Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1902-01-22
Public Opinion on Iowa Subjects
as Reflected in the Iowa
Newspapers.
The News Of Iowa From Hun.
dreds OF Different Towns
and Communities.
Murphy's Strange Intuition.

Murphy's Strange Intuition.
tCllnton Herald.l
During a residence of nearly hall
century in Mississippi river city, Pat
rick Murphy, a long time resident OF
Clinton. has developed wonderful skill
in locating bodies of drowned persons
in the bottom of the river, and raising
them TO the surface. Mr.. Murphy
lives at 1116 South Third street. He
| came to Clinton forty-slx years ago, and
is one of the city's most well known and
respected residents. His fame as a re-
coverer of bodies<has spread along the
upper MississiIl Prompted by mo-
tlves purely philanthropical. and at all
times refuses recompense for his .abors
he has retored to the afflicted relatives
the bodies Of many an unfortunate VIC
tim of the treacherous current. He de-
votes his skill to the cause of humanity
and asks, nor accepts, no recompense
In, the heat of many a summer sun he
has carried on his work OF mercy, and
often in the chill midwinter blast his
services have been gratuitously given
to the search for the body OF an Ill
fated skater or river traveller. Forty
six years practice have developed in
him wonderful aptitude in locating
bodies, and in but few cases has he
been unsuccessful. His only equip
ment is a boat, and an iron rod seven
feet long, and when the body is located
hook is inserted in the clothing, and il
is raised to the surface and towed
ashore. The raising of a body is some
times a difficult operation, especially ir
the case of person who was drowned
while in bathing, and consequently de-
void Of clothing. In case of this KIND
the hook is fastened into the body
Again, in some instances, the bodies are
held by enags on the bottom of the river
and much trouble is sometimes expert
enced in freeing them. But of all, the
most difficult task Is the recovery o,
bodies from under the ice. IL the drown
ing occurs in the main river search fol
the body is practically useless. But II
the victim went down in slough OF
cutoff where there is no current the
body is generally found short distance
from the spot In the search for the
body it is sometimes necessary to Gu,
holes in the ice, thru which soundings
bodies under all these conditions. Dur
ing the forty-six years he has lived In
Clinton he has brought to the surface
twenty three bodies. In some cases, he
informed Herald reporter, under ia
vorable conditions, few minutes
search was all that was necessary to re-
cover body from the river. AT other
times he spent days va!nly dragging the
river before his efforts We're crowned
with success. He never abandons his
work until certain that the body has
been borne far down the river by the &C.
ton of the current.
EDUCATION SHOULD BE PRAC-
TICAL.
IClarinda Herald.]
County Superintendent Colbert, the
other day, in talking on educational
matters expressed 1t as his opinion
that 1t would be better of the arith-
metics used as text books in the public
schools would pay more attention to
weights and measures and less to
money, in the way of giving problems.
He thinks 1t is of equal practical value
to pupil to be able readily to tell
how many gallons of water tank
of given dimensions would contain,
how many feet of lumber in plank
of given size. how many brick will
be required to build given number of
feet of wall, how much ground is en-
closed in given boundary lines. how
many pounds or gallons of paint 1t
will take to cover a stated surface, etc..
as 1t is to known how much profit or
loss or what per cent of profit will be
made by buying articles at one given
price and selling them at another
While he was teaching in the Shenan-
doah Normal College. he said, he
took occasion one time to get the views
of the various business men as to the
amount of mathematics an employee
would be expected to know. He went
first to the banks and there was told
that IL young man could add rapidly
and accurately, he could get along very
well. Reference tables for computing
interest are used almost exclusively.
In general store a clerk is not sup
posed to figure out the per cent of pro-
fit made at sale. He is told to mark
articles to sell for SO much; he may
know the cost, but the probability is
that he does not. In meat market
the principal thing is to have the null
DUPLICATION table firmly fixed In thu
mind so as to be quick and accurate
in mental calculations. But in the
hardware, and lumber business-es-
pecially the former-the better versed
man is in that portion of mathe-
mates that deals in weights and
measures the easier he will find his
work. customer comes in and says.
II want tank built that will hold
ten barrels of water. 1t must be
placed in certain position and can be
only two feet in diameter" Or he goes
to the lumber yard and says: II
want to paint my barn. roof and ALL
barn is 2Sx40 feet in size. with is feet
studding, quarter pitch roof, with a
she'd along one end with a six foot
wall, roof same slant as barn. How
much paint ought ! to have?" In
either case mistake in the estimate
of cost may mean the loss of a good
customer yet the probability is that
the average young man who seeks
position In either occupation has been
drilled much more, while in school,
on finding out how much profit could
be made in buying 80 COWS at $3.50
each and selling % of them for $50
each and the remainder for 1898 less
than he paid for them, than in being
taught how to ascertain the surface
area of building or the capacity Of
a tank or cistern. Mr.. Colbert's sug-
gestion Isl good one. Much Of our