Harry Potter Sues Circus

Iowa, 1894

The band leader in Reynolds' circus sued the show in the superior court here for $300 and its horses have been attached according to the following paragraph in a Creston paper: Sheriff Davenport went to Afton yesterday and levied on the horses and railroad cars of Reynolds Bros.' circus, on a writ of attachment sworn out by Harry Potter and wife for labor, in the sum of $891.05. Representatives of the circus were in the city today endeavoring to effect a settlement. Circuses seem to be having a rough time of it this year.

— Cedar Rapids Gazette; Reprinted in Waterloo Courier, Waterloo, IA, July 18, 1894, p. 9.


North Dakota, 1925

Mr. and Mrs. Harry Potter of Bismarck spent Wednesday night at the Henry Olson home.


Appleton, Wisconsin, 1932

Mrs. Charles Solie and daughter, Delora, Mrs. Harry Potter and Mrs. R. J. Denel of this city, motored to Neenah Wednesday where they were guests at the George Stadtmueller home.


Illinois, 1898

Sergeant Harry Potter, of company H, Third Illinois, from Rockford, Ills., is reported dead at Porto Rico.

Mills-McKee United in Marriage

Leon, Iowa area, 1894

Miss Tilda Mills, of Leon, and Mr. McKee, of Garden Grove, were united in marriage at the Presbyterian parsonage Wednesday Nov. 28th, 1894, Rev. Gurley officiating. This couple is well known, especially the bride, who is the daughter of W. H. Mills, one of the successful farmers of Eden township.

Miss Tilda is one of Eden's most exemplary young ladies and will be greatly missed by the young people as a leader of the society. She is one of Decatur county's most popular school teachers. During her time in the field she put forth such efforts that the good example she put before the public in her school room will be hard to fill. She finished the course of Decatur County Institute, in June 1894. By her modest and pleasant manner she has won many friends.

Mr. McKee, although not personally acquainted with him, we understand is a young man of good habits, an industrious farmer and a successful stock raiser. He is the owner of a valuable farm near Garden Grove where the happy couple will make their future home. May they live a long happy life together.


Visiting Parents

Allie Merwin, who is a druggist at Tulsa, is visiting his parents, Mr. and Mrs. A. Merwin, and other relatives.

Man's Loud Snoring in Court Lands Him in Jail for Contempt

Phoenix, 1894

A RIOTOUS SLUMBER.

Victor Joyeau Snored Himself Into Contempt.

Rochefort, the Mercurial and Murderous Frenchman Held to the Grand Jury for $300.

Victor Joyeau, the Monroe street jeweler, yesterday treated Justice Kincaid's court with a contempt which might have been described as silent but for his unearthly snoring, which disturbed the proceedings as much as a riot would have done. Victor came to court under the impression that it was a lodging house and went to sleep. An officer remonstrated with him and pointed out to him the impossibility of transacting business while he slept. The reverberation of his snores destroyed the equal poise of the scales of justice into which the court was getting ready to throw the case of Eli Rochefort, charged with two varieties of deadly assault.

Victor promised to abate the disturbance and did so for two minutes when he relapsed into somnolence of an aggravated type. This time he was awakened somewhat roughly. The officer spoke bitterly to Monsieur Joyeau of his breach of faith and tired him out of the court room. Victor walked to the end of Wall street and thinking that he had thrown off the shackles of the tyrant Morpheus walked back and resumed his seat nap and uproar. This time be was roused by a cyclonic movement by the officer who conducted him before the court. A $5 fine was administered and Victor was taken to jail wide awake and profane. After his departure and as soon as the atmospheric waves set in motion by Monsieur Joyeau's snores had ceased their action against the window panes and other loose and rattling objects, the Rochefort case proceeded and attention which had been diverted from it by Joyeau's racket was riveted upon it. The evidence in the cases had fortunately all been submitted the day before so that the whole of yesterday could be taken up in the arguments.

