Jun. 11—June 7, 1924

Alice Carlson best speller

Alice Carlson, age 14, student of the Wentworth school, town of Amnicon, won the Douglas County spelling, arithmetic and penmanship contest held yesterday afternoon in the county board rooms, courthouse.

Examinations were written, with 100 words taken from the state fair spelling contest being given, together with 10 problems in arithmetic. Penmanship was graded from the written tests.

Second place was awarded to Ruth Pearson of the C.E. Johnson school, town of Cloverland.

Twenty-eight students, winners of town contests, competed for honors. The contestants follow:

Earl Brantrom, Amnicon; Gladys Johnson, Cloverland; Viola Wenstrom, Maple; Sidney Fogelberg, Oakland; Ruth Liljegren, Bennett; Emelie Malec, Bennett; Oneda Dejung, Summit; Margaret Snyder, Oakland; Martha Newman, Superior; Alice Carlson (winner), Amnicon; Esther Etela, Maple; Adeline Peterson, Superior; Ingeborg Swanson, Solon Springs; Effie Cockerham, Dairyland; Joachim Hyra, Wascott; Ruth Pearson, Cloverland; Linfred Lidberg, Gordon; Helga Nieminen, Lakeside; Walter Hillestad, Hawthorne; Lillie Stuckey, Gordon; Bonita Verville, Oliver; Alma Pabst, Summit; Stephanie Seminitis, Solon Springs; Verna Verville, Oliver; Violet Sandsted, Lakeside; Loise Steele, Hawthorne; Laura Erikkala, Brule; and Alice Anderson, Dairyland.

Mother finds body of tot crushed under train

Richard Rubel, 5-year-old tot, was instantly killed yesterday at 5 p.m. when struck by a Northern Pacific freight transfer 100 feet from his residence, 2313 E. Second St. He is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Rubel and his father is employed as a laborer at the Daisy mill.

There were no witnesses to the accident, railroad men declared this morning. The transfer, which works between Superior, East End and Duluth is thought to have run over the lad when he tried to catch a ride.

Mrs. Rubel was who discovered the fatality, a railroad report indicates. Anxious for the safety of her little one, she went to search for him and found his mangled body lying on the tracks about 100 feet from her door.

June 7, 1999

Tower Vet Clinic: From shots to surgery for pets

The Tower Avenue Veterinary Clinic at 528 Tower Ave. offers quality medical care for pets of all species, be it a cocker spaniel or iguana.

Opened in 1978 by Dr. David Wiltrout and recently purchased from him by Dr. Robert McClellan, the clinic also has Drs. Judy Berquist and Sarah Harwood on staff. There are 13 employees in all at the clinic.

June 8, 1999

Future of area buildings uncertain

A rumored city proposal to buy United Presbyterian Church and its property appears to be false.

Mayor Margaret Ciccone said that although the city has considered purchasing the church, no more work has been done on the issue.

Many city councilors wonder what the county plans for the city-county building’s third floor, since the city owns the building and pays for some of its maintenance. Once the new Law Enforcement Center is built and the county moves out, space will be available, leaving councilors wondering where they will house their form of government.

June 9, 1924

Carelessness causes two brush fires

Carelessness of fishermen yesterday resulted in two serious brush fires along the Brule River, one of which destroyed about 20 acres of timber near Winnebijou on the Little Brule. The other was confined to cutover lands on the Henry Clay Pierce property above Winnebijou on the Brule River.

Frank George, who has a cottage at Winnebijou, reported that fishermen on the Little Brule started a campfire, which got into the woods and which the fishermen abandoned. Fanned by a high wind, the blaze spread rapidly and menaced the new cottage owned by Edward Harrington, Allouez. Assistance was obtained from the town of Brule and after backfiring and trenching the 25 firefighters were able to confine the fire to about 20 acres in spite of the gale.

Fire on the Cedar Island property belonging to Henry Clay Pierce, Chicago millionaire, was reported by the caretaker, who stated that it had begun from a campfire carelessly attended.

June 10, 1924

Long search for relatives of Fred Okvist is ended in Superior today

Oscar Okvist, Irma, Wis., was positively identified here today as the brother of Fred Okvist, a soldier of Uncle Sam whose body now rests in Arlington cemetery, Washington, D.C., after two long and tireless searches, one conducted by the dead soldier’s relatives to learn his fate and the other by the U.S. government to locate his survivors.

In 1909, Oscar Okvist left Sweden and came to America, seeking his fortune. A year later his brother, Fred, attracted by the stories of unequaled opportunity related by his brother, also came to this country. Together the two brothers went west and for several years worked in the vicinity of Spokane, Wash.

They parted shortly after, and Oscar last heard directly from Fred when he received a letter from him postmarked Leclis, Idaho. Since, however, he heard indirectly that he was in Butte, Mont. and Minneapolis. This was in 1917, just before Fred enlisted in Company I at Superior, without informing any of his relatives of his enlistment.

On August 30, 1915, Fred received a bullet wound while fighting in the Juvigny sector that resulted in his death in an army hospital in France shortly after. At no time during his enlistment did he correspond with his parents or brother, although his parents in Sweden have since stated that they suspected their son may have enlisted in the army.

On April 22, 1924, a story appeared in a Swedish-American newspaper published in Chicago to the effect that the government was seeking relatives of Fred Okvist, killed in action in France. A copy of the newspaper fell into the hands of Oscar and he learned, after 11 years, what had happened to his brother.

A photo of Fred was positively identified by Lieutenant Elmer Olsen, Sergeant Olaf S. Olson and Corporal Helmer N. Kildahl as being that of their former buddy in France.

The $10,000 insurance will be paid to Mr. and Mrs. Okvist who reside at Hokansas, Sweden.

(Original dates from story retained)

Superior news in brief

Sprains wrist — Lester Johnson, 16-year-old South Range boy, sprained his wrist this morning cranking an automobile. He was given medical aid at St. Francis hospital.

Typing awards — Dan McNally and Madella Canfield, students at Cathedral High School were awarded gold medals for typing 55 words per minute for 15 minutes with less than five errors. A number of students received awards for 45- and 30-word tests. The commercial department was introduced at the school only last September.

Articles and pictures courtesy of retired librarian Judy Aunet with Superior Public Library.