Decatur Daily Democrat, Volume 6, Number 307, Decatur, Adams County, 26 December 1908 — Page 1

Volume VI. Number 307.

CHRISTMAS WAS CELEBRATED Appropriate Observance of the Ever Sacred Holiday

FAMILY DINNERS Were Much in Evidence as Commemoration of Welcome Holiday AT THE CHURCHES Interesting Programs are Rendered—Poor Are Remembered Christmas and its attendant festival iiies is now but history, the fond re* U membrances of the home coming of M loved ones and seasons of good cheer 1 remaining as the only evidences of jl the most welcome holiday. The day I was observed in Decatur as it has ,1 never been observed before, and the I real beauty of the Christmas tide I was exemplified, not only in the I homes of those of wealth, but equally 'I appropriate in the apartments of the I oppressed. Religious devotion first I of all, found expression in the hearts I of the people, and in commemora- | ticn of the anniversary of the birth I of the infinite one, many of the city I Sunday schools rendered interesting I programs to large and enthusiastic I audiences. Gloom which ordinarily I surrounds the households of many De- ‘ ■ catur families, faded before the i ■ mighty sweep of the charitable inclin- ! ■ ations of organiaztions and individnals yesterday as magic, and the day, to the unfortunate, was as ideal as F ■to those of means. Philanthrophy | ■ was as much in evidence as human E ■ hands could engineer it and every one | ■ should be thankful. A large number ■of family dinners w-ere held as is ; ■indicated below.

'I C. O. France and wife charmingly i ■entertained yesterday for Christmas ■ dinner, in honor of Mr. and Mrs. 1 [h. B. France and Mrs. Belle France. ■ln the evening the above mentioned Band H. L. Center and family were ■entertained for supper. I Mrs. Katherine Conter was hostess Bat a family dinner given yesterday Bfor the following: H. L. Conter and ■family, Misses Rose, Mayme and ■Margaret Conter and Frank Conter Band Mrs. Mary Smith. I Mr. and Mrs. R. Earl Peters enBtertained at twelve o’clock dinner ■yesterday In honor of a number of Btheir relatives. The afternoon was I Bepent in social chat and music and I Bn delightful time was had.' Those I Bpresent were Mr. and Mrs W. H. B Leas of Waterloo. Mr. and Mrs. E. E. | BMentzer and children, Walter and < Brrances, of Bluffton, and Mr. and ! B»r S . Isaac Peters of this city. I A delightful Christmas dinner was | at the home of Mr. and Mrs. I Bv. A. Lower yesterday to a number I their relatives. In the party were I Blr. and Mrs. J. S. Lower, Mr. and I Blrs. R. S. Peterson and Messrs. Tom 3 j|y p d Dick Peterson. I I Mr. and Mrs. A. P. Beatty gave a I Bhristmas dinner yesterday to the I Mr. and Mrs. E. E. Snow, I Blr. and Mrs. L. Mailand and Mr. S Mrs. George Kinzle and family. I B splendid time was enjoyed by all ■ were fortunate in being prsent. 1 I D. D. Heller and wife held a deI Bightful gathering at the home yes- ■ B’rday at which time a sumptuous ■ Bhristmas dinner was served to the RBiembers of the family. The guests Messrs, and Mesdames J- H. ■Beller, J. W. Tyndall and Henry and

DECATUR DAILY DEMOCRAT.

Miss Bertha Heller and Miss Elizabeth Corbus. Mr. and Mrs. Wllford Miller gave a Christmas dinner to the following: Messrs, and Mesdames William Barkley, W. H. Miller, Otis Shifferly and Mrs. Margaret Miller and Misses Bell Gilmore, Lulu and- Margaret Mohler, Ruth Pancake, Maud Magley, Savilla, Ethyl and Mabel Miller, Messrs. Ransom and Olonzo Barkley, Otis, Marvin, Orvis, Royand Therman Miller. Mr. and Mrs. Levi Baker of north Second street were among the entertainers of yesterday. They gave a dinner in honor of Charles Baker and wife, Mr. and Mrs. J. D. Stultz, Elijah Nldlinger and family and George Nidlinger. The guests enjoyed a turkey roast. A pleasant time was enjoyed at the home of Charles N. Steele and wife yesterday when a Christmas dinner was given for Myrtle Plummer, sister of Mrs|, Steele and Miss Steele of Petereson. A turkey roast was a brilliant feature of the occasion. Mr. and Mrs. M. J. Welker gave a Christmas dinner to Mr. and Mrs. James A. Steele, Misses Mary and Celia Steele of Magley, Miss Bessie Andrews of Peterson, Mr. Jacob Stapleton of Berne, Dr. and Mrs. E. H. Leßrun of the city. Rev. Richard Spetnagel and family were the honored guests at a Christmas dinner given at the home of Mr. and ’Mrs. C. A. Dugan yestrday and a most delightful time was enjoyed throughout the day(Continued on page 3.)

