Decatur Daily Democrat, Volume 10, Number 100, Decatur, Adams County, 25 April 1912 — Page 1

Volume X. Number 100.

TAKES HIS I OWN LIFE ; Daniel Jackson, Prominent » * St. Mary’s Township Farmer, Sends Bullet I INTO HIS BRAIN I Had Been Hl Three Months and Suffered Temporary Fit of Insanity. k Despondent ov«ra continued ill i.eflith, and temporarily insane, Daniel B Jackson, aged fifty-two, a prominent *1 farmer of St. Mary’s townshin, residI ing five miles east of this citjt a|d a 1 | half mile Bomii of Rivarre, this n.irnI ing at 6:40 o’clock, sent a bullet from f I a thirty-two-calibre revolver crashing I through Ills brain, dying about three- | quarters of an hour later, without hav- | ing regained consciousness. Coroner | Grandstaff visited the scene of the I accident later arid while he has not I yet returned his verdict, he will witliout doubt, pronounce the death a suiK tide. Mr. Jackson bad been in ill health | lor about three months and under the | doctor's care. Rheumatism was also I "added to his ailments, and while he ■ was ailing, was able to be about. At ■ no time had he ever suggested or I mentioned that he contemplated sui- | tide. This morning he arose as usI ual, with the other members of the I I family. His wife asked him how he 1 I felt, and he seemed to be no worse j | than usual, in tact ate a most hearty t breakfast. After breakfast he went I to the barn and curried two horses. I cleaned out the stable and attended j | to other work incident to farm life, j I '.Me bls'family, which consists of his K wife and a sixteen-year-oid\daugbter„ |E were out attending to the milking,: ■ | feeding the chickens and other light B work of that nature. In the meantime, he had finished his £ i work and went into the house, where , ■ k he was alone. He entered the sitting ; ■ room, and standing before the mirror i | there, took the revolver into his right \ ! l and and pointing the gun at the top , [ of his head at the middle of the right I s’de, sent the fatal bullet crashing through his skull. It did not come out i at the opposite side, but deflected and lodged at the base of the brain. The , . hole where it entered was cut smooth and snowed slight powder stains about i the edge, hut the brains and blood 1 oozed forth and spatiered about, mak-, ! ing a horrible sight ,though the body ■ K was not mutilated. After firing the E shot the body fell backward toward k, the stove, the revolver falling on the E floor under edge of the table No i one heard the shot and the horrible I tragedy was first learned when Mr. | I lieath, a neighbor, accompanied by j I Mr. Jackson's daughter, went to the , E house to see Mr. Jackson about dig-, ■ ging some post holes, Mr. lieath beI ing engaged in doing some fencing so. j E him. The full import of the tragedy did I not strike them at first, as they s°w him lying motionless on the floor, but ■ E believed that he had suffered a faint-i ■ ing spell and had fallen and struck < 1 lis head on the edge of the stove. < ■ Examination, however, revealed the j | bullet hole in his head, the revolver ( with one of its six cartridges gone,, B and other conditions attending it, | which told' the terrible story. ; Doctor Boyers was called from this ■ I city at once and made the trip with. I all possible speed, arriving little more | than a half-hour after the shot, but | just as Mr. Jackson's was ceasI ing to beat, and no earthly power able I to restore him. Mr. Jackson never * regained consciousness after the bills iet lodged in his brain. The affair is an unusually sad one. Mr. Jackson was held in the highest esteem by all. He was a kind and loving father, had lived at peace both with his family and neighbors, and not one word passed between him and others that might contribute to his i uesire to take his life. Absolutely no i other reason car. be assigned for the deed, except his ill health, despondency, and temporary insanity. It is said that his mother, also, at one time, was insane. Mr. Jackson was born in St. Mary s township, near the place where he CONTINUE ON PAGE TWO.

