News From This Week’s Past: Fire, Mail & Quarantine

All items are from the Door County Library’s newspaper archives, and they appear in the same form as they were first published, including misspellings and grammatical errors.

The Expositor

February 13, 1874

FIRE. – M. Cousineau’s house was burned last Friday night. It was a log house and very old – one of the oldest in the village, and the loss was very slight. Mr. Cousineau has for sometime been supported by the town. He was intoxicated at the time and was rescued with difficulty from the flames, being dragged from his bed into the street. The most of his scanty furniture was saved. The fire originated by a match which the drunken man lighted and dropped on his bed.

Weekly Expositor Independent

February 13, 1885

Casper Nye, who carries one of the northern mails, on Wednesday last was compelled to abandon his team at Ellison’s Bay and proceed on foot to Sister Bay, a distance of ten miles, carrying the mail on his back. By the time he returned to Ellison’s Bay he was almost overcome with fatigue and the extreme cold. The Green Bay mail due here Monday evening did not get in until the evening following, while Tuesday’s mail failed to put in an appearance until 5 P.M. yesterday. A fact which goes to show the terrible condition Monday’s storm left our public highways in, as the Gamble boys always get around on time if they are given a ghost of a show.

Door County Democrat

February 13, 1897

Ole Halverson has paid the justice court fees in his peculiar case wherein he sues Rev. J. C. Reinertson for alleged damages because the latter baptized a child of Halverson’s without his consent, and the case will therefore be carried up to the circuit court.

Door County Democrat

February 15, 1908

The stages and rural routes were not able to make their regular runs on schedule time until Wednesday as the roads were not broken out in many places before that time. The Baileys Harbor stage bound west got as far as Voseville last week Wednesday and was compelled to remain there for two days. The Ellison Bay mail carrier got as far as Fish Creek on Thursday and it took three men and the team all the next day to get through to Ellison Bay. No attempt was made to carry anything but mail until Tuesday.

Door County News

February 13, 1919

Officer James Hall has been kept busy the past week putting up signs on houses placed under quarantine, there having been no less than twenty-one families in which members are ill with the influenza. Fortunately there are only one or two severe cases and the disease appears to be prevalent among the children largely. In some instances the person affected is only ill a couple of days.

Door County News

February 10, 1927

HIGH FALLS CURRENT TO BAILEYS HARBOR

The High Falls company have completed its line to Baileys Harbor, the current having been turned on recently, and is now being used by patrons who had wired their homes and places of business for the occasion.

The progressive citizens of that hustling village are making preparations to have a celebration on the occasion of the lighting of the main thoroughfares. Practically enough money has already been raised to install the street lighting system. When this event takes place it will be the first of its kind in the northern part of the county.

Door County News

February 9, 1933

200 Farmers Hold Meeting To Protest and Seek Cut in Public Service Corp. Rates

There were in the neighborhood of 200 Door county farmers, customers of the Wisconsin Public Service corporation, in attendance at a meeting held at the court house in Sturgeon Bay Monday afternoon for the purpose of protesting against the rates charged for electrical energy. County Agent B. F. Rusy presided at the meeting which was very orderly, the farmers seemingly being of the opinion that their request would meet with greater consideration provided they presented it in a quiet way rather than to make an ultimate demand.

L.A Bowser of Algoma, superintendent of the peninsula division of the Wisconsin Public Service corporation, and A. U. Stearns, Door county manager, were in the audience. Mr. Bowser said he welcomed a comparison of rates in effect in this section of Wisconsin and those charged farmers in other parts of the state.

When the matter of sending a committee of farmers to Madison was decided upon, for the purpose of presenting the request for a rate reduction to the Wisconsin Public Service Commission, Mr. Bowser volunteered to arrange for the meeting and to take the members of the committee to Madison.

The farmers chose three members representing the northern part of the county and two from the southern sections as follows:  R. Nygaard, Lawrence Reinhardt and August Moeller, north; and Albert Buechner and George DeKeyser, south.