Decatur Daily Democrat, Volume 7, Number 125, Decatur, Adams County, 26 May 1909 — Page 1

DECATUR DAILY DEMOCR

Volume VII.

Number 125.

FOR THE PLAINTIFF Decision Given at Bluffton Today in the Page vs. Niblick Suit FOR SUM OF $8,198 Suit Resulted from an Accident at Fort Wayne Several Years Ago Bluffton, Indiana, May 26.—(Special to Daily Democrat)—Judge Sturgis today rendered a decision in the case of Charles Page vs. Christens Niblick, admx., finding for the plaintiff in the sum of $8,198 and that the Niblick estate is not released from the bond. The case was tried about ten days ago and the judge has had the cause under advisement since last Saturday, when the case was argued. Several years ago Page was driving past the plant of the Fort Wayne Cooperage company in Fort Wayne, when his horses became frightened at escaping steam and ran away. Page was thrown out and badly injured and in a case tried in the Miami circuit court secured a verdict for $6,500. It was appealed and Page won in the higher courts. The appeal bond was signed by the Cooperage company, John and Aaron Vail and W. H. Niblick. Later the cooperage plant was sold to the Vails who entered into an agreement to assume the debts including this judgment. Mr. Niblick died and in settling the estate this claim had to be dealt with. The Niblicks believed they were clear of it, but this suit resulted and according to the judgment they are held with Messrs. John and A. T. Vail. o HE GOT THE PRICE Colonel Fred Reppert Pulled Off Big Sale at Mansfield WAS A WINNER He Got $2,200 for One Animal—Others Bring Good Prices

Colonel Fred Reppert auctioneered a sale for Carpenter and Ross at Mansfield, Ohio yesterday, in which fifty head of cattle brought an average of $467, this being the highest average brought in any sale held in the United States for ten years. Mr. Reppert secured the fancy price of $2,200 for one cow for Rosenburg & Edwards, and many other of the animals brought high prices. Breeders from nearly every state in the union ■Were present to place blds on the excellent consignment and the sale was spirted throughout. A number °f buyers from Canada were also Present. Mr. Reppert has an enviable record as a seller of cattle. He has conducted some of the very best sales which have ever been held in the country and he always gets the high dollar. That he was engaged by Carpenter & Ross was only another verification of the fact that he ranks among the best auctioneers the country affords. He has other prominent sales to pull off in the near future. rr.nQ Miss Mary Stoneburner is visiting at Bluffton today. She will visit at Marion and Van Buern before returning.

