Original subtitles

We can say honestly that we know of few states or cities which offer the

advantages of those enjoyed by Wisconsin and Black River Falls.

Our city was founded in 1854 and soon attracted industrious

settlers from Norway, Germany, and other countries of the European continent.

The Winnebago Indians, who are native to the region, never made any trouble

worthy of mention to the white settler.

Some years ago, they were encouraged to leave for settlements in the West, but

many have returned to live in bands around the county, where they remain

largely hidden away.

Our site is not only picturesque, it boasts a rich and fertile countryside

which grows everything known to this climate in abundance.

And we are proud to have a railway line connecting us to other parts of the

state.

When considering all these advantages, it is safe to assume that nowhere in the

length and breadth of this great continent of ours can be found a more

desirable residence than Black River Falls.

you

There were too few snow on the ground at Iron County, and the mercury hovered

below the zero mark most of the time.

The mines began shutting down last June, and at present there's not a single mine

in operation in the entire range.

Strong men were found weeping because their wives and children had nothing to

eat and next to nothing to wear.

Many of the single men are leaving the country and seeking a living elsewhere.

and the railroads are furnishing free transportation.

A man of about 35 was found lying across the rails near the depot at Rhinelander,

waiting the arrival of the express train, and it required the efforts of

four men to prise him away.

He is an unemployed German who only arrived in the country last month.

noticed 1889 and have recurred every winter, rational most of the time in the

summer, deranged on the subject of religion, disposed to injure others.

The bank of Black River Falls, capital $10,000, has collapsed.

Chris Wold, a farmer living near Poskin Lake, committed suicide by deliberately

blowing off his head with dynamite.

He placed a quantity of explosive in a hole in the ground, laid his head over

it, and touched off the fuse, exclaiming, Here I go, and the

Lord go with me.

A one-week-old infant, wrapped warmly in a shawl and placed in a shoebox, was

found in the snow outside the American Methodist Church.

An honest person was found a neatly written note commending the child to the

charitable people of the town.

The note was signed, A Deserted Wife.

The notorious window smasher Mary Sweeney was arrested again last week.

She has destroyed considerable property all over the state with her

uncontrollable mania for breaking windows.

She's been sent to the insane asylum several times, and has been in jail

scores of times, but still persists in smashing windows.

She's known in cities all over Wisconsin, having run away from her

husband two years ago.

Pema Splitzleza was shot.

and instantly killed out at Rib Falls by her nine-year-old deaf and dumb brother,

who picked up a loaded pistol and fired it at his sister.

The ball entered her mouth and passed out of the back of her neck.

She was found in a welter of blood.

An unknown woman bought a ticket for Fall Creek at the depot in Eau Claire

for an eight-year-old boy.

She put the child on the train with a label attached to his coat on which was

written Frank Hartman.

The woman then vanished.

And no one claimed the boy at Fall Creek.

It would seem that the boy has been abandoned.

The naked body of the wife of Fritz Ambruster, a woman who worked in Best's

butcher shop, was found frozen to death by the roadside six miles from Black

River Falls.

Although no one had noticed that she had been suffering from any kind of mental

disorder, two years ago, the loss of a child is said to have affected her very

deeply. and may have led to her becoming demented.

The probability is that she rose in a fit of delirium and wandered away.

An epidemic said to be diphtheria has taken hold amongst the children and

several deaths have occurred.

The schools have been closed since Friday and two houses have been burned.

The epidemic has caused such grief and alarm

That it is hard to induce the living to bury the dead

Died

Saturday morning January 11th, 1898, Laura Mae, aged

two years, five months, and nine days.

Birdie, as she was familiarly called, was a bright and lovely child, the pet

of the household.

Another bud has burst on earth to bloom in heaven.

May the morning ones remember that.

It is not the will of our Father in heaven that one of those little ones

should perish.

Antitoxins have been tried of late against the diphtheria epidemic with

good results.

