Decatur Daily Democrat, Volume 7, Number 275, Decatur, Adams County, 18 November 1909 — Page 1

DECATUR DAILY DEMOCRAT.

Volume VII. Number 275.

COURTHOUSE NEWS * The Grand Jury is the Busiest Place Around the Court House A MARRIAGE LICENSE Rev. M. S. Swartz and Miss Louisa Sprunger to Be Married About the busiest place around the court house there days is the grand jury room where, judgimg by the number of people who are being interviewed by that body, there will be something doing shortly after this investigating body adjourns. People from all over the county are being called and while nothing is known as to what Is going on within the four walls of the grand jury room, yet the fact that they are a busy lot, leads one to conclude that they are doing their part to cover the territory of the county. Judge Merryman will be home from Ft. Wayne tonight and there will likely be something doing in the Adams circuit court tomorrow, although there is nothing set down for a hearing. The business of the term will settle down to business by the first of the week and before the term ends there will be much business attended to. A marriage license was Issued today to Rev. M. S. Swartz of Dalton, Ohio, and Miss Louisa M. Sprunger ■who lives east of Berne. The marriage ceremony will be performed tomorrow at the home of the bride, Rev. Kleiver of Berne being the officiating minister. The groom is p young minister at his home and a mighty bright man in his calling. The bride is a popular young lady and possesses a host of friends at and near her home. Lawyer A. P. Beatty was at Fort Wayne this morning and had the case of Fort Wayne & Springfie’d railroad vs. Andrew Miller, condemnation proceedings, set for trial in the Allen circuit court for December 30.

ADJUSTERS HERE The Fire Loss at the Vail Factory Has Been Settled HAVE SOME LEFT The Graham Insurance Agency Have Few School Articles Left G. M. Wise of Indianapolis, representing the Agricultural Fire Insurance Company of New York, and John T. Stam of Kendallville, state adjuster for the Michigan Commercial Company, and L. A. Graham representing the Cooper of Dayton, Ohio, have agreed on the Are loss at the Vail factory and settlement will be made for $2,300, the amount of the loss. Checks for this amount will soon be in the hands of the Vail Company who sustained such a loss at their factory here about two weeks ago. Work has already begun upon the rebuilding necesary to make the plant the same as it was before the fire and soon it will be nothing bur history. The adjustments were made in a satisfactory way to both the insured and the companies carrying the risks, it being a satisfactory an 1 amicable settlement.

The Graham Insurance Agency inform us that they still have a numbar of school articles left and that any school child that will bring in a coupon any time this week they will present them with a hansome and useful school article, and which will be found of value. About two hundred school children responded to the advertisement of last week and the company are well pleased with the results and with the interest in insurance which the stunt aroused both ariiong the children and among the ones who carry fire protection upon their homes and the contents thereof.

AN ECCENTRIC CHARACTER Was John S. Boots, Whose Death Occurred in DeKalb County. Auburn, Ind., Nov. 18.—The funeral of John S. Boots, for sixty years a resident of DeKalb county, a farmer who was widely known in this section of the state, took place yesterday from his farm home near this city. A man of prominence during his years of activity and possessed of considerable property, he was an eccentric character, especially so during the last twenty years of his life. Fifteen years ago he had designed and erected his monument in the Spencerville cemetery, where his remains today were buried. It is a beautiful and costly stone, representing a broken oak tree, and at the time he ordered it he left with the monument dealer the (inscription he i desired to have carved on it after I his death with the statement that he i desired to have a mattress of corn 1 husks placed in the grave for his coffin to rest on. At his death he left to his heirs, a wife and eight children, a large TState, farming lands and stock in an Auburn manufacturing concern. Seven years ago he lost i J 1.700 through the failure of the McClellan bank in Auburn and after that refused persistently to come to this city and since then had not set foot in Auburn, although he lived within ten miles of the city.