strike lasted for five years i Boilermakers on Erie Finally Call It Off. Its off! The Erie strike whicfi has * been in force over the entire system for the last five years has been declared off by the union and the lines along the system, as well as the one here in Huntington' will continue as open shops, the same as they have ever been since the strike was inaug- 1 urated. The strike was declared off by a meeting of the grand lodge in Kansas City. The strike was ordered in 1904, at which time boilermakers and helpers to the number of fifty or sixty in the local shops laid down their tools and walked out. Most all of those who went out then are now employed elsewhere, some of whom were benefitted by the strike, while others did not fare so well. —Hunting- 1 ton News-Democrat. < o 1 SHIVELY SPEAKS The Maximum and Minimum Provisions Analyzed U N C ONSTITUTIONAL I Provisions in Section Two I Leads to Serious Complications Washington, May 26. —That the maximum and minimum rate proviI sion of the senate bill may prove unconstitutional on the ground that it delegates legislative powers to the executive, and that the tariff bill, as amended by the senate may as a result of such a decision prove null and void and the Dingley rates be continued were some of the assertions made yesterday by Mr. Shively, Indiana, in a speech in the senate on the tariff. Declaring that the dutiable list was being used as a basis for the tariff discussion in the belief that the rates contained in that section (Sedition 1) would be the rates of the Payne bill, Mr. Shively contended that the real rates to be in force after March 31 would be 25 per cent, higher than those in the dutiable list. He said that the senate amendment expressly declared that the maximum rates would be “the general tariff of the United Sftites.” "The rates prescribed in Section 2 are to be the actual and prevailing rates,’’ said Mr. Shively, “and rates prescribed in SecI tion 1 are all made conditional and I contingent and could only become operative as rates chargeable against all dutiable imports when the president shall have performed the physically, if not legally, impossible function assigned to him by the proviso in Section 2.” He explained that the proviso makes the judgment of the : president final as to what shall constitute undue discrimination and as to what shall constitute the terms “reciprocal and equivalent,’’ and requires such mastery of facts as io render the task impossible of intelli- i gible performance within the time of a presidential term. The proposed act Mr. Shively said, might make the ; general tariff higher in every schedule and on every dutiable article than i in any tariff law in the country’s i history. Senator Shively said that : from three amendments. reported as parts of the proposed act, “it is too : plain for controversy that the duties prescribed in Section 1, plus 25 per , cent, ad valorem and 5 cents a pound i on coffee and 10 cents a pound on . tea are ‘from and after the 31st day 1 ! of Mrach, 1910,’ to ‘constitute the ; | general tariff of the United States.' ’ These combined rates are the rates i that from and after the date named i 'are to be operative, assessable, and , enforceable at every custom house i in the United States. They are ex- < pressly declared to be ‘the general tariff of the United States.’ Every 1 presumption would be in favor of these rates as the duties to be levied and collected, and none other. It is not my purpose at this time to go into a discussion of the constitutional va i lidity of the proviso in Section 2,” i said the Indiana senator, “but rather i to note the consequences bound to , flow from this section, whatever mayj be the decision of the courts in re-j ga rd to it. lam aware of the case:: of Field vs. Clark, 143 United States : supreme court reports, and only sug-|; gest, first, that the decision of the i (Continued on page 4.) '1

TO GIVE OLD GLORY G. A. R. Will Give Flag to Oldest Member of the Post ON NEXT MONDAY After Rev. L. C. Hessert Delivers Memorial Address The varous committees who have been chosen by the Sam Henry Post, G. A. R. to prepare for Decoration Day services met conjunctively today and were busy preparing the program for the memorable occasion which will be obesrved net Monday. The line of march will be formed on Third street and about the same course as was taken last year will be observed Monday by the parade. The committee has decided to have several features this year that have never before been presented. Monday morning after Rev. L. C. Hessert delivers the memorial sermon a committee which has been selected w-ill present to the oldest member of the Sam Henry Post a beautiful flag as a token of the esteem of the organization. The G. A. R. this afternoon extended a special invitation to the school chllIren of the city for them to participate in the parade. They also request owners of automobiles who wish to contribute to the success of the event to convey some of the old soldiers whose age prevents them from walking to the scene of the exercises. Everybody prepare to observe Decoration day royally. Many people will attend the memorial sermon which will be delivered at the Presbyterian church next Sunday morning at 10:30 o’clock. It will be a union service and Rev. Spetnagel will deliver an interesting sermon. o WITH ANN ARBOR Decatur Schools Now Affiliated With the University of Michigan FOR THREE YEARS Commission Shows High Standing of Schools— Chicago is Next The Decatur high school is now affiliated with the University of Michigan. Supt. Beachler received notice yesterday from President Angell that graduates from our city schools will be admitted to the Michigan university without any examination. This relation between our high school and the university is approved for the years 1909, 1910 and 1911. The pres} tige given our schools is the outcome of an examination made by the inspector of schools, Dr. King, who visited the work here about four months ago. The school authorities should feel elated over this recognition, especially so, since only a few schools outside of the state of Michigan receive such recognition. Most are put on trial for one year. It is to be hoped that our schools may soon be allied with the University of Chicago. This would pave the way for admission into the eastern colleges and universities. Let us keep the good cause moving upward and make our schools the pride and ambition of every citizen of Decatur and community. o MARRIED AT CLERK’S OFFICE Mr. Eugene Rhodes and Miss Susan E. Mankey United in Marriage. Judge J. T. Merryman officiated at a wedding at he court house at two o'clock this afternoon, the cozy corner in the clerk's office being the spot chosen for the happy event. The parties were Miss Susie E. Mankey of • west of this city and Mr. Eugene Rhodes, a plasterer from Churubusco, I Indiana. The groom is thirty-four years old according to the records and the bride is twenty. They will 'make their home at Churubusco.