A child of Alderman Schaefer was taken with the disease but grew rapidly well

when the antitoxins were applied.

Several similar cases have been reported.

This is WWIS Black River Falls, Wisconsin.

Good morning, everyone. Nelson Lyons reporting.

WWIS News brought to you by Torgerson. Torgerson Furniture Sales and Funeral

Service of Black River Falls.

Now look at today's forecast.

Spring really is in the air. Expect partly sunny skies today with a chance

for some afternoon showers and a high of around 70 degrees.

Tonight, partly cloudy with a low in the mid-50s. Tomorrow should be mostly sunny

with a high of 75.

My great-great-great-grandpa was a lumberjack in Sweden.

But when they came to Breckover Falls, they really didn't do much because the

land was all barren.

Salespeople came over and told them stories about the cheap land and they

didn't realize that the land they had bought was really worthless.

So many of the Norwegians, they were really hoping for a new

chance when they came here to Black River Falls.

I'm Louis Perry, Mayor of Black River Falls, Wisconsin.

Population 3,700.

Also, the county courthouse is located in Black River Falls as our county seat.

This is a real friendly town and it's a wonderful place to raise children.

I don't know about that.

I don't know about that.

foreign foreign

Baptism services are to be held by the Baptist Church this Sunday morning,

conducted by the Reverend Alfred Varan.

Twenty-two young people are to be baptized between the ages of 14 and 17.

Mr. Varan will have his hands full, surely.

Terrible tragedy has just come to light in the town of Brannan.

John Anderson, a 13-year-old boy, ran away from home two weeks ago and

took his brother, aged 10, and his father's rifle with him.

The boys went to the farm of Marcus Holmfelt and hid themselves on his

property.

When Holmfelt...

came out of the house, the boys ambushed him, shooting him through the heart and

then blowing out his brains at close range.

The older boy then proposed to his younger brother that they take over the

house and live in it all summer in true outlaw style.

One week later, a brother of Holmfeld came to the house, found the younger boy

there, and got the whole story out of him.

John, the assassin, had meanwhile made his escape.

Sheriff Ward Young and a party are pursuing him.

A curious superstition prevails amongst the Norwegians.

When those people go in quest of a drowned body, they row to and fro with a

rooster in the helm of the boat and expect the rooster to crow when the boat

reaches the spot where the corpse lies.

The police at Kenosha are of the opinion that a young girl took her own life by

throwing herself into the lake near that city.

They found a bundle on the beach which contained a dress belonging to a girl

about 15 years of age.

It was carefully folded, and on the inside was a note as follows.

My father and mother abused me and kept me working hard.

So I thought it best to end my life.

Here is my dress.

Goodbye, all.

The Reverend W.A. Parkhurst of the Presbyterian Church delivered a

startling lecture on today's young people on Sunday last.

He said some of the children of the city were neglected by their parents in their

moral and intellectual training.

Nights were spent by boys at places of questionable repute, and he alleged that

many of the high school boys attended school whilst under the influence of

intoxicants.

Mary Sweeney, who has been creating trouble all over the state with her wild

mania for breaking windows, has finally been captured.

This woman has a history, being intelligent and well-educated, and she

once taught school at Stevens Point.

Mary says she doesn't know why she breaks windows, and only does it when

the craze seizes her.

She uses cocaine liberally on such occasions.

Saying it quiets her nerves.

Miss Lena Watson was brought here this morning in a sadly demented condition.

Upon examination, she was adjudged insane and committed by Judge Barkley to

the Mendota Asylum.

We understand it is a case of jilted love, and that recovery in such cases

is rare.

John Anderson, the 14-year-old boy who is alleged to have murdered a hermit

called Marcus Holmfeld at his lonely farm at Brannan, is in custody.

He was hunted for several days by Sheriff Ward Young and his men, one of

whom was shot by the boy.

