YOUR GUIDE TO THE TWIN CITIES
Thursday February 9, 2012
Sample Minnesota's rich history, courtesy of a microfilm archive of newspaper articles, photos and ads dating back more than 140 years. Fresh items are posted once or twice a week. Go here for tips on how to track down old newspaper articles on your own. Or visit the Yesterday's News archives, a searchable library of more than 300 articles.
Follow the blog on Twitter.
E-mail Ben with your questions or suggestions.
resize text 
email us
find us on Facebook
subscribe via RSS
Feb. 5, 1912: The frog prince of Fulda
Posted by: Ben Welter under Minnesota History Updated: February 8, 2012 - 3:11 PM
An ambitious young man from Fulda, Minn., started out one August with $20 in the bank, an empty shack and a plan to make money in the frog business. By October, through hard work and adroit thinking, he had shipped 200,000 frogs to Chicago and cleared a profit of $900. It was enough to make quite a dent in his college tuition bill – and also, no doubt, in Fulda's frog population.
The Minneapolis Tribune published this profile:
Frogs Send Student
Through Farm School
Sophomore “Aggie” Does an
Enormous Business in
Shipping Delicacy.
Six Weeks of Hustling In-
creases Bank Roll From
$20 to $900.
Industry Beats Book Agency
for Results, He
Says.
Why invest hard-earned money in cows or poultry when as great profit, if not greater, can be made in the frog industry, and with not near as much capital needed? Such is the belief of Carl. A. Oppel, 1476 Chelmsford avenue, St. Anthony park, a sophomore student at the state agricultural college, who has earned much of his way through school by catching frogs and shipping them to Chicago and other large commission centers.
Mr. Oppel believes that the frog business should become one of Minnesota’s established industries. The young man with an ambition to earn money quickly and honestly, he says, could become independently well-off in a short time by shipping frogs. But to succeed, the person must know the business thoroughly. There are twists and turns to the frog market, just like there is in any other market. It is the knowledge of frogs, gained by Mr. Oppel through hard experience, which has led him to espouse the cause of this unexploited industry.
To the beginner, Mr. Oppel utters a word of warning not to go too fast. There are sharp rocks and reefs ahead of the person, he says, who thinks there is nothing to be learned before the business is established, or who thinks everything is going to come easy. Indeed, Mr. Oppel has formulated a few maxims which he believes should be studied most carefully before a venture into the business is made. They are:
 |
|
| Carl A. Oppel |
“If you don’t love frogs, stay out of the business.”
“When falling prices on live frogs make profits impossible, don’t stop buying. Put them in the ground and wait for prices to come up.”
“Frogs are like women. It costs a heap to dress them.”
“Don’t raise frogs. Let Dame Nature do the raising and you take the profit.”
“Make your town proud of your industry by paying good wages.”
Several years ago a Chicago frog buyer went to Fulda, Minn., and commenced to interest the boys in catching frogs. Mr. Oppel worked for him for two years. Finally he caught the buyer in a scheme to cheat him, and then and there he resolved to go into the business himself and drive his employer out of the community. He deposited $20 with the bank, every cent he had – he looked up a frog shack to keep his frogs in, and offered the boys 5 cents a dozen for all the frogs they could catch. He turned over his nets to his boy helpers and put them to work.
He started the middle of August, and the frogs began to come in so fast that he could not ship them all. He reduced the 5 cent price a dozen to 3 cents, and yet they came in. The crates were not returned to him fast enough, and he set some of the boys to making crates. Everyone in town was supplying him with frogs. Old and young scoured the nearby meadows and ponds for frogs. Soon, Mr. Oppel had more than 2,000 dozen live frogs on hand.
Frogs Pour In.
From 2,000 dozen frogs the number soon jumped to 7,000 dozen live frogs. The little shack became so filled with frogs that he had to build partitions to keep them from crowding in one great pile in the center of the room. The sight of 100,000 frogs, all croaking so loudly as to enable them to be heard for rods away from the building, set strangers to wondering. Never, they said, had they seen the like. There was a perfect stream of visitors to the little building. So confused, however, did the frogs become at a lantern when they were shown at night, and so filled did the air become with them, that they were shown only at day. Once a day they were fed by throwing corn meal upon them, and by filling with water a great shallow basin that stood in the center of the room. This basin was equipped with floats to keep the frogs from crowding so much as to drown some of them.
Some of the men in town shook their heads, but Mr. Oppel built his crates, kept buying more frogs, and shipped whenever he had a chance. Soon he was shipping from 100 dozen to 500 dozen a day, and he was making money on every dozen. Then, on the first of October, the Chicago market became overstocked, and prices went down. Mr. Oppel was compelled to stop shipping them alive. He had about 5,000 dozen on hand.