Decatur, Indiana, Wednesday Evening, May 26, 1909.

PLEDGED TO REVISION DOWN Senator Beveridge Reads Extracts in the Senate. Washington. May 26.—Addressing himself to the question as to whether the Republican party is pledged to a revision of the tariff downward, Senator Beveridge yesterday read to the senate numerous extracts from the campaign speeches of Mr. Taft, showing that Mr. Taft understood the platform to promise downward revision. He said he had hoped the debate might proceed without reference to what the president had said, but since reference had been made from time to time to the campaign utterances he felt it was his duty to go through Mr. Taft’s speeches and ascertain just what the promise was. He was >n no sense the spokesman of the president, he said. He had not consulted the president about putting these extracts in the Record; he simply felt that it was due the country that the views of the Republican party’s candidate for president should be recalled at this time. The president, he said, must gather to himself the “composite expressions of the people of the country.” The senator before proceeding to quote from Mr. Taft's speeches, recalled the development of the demand for revision of the tariff downward. Public sentiment was demanding revision in 1896, he said. o WASLOVEDBYMANY Huntington Paper Tells of the Good Qualities of Mrs. Wetter FAMILY HER PRIDE She at Huntington for Twenty-Six Years—Funeral Services Tomorrow That Mrs. Wetter, who died here early Tuesday morning was held in high esteem at Huntington, her former home, is shown by the following from the News-Democrat of that city: While not unexpected it was nevertheless sad news to the many friends of Mrs. John Wetters, for twentysix years one of the honored residents of this city, to learn of her death at the home of her daughter, Mrs. John Fleming at Decatur this morning at about 12:30, in her sixty-ninth year. For a great many years she had been a resident of /Wilkerson street, where she was known as a good ij'oman and ideal neighbor. Her life was one of self sacrifice for her family which was the pride of her life. For the past three years she had been an invalid with sciatic rheumatism, intercostal neuralgia and other complications, which caused her to suffer agony and kept her confined to the home of her daughter, Mrs. John Fleming at Decatur for the past year the greater part of the time i of which was spent In bed. For some time friends and relatives realized that she could not get well and that her death was only a question of time. She had the comforting consolation of Knowing that in her hours of sickness she was not forgotten by her old friends and neighbors, as many from Huntington went to Decatur to visit her end the members of the Central Christian church, of which she was a member, remembered her with floral tributes which came to her as a solace in her afflictions. Previous to the time she was afflicted, she had been an unusualy strong and rugged woman and for that reason her confinement was all the harder for her to bear. Her last visit home was last October, at which time she had recovered sufficiently to make a visit of two weeks where she had spent the greater part of her life. Besides her husband she leaves four children to mourn her death. They are Mrs. Rebecca Casper of Maple Grove, Dallas township, A. W. Wetters, who lives in the old ’homestead on Wilkerson street, Mrs. William F. ’ Huston of this city and Mrs. John Fleming of 'Decatur. Besides the , children she also leaves three grand- • children. The funeral will be held i Thursday at 2:30 from the Central I, Chirstian church, Rev. Elmer Ward ■ Cole, officiating.