GARY A GREAT CITY Ross Johnson Now Located There and is Getting Inside the Money IS NO MUSHROOM City Now Has a Population of Twenty Thousand People Ross Johnson is greeting his Decatur friends today and incidentally telling them about the great steel city and of the marvelous growth and chance of riches In Gary, Ind. Ross has been located there since the first of June and at present writing is in on the ground floor and has a cinch on making lots of the filthy lucre in the next few years. He with Schug Bros., Drs. Reecer and Simpkins of Berne, purchased forty acres of land there in what is certain

to be the ideal residence district of the already great city. The land has been platted and subdivided into lots and Ross is now selling the lots, the prices on them ranging from two to five hundred dollars. He is already making considerable headway, many people in all parts of the country buying lots there with a view of holding them for speculation. Gary is now a city of twenty thousand population and is rapidly growing, and some day will be among the great cit les of the state. It is now but three years old, yet they have forty miles of paved streets, all their public and private buildings being modern and I strictly up to date. The steel plant 'there which has made Gary the pos- ' siibility that it now is, cost forty millions of dollars to erect, and the company have set aside forty million more which will be used in improvements and extension during next year. They employ one thousand men noy 'and this number is being steadily increased. Their pay roll amounts to four hundred thousand dollars a 1 month, and in a few weks more it will reach a half million monthly. Besides this several gigantic manufackuring concerns are locating there, among them being the American Locomotive Company, tinplate company and many more. So it will be seen that the possibilities of Gary is not of the mushroom order, but that it rests on the solid rock of stability, I wealth and the sort of enterprise I that does great things and does them in a great way. We are willing to concede that there are no flies on Gary.

H D Beavers, a horse buyer from Bucyrus, Ohio, and who has been in the city for some time purchasing horses throughout the county, shipped two car load this afternoon. One went to Buffalo, N. Y„ and the other went to his home at Bucyrus, where they will be sold at public auction.

STILL CONTINUES There is Much Interest in the Revivals at the Church of Christ MEETINGS ARE GOOD Evangelist Thompson is Making Good in Decatur • Unabated interest in spite of the inclement weather, marks the revival at the Church of Christ. The auditorium was nearly full last night to hear Evangelist Thompson tell "What is Religion? How do you get it? And how do you keep it?" In part he said: There is a God of nature and a God of revelation—though the same God. In the buzzing bees and budding blossoms; riding the storm cloud and mirrored in placid waters; in the I sportive fairy of the air, the humming [bird and in the fearless eagle with I untired pinions wet in the clouds; in the tiny fingers of the new born i babe and the giant brain of the states, man God is revealed unto man, but lit is only in his word, the Bible, that !we may know His will. Vivid descriptions of the first Napoleon of George Washington and Patrick Henry were given and their attitude to■ward religion explained. How to get religion was the most important and explicit part of the discourse. The speaker declared in/favor of heartfelt religion—but said Our feelings are not always reliable and gave illustrations and arguments to prove his idea. If we want standards, approved of Gol, and recorded by inspiration in the book of Acts we find them, namely, the Pentecostans, the Phillipian jailor, the Ethiopian treasurer and Saul or Tarsus. In concluding the Evangelist spoke very tenderly of the awful sin of backsliding. Gave an eye witness testimony of a young lady throwing herself backward from "a six story window. Dramatically told how fearful a thing it is to slide backward into ■ hell. There was one more convert—a fine little fellow about twelve or 'fourteen years old. Just the time good or bad. The Doris quartet rew idered two splendid selections and the choir work was fine. Subject tonight will be “Stumbling Blocks.”