He set all the boys to dressing frogs. The boys were divided into two shifts, one at night, and one at day. There were six boys in a shift, divided into two gangs. One boy killed the frog, one boy cut off the hind legs with large tin shears, and another skinned them. The legs were then packed in cold water until they became white and hard. Then they were placed in ice and shipped to Chicago. In spite of his care, however, many of the legs spoiled, so delicate is frog meat. As he was disposing of the last few dozen, prices fell so low as to permit of no profit. Indeed, he was obtaining only 15 cents a pound for frog legs, two dozen to the pound.
With his frog shack empty, Mr. Oppel set about to figure how he had come out. He had shipped to Chicago 200,000 frogs. He had given employment to more than one dozen boys for nearly three months, and some of the boys had made as high as $6 a day when catching frogs. He had increased his bank account from $20 to more than $900, and doing as much business as the best merchant in town.
Hind-Sight Wisdom.
“As I think it over now,” said Mr. Oppel, “I would have made a great deal more money if I had not dressed one frog, but had buried them all. When I take up the business again, I am going to dig a big pit. Then, when live frogs cannot be shipped at a good profit, I am going to keep on catching them and dumping them into this pit. There they will hibernate, and late in winter and early in spring, I will dig them out and ship them alive to market. During the Jewish holidays, frogs often are worth as high as 25 cents a dozen. A person could easily keep 200,000 frogs over winter in that way.
“I suppose some will wonder where a person can catch so many frogs. See them as I have seen them, and there will be no cause for wonderment. In the fall, the frogs flock to the lakes for winter quarters. They always travel more by night than by day. By taking a lantern and a frog net, two boys can catch several hundred dozens of frogs in a few hours. It is easier, however, to catch them by day. The frogs crawl into holes behind rocks, into and under rotten logs, and into great holes which they have dug for themselves. A person can reach down into these holes and pull them out by the hundreds. In one hole, I once secured more than two gunny sacks full, more than 2,500. Yes, there are enough frogs.”
Asked what he thought about the frog-catching industry as a means of earning one’s way through college, Mr. Oppel said: “I would consider myself of more benefit to mankind and the community if I caught frogs, than if I sold books. If the young man would make his money in the frog industry, instead of peddling patent aluminum [remedies] or selling books which no one [needs], he would be far better off.”
 |
| Albert Degler and William Roth prepared frog legs for market in Young America, Minn., in 1915. (Image courtesy mnhs.org)
|
Dec. 26, 1862: 38 Dakota men executed in Mankato
Posted by: Ben Welter under Minnesota History, Minnesota governor Updated: February 1, 2012 - 3:21 PMThe New York Times published this chilling account of the execution of 38 Dakota men convicted of "murder and other outrages" against settlers during the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862.
THE INDIAN EXECUTIONS
An Interesting Account, from our Special Correspondent.
MANKATO, BLUE EARTH COUNTY, Minn., Friday, Dec. 26, 1862.
 |
|
| The Rev. Stephen Riggs |
Soon after noon on the 22d instant, Col. MILLER, of the Seventh Regiment Minnesota Volunteers, together with his Staff, some clergymen, and a few citizens of this place, visited the condemned in their cells, and informed them of their fate. Rev. Mr. RIGGS (well known to the Indians in his missionary capacity) interpreted Col. MILLER's remarks, and told the miserable men that their Great Father at Washington had ratified the action of the Military Court, and sentenced them to be hung on the following Friday, Dec. 26. They were informed that spiritual advisers, both Protestant and Catholic, were present, and would do all in their power to minister to their comfort during the few days of life still remaining for them. The letter of the President, ordering their execution, was then read in English by Adjt. ARNOLD, and repeated in the Sioux or Dacotah language by Rev. Mr. RIGGS. These communications were received with a grunt of approval, and most of the party to whom they were addressed manifested little or no interest in the matter; the half breeds gave some indications of emotion, but so slight as scarcely to be noticed. With few exceptions the whole party continued their smoking, or rubbed their killikinick between their palms, as a preparatory exercise to inserting it into their little red clay pipes. It is presumed by many that the condemned had been previously informed of the fate awaiting them, and this may, in a measure, account for their unconcern at the official announcement.
INTERVIEWS BETWEEN THE CONDEMNED AND THEIR RELATIVES.
