Dakota farmers' leader. (Canton, S.D.) 1890-19??, 1910-09-02
DELIGHTFUL AUTO RIDE.
Athenians and Guests Visit
Rock Rapids Covering "a
Miles in Four Hours
Including Stops.


The Athenian Society of this city is
composed Of progressive gentlemen
who enjoy an auto ride with as much
pleasure as they do debate or banquet,
decided to take a GA mile trip last
Monday, destination being Rock
Rapids, the county seat of M of the
best and most famous counties in
Iowa.
The hour Of departure was fixed at
= O'Clock but Athenian GlaettH was
missing and it took half an hour to
round him up, and then the cars were
off due EAST to Inwood, in the follow
ing order: The Rudolph Velie with
Charlie Whitmore at the wheel lead
the pace to Inwood, followed by e. j.
Straw's REQ with Mr.. Straw at the
wheel. Next came Ed. Wendt's REQ
with Mr.. Wendt at the wheel, and
last came DR.. Wendt's REQ with the
Doctor at the wheel. Inwood, ten
miles away, was reached in 80 minutes
where the cars we're banked and a
short visit with friends was being en-
joyed when a vicious horse was
observed jumping and kicking, finally
smashing the buggy and throwing
the man and his wife to the ground
with great force. The man escaped
injury but his wife had her face
badly cut and three ribs broken.
Postmaster Max and the writer en-
joyed a laugh over the auto invasion.
Sam was about to telephone the banks
to put their cash in the vaults and he
was ready to put his cash and stamps
out of sight when he discovered the
smiling face of Prof. Lawrence among
the crowd and then he knew the town
was safe. Four autos with sixteen
men logged out for a ride was enough
to bring the Marshal to his feet in a
hurry. George Dean came along in
shirt sleeves and the Canton bunch
began shouting "hello George" and
then George Sogn came In for a greet
ing and the scare was over but Sam
Max wants advance information when
sixteen husky Cantonites start that
way again.
There were sixteen in the party in
Guiding three guests as follows: DR..
G. L. Wendt, Prof. Tuve, Prof. LaWr-
ence, Ed Wendt, e. j. Straw, VIM.
Tank, County Judge Brown, o. A..
Rudolph, J.. It. Hansen, Charles
Whitmore, Martin Lybarger, Judge
Asa Forrest, Judge A. r. Jameson,
Ray Fowles, Carl Glaettli and
Arthur Linn.
DR.. Wendt led the race from In
wood until after WI passed through
Lester, then the Doctor took a side
track in order that his crowd could
dispose of a dozen melons, brought
with them from Canton, we presume,
but the Doctor and his crowd were
the only ones who saw a melon patch
on the road. E. J. Straw passed the
melon eaters with his fast REQ and
shut off steam in front Of the Lyon
Hotel, two hours from Canton, in
Guiding stops. DR.. Wendt and his
melon lovers came in last and seemed
satisfied with their refreshment on
the road.
After a glorious banquet at the
hotel the crowd followed Judge
Forrest to a very attractive merry-go-
round and all the boys mounted fiery
untamed steeds that jumped a hurdle
every ten feet. Brother Rudolph re-
fused to be a boy again but the writer
was induced to mount a stitf-backed
gondola and thus the whirl went on.
The next move was to a moving
picture show which Martin Lybarger
discovered and Martin passed us all
inside in the presence of a very pretty
maid who took tickets, The show
was good and the "human frog" i'm
mense, but nothing appealed to Bro.
Rudolph's amusement nerve so much
as his mental kodak Of the dignitied
C%antonites cutting up pranks on the
backs of those hurdle jumping horses
with an occasional Sioux warwhoop
that made the engine toot seem tame.
They we're all ''boys again" and how
they did enjoy the freedom from re-
straint. The go-round man took the
crowd for the advance of a big car
nival company engaged for the Lyon
county fair. The Marshal looked us
over carefully and decided that there
was nothing suspicious about us until
one Athenian remarked that "the
Iowa woodpeckers are so different,
don't you know" then he felt In his
hip pocket.
The boys cranked up and we're
headed west just as the nine o'clock
whistle sounded.
The roads were in fine condition
and Canton was reached 10 minutes
before IL, just as the rain drops from
a black cloud began to fall. When
two miles and a half from Canton the
wind veered from south to west and
blew great guns. The dust came in
clouds and Bro. Straw put on full
speed and how we did fly. We were
making about 30 miles against a 40
mile gale and the sand was awful, but
Bro. Straw landed us safe before the