GREAT LECTURER Rev. L. B. Wickersham is One of the Best on the Platform FOR COMMENCEMENT Everyone Should Hear Him; —Program Good for Friday Night Friday, May 28, is commencement day. It is to be hoped that our citizens and friends of the public schools will come out to see one of the best and largest classes in the history of the schools graduate. No one can afford to miss this entertainment. There will be some splendid music offered. The graduates will be in their best, and the lecture alone will be worth many times the price of admission. The address will be given by Rev. L. B. Wickersham. An effort is being made this year to outdo former commencements by getting one of the best orators of the day, and to lay , special emphasis on this term's close. The class have procured an orator, a gentleman who is known throughout | this country as one of the ablest lectures on the stage. Mr. Wickersham will entertain you. He will make you laugh. He will make you serious. He will tell you something that you should know, and he will tell it in such away that you will recall it many years hence. We extend a very cordial invitation to the public to be out on the evening of May 28. We need you there to see and hear the good things that will be said and to catch the inspiration that a commencement exercises brings to a community. The seat board will be open Thursday morning at the Holthouse drug store at 8 a. m. o A BIG ADDITION Furnace Factory Directors Decide to Enlarge Plant MET LAST NIGHT And Discussed Thoroughly the Proposed Enlargement * The board of directors of the Decatur Furnace factory held a meeting at the National bank last night at which time the proposition of building an addition to the factory was thoroughly discussed. All members of the board fully realized the inadequacy of molding room under present conditions and they assented unanimously to the proposed enlargement of quarters. As now proposed a structure with dimensions SO feet by 100 feet will be built on the west end of the molding room and thus sufficient room will be provided to promptly comply with the many orders which daily arrive. The work of building the addition will be expedited with all possible haste. The Decatur Furnace factory is flourishing as it has never flourished before. The management announces the fact that they have more work on hands than they can accomplish for some time with bright prospects for an increase in the volume of business, ft is one of the institutions of which Decatur people are justly proud.

o THREW BALL AND BROKE ARM Gregg Neptune Injured Severely in a Very Peculiar Manner at Noon. Gregg Neptune, the eldest son of ■ Dr. J. Q. Neptune broke this right arm > at noon today in a very peculiar man- ■ ner. He and David Studabaker were I playing ball in the yard at the Nep- . tune home on Third street Gregg i threw a ball to David with such force that the twis tof his arm broke the ■ bone square off near the shouldcw It. I was a most painful injury and the lad • I suffered severely while the member I was being set, it being necessary to give him an anesthetic.

MONROE COUNTY IS DRY Gave a Majority of 499 in Local Option Election Yesterday. Bloomington, Ind., May 26. —Contrary to general expectations, the farmers of Monroe county yesterday saved the local option electfbn for the “drys” J>y favoring that side of the issue strongly. On the face of the complete but unofficial returns the “drys” have won by a majority of 499. It is believed this majority may be increased slightly by the official canvass. Bloomington township,which had been expected to give a good lead for the “drys” gave a “wet’’ majority of 27. The hitchrack fight, which was injected into the option campaign and which it had been feared would cause the farmers to vote against the temperance cause, did not count as the big factor the “wets” had expected. o THE NEW OFFICERS Grand Lodge of Masons Choose William Marker of Tipton AS GRAND MASTER National Masonry is Proposed—lndiana Lodge in Good Condition Indianapolis, May 26.—The Grand Lodge Free and Accepted Masons heard officers’ reports yesterday and elected new men to serve in the various positions on the roster. A banquet was held in the upper banquet room, at which over five hundred were seated. The retiring grand master, Charles N. Mikels, acted as toastmaster in the absence of William Geake of Fort Wayne. Mr. Geake was detained at home to officiate at the funeral of a brother Mason. The Grand Lodge session will conclude today. A matter of wide interest to Masons was advocated by Grand Master Mikels in his report in his proposal to nationalize Masonry. He thought the Indiana Grand Lodge should take the initiative. In accordance with the established custom, William H. Marker of Tipton, by right of advancement, was elected grand master, succeeding Mikels. William Ridley, Corydon, was elected deputy grand l master, and William Swintz senior grand warden. The vacancy in the office of grand treasurer, caused by the death of Martin H. Rice, was filled by the election to the position of Frank E. Gavin of Indianapolis. Calvin W. Prather, grand secretary, was re-elected. Elmer F. Gay, a senior grand deacon by appointment,was elected without opposition to the office of junior grand warden. The report made by Acting Grand Treasurer Frank E. Gavin, appointed to fill out the term of Martin H. Rice, showed the grand lodge treasury, in spite of building operations, to have a balance of $17,439 on hand. The report of Grand Secretary Calvin W. Prather showed the Masonic lodges of the state had gained 2,404 in membership in 1908, making a total membership Jan. 1, 1909, of 52,515. At present, he