DECATUR DAILY DEMOCRAT

BUILDS I AUNCH. — D. M. Hensley and O. L. Vance visited Wednesday evening at the Boyd | Daugherty horn ■ near Monroe, calling ' to see a launch that has been constructed during the past several yeais by Mi. Daugherty’s son, True, and which is now nearing completion. The launch will hold sixteen passengers, and is finely finished in every way*. The hull alone took Mr. Duugherty tiiree years to make. He is at present preparing to make the engine for it. H< quite e 'JGttofl mechanic. Following Ills graduation fioin Purdue university he for,# a position ns draughtsman for the Decatur Motor Car company’ and will go with them to Grand Rapids, Mich. DEEP CONSPIRACY And the Results Thereof as Detailed by One of the Conspirators. IT’S UP TO FARMERS To Justify the Confidence Placed in Them by Men Who Put up the Cash. Once upon a time, as fr r back as way last summer, there vas a conspiracy entered into by oo.ne friends of ours. A mysterious c ■ piracy. At the time especially so to the Conspirators. One day an unheralded party of four motored quietly into our fair city. After some little delay one of the conspirators, afterwards conspirator In I chief, was seen in earnest conversa- | tion with the motoring four. Within i the hour these silent four in company with the conspirator in chief, and an efficient ally, silently departed. They followed, -after leaving Adams street, i the well known pike road, leading to- ■ ward Monroe, then circled, doubled o i ■ their track, then circled again, mile after mile, making notes of roads. i bouses, barns, fences, soils and condi- ■ tions of many farms and farmers, com i paring notes and expressions of opin I ions and then as quietly and as silently re-entered the city. After brief ; consultations, unloaded the conspir: - i tors and wheeled rapidly’ away in the : gloom. The chief conspirator and his . ally, rapidly, methods all their own, . gathered together a number of their fellows, and communicated to them , the story of the mysterious four and i elated the incidents of their adven- , tare. The recital found sympathetic listeners and orders were issued to communicate with all other know’ll members of the band and caution them . to stand ready for any emergency that ' might arise. Time passed slowly, and afterwards the chief received notice frem the four that they would again arrive and for the chief and his followers to hold themselves in readiness to meet them. With characteris- . ;ic promptness the word was passed ( around and a representative gathering , vas present to receive the visitors, j who arrived punctually and unfolded ' to their listeners a tale of proposed achievement, requiring most concert- ; ed effort, that was indeed of most ab- ! rorbing interest Again the four de--1 parted and after the conspirators had ' deliberated on the multitudiness rei quirements that would be necessary ! for them to perform and realized the j extent of the undertaking, they almost ! dispaired but resolved to go on to the finish Thus was the inception of a ; glorious conspiracy. I might detail at length its growth, and of the labors I that developed upon the faithful memI bers. I might show’ the power of the I cruse of the conspirators and how- its ' membership grew until it gathered into its ranks the progressive folk vs an active'city. I might tell of earnest effort and concerted action. I might tell of the elimination of petty jealousies of happy “get-to-gethertive-ness” that was of inestimable value, but I shall not. I shall only tell of lesults. Yesterday I had the peasure of the company of the chief conspirator and his first ally. As our machine crossed the tracks north of the old Patterson mill and I saw the steel ribs of a great structure, silhoutted out ahead and heard the noise of the work of many men, By- Gosh, then I felt that one conspiracy and oae band of conspirators had conspired to some put pose. Most of us are of the opinion that seven or eight hundred thousand doiOONTIMME® on PAGE TWO.

Decatur, Indiana, Thursday Evening, April 25, 1912.

