Bemidji Daily Pioneer Newspaper, May 20, 1907, Page 1

I - THE CMIDJT DAILY PIONEE VOLUME 5. 'NUMBER 27 BEMIDJ1, MINNESOTA, MONDAY EVENING, MAY 20, 1907. COUNTY GOMMISSIONERS HAY REPAIR COURT HOUSE Supreme Court Decides Clearwater Co. Case in Favor of Commissioners ---Allowed to Make Repairs. The last chapter in the county seat fight in Clearwater county has probably been settied by the decision of the supreme court which was tiled Friday. The litigation has been in the courts for over a year and arises over the expenditure of $1,600 by the board of county commissioners in placing suit able vaults in a building donated by the citizens of Bagley to be used as a court house. The vault room and furnishings for the building cost about $1,600. From this, George B. Upton of Shevlin takes appeal, which was decided by the district court in favor of the commissioners. From this Mr. Upton takes an appeal and the supreme court affirms vhe decision of the lower coart. The decision is as follows: George B. Upion, appellant, vs. Julius Strommer et al, re- spondents. Syllabus: First—The reason- able cost and expense of making repairs upon a courthouse is in- cidental to the management of the affairs of a county, and not unlawful, even though the amount thereof, added to other items of current expense exceeds the statutory limitation of the taxing power of the county. Affirmed. —J. Brown. Probate Court. May 18. W. S. Re: ministrator of the Day estate sold at private sale certain real estato in the town of Northern which was approved by the court. Lncal news on the last page. _|elothing I Notice.” Department of the Interior, United States Land Office, Cass Lake, Minn., May 17, 1907. Notice is hereby given that Township 153, of Ranges 25 and 26 W., of the 5th P. M,, have been surveyed, that the approved plats of survey of said Townships will be filed in this office on July 12,1907, at nine o’clock a.m. That on and after said date, we will be prepared to receive appli- cations for the entry of land in such townships. E. S. OAKLEY, Register, M. N. KoLL, Receiver. Box Stationery. We have 100 boxes of choice box stationery which will be closed out at a price suitable to the purse of the buyer. We are making an exception- ally low price on this line of {stationery as we are closing it lout and hereafter will carry nothing in this line. Call at the Pioneer office, and get the pick of the choice box stationery we offer. {SCHNEIDER BROS. GOOD, { | Pioneer Ads Are Neat and Tastily Got Up and Set in a Way to Give the Advertiser the Best Results. The St. Paul Trade Journal in a recent issue commenting on an ad of Schneider Bros. has the following complimentary notice to give: “We are reproducing a most tastily arranged spring announcement by Schneider Bros,, Bemidji, Minn., ithe illustrative scheme being lespecially good. We presume this cut was furnished to Schneider Bros. by one of their { jobbing houses. The text matter {in the ad is good,” The ““Rooney Boys” “In writing a criticism of the[seldom seen in older vocalists; ‘Roney’s Boys’ concert, one is|they sing the old familiar folklore tempted to resort to hyperbole|melodies with a sweetness and his school time To say that and search for list of adjectiv expression impossiblein matured voices, and they sing national they are wonderful is putting it | marches with avim and spirit mildly. They constitute a most|that makes the American heart entertaining concert troupe, not |beat triple time with flooding merely a unique personnel. boys sing the most difficult and The | patriotism.” At Cisy Opera House Monday jntricate quartets with an ease'evening. BuULL f Great North ETIN ernRailway} issues from time to time E. E. Chamberla Local HELP BUILD UP YOUR STATE BGhe Great Northern Railway ing of the advantages of Minnesota as a home state. 1t you have relatives or friends you think might be induced to move west send us their names and we will mail them some interesting literature. bulletins and beoklets tell- in Agent Bemidji, Minnesota TEN CENTS PER WEEK CORONER’S JURY - FIXES NO BLAME “We, the jury, find that John Johnson came to his death by be- ing shot through the head with a shotgun in the hands of a person to the jury unknown,” Above is the substance of the verdict rendered by thecoroner’s jury this morning, impanelled to inquire into the cause of death of John Johnson, whose body | was found ina badly decomposed [;AHEFUL ADVERTISEHS state in Gull Lake,last Thursday. The jury was impanelled by the coroner Saturday afternoon, and after taking the evidence of several parties from Tenstrike, an adjournment was taken until this morning pending the result of the post-mortem made in the meantime by Drs. Henderson and Marcum. The post-mortem developed that Johnson had been shot with a twelve-gauge- shotgun, the charge entering below the left eye, lodging in the brain. About twenty-five No. 4. shot were found in the brain and lodged under the scalp, also the wad Had Been Crushed. from the cartridge. The hair along the left side also showed powder burns. In addition the skull had been broken with a club or other in- strument, there being a fracture above the upper teeth, -and the lower jaw was also broken. This, the coroner explained, could not have been caused by the shot, but was made after- wards. In all, the skull is broken in seven or eight pieces, A picture of the scene of the crime, showing the location of cabin where Johnson and his partner, Mathiesen, stayed, and the surrouundings, also the shore where the body was found, was presented to the coroner by Geo. H. Wetsel, owner of the cabin, and on whose homestead the tragedy was enacted. The finding of the_ body of Johnson, marks another chapter in the annals of crime in” Beltra- mi county, The murder, with the possible exception of the Dahl case, is one of the most fiendish in the his- Returns Verdict that John Johnson Came to His Death at the Hands of a Party to the Jury Unknown.