stated, the membership would exceed 53,000. Robert J. Aley and Lincoln V. Cravens made short addresses at ' the morning session before the grand i lodge was called to order. s o l THE BOHEMIAN J'OR JUNE Four bright, readable special arti-1 cles and more than twice that number of fascinating short stories, together with the portfolio of stage favorites and department of humor, make the June number of The Bohemian Magazine one of remarkable interest. The initial article is a recollection of Joseph Jefferson as he was at his estate on Orange Island, Louisiana. It is illusrated with reproductions of hitherto unpublished photographs. George Jean Nathan contributes his usual theatrical arti- > cle, and another lot of college professors—from Cornell this time — are; • humorously described and cartooned. I In ‘The Man Behind the Novel,” Hugh I C. Weir gives us a glimpse behind p the scenes of successful literary work- o ers. Besides these features there are J 'such attractive names as Duffield Osborne, Eleanor M. Ingram and R. LenNicholson signed to the stories.

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FIRST FATALITY Occurred Today in the Northern Indiana Base Ball League at Kokomo > - A SUNDAY ACCIDENT i Rennard of Bluffton, Ran L i Into Smith of Kokomo— Latter Died Today i Kokomo, Indiana, May 26. —(Special 1 to Daily Democrat) —Leo Smith, a young man aged nineteen, from LoJ gansport, who had joined the team here in the Northern Indiana league, died this morning as the result of ' injuries received in the game here with Bluffton last Sunday. Smith played third base and William Rennard who plays first base for Bluff- > ton, was trying to reach third on a close play when he ran into Smith, striking him in the pit of the stomach. Smith was prostrated and was carried from the field, but it was believed he would recover. Everything possible was done for him, but withI out relief. He suffered terribly and I relief came only with death this morning. He was an exemplary . young man, a college student who was : paying his way through school, and ' his death is deeply deplored. Rennard feels badly over the affair and the accident has cast a gloom over the enthusiasts of the national game. o James Bain has accepted a position as manager of the Dyonis Schmitt meat market and began his duties there today, succeeding Charles Pennington, who has formed a partnership with John Baker and taken over the Scheiman shop. Mr. Bain is one of the old timers in the business, having been connected with various shops and been in business for himself here for a number of years. COURT HOUSE NEWS Judge LaFollette, of Portland, Chosen to Hear the Lot Cases THE SALOON CASES Will Be Heard Thursday Afternoon by Judge Sturi gis of Bluffton

The case of the State vs. Joseph Tonnellier, the test case to determine whether or not the four saloons operated by Tonnellier, J, B. Kuapke, Charles Zeaser and Henry Badders can continue, will be heard by Judge Sturgis, of Bluffton, Thursday afternoon, he having been appointed late yesterday afternoon. John Weaver, administrator of the Eldridge Weaver estate, filed report of sale of real estate, whch was confirmed. Deed reported and approved. The Arbuckle Ryan Co. vs. David L. Marshand et al, notes, answer filed in four paragrahps by Marshand. Cross complaint filed. Rule to reply. Judge Merryman will go to Fort Wayne Thursday morning to serve as special judge in the circuit court there. J. F. Lehman, administrator of the Daniel Sprunger estate, filed a report of the distribution and vouches filed. Adminisrtator discharged. In the lot cases, Frank M. Schir(Continued on page 2.)