Wednesday, the 24th, was set apart for the last meeting between the condemned and those of their relatives who were confined in the adjoining and main prison. These belonged to the original 304, found guilty, upon trial by the Military Court, and were of the number from which the President had selected thirty-nine to be executed. These latter had been selected out, and kept in separate and more secure quarters from the time when the order came for their execution. I was not present at this interview, but am informed that it was very affecting. Each Indian sent some parting word or blessing to his friends or family, and bequeathed to each some little memento, as his pipe, a little tobacco, or a lock of hair; generally much feeling was exhibited in these leave-takings, although one or two seemed perfectly hardened and indifferent. On Christmas Day another scene was enacted, similar to the one just related. The cooks and others employed to provide for the prisoners during their confinement, came to say their last "good-by" to them. Here again parting words were said, and blankets and trinkets were once more sent to relatives, overlooked in the hurry and excitement of the day before. In the evening the sacrament of baptism was solemnized by Rev. Father RAVOUX, and the other priests in change. Many of the Indians availed themselves of the opportunity to receive this Christian rite.
INTERVIEW WITH THE CONDEMNED.
On Friday morning we were permitted to visit the condemned. They were lying around the floor chained together in pairs, and as some suspicions had been aroused in the minds of the keepers, by reason of certain singular movements on Thursday night, each pair had been firmly chained to the floor. Consequently there was no moving about, their locomotion being entirely obstructed. It was a sad, a sickening sight, to see that group of miserable dirty savages, chained to the floor, and awaiting with apparent unconcern the terrible fate toward which they were then so rapidly approaching. As the hour appointed for the execution drew near, the clergymen in attendance addressed the prisoners in feeling and eloquent terms. They bade them nerve themselves for the terrible ordeal through which in a few brief hours they were to pass, and looking to the Great Spirit for aid to make a firm resolve to be brave and die nobly, like men.
In the midst of the remark of Father RAVOUX, old PTAN-DOO-TAH broke out in a most lamentable and unearthly wail; one by one took up the lay, and ere long the walls resounded with the mournful "death-song." The song seemed to quiet and soothe them, and, resuming their pipes, they all sat in sullen silence awhile, until Rev. Mr. WILLIAMSON began his address, upon which came another outburst of passionate feeling, vented in a style it has not been my lot to hear before, and to which it is impossible to do justice on paper. Soon after the addresses were concluded, the irons were removed from the limbs of the prisoners, and their arms tied behind them -- previous to which they expressed a wish (which we all gratified) to shake hands with the clergy and reporters present. The white caps were then placed upon their heads and pulled down over their faces, after which they were rolled up again so as to leave the face exposed, and now the culprits stand nervously awaiting the moment of their removal to the scaffold.
THE SCAFFOLD.
The instrument upon which the extreme sentence of the law was to be performed, was constructed in a very simple yet most ingenious manner. It was erected upon the main street, directly opposite the jail, and between it and the river. The shape of this structure was a perfect square, and not, as has been stated, a diamond. The cause of this latter error being made was because the sides of the structure was not parallel with the front line of the jail; but being built on an oblique across the roadway presented a point or angle to both the river and jail. The base of the gallows consisted of a square formed by four rough logs, one foot each in diameter, and twenty feet long. From each corner of this square rose a heavy round pole, running up to a height of twenty feet, while from the centre came another but heavier timber, rising to about the same height. At an elevation of six feet from the ground was a platform, so constructed as to slide easily up and down the corner pillars, and with a large opening in the centre around the middle mast or post. From each corner of this platform a rope or cable was fastened to a movable iron ring that slid up and down middle mast by means of a rope fastened to one of its sides. This rope was taken to the top of the mast, run through a pulley, and returned to a point between the ground and the second frame or platform, and made fast. The mechanism of the whole thing consisted in raking the platform by means of the pulley, and then making the rope fast, when by a blow from an ax by a man standing in the centre of the square, the platform falls; the large opening in its centre protects the executioner from being crushed by the fall. About eight feet above the platform, when in its raised position, was another frame similar to the ground square, morticed into the corner pillars. Into these timbers were cut notches, ten on each side of the frame, at equal distances, and a short piece of rope was passed around the beam of each notch, and tied securely. Depending from this again was the fatal noose. And now having described the scaffold as it appeared when ready for its victims, we pass to.
THE EXECUTION.
 |
|
| Te-he-do-ne-cha (One Who Forbids His House) was among the Dakota condemned to hang. (Image courtesy mnhs.org) |
AFTER THE SHOCK.
At first every one seemed stupified by the sight before them, but only a moment elapsed before a low murmur ran through the crowd, and culminated in a few cheers, in which many participated whose cheeks were blanched, and eyes strained with terror; but it was the cheer of victory with them, for the murderers of their fathers, and mothers and children had received their merited punishment. One little Hungarian boy, by the gallows, had lost his father and mother at the hands of the savages, and he shouted aloud "Hurrah, hurrah!" for he saw the murderer among the prisoners, and rejoiced in his fate.
