W. Hargadine, secretary, said.
Henry Upsahl, a resident of Stillwater for the past fifty-two years, died
at the City Hospital, aged 70 years.
ffi. L. Martin was arrested at East
grand Forks by Chief of Police Albert
Hurst, charged with breaking into the
warehouse of the Great Northern depot in that city and taking a barrel of
bottled whiskey, five or six cases and
several small consignments of liquor.
O. F. Carson, on the quartermaster's
staff, who has been visiting at Little
Falls for several days, will leave in a
few days for the West and will be
stationed at American Lake. Mr. Carson will stop at Spokane, where he
will be married to Miss M. McNeeley.
Announcement is made by Adolpli
Pfund, secretary of the Northwestern
Lumbermen's association, that there
- will be a strong patriotic note in the
program of the association ' me.'et.n.'g
this year, the first siqce. America entered the war. The convention will be
fteld iri Minneapolis Jan, 15 to 17, and
will bring about 800 retail lumbermen
of Minnesota, Iowa, North Dakota and
South Dakota together. A building
material exhibit by manufacturers
will be made during the  convention.
Little Falls is now marketing black
granite, pronounced by experts to be
of as fine a grade as can be found anywhere. John Sperry, who operated a
successful granite plant in St. Cloud,
for several years, is the owner of the,^
company. Morrison county, the city ot
Little Falls and the Little Falls Commercial club are actively interested in
the plant.'
' Olney Grafton, 50 years old, a, sales.-,
man for A. Roseman, New York diamond merchant, shot and killed him-,
self in the Andrews hotel at Minneapolis. Ill health is thought to hav«
been the motive.
Be Prepared and
Count Your Income
In a communication received
by this paper, E. J. Lynch, Collector of Internal Revenue, announces that a federal income
tax officer will be sent into this
county and will be in the various cities and towns as per the
following- schedule:
Jan. 3. and 4.—Royalton,
Jan. 5. to 16.—Little Palls,
Jan. 18. and 19. —Pierz,
Jan. 22.—Swanville,
Peb. 22.—Motley.
The officer will be in your
town on the day or days noted
above and will be ready and willing- to help persons subject to
the income tax to make out then-
returns without any cost to them
for his services.
How many income-tax payers
will there be in ?
If you can guess how many married persons living with wife or
husband will have net incomes
of $2,000 or over and how many
unmarried persons will have net
income of SI ,000, or over this
year, then you know. The Collector of Intej-nal  Revenue esti
mates   that there will   be :—
tax-payers in this county.
Returns of income .for the year
1917 must be made on forms provided for the purpose before
March 1. 1918. Because a good
many people don't understand
the law and won't know how to
make out their returns, the government is sending in this ex-
peit to do it for them. But the
duty is on the tax-payer to make
himself known to the government. If he doesn't make return as required before March 1.
he may have to pay a penalty
ranging from $20 to $1,000, pay
a line or go to jail. So if you
don't want to take chances on
going to jail, you had better
call on the income tax man. If
you are not sure about being
subject to the tax, better ask
him and make sure. Whether
you see the income tax man or
not, you must make return if
subject to tax.
Of course, persons residing in
other counties may, if they want
to, come and see the income tax
man, who will be at Pierz Jan.
18. and 19.
The Collector suggests that
everybody start figuring up now
his income and expenses-so as
to be ready with the figures
when the expert arrives. Expenses, however, don't mean
family expenses, money used to
pay off the principal of a debt,
new machinery, buildings, or
anything like that. Thev mean
what you spend in making your
money — interest, taxes paid,
hired help, amount paid for
goods sold, seed, stock bought
for feeding, rent (except for your
dwelling) etc. Income includes
about every dollar you earn.
Sam Cyrus and His
Educated Frog
(With sincere apologies to the departed Mark Twain.)
Sauk Rapids Thief
Is Bound Over
HermanKoprek, for some time
engaged as an assistant in the
Northern Pacific depot at Sauk
Rapids, was arrested by Chief
Kowitz and Special agent L.yan
of tlie railroad company on the
charge of haying stolen silverware and other things from the
depot.
The silverware and a flashlight were stolen from a trunk
in the depot on the morning of
December 16.
