Saturday, October 3, 2026

Time Machine Trip to October 1896

 


 


October 2, 1896

A great demonstration was held in Kaukauna on Wednesday. More than 1,500 people gathered at one of the largest Republican rallies ever held in Outagamie County to listen to Ex-senator John Spooner speak. Many of the top Republicans in the state were in attendance for the all-day event.

 

Local politics in Kaukauna were at a fever pitch ahead of the 1896 presidential election. The local "Sound Money Club" erected a 110-foot flagpole in the middle of the street to raise a massive American flag, while rival Democratic clubs held grand rallies at the Opera House featuring prominent speakers.

October 9, 1896

 

The steamer Evelyn has gone into winter quarters at Oshkosh.

A city football team to oppose the high school eleven was organized by a number of the boys who met last Monday evening at F. M. Charlesworth's drug store.

 

James McFadden, of this city, fell from a freight train coming into Kaukauna Thursday afternoon and was instantly killed beneath the cars. A companion who was with him says the young man got on the train at Green Bay and was somewhat intoxicated at the time.

 

A bus load of Republicans from here went to Little Chute Wednesday evening and attended a meeting called for the purpose of organizing a McKinley and Hobart club. The speeches are received with applause. A club was then organized with the following officers elected: Pres. C. H. Peters; Vice Pres. P. N. Van Handel, Sec., Charles Germanson.

 


Mrs. Edward White of New York City is a remarkable woman. She has challenged heavy weight champion Jim Corbett to a boxing match and she fights regularly with her husband two times a day and makes no secret of it. In other words Mrs. White holds her own against the champion welterweight boxer of the world. She is willing to enter contest with male professionals and fight to the finish.

 





October 16, 1896

       First Kaukauna High Football team

 

The newly organized high school football team won its first match last Saturday, when they met the Ryan High School team of Appleton on the gridiron in this city. Miller secured the first touchdown for Kaukauna and C. Frambach scored the next two touchdowns and Hallock kicked goal making the score 22 to 14.

 

Theodore Hesselberg, an elderly and well-known resident living alone on Kaukauna’s north side, was discovered dead in his bed after neighbors grew suspicious when no smoke was seen coming from his chimney.

 

On account of the scarcity of room at the high school building, a great many pupils, especially the seniors, have to sit two in a seat. This is not very convenient, so the seniors are allowed to leave school immediately after their recitations.

 

The interior of the Savings Bank has undergone quite a change this week. Large new shelving has been added alone the middle of the store. The Savings Bank is fast gaining in favor in Kaukauna.

 

Spiral Submersible illustrations detail a revolutionary submarine design invented by Mr. Apostoloff. Instead of using a traditional rear propeller, the submarine itself functions like a giant Archimedes' screw or boring worm, spiraling through the water. It features thick glass observation ports and electric floodlights for viewing ocean shipwrecks.

 

A number of monuments or headstones furnished by the government to mark the graves of several union soldiers hereabouts, arrived recently and on Monday a delegation of members of the Paul H. Beaulieu Post No. 247, G. A. R., drove out to the Buchanan Cemetery to mark the places for the stones on the graves of the old soldiers who now answer to the roll in the great army that has been mustered to the other shore.

 

A tramp who gave his name as J. C. Smith was arrested on the south side by officer Earles last Saturday night for stealing a coat from the Grand View hotel. Smith is a believer in the adage, “God helps those who help themselves.” The tramp lost the coat and got 30 days in the county bastille.

 

October 23, 1896

Following the mysterious disappearance of Kaukauna City Treasurer W. T. Rambusch, an examination of his books revealed missing funds and altered records. Unofficial estimates put the shortage between $25,000 and $30,000.  Shortly after fleeing, Rambusch was found dead in a hotel in Carrollton, Missouri. It was determined that he took his own life by drinking carbolic acid.

 

The Kaukauna football team won its second match game last Saturday afternoon at Appleton by a score of 12 to 4. At the close of the first half the score was 4 to 4. If Appleton people think the Kaukauna game was interfered with by spectators, they certainly cannot say that the Appleton game was free from this interference. The spectators resembled a mob.  If the Appleton people stayed out of the way one half the distance that the Kaukauna people were in all probability the score would have been different and not in Appleton's favor either.

 

On the 1st of November, Charles Welter of the town of Kaukauna, will start a new milk delivery wagon in this city. Mr. Welter says the price of butter and cheese is very low and therefore decided to deliver full cream milk for four cents per quart. 

 

October 30, 1896

The eight-hour working schedule went into effect at the railway shops Monday. The employees now quit at 4:30 in the afternoon.

 

The high school football team won its third match at De Pere by a score of 24-0. In the evening the high school girls gave a social and reception for the two teams and made great efforts to make the evening enjoyable.


 

The great one-man show has made its farewell tour, and Kaukauna has seen the elephant. William Jennings Bryan touch at Kaukauna at 10:15 this morning for about 15 minutes, talked about it’s and supposes. A large crowd of perhaps 2500 people turned out to greet Willie but it was an awful frosty mass of humanity.  No one joined in the cheers at the reception. The railroad shops and most of the Mills were closed down so that all laborers could go and see and hear the great and only Bryan. As the greater part of the population of Kaukauna saw and heard the candidate who will be buried under an avalanche of ballots next Tuesday, it is not necessary to further comment on his appearance here for The TIMES press hour has arrived.

  

While boarding a crowded streetcar on Chicago's West Side, a young woman felt a thief reaching directly into her dress pocket for her purse. Instead of panicking, the young woman grabbed the thief's hand through the fabric of her skirt, twisted his wrist, and forced him to drop both the purse and a costly diamond ring he was wearing before he managed to break free and flee into the crowd.

 

 

 

 

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