I neglected to say that nearly all these Indians were painted up in war style, and were hung in their blankets. The half-breeds wore citizens' dress. As they marched from the prison to the scaffold all joined in wailing and singing, and hopped along on one foot. Those professing to be Christianized sang:
"I'm on the iron road to the spirit land," while the "bucks" sang a war song.
THE BURIAL.
The physicians having announced life extinct, the bodies were roughly cut down, and all buried in one large hole in a sand-bar in the river.
REPRIEVE.
The order of the President condemned thirty-nine Indians to suffer the death penalty. Just previous to the execution, however, Gen. SIBLEY reprieved, or rather respited the sentence of TA-TAY-ME-MA, for the following reasons: He was very old, and was convicted on the evidence of two German boys, one of whom said the Indian shot his mother, and the other that he killed a German at Beaver Creek while he was on his knees in the act of prayer. It has since been proven to the General's satisfaction that the man who committed these acts has not been captured, but is now with LITTLE CROW at Devil's Lake.
NAMES OF THE EXECUTED INDIANS.
 |
|
| Ta-ta-ka-gay (Wind Maker) was implicated in the death of Amos W. Huggins, a teacher at La Qui Parle. (Image courtesy mnhs.org) |
2. Plan-doo-ta, (Red Otter.)
3. Wy-a-tah-ta-wa, (His People.)
4. Hin-hau-shoon-ko-yag-ma-ne, (One who walks clothed in an Owl's Tail.)
5. Ma-za-bom-doo, (Iron Blower.)
6. Wak-pa-doo-ta, (Red Leaf.)
7. Wa-he-hua, _____.
8. Sua-ma-ne, (Tinkling Walker.)
9. Ta-tay-me-ma, (Round Wind) -- respited.
10. Rda-in-yan-ka, (Rattling Runner.)
11. Doo-wau-sa, (The Singer.)
12. Ha-pau, (Second child of a son.)
13. Shoon-ka-ska, (White Dog.)
14. Toon-kau-e-cha-tag-ma-ne, (One who walks by his Grandfather.)
15. E-tay-doo-tay, (Red Face.)
16. Am-da-cha, (Broken to Pieces.)
17. Hay-pe-pau, (Third child of a son.)
18. Mah-pe-o-ke-na-jui, (Who stands on the Clouds.)
19. Harry Milord, (Half Breed.)
20. Chas-kay-dau, (First born of a son.)
21. Baptiste Campbell, _____.
22. Ta-ta-ka-gay, (Wind Maker.)
23. Hay-pin-kpa, (The Tips of the Horn.)
24. Hypolite Auge, (Half-breed.)
25. Ka-pay-shue, (One who does not Flee.)
26. Wa-kau-tau-ka, (Great Spirit.)
27. Toon-kau-ko-yag-e-na-jui, (One who stands clothed with his Grandfather.)
28. Wa-ka-ta-e-na-jui, (One who stands on the earth.)
29. Pa-za-koo-tay-ma-ne, (One who walks prepared to shoot.)
30. Ta-tay-hde-dau, (Wind comes home.)
31. Wa-she-choon, (Frenchman.)
32. A-c-cha-ga, (To grow upon.)
33. Ho-tan-in-koo, (Voice that appears coming.)
34. Khay-tan-hoon-ka, (The Parent Hawk.)
35. Chau-ka-hda, (Near the Wood.)
36 Hda-hin-hday, (To make a rattling voice.)
37. O-ya-tay-a-kee, (The Coming People.)
38. Ma-hoo-way-ma, (He comes for me.)
39. Wa-kin-yan-wa, (Little Thunder.)
 |
| This sketch by W.H. Childs, which appeared in Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper in January 1863, shows the scene of the hangings. It's unclear whether Childs witnessed the event.
|
Aug. 27, 1862: The Dakota Conflict
Posted by: Ben Welter under Minnesota History Updated: January 31, 2012 - 7:33 PMOne hundred and fifty years ago, the U.S.-Dakota War erupted in the Minnesota River valley and ended with the largest mass execution in American history. More than 400 soldiers and settlers and an unknown number of Dakota were killed in the conflict. The New York Times published these St. Paul Pioneer accounts of Dakota attacks on white settlements and the U.S. Army's response.
THE TROUBLE WITH THE INDIANS.
Terrible Barbarities Practiced by the Savages
Proclamation of the Governor.