Koprek was taken before Justice Dewey of Sauk Rapids yesterday for preliminary hearing.
He admitted big; g wit and is being held for the g.a,nd jury, bis
bail was fixed at $500.
We succeed or fail as we acquire good habits or bad ones.
Get the habit of banking your
money at the First State Bank
of Genola.
For seven or eight years, beginning about 1907 and ending
about 1914 one venerable C. P.
Poster made Pierz and Fiddle-
ville an annual visit. These visits
from "Old Poster," as he was
familiarly called by the boys
around town, were eagerly looked
forward to. Old Poster was a benign garrulous old gentleman
who never smiled, except by
forced imitation. His risorius
muscle had long refused to contract, from lack of exercise.
In Pierz he made his headquarters at Hubert Barest in Fiddle-
ville at the Lamotte place on
the shore of Christmas lake."
Old Poster, judging from the
story of Sam Cyrus and Prank
Love, must have visited Sain for
extended periods long before he
(Poster) was known in the village. At any rate, judging from
the story which is to follow, Poster was no doubt intimately
acquainted with Sam and knew
all his babbies and peculiarities.
Poster was under strong suspicion here of being somewhat
of a prevaricator. One good
reason why the amateur liars of
village suspected him of now
and then deviating from the
straight and narrow path of veracity is that he always met
their slightest exaggerations
and departures with such con
vincing, collosal aud overwhelming odds that he at once silenced them. He made them conscious that they were iu the
presence of a master of the art.
His victory was always so complete that there was never any
futher dispute about the chain
pionship. Then Foster would
lift one leg over the other knee,
turn his back to the vanquished
aspirant to Munchhausen honors and change the subject.
What you have read so far,
dear reader, is only to enable
you to get a line on Old Foster
and to judge for yourself how
much reliance can be put into
his story of Sam Cyrus and his
educated frog.
One hot afternoon in September 1913 Old Poster suggested
going fishing down Skunk. When
we passed a small pond just
east of Karl Kapsner's house a
frog made a beautiful long jump
and gaplunked gracefully down
headfirst iftto the centre of the
puddle. "rlllere!" said Foster,
"that reminds me." He then
backed me in a corner and blockaded me among the willows and
began to reel off the monotonous yarn-
He never smiled,   he never
frowned, he  never  changed his
voice  fi'om   the   gentle-flowing
key   to  which he  tuned the beginning, he never seemed to put
much' enthusiam  into   what he
said, he never  took his eyes off
mine;   but  an  intense  and   impressive   earnestness   and  sincerity  for a time  at least  convinced   me   that   Foster   never
suspected   that-there was  anything rediculous or  funny about
his story.    I let him go his own
way and finish it.   Here it is:
There, was a feller   once by
the name of Sam Cyrus in the
spring 1911, or in the fall 1910,
I  aint   sure,   but   anyhow   it
wasn't long from the time when
John   Brown   caught the   big
coon   down  near   where Geo.
Waller sawed logs and where
John    Brown    sawed   fiddle-
strings.    Now  Sam   was  the
funniest man I ever saw.    He
was   always  ready to   bet as
long as he could   get an other
feller to bet on the other side.
If he couldn't get a bet he offered to  change  sides.    Any
way that would suit-the other
feller   would  suit   him.    Sam
had  chicken cocks  and  tomcats  and  all   kind   of   them
Robbery at
Meat Market
things till you couldn't rest
and you couldn't fetch nothing but what he'd match you.
One day   while  goin   through
the long grass around Christ-!    Little Falls—Some time Sat
mas  lake   he  ketched a good urday   evening  after   closing
lank   athletic   frog  and took  hours, burglars broke   into  the
Local Happenings
Of the Week
him   home.    He   learned that
Emil Larson meat market,   first
door north of LaFond's grocery
The Great Northern May
Close St, Cloud Shops
St. Cloud—The Great North -
iern railroad has threatened to
close its shops if shopmen make
unreasonable demands, according to a complaint of the men
today. The railroad claimed it
could get work done at Willmar
and Milaca.   Eight hundred men
i
are effected.
frog to jump.    And he learned
him RIGHT, let me tell you.