The result was technically an even break for Rochefort, that is one charge assault with attempt to commit murder was dismissed and the other, assault with a deadly weapon was sustained. Rochefort was held to the grand jury in the sum of $300. The saintly Paul Laloo as the friend of Rochefort incidentally came in for an artistic skinning.

—The Arizona Republican, Phoenix, April 12, 1894, p. 3.

A Pair of Hobos – Interfering with Switchman, Found Guilty

Ohio, 1894

A Pair of Hobos

On Trial for Interfering with a Switchman in the Lake Shore Yards

Two men named James Johnson and Thomas McLaughlin were on trial in the Common Pleas court nearly the whole of Thursday on an indictment charging them with interfering with a switchman in the manipulation of switches and signals.

Johnson is a middle aged man who hails from Buffalo and says he is employed in erecting telegraph poles. He also claims to be something of a pugilist, and his looks support his claim. McLaughlin is a younger fellow of 21, who says he is a waiter on board lake steamers, is an innocent looking fellow whose own statements that he has been arrested for vagrancy and drunkenness would astonish any ordinary person not accustomed to criminal court scenes.

The evidence showed that on the night of September 13 a young man named Kimball, who is employed as night switchman in the Lake Shore yards, went to turn the switches and also the target signals which are used to let the trains of the Lake Erie & Western Railroad company enter the Lake Shore depot, when he was confronted by the prisoners who told him they were running things. There were three other hobos in company with the accused. The switchman knocked down one of the men with his lamp and brushed the other aside, thus being enabled to make the switches. There was some delay, however, and a west bound train was detained temporarily. The men were arrested late at night, one while asleep on the target platform and the other while in a drunken sleep in a lot adjoining the railroad right of way.

Mr. W. W. Bowen assisted Prosecutor Mackey for the State and Judge Colver defended the accused. The case went to the jury at 5:30 and an hour later a verdict of guilty was returned.

—The Sandusky Register, Sandusky, Ohio, Dec. 21, 1894, p. 5.

They Stole Fish, Acquitted on Charge

Ohio, 1894

They Stole Fish

But Said They Stole it Somewhere Else, and Were Acquitted.

In the Court of Common Pleas on Thursday, the case of the State against Joseph Martin, Frank Henry and James Golden collapsed. The prisoners had been indicted and tried on a charge of burglarizing the fish shanty of Post & Co., and stealing therefrom a quantity of fish.

The men were found peddling fish on the night that a burglary was supposed to have been committed at the fish house, but the evidence was not as clear as might be wished as to the breaking or as to the stealing of the fish. Though the fish sold by the prisoners was like that which had been stolen there was no identification, while one witness swore that be packed the fish in a box and there was none missing.

Martin was put upon the stand and he admitted that the fish were stolen but he said he and Henry stole it from a pound boat that was left tied up in the slip of Messrs. Gilcher & Schuck's lumber yard.

In the unsatisfactory state of the evidence Judge Kelly granted a motion of Mr. Hull, who appeared for the prisoners, and directed the jury to find a verdict of not guilty, which was done.

—The Sandusky Register, Sandusky, Ohio, Dec. 21, 1984, p. 5.

Train Ferries in Europe

1894

From the Engineering Mechanic

English engineers, finding it necessary to adopt our system of train ferries, and not wishing to give us credit of inaugurating that system, have managed to discover a Sir John somebody who worked the whole thing up fifteen years ago.

A New York paper says: "There seems to be nothing in the way of running unbroken trains between London and Paris, except the necessary capital and the employment of sufficient technical skill. If the London, Chatham, and Dover would combine with the Northern, of France, and employ an experienced American engineer to plan and construct the docks and appliances for embarking and landing the trains, and at the same time send to any of the shipbuilding establishments on our great lakes for a man to construct the ferry boats, the arrangement could be perfected in a year and a half or two years, when freight and passengers could be transported from any part of Great Britain to the Continent, and eventually to all of Asia and Africa, without change of cars or break of bulk."

The system of train ferries will no doubt be established throughout Europe in a few years, and will do much to expedite and cheapen transit.