BRIEF OF THE CASE One of the Largest Briefs Ever Filed from this Place PRACTICE IS LIGHT Not Many Cases Are Appealed from the Adams Circuit Court" »I1 The largest brief that ever went from here to the appelate court has just come from the Democrat presses and consists of one hundred pages and is the arguments of the appellants and a history of the Ludlow Falls Quarry Company—Calvin Miller case, and is appealed from the Jay circuit court where the case was tried. The attorneys for the appellants are Clark J. Lutz and Amos P. Beatty, and judging by the size of the brief mentioned they have thoroughly covered all the points leading up to their conclusions of the law and the errors in the trial of the case. There is perhaps less practice in the supreme and appellate courts from this circuit than in any other in Indiana, this being caused by the thoroughness of the trial judges of the circuit and by the additional fact that the clientage here have never been educated to the additional chance cf perhaps winning m the higher courts a losing fight in the lower courts. The ice will be broken some day and the Adams circuit court will be heard in the trial of cases in the higher tribunals, just as other circuits are frequently heard now. — o J. H. Stone is at Indianapolis, attending the sessions of the I. 0. 0. F. lodge which is now in progress.

Decatur, Indiana, Thursday Evening, November 18, 1909.

ELIAS RAY COMMITTED SUICIDE He Was to Have Been Tried in the Circuit Court for Murder. Lafayette, Indiana, November 18. — (Special to the Daily Democrat)— t While the jury and attorneys gathered at the court room in this city for his trial for murder, Elias Ray committed suicide by stabbing himself with a penknife. Ray quarreled with Conrad a farm hand and struck him on the head with a club, from the effects of which he died. Ray is a wealthy land owner and is worth a half million dollars. There is a profound astonishment in Lafayette today over the suicide. o . IT WAS DEDICATED Beautiful Scottish Rite Cathedral at Fort Wayne Dedicated BANQUET FOLLOWED Governor Marshall a ThirtyThird Degree Mason Was Present

Fort Wayne, Ind., Nov. 18. —With the solemn and beautiful withal im- 1 pressive ceremony of the Scottish' Rite Masonry, Fort Wayne's new Scottish Rite cathedral at Washington and Clinton streets was consecrated and dedicated last night by Mr. Barton Smith, of Toledo, puissant grand lieutenant commander of the ' supreme council, delegated for that duty by Most Puissant Sovereign Grand Commander Samuel Crocker Lawrence. Following this solemn oc. casion the new building was presented by Mr. Smith to Mr. William Geake of Fort Wayne, as thrice potent master of lodge of Perfection, act of the con. secration of-fffl*®magnificent building to the purposes. The ceremony was/wftnessed by twelve to fifteen hundred*Sco?tish Rite Masons from the fourteenth degree up, who packed every seat, every available standing place and every nook and corner of the large consistory auditorium in which the consecration and dedication took place. The work was in the fourteenth degree, Lodge of Perfection, and is one of the most beautiful ceremonies known in Masonry. All participants in the dedication were active thirty-third degree Masons. All and most of those in the vast audience were attired in full evening dress. The scene was imposing as was ceremany and action. Special decorations furnished the stage settings. Following the dedica. tory exercises, ending with the formal turning over of the magnificent new building to the Fort Wayne Lodge of Perfection, participants and spectators repaired to the banquent hall on the first floor for an elegant repast and program of music and speeches. Fully 850 Masons sat down to the great tables and the scene which pre. sented itself to the galleries was one long to be remembered. In the banquet hall —the finest banquet room in the United States and one of the lar- | gest —every available space was I taken. Above, at the south end of. the long hall was an orchestra of | fifty pieces, immediately underneath which sat all active thirty-third degree Masons who are in attendance at the present week's unusual exercises. Mr. Barton Smith, second highest Mason in the United States, occupied | the position of honor. On his right was Mr. Henry C. Adams, active member of the supreme council for the state of Indiana and commander-in-chief of Indianapolis consistory, the mother consistory of Fort Wayne. First on Mr. Smith’s left was Mr. William Geake, the first Mason in the state of Indiana and commander-in-chief of Fort JVayne consistory. To Mr. Geake's left sat Mr. James H. McFatrick of Chicago, delegated as master ceremonies at the dedication. Next to him sat Mr. Robert E. Dhirrefs, deputy for the state of New (Continued on page 2.)

