I saw some promotional material over the weekend for a Windsor Heights-based outfit called "The Wine Wagon," a specially equipped vehicle that travels from event to event dispensing, by the glass or otherwise, fermented fruit of the vine. Very trendy.
But Chariton holds the advantage in this game. Back in 1898, we had a Whiskey Wagon --- a step above in the ranks of intoxicants. Here's a report from a scandalized editor as published on Page 1 of The Patriot of July 28 that year, under the headline "Bootleggers."
"Our attention was called one day last week to a man driving a team, hitched to a wagon, into the alley running east and west of Block Seven (just north of the Post Office). Two men were also pointed out to us, who were following this teamster into the alley. They were afoot and were about two rods apart. We were told that this teamster was a 'boot-legger.' He had just arrived from the levee, and was ready to supply these wretched men with whiskey for money. In about ten minutes the two men reappeared and returned to Court Avenue. They were able to walk without staggering, but you couldn't say much else. Before night they were both in a beastly state of intoxication. What will be done, we wonder, in these cases, if these men are found in this state by the officers? Will they be arrested and thrown in jail, and the 'boot-legger' be allowed to go free?"
It seems unlikely that long-ago editor would approve of The Wine Wagon either. Block 7, by the way forms the north side of the town square.
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Those were horse and buggy days and the July 28 edition of The Patriot was loaded with equine-related happenings.
In the market for a new carriage, surrey, phaeton or buggy? William Schreiber, then one of Chariton's leading manufacturers, could help you out at his production plant and showroom just a block north of the northwest corner of the square (in a building that still stands south of First United Methodist Church).
But horses, mules and the like presented a number of hazards, especially if their drivers were not paying attention. Early in the week of July 28, a pedestrian had prevented a disaster at the Foundry railroad crossing, just a block west of Schreiber's:
Shocking Catastrophe Averted
"An accident that might have ended in the death of Miss Florence Braden, but for the timely assistance of Mrs. Alfred Shelton, occurred at the Foundry railroad crossing last Monday morning. Miss Braden lives with her parents near Lacona, on the Wm. Butcher farm, and was driving to Chariton for her relatives, Thos. Patton and wife. She had almost arrived at the Foundry crossing, was in fact almost on the tracks, when Mrs. Shelton stopped her horses just in time to prevent No. 3 from running over them. As it was, the horses whirled, throwing Miss Braden from the buggy into the ditch. Her face was cut severely, her lower lip being badly torn in the fall, and she sustained other cuts and bruises about the body. Dr. T.P. Stanton dressed the wounds and reports her condition favorable to a speedy recovery."
Down in Warren Township, an unfortunate farmer had experienced a painful encounter with the hoof of a mule, and that duly was reported upon in The Patriot of July 28, too:
Kicked by a Mule
"John Fisher, living on Capt. S.S. Arnold's farm in Warren township, was kicked quite severely by a mule last Thursday. He was knocked senseless, and the kick came with such force that a rib was broken on the right side. If it had been the left side Mr. Fisher undoubtedly would have been instantly killed. His wife dragged him out of the stable and he was carried to the house. Dr. T.P. Stanton was called and made his patient as easy as the existing circumstances would allow."
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Out in the country, the small grain harvest was progressing nicely --- a process speeded considerably by new-fangled threshing machines. But in order to thresh, you needed shocks of oats and wheat and to create them, horse-drawn binders were increasing in popularity.
The Patriot's Cedar Grove correspondent reported on July 28 that, "There have been six new binders bought in this neighborhood this season and still busy cutting grain, two McCormicks, two Dearings, one Osborne, one Champion. Just to think a few years ago harvesting was done with cradles, or the old 'Arm-strong' machine as it was styled."
And life on the farm then as now could be hazardous, especially if you lost control of what you were smoking while atop a load of hay. Here's that happened to one of Robert Wadsworth's farmhands:
"One day last week one of Robert Wadsworth's hands was hauling hay. He had just passed the gate into the road near Frank Wadsworth's when he descended from the load with great agility just in time to save himself from cremation. The load and wagon were a total loss. No insurance. He explained that an axle had got dry and set the load on fire. But neighbors said, 'cigarette.' "
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