TWO SAD DEATHS Mrs. R. E .Smith of Monroe Township Answers the Call DIED THURSDAY EVE Was Past Sixty-Four Years of Age—lnfant Babe Has Also Died Senility, dropsy and heart failure are the causes given for the death of Mrs. R. E. Smith, late of Monroe township, which occurred Thursday evening at six o’clock. The deceased 64 years, nine months and twenty-five years old, has ailed for years. Her health has rapidly declined during the course of the past few months and it was kno vn that her early demise was inevitable. She was bo r n in Harrison county, Ohio, moving to Adams county when but a young woman. She is the mother of several children who were raised on the farm one and one-half miles south of Monroe. The demise of the most estimable woman has caused profound sorrow among her many friends and acquaintances. The funeral services were held from the home this afternoon at 12:30 o’clock. Rev. Freeman officiated and Interment at the Smith cemetery. Ollie, the fourteen days’ old babe of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Straub died last evening from complications peculiar to infancy. The burial will take place tomorrow. — Ray Allen, formerly a bookkeeper at this office, now teaching in the pubhA schools at Hartfo d City, is here 'for a few days’ visit with relatives and will return on Monday.

GIVE LARGE SUM TO ORPHANS St. Marys Church Christmas Collection Was $413. In each church of the Fort Wayne diocese of the Catholic church, on Christmas day it is the custom to take a collection for the orphans of the diocese and each year a goodly sum is donated for this splendid and worthy cause. The St. Marys church of this city always subscribes her share, showing a noble and Christian spirit in this as in all other wo:thy causes. Yesterday the collection amounted to $413, a wonderful showing of love for the unfortunate orphan.

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IN CIRCUIT COURT A Marriage License Was Issued this Morning CHRISTMAS COURT Session Convened and Adjourned—Short Session Today Charles D. Hawbaker and Pearl M. Meschberger were granted a marriage license. The groom is 22 yeaia eld, a Wabash township farmer, and the bride is 20, and lives in Franch township. The records show that court con vened on Christmas day and immediately adjourned. Real estate transfers: Wilfre P. Smith et al to Z. O. Lewellen, 7 acres in Monroe township, SIOO. Hooper & Lenhart have entered appearance for the defendant in the case of Sarah J. Straub vs. Daniel Straub, divorce. •y Mutual Mfg. Co. vs. Christine Kuntz suit on account, tried a few days ago. judgment rendered on verdict, with costs against defendant. Rurode Dry Goods Co. vs. Frelerick Schafer et al, account, S7OO, motion by defendant to seperate causes, similar motions by other defendants. William M. Meyer, admr. of Henry L. Buuck estate, filed notice of final report, approved and administrator discharged. o — TRUSTEES CAN DRAW MONEY The township trustees can secure all their funds now excepting the congressional, common school and liquor license funds by calling at the office of the county auditor.

DIED IN CHICAGO Mrs. Kean, Formerly Miss Biggins of this City is Dead FUNERAL SUNDAY Young Woman Formerly Employed at this Office is Called A letter from Charles K. Hiveley, formerly of this office and received this morning, conveyed the sad news that Mrs. Katherine Kean. ne e Catherine Biggins, who for several years was an employe of this office, had died on Thursday morning at her home, 428 California avenue in that city. She was married about a year ago, and a little babe, a few days old, p: eceded her in death a day previous. Mrs. Kean was well known (Continued on page 3.)

Decatur, Indiana, Saturday Evening, December 26, 1908.