THE CABINET ROW An Investigation of Mr. Ballinger is to Be Made LAWSHE IN FAVOR President Would Like to See Him Governor of New Mexico Washington, Nov. 18— The cabinet row reached its most acute stage when it was learned that the president has reopened the BallingerPinchot controversy by directing Attorney General Wickersham to make an investigation of the activities of Secretary of Interior Ballinger to ascertain whether Mr. Ballinger’s actions in the Cunningham coal cases were within the law. Heretofore the president has stood by the secretary of the interior, but today's indications are that his confidence in that official may be somewhat shaken. At any rate it is learned that he has decided to review the whole case, and as a preliminary step comes his directions to the attorney general to make an investigation and report direct to the I white house. It is now said he will anticipate the proposed congressional investigation of the interior department with a more searching investigation of his own. Washington. Nov. 18. —A. L. Lawshe of Converse, Ind., is President Taft’s choice for governor of the territory of New Mexico, but is is doubtful if Lawshe gets the appointment. The ! president had the matter up today 'with Solomon Luna, Republican national committeeman of New Mexico, but after a long conference they failed to agree. President Taft has a high opinion of Lawshe, who was 'auditor of the Philippines when Taft was governor general. It was through 1 Taft’s influence that Lawshe was transferred during the Roosevelt administration and'made third assistant postmaster general. He is now in New Mexico for his health. The objection to Lawshe as governor comes from the people and politicians of New Mexico, who say they want a local man and must have one.

IT WAS SAD NEWS A Brother of Millen Burns Sustained a Stroke of Paralysis USED TO LIVE HERE For Many Years He Has Been a Resident of Belton, Missouri Word reached Millen Burns this morning that his brother, C. A. Burns of Belton, Missouri, had suffered a stroke of paralysis and that his condition was serious, and it is thougnt by the family and the physician in charge that the afflicted man will not be able to long stand the ravages of this disease. He is now past seventy years of age and this fact makes recovery a most serious question. Some of the old timers around Decatur will remember Mr. Burns as he lived here most of his life before going to his present home near some forty years ago. Before leaving here he was a well known figure here and was interested in many of the things of public importance at that time. After settling in Belton he married and now enjoys the company of a charming family and for many of the late years of his life has lived a retired life. He has done well there in a financial way and has more than a fair competence to live on and leave his family after he is gone, which is always the story of an Adams county product no matter where he may go. The news cast a gloom of sadness over the relatives here of the afflicted , man, and it is the wish of every one | that it may not be so serious as they | i now believe. •

CHEWING TOBACCO LOSING OUT Navy Boys Getting Along with Much Less of Weed than Heretofore. The traditional man-o’-warsmnn who made it a practice to roll his quid to the other side of his cheeK and spit on his hands before taking to the guns is decidedly a thing of the past, according to the reports of the navy department. The quid of chewing tobacco is no longer an essential characteristic of the man behind the guns. He is coming to the conclusion that he doesn’t care for chewing, or that it is not a nice habit, or that he hasn’t time to chew and be about his business too. Last year the navy department contracted for 220,000 pounds of chewing tobacco for the use of the men on the fleet. This year the contracts will call for about 70,000, less than one- . third of that amount. There was a time when chewing tobacco was as important a feature of the ship’s commisary as the allowance of grog ’ was to Captain Kidd's crew and Captain Marryat's sailors. But the modern sailor has changed his habits. He is a daintier sort of person by far, 1 a cleaner cut, more orderly being, ' who has not lost altogether his social perspective. Nowadays the sailor 1 prefers a cigarette to the quid of to--1 bacco, but on the whole he is less inclined to both nicotine and grog than he has ever been before. oCROOKED SCHEMES l . Government Officials Are Looking Into Recent Fraudulent Claims I ON SALE OF LANDS Sand Tracts Were Represented as Priceless Fruit I and Garden Farms i 1 1 Washington, Nov. 18. —Schemes to defraud the farmer and the would be farmer, meaning the city man who is i attracted to the country by glaring l advertisements, are receiving the at- ' tention of the department of agri--1 culture and it is probable that Secretary Wilson in his forthcoming an-

