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ve' I Jr ESTABLISHED 1894. THEIR GOLDEN WEDDING Mr. and Mrs. Robert Bowsher Cele brate that Coveted Goal, which is Reached by but Very Few. One of the most notable society events ever held In Leon was the gol den wedding anniversary of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Bowsher, two of Leon's oldest and most highly esteemed citi zens, at the home of their son, J. R. Bowsher, whose magnificent new residence, "The Linger Longer," is nearing completion. Work had been rushed night and day to get the resi dence finished in time for the cele bration, but the weather interfered so that it was not entirely done in time for the celebration Monday of tliis week. In order that all of their friends might attend, Mr. and Mrs. Bowsher did not send out individual invita tions, but gave a public invitation to all their friends through the col umns of the newspapers, and they re sponded in great numbers, the large house being thronged with visitors all day, and in the evening by those who called to pay their respects to this worthy couple. The home was beautifully decorated in yellow in honor of the occasion, the dining room having a profusion of yellow cut flowers to add to the beauty of the decorations. Throughout the day delicious refreshments were served to all who called, the guests being received by Mr. and Mrs. Bow sher their son, Mr. J. R. Bowsher, &a.d Mrs. Bowsher their grandson, Mr. Port Bowsher, and Mrs. Bow sher, of Lamoni their grandchil dren, Miss Edna and Mr. Robert Kohler, of Butte, Mont. Mr. and Mrs. James Gutch, of Albia, and Mr. and Mrs. F. C. Younkin, of Des Moines. In the afternoon and again in the 1 evening Rev. J. L. Boyd performed a second ceremony, uniting Mr. and Mrs. Bowsher even more strongly in the bonds of love and affection. V- Look at Ybur *Tag. As will be seen by a notice pub lished in this issue, the publishers of every newspaper in Decatur county have agreed that on and after March 10 they will comply strictly with the postoffice department's ruling that all subscribers to weekly newspapers must not be more than one year in arrears or the paper will be denied admission to the mails. The date to which your paper is paid is printed on the yellow label after your name on your paper, and we ask all our subscribers to examine their tag and if a year or more in arrears to send us a check or draft, or call at the office and pay the account. If you fail to do this you will not receive The Reporter after March 10, and the account will have to be placed for collection, as we cannot keep track of the accounts after the pa per is stopped. Don't neglect this, but attend to it at once. Rev. Coakwell will go to St. Joe. Rev. Chas. Arthur Coakwell, for the past two years the popular pastor of the Christian church of Leon, has accepted a cat! from the St. Joe Avenue Christian church of North St. Joe, and will enter on his duties as pastor April 1st when he closes his labors as pastor of the Leon church, having announced his resignation some weeks ago to take effect on April 1st. The charge at St. Joe pays him quite a nice increase in salary, and his friends will congratu late him, but will be sorry to see him leave Leon. Mrs. Coakwell is now visiting relatives in Ohio, and he has stored his household goods until he moves to St. Joe. Preaching services at the Presby terian church 11 a. m. and 7:30 p. m. Subject for morning, "The Re ligion of Jesus Christ and How it Compares With the Religion of Leon." MR. AND MRS. ROBERT BOWSHER, 1860—1910. Mr. Bowsher was born in Wyan dotte county, Ohio, Sept. 11, 18'4, and will be 76 years old next Sep tember. Mrs. Bowsher, whose maiden name was Mary Jane Drake, was born near Tiffin City, Ohio, Oct. 19, 1837, and will be 73 years old next October. They were married in Crawford county, Ohio, Feb. 14, 1860, and went to Upper Sandusky to live, and in 1866 they came to the then far west and settled at Prince ton, Mo., where they engaged in the hotel business, and for many years conducted the "Old Buckeye house at Princeton, one of the well-known hostelries of northern Missouri, and later conducted the Mineral Springs 'hotel. In 1894 they came to Leon and Mr. Bowsher engaged