The St. Paul Pioneer, of Aug. 22, publishes a number of documents, detailing the particulars of the recent raids upon the frontier by the Indians. Under date of Fort Ridgley, Aug. 20, Mr. A.J. VAN VORHIS writes:
"It is well known that dissatisfaction has existed in the various tribes for some weeks past, in consequence of the delay of the Government in making the annual payment; but no one dreamed of a well organized and systematically arranged outbreak,embracing tribes which have ever been hostile to each other. This fact, in connection with circumstances which have come to my knowledge within the past few days, convince me that it is a part of the plan of the great rebellion. The Government will be convinced of this fact, should it prove that this is a systematized raid all along the border, from Pembina to the Missouri River.
The party attending Mr. WYCOFF, Acting Superintendent -- who was on his way to the Upper Sioux Agencies to the annual payment -- met a messenger about six miles from this place, on Monday morning, announcing an outbreak at the Lower Sioux Agency, and the murder of all the whites in the vicinity, except the few who had made their escape. Upon our arrival here, we found the statement confirmed. Upon learning the facts, Capt. MARSH immediately set out for the Agency, with forty-five men of his command -- leaving some twenty at the garrison. In the evening, seventeen of his men returned. At the ferry opposite the Agency, Capt. MARSH encountered a large body of warriors, who opened fire upon him. After a few volleys, a large body of Indians, ambushed in his rear, also opened upon him immediately, killing a number of his men. A retreat was attempted, in which it was thought expedient to make a crossing of the river. While in the water a volley was fired upon Capt. MARSH, who immediately went down. Beside the Captain, three sergeants and four corporals are known to be killed, and a large number of his command. Up to this time but four additional soldiers have returned -- three of them mortally wounded.
Monday night was a night of anxiety and peril to the little band at this garrison. Every man became a soldier, and every precaution was taken to protect the fort. Lieut. GERE, of Company B, did all in his power, whose efforts were seconded by every civilian. The lights of burning buildings and grain stacks lighted the entire horizon. Escaped citizens came in during the night, giving accounts of horrors too terrible for the imagination to conceive or appreciciate. Mothers come in rags and barefooted, whose husbands and children had been slaughtered before their eyes. Children come, who witnessed the murder of their parents or their burning in their own houses. Every specie of torture and barbarity the imagination can picture, seems everywhere to have been resorted to. I am no alarmist and would not excite the public mind; but these things are true, and unless met with the most energetic and thorough resistance by Government and people, God only knows when the end will be. Our entire frontier border will be sacrificed unless immediate assistance is given.
On Monday morning a messenger was dispatched for the company under Lieut. SHEEHAN, of Company C, stationed at Fort Ripley, who had been here some weeks with his command, awaiting the payment, but who had been ordered back to Ripley on Saturday. He was overtaken twelve miles from this place. With commendable promptness, he immediately turned back, and arrived here yesterday morning at 10 o'clock, making a forced march with his gallant men of forty-two miles in the incredibly short space of nine hours. Never a set of gallant men were received with more heartfelt gratitude than the command of Lieut. SHEEHAN. Men and women and children expressed their gratitude with tears and blessings upon them all. The first movement of Lieut. SHEEHAN, tired and worn out as he was, was to examine the picket posts and take prompt and energetic steps to strengthen his position. The little squads of Indians who had been skulking about the groves and bluffs adjacent, were immediately shelled and dispersed by Sergeant JONES.
Last evening Major GALBRAITH, who was on his way to Fort Snelling with fifty recruits and had reached St. Peter, arrived -- having learned the state of affairs and secured arms at that place. We now have about 250 armed men, and can hold the post against any probable contingency, but with this force, no assistance can be given the suffering thousands all around us. One or two regiments should be dispatched with proper equipments -- otherwise this border will be desolated.
The roads between here and the Agency, and in the direction of New-Ulm, are lined with murdered men, women and children. From three to four hundred citizens are now in these barracks, claiming protection, live of whom are wounded, two of them children of six or eight years of age.
The hospital is already filled. Dr. MULLER, the post Surgeon, is doing all that his acknowledged skill can suggest for their relief.
P.S. -- The enemy is now advancing in force from the north, and the cannon and howitzers are playing upon them.
 |
| A postcard version of Anton Gág's painting of the fighting in New Ulm in August 1862. Gag was the father of the author and illustrator Wanda Gág. (Image courtesy mnhs.org)
|
THE MURDERS NEAR NEW-ULM.
From the St. Paul Pioneer, Aug 22.