You   may    think   you   can't on Seconed  street  and  robbed
learn a frog to jump;   but I'm . the cash register of  a  sum  be-
telling Sam Cyrusiearned that   tween $15 and $20.
frog to jump   RIGHT!   (With j	
the last RIGHT he raised the
pitch of his voice just one octave.) It took Sam about six
days to .train Jack—tbats what
fie called him—to jump up and
catch a fiy pasted on the wall
afoot high. He let him starve
and then used, flies for jump
ing-bait. By raising the distance and height a little at a
time Jack pretty soon could
ketch flies as fur away as two
feet from tlie ground. Sam
trained Jack for full three
months. He give him a little
push behind and said GET1
and Jack would stretch out
free and go. Sam k?pt the
practice up so faithful and
constant with Jack that Jack
would jump 14 feet and turn
a summerset about half way
and come down Qn all his four
feetquickern a cat. He learned him to turn a summerset
half way by liauging a fly on a
string about 4 feet 6 inches
high. If Jack missed it he
would looksadlike and scratch
one side of his head and then
the other. Jack, for all that
he was so learned he was
modest aud straight forward.
He had   no.idea  that he could . uwvnins^    lva(,ks in the fresh-
do any   more than   any   other ]y   fhUeil 8110w   show the   buvg.
Irog.     Jacks   strongest   *uit | ^ %odk fa road for Brainerd
was    jumping   on    the   dead
level; and so Sam used to saj^, j
he   had   the   best -on   all   the'
neighbor's   frogs.      Sam   was'
orful proud of  Jack   and   put;
clothes on him kinda checkered like with   sleeves and legs'
like union suits and kept him !
in a small box covered with a
screen.
Bank Robbery at Ft, Ripley.
Brainerd Dispatch: The Port
Ripley State Bank was entered
by yeggmen Tuesday night, the
lock blown off the vault door,
but further progress was barred
by the burglar proof safe inside.
A till in the bank was rifled
of $38.50. A blacksmith-shop
in town was broken into and
tools taken for use at the bank.
Some Fort Ripley people assert
they heard a noise at night re-
.sembling a dullexplosion.
The loss wets discovered by
cashier Ed. Kraemer at 8 o'clock
i in their car.
One day a feller by the name I
of Prank Love from downRice '
lake came by there and stepped iu. "How are you Strang-:
er," said Frank to Sam, "what!
in the devil have you got in|
that box?"
"Sam   then   winked   at   me'
with his ball-bearing eye and
said   sort   o'   indifferent-like,
"It might   be   an  owl, and it
might be a skunk, maybe, but
it aint—its just a plain frog." j
Frank  looked   at   it   careful, i
turned it this   way   and   that:
and gave it back to  Sam. and !
sa3's, "By gosh so it is."   and!
then    he    laughed   loud   and
long.      "Well  Sam,   what  is
HE good fur?"     He  is  good
for ON L_ thing, I  judge,   said
Sam, "and that is he can out-
jump   any   frog   east   of   the
county  seat."   Frank  looked
at   Jack   again,   once    more
laughed   loud   and   long   and
gave it back to Sam.    I don't
see no pints about that frog."
" Maybe you don't and   may- j
be you understand frogs  and i
maybe you  don't   understand i
em and maybe   you   aint   had !
no   experience,   but  I   have";
said Sam,   "I'll   risk   twenty
dollars on Jack."
Prank studied and then said
kinder  sad-like, "I'd bet you
in a minute, but I aint  got noj
frog, but  if I had one I'd   bet I
you."
And then Sam says "thats:
all right, you'll hold this box
a minute I'll ketch you a!
frog." So Sam and Prank!
each put twenty dollars in my!
hands and then Sam and I.
went out to ketch a frog while;
Prank stayed with Jack.
Prank sat therea goodwhile1
thinking then all of a sudden
he busted out laughing loud
and long aud opened ten of
his No. 10 shells and took the
shot out and with a teaspoon
filled Jack up with shot clear
Paul Eller of Greenwald
spent Christmas at home.
E. L. Robison of Onamia
in a frequent visitor here.
Frank Langer of Albany
visited at home Christmas
eve.
A bank book of the First State
Bank of Genola is the best text
book of thrift.
Elizabeth Schraut is staying with Aug. JB. Otremba
for a few days this week.