in the im plement business with his son, J. R. Bowsher, under the firm name of Bowsher & Bowsher. Although hav ing reached the age* at which few men are still in active business, Mr. Bowsher is as spry as many younger •ifen and takes an active part in the firm's business, both at their big store in this city and the branch stores at Lamoni, Pleasanton and Decatur City. During the day many hundred of their friends called to pay their re spects and wish them many more years of wedded happiness. As a souvenir of the happy occasion the guests were presented with a 'photo of Mr. and Mrs, Bowsher taken the day of their marriage and also aB they appear today, which we are lappy to reproduce for The Reporter readers. For Rent—A five room eotlaige. .See Harry Bradfield. A New Trial for l)r. Sells. The supreme court last Tuesday handed down an opinion reversing the verdict found by a jury in Clarke county against Dr. F. W. Sells, a prominent physician of Osceola, for attempting a criminal assault on a young lady who was a patient at-his hospital in Osceola. The opinion in the case was written by Judge Weaver and says the evidence against Dr. Sells was insufficient and there was not enough cor roboration of the young lady's story. It was held that her story might pos sibly be true and they did not want to brand it as false, but as it stood it was not enough. In reversing the verdict of the lower court, the su preme court remands the case back for a new trial, but suggests that unless the state has more evidence, that the indictment against Dr. Sells be dismissed. A Big Horse Sale. A big Commission horse sale will be held at the brick sale barn in this city on Saturday Feb. 26, and all parties who have any horses to sell should list them at once with Fred Teale, clerk, so they can be adver tised next week. There will be a number of good buyers here to at tend the sale, and' horses are in good demand at present and bringing top prices. Baker—Baldwin. Mr. Orel Everett Baker and Miss Eadis Baldwin, both of Cainsville, Mo., were married at the clerk's office in this city last Thursday after noon by Rev. J. L. Boyd, pastor of the M. E. church of this city. The happy young couple returned to Cainsville on the evening train where they, are 'well and favorably known. As it was 10 o'clock before the last course of the banquet was fin ished, and there was a big minstrel entertainment to follow, the time for toasts was limited. The first on' the program was "Leon's Progress in the Past Year," which was respond ed to by W. C. Stempel, president of the Commercial Club, and in a few words he gave some idea of the many improvements which have been made in Leon since the club banquet a year ago, showing by act ual figures that the private improve ments made during this time was almost $50- per capita for all the residents of Leon. "The Benefits of Our. Public Improvements" were shown up in a careful manner by Horace Farquhar and when duly considered is a record to be proud of. "Will the Commercial Club Deliver the Goods" was responded to by James W. Hurst, and he was firm in the opinion that they would, as has been shown in the past. A. P. Olsen gave a short but splendid eulogy of Abraham Lincoln and it was re gretted that the speaker did not have more time, in which to do justice to that grand old man. Geis Botsford, secretary of the Des Moines Com mercial Club, was the guest of hon or of the evening, and spoke of "Some Iowa Possibilities and How to Cash Them In." Mr. Botsford is a live wire, and he could have filled in an entire evening telling of the great possibilities of the great state of Iowa. He has given much careful study and work to this question and was prepared with facts and figures to show that Iowa has advantages possessed by no other state in the union, and all we have to do is to take advantage of them. He said that Iowa was the greatest fruit country in the world and in the re cent horticultural convention held at Denver Iowa carried off the first prize for the best apple's against Col orado, Oregon, California and all other competitors. He also spoke of the dairy interests, and of the good roads movement. Mr. Bots ford is a splendid talker' and those present would have enjoyed