(DEATH OF MOTHER Mrs. John Weber of, Fort Wayne Died at Her Home Wednesday Morning. FROM PNEUMONIA Mother of John B. Weber, This City—Funeral Arrangements Not Made. - < * Mary Magdalena Weber, wife of John B. Weber of this city, and for many years a former resident of this city, passed away at her hime, 226 West Main street, Wednesday morning at 10 o’clock, following an illness of but three weeks, with bronchial pneumonia, and greatly aided by her advanced age of seventy-eight years, past. Having been ill for three weeks, she was up and around at times, and not until Tuesday did she take to her bed, with death to follow shortly afterwards. The deceased was born in Germany, and having been reared to womanhood came to this country. Following her mairiage to Mr. Weber they came to this city and purchased the farm just west of the city, where the Louis Weber family now resides. Twenty five yea's or more were spent , ,n this county, Mr. Weber being engaged in the horse-buying business, and also becoming the possessor of other land and real estate. From here they moved to Fort Wayne, where their abede has been perhaps longer than here, Mr. Weber carrying out the same ilne*of work. They were numbered among the best known people in the county and since making their horn.- at Fort Wayne have kept up this wide acquaintance with many brief visits to their son other friends here. She is survived, besides the husbdnd, by seven children: John B. Weber of this city, Mrs. H. M. Romberg of Fort Wayne, Lena, Emma, Rosa and Adei, at home; Noah, also of Fort Wayne. Two children have nlso passed to the great beyond. A brother, Fred, of St. Paul, Minn., and ten grandchildren also mourn her death. The funeral arrangements have at yet not been completed, and wo'd will be awaited from distant relatives, but it will be field either Saturday or .Monday morning from the St. Paul's Catholic church, with which she has been associated for many years. Mr. Weber and children returned Wednesday evening after being at the home during the day. The daughter, Miss Amelia, was helping to care for her giandmother during her illness. TO SEETHE WORLD Twelve-year-old Ft. Wayne Boys Take Toy Bank and Begin Their Trip. iGO TO PORTLANDi Longings for Home Soon Came and They Return—i Stopped off Here. ' Fort Wayne may be a poor place to ' live, but one night at Portland showed 1 Donald Burbrow, aged twelve years, ’ there is’a worse place.. Young Dur brow was overcome by an attack of wanderlust while on his way tri schorl, Monday morning, and he and Bloyd ’ Sarmin, of Spy Run avenue, shook the , dust of Allen county f rom their shoes “forever.” j The boys took who’them a toy bank ; containing three dollars, went directly to Portland and "registered'’ at the depot for the night. Toward morning ’ they became disgusted with the sleeping accommodations and went to Des catur. I But as soon -s morning dawned they I started back to Fort Wayne. They i arrived late in the afternoon and fed i. upon fatted calves till they were tuckI ed into bed.—Fort Wayne News. t Mr. and Mrr Paul Tribolet moved - yesterday into the rickley residence at the corner cf Main and Silver ■ streets. Mrs. Tribolet went to the t home of her parents, Mr. and Mrs. - Cash Andrews, near Peterson, today fora short visit. —Bluffton Banner.