nual report will sound a note of warn, ing to the over credulous. Tracts of almost pure sand after the cutting of pine trees are being advertised as farming lands of the finest description; undrained swamps are described as priceless lands and all sorts of inducements are held out to attract purchasers of these alleged worthless lands. A favorite device is to set many thousands of slips or cuttings of fruit trees on common range lands incapable of producing anything but sage brush, and another is to offer the unwary seeds or bulbs of some re. markable hybrid plant that will produce thousands of dollars a year. The real character of these lands, the agricultural department states, might be easily ascertained by inquiry. A few months ago the department of agriculture caused an investigation into the merits a berry which was advertised to be a wonderful hybrid combining the properties of the rarest fruits, but it was found that it had little or no value as a fruit product.

RETURNED FROM TOLEDO Where They Purchased Fixtures for the New K. of P. Building. H. F. Callow and James R. Hurst returned home last evening from Toledo, where they went to purchase fixtures and supplies for the new Knights of Pythias building. Everything will be up to date and correspond with the other and when completed will be one of the best in the city. o WAS EXCOMMUNICATED Boston. November 18. —(Special to, the Daily Democrat)—Mrs. Augusta Stets<Jn was today excommunicated from the Christian Science church by , * i the Mother Church for alleged false teachings. |1

Price Two Cents

FAMED AS A LAWYER Hon. Henry Colerick of Fort Wayne, Died Last Evening THE “LITTLE GIANT” Death Was Caused by a Blood Clot on the Heart 4 Fort Wayne, Nov. 18.—The Hon. Henry G. Colerich, a life long resident of this city, and one of the best known and most brilliant lawyers in Fort Wayne and northeastern Indiana, was found dead on a couch shortly after 5 o'clock last evening at the Baltes hotel. No announcement that has come to the citizens of Fort Wayne for a long time has been such a shock to the public in general. It is believed that a blood clot on the . heart was responsible for Mr. Cole- ■ rick’s death. Apparently in good health and the best of spirits. Mr. Colerick left his home shortly before 9 o’clock yesterday morning and on his way to his office dropped in at the Baltes hotel. It had frequently been a custom of his to sit in the smoking room and chat with Michael Baltes, the owner of the hotel building, and although Mr. Baltes was not in, he sat at a table in the lobby smoking for some time. Apparently he did not appear to be well and after he had been there for a while David Crosby, the clerk on the desk at the time, stepped to his side and asked him if he did not wish to lie down. Mr. Colerich said nothing as to how he was feeling, but consented to rest on a couch in one of the rear rooms. He soon fell asleep and apparently was resting easily. Shortly after 5 o’clock as he was to all appearances still asleep, the clerk went to arouse him and at that time made the discovery that he was apparently lifeless. Dr. E. J. McOscar was hastily- summoned and found that life was 'extinct. The body was yet warm, proving that it had not been long since the end came. Dr. McOscar (Continued on page 2.)

THE TRACTION LINE Linn Grove is Looking up Considerable Since the Advent of this Line A NEW ELEVATOR Studabaker & Company of Bluffton to Build Elevator There Peter Hoffman of Linn Grove, was in the city today for the first time for a long time, and he spent the morning calling on his old friends, many of whom live here. Mr. Hoffman has for years been a landmark in Linn Grove, and that part of Adams county, and he looks good for many more years of activity. He says that Linn Grove is looking up some since the building of the Bluffton, Geneva & Celina traction lime has been a certainty. A few days ago Studabaker &' Company purchased two acres of

ground there and will at once begin the erection of an elevator, stock , yards and coal sheds, and that thev will be right in business there of aK kinds, just as soon as the first car - ' runs on that line. Linn Grove will • ’be benefitted by this line, as they have I lived there always without any means lof travel or traffic during all theso years. With that. Linn Grove has kept-up well anti always has been a 'good trading point for that immediate section, but the traction line will greatly improve it in every way, and business there will increase at a merry pace, and building will begin She deserves all this good fortune and the Democrat hopes she will grow and prosper as she never grew and prospered before.