hearing him for a whple evening, but he con densed his remarks in order to give the ministrel talent a chance. After the toasts were finished everybody went to the K. P. hall where member!? of the Commercial Club presented a black face minstrel entertainment of almost two hours in length, and say, it was: about the best thing in this line ever seen in Leon. Each and every artist ap pearing on the program was an artist and had to respond to a hearty encore. Such staid old citizei^s as John Wasson, C.. M. Akes, Mose Jones, Dr. Rowell, George Ogilvie, George Hurst, Dr. *oxworthy, Mar ion Woodard, and others could se cure an engagement on the road any time. The program opened with a comic song from R. O. Allen, which made a hit. Then Mose Jones, in plug hat and a mouth made special for the occasion gave the spieler's announcement of the show and he must have had experience in this line in his younger days. Carl Hale, as the lady singer and skirt dancer, LEON, IOW THUKSDAY, BKDARI 17, 1910. NOTICE TO SUBSCRIBERS. In view of the fact that the United States Post office department is now at work rigidly enforcing the the department's ruling that all subscribers to weekly newspapers must not allow their subscription to be come more than one year in arrears or the publisher of the paper will be refused admission to the mails under the second-class postage rate, it becomes neces sary for the newspapers of Decatur county to comply with the department's ruling. On March 10, 1910, every subscriber to the newspapers of Decatur county who is one year or more in arrears will have, their paper discontinued. Please don't blame the publishers for this, for we must comply with the postal ruling. We can make no exceptions and all subscribers will be treated alike. We dislike to cut off subscribers who have, taken our papers many years, but there is no alternative. If you desire to continue receiving your paper it will be necessary to settle up your subscription ac count. O. E. Hull, Publisher Leon Reporter. Will F. Lindsey, Mgr. Decatur County Journal. R. C. Hoadley, Publisher Garden Grove Express. Chronicle Publishing Co., Pubs. Lamoni Chromc-lc. Lambert Bros., Publishers Lamoni Patriot. H. O. Tuttle, Publisher Van Wert Record. R. C. Hoadley, Publisher Weldon American. C. M. Grimm, Publisher Grand River Local. COMMERCIAL CLUB BANQUET. There was a Full Attendance and a Big Time at the Banquet last Friday Evening. The second annual banquet of the Leon Commercial Club was held on last Friday evening and it was one of the swell events of the season. The banquet, a six course one, was served at 7 o'clock in the Biggs hall by the Estes Cafe, music being fur nished by the Leon orchestra. Plates were laid for over two hundred peo ple and there were n» absentees. -O. E. Hull presided as toastmaster and after the invocation by Elder J. S. Coffin everybody got busy. 7 made many of the ladies green with envy for he made up as a stunning young lady and the way he did the dancing act was a caution. Deacon George Ogilvie, as a handsome little "coon' lady was the star of the evening, and he could not be beat. George Hurst and Wilbur Miller also appeared as "cullud" ladies, and they handled their skirts to per fection. Frank Farquhar, Ray Lay ton, Dr. Woodmansee Lou Pease, Pete Brady and R. O. Allen in sing ing and dancing features were out of sights Marion Woodard in the Cutffcatfter of old" gyolich portrayed in only too true a manner the attitude of a few old knockers who still live in Leon. James Hurst as interloc ulor and Dr. J. W. Rowell and Dr. F. A. Bowman as end men and vocal soloists were strictly there with the goods. And last but not least there was "Tiny" Stempel and "Katrina" Kopp, our two "French" druggists, in their Dutch character sketch, wooden shoe dancing and singing, and everyone screamed with laugh ter at their antics, and called them back again and again. The crowning feature which closed the performance was the Lincoln tableau, in which W. C. Stempel im personated "Old Abe" to perfection, even if it did necessitate the sacrific ing of his mustache. The K. P. band and many of the members of the Commercial Club met Secretary Geis Botsford at the depot upon the arrival of the train from Des