---Post Mortem Shows that Johnson Was Shot With a 12- Gauge Shotgun, and His Skull tory of crime in Northern Min- nesota. The murdered man was an industrious, hard-working individual, who spent his time between improving his home- stead in Roseau county, during the summer, and working in the woods during the winter months. The fact that he was thrifty, was undoing. The $400 certificate of the deposit representing his savings, furnishes ample motive for the crime, Suspicion naturally falls on his companion, Peter Mathiesen, who worked with him, and his representations that Johnson had gone to Crookston,and would not return, naturally strengthens this suspicion. Should the authorities succeed in lgcnbing Mathiesen, and he can be identi- fied as the party cashing John- son’s certificate, the case would be speedily cleared. It is believed that Mathiesen has gone west, and the local authorities are now in communi- cation with officers in the Pacific coast cities. Bagley, May 20.—(Special to Pioneer.)—Ole Olson Aasby, a laborer who has been in the em- ploy of J. W. Torkelson during the past year, was instantly killed here b§7 the west-bound Great Northern train, Saturday night, his body being terribly mangled. Aasby, who had been drinking heavily of late, was seen about ten minutes before the arrival of the train from the east, 4 a. m., and it is said he was in a Ladly in- toxicated condition. He undoubt- edly wandered onto the railroad track, just ahead of the engine and was literally torn to pieces by the wheels of the train,as the condition of the body when found indicated that he must have been directly in the pathof the en- gine, > Aasby’s body was found at the bridge which spans the Clear- water river, about a mile east of here, A man named Thompson was walking to town when he discovered the bloody form on the tracks. Thompson came to town and the section crew, with INSTANTLY KILLED Ole Olson Aasby Terribly Mangled Near Bagley by G. N./Passenger Train. crowd of people. No one saw the accident, and the members of the train crew on the passenger knew nothing of the accident, when telegraphed to, at a point further east, claim- ing they saw no one on the tracks, Not much was known of Aasby, beyond the fact that he/had worked in this village for a year past and was greatly addicted to the use of intoxicating liquors. However, it is believed that he a handcar, brought the body to!has relatives living near Erskine. the morgue, where it was viewed by Coroner Wagner and a curious’ It is not thought that an in- quest will be held. RAILROADS AN IMPORTANT FAGTOR IN DRAINAGE The M. & I. Extension Work Proves an Important Experiment to Drain- age of Swamp Lands. International Falls, Minn., May 18—(Special to Pioneer.)— The drainage of the large areas of moskeag in this country, prom- ises to be solved largely by the railroads. Between this village and the town of Littlefork the extension of the M. & I. railroad, now be- ing built, traverses some twelve miles of this high and rolling land, on which the water isheld by the higher banks of the streams which are to afford them drainage. In their eagerness to reach Littlefork, a town of wonderful water power possibilities, at the earliest possible moment, the railroad company before the 'spring breakup, went to the ex- pense of digging miles of ditches leading to the creeks tributary to the Little Fork and Rainy Lake rivers. The hope that the dihchesl iwould make possible summer work is being fulfilled, as the greater part of the right-of-way|- is now sodry that the work is progressing without hindrance. With the other railroads that will soon cross-section this country on account of the early importance of this town in a man- ufacturing way, the transporta- tion companies bid fair to be- come large factors in the re- deeming of the moskeag wastes. Better Roads to Mizpah. Mizpah, May_20.—(Special to Pioneer.)—The town of Ever- green has recently voted to bond the town in the sum of $8,000 for the making of better roads. This will materially assist the growth of Mizpah and assist the farmers in getting a better way of going to market, AN IMPORTANT TAX GASE FROM ITASGA GOUNTY Taber Lumber Co. Tax Case Argued in the Supreme Court.