The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1900-10-04
NOTES FROM THE. CAPITAL
Dies MONIES. October 8 lsoo.

NOTES FROM THE. CAPITAL
Dies MONIES, October 3, 1000.
b. S. Ellsworth OF Iowa Falls. who
is the president of the proposed Des
Moines, Iowa Falls & Northern rail-
road, was in the city meeting with.
some OF, the promoters Of the Duluth
d New Orleans road relative to the
retirement from the field Of the lat,
ter company. THE Des Moines &
Iowa Falls road is, a certainty at any
time that we are confident that the
other road has been given up said
Mr.. Ellsworth .'It would be impos.
slble TO do anything with the bonds
OF our road while the other road was
belng Planned and work was being
done on its construction. No east
ern bond house would take the bonds
with the possibility of any trouble
arising. The consequence is that we
nave lost all the best of this year,
while the Duluth & New Orleans
company has been going ahead and
spending money continually. un.
derstand that about $1,000 per month
mas been expended on the work that
has been done. If they are now
ready to give up the road we will 90
r1ght ahead with ours, and will have
some of the work done before win
ter stops us. A corps of engineers
was kept in the field all last wear.
but nothing has been done this year
and nothing will be done unless we
are definitely assured that the other
road is out of the way
Representatives of two voting ma
chine companies are in Des Moines
trying to induce the county board of
supervisors to adopt their respective
machines for use i'll this county. They
are the Climax company, represented
by 2. Il. Miller of Franklin Grove,
MI, and the Standard company. rep
resented by Mn. Gillespie of Atlantic.
Inc Climax people feel confident of
selling their machine, if the board
decides to purchase machines for the
county. The voting machine commits
sion appointed by Governor Shaw last
winter inspected the Climax at Cedar
Rapids about week ago, and de-
clared that it fulfilled the REQUIRE
ments of the statute. The Standard
mas. not been passed on, but it will
probably be submitted to the com
mission shortly.
The Bonaparte dam case will he
heard from at the coming session of
the supreme court, the case having
been advanced upon the calendar by
request. The Bonaparte dam case will
re remembered as case against
Meek Bros. OF Bonaparte, owners of
wooden mills operated in that city,
Whlch were run by water power Sc,
cured from the dam on the Des
MONIES river. Fishermen in the
neighborhood of Bonaparte and urs
the Des Moines river to Des Moines
complained that the dam INSTRUCTED
the free passage of fish up the river,
and the Iowa Sportsman's associa.
ton began an action to compel Meek
Bros. to remove the dam or to pro.
vide fishways adequate and suitable
for the river. The state of Iowa
joined with the plaintiffs, and the case
was bitterly contested. A verdict in
favor of the defendants was secured
IN the lower court and the plaintiffs
at once, appealed the case. The re-
cent advancement means that it will
receive early consideration at the
October term.
The investigation arising out of the
arrest of John w. Stone, superinten-
dent OF the industrial department. in
the hospital at Mt. Pleasant for al
legged theft of supplies, has been near
~ brought to a close by the board of
control. Judge Kline has just re-
turned from Mt. Pleasant, where he
made the regular monthly inspection
OF the hospital and took testimony.
Judge Kline, in speaking of the case,
refused to disclose what the testi-
mony Indicated, but told what had
been done to make the examination
thorough one. While at Mt. Pleasant
he examined the employees, the super
mtendent, the express agent and all.
persons that could have any know
ledge of Stones conduct as superin-
tendent. He also went to Burlington
and made investigation there, since
it had been charged Stone shipped
goods to Burlington. The cause of
the fire at Mt. Pleasant last Febru-
airy and the circumstances surround
ing it. We're looked into with especial
care, because of the allegations that
the fire was started to hide thefts
of state supplies. 1t is learned from
another source that the testimony
thus far taken fails to prove that
Stone had stolen any state supplies
outside of those sent to Des Moines.
1t contains nothing to prove the
charge that the thefts extended over
a long period, and there is no evi-
dence to show the fire last February
was started by anyone or for the pur-
pose of concealing thefts from the
state. There is no evidence that any
state supplies We're shipped to Bur-
lington or to points other than Des
Moines, and there is every indication
the board will be able to make a
report based on the sworn statements
in it's possession that will yindicate
the position it has all along taken in
the matter.
John Cownie of the board of con-
troll has completed his visits to county
institutions. The board will now go
over all the reports and make up its
annual report and probably. make
some new rules as to their govern.
.ment. The board is especially desir-
Gus of establishing better rules for
the care and treatment of the insane.
at all the county institutions. The
board has now finished it's visits also