Mr. JOHN J. PORTER, of Mankato, a member of the last Legislature, arrived in this city yesterday on a mission to the Governor from the citizens of that place, to procure arms for their defence. Mr. PORTER gives us the following reliable news of the murders near New-Ulm:
On Monday morning the people of Mankato heard of the first murder of the Indian outrages, but having been previously alarmed without cause, many disbelieved the reports. A meeting was called, however, and Mr. PORTER, Mr. DUKES and Mr. TATE were appointed a committee to go to New-Ulm, and ascertain the truth as to the reported murders.
Mr. PORTER arrived at New-Ulm on Tuesday morning, and found the people making preparations to bury five persons who had been murdered between the Agency and the town, and that others were being constantly brought in, their bodies most horribly mutilated.
Mr. PORTER went into a room and saw four wounded persons, likewise mutilated, in the agonies of death. They were cut with hatchets in the head, arms. &c. One little girl was cut across the face, breast and side; a little boy was dreadfully cut up; also, a middle-aged woman.
In an adjoining room, Mr. PORTER saw a child with its head cut off, and sixteen other gashes upon its person, and eleven others similarly mutilated, most of whom, it was thought, would soon expire. Their names Mr. PORTER did not obtain. They were mostly Germans, Mr. PORTER was informed that forty persons had been killed in the neighborhood, and it was supposed that not less than two hundred had been killed, whose bodies had not been recovered.
The only persons known to have escaped from the agency are J. REYNOLDS, of Shakopee, D.C. MARVIN, of St. Paul, and the child of Dr. HUMPHREYS.
When Mr. PORTER left New-Ulm -- 2 P.M. Tuesday -- the people were fully aware of their danger, but had resolved to defend the town to the last. The women were taking care of the wounded, but all the men were in the street, drilling with such arms as they possessed. A portion of them had fowling-pieces and rifles, and others were learning the bayonet exercise with pitchforks. Mr. PORTER promised to make their situation known, and returned to Mankato.
On his way down, Mr. PORTER was overtaken by a man who left New-Ulm at a later hour, and reported that the Indians attacked the town at about 5 o'clock the same afternoon, and had burned five buildings on, the outskirts, including the brewery. The Indians numbered about two hundred, and were mounted on ponies. Firing was going on, and several citizens were seen to fall, but no Indians. The people were all gathered in the thickest settled part of the village, and had barricaded the streets. This is the latest news from New-Ulm.
Mr. PORTER got one hundred stand of arms from the Governor, and they will be shipped to Mankato this morning.
TROUBLE WITH THE CHIPPEWA INDIANS.
There are reports of a serious outbreak among the Chippewa Indians. It is said that a plan was laid by them to capture Mr. WALKER, the Agent, and that he received information of it in time to get out of their way. It is also said that he thought it would be a piece of brilliant strategy to take HOLE-IN-THE-DAY as a hostage for the good conduct of the rest of the tribe, and that HOLE-IN-THE-DAY got wind of this, and attempted to escape with home of his wives. He crossed the river, and when he arrived on the opposite bank, the soldiers who were detailed to take him appeared in sight. HOLE-IN-THE-DAY drew his pistol, according to the report of the soldiers, and fired, and was answered by a volley. He fell, and rising, limped a few rods, and fell again, and was removed by the Indians.
News of this affair and other indications of trouble were dispatched to Indian Commissioner DOLE and Superintendent THOMPSON, who were encamped a short distance from St. Cloud, and they immediately broke up their camp and came into town.
PROCLAMATION OF THE GOVERNOR.
EXECUTIVE CHAMBER,
ST. PAUL, Aug. 21. 1862.
The Sioux Indians upon our Western frontier have risen in large bodies, attacked the settlements, and are murdering men, women and children. The rising appears concerted, and extends from Fort Ripley to the southern boundary of the State.
 |
|
| Gov. Alexander Ramsey |
Measures will be taken to subsist the forces so raised.
This outbreak must be suppressed, and in such manner as will forever prevent its repetition.
I earnestly urge upon the settlers of the frontier that while taking all proper precautions for the safety of their families and homes, they will not give way to any unnecessary alarm. A regiment of infantry, together with 300 cavalry, have been ordered to their defence, and with the voluntary troops now being raised, the frontier settlements will speedily be placed beyond danger.
NOTE: A few weeks later, the Times published a chilling account of the hangings of 38 Dakota men convicted of "murder and other outrages" against settlers.
Jan. 27, 1902: Does spread of oleo hurt dairy-maids?
Posted by: Ben Welter under Minnesota History, Government Updated: January 25, 2012 - 9:29 PMA Tribune editorial writer weighs in on a Washington lobbyist’s “far-fetched argument” against the manufacture of oleomargarine.
