Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1908-11-25
MAN BURNS TO DEATH COURT LASTS A WEEK
JAMES MURRAY SETS FIRE TO HIS BED
AND BURNS HIS HOUSE.
Old Resident Of Decorah Meets With Tragic
Death From Fire Which Destroyed His
House.

The sounding of the fire alarm be-
tween one and two o'clock last Thurs
day morning called the fire department
to the residence of James Murray, better
known as Jimmie Murray" in the
fourth ward. When they arrived the
fire was well under way and before they
were able to extinguish it the house was
gutted by the flames, leaving nothing
but she'll
On the ground floor of the house
directly below the location of his bed
on the upper floor was found the body
of Mr.. Murray, which had evidently
fallen from the upper store as the floor
burned out under his bed 1t is gener-
ally supposed that he went to bed with
a lighted pipe in his mouth and set fire
to the bedding which spread rapidly.
On the ground floor of the house his
nephews wife, Mrs. Geo. Murray, and
her children were sleeping, the husband
being absent at the power dam where
he had been working She is quite deaf
and was not aroused until she became
nearly suffocated with smoke and
barely escaped from the house with her
children. The body of Mr. Murray was
badly charred when discovered. with
practically nothing but the bones re-
naming.
The remains were removed TO the
undertaking rooms of Fred Walter
from which interment. took place on
Friday afternoon
The deceased had been resident of
Decorah for many years and was quite
well known. He was 73 years of age
and was born in Ireland He has been
engaged in caring for lawns about town
for some years, but had recently given
it up on account of poor health There
are no immediate relatives. his wife
having died less than a year ago, and
there were no children.
AS general thing we look upon the
creation of new Offices with distrust,
but we have long been of the opinion
that the duties of the county auditor |
ought to be divided by the establish
ment of a new Office, the incumbent of
which should have for his sole duties |
everything relating to the county rev.
enue, a close supervision of the assess |
ment of property, the apportionment of
county funds, the making of the tax
list, the collection of delinquent and
omitted taxes and everything connected |
Herewith. And it is question whether |
such an official would not discharge his
duties more efficiently, if appointed by
the board of supervisors instead of |
being elective. AS it is, with the addi-
tional work imposed on the auditor by
the drainage laws, and other recent
legislative acts, the duties of the Office
are too arduous for any one man to dis
charge. Not only arduous, but they are
so widely different in character that
there is no connection between many of
them-Hampton Recorder.
William Arnold Shanklin, president
of the Upper Iowa University, has de-
'eided to accept the offer of president of
the Connecticut Wesleyan University at
Middleton, Connecticut and will take
up his work there next fall He is to
receive salary of $75O3. This school
has been termed the "Mc.her of
Methodist Schools being the first to
organize as denominational school.
DR.. Shanklin succeeds acting President
William Northriche, who has been at
the head of the university since the
resignation of President Raymond two
years ago.
Treasury officials note that silver
IN the West and South and that their
place is being taken by dollar bills. Al
few years ago it was a rare thing to see
dollar bill west of the Mississippi
river, while i'm the South silver dollars
were far more plentiful than the soft
money 1t seems that the doom of the
silver dollar was sounded when the
government decided that il would no
longer pay the freight between sub
treasures and banks on the coin
The Fmion Eagle says there is no
longer any factional opposition to Gov.
Cummns in the republican party
Every republican" the Eagle asserts.
has accepted the verdict of the primary.
and he will go into the senate as the
@f Il, 4