WELLS COUNTYMAIL EMPTY. Sheriff Freeman Carlisle is planning to leave Thursday morning for Michigan Chy, where he will place Aaron Eury in the custody of the warden of the state prison, to enter upon his two to fourteon-year *erm in th.: prison. With the depanvr? of Eury there will not be a single prisoner in the'WellH oounty jail, unless some unfortunate citizen gets himself in the net between this time and Thursday. Eury has ranken as the solitary prisoner now for several weeks, and tie luck of boarders with the county sheriff speaks for the general nioiuls of the community at this period.—Bluffton News. . Adams county beat Wells coun’y just a day. Ou:’ last prisoner was released Wednesday. — ---■ nm ■ mi i i Bn.minn, COURT HOUSE NEWS Will -A Wm. Mersman Filed —Gives Wife Life Estate in All Property. AT HER DEATH To be Divided Among Chil-dren--Reber Found Guilty by the Jury. It took the jury about fifteen or twenty minutes Wednesday afternoon to reach a verdict, which they returned at 3:30 ociock, finding Earl Reber guilty of assault and battery and fixing ids fine at sl. He is also to pay the costs of the case. The case grew’ out of h’s grabbing fheir thKee-year-old daughter, Celia, from his wife, with whom he has not been living for several months, and whom he happened to meet In this city. The will of William Mersman was duly probated today. All of hi» estate lemaining after payment of debts, which are to be paid as soon as can be consistently done, is given to his wile, Anna Mersman, for her use during her life. At her death it is to be divided equally between their two children, Joseph and Marie Mersman. The will was executed April 18, 1912, and witnessed by Edward X. Ehinger and C. S. Niblick. Laura A. Van Camp vs. Charles VanCamp, partition. Final report of commissioner filed and approved. Petition of Ed Johnson heretofore filed, withdrawn. Report of distribution filed, approved and the commissioner discharged. Levi Mock of Bluffton | was special judge herein. J Martha E. Ahr vs. John 11. Koenisr et al., note, S6OO. Set for April 30th. ——— John Lang et al. vs. Ralph Baumgartner, partition. Report of sale of real estate filed, approved, sale confirmed, deed ordered. Mortgage ordered executed concurrently tbereun- ’ der. Deed reported and approved. Keport of delivery of deed and execution of mortgage Petition to sell and transfer notes tnd mortgage filed. Petition sustained and sale of notes and mortgage ordorel at private sale without notice, for cash. i ' - '■ Jacob H. Miller vs. William T. Miller er, al., complaint to foreclose chattel mortgage, $1,500. Appearance by William Drew, Heller, Sutton & Heller for Thomas Drew, McCrory and Arnold. Rule to answer. Hooper & Lenhart are atorneys for, I Frederick Hahnert et al. in a case against John H. Elick et al. to foreclose mortgage; demand,.sl,2oo. Arnos P. Beatty, executor of the Albert Buhler estate, filed report of sale, which was approved, sale confirmed, deed ordered, reported and approved. The real estate in this city was sold to Amelia Tonnelier, for $l,lOO. Realty transfers: Rose E. Hanna to Albert M. Vorhees et al., lot 287, Geneva, $500; Frederick C. Meade et al. tc Eugene M. Fitch, 40 acres, Un--iqti tp., $6000; Franklin W. Mosure to William F. Scliug, 40 acres, Monroe tp commissioners’ deed, $4,355: Clyde S. Weis:, o acres, Wabash tp., S7OO. Mrs. Emma Vitz and babe of Defiance, Ohio, who hare been heri visiting with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Se’T nwyer, left todsy for their home.

A BIG CASE FILED — Children ol Anson VanCamp, Deceased, Filed $ 8,000 Case Against THEIR STEP MOTHER Claim She Influenced Husband to Turn Over Insurance Policy to Her. <ir7! A big case was filed in the circuit court toQay against Mrs. Laure E. Van Camp, widow of Anson Van Camp, demanding SB,OOO, on account. The suit was filed by Attorneys Peterson & Moran, D. E. Smith and Clark J. Lutz, for Charles Van Camp, the plaintiff, who is bringing it for himself and also for his brothers and sisters — Hubert Van Camp, Ida Woods, nee Van Camp, Paul Van Camp and Naomi Van Camp, the last two named being minors. The plaintiff and his brothers and sisters are surviving children of Anson Van Camp. their mother his first wife, being long deceased. The complaint sets out that Anson Van Camp paid for a life insurance policy of $5,000, and named his children as beneficiaries, each to receive SI,OOO of the total amount. The complaint sets out that later he married Laure VanCamp and she used her influence, while he was sick, weak, infirm and of unsound mind, in having him change It so that the children were eliminated as beneficiaries and herself substituted as such. Upon his death shortly afterward the complaint sets out, the $5,000 was paid to her for her own use. The complaint alleges that shortly after changing the insurance policy, Mr. Van Camp made a will, under the same undue influence, and gave to Mrs. Van Camp all Os the estate of $20,000, with the exception of a few minor bequests, which did not exceed $1,500. Charles and Hubert Van Camp then filed a suit to contest the will, whereupon the defendant, the widow, abandoned her right to claim under the will, and claimed tier share under tlie law. The plaintiff also contends that Mrs. Van Camp has also appropriated to her use from the estate, an automobile, valued at $1,500, which she did not include in the Inventory made by herself as executrix of his estate. They claim this automobile was the property of the plaintiff. The complaint sets out that it is the belief of the CONTINT-KD WN PAGE TWO. TAFT FLAYS TEDDY President Taft, Today Entered Upon Four Days’ Tour of Massachusetts. IN BOSTON TONIGHT More Than Two Hundred Bodies Have Been Recovered from Titanic, Springfield, Mass., April 25—(Special to Daily Democrat) —President Taft in his speech here today launched greatly into an attack on Colonel Roosevelt and calleh the latter a deceiver. The president was white with anger as he spoke, “hi his recent utterances he has lead a great many hundreds of people to believe his charges against me and my administration,” said the president, referring to Mr. Roosevelt. “But because that element in the republican party which believes in the sanctity of the constitution, and in its wise progress made under the guarantee of the constitution, I am entitled to have my de- : tense.” f'' i On Board President Taft's Special * Train, April 25 —(Special to Daily Democrat) —President Taft today entered ?»lassachusetts prepared to make a strenuous fight for the support of ' the state s national delegates in his • j struggle for the republican presiden- - j tial nomination The most important . J speech of the first day will be deliver(Continued oa Page 2)

