Time Machine Trip to January 1908

January 3, 1908

Farmers in this vicinity are taking advantage of the present sleighing for bringing in their logs. According to reports there are lots of logs to haul and the indications are that when the saw mill of Kaukauna Lumber and Manufacturing company starts up it will be kept running for some time. The high price of lumber is causing farmers to cut their timber as rapidly as possible.

Two hundred miners were entombed in the Darr mines in Connellsville, Pa. Of the victims fully 100 are Americans the others being Hungarians. A terrific explosion shook the vicinity and within a few minutes the mouth of the pit was surrounded by the relatives and friends of the entombed men. 

Brokaw Memorial church, under the direction of the paster Rev. J. E. Manning, has commenced making preparation to commemorate its twenty-first anniversary.

The Rev. Julius Rhode, pastor of Holy Cross church for twenty-nine years, died here New Year’s Day. He had suffered several months, and death was not unexpected. His only survivors are two brothers in Prussia.

January 10, 1908

One of the wheels of the hose wagon was badly "dished" while the apparatus was on the way to the fire in the Stevens block. Owing to the icy conditions of the roads the rear end of the wagon collided with the bridge in making a short turn at the approach. Wm. Klumb has the wheel in the "hospital" and a plain wagon has been substituted at the station for the time being.

Louisville, Ky., Clarence Sturgeon, 19, was executed in the jail yard last week. His extreme youth was the basis of many efforts to have him pardoned. The execution was rendered unusually painful for those present as the mechanism failed to work. Sturgeon was so light that he did not break his neck on the drop and was not pronounced dead for seventeen minutes. He murdered three men one year ago.

Charles Grignon was the victim of highwaymen here last week on Ducharme street, being relieved of a gold watch and some cash by three men.

January 17, 1908

Ashauer & Renn, the new ice firm, lost a valuable team by drowning while cutting ice opposite the ice house. The team was attached to a plow and was driven by a boy named Keller, who narrowly escaped being precipitated into the water.

Joseph J.  McCarty, Treasurer of Outagamie County, and one of the prominent citizens in the civic, business and social life of the city of Kaukauna, passed away shortly after 12 o'clock Thursday night, his death resulting from a relapse following a recent attack of pneumonia.

The William VanLieshout Ford Dealership

The grip and the mumps are reducing the attendance at all schools in Kaukauna. Nearly one fourth of the High school students were out days this week.

The Kaukauna high school girls’ basketball team played their first game of the season with the De Pere high school team at the opera house in that city Friday evening and were defeated by a score of 7 to 8. The De Pere team was heavier and had home court advantage. The Kaukauna team this year consists of Carol Farwell, Ethel Townley, Flossie Armstrong, Elizabeth Boettshen and Idabel Warely.

Peter Lowe, an employee of the Kaukauna machine shops, had his foot badly crushed by a casting weighing several thousand pounds. He will be laid up for several weeks.

Two more Kaukauna residents purchased tracks of Oneida Indian lands last week. It is estimated that the whites are now in possession of about one-third of the available land of the reservation. 

Smallpox had made its appearance on the Oneida reservation. The disease is in a mild form and so far, there have been no deaths.

January 24, 1908

Manager John Lawe has announced the roller rink will be closed on Sundays. This action was brought about by the patrons themselves. One of the largest crowds of the season was at the rink Sunday afternoon. They became hilarious and paid no attention to the request of the manager to preserve order. As a last resort he rang up, "Skates Off," and closed the building in the middle of the afternoon. It also remained closed in the evening.

January 31, 1908

A lady entered the store of the Butler-Dietzler Hardware Company and wanted to know if the second story was for rent. For a moment George Butler, who was addressed, could not recall whether it was occupied or not. Finally collecting himself he informed the lady that they had no tenants and were not in a position to accommodate any. The lady looked puzzled until she reached the sidewalk, when she saw it was only a one-story building.