Mrs. John Jamma fell on
the icy sidewalk Christmas
day and broke her right arm.
Alfred   Wermerskirchen,
employed at Duluth, is home
for a short  Christmas  vacation.
Safety first for your funds.
Sincere and helpful service at
Pirst State Bank at Genola.
Anton Bauer of Melrose is
here for a few days visit with
relatives and friends. He is
employed in a cream station
at Little Falls.
Herbert and Rein hard
Hartmann, attending the St.
John's College at Colleg-
villi, Minn, are home for
a short visit tl_is^we<.k.
Wm. Eller who is in the
hospital at Little Falls is reported as out of danger. For
a time it was thought that
he might not recover."
. A crew of' N. W. Te It -
phone men were here Saturday taking inventory. Instead of measuring their
goods on hand by the Dry
Goods method, they- climb
poles to get the height; and
they used a 100 foot tape to
.measure cables and the distance from the cables to the
patrons' boxes.
up to the cbiin and set him on
the floor.
Sam and I  slopped  around
the lake a   while  and  finally
ketched a frog and went back
to the house and gave him   to
Frank.
"Now you take  your  frog"
said Sam to  Prank   "and   set
him even along in front   with
Jack and  I'll- start em."
"All   ready"   said   Prank.
Sam counted   "One,—Two,—
Three,— GlT."   Frank's amateur jumped away   lively   but
Jack gave a heave and hysted
up   his shoulders  but  didn't
budge.    He   was   planted   as
solid as  Verdun.     Sam   was
disgusted-like and   looked   at
Jack a long time. Frank took
the forty dollars and laughed
long- and loud.     As   he   went
out he   stopped   by   the   door
he  sorter   jerked   his    thumb
over his shoulder at Jack, and
said, very deliberate   to Sam.
"I don't  see no   pints   about
that frog thats  any  different
thanany other frog."
After scratching his head a
while Sam said, "I do wonder I Blake.
what's the   matter with   Jack
—he   pears  kind o boggy as
if   his    inwards-like    kind   o
swelled" — and    he    ketched
Jack by  the leg  and about  a
pound of   birdshot   ran out of
his mouth.    And  then he see j Choice No. 1 Northern $2.04
how it   was and  he was mad-1 Wheat, No. 1, $2.00
est man you ever see.    He set  Wheat,  No-  2     1.97
Jack down and took out after. Wheat, No. 3. —       1.94
Prank, but he never  ketched \ Wheat, No. 4     1.90
liim.    But   that   Prank  Love Flax,        3,10
could laugh   loud and long" -(Barley      1.27
Here I interrupted Old Poster'Rye    1.70
aud told him that it was longJOats      72
past six and   that it was time! Ear Corn  1 -25
to go to  supper.    Just  as we.Hay     7.00
started   to go home  the same! Butter, Creamery ..      45
frog we   had seen  two  hours! Dairy       37
before   made a long   beautiful i Eggs       42
. 5.30
. 5.20
.__.4.C0
.___2.10
._„__..75
__. 2.25
.'_ 2.40
_ 5.00
. 2.50
90
ounty Seat Calling's.
Edward Stoll of Dent arrived
Saturday to spend Christmas at
the bome^of his mother, Mrs.
Gertrude Stoll.
Otto Starr of Mt. Morris and
Herman Breise of Darling collected wolf bounties at the court
I'.ouse Saturday.
Mrs. J. M. Blake and son Urban have returned home from
Karlsruhe, N. D., after a month's
visit with her daughters, Mrs.
II.   J.   Vonderhaar   and   Marie
train And Produce
Market Report
clean jump aud dove gaplunk  Plour.Royal	
headfirst  into the   middle   of;    "    WhiteRose	
the puddle. [Low grade flour	
"i_ay,   aint   that  a dandy"  Bran..	
saidPoster "Whew!" (whistle.) Cracked Corn 80pou.
"That reminds me—" OldFos-  Shorts—*.	
ter began, but here I called   a Ground Feed ..
halt for that day.    He threat- Beans	
ened I  should hear from bim Onions •__.
KRUPP FACTORY
IBOBNSJEP0RT
Great German Munitions Establishment Afire, Workmen
Tell Hollanders.