POLICE COURT NEWS. An affidavit lias been filed in the Mayor's courj by Warren Hamrick, i charging Amelia Hamrick with operating a house of ill fame, and tlie affi davit is the outcome of a raid which Hamrick engineered last Tuesday night He called Marshal Peterson who, securing assistance, made the raid. Mrs. Hamrick appeared and gavd bond of ton dollors tn insn c her appearance for trial upon next Tuesday. She has employed an attorney, and will make a vigorous fight against the charges, claiming,her innocence. Further developments are expected : nd the affair may becomq rather senrational before its conclusion. An it'' hdavit has also I Aon filed against Mrs Williams, a daughter of Mrs. Hamrick, who is charged with being an iii mate of the house. A SWAT IN TIMF Will Save Nine Later on Says Health Board-Be-gin to Swat Flies Now. CITY OF CLEVELAND Offers Bounty of Cent for Every Ten Flies Killed Now—Big Crusade. It is now that the campaign against the fly must be started. With an adequate and intelligent effort we can do much to keep down their numbers ind to reuuce the danger from the transmission of disease germs to an appreciable extent. People should know the fundamental information concerning the fly life j and habits. An authority who has I made the pesky thing a study declares i that the house fly is a mere nuisance. I tut a positive enemy of life and health. Flies are the badge of dirt and filth—present on your premises or your neighbor's premises. It is not difficult to greatly reduce the number or to exterminate them. ( If we clean up all the unsanitary 1 places and keep them clean, we will have no flies. The average number of bacteria; which one fly ran carry is estimated;, at 1.250,000. Files are looked upon in general as : simply an annoyance. The cleanly: housewife endeavors to keep them out cf the dwelling but the men folks fr< - j quently fail to sympathize in the efforts and leave the doors and screens I open. It has been learned now’ that the' presence of the fly is not simply an annoyance but a real menace to the home, because he brings infection from a distance. The fact lias long been suspected, but has recently been proved. It has been noticed by Doctor Hayward, bacteriologist, and other observers, that the flies flocked in nuiumers about the cuspidors of those suffering frchs pulmonary tuberculoi sis. A i-tei'l. is a trivial thing, apparently, but carefu\ examination proved that the “specks” from these flies were full of tubercular baccilli. 1 As a consequence of their presence, the baccilli of this -WBrrid disease w’ere scattered everywhere. Flies imprisoned and fed on tubercular sputum dies in two or three days after the infection material was in troduced. Other flies likewise collected and fed on milk live from eight ' to ten days. The “specks" or feces of ’ these flies were rubbed up with sterile I water and injected into guinea pigs - and the pigs developed cases of con- , sumption. Cleveland has inaugurated a fly-kill- . ing campaign among the school chil--5 th en. The city has made an offer to pay reward of a cent for every ten , dead flies, delivered dead at the city j. hall, and school children of Cleveland ! are “swatting the fly” with vim and vigor. The crusade will continue for B two weeks, when the offer expires [. City health authorities believe that | every fly killed at this season of the year, means the absence, so to speak, of nine flies later in the season. J -o JOSEPH LOWER BREAKS RIBS. Joseph Lower, the prominent fauns t-r east of the city, is suffering much f from a fractured rib or two on the 3 right side, which injury he received - Wednesday when he fell from the hayt mow of his bsza. He was able to -1 come to town today for medical treatment.

Price, Two Cents.

TRAGEDY AT LINN GROVE Family of Mrs. Andrew Mertz Find Dead Body Hanging in Play House OF HER CHILDREN Zarly This Morning—Committed Suicide by Hanging—Prommeat Lady. The family o" Andrew Mertz, a prominent farmer of French township, residing on the David Lehman farm, two miles north and a half-mile west of Linn Grove, was horrified this morning at 6 o’clock to find the dead body of the wife and mother, Mrs. Lizzie Mertz, hanging by the neck from the rafter in the children's play-house in the orchard, death being undoubtedly due to suicide. The body was still warm, showing that it had hot been hanging more than an hour, but ail s.gns of life were gone. Mrs. Mertz, who was about fortysix or seven years of age, had been in poor health for several weeks, and it is thought became despondent, doing the rash deed that ended her life. Among the symptoms noticed lately, was that of unusual quietness, or brooding, and it is said that she suffered mental aberration, and was undoubtedly at death, not responsible lor her act, doing it in a fit of temporary insanity. Mrs. Mertz had been in the habit of arising early and attending to hqr I usual morning work, such as building . the fire and getting breakfast. This morning she had built the fire as sual, which was burning briskly ’i“: family later arose, and finding ao signs of Mrs. Mertz about the house, ' and becoming alarmed over her coni tinued absence, one of the children I went to the closet at the rear of the I house near the orchard, where it was thought she had gone. She was not ther& so the boy looked elsewhere, and among the places first searched • was the children's play house adjoining the closet. The mother was found there hanging by her neck, her feet escaping the floor by about four inches. She had torn a piece of outing flannel from a comfort and made it into a ! rope, which she fastened about her neck and then climbed to a ladder in the playhouse and swung therefrom. Word was at once sent the coroner, and he gave them permission to cut the body down, which the husband did at once and took it into the house. Coroner Grandstaff reached the Mertz home about 12 o’clock, going there from the Jackson home, east of the city, and returned to Preble about 2:30 this afternoon. -He found Mrs. Mertz’ death due to strangulation, as tbe neck had not been broken in the hanging. The face was livid, also the eyes, and presented an appearance of terrible suffering. As Mrs. Mertz is a woman of two hundred pounds’ ■■eight, the strain from the neck was very heavy. The verdict will be suicide by strangulation. Mrs. Mertz had been suffering from mental aberration for some time past, and about iwo'ye-ato ago also gr.fferad in this way, but even more severely at that time. Mrs. Mertz was one of the prominent and highly esteemed ladies of the community and her death causes the utmost sadness. She was born in Putnam county, Ohio, but has spent many years here. Her mother, Mrs. Mary Amstutz, is still living, being a resident of French township. Besides her horror-stricken husband, Mrs. Mertz also leaves five children. They are: Lilly, Cora, Ida, Menno and Raymond Mertz. She also leaves the following brothers and sisters: Dan Amstutz, Fort Recovery, Ohio; John ! Amstutz, north of Berne; Amos Amstutz, Grabill; Will Amstutz, Linn Grove; Mary Klopfenstine, north of f’erne; Rose Tempion, Petroleum; Anna Buhle. a ndora, Ohio. Mrs. Mertz is spoken of in only the highest terms. L. L. Baumgartner, deputy county clerk, was acquainted with he’- for many years, and during Lis residence in Linn Grove the past two years, where he w’as engaged in the mercantile business, Mrs, Mertz was a customer of his. She was ex(Continued on Page 2)