Young Anderson does not seem to feel the enormity of the crimes of which he is

accused.

He is a stolid German boy with no education.

News reached Beaver Dam recently of the suicide of young Edwin Miller Miller

shot himself in the head with his father's pistol He left

letters for a young woman with whom he was madly in love

The remains of Lena Watson, who hanged herself at the Mendota Asylum, were

brought here on the Monday train.

She was only taken to the asylum on the 16th of last month.

Unhappiness over a love affair is presumed to be the cause.

pronounced sentence on John Anderson.

The lad goes to the state prison for life.

The father was requested to be present, but refused, saying he did not care what

was done with the boy.

The little fellow has no conception of the enormity of his crime, and

exhibited no fear when the punishment was pronounced.

Last Wednesday, Anna Majanek, a 15-year-old Polish girl, set

fire to her employer's barn, burning it with 48 loads of hay, and then set fire

to his house.

The next morning, she burned two loads of hay and set fire to the house twice.

She suspected of setting fire to a barn at the same place last spring, and a

house and two barns at another place she worked before, all of which were

destroyed.

She told her employer she had set the fires because she was lonesome and

homesick and wanted excitement.

A handsome and stylish young couple appeared before Municipal Judge Keyes

and asked to be married.

They gave their names as Frank Weddell, aged 18, and Gusty Dackler, aged

16, both of Sublette, Illinois.

Their wish was gratified, and they departed happy.

They were obviously runaways in high spirits.

Weather today should be mostly sunny and warm for the homecoming parade with a

high in the upper 80s. Tonight, partly cloudy, 50% chance for thundershowers

low in the 70s.

At the Jackson County Fair, Erica Dolce was elected as Miss Jackson County for

the coming year. She was crowned last Wednesday along with other members of

her court and will appear at events in the county throughout the year.

I am

the homecoming

queen of Black River Falls 1997.

I don't know the exact reason I just It's always been homecoming, and it's

always been a lot of fun for everybody I know.

A house on Main Street in Black River Falls burned down Saturday night in what

city police say was an arson attack.

A female juvenile has admitted starting the fire, which burned down the house,

causing $70,000 worth of damage.

A knife was found near the Catholic Church in Black River Falls last

Saturday with human blood on it.

A large amount of blood was also found in the area of North Water in

Washington.

The Reverend Alfred Varan gave a lecture on love, courtship, and Christian

marriage at the Opera Hall on Friday last for the benefit of the young

people.

The talk was indeed interesting, but it did not receive the patronage it

deserved.

He gave some good hints and advice directed at the young people.

At Cameron, a child was born to a family named Dunn.

The father, in celebration of the happy event, is reported to have become

intoxicated and, upon returning home, seized the babe and dashed out its

brains.

He was on the point of strangling his wife when neighbours intervened.

The Women's Christian Temperance Movement will meet at Mrs. Watson's

house on Wednesday of next week.

The meeting will consider the question, Why do men get intoxicated?

In an interesting lecture at the Farmers Institute last Wednesday, Dr. Weir

discussed the tendency of some bees to get drunk.

He told the following story.

An intoxicated bee was carried to my laboratory for microscopic

investigation.

This insect was so drunk that when placed on its back, it had the greatest

difficulty in getting up on its legs and in a few minutes tumbled over.

A drunken, senseless little mass.

Holding an open Bible in one hand and a dagger in the other, John Isaacson held

three officers and 25 citizens at bay at a missionary meeting in West Superior.

Isaacson became crazed with religious excitement and believed that God had

sent him to kill the devil.

The lunatic was eventually captured and was taken off by train to the Mendota

Asylum.

Mary Sweeney, the schoolteacher known as the Wisconsin Window Smasher,

has just completed a tour of the principal towns and jails of the state.

She claims to have destroyed $50,000 worth of glass on her recent trip.

John Isaacson, who went crazy at a religious meeting in West Superior, made

a desperate attempt to escape whilst being taken by train to the Mendota

Lunatic Asylum.