OLEO AND MATRIMONY.
 |
|
| A Minneapolis Journal photo from about 1900 shows a milkmaid lugging the tools of her trade: a bucket and a three-legged stool. |
Mrs. Smith’s idea of the dairy-maid is perhaps derived from the natty picture presented in the comic operas. The chances are that she has never been on a farm and seen how the girls really work and look. If she had, perhaps she would not be so dead sure that the stylish lady clerks and attractive typewriter girls of the cities are less fitted to secure husbands.
The drift of boys and girls is undoubtedly from the farm to the city, but we doubt if the manufacture and sale of oleo has had much to do with it. On the modern dairy farm the work is now largely done by machinery. The milking machine and the hand separator have done more to displace the dairy-maid than the oleo factory. The employment that the factory offers to many girls is as a rule quite as attractive as farm work, and the factory girl is quite as apt to be thrown into the company of the opposite sex and to acquire an opportunity to pick up a desirable husband as her country sister.
No, no, Mrs. Smith, you cannot be allowed to lug into the debate any such far-fetched argument as this. The genuine and the artificial butter must stand each upon its own merits, and it is not fair to complicate the dispute with so delicate a sociological question as matrimony. So long as this old earth of ours continues to revolve upon its axis and there is marriage and giving in marriage, we will match the lady clerk, the typewriter, or the trim office or factory girl against her country sister, any time, in the race for a matrimonial prize.
Sept. 15, 1969: A tough-talking human rights commissioner
Posted by: Ben Welter under Minnesota History, Government Updated: January 20, 2012 - 4:05 PMCharles Stenvig, a cop with no political experience, won the Minneapolis mayoral race in 1969 on a law-and-order platform. The independent’s victory over endorsed DFL and Republican candidates stunned the political establishment. It also raised concerns among human rights advocates that Stenvig, who had fought against investigations into police brutality while he was president of the Minneapolis Police Officers Federation, would use his office to continue the fight.
One of Stenvig’s first appointees to the city’s Commission on Human Relations was Antonio “Tony” Felicetta, a former truck driver who had run Teamsters Local 792 for more than 30 years. The South High dropout helped organize Local 792 in a series of violent skirmishes among beverage-truck drivers in the 1940s. A 1998 obituary in the Star Tribune described him as “one of the city's most flamboyant labor leaders, a self-promoter who drove a purple Cadillac and outfitted his office bathroom with crystal-beaded lamps and a telephone with four lines.”
Charles Stenvig
Shortly after joining the Commission on Human Relations, he sat for this front-page interview with the Tribune’s Jack Miller. Felicetta’s blunt way of speaking (“Don’t expect me to get raped by every guy that comes along”) and controversial views (he opposed any investigation of police) prompted calls for his resignation. But Stenvig stood by his man, saying his unvarnished speech merely reflected what many whites were feeling.
The interview earned a "laurel" from the Columbia Journalism Review that winter. According to a newsroom memo uncovered by my colleague Bruce Adomeit, CJR wrote:
"By printing verbatim the crudities and obscenities of a truck driver appointed to the Human Relations Commission, [the Tribune portrayed] his racism, pugnacity, and know-nothingism as no 'doctored' quotations could have done."
New Rights Official
Speaks His Mind
By JACK MILLER
Minneapolis Tribune Staff Writer
Minneapolis Tribune Staff Writer
Antonio G. (Tony) Felicetta doesn’t mince words. He mauls them.
But the truck-driver-turned-union-leader, Mayor Charles Stenvig’s most recent appointee to the Minneapolis Human Relations Commission, expresses himself with utter clarity.
In an interview in his flashy office in the Teamsters building, Felicetta said with point-blank plainness that he’s going to be a different kind of human-relations commissioner.
“I’m not going to take any bullshit,” he said, speaking of intimidation by some blacks and Indians he said has occurred at meetings of the Human Relations Commission and elsewhere.
“IF THERE are any grievances,” he said, “I sure as hell would want to see them taken care of. But I sure as hell wouldn’t want to give ’em half my goddamn paycheck when I’m workin’ and they’re sitting on their asses.”
Felicetta, a lifelong resident of Minneapolis until he moved his family to Burnsville 18 months ago, is secretary-treasurer of the Beverage Drivers Union Local 792 and vice-president of the Teamsters Joint Council for a region covering most of Minnesota.
“Don’t expect me to get raped by every guy that comes along,” he said in describing his approach with the commission. But he added: “Not that I’m a hard-nosed or I’m gonna kick the hell out of someone. I don’t want to give that impression.”
