Lineville Tribune Lineville, Wayne County, Iowa December 10, 1908 A Peculiar Accident One day last week as Frank Shockey, who resides near the Morris bridge over in Decatur county, was attempting to knock a hog down for the purpose of butchering it, the axe flew from the handle and struck his 10 year old son, Bryan, who stood several feet away, on the nose cutting entirely thru the nose about an inch below the eyes and cutting deep gashes in the cheeks on both sides of the nose. The lad was hurried to town and taken to Dr. Lovett's office where the wound was dressed and sewed up and it is hoped that the wound will soon heal and leave no bad scar. Transcription by Sharon R. Becker, April 2015

Lineville Tribune Lineville, Wayne County, Iowa December 10, 1908 Attempted Suicide -- Mr. Swin Clay, of Decatur County Cuts His Throat With a Razor On last Tuesday morning Mr. Swin Clay, lessee of the Bellows farm near Bracewell over in Decatur County attempted to end his life by cutting his throat with a razor. He had returned the night before from a trip to Colo., where he went in search of a location with the view of moving to that state, arriving at Lineville in the afternoon train from the west. He remained in town until about 9 o'clock, drinking heavily in the meantime, and when he started for home in company with a neighbor, was considerably under the influence of liquor. His wife called him, just before daylight the following morning and he arose and made the fires, none of the other members of the family being yet out of bed. Taking a razor in his hand he stepped outside the door and in a moment after staggered into the house with the blood gushing from a ghastly wound on the side of his throat. He made his way thru the room to the kitchen when he fell to the floor in a dead faint from loss of blood. His actions had aroused the family and he was carried to a cot and Dr. Coontz, of Woodland, telephone for. Upon his arrival the physician found that the jugular vein had been partly severed and that had the man not fainted shortly after committing the act thus lessening the force of circulation he would have died in a few moments from loss of blood. The wound was dressed and sewed up by the physician and at last accounts the patient was doing well and will probably recover. He made no explanation and gave no reasons for committing the rash act, but it was apparent that he was very despondent from not finding conditions in Colorado as promising and flattering as he expected and from drinking to excess the night before. He has a wife and several grown children and is about 60 years of age. Transcription by Sharon R. Becker, April 2015

Lineville Tribune Lineville, Wayne County, Iowa December 17, 1908 Good Roads Prizes Awarded Last winter the Leon Commercial Club offered $75 in prizes for the five miles of road leading to Leon which showed the greatest improvement during the year 1908, the prizes to be awarded at the time of holding the Farmers' Institute in this city. The contest was placed in charge of C. M. Akes, Dr. H. R. Layton and Fred Teale, and they awarded the prizes last Saturday, the first prize of $25 being given to the farmers who entered the contest on the Leon and Lineville road, the second prize of $15 going to the farmers on the Leon and Garden Grove road, and the third prize of $10 to the farmers along the Leon and Osceola road. There was also an additional $25 offered for the next five miles of road, it being equally divided into two prizes which were given to the farmers on the Leon and Garden Grove road and the Leon and Lineville road. The contest has resulted in much good work being done on the roads in the way of dragging them, the conditions of the contest being that the road showing the greatest improvement was to win the first prize, and it was taken into consideration the condition of the road at the time the contest started. - Leon Reporter. Transcription by Sharon R. Becker, April 2015

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