Though bound hand and foot, he leapt off the train and gave officers from the

asylum quite a tussle before finally being subdued.

He imagined that he was being taken to hell.

Goose Seawald had long wooed many dominates.

The other day he called upon her to know if she would marry him.

When she refused him, Seawald drew out a revolver and fired three shots at her,

all of which took effect.

As the girl fell to the ground, he emptied the remaining chamber into his

own head.

The girl cannot recover.

But it was expected the murderer would live.

Mrs. Frank Dutton of La Crosse has become insane, imagining that she is

Jesus Christ.

Smirked William Taylor's head open and banged himself on the tree. The

neighbors threatened to lynch him. The family deranged on the subject of her.

The mysterious circumstances.

Disposed to injure others.

The adultery of witchcraft.

Witches. Is Jesus Christ. Arrested at the cross in the act of firing a bomb on

the North Side. And the destruction of the world.

She has the power of Satan.

Mrs. John Lawson, wife of a farmer living near the town of St. Croix,

drowned her three children during a fit of insanity.

Her husband, on finding her absent from the house, began a search and found her

at the lake shore with one of her children lying in the sand, dead.

The other two are presumed to be in the lake.

Mrs. Lawson imagines the devil's pursuer.

evil, the devil, and all his empty promises.

You take our Lord Jesus quite literally in your physical being in this most

treasured of gifts.

Christ is present in, with, and under the bread and the wine. Bread and wine

taken into our physical selves, transformed in the biological processes

into bodily tissue and cells and blood.

This is the blood of Christ shed for you.

But many years ago, there was this man in Plainfield, Wisconsin, Ed Gein. This

is no lie.

You know, do you ever hear about him? You heard of Jeffrey Dahmer?

I can remember Ed Schley was our, at that time, he was the garbage man, but

he was sheriff during the time when Ed was taken and he shot this Mary Wartman.

And then he took her in his barn and he dressed her out like a deer.

And I was in the house of darling...

there were two log cutters out doing their job and they called and reported

that they had found what they believed to be a human head we responded got to

the scene and indeed in a black plastic garbage bag was a human head and that

human head had been somewhat decomposed but was still quite intact and in the

bag also it was found human hair and an earring

Bar fights on the weekends, drunk drivers, domestic fights.

Nothing real serious that goes on here in the community. It's a pretty good

community to work with.

We had one child who was murdered, and that was a very, extremely difficult

funeral for the...

Was it brutal murder?

One fine October afternoon, a woman arrived at the depot claiming to be the

world-renowned opera singer Paulie Lamond.

She certainly arrived here in some style, wearing a stage costume and

accompanied by Edgar, her son from a liaison with a French nobleman.

At some point, her artistic career had faltered, and she had spent the last of

her money acquiring a few acres of land seven miles to the east of town on the

understanding that it was to be found amongst the foothills of a mountain

resort.

The full facts of this curious tale were never published in the newspaper.

But no history of the town would be complete without it.

Mrs. Lalvand and Edgar were too proud to show their disappointment with their new

surroundings and set about creating an illusion of their own.

They presented a series of musical soirees in a vain attempt to find

patrons amongst the rich and more cultured families in town.

It was said that her voice was indeed powerful, though a little compromised by

her ill-fitting false teeth that rattled constantly as she sang.

At these events, Mrs. Lalamond referred to sinister forces at work in the

region, which led to questions about her fragile state of mind.

Meanwhile, the shabbiness of her dress and circumstances raised suspicions that

this woman could not be who she claimed to be.

The first business failure in Jackson County, resulting from the worst

financial crash and commercial depression the country has ever known,

was announced on Monday night, when the Honorable H.H. Price assigned all his

property to Attorney B.J. Castle for the benefit of his creditors.

One of the sad results of the financial embarrassment of Mr. H. H. Price was the

business failure of W. C. Jones, which had precipitated.