--Dicision Watched With Interest, An interesting tax case was argued and submitted before the state supreme court Thursday. The Taber Lumber company of Davenport contracted with the Itasca Lumber company to cut 12,000,000 feet of logs near Jesse Lake, Itasca county. After the trees had been cut down and be- fore the logs could beplaced on the cars to haul them away, along came the assessor of Itasca county and put them down on his books, The Taber Lumber company was soon after called on to pay a tax of $1,000. The company resisted the tax, claim- ing the logs at the time were in- terstate commerce. The lower court sustained the claim of the county and said the logs were not interstate commerce as they had not when assessed been act- ually started on their way south. The lumber company accordingly appealed. The case was taken under advisement today after arguments had been submitted by the attorneys of both sides, the attorney of Itasca county ap- pearing for the county. A Pleasant Gathering. Anumber of friends of Mr. and Mrs. S.E. DeLong- pleas- antly surprised them Saturday evening at the home of Mr. and Mrs. F. D. Stillings. The even- ing was pleasantly spent in play- ing cards and at 11 o’clock a dainty lunch was served. Dur- ing the evening Mr. and Mrs, DeLong were presented witha sterling silver spoon with their names engraved in the bowl as atoken of remembrance from those present. Miss Bradford, a teacher of Cass Lake, spent Sunday in the city. Mr, and Mrs. Geo. Denley and baby of Dorset visited with -Mr. and Mrs, J. C. Courtney, parents of Mrs. Denley. e LAKE PARK GREEN HOUSE T0 ENLARGE ITS QUARTERS Raising Potted Plants and Supplying Cut Flowers Proves Valuable In- dustry for Bemidji. The Lake Park Greenhouses, the pioneer and only institution of its kind in Bemidji, are to be enlarged and greatly improved in several ways during the next few months is the announcement given out by the proprietor, A. E. Webster. The determination is the re- sult of a volume of business which considerably exceeds the bounds of the limited quarters in which the business has until the present time been conducted. Two new houses, dimensions 14x40.feet, will be added, accord- ing to present plans, during July or August, and the propagation of plants and flowers can then be carried out on a scale befitting the size of the city. ; A new boiler for” heating pur- poses has already been pur- chased in anticipation of the en- largement of the industry. Mr. Webster is equipped with a thorough knowledge of the business, having previously been engaged in the same line in east- ern cities and his institution promises to be one of the best in the northern portion of the state. Local news on the last page. FAMOUS BOOMAGE CASE GOES TO SUPREME GOURT Federal Court Directs Verdict in Favor of Rainy River Lumber Co.,Against Rainy River Boomage Co. Fergus Falls, Minn., May 20.— (Special to Pioneer.)—The case of the Rainy River Lumber com- pany vs. the Rainy River Boom company was finished in the United States court here yester- day, Judge Morris directing a a verdict for the plaintiff. The case was brought to determine the rights of boom companies in international waters. The Rainy River Boom com- pany operates under a Minnesota charter, but is in reality a sub- sidiary company of the Rat Port- age Lumber company, one of the largest lumber concerns in Can- ada. This boom ccmpany con- structed a boom cosiing $45,000 in the Rainy river, an interna- tional stream. b The Rainy River Lumber com- pany and the Rat Portage Lum- ber company each cut millions of feet of logs and sent them down the river- together. — The Rat Portage company had an agree- ment with the boom company to have its logs sorted and separated from the other company’s logs on reaching the boom, and the boom company contends that the Rainy Rifer Lumber company, which derives equal benefit from the sorting, should pay part of the expense. The Rainy River company, being so situated that its logs must be separated from those of the other company any- way, declines to pay, and the boom company this year held $7,500 worth of its logs for boom- age charges. The suit was brought to decide whether the charges could be collected. The amount involved was com- paratively small, but the ultimate amount of sorting charges will hundreds of thousandsof dollars, and the case is to be carried to the United States supreme court for final adjudication. County Seat Division in Higher Court. The final proceedings in the proceedings regarding the con- stitutionality of the organization of Koochiching county was argued in the supreme court Friday, George H. Spear of Grand Rapids appearing for the opponents to the organization and C. W. Stanton of International Falls appearing for the new county. Owing to the importance of the matter it will probably be but a few days beforea final decision is rendered. Additional local matter will be found on fourth page. Over Post Office HAT is thelne- V‘/ cessity ofruin- 2 ing your eyes ‘¢ " |with poor, im- properly fitted glasses when Drs. Larson & Larson live in Bemidji. Drs. Larson & Larson make a specialty in diagnosing de- defects of the eye and fitting glasses. Phone 92 -~ Dentistry The Kind You Appreciate DR. G. M. PALMER i Formerly of Minneapolis Successor to Dr. R. B. Foster Office--Suite 9, Miles Blook MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY.