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This Day
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By Tanner Kent June 5, 1901: The Daily Free Press put to rest any notion that three women at the center of a supposed poisoning scandal in Truman were suicidal. Citing “slanderous” rumors, The Free Press recanted the facts of the matter and insisted the authorities were correct in surmising that the poisoning case was accidental. In any case, the incident involved three Truman women who attended a meal at a local hotel. Later that evening, they became violently sick. Other afflicted parties later came forward, leading police to suspect a case of ptomaine poisoning. June 6, 1890: The previous day’s storm — one that the Weekly Free Press called “one of the most terrific ever experienced in this region” — claimed the lives of prominent Medo farmer E.S. Taylor and his 25-year-old son, Henry. The two men were standing in the door of a large stock barn when they were struck by lightning. The bolt set the barn ablaze immediately with a large amount of hay and nine horses (three of which were blooded stallions) also claimed in the fire. The newspaper reported that Taylor’s “small daughter” pulled both bodies from the fire. June 10, 1925: The Daily Free Press carried yet another report of Mankato’s “Night Man.” This time, the victim was Anita Johnson of Mason City, Iowa, a woman who was visiting friends in Mankato. After seeking employment at a local restaurant, Johnson found herself being followed on her walk home. She told the newspaper: “I called at him and said I would get a policeman. … He just stood and stared, and then all of a sudden he laughed all wild-like and turned his back and walked away.” Johnson also told authorities that she wasn’t sure the “Night Man” was a man at all. She said the laugh was high-pitched and the stalker’s figure appeared to be a woman’s from behind. The report was one of dozens received in several months by police. All, however, went unsolved. June 12, 1903: On this day, the Weekly Free Press reported on the strange condition of James L. Crandall, who “succeeded in getting rid of an unwelcome resident of his stomach … when he vomited up a lizard.” Crandall had been experiencing severe pain and discomfort for more than a year. Yet, visits to the doctor and medication did little to alleviate his symptoms. His condition improved immediately, however, after vomiting the lizard, which was said to be more than 6 inches long and “as large as a bullhead.”
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June 27, 1912: Thieves left a shattered strong box and a single penny as unrecalcitrant reminders of their misdeeds after blowing up the safe at J.M. Karmany’s meat market at 631 S. Front St. When Karmany arrived at the store in the morning, he found the safe shattered and its monetary contents missing. The yeggs left their tools — a jimmy, a chisel wrapped in a Washington, D.C., newspaper and an oil can. Apparently, the thieves — who police characterized as professionals — entered the meat market through a rear window and used a nitroglycerin charge to blow the door off the safe. They used a fur coat to muffle the sound and were careful enough to leave a flower vase less than a foot away undisturbed. The thieves then cut a hole into an interior connecting door to the adjoining Flo, Pugh and Brockmeyer grocery store and robbed the register of paper and coins.
A view of Karmany’s meat market in the late 19th century. | Photo courtesy of Blue Earth County Historical Society