He had the largest grocery store in town and was really one of our most

successful businessmen.

An attempt was made to assassinate W. Seymour, the treasurer of the Seymour

Bank, which collapsed last week.

Two shots were fired at him from a saloon, presumably by an angry creditor.

Frank Kuchman, an unemployed railwomen, made an attempt to kill his wife by

shooting at her in Henney's Millinery Store.

The man had been drinking.

Fred Shepard and Amy Miller were taken before Judge O'Neill this forenoon,

where they were charged with the crime of adultery.

They had been found by the woman's husband under circumstances that

warranted something more than suspicion.

Fred Schnabel of Appleton, Kitty Dupre, and Mrs.

Porter Ross drove together to a roadhouse near Korkana Monday afternoon.

Porter Ross lay in wait for them, killed his wife, mortally wounded Schnabel,

and shot the other woman.

He then surrendered.

He says his wife deserted him.

It was hard to believe that the woman living out in the swamps had once

commanded the great opera houses of Europe.

But it was certainly true, and I suppose the rumors to the contrary must have

reminded her how far she had fallen.

Her career had been an illustrious one, and whilst in Paris, she had been a

personal favorite of the composer Leo de Lebes.

who had chosen her for the lead and the premier of the opera Lakme.

And here she now was, the shining star of the European stage, with only a stage

costume to wear and cattle feed to eat.

But these were hard times all around, and people were obliged to take

nourishment wherever they could find it.

For the benefit of lady readers of the banner who could not attend the cooking

school held here last week, we herewith give the recipe for sheep's head stew.

Clean the head thoroughly, taking out the eyes, and put it on to cook in three

pints of water with a teacup full of rice, three sliced onions, and a

tablespoon of salt.

Cover closely and simmer slowly for two hours until tender.

This makes an economical and tasty dish.

The labor situation in northern Wisconsin, especially in the lumber

districts, is not encouraging.

The refusal of the employees to accept a reduction in wages has caused the

shutting down of numerous mills.

Hundreds of men are now out of work, and we can expect to see the normal droves

of tramps as a consequence.

Servant girls in Marinette are taking steps to organize a union.

Several hundred members are due to be enrolled.

The aim of the society will be higher wages, shorter hours, and better

treatment.

The body of William Pouch was dragged out of the mill pond at Prospect Hill.

Pouch was the tramp who was given food and lodging by two servants at the

household of Alexander Harris, only to repay the kindness by shooting his

benefactors and ransacking the place in search of money.

In a fit of remorse, the man had waded into the pond and shot himself in the

neck.

He was 28 years of age, and he had what is known as the criminal ear,

thick and standing far out from the head.

During her final months residing in the county, Mrs. Lalamon began to hear

voices in her head that she believed came from the spirit world.

And she and Edgar sought their guidance with the aid of a Ouija board that Edgar

had designed himself.

Meanwhile, the house that Edgar had built along the lines of a stage set

began collapsing around them, and it was no great surprise when he was accused of

stealing four bags of cement to shore up their leaking roof.

They were duly summoned to appear in court and brace themselves for a stay in

the county jail.

During the trial, Mrs. Lalaman's ravings about the spirit world and anti-Catholic

conspiracies led her to an even worse fate.

She was declared insane and taken off to Mendota as a public charge.

As I recall, my mother mentioned that this family came in from Chicago.

Her name was Pauline.

And I forget his name.

In the theater and then coming out and trying to eke a living off of land that

wasn't even put in. They were very odd people, but very, very nice people. That

little piece of land they had that someone in Chicago sold them. I don't

know whether the house is still out there or what. I think I've always heard

about Pauline Lallemand since I was a child.

Her greatest success was singing Lock Me, but it was never as big again for

Pauline.

Funeral services for Father James J. Hagman will be Wednesday afternoon at 3.

from Sacred Heart Church in Eau Claire.