Moines and .escorted him to his hotel. So well pleased was everyone with the minstrel show that the boys have been requested to repeat it soon at the opera house, so that everybody in Leon can see it, as on account of lack of seating capacity the attend ance at the K. P. hall was limited to the guests at the banquet and a few others. The Leon Commercial Club is in a flourishing condition, having an active membership of over 100 mem bers. During the past year they have accomplished a number of good things for the benefit of Leon and have plans laid for a number of others during the coming year. The members are boosters from the word go, and Leon is making herself a name throughout the state as a live town, where the boosters are in the saddle. Marriage Licenses. Jake H. Lockwood, Woodland. .. 24 Minnie Rains, Woodland 24 James S. Bond, Lamoni 24 Ada E. Toney, Lamoni ...22 Wm. H. Smith, San Francisco. 31 Blanche Rose, Detroit, Mich 29 George Fry, Van Wert.. 23 Josie Hall, Weldon .' 20 Geo. Woodmansee, Jr., Decatur..24 Esther Shields, Grand River 18 Orel Everett Baker, Cainsville. .21 Eadis Baldwin, Cainsville. ....... 19 Albert W. Fleet, Lamoni .24 Marie M. Siltz, Lamoni 23 Edward Hartman, Van Wert....26 Rebecca J. Green, Van Wert 21. "A Prince of Sweden." After a hard day's work in the of fice, at the factory, behind the coun ter, or wherever it may be, what is more refreshing and restful than a hearty, wholesome laugh? One for gets his or her troubles and worries. If you care for an evening of pure, clean and refined entertainment you should not overlook seeing that funny, good-natured Swede come dian, Carl Olson, as the "Prince of Sweden" at the new opera house, De catur City, Iowa, Tuesday, Feb. 22. Wanted—At the county farm, a good farm hand. Apply to E. L. Shira, steward county farm. TWINS 98 YEARS OLD John M. and Eli Phipps—Born Feb. 14,1812, are the Oldest giving Twins in the World. A remarkable birthday celebration was observed on Monday of this week at the home of Mr. John M. Phipps, who lives half way between Shenandoah and Farragut, it being the ninety-eighth birthday of twins, Mr. John M. Phipps and his brother, Mr. Eli Phipps, who came from his home at Hennessey, Okla., to attend the celebration in his honor. Mr. John M. Phipps is the father of Mrs. F.'A. Gardner, of Leon, and frequently visits in this city, having been here but a few weeks ago. He ,Vas one of the early settlers of Deca tur county, and is acquainted with many of our older citizens. Tne Shenandoah Sentinel-Post of. last Friday has the followifag vjsbjt interesting .article in regard- to the twins: -r.- Mr. Eli Phipps, of Hennessey, Ok lahoma, is expe'cted here tomorrow to vifeit with his twin brother, Jc^in M. Phipps, and celebrate their ninety eighth ,birthday together at the home of the latter between here, and Far ragut next Monday. Some weeks ago the Chjcago Rec ord-Heral4 published an account of the lives of t^Ws ninety-one years old and claimed for them the dis tinction ,of being- the oldest twins'in the world, but we can beat them by seven years. Johil and Eli Phipps were born in Washington county, Virginia, Februafy"74, 1812. This date conveys little impression upon the mind unless one stops to make comparisons. It was a few months before me declaration of war. against England in 181|2. ljt was be fore th-e battle of Waterloo was fought. Before the fall of Tec^imseh, the famous Indian chief who fought HI 1* In this issue appears an excellent likeness of John M. Phipps, and it will do for both, for John and Eli look so much alike that no one would know one from the other. The child in the picture is little Ortille Phipps, son of A. S. Phipps, of Farragut, and grandson of John M. The life of John M. Phipps has been remarkable in some ways, chief ly in the temperate manner of his life, which no doubt has been the chief cause of his longevity, and also that of his brother, for no doubt the manner of life of the one is the story of the other also. John M. maried late in life, at thirty, but .even thus his marriage dates back to three years before the Mexican war. He married Mary E. Long, February 27, 1842, and through this marriage is shown the relationship to O. S. Long, the mer chant of this