BATTLE IN PETROGRAD
Four   Army   Corps   Defy   Orders   Of
Bolsheviki    To.    Leave    City—Engage   Troops   Sent    to    Carry
Out   Command.
London, Dec. 23.—The report is
reiterated that the Russian delegation to the peace- conference at
Brest-Litovsk has been recalled
because the Germans would not
accept the Russian terms.
Maestricht, Holland, Dec: 23.—
(British Admiralty per Wireless
Press)—Workmen from Essen, Germany, say that the Krupp plant, the
great German munitions establishment
has been ablaze for 24 hours.
Expanled During War.
The plant at Essen, the main establishment of the Krupps, the largest
manufacturers in Germany of arms
and munitions employed about 30,-
000 men before the war. It has been
expanded greatly during the war.
Facts relating to its present size and
the number of workmen are kept secret by the German government. It
was reported unofficially in October
of last year that about 70,000 persons
including several thousand women,
were at work there and that 20,000
were to be added to the force.
Early this year there was a strike
at the Krupp works, said to have been
due to lack of food. It was reported
that 40,000 workers were involved, and
tbat the authorities combatted it by
sending many of the men to the front,
but little authentic information was
permitted to come out of Germany.
Town Guarded Carefully.
Essen is in Rhenish Prussia, about
40 miles from the Dutch border. Few
places in Germany are guarded more
carefully. No persons unknown to the
German authorities are permitted to
visit t-te town. The plant has been
raided several times by French and
British airmen, notwithstanding its
formidable antiaircraft defenses. Press
dispatches last July said 100 persons
there had been killed in a raid by
French airplanes and that considerable
damage had been done to the works.
Stockholm, Dec. 23.—A great battle
in the .streets of Petrograd is reported from the Russian capital. Four
army corps refused orders of the
bolsheviki government to leave the
city. The bolsheviki sent other
troops against them. The fighting waa
still in progress as the dispatch was
sent from  Petrograd.
STOPS  MESSAGE TO   ENEMY
U. S. Discovers Traffic—Invisible Ink
And  Codes  Used.
Washington, Dec. 23.—An extensive traffic in written communications
to Germany, Austria and the northern
European neutrals, involving use of
invisible ink and code system, has
been discovered and stopped by customs officials within the last few
weeks, treasury officials have disclosed.
The traffic, it was disclosed, was
carried on largely by Swedish ship
and marine men.
Scores of persons now are under
surveillance and a number of arresti
probably will be made soon. Evidence that the channel of communications have been open even since
th United States has entered the
war has been uncovered and officials
suspect that much of the informa-
tioon which the German government
is known to have received concerning
war preparations in America have
been transmitted under a well organized scheme directed by subjects
of neutral countries assisted T)y
some Americans.
RECOUNT SEATS GOVERNOR
Shows Hunt of Arizona Elected—
Republican   Now  in   Office.
Phoenix, Ariz., Dec. 23.—The Ari?
zona supreme court has seated G. W.
P. Hunt as governor of Arizona.
Hfint contested the election of Governor Thomas Campbell, who now
holds the office. Hunt is a democrat. The decision of the court was
unanimous.
On the face of the returns, Campbell was given the certificate of election by the small margin of 31 votes.
Hunt instituted a contest declar":.'
a recount would show he had been
elected.
The court unanimously decided
that the recount showed Hunt !._.;
been   elected   by  43   votes.
again.
Potatoes.
Maximum   Sentence   for   Pioit-rs.
Detroit, Dec.   23.—Albert    0.    T<a'.c-
schmidt,   who   with   four   others   hr a
been convicted in federal court on a
conspiracy   charge,   was   sentenced   a
few hours later to four years ln federal
prison  at  Fort  Leavenworth,  and   ta
' ray ?.. fine of ?20,0GO.   It was the m- "•
j imum  sentence.    Mrs.  Ida NeSi,   hi3
Biste-, was  peutenced to three years
in  the loc.i  ho.so  of correction and
I fined $ 15,000.    Fritz A. Neef, her hus-
I band, and Carl Schmidt, and his wife,
Maria, were sentenced to two years
and fined $10,000 each.
mm mm"i
^P-^^^