FAMOUS PEOPLEjISI BY FANNIE M LOTHROP w. wEmII Copyright Photo. Rockwood, New York. KEY, NEWELL DWIGHT HILLIS AND HIS WORK. IN the historic old Plymouth Church of Brooklyn where for forty years the magnetic personality of Henry Ward Beecher radiated strength, love, vitality and a virile, earnest Christianity, Dr. Newell Dwight Hillis has preached for ten years with growing fame and influenca He was born in lowa in 1858 of a long line of Puritan ancestry, c At an early age he went to Nebraska and after absorbing all the education it was possible for him to get at the village school, he worked on his father’s farm. He lived much alone, out in the open, close to the heart of Nature, in a poetic kinship with the beauty of the woods, rivers, sky and fields, loving it all without hardly knowing why, unconciously transforming the seeming trivial repititions of natural phenomena into spiritual sentiment, fine instinctive interpretations and illumina. tion. It was the awakening of tbe boy’s religious spirit; the dawning of the impulse that was to dominate his life. At seventeen he was a missionary employed by the American Sundav School Union, to establish Sunday schools in the West, and soon had sixty-five to his credit His life at Grinnell Acadamy, Lake Forest University and McCormick Theological Seminary from which he graduated with high honors, was a tribute to the earnestness and sincerity of his purpose. He knew poverty at close range and " worked his way” through college by hard manual labor which may have toughened his hands but which surely strengthened his moral muscles and prepared him better for his later work. He had seven years of successful pastoral work at Peoria and Evanston, UL, before he was called in 1894 to succeed Prof. Swing at the Central Church of Chicago. It was a severe test for a young man to take up the work of a venerable preacher like Swing, with a rich critical congregation held together, not by a creed, but by the eloquence of the gentle teacher who had endeared himself to them by his preaching and his personality; but Dr. Hillis was more than equal to the situation, the church grew in numbers and influence under his ministry, and with deep regret his people surrendered him to Plymouth Church in 1899 after exhausting every inducement to keep him w’ith them. • Dr. Hillis has been a keen reader of the great writers and thinkers of the ages, a constant lover of Nature and a student of life and humanity, and from these sources has come a wealth of impressions, that, filtering through his individual mind, has given a rich illuminating sweetness, color, warmth and poetry to his sermons, his lectures and his books. < Copyright transferred to Wm. C. Mack, 1906.

A NARROW ESCAPE Veteran of Civil War Averted Death at Berne Wednesday i J IN MOUNTING TRAIN Waited Too Lor g and Was Nearly Thrown Under Train James Shaw, veteran of the civil war and father-in-law of John Carlton, junk dealer, narrowly escaped being crushed .funder the wheals »>f northbound passenger train No. 7 as was making an effort to board the moving train Wednesday morning. He made the mistake of waiting too long to get on the car, and being old and considerably crippled from rheumatism he failed in his efforts to get on after the train was already inmotion. Brakeman Dennis A. Hern, who was not yet on the train, ran to his help and told him to let go, that he would stop the train for him. Shaw paid no attention but kept his hold on the car too long and fell to the ground and it was only the heroic efforts of the brakeman that saved him from being crushed under the wheels. He grabbed him by the coat and with one strenuous pull landed him at a safe distance from the wheels. Both feet of Mr. Shaw were in a position so that if help had not come to him Just at the right time they would both have been crushed. Mr. Shaw had visited here and was on his way to the home of his son William in Cecil, Ohio, where he has been making his home lately. For some time he lived with his daughter, Mrs. Carlton, here. He is now 80 years old. —Berne Witness.

; "A TEXAS RANGER.” The sale of seats for ‘‘A Texas Ranger” at the opera house Saturday night, Dec. 26th, promises to be very large The nature of the atcaction is such that it has aroused great interest. It is one of those unusual plays that offer much to thinking men and at the same time harbor enough dramatic interest to prove universal in its appeal. All the scenery used in the production is carried by the company, thus insuring a perfect performance in every detail. o The Christmas rush is over and everybody will be getting ready for the new year. Get ready to square up all old accounts and start the new year with a clean page. ARRIVED TOO LATE Mrs. Frank Farrell Too Late To See Her Mother Alive A SAD DEATH Mrs. Sweet of Hoagland, Ninety-Two, Died Last Thursday Mrs. Sweet, of Hoagland, mother of Mrs. Frank Farrell, formerly ol Decatur, died last Thursday after an illness daring back Iseveral yea s Mrs. Carrell, who resides at Hammond, received a telegram Wednesday stating that if she wism>d to see , her aged mother alive she must hasten to her bedside. Mrs. Farrell left on the first train passing through 1 this city in the evening. To her great s sorrow the mother had been ushered 11 (Continued on page 1.) Il

SUGAR MAGNATE DIED TODAY San Francisco, Cal., Dec. 26.—(Special to Daily Democrat) —Claus Spreckles multi-millionarie, one of the world’s richest men and known as the greatest sugar magnate of the west died here today after a few days’ illness with pneumonia. His death was net expected and caused a great deal of excitement in financial circles here when announced. SULLIVANWON OUT Awarded Verdict for $1,200 by a Jay County Judge HIS BARN BURNED Required But Two Hours For Jury to Fix Amount of Damages The jury in the damage suit of James H. Sullivan against the Grand Rapids and Indiana railroad, for the burning of his barn at Geneva. Bfjter a deliberation of two hours, returned a verdict at four o’clock Thursday afternoon, awarding him damages In the sum of s’!,200. They also answered a list of eighteen interrogatories submitted by the railroad company. The plaintiff concluded the presentation of his cahe in chief late Wednesday. Thursday morning court convened at 8:30 o'clock and the defendant had rested by 10:30 o’clock. An hour’s argument was allowed to each side and this was concluded before noon. After dinner the jury was instructed, and retired about 2:00 o'clock.

