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One Hundred Years Ago
(From the Mount Ayr Record-News,Thursday, July 16, 1924.)
Reminiscences of Pioneer Days in Ringgold County by F.W. Johnson:
In the spring of 1872, I acted as deputy sheriff for Major D.B. Marshall, who was sheriff of the county at that time. That was a very busy year for the sheriff, as there were two murder trials in the courts. The sheriff did not have any automobile in those days and not even a buggy. We had to do all our traveling over the prairies on horseback, and I had purchased an Indian pony to ride. In fact I rode over nearly all of Ringgold, Union and Madison counties, subpoening witnesses. I will give you an account of one of the murder cases, as I remember it.
There were two men that lived on adjoining farms, north of where Maloy is now located and close to Lemley bridge on Platte river. Their names were Debolt and Nouse. Debolt had the bad habit of letting his hogs run out and they would get into Nouse’s corn, destroying it badly.
One morning Nouse took his rifle out in the corn field and commenced to shoot Debolt’s hogs. Debolt heard him shoot and went down where he was. They got to quarreling and Nouse told Debolt if he did not get off his place and stay off he would shoot him. He did not go, so Nouse made good his threat and reloaded his gun and killed Debolt. Nouse had his trial and was sentenced to the penitentiary at Fort Madison for a term of years. He had his case carried up to the supreme court, and when the case was finally decided in the supreme court, the decision of the lower court was affirmed.
The sheriff sent word to Nouse the next day after the decision was announced and the following day I saw Nouse walking into Mount Ayr from his home on Platte river to go to the pen. Sheriff Marshall gave Nouse his papers and told him he could go to Fort Madison alone. Nouse took the hack to Afton and from there went to Fort Madison, where he delivered himself to the warden of the penitentiary. That was the last time I ever heard of Nouse.
Horse thieves were thick in this country in those days. I recall that the sheriff arrested a horse thief and the officers “had the goods on him all right”.
The thief employed Judge I.W. Keller to defend him and W.T. Laughlin was doing the prosecuting. Keller finally told his client that the only way he could think of for keeping him from going to the penitentiary was to think up some scheme for him to escape. Keller studied out a plan and told his client that when they got the trial started he would get into a racket with Laughlin and that when he started to pull off his coat to wade into Laughlin the sheriff would jump into the fracas to help seperate them. This would be the signal for his client to make good his escape. He happened to be a good runner and he was never seen or heard of again. The scheme worked to perfection.
Marriage: Myrtle Johnson and Harry Sheil to be married July 19.
Birth: July 10, a daughter to Mr. and Mrs. E.C. Eager.
Obituaries in this edition: W.F. Warner and Pearl Parkinson Harris.
Seventy-Five Years Ago
(From the Mount Ayr Record-News,Thursday, July 14, 1949.)
Marvin Triggs, of Mount Ayr and Alan O’Neal, of Tingley, have been selected by the Mount Ayr businessmen’s club as the winners of the two dairy heifers this year in the club’s annual dairy contest.
Donald Stephens, of Delphos, was elected as the new county boys’ 4-H president at the election held at the county club camp. Donald is a member of the Rice Rustlers club and is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Clarence Stephens. Chris Hightshoe, of Mount Ayr, is the new vice president. He is a member of the Atom Boys club.
Marriage: July 6, Iona Baker and Duane Triggs.
Births: July 6, a son to Mr. and Mrs. Archie Palmer…June 23, a son, Larry, to Mr. and Mrs. Don Campbell.
Fifty Years Ago
(From the Mount Ayr Record-News,Thursday, July 18, 1974.)
Grass fires keep Mount Ayr firemen busy. Continued dry conditions around the area are blamed for 3 to 4 fire calls answered by the Mount Ayr fire department in the last several days.
The department was called to the Dixon-Elliott farm near Benton about 3:40 p.m. Saturday when sparks from a passing train set fire to dried grass along the railroad right-of-way. Tuesday afternoon was a busy one for the firemen, with three calls. The first came at 1:50 p.m. when fire broke out in the top floor of the garage at the Don Solliday residence on E. Jefferson, several mattresses and smoldering rugs were dragged from the building, which was not damaged. The fire was evidently started by children playing with matches.
Fireman went back to Dixon-Elliott farm about 4 p.m. Tuesday when another grass fire was discovered along the railroad right-of-way. At 5:10 p.m. the firemen were called to the Glen Pine corner 5 miles south of Mount Ayr on the sale barn road, when sparks from a diesel tractor set the grass afire along the right-of-way.
Fourth of July parade winners~most unusual costume Kelly Jo Brand; prettiest costume Kelly Clary; best decorated vehicle Christina Shields; best girls decorated bike Melinda Small; best decorated boys bike Kelly Andrews; youth and pet dividion Doug and David Greene.
Richard Hill, son of Mr. and Mrs. David Hill of Tingley, was graduated with honors in May from Northwest Missouri State University with a bachelor of science degree. The 1965 graduate of Mount Ayr high school, recently accepted a position as research agronomist with the U & I Sugar Company at Tappenish, WA.
Marriages: June 16 Coletta Todd and Dan Weeda…July 13, Maria Varona and Lewis James…June 28 Penney Allen and Gary Fischer.
Obituary in this edition was Clyde F. Galbraith.
Twenty-Five Years Ago
(From the Mount Ayr Record-News,Thursday, July 8, 1999.)
“It was an absolutely fantastic day.” That’s the way Lynn Rinehart sums up the six state golf tour that a group of mostly Ringgold county golfers completed in one day on Thursday June 17.
And it was a long day too. From sun up in Bellvue, NE to sunset at Bella Vista AR, the dozen golfers were on the go.
Ringgold county residents will be served by an new company for local telephone service by early next year following an announcement this week by GTE and Iowa Network Services (INS), Inc. INS will purchase the 280,422 domestic access lines that GTE owns in the state of Iowa, including most of Ringgold county communities.
Obituary in this edition were: Bonita Nadine West Devries and Walter Edwin Owens.
Ten Years Ago
(From the Mount Ayr Record-News,Thursday, July 10, 2024.)
Governor Terry Branstad has sent a letter to President Obama requesting a Presidential Disaster Declaration for nine Iowa counties where significant damage was sustained from damaging winds, hail, heavy rains and thunderstorms from June 3-4, 2014.
Haugland makes Alcatraz swim~Blake Haugland, 2002 Mount Ayr school graduate, is currently working as a rear tire carrier on the pit crew for Brian Vicker’s #55 car on the Michael Waltrip Racing team.
Recently while the race teams were getting their cars dialed in at Sonoma, Blake was getting dialed in as well. As everyone knows on pit road, Blake is one of the fittest and most active guys there is. This past weekend he decided to swim across the San Francisco Bay to Alcatraz and back. Blake has competed in may triathlons over the past 2 years and his endurance is no joke. The race was a 2.5 mile swim from Aquatic Park at Fishermans Warf to Alcatraz and back, with water temps at 55 degrees. Blake finished 8th in the men’s wet suit division.
Area consumers will see a new bank in Mount Ayr if all goes as planned in the coming weeks. City State Bank, head quartered in Norwalk, is in the process of applying for approval and is planning to open a location in Mount Ayr as early as August 1 if the process goes as planned.
Marriages: June 22 Andrew Kellner and Jennifer Hawbaker.
Obituaries in this edition were: Ruth A. Stingley Nickle and Sylvia Hall.