The tough talk aside, Felicetta, 58, is a small man with soft hands years removed from the harder days of driving truck for Donaldson’s, Dayton’s and Powers, and long carefully trimmed fingernails layered with clear polish.
His short, gray-grained hair is carefully combed straight down his forehead, Napoleon-style.
 |
|
| The bathroom in Felicetta's union office featured crystal-beaded light fixtures, bronze hardware and a multi-line telephone. (Minneapolis Star photo by Roy Swan) |
He was wearing a green blazer with the pocket patch of the “A.S.C.,” the Amateur Sportsmen’s Club, whose annual banquet he was going to that night.
Felicetta, one of the best-known sports boosters in the Twin Cities, explained wistfully from behind a desk lined with give-away tickets that the sportsmen’s club has “sort of outlived its usefulness.”
“We used to raise money for Gopher (University of Minnesota) football players – help ‘em out and get jobs for ‘em,” he said. “You know, the kind of thing they (the universities) aren’t supposed to do.”
But now, he said, there’s plenty of money and jobs around to take care of the amateur athletes.
In addition to raising money for the Millers, the Twins, the Vikings and the North Stars, Felicetta has been active in all manner of civic causes such as the March of Dimes and the American Cancer Society.
It’s a new ball game, this human relations commission, he granted, and he said he was surprised when Stenvig asked him to take the job.
But after sitting through the first two-hour meeting of the commission’s executive board recently, Felicetta said, “I decided that I’m better qualified than most of them on the commission. Now I see why they haven’t been getting anything done.”
Grievances against the police are shaping up as the hottest issue the commission has to face, and Felicetta has some firm ideas about the police.
“I probably know more police than anyone else in the city,” he said with a laugh, going on to make it clear that the relationship is a friendly one.
He said flatly that he’s against any investigation of police behavior, explaining:
“A few years ago, okay, things were different then. But now, with all these people demanding it, I’m against it. It would hurt their (the policemen’s) morale. They’re entitled to some courtesies.”
Among the courtesies Felicetta told of personally providing the police was a load of pop for them during the hot days of the Minneapolis Aquatennial (of which Felicetta is the board member of longest tenure).
“I do that kind of thing,” he said, “but I don’t expect anything in return – I get a lot of parking tickets.”
At the commission meeting someone suggested that the commissioners take a look at television film of the most recent action in which police brutality has been charged: a confrontation with demonstrators on Plymouth Av. last month.
Felicetta was against looking at the films.
He said in the interview, “You don’t always see what happened by watching the film. The news media lets you see what they want you to see – and that goes for the newspapers too.”
But Felicetta emphasized that he’s not against minority people, he’s just against “the 30 or so who are causing the trouble … 98 percent of the colored people in this city are goddamned fine people.
“I talk with colored people a lot,” he said, “with the elevator operators, the shoeshiners and in the parking lots, and do you know what they say? They don’t buy all this (militant) crap.”
ADVERTISEMENT
recent posts
- Feb. 5, 1912: The frog prince of Fulda
- Dec. 26, 1862: 38 Dakota men executed in Mankato
- Aug. 27, 1862: The Dakota Conflict
- Jan. 27, 1902: Does spread of oleo hurt dairy-maids?
- Sept. 15, 1969: A tough-talking human rights commissioner
- Jan. 1, 1912: Telegram delivered to pulpit
- Dec. 26, 1922: A balmy Christmas in Minneapolis
- Dec. 25, 1901: Rats steal Christmas candy
- Dec. 18, 1911: U co-eds bristle at mustache trend
- Dec. 9, 1899: The fall and rise of a prima donna
- April 24, 1966: Hotel is home for real-life ‘Eloise’
- Nov. 26, 1922: Cancer blamed on tobacco, dirty teeth
- Sept. 1, 1923: We will extract teeth for 25 cents
- Sept. 28, 1923: Butcher fined for plucking live chickens
- Nov. 15, 1919: ‘Pawpaws is ripe’
- Nov. 11, 1921: Rachmaninoff sorry he wrote prelude
- Nov. 4, 1891: A peculiarly sad case of insanity
- Nov. 3, 1911: Suicide in the funnies
- Oct. 22, 1911: What Minneapolis kiddies say
ADVERTISEMENT
inside the StarTribune
-
425 Portland Av. S.
Minneapolis, MN 55488
(612) 673-4000
- Company
- Subscriber Services
- Website
- Buy Ads
- Store
- Connect with Us
© 2012 StarTribune. All rights reserved.
StarTribune.com is powered by Limelight Networks
Newspaper Subscriptions
eEdition
RSS
Newsletters