DEATH WAS SUDDEN Joseph De Voss Fell Dead in His Barn in Winchester WAS KNOWN HERE His Brother L. C. DeVoss Left this Morning to Attend Funeral

Attorney Lewis C. DeVoss went to Winchester this morning to attend the funeral services of his brother, mention of whose death was made in our paper Thursday. The deceased was quite well known here, having visited here at various times, his latest trip to Decatur being last August. He was 71 years old, born in Highland county, Ohio, in 1837, and came to Indiana when seventeen years old and has sicee lived in Randolph county. He enjoyed good health until a few months ago, when he suffered a stroke of paralysis. He improved, however, and was feeling better than for some time Thursday morning when he walked out to the barn. He was found there dead, by his wife an hour later. He served as a member of company K, 9th Indiana Infantry, during the civil war, and served a term as treasurer of Randolph county. He is survived by the widow and three sons, John, Reed and David, also by three brothers. Lewis C. of this city. Anrew of Rodkey, and James W., of Pannora, lowa. The newly elected officers of the Modern Woodmen lodge will be in-' . stalled into their respective offices at the next regular meeting night to be held next Wednesday night i

Price Two Cents

BURNED TO DEATH Little Emma Dishong of Kingsland Suffers Awful Death WAS POPPING CORN Clothes Caught Fire and Little Playmate Could Only Scream Suffering the most intense agong for hcurs, Emma Dishong, aged 7 years, daughter of Mrs. Lige Dishong, Gingsland. died Wednesday night at the home from burns received Wednesday afternoon while trying to pop some corn. The flesh on the small child's body was burned to the bone in many places and her hair was burned from her head. In this condition with the awful pain coming from the injuries the girl suffered from 4 o'clock in the afternoon until 11 o’clock at night. Mrs. Dishong went to the home of a neighbor to work Wednesday and loft her three children at home. Mary Dishong, aged 18 years, who is in the employ of the mitten factory in this city, said she would watch her sister and her brother Forrest, aged 9 years. In the afternoon Mary went to the home of Lon Kahn to visit for a short time. While she was gone her sister and a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Kohn decided to have some popcorn. It was while the corn was poping that the clothes of the girl caught fire and she was burned to death. The little Kahn girl was too excited to know what to do when her playmate became enveloped in flames and loth started to screaming and ran out in the yard. The brother of the deceased was down the street a short distance and running back to the house struggled as hard as he could to tear off the burning wearing apparel. He was too late, however, as the child was so badly burned before he arrived that there was no hopes of saving her life. It is supposed that the little girl poured coal oil in the stove to hurry the fire up and that the flames shot out and ignited her dress. The funeral will be held from the Kingnland M. E. church tomorrow at 10 o’clock. The burial will take place at the Murray cemetery.—Bluffton Banner.

HIS QUEER FEELING, DEATH Pedestrian Falls, Expiring While Con- , tiding His Fears. New York, Dec. 25. —“Good morning, officer; I have a peculiar feeling and I think 1 am about to die.” said ; William McGowan. 50 years old. of Brooklyn, as he and Patrolman Fliomas Boyer were about to pass each other in front of the Twenty-third Regiment Armory on Bedford avenue. Before the policeman could do any’hing for the man he had fallen backward to the steps of the armory, dead. Dr. i McGuire of the Swedish Hospital found that McGowan had died of heart disease. Several hours later John T. McGowan, a son. began inquiring for hit father and found the body at the Brooklyn Morgue. —————•— CHURCH COLONY TO TILL SOIL German Lutherans of Adams and Allen Counties Hold Texas Tract Fort Wayne, Ind. Dec. 25 - William Hockemeyer, president of the German Lutheran Colony, an organization of Adams and Allen county farmers; has issued a call for a meeting of the members next Tuesday afternoon at Decatur. Among the matters which will be brought up will be the settlement of the amount of land the com puny owns in Parmer county, Texas, which is to be fanned during the com ing year. The remainder of the big tract of Texas land will be put to the raising of cattle and sheep. SPECIAL MEETING OF COLONISTS The Lutherans who bought land o J J. Vorpe, the Texas land agen . will hold a meeting at internr an o flee, Decatur, at one P oo Tuesday, December 29. 1 . . perts from the last trip an plans and opportunities • cussed.