Time Machine Trip to May 1895

Kaukauna Times

By Lyle Hansen

 

May 3, 1895

Dr. H. B. Tanner was reelected as mayor of Kaukauna on Tuesday, narrowly defeating the challenger and former mayor Luther Lindauer. Tanner's margin of victory was 54 votes.

 

The new bids for the construction of Hotel Brothers were open Monday, and the contract awarded to an Appleton contractor whose bid was $18,050.

 

Some of the young ladies’ fashions should not lose sight of the fact that it is impossible for young men to “whisper love in their ear” in these days of balloon sleeves.

 

William S. Curtis, a switchman employed in the Northwestern yards at Appleton; while uncoupling moving cars last Tuesday evening caught his foot and fell. Both his legs were cut off by the knees. He died Wednesday morning. He leaves, a wife and two children, one seven weeks old.

The publishers of the KAUKAUNA TIMES have always promised whenever the field was ripe here to put in a daily paper and with this end in view the city is now being thoroughly canvassed for subscribers to assert if the venture can safely be made at present. Many of the businessmen have of late urged the starting of a daily and we wish to meet their demands if within our power.

 

Appleton, Wis. - Wenzel Schillibel who was arrested recently convicted of voting twice in the spring election and let off with a fine and cost of $17, on account of his ignorance and stupidity. He was arrested again today and found guilty of obtaining goods under false pretenses and assessed a fine and cost of $22. He had goods belonging to Andrew Hampel, a saloon keeper. Schillibel’s only defense was that Hempel was rich while he was poor.  

  

 

May 10, 1895

F. G. Passino & Co's elegant new soda fountain was opened to the public, one of Chicago's expert soda water dispensers being here to serve the various beverages obtainable here.

 

Oscar Thilmany, proprietor of the Thilmany Paper Mill is contemplating the addition of another tissue mill to meet the fast-increasing demands for this grade of paper.

 

Hortonville having been incorporated as a village; an election was held on Tuesday last to choose village officers. For president L. Jacquot received 99 votes and D. Hodgins 96.

 

May 17, 1895

Since last Saturday, not a wheel has turned in Kaukauna or any other city along the Fox from Neenah to Green Bay. Over 4,000 men are thus thrown out of employment, while the mills are losing thousands of dollars daily. Stopped as they were without a few days grace in which to make preparations, the mills are full of raw stock, molding and rotting; felts and wires are left upon the machines, with no power to turn the machinery to remove them, vats are full of pulp, and rotaries full of rags, chemicals going to waste, and damage visible on all sides, with no remedy at hand only an order from the government revoking their last order. The water was shut off to the mills by the government through an injunction from the Green Bay and Mississippi Canal Company to keep the river levels high enough for navigation.

 

For the first time in the history of the Fox here the water is low enough to display the bottom of the river near the dam, as much water as possible was drawn off this morning to lower the river so that repairs could be made to the leak in the dam.

The High School graduating class of ’95 has decided on June 13^th as the date of their commencement exercises. The class this year is larger than any of the previous ones, numbering thirteen.

 

Baraboo, Wis., - Mrs. Fry was about to be buried when it was discovered she was alive. She has since explained that she was conscious of what was going on about her but was unable to make her condition known and it was only by the greatest efforts that she moved her arm a trifle the day appointed for the funeral.

 

May 24, 1895

The city jail has been torn down and the material transferred to the new site near the new bridge, where it will be rebuilt by Contractor Solar according to revised plans. The new jail will be a two-story structure with police headquarters on the second floor opening from the bridge. A box car has been backed in on the sidetrack on the Island and will be used as a lockup until the new one is completed. It is now a case of being lodged in a refrigerator instead of the cooler.

 

Wednesday afternoon, the TIMES reporter took a stroll through the new factory of the Kaukauna Furniture Company and found everything to be in good running order and in top condition. Work at the new plant commenced last Monday.

 

Mayor Tanner headed the police force last Friday evening after 11 o’clock and started out to make a round of the city’s saloons to see if the 11 o’clock closing ordinance was being conformed to. The wet goods houses were all closed.

 

Washington D.C., May 21 - The income tax, which has received so large a share of the public attention since the beginning of the session, is a thing of the past. The Supreme Court declared the entire act invalid and unconstitutional.

 

The Kaukauna ladies “set the pace” and now the bloomer costume is being adapted in other cities along the Valley. The Advocate speaks about Miss Sweet who was the first to appear at Green Bay last week, adding that “the bloomer costume presents a vision of loveliness that is simply irresistible.”

 

May 31, 1895

The new hook and ladder truck for the fire department has arrived. It is a "bute."

 

Although the new telephone poles on the bank of the canal raised the wires 120 feet above the water, they were not high enough to allow a sailing vessel to pass through last Friday. The tips of the mask touched the wires, and they had to be lowered. An additional splice is now being added to the poles.

 

Julius Martins has resigned his position as traveling salesman for the Anson Bros. of Milwaukee and intends to start a grocery store on the south side.