The burial will be in the church cemetery.

Friends may call at Sacred Heart Church on Tuesday from 4 until 9 p.m.

and on Wednesday for two hours before the service.

And we'll have a look at our forecast for the area in just a moment.

There's still suicide, murder, and insanity in Blackbird Falls. Yes, it

seems like many people I talk to say I am depressed, but there is help for them

now. And if they're down on their luck, if they're poor, there's well...

Oh, say

can you see by the dawn's early

light

What so proudly we hailed at the

twilight's last gleaming?

Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the

perilous fight O'er the ramparts we

watched were so gallantly streaming?

I believe when you die, the soul lives on, the spirit lives on.

If they haven't accepted Christ, if they aren't saved, it's kind of difficult.

to wonder what their future will be.

The body of William Oliver, a respected farmer of Polygon, was found hanging

from a tree last Sunday.

The refusal of a young woman to become the third Mrs.

Oliver was said to have been the cause of the suicide.

Judge Cockwood, united in bonds of matrimony, Silas Marshall, aged

64 years, and Miss Mary E. Martin, aged 14 years.

The bride is attending the public school there.

A horrifying discovery was made at the Rosedale Cemetery in Pardville.

The grave of Mrs. Sarah Smith was unearthed for the purpose of removing

the remains, and upon opening the coffin, it was discovered that she'd

been buried while in a trance.

The body was partly turned over, and the right hand was drawn up to the face.

The fingers had been bitten half off by the woman on finding herself buried

alive.

A committee of the Cemetery Improvement Society, which was organized last week,

has been soliciting members with signal success.

At Manawa, the aged father of Daniel and John McKenzie, attempted

suicide by cutting his throat with a razor.

He was found by the roadside, insensible.

The cause of the deed is thought to be a dread of old age.

Miss Polly Nichols, aged 62 years, became impressed with the idea that a

small sore on her back would kill her.

She went to the backyard, saturated her clothing with kerosene, and then touched

a match to it.

Ludwig Seinglaub, a German resident, committed suicide Friday morning at the

home of William Raddins.

The old man had become enamored of Mrs.

Raddins and had been a frequent visitor at the house.

She told him not to come anymore.

He went to the house, however, walked into the front room, and deliberately

shot himself while...

La Crosse was somewhat agitated last week by the alleged appearance

of ghosts.

The spirits manifested themselves by the usual symptoms.

The window smasher traveled to Eau Claire by train from St. Paul and sat up

all night in the waiting room of one of the depots.

She demanded a ticket to Hayward from the chief of police.

She gave the chief till three o'clock in the afternoon to accede to her demand.

And then moved on the depot windows.

Symptoms manifested in the destruction of windows and other property.

Violin says she don't belong here.

One winter night, opera singer Pauline Lalmonde slipped out of Mendota and

made her way to Chicago.

Some years later, her name surfaced on a lawsuit.

She complained of being disturbed by the sound of odd and distressing voices,

which she presumed to be the rehearsal of a ventriloquist's act in the

adjoining rooms.

It turned out that she was right.

We can say honestly that we know of few states or cities which offer the

advantages of those enjoyed by Wisconsin and Black River Falls.

Our city was founded in 1854 and soon attracted established families from the

East and industrious settlers from Norway, Germany, and other countries of

the European continent.

Our site is not only picturesque, it boasts a rich and fertile countryside

which grows everything known to this climate in abundance.

Winnebago Indians, who are native to the region, never made any trouble worthy of

mention to the white settler.

Some years ago, they were encouraged to leave for settlements in the West, but

many have returned to live in bands around the county, where they remain

largely hidden away.

The number and character of our churches are the visible monuments of a devout

population

and testify to a reverence for god and a belief in the afterlife

when

considering all these advantages it is safe to assume that nowhere

in the length and breadth of this great continent of ours can be found a more

desirable residence than Black River Falls.