The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1893-09-29

maInauIo JUN iUo onaIi eiAo dnu
It's costly binding, and was sent by
Mrs. Edward VOSe, OF Hastings
Among Mrs. Ottos things is an iron
trunk 5 by 10 inches, which belonged
to the first Napoleon, and was used by
him in his great champaigns. He
gave it to General Algemeler, whose
wife gave it to the present owner
forty-tive years ago, at the time Oh her
leaving Germany. Although the
strong box shows hard usage, it is still
in good condition., the lock working
perfectly. In the lock is little bell
that rings at every thrust OF the bolt:
Inside the cover is a coat or arms ana
two or three medalliOnS that cannot
be made out. There is pair of spurs
that were worn by a mayor of SobOrn-
helm, Prussia, $50 years ago, and an
old list of MaSOnS, in which the name
of Otto, an ancestor, appears; also an
old manuscript containing the au-
thentic history of the more prlZed OF
the articles in the collection. Or ar
ticles contributed by other persons
the following are deserving of notice:
A loving cup, crown derby, $50 years
old, sent by Mrs. James Garland; a
plate 200 years old commemorative
Henns treaty, a bapJismal cloth, used
by the French nobility at lngershelm,
Alsace, owned by Mrs. j. B. Lam
bert, Hastings; miniature portrait
of Jenny Lind, painted just before her
visit to the United States, sent by
Mrs. A. L. Thompson, of Myrna; a
box containing woods from Columbus
house forwarded by Consul j. ID.
Healy at Funchal, Spain, volume of
Beaumont and Fletcher, 1647, once
owned by John Randolph, of Roanoke,
and containing on fly leaves in his
writing the dramatiS persona of two
plays-Now owned by Judge j.. M.
Crosby, of Hastings; an Elziver
Bible, 1887, with the psalms
st to music, and another
Bible 800 years old, the property of
Joseph FieckenStein' The like Of no
other thing in this collection will not
be seen elsewhere in the world. 1t is
a box of meat bones, containing DOM
inoes, de k of cards, and set of
dice, I'll of the same. Picture cards
decorate the outside of the. box. 1t
was taken from prisoners of war at
the battle of Waterloo in 1915. The
whole was the work of prisoners con-
fiued in the baStile at the time OF the
French Revolution. Its au-
thenticy is undoubted, indeed it is es-
tablished. The owner of it isArthur
z. Freer, of Winnebago City. Alfred
Bull has an entire case of curious
and valuable things that would have
particular mention were there space
in this article, A few of them may
not be passed over. Here is the pic
ture book of the middle ages, and the
Nuremburg Chronicle; gift book cor
tanning Victoria's autograph and pre-
sented by the queen to her godmoth
er Victoria Conroy, Dec. "a, 1888; q
book out of the library of Charles
Dickens, and containing his bookmark
beautifully Illuminated volume en-
titled ''Offices of theDead" and bOunt
in human skin ETC., etc. There are
scores of such things and the wonder
is how came they all tC be owned by
Minnesota? There should be mention
ed or their location indicated by the
newspapers especially, for the reason
that they are rather Obscurely install
led. and may be easily overlooked b,
visitors that have no previous knowl
edge of their existence Chicago Her
! /,I7