Road work not quite the same back in 1913, horse, mules, big tractors, picks and spades

Road and bridge work is going all around us in Daviess County and drivers are accustomed to seeing road-building equipment, like motor graders, dozers, excavators, trucks and all the other machines needed to prepare the surface and lay the asphalt.
Less than a hundred years ago, the roads were being laid with nothing but picks and shovels, horses and mules, some really big tractors, and throngs of volunteer road workers.
In 1913 Missouri Gov. Elliott W. Major issued a proclamation setting apart two days in August when every able-bodied resident in the towns and rural areas of the state were to render personal assistance in improving the highways.
At least 300,000 men were expected to respond and put two days hard work on the roads. Many of these people were willing to furnish teams and machinery.
After a conflict between the dates of the Daviess County Chautauqua and Good Roads Day, it was decided to change the road days to August 13-14. On those days the road captains assembled men in gangs and used automobiles to take the workers to their various locations.
The caption to the 1913 picture is about work being done on the Andy Smith hill — showing the big tractor of Floyd S. Tuggle, which he donated for the work; Henry Carter, who worked like a Trojan to raise the funds; Lem Cornell, superintendent; Geo. W. Lockridge, county highway engineer, and several other men and teams of that neighborhood, engaged in the work.
Here are some other things going on in the spring and summer of 1913.
Free Movies The Gallatin Commercial Club has made a short time contract with W.S. Townsend to give free admission to country people to his moving picture show each Saturday from 2:30 to 5. The farmer folks who come to Gallatin Saturday afternoons may attend the show without tickets or price. Go to the opera house and walk right in.
School Consolidation defeated At the election held at the home of Dunlap Bros in Monroe township, the proposition to consolidate the Hale, Foley, Mann, and Haw Branch school districts was defeated by a vote of 56 to 35. A vote on the same proposition will be had this fall.
That Houn’ Dog Case The famous houn’ dawg case of Jamesport came to a sudden and unexpected end when it was dismissed by the plaintiff’s attorneys in the Daviess county circuit court in Gallatin.
The case was a suit for $2,000 damages brought by the Rev. Wm. Brown, formerly of Jamesport, against Frank Smith and a number of other young persons, whom he alleged painted his valuable hounds ring-streaked and striped.
The alleged offense is said to have been one of a number of pranks played by a jolly crowd of young persons who were helping Mr. Smith and his fiancé make merry over their coming marriage.
The wrath of Rev. Brown and the filing of the suit for damages caused quite a sensation at the time.
Missouri Counties go dry Official returns from the local option election held in Livingston county, gives the ‘drys’ a majority of 700. Chillicothe now has seven saloons. The election was held in the city May 7, last year, when the town went wet by a small majority.
Heat records are broken (July 12, 1913) Electric fans, hand fans, the cool water pitchers, and the ice man have all been working overtime this week in their efforts to give the people some relief from the extremely hot weather. The mercury has been above the 100 mark.
Young Hoyt on Trial The case of Lee E. Hoyt, the self-confessed murderer of his father, Edward Hoyt, was called in the Livingston county circuit court before the Judge A.B. Davis.
In his talk to the jury, Col. Miller, for the defense, stated that he would prove that young Hoyt was under the influence of a detective when he made the confession. Hoyt, after being returned to the county jail, continued to play with toys. Dr. Woodson, a member of the staff from the State Hospital at St. Joseph, will be a witness for the defense regarding the insanity of the prisoner.
The sheriff was compelled to appoint two extra deputies to handle the crowd, which gathered at the court room.
Hoyt Jury Dismissed The jury, which was trying Lee Hoyt, the 19-year-old boy, was discharged by Judge A.B. Davis. The members of the jury said that they could not agree. The jurymen stood seven for life sentence and five for acquittal, these believing the boy insane.
Trains 11 and 12 to stop here The Rock Island made an order stopping trains 11 and 12 regularly at Gallatin, and this good old town is again at peace with all mankind, including the great Rock Island railroad. The Rock Island company had deprived the town of the use of the trains when a new timecard went into effect.
Mobbed Umpire Mayor Claude Enyart of Stanberry, a former Gallatin resident, almost got killed at King City while umpiring a baseball game between King City and Stanberry. The game was a close one, and all went well until the last score was made, when the fireworks were touched off by someone and then followed what might be called a genuine riot. Baseball bats, fists, and everything available were used by the fighters. Mayor Enyart was not the only one injured in the ‘free for all,’ and from reports after the excitement from the battle had calmed down, the ball diamond resembled the battlefield after many had been killed. Such rough house stunts will not either help baseball or the community.
A Wireless Device of Death In the presence of electrical experts, federal officers and detectives at Salt Lake City demonstrated what was declared to be the most remarkable death dealing machine invention in recent years.
The invention, a wireless electrical device, is the work of W.L. Cummings, 23 years old, who confessed to officers that he had threatened to use it to destroy Miss Dorothy Bamberger, a wealthy society girl, unless she gave him $1,000.
Cummings threatened to place a suitcase of nitroglycerine in her room and explode it from a distance.
Electricians took the machine into a steel and concrete vault of an office building. Another part of the contrivance, a box in which was mounted a bell and an incandescent globe, was placed in a closed room across the hall. Then the electric current of the machine in the airtight vault was turned on. On the unattached box in the other room the bell rang, and the lamp glowed brightly.
The demonstration, say the electrical experts, proves that he could have accomplished his threats.
The invention, it is said, can be turned to the saving of life by preventing train or ship collisions.
Coffey has big fire loss Coffey was the scene of a most destructive fire about 2 o’clock in the morning, when a blaze of an unknown origin destroyed the Jas McKinnis’ general store, Bank of Coffey, Masonic hall, telephone office and the office of Jas Birge, entailing a loss of approximately $25,000.
It is thought the fire started either in the central office or between that and the Birge office.
But for the persistent efforts of Coffey’s noble bunch of fire fighters, the fire would have taken most of the town. For awhile it seemed the citizens would not be able to keep the fire from spreading to the lumber yard, but the fighters never gave up and with only a bucket brigade, finally got the fire under control.
A strong wind was blowing from the northwest.
The brick building which the McKinnis occupied was one of the best in the town. It was formerly the Everly store. Some of the goods in the store were saved. Everything in the bank, telephone office, Masonic Hall and central office was destroyed.
We understand insurance to the amount of $10,000 was carried on the burnt property.
Blow post office safe Most of the residents of the town of Breckenridge were given a sudden awakening about 3 o’clock in the morning when robbers entered and blew the safe in the post office. Dynamite was used to shatter the big iron money box and the explosion made such a noise and so many pieces of safe, post office fixtures, etc, were flying in the air that the yeggs did not have time to examine whether there was anything in the safe. Their principal occupation immediately following the ‘blow up’ was the quickest way to ‘beat it.’ The robbers got nothing.
Bloodhounds were obtained from Chillicothe. The hounds followed a trail to a barn three times and then could go no further. It is the general supposition hat the robbers are local talent and had some sort of conveyance waiting for them at the barn.