city. Mrs. Phipps died October 16, 1907, after a wedded life of 65 years. Mr. Phipps came to Iowa about 1836, ten years before its admission to the Union and when the only pop ulation was a fringe of settlements along the navigable rivers. He has been a farmer all of his life, but liv ing for a time in Missouri and Ne braska and then coming back to ^m^fvOL XXXV NO. 26. *»,* Iowa and settling near Farragut about thirty years ago where he haa since resided. He came here from near Independence, Mo. MR. J. A. PHIPPS AND LITTLE GRANDSON, the government at the head of the allied tribes in Indiana, Ohio and Michigan while Indiana was the west ern frontier. It was before Fulton built his United States steamboat long before railroads, or telegraphs or electricity were thought of. He lacked but one year of being old enough to vote for Andrew Jackson for president. During the lives of these remarkable twins the world has moved forward more than all the 1800 years of the Christian era before. Mr. Phipps never used tobacco, opiates or liquor. He used plain food and loved corn bread, buttermilk and cider. He nearly always took a nap at noon, and spent a great deal^f of time out of doors. He loved the' open air and exercise, and even now at his great age it is hard to keep him in the house as much as neces sary for his health. In all his long life he has had but/Jew spells of sick ness and has taken but little medi cine. He never had but one spell of fever, and that was when a young man. He likes td vigit wtyh his neighbors in the good old .fashioned way—just go and spend the day. It has been his custom in winter bathe his feet in the snow, an&rtr summer in water fresh and cold froqt ^he well. He Bits in the house with his feet-bare a great d^al and n^ygr seems to take'any cold fromit. -In fact he used to cure himself of. rheumatic attacks by cutting a fcole Mr. Phipps has been a great man ..to ask questftfhS, but" always reticent to talk about hjifcdelf. Regarding his early life herwill seldom talk,*al though he cbald no doubt t£ll fl*"1. dents and experiences' enough tt make an interesting book. This reticence, or modesty, brought him notoriety a few years ago that proved amusing after it was over. Miss Ida Tarbell, a magazine writer, stated that William Rockefeller, father of John D. Rockefeller, was. living under an assumed name in v: obscurity in Iowa, and the Chicago papers undertook to find bim. They-i: got a clue that the old man was liv- ing near Shenandoh, and reporter*• were sent here from Chicago to hunt him up. There was no one here of the right age to fill the description an two or three days they labored with the problem of proving that Phipps and Rockefeller were the same per on. They drove to his home before£« a an re he man with questions by the hundred, trying to get him to admit that he was William Rockefeller, but the ,7 clew was a false one. There has never bfeen any reason to think thutV Mr. Phipps is other than he repre-i. *-S sents himself to be. For thirty years he has lived m the community, modest, industrious, ?3ef kind to neighbors and iriends, witht^ some peculiarities, but withal a good**®"' citizen. May he and his twin brother live two more years and round out the century is the wish of all who know them. Yeomen Will Celebrate, The Brotherhood of American Yeomen will celebrate the 13th an niversary of their order at the K. P. hall on Thursday evening, Feb. 24th! and all members of the order and their families are cordially invited to attend. Each archer is "also priv ileged to invite one or more friends outside the Homestead, and they are anticipating a» very pleasant time. 'r /it- 1 in the ice and sit with his bare feet hanging in the icy water beneath.' ,-Mr. Phipps" is a remarkably vigor bus man for his age, insisting upon* doing hard work, until recently and" even now doing more work' than many men 40—years younger. He travels alo^e to visit'relatives ir Ne braska and a few days ago made a trip to Leon, Iowa. The. train^om Faragutno Shenandoah was late.atid-. when ,hp,reached Shenandoah flS li,' & W. train had pulled,out to therY a half-milota awa uu Uncle John started on foot to catch the train, caught it and went on his w«